Robert Mugabe School of Education, Heritage and Humanities

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The Role Of Indigenous Education In Contemporary Times:
(Great Zimbabwe University, 2020) Wuta Rodwell Kumbirai
This inquiry was motivated by the observable ‘inadequacy’ of the pro-Western secondary education system extant in Zimbabwe which currently churns out incomplete beings - graduates who lack moral rectitude and are not job-oriented. The study is, therefore, conceptualised within a framework that incorporates: the notion of ‘colonial education as cultural imperialism’ up to 1980, the national ideological transformation since 1980, the Nziramasanga Commission Report of 1999 and the Updated Curriculum 2015-2022. Hence, Gade’s theory of ‘narratives of return’ and Sankofa provide the theoretical framework. As emerged in the review of related literature, firstly, holism, as an aspect of indigenous African education, is deemed relevant in the 21st Century Zimbabwe. Secondly, the prevalent legacies of colonialism justify the Africanisation movement, which, in itself, concurs with the fusion of indigenous African education into contemporary secondary instruction. Thirdly, though parochially confined to issues of morality and African values, the Unhu/Ubuntu philosophy is advocated to guide secondary education in Zimbabwe. Finally, advocacy is congruously strong that the agenda for refashioning Zimbabwe’s secondary education be anchored in Unhu/Ubuntu so that it addresses the above-said ‘inadequacy’. In terms of methodology, this study took the qualitative approach undergirded by the research philosophy of interpretivism, since the research sub-questions spearheading this inquiry are of a descriptive, exploratory and evaluative nature. The multiple case study design which is situated within the interpretivist paradigm was also engaged wherein the inquirer purposively sampled a total of 28 participants from Masvingo Urban, Zimbabwe. Individual interviews became the main research instrument, buttressed by focus group discussions, document analysis and observation. Findings from this empirical field investigation synchronize with what emerged in the review of related literature. Firstly, participants demonstrated a phenomenal appreciation of the inherent ‘wholeness’ of indigenous African education which epitomizes its relevance to a contemporary Zimbabwe. Secondly, most participants seemed to envision and treasure the possibility of Africanizing Zimbabwe’s secondary education. Thirdly, the majority of participants suggested Unhu/Ubuntu to inform secondary education and professed optimism by believing that this philosophy might be viable in a globalizing Zimbabwe. Most of these optimists, however, demonstrated a rather partial conception of Unhu/Ubuntu, as they portrayed it as a moral philosophy which informs only the education of the ‘heart’. Fourthly, in spite of the above-referred deficiency, these participants still managed to suggest meaningful strategies with which to refashion secondary education so that it expounds Unhu/Ubuntu. Basically, this implies great potential for Zimbabwe’s education ministry to achieve holism through integrating indigenous African education, which infuses Unhu/Ubuntu, into the current pro-Western secondary school system. The continued churning-out of incomplete graduates from Zimbabwe’s secondary school system demonstrates that the aforesaid potential is under-utilized. Therefore, this study recommends the integration of more aspects of indigenous education into Zimbabwe’s secondary education system and the corresponding refashioning of the same system on the basis of a fully conceptualized Unhu/Ubuntu philosophy, with a view to addressing the ‘inadequacy’ noted. To accomplish the foregoing, the current curriculum, which is observably centralized, needs to be decentralized so that it promotes active classroom teacher involvement in the correlation-integration of knowledge and instruction
Compatibility Of Ubuntu and Leadership In Three Teachers’ Colleges In Masvingo Province:
(Great Zimbabwe University, 2020-02) Gwede Sonile
This study focused on the compatibility of Ubuntu and leadership in three teachers’ colleges in Masvingo Province. The study was motivated by axiological dysfunctions of leadership in teachers’ colleges, which is assumed to be guided by Ubuntu. The Nziramasanga Commission of 1999 provides the terms of reference on the status of Ubuntu in institutions of higher learning. The study employed the qualitative approach which implies that purposive sampling was used to select thirty participants who were drawn from lecturers and students at the colleges under study. Purposive sampling enabled the researcher to select information-rich participants. The data were collected through interviews, focus group discussions, document analysis and observations. To ensure that the findings were plausible, issues of trustworthiness such as credibility, confirmability, transferability and dependability were addressed. Furthermore, there was triangulation of participants’ views and of data collecting instruments. The study revealed that Ubuntu was regarded highly in Zimbabwe. Ubuntu was shown as indispensable in leadership operations. Nonetheless, the study showed that conceptualization of Ubuntu was blurred in teachers’ colleges. It also emerged that policies that govern college leadership operations were not compatible with Ubuntu. Due to compatibility challenges of Ubuntu and leadership, students faced both social and academic problems which affected their performance. There was rampant plagiarism, which compromised the integrity of teachers colleges. The study concluded that the colleges could fully realise their mandate of developing teachers if Ubuntu in its entirety was incorporated in leadership operations. The study recommended that government takes robust measures to align leadership operations in teachers college to Ubuntu.
