Zimbabwean Teachers Research Articles

ICTs in teacher education: enhancing quality language teaching and learning in Zimbabwe

113 Rapid advances in the development of ICT have been seen to offer new opportunities for enhancing the quality and effectiveness of language teaching and learning. The computer offers educators immense possibilities, and has been widely used, in computer assisted language learning (CALL). CALL has made significant advances towards finding a solution to and changing the way that language courses are conceived and taught. Although CALL developments tended to follow behaviouristic pedagogies that produced electronic imitations of drill and practice, for example, CALL now provides endless opportunities for interaction with a rich set of media types, characters and cultural information. However, educational institutions have lagged behind in fully recognising such opportunities. This prompts a call for re-orientation of education and training of language teachers. The paper therefore intends to guide teachers’ colleges on integrating ICT into their language learning and teaching activities. The guide is specifically aimed at language lecturers, lecturers-in-charge (LICs), heads of departments (HODs) and administrators in Zimbabwean teachers’ colleges while exploring the challenges of introducing ICT driven language education in traditionally face-to-face tertiary institutions in developing African countries.

Zimbabwean Teachers in South Africa: their Needs and Advice to Prospective Migrant Teachers

Migrants consider South Africa to be a country of greener pastures in a sub-region blighted by political and economic instability. In South Africa’s education system, Zimbabwean teachers constitute the largest group of migrant teachers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the social and professional needs of migrant Zimbabwean teachers and their advice to prospective migrant teachers. Fifteen migrant Zimbabwean teachers in public high schools or combined schools (private schools) took part in semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. The data were analysed qualitatively using open coding. The findings of the study revealed that these migrant teachers need support to overcome difficulties in classroom management, in acquiring legal documentation, and in dealing with the issues of safety and xenophobia. The findings also revealed that the teachers were in need of induction, professional development, and social and financial support. In spite of their many needs, the migrant teachers’ advice to prospective migrant teachers was that they should try their luck in South Africa.

Social Media Tools in Education: A Case of WhatsApp use by Heritage Studies Teachers in Zimbabwe

Social Media Tools in Education: A Case of WhatsApp use by Heritage Studies Teachers in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean teachers in South Africa: A transient greener pasture

Zimbabwean teachers constitute the largest group of migrant teachers in South Africa (Department of Higher Education & Training (DHET), 2013). The main reason South Africa welcomes migrant teachers is to ease the country’s own teacher shortage. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore Zimbabwean teachers’ motives for migration to South Africa and their future career plans. Fifteen migrant Zimbabwean teachers in public high or combined schools (private schools) took part in semi-structured, face-to-face interviews. Several sampling techniques (purposive, quota, convenient and snowball sampling) were used to select the teachers in Gauteng Province. The data was analysed qualitatively using open coding. The findings revealed that the economic and political instability in Zimbabwe (a push factor) played a much stronger role in migration decisions of the migrant teachers than did pull factors such as the close proximity of South Africa, and the existence of a migration network in South Africa. The findings of the study also revealed that some of the migrant Zimbabwean teachers migrated to reunite with their families, as they preferred not to split their immediate families between two countries. Migration networks were effective in assisting the migrants to find employment. The future plans of the majority of the teachers were ambitious. They involved improving their academic qualifications, getting employment in the tertiary education sector, and migrating to other, better paying countries. Migrant teachers are playing a crucial role while balance is being sought between demand and supply of teachers in South Africa. They ought to be given fair contracts that would encourage those who want to stay on, to do so. Keywords: migrants; migration; South Africa; Zimbabwean teachers

Zimbabwean in-service mathematics teachers’ understanding of matrix operations

In Zimbabwe, school pupils study matrix operations, a topic that is usually covered as part of linear algebra courses taken by most mathematics undergraduate students at university. In this study we focused on Zimbabwean teachers who were studying the topic at university while also teaching the topic to their high school pupils. The purpose of the study was to explore the mental conceptions of matrix operations concepts of a sample of 116 in-service mathematics teachers. The Action Process Object Schema (APOS) theoretical framework describes the development in understanding of mathematics concepts through the hierarchical growth of mental constructions called action, process, object and schema. The results showed that many of the participants had interiorized actions on matrix operations of addition, scalar multiplication and matrix multiplication into processes. However, more than 50% of the participants struggled with scalar multiplication of a row matrix by a column matrix. In terms of notational errors, some participants could not distinguish between brackets that denote a matrix and that of a determinant, while some used the equal sign as an operator symbol and not as one denoting equivalence between two objects. It is recommended that future in-service teacher programs should try to create more structured opportunities to allow participants to engage more deeply with these concepts.

Economic Crisis and Poverty Induced Deviance on Female Teachers in Zimbabwe

<div><p><em>The study explores deviant activities that female teachers engage into due to the poverty induced by the economic crisis prevailing in Zimbabwe. The research was designed and conducted within the qualitative paradigm. The design adopted by the study was the survey. The methodology involved informal conversational interviews and focus group discussions. The study was conducted with a group of thirty female teachers who were also perusing their masters studies. The study established that female teachers engage in various deviant as teachers and as students due to the economic hardships that they find themselves in. Deviant acts as teachers include failure to attend to their classes, getting involved into peddling activities instead to augment the meagre income from government. Retailing of goods to pupils, giving less work to their pupils to reduce work load and many more. As students they are forced to engage in acts of plagiarism as well as missing lessons to attend to whatever business that can bring the much needed extra income. </em></p></div>

Moderating effect of employee wellness on the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction among teachers in Zimbabwe

Moderating effect of employee wellness on the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction among teachers in Zimbabwe

The moderating effect of Employee wellness on the relationship between Work-life balance and job satisfaction among teachers in Zimbabwe

The paper investigates the moderating effects of employee wellness on the relationship between work-life balance and job satisfaction. A quantitative research design was adopted to examine the hypothesised model using the SPSS PROCESS. An in-depth analysis of employee wellness, work-life balance as well as job satisfaction of teachers based in Mount Darwin situated in Mashonaland Central, Zimbabwe was taken into cognisance. One hundred and thirty-two (n = 132) participants took part in the study. The results revealed that at low quality of work-life balance, job satisfaction was similar for teachers with low, average or high quality of work-life balance. Teachers with high quality of work-life balance who had high employee wellness also had high job satisfaction. The practical and theoretical implications of this study are also highlighted.

An Assessment of Zimbabwe Secondary School Teachers’ Attitudes towards the Use of Smart Phones in the Classroom: A Case of Midlands Province, Zimbabwe

While technology has been embraced by most of the people, use of smart phones in the classroom has been received with mixed feelings. Some say it enhances learning while others complain that it disturbs instruction. This research wanted to find out the stance of secondary school teachers on this issue in Zimbabwe. A sample of 50 randomly selected teachers from 10 randomly selected secondary schools in Gweru District, Midlands Province in Zimbabwe was used. Data from self-constructed questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS mainly on descriptive statistics and correlation. Findings showed that teachers possess smart phones which they use for researching and other instructional purposes with moderate expertise. Teachers consider smart phones as hand-held computers that can enhance learning for they have high engagement potential and they extend classroom walls allowing students to engage with the global village. A correlation computation showed that there is a significant relationship between perceived problems of smart phones and smart phones integration factors. However, respondents felt that smart phones can cause lower levels of attention during lessons and allows cheating and copying during exams. They also concurred that teachers’ technical skills lag behind those of digital native students. Thus, they foresaw instructional problems on the part of the teachers on the use of smart phones in the classroom and were against their use. They doubted if the use of smart phones can improve the pass rate and whether they wanted their students to bring cell phones and use them during lessons for they perceived problems in controlling students using them. They also doubted if schools in Zimbabwe would ever benefit if students are allowed to use their phones in class. The study concluded that teachers in Zimbabwe are not yet prepared to have students use smart phone in the classroom and recommended for further research on the potential benefits of using smart phones in the classroom.

Remittances and development: Zimbabwean migrant teachers in South Africa and their impact on their Zimbabwean families

This paper contends that the unprecedented migration of Zimbabwean teachers into South Africa has transformed the well-being of their families in Zimbabwe positively. In some cases, poverty at household level has even been alleviated as a result of remittances sent to Zimbabwean households of the Zimbabwean teachers in South Africa. On the strength of human development impacts such as increased household income and consumption, savings and asset accumulation, improved access to health and nutrition and access to better education identified in this research, it is possible to hypothesize that professional Zimbabwean migrant teachers in South Africa who maintain ties with their home country do indeed make a positive contribution to their own families’ and households’ human development needs back home in Zimbabwe

Learners’ code-switching in English as a Second Language (ESL) lessons: perspectives of four secondary school teachers in Zimbabwe

<div><p><em>The study investigated the perceptions of secondary school teachers of English on code-switching by learners in the learning of English. The qualitative inquiry focused on one rural day, and one urban boarding school. The study employed interviews with four teachers from the two schools. Results show that from the perspective of the teachers, their ESL learners code-switched from English to the learners’ L1 as a learning tool, mainly to foster understanding among learners and between the learners and their teachers, and for other communicative and social functions. The teachers expressed an appreciation of their learners’ code-switching but there were also negative sentiments. The study recommends that language policy planners revisit the English-only policy in schools and consider adopting the endo-normative rather than the exo-normative model of English for the education system. The study also recommends that the responsible Ministry should hold workshops to sensitise teachers on how code-switching may be tolerated and exploited as a language learning tool. Furthermore, the study recommends that ESL teachers be guided by the Postmethod pedagogy, a sense of plausibility as well as the notion of relativism in their decisions on whether or not to allow their learners to code-switch. In addition, the inquiry recommends that the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council be sensitive to aspects of the local variety of English rather than set exo-normative models. Finally, the study recommends that further research be done on code-switching in school types which were not included in the sample for the present study.</em></p></div>

Special education professional development needs in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACTSince 1980 when Zimbabwe obtained political independence, special education has not received the same priority as the entire education system. One of the manifestations of this discrepancy is the shortage of qualified special education teachers in the country. In order to address this trend and promote the development of special education, researchers have suggested the need for professional development in the area of special education. The purpose of this study was to identify the special education professional development needs of both special and general education in-service teachers in Zimbabwe. A semi-structured survey instrument, developed by the first and second authors, which included open- and closed-end questions was used in this study. The sample consisted of 204 schoolteachers drawn from two school districts of Zvishavane and Gwanda. The participating schoolteachers overwhelmingly expressed the need for more professional development in the area of special education. The schoolteachers also identified several topics that they considered to be important for professional development.

Can Schools Support HIV/AIDS-Affected Children? Exploring the 'Ethic of Care' amongst Rural Zimbabwean Teachers.

How realistic is the international policy emphasis on schools ‘substituting for families’ of HIV/AIDS-affected children? We explore the ethic of care in Zimbabwean schools to highlight the poor fit between the western caring schools literature and daily realities of schools in different material and cultural contexts. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 44 teachers and 55 community members, analysed in light of a companion study of HIV/AIDS-affected pupils’ own accounts of their care-related experiences. We conceptualise schools as spaces of engagement between groups with diverse needs and interests (teachers, pupils and surrounding community members), with attention to the pathways through which extreme adversity impacts on those institutional contexts and social identifications central to giving and receiving care. Whilst teachers were aware of how they might support children, they seldom put these ideas into action. Multiple factors undermined caring teacher-pupil relationships in wider contexts of poverty and political uncertainty: loss of morale from low salaries and falling professional status; the inability of teachers to solve HIV/AIDS-related problems in their own lives; the role of stigma in deterring HIV/AIDS-affected children from disclosing their situations to teachers; authoritarian teacher-learner relations and harsh punishments fuelling pupil fear of teachers; and lack of trust in the wider community. These factors undermined: teacher confidence in their skills and capacity to support affected pupils and motivation to help children with complex problems; solidarity and common purpose amongst teachers, and between teachers and affected children; and effective bridging alliances between schools and their surrounding communities–all hallmarks of HIV-competent communities. We caution against ambitious policy expansions of teachers' roles without recognition of the personal and social costs of emotional labour, and the need for significant increases in resources and institutional recognition to enable teachers to adopt support roles. We highlight the need for research into how best to create opportunities for teacher recognition in deprived and disorganised institutional settings, and the development of more culturally appropriate notions of caring.

Learning for sustainable futures: a human development approach to citizenship education

Situated in debates on citizenship formation through higher education, this paper contributes to literature on policy processes and practices in the operationalisation of National and Strategic Studies, a citizenship education course in Zimbabwean teachers’ colleges. This is in order to evaluate the extent to which these practices and processes support the principles of human development which are linked to sustainability. This paper argues that a human development approach focusing on four values: empowerment, participation, sustainability and equity is significant in reimagining policy processes and practices that contribute towards learning for sustainable futures. Drawing on interview data of two mid-level policy stakeholders, from a qualitative research study, the results indicate that policy processes undertaken in the introduction and operationalisation of National and Strategic Studies do not reflect and uphold democratic principles contributing towards human development, social justice and hence sustainability. The contested democratic space in the broader context of the course has a bearing on the policy processes and practises adopted by policy stakeholders.

CHIMURENGA RENAISSANCE: DOUBLE DOUBLENESS IN THE DIASPORIC MUSIC OF TENDAI MARAIRE

Over the past decade, emerging Seattle-based artist Tendai Maraire, the American-born son of Zimbabwean teacher, performer, and ethnomusicologist, Dumisani Maraire, has crafted a unique musical position by marshaling multiple diasporic strands in his music. These include both the centuries-old African-American diaspora that took shape through the “Black Atlantic,” as well as an emerging diaspora that is specifically Zimbabwean in nature. In this article, it is argued that the layering of these distinct diasporic histories has fostered a type of “doubled doubleness” in Tendai Maraire’s music, extending DuBois’ original conception of “double consciousness” to encompass multiple sites of identity location: the American superculture, the Shona culture of his parents, the old African diaspora, and the new Zimbabwean diaspora. It is further argued that Maraire has articulated this “doubled doubleness” musically through his relationships to musical styles associated with both old and new African diasporas, most notably North American hip-hop and Zimbabwean chimurenga, a genre that has historically functioned as a form of resistance to colonial rule.

Implications of Teacher Life-Work Histories for Conceptualisations of 'Care': Narratives from Rural Zimbabwe.

Schools are increasingly seen as key sites for support to HIV‐affected and other vulnerable children, and teachers are assigned the critical role of identifying and providing psychosocial support. Drawing on the life–work history narratives of 12 teachers in Zimbabwe, this paper explores the psychosocial processes underpinning teachers' conceptualisations of these caring roles. The influence of prolonged adversity, formative relationships, and broader patterns of social and institutional change in teacher identity formation processes speak to the complex and embodied nature of understandings of ‘care’. In such extreme settings teachers prioritise the material and disciplinary aspects of ‘care’ that they see as essential for supporting children to overcome hardship. This focus not only means that emotional support as envisaged in international policy is commonly overlooked, but also exposes a wider ideological clash about childrearing. This tension together with an overall ambivalence surrounding teacher identities puts further strain on teacher–student relationships. We propose the current trainings on providing emotional support are insufficient and that more active focus needs to be directed at support to teachers in relation with their students. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Living in Liminal Spaces: Zimbabwean Immigrant Teachers’ Othering in South Africa

Zimbabwean teachers are the largest cohort of foreign teachers in South Africa. This paper explores Zimbabwean immigrant teachers’ migration experiences in South Africa after fleeing from socio-economic and political strife in Zimbabwe post 2000. The data draws from the findings of two studies (one qualitative and the other mixed methods) undertaken in South Africa on immigrant teachers; teachers being a category of highly skilled professionals in demand globally. Both studies were on the nature of teacher migration to South Africa. The former study was centred specifically on Zimbabwean teachers’ reasons for migration and their experiences (undertaken in 2011) and the other more broadly on immigrant teachers’ experiences (undertaken in 2012). Bhabha's construct of diasporic identity was used as a portal to understand immigrant teachers’ socio-economic and professional experiences in South Africa. The findings revealed that Zimbabwean immigrant teachers can be conceived as nomads, experiencing multiple struggles personally and professionally, which commenced from their entry into South Africa, in their search for acceptance. Their ‘othering’ which locates them in a marginalized position results in them being treated with hostility by government officials, ignored for their contribution to educational development in South Africa and being fearful, prone to xenophobic attitudes and behavior in schools and society.

Investigating the Extent to Which the External Quality Assessment of Final Year Student Teachers in Zimbabwe’s 2-5-2 Teacher Education Model Enhances Continuous Improvement and Accountability of the Teaching Practice Program

The study sought to establish the extent to which the external quality assessmentof the final year student teachers enhances continuous improvement and accountability of the teaching practice programin Zimbabwe's 2-5-2 teacher education model. The mixed methods design was used to collect data in two phases. The first phase used questionnaires to collect survey quantitative data while the second phase collected qualitative data through interviews and document analysis.The study revealed that the external quality assessmentprocess in Zimbabwe's 2-5-2 teacher education wasskewed towards the achievement ofaccountability at the expense of enhancing continuous improvement of the teaching practice program. The study recommends that the external quality assessmentpractice in Zimbabwe's 2-5-2 teaching practice should strive to strike a balance towards the achievement of both accountability and continuousimprovement of the quality of teaching practice.

The Factors Which Motivate Zimbabwean Teachers Amid the Economic Challenges the Country Is Confronted With

This research investigated the factors which motivate teachers in Zimbabwean public schools amid the economic challenges ravaging the country. A survey design was used to gather data on biography, motivators, demotivators, need fulfilment, need deprivation and possible motivators by means of a questionnaire consisting of seven open-ended questions. The qualitative data amassed was screened and categorised in themes. The responses of thirty-seven teachers indicated that participants were motivated by financial gains, job security and the availability of adequate resources, contrarily to the major findings of Maslow and Herzberg. The absence of these in their workplaces equally demotivates them. Interesting though was that, a few teachers claimed that autonomy, recognition and developmental supervisory strategies were appropriate ingredients needed for self-actualisation. They further suggested that all stakeholders should be mobilised in a collaborated manner to provide adequate resources and infrastructure in schools to minimise demotivating conditions. Constant salary reviews within affordability limits, government loans at nominal interest rates and renewal strategies were recommended. Incentives although popular were discouraged.

Features of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of School Mathematics Teachers in Zimbabwe

Features of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) of School Mathematics Teachers in Zimbabwe