EXAMINING THE USE OF TRANSFORMATIVE PEDAGOGY IN TEACHING OF CIVIC EDUCATION IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NCHELENGE DISTRICT, ZAMBIA

Abstract

This study examined the use of transformative pedagogy in Civic Education in selected secondary schools in Nchelenge district of Luapula Province focusing on teacher competency. The study was purely qualitative in which phenomenological research design was adopted. During data collection, individual interviews and focus group discussions were used as data collection instruments. Data was collected from three secondary schools in which a homogenous purposive sampling technique was employed to select 6 civic education teachers and 3 heads of Departments (HODs) for social sciences. When selecting 30 pupils that were taking Civic Education, convenient sampling techniques were employed. Individual interviews were conducted with teachers and HODs while focused group discussions were administered with pupils. All interviews were transcribed and were coded for themes. Analysis of the findings established that participants failed to link transformative pedagogy to civic education. Analysis showed that teachers were not competent enough in the use of transformative pedagogy implying that the practical part was left out during teaching and learning processes. In other words, hands-on was poor. The study established that despite being familiar with active methods that are learner-centred approaches, teachers still use traditional methods that fail to transform learners into socially analytical people instead widens the gap between school and community. The researcher recommends that reflective and objective teaching has to be implemented and emphasized, simply put the need for a change of teaching role from a teachingcantered to leaner-cantered’ active learning approach. Secondly, there is a need to develop teacher assessment capacity in a competency-based approach for transformative pedagogy.