Schools In Zimbabwe Research Articles

Predictors of Behavioural Intentions of Teachers to Adopt and Use Information and Communication Technologies in Secondary Schools in Zimbabwe

The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) also known as educational technology in the teaching and learning context, has become a new normal in all sectors of education world-wide. The most important driver of the use of ICT in education has been the rapid advances in technology and to some extent, natural disasters such as COVID-19 that has affected access to education across all sectors of the education system. As a result, it has become very important that teachers in secondary schools adopt ICT for their teaching. This study therefore seeks to establish factors influencing the behavioural intentions of secondary school teachers to adopt ICT in Zimbabwe. A sample of 251 teachers were selected using stratified random sampling strategy from 10 secondary schools to participate in the study. A structured questionnaire adapted from the Oscarson Scale for Measuring Adoption-proneness (OSMA) was used for data collection. Results of the study showed that the use of technology in teaching, professional development, attitudes toward ICT, gender and ICT support services have a significant influence on the behavioural intentions of secondary school teachers to adopt ICT. A number of challenges that affected the adoption of ICT in secondary schools were also identified. The study has implications on both policy and practice with regard to the adoption of ICT in secondary schools.

Instructional Leadership in Inclusive Secondary Schools of Zimbabwe: Balancing Multiple and Competing Expectations

This article explores school heads' enactment of instructional leadership practices in inclusive secondary schools in Zimbabwe. It provides answers to the central question: How do school heads enact instructional leadership practices in inclusive secondary schools and how does sense-making by school heads explain instructional leadership practices in this instructional environment? The article forms part of a larger study on the challenges of and opportunities for instructional leadership in inclusive secondary schools of Zimbabwe. The study employed a qualitative multiple case study research approach and was informed by the enactive sense-making theory. The cases comprised three secondary school heads purposively sampled in line with the extent to which they embraced inclusivity in terms of serving differently abled learners. Data were collected using a combination of semi-structured interviews on instructional leadership thought and practices, non-participant observation and documents analysis. The data were analysed using the interactional narrative analysis approach and presented using the case-by-case method. The study revealed that participants understood instructional leadership in their schools in the morphed sense of the concept as a multidimensional and stakeholder-based social activity built on equity principles. However, the concept of

A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Ethnomathematics and Traditional Lecture Approaches in Teaching Consumer Arithmetic: Learners’ Achievement and Teachers’ Views

Past studies revealed that the integration of ethnomathematics approaches is of great importance in the teaching and learning of mathematics as it is believed to improve learners’ understanding and achievement in mathematics. Cognisant of the benefits of using ethnomathematics approaches in teaching and learning mathematics, the Zimbabwean school syllabus recommends the adoption and integration of ethnomathematics approaches to improve the learners’ performance. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to determine the comparative effectiveness of ethnomathematics approaches and the traditional lecture approaches as well as teachers’ views on the use of ethnomathematics approaches. The study sample comprised 90 learners and two teachers from one secondary school in Bindura district in Zimbabwe. Two instruments, a test and interviews were used for data collection. The participating teachers taught the concepts of consumer arithmetic for four weeks. Findings of the study showed that learners taught using an ethnomathematics approach achieved significantly higher in the test than those taught consumer arithmetic using the traditional approach. The study revealed that teachers appreciated the use of ethnomathematics approaches in the teaching of consumer arithmetic as their learners were motivated, actively involved and interested in learning the concepts. It was also reported that ethnomathematics approaches improve learners’ understanding and retention of arithmetic concepts. The study, therefore, recommended training of the teachers on the use of the ethnomathematics approach in the teaching and learning of consumer arithmetic.

Creating Indigenous Knowledge Spaces in Physics Learning Environments: Postcolonial Views and Insights from High School Physics Teachers

The study explores teachers’ perspectives on the possibility and necessity of creating indigenous knowledge spaces (IKS) in physical learning environments (PLE) for learning physics in high schools in Zimbabwe. Traditional PLE such as laboratories for learning physics are still dominated by colonized western pedagogical designs and features but can be redesigned in light of the recent debates on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and Science integration decolonizing agenda. IKS intends to make classrooms physics more accessible and meaningful for both indigenous teachers and learners. In many African countries including Zimbabwe, educational policies indicate the need to integrate IK and IKS in the school curriculum. However, these policies do not provide guidelines on what IK to integrate, where and how to do it in the existing curriculum as well as how to create and facilitate IKS. There are limited studies on IKS and advice on how to transform current educational facilities spaces. This study therefore provides insights on how IK can be integrated in physics through the creation of IKS in the PLE. In this regard, data were gathered from 10 male and 10 female teachers using quantitative (Likert-scale questionnaires) and qualitative data (observations and interviews). The findings suggest that the existing physics PLE are limited in providing IK resources for the teachers. The teachers confirm that IKS can be created in the PLE where indigenous artefacts are incorporated, traditional homestead are modelled, etc. integrated together with existing physics laboratory and school resources. The study recommends a variety of IK resources and strategies in the creation of IKS but it will also require a team effort from teachers, community, and educational authorities in effecting the decolonizing agenda.

The Nexus of Autonomy and Instructional Leadership in Selected School Clusters in Zimbabwe

This article examines the nexus of autonomy and instructional leadership in school clusters in Zimbabwe. Using the Better Schools Programme of Zimbabwe cluster, teachers and school heads were interviewed on their perspectives on how autonomy influences instructional leadership practices. Results established that clusters provide schools with the freedom to determine the activities deemed necessary to improve student learning. However, although autonomy is prescribed in the policy, inadequate resources provided to schools render them less autonomous and ineffective in this endeavor. The article argues for a more deliberate and deeper discourse about the challenges of balancing autonomy and control.

Policy Failures with Learner-Centred Pedagogy: Case Studies from the Zimbabwean Experiment on Project-Based Learning

Globally, policy reform in education has recommended learner-centered pedagogy for more than a century, but its practical implementation remains an illusion in many classrooms. This study describes history teachers’ experiences while experimenting on project-based learning (PjBL) in Zimbabwe’s current curriculum reform initiative. Project-based learning has gained acceptance as an indispensable approach in developing learners’ 21st century skills of creativity, critical thinking, research, and problem-solving. Using a qualitative multiple-case study, four history teachers were observed and interviewed while implementing PjBL at four secondary schools in Zimbabwe. Results indicate policy failures with learner-centered pedagogy. Where some participants and their students had made significant progress, others had done very little at the time the policy reformers withdrew the projects. Feasibility studies could have circumvented some of the pitfalls experienced while enacting PjBL.

Optimising multimodality in the teaching of Literature in English at Advanced Level in Zimbabwean schools

Optimising multimodality in the teaching of Literature in English at Advanced Level in Zimbabwean schools

Exploring safety in disaster-induced displacement relocation site schools in Tokwe-Mukosi, Zimbabwe.

The victims of the Tokwe-Mukosi disaster-induced displacements in Zimbabwe were relocated to Chingwizi, Chisase and Masangula. This qualitative article explores the safety of learners in Tokwe-Mukosi disaster-induced displacement schools. The safety of learners in schools influences the education’s agenda. Most of the studies on the safety of learners focus on rural and urban schools at the expense of schools located in disaster-induced displacement sites. This article seeks to explore learners’ safety in disaster-induced displacement schools in Zimbabwe. The 2013 Zimbabwe Constitution and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education Act 1987 (Section 25:04) emphasise the importance of learners and teachers’ safety. The critical emancipatory research (CER) was used as a theoretical framework in this article. The participants responded to the research question: Are school authorities ensuring safety in disaster-induced displacement relocation site schools, Tokwe Mukosi? Data were generated through photovoice. Participatory action research was used as a research methodology with 15 participants being purposively selected. This article found that learners were not safe in the schools located in disaster-induced displacement areas in Tokwe-Mukosi. To mitigate safety problems, participants recommended that the government and other stakeholders should collectively build a safe learning environment.

Discourses on the Zimbabwe Schools National Pledge and the Religious Education Curriculum

There have been debates regarding the reciting of the National Pledge introduced in Zimbabwean schools on the 3rd of May 2016. Observations have been made that the National Pledge had a slant towards inculcating and a call to patriotism, total national commitment, respect to the departed and living war veterans, respect of the national flag and national consciousness and development. Yet civic organisations, Christians, human rights groups and mission-run schools allege that reciting the National Pledge is reminiscent of political propaganda. Christian critics and apologists claim that the National Pledge violates the constitutional rights of children to freedom of conscience and parental rights and Biblical teachings on oaths, vows and swearing. The current study established that there was a loud outcry from some parents, teachers and pupils over the recitation of the national pledge. The Constitutional Court of Zimbabwe subsequently ruled and took the recitation of the National Pledge as unconstitutional, four years after it was challenged in court by a parent soon after its introduction in schools. This motivated us to carry out a research to practically establish what people think about the National Pledge. This study used both qualitative and quantitative research approaches. A sample of six school heads, six teachers, 90 students, 10 parents, two academics and the former Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Dokora, were used as participants in our research study. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, document analysis and observations. Despite what we view as setbacks resulting from the court case won against the National Pledge recitation, we proposed what we think would be a neutral pledge that does not infringe on peoples’ religious faith and constitutional rights.

Catholic schools: mission, markets and morality: a comparative study in Africa – the case of Zimbabwe

Catholic education exists to attempt to transform people so that they become more responsible in their private and public life and as such the Church strives to build an education programme that enriches humanity through upholding Christian values. The investigation used in the study was based on the perceptions of school leaders and other education officials through the use of interviews in different Catholic secondary schools – a qualitative method. A number of issues emerged from the study such as the challenges in the shared meaning of Catholic education in different Catholic schools, the challenges in moral behaviours of students and the challenges in the multidimensionality (‘Multidimensionality’ in this study means people of different religious background in different Catholic schools) nature of Catholic education and what it teaches us. It has been found that despite these challenges Catholic schools in Zimbabwe remain focused on the Church’s mission of teaching the Catholic faith in Jesus Christ, a question of evangelisation, as a priority objective.

An E-safety Framework for Secondary Schools in Zimbabwe

An E-safety Framework for Secondary Schools in Zimbabwe

Vulnerable Learners’ Experiences on Drug Abuse in Zimbabwean Rural Schools: A Literature Review Perspective

: In Zimbabwean rural schools, drug abuse is observed to be on the increase trend. It is in this context that this paper delved into experiences that are encountered by vulnerable learners abusing drug in rural schools. Accordingly, it targeted at how this social phobic has become entrenched in learners’ way of being and the plausible antidotes to this drawback. In this regard, a framework derived from social constructionist and symbolic interactionist standpoints provided the lens through which the researchers perceived the issue under investigation. The researchers used literature review in the generation and analysis of learners’ lived experiences with regards to the issue under study from different sources. The researchers used the narration of information from commissioned reports, newspaper articles and empirical findings. From consulted sources, the researchers noted that there is widespread drug abuse in most rural schools through the influence of the institution linked dynamics, age issues, life stress, peer group pressure, obtainability of ready money and ease of access to drugs. With respect to these findings, the researchers concluded that drug abuse by learners in rural schools in Zimbabwe was from literature perspective mostly due to multi-pronged influences. Hence the researchers recommended that key interested parties such as Government, Non- Governmental Organizations, parents, teachers and policymakers should consistently implement and monitor strategies such as peer counselling to mitigate the drug abuse among rural learners.

Vulnerable Learners’ Experiences on Drug Abuse in Zimbabwean Rural Schools: A Literature Review Perspective

: In Zimbabwean rural schools, drug abuse is observed to be on the increase trend. It is in this context that this paper delved into experiences that are encountered by vulnerable learners abusing drug in rural schools. Accordingly, it targeted at how this social phobic has become entrenched in learners’ way of being and the plausible antidotes to this drawback. In this regard, a framework derived from social constructionist and symbolic interactionist standpoints provided the lens through which the researchers perceived the issue under investigation. The researchers used literature review in the generation and analysis of learners’ lived experiences with regards to the issue under study from different sources. The researchers used the narration of information from commissioned reports, newspaper articles and empirical findings. From consulted sources, the researchers noted that there is widespread drug abuse in most rural schools through the influence of the institution linked dynamics, age issues, life stress, peer group pressure, obtainability of ready money and ease of access to drugs. With respect to these findings, the researchers concluded that drug abuse by learners in rural schools in Zimbabwe was from literature perspective mostly due to multi-pronged influences. Hence the researchers recommended that key interested parties such as Government, Non- Governmental Organizations, parents, teachers and policymakers should consistently implement and monitor strategies such as peer counselling to mitigate the drug abuse among rural learners.

Job performance: Working conditions of urban teachers in Zimbabwean schools

Orientation: For Zimbabwean schools to deliver quality education in this competitive and hyperinflationary environment, teachers must be paid a living wage, which is commensurate with their noble profession to spruce up their public image and retain the best. Research purpose: The research established the Zimbabwean urban teachers’ working conditions, which affected their job performance and proffered remedies. Motivation for the study: Schools with favourable working conditions attracted, developed and retained highly qualified, experienced and effective teachers. The opposite resulted in low productivity, high turnover, absenteeism, moonlighting, job hopping and attrition. Research approach/design and method: A qualitative approach informed by a constructivist grounded theory was used. Sixteen experienced teachers and four education managers had their lived experiences on the phenomenon under investigation interrogated as experienced in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province (BMP). Main findings: The findings suggested that the improvement of the teachers’ working conditions enhanced their job performance. Teachers bemoaned the low remunerations that could not meet their basic physiological needs, which were fundamental in enhancing their job performance. They also claimed that the teacher to learner ratio and curriculum demands overworked them amid the scarcity of resources. Sponsored career development opportunities were unavailable. Practical/managerial implications: Improving the working conditions of teachers would not only enhance their job performance but also reduce high turnover, attrition rate and moonlighting, which has become a malaise in Zimbabwean schools. Contributions/value-add: The study revealed that improving the remuneration for teachers has a domino effect on their poor working conditions.

Expectations of Zimbabwean Teachers and School Heads Regarding Forms of Professional Development Approaches Applied by Supervisors

The study sought to investigate forms of instructional supervisory assistance and professional development approaches teachers expect to receive from their supervisors. The investigation employed a mixed methods research design. The study population comprised all teachers and heads in schools in Harare and Mashonaland Central Provinces. It was conducted in 628 schools: 298 in Harare, and 330 schools in the predominantly rural Mashonaland Central Province. Harare being the largest city was specifically selected as a typical urban province; while Mashonaland Central, with many responsible authorities, was specifically chosen to represent predominantly rural province. The population was stratified according to province and position of would-be respondents. The required random sample was taken from each stratum. Sample size was 741 teachers and school heads randomly selected as follows: 373 from Harare and 368 from Mashonaland Central. Data were collected through questionnaires in which respondents indicated their expectations. Findings revealed that teachers expected the following forms of assistance from supervisors: making greater use of multi-sensory visual teaching aids; caring for needs of talented learners; evaluation of teacher’s own teaching competence, and conducting a good lesson. Both school heads and teachers viewed as effective supervisory approaches, participatory ones in which teachers jointly-planned and organized with supervisors. Major challenges faced by schools included shortage of time, inadequate teaching and learning resources, negative attitudes and low teacher morale. The study recommends that education Supervisors embrace these expectations and employ more participatory approaches.

Zimbabwean School Libraries as Social Spaces

The success of students in the future is dependent upon the foundation laid down during years spent at school. Libraries play a critical role in shaping the future of students by preparing them for life beyond the school. The school library as a key component of the school curriculum has great potential to shape students through providing opportunities for independent learning. The paper will seek to find out the strategies that school libraries employ to develop student’s interpersonal skills in the advent of ICT’s. It will also examine the role of school libraries in promoting interpersonal skills development amongst students to promote responsible behaviour or citizenship. The paper will explore the extent to which school libraries can utilize technology to enhance interpersonal communication thus enhancing social inclusion. The writer will use a phenomenological paradigm to highlight the challenges and opportunities facing school libraries in urban Harare to provide effective library services to students so that they can be adequately prepared for the dynamic technology driven life premised on such skills like information literacy.

Parental Engagement and Sustainable Learning in Primary Schools: Perspectives of Parents and School Heads in Rural Primary Schools in Zimbabwe

This article explores parents and school heads’ understanding of parental engagement as a precursor for sustainable learning by children in rural primary schools in Zimbabwe. The article forms part of a larger study on parental engagement for enhancing sustainable learning in rural primary schools. It sought to provide answers to the central question: What is the conceptualisation of parental engagement in enhancing sustainable learning in rural primary schools? The study adopted a qualitative research approach and was informed by Epstein’s theory of parental engagement. Data were collected by use of Focus Group Discussions and face-to-face interviews, and were analysed following Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis approach. The key finding in this study is that, whilst parents and school heads shared the view that parental engagement was key to sustainable learning, conceptualisation of what this practice entails differs significantly between these stakeholders in education. Whereas school heads’ perspective of parental engagement centres on parents as facilitators and financiers of education, parents understand parental engagement as involving, controlling and monitoring the work activities of both school heads and teachers up and above their resourcing and facilitation roles. In fact, parents felt they should also play an oversight role. Clearly, findings from this study contribute to scholarship by elaborating on existing knowledge and by adding new insights into existing literature on parental engagement and sustainable learning by children.

Juvenile Delinquency as Manifested by Drug Abuse in Gweru Secondary Schools in Zimbabwe

Juvenile Delinquency as Manifested by Drug Abuse in Gweru Secondary Schools in Zimbabwe

An Evaluation of the Health Safety Concerns in Zimbabwean Public Schools Operating under the Covid-19 Pandemic

This paper sought to evaluate the health safety concerns in public schools’ operations under the Covid-19 pandemic and focused on schools in Masvingo Urban. The study was necessitated by an increasing number of public schools in Zimbabwe reporting significant cases of Covid-19 infections since reopening in September 2020 raising public fear that the Standard Operations Procedures (SOPs) prescribed for schools to prevent, combat and manage the spread of the coronavirus were not being enforced hence schools were not safe for the learners and teachers. The study used a descriptive design narrative and a qualitative discourse. The descriptive survey design was preferred for its suitability and simplicity as well as its focus on analyzing data gathered for purpose of describing attitudes and behaviours that influence and shape how the population under study feel and understand things around them. The data for the study, particularly the obvert breaches of SOPs were gathered through observation. Interviews and questionnaires were used to ensure triangulation of techniques so as to better understand whether the shortcomings in implementation of SOPs were due to personal omissions or challenging circumstances that school communities found themselves in. While observation was for all and sundry at the fifteen (15) school selected for the study, targeted sampling was used to come up with seventy-five (75) respondents for interviews and questionnaires. The study revealed that the implementation of SOPs in public schools is far below stakeholders’ expectations and World Health Organization benchmarks. Regrettably, the school environment meant to be improved by the SOPs was still congested and characterized by risk behaviours which expose learners and teachers to the Covid-19 scourge. Chief among the undesirable behaviours include doing without personal protective equipment (gowns, gloves, face masks) or improper use of the same, failure to keep social distance, loopholes in screening of learners and visitors for Covid-19 symptoms and poor hand hygiene. The study further revealed a plethora of underlying challenges to the implementation of the SOPs. Central to the challenges is understaffing of all the school covered by the study. The shortage of teachers has made it difficult to split the mega classes (doubling normal teacher-pupils’ ratio) to desirable and manageable numbers. The neck breaking workload shouldered on the teachers in post that now included close monitoring of learners to enforce Covid-19 prevention and management protocols weighed down on their morale and commitment to duty. Financial constrain was also detrimental as all school did not have adequate supplies of personal protective equipment and sanitizers. The study primarily recommends that the highlighted challenges faced in the implementation of the SOPs be addressed as a matter of urgency. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education (MoPSE) should engage the Public Service Commission with the view of employing additional teachers to easy the staff shortage and spread the workload. MoPSE should also explore possibilities of introducing a separate school calendar for various levels to meaningfully decongest classrooms and hostels. The Ministry of Finance must step up its appropriation allocation to public schools through grants to ensure adequate supply of personal protective equipment and sanitizers. In order to empower learners through life skills positive behaviour change for the ‘new normal’ school environment, psycho–educational in form of intensified guidance and counselling programmes must be offered to all learners at all levels in the schools. Keywords: COVID-19, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Coronavirus Management Protocols. DOI: 10.7176/JAAS/70-05 Publication date: January 31 st 2021

Heads of Department's role in implementation of History syllabi at selected Zimbabwean secondary schools: an instructional leadership perspective

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores the school-based instructional leadership role of Heads of Department (HODs) in the implementation of different History syllabi. It seeks to establish the practices that History HODs carry out in order to improve the teaching and learning of the subject. HODs are subject specialists who are responsible for establishing and ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in their subjects. This study is a response to the claim that History HODs often fail to rise to expectations in ensuring effective curriculum implementation in the subject. Qualitative data was collected through the study of circulars and policy documents and by conducting structured, in-depth interviews with fifteen key informants sampled from selected schools in the Glen View/Mufakose district in Harare. The key finding from this study is that the HODs were the de facto instructional leaders during the implementation of the History syllabi and that their level of involvement determines the success and/or failure of History syllabi. The paper concludes by asserting that HODs play a critical role in the implementation of History syllabi, since they are at the chalk face and directly supervise the implementation of changes in the subject as illustrated at five secondary schools used in the study. Keywords: HOD; Instructional leadership; Implementation; History Syllabus; Supervision.