Institutional Responsiveness to Student Sexual Harasment In Teachers’ Colleges In Zimbabwe
(Great Zimbabwe University, 2022-05-16) Usanga Kelvin Henry
Sexual harassment persists in higher education with deleterious consequences for both individuals and institutions. The persistence of the vice foregrounds, in the context of scant literature, the need for increased research focus on understanding and strengthening institutional prevention and response efforts. Accordingly, this study, guided by a socio-ecological driven four-factor theory of sexual harassment, sought to meet this research need. The study utilized a qualitatively driven sequential explanatory mixed methods design to estimate the prevalence of sexual harassment, assess institutional tolerance for sexual harassment, examine institutional responsive strategies to sexual harassment in the teachers’ colleges studied, and explore students and lecturers’ perceptions on the effectiveness of institutional responsive strategies. A cross-sectional survey and a multisite case study were conducted in the respective quantitative and qualitative strands of the study. Survey data were collected using a self-report questionnaire from a total random sample of 598 comprising 88 lecturers and 510 students. Confidence intervals were constructed and chi-square tests were performed on the quantitative data. The case study qualitative data were collected through face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions, and qualitative document analysis. Qualitative analysis involved data coding, constant comparison, content analysis, and thematic analysis. At an estimated prevalence rate of at least 40%, largely perpetrated by male lecturers on female students, sexual harassment was found to be ubiquitous across the 5 colleges studied with prevalence rates higher in some colleges than in others. Campus climate was found to be sexual harassment tolerant despite anti-sexual harassment rhetoric and implementation of institutional responsive strategies. Additionally, the study established widespread scepticism about the effectiveness and authenticity of institutional prevention and responsive strategies to sexual harassment. The study recommends that teachers’ colleges appoint non-academic staff to case management structures and support services, and prioritize the development, adoption, and robust implementation of comprehensive zero-tolerance policies on sexual harassment.
Catering for Education Needs Of Learners With Parents In The Diaspora In Mwenezi District
(Great Zimbabwe University, 2023) Gumbo Shephered
This study embedded in the family systems theoretical framework was conducted in the Mwenezi district of Zimbabwe to evaluate educational needs provisions for primary school learners with parents in the diaspora. An interpretive paradigm that incorporated a qualitative research approach and case study design was adopted to gather data through face-to-face semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis techniques. The study had a sample of 27 participants namely 2 primary school heads, 13 teachers, 6 learners and 6 guardians who were drawn equitably from the two schools studied. Data were analysed using the thematic content technique. One of the findings from the study was that most learners left behind were not considered as vulnerable by the communities and hence were excluded from any educational assistance provided by the government. Additionally, schools had no programmes in place to cater for the welfare of learners left behind. The third finding was that learners left behind got little support at home and had difficulties coping with home and school requirements hence felt dropping out of school to follow their parents was the better option. It was established too that while in some few cases, the learners left behind were spoiled materially, the majority were spoiled socially and as a result despised education and authority. Sporting activities, harvesting Mopani worms and initiation ceremonies were also found to impact negatively on the education of learners left behind. Drawing from these findings and others reported in this study, it was recommended that counselling programmes be improved in schools by employing qualified counsellors at every school. Migration studies could be introduced at all learning levels. Thirdly, learners left behind should be registered with the department of social welfare so that anyone interested in their welfare would access information about them easily. Furthermore, resocialisation of communities and schools on parenting befitting the emerging triangulated family type ought to be done. Schools were also advised to launch income-generating projects whose proceeds should assist needy learners to get food or learning material support. Individual learner assessment mechanisms should be used when considering learners for educational welfare programmes. The other proposed recommendation was that the government ought to improve communication infrastructure in remote schools such as those in the Mwenezi district so that teachers and learners can easily interact with parents in the diaspora.
Factors That Influence Implementation of Sign Language Regulatory Frameworks in Zimbabwean Special Schools for the Deaf
(Great Zimbabwe University, 2023) Chegovo Reward Wedzero
This study sought to examine factors that influence the implementation of sign language regulatory frameworks in Zimbabwean special schools for the Deaf. The main objectives of the study were four-fold. Firstly, the study sought to examine how Zimbabwean Sign Language (ZSL) laws and policies were being implemented in the special schools. Secondly, it sought to analyse the challenges faced by teachers in implementing Sign Language legal frameworks. Thirdly, it sought to find out the extent to which the teachers were equipped in the profession to teach Deaf learners. Finally, the study sought to explore the strategies that could be proposed to enhance the implementation of ZSL policies in the special schools for the Deaf. The study was a phenomenological multiple case study of four special schools for the Deaf. In-depth interviews, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation were used to generate data from 29 participants who were 17 Grade One to Grade Three Special Needs Education specialist teachers, the heads of each of the four schools, four district schools inspectors and four educational psychologists responsible for each of the school-districts. Data were coded and deductive thematic analysis employed through Atlas. ti and presented in Network View diagrams. The study revealed that several factors influenced the implementation of sign language policies in Zimbabwean special schools for the Deaf. It emerged that Sign Language policy goals and the means of achieving Sign Language policy goals were ambiguous, hence, this created some misunderstandings. Policy implementers were not capacitated on the meaning of Sign Language policies and how the policies were supposed to be implemented. Furthermore, there was a lack of implementation monitoring mechanism by the Ministry of Education and the district officers as they were not competent in Sign Language, resulting in the policies largely remaining just on paper. Based on the findings, the study proposed strategies to enhance the implementation of ZSL policies in the special schools for the Deaf. Key among these strategies included adoption of Chegovo’s (2022) Administrative Sign Language Policy Conflict-Ambiguity Resolution Model. It was also recommended that the Ministry of Education needed to actively promote Sign Language policies for effective implementation. Teachers and other Ministry of Education officials also needed to be fluent in Sign Language and so they could be given priority for in-service training in Sign Language.
Strategies for Mitigating Drug Abuse Among Female Learners in Chiredzi Dstrict: an Ecological Perspsctive
(Great Zimbabwe University, 2023) Tsingo Constance
The aim of the study was to come up with strategies for mitigating drug abuse among female secondary school learners in selected Chiredzi district schools. At the same time, the study established if learners were aware of the adverse effects of drug abuse. The study was informed by Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological theory and the Feminist theory. The theories were chosen on the basis that the Ecological theory attempts to explain the behaviour of children in relation to the environment they are nurtured in, while the Feminist theory is related to gender issues that affect the girl child. The researcher employed the interpretivist paradigm and a qualitative case study design. Data were generated through purposive sampling of four school heads, four disciplinary committee chairpersons