The Role of Teachers in Community Engagement and Transmission of Government Policies and Political Ideology in Harare Metropolitan Province

Abstract

Zimbabwe adopted a new economic blueprint, Vision 2030, whose goal is to transform and develop the country into an upper middle-income economy by 2030. The teachers' role is to make the education system become a tool that creates industrialisation and modernisation. Teachers are to embrace the Competency-Based Curriculum as a vehicle for the attainment of this Vision. The education sector has the key to transform the country. Teachers are expected to innovate in their teaching, play a role in community and pass on government policies and political ideology. The study sought to investigate teachers' role in community engagement and transmission of government policies and political ideology in Harare Province. It employed quantitative research design. It was conducted in 145 schools which were randomly-selected from 231 schools in the Province. Using National Education Association (NPA) formula, for a population size N=5656, 360 teachers constituted a representative sample at 5% significance level. The data were collected through a structured questionnaire. Findings revealed that teachers play a role in community engagement, providing leadership and guidance; but had no role to play in the transmission of government official political ideology which they regarded as no concern of theirs. They view politics as highly partisan, but not as defined by Harold Lasswell (1936), who views politics as the process of deciding 'who gets what, when, where and how?' Given that politics is inextricably linked to education, the study recommends that government puts in place teacher in-service re-orientation programmes aimed at equipping teachers with necessary political ideological education and conscientisation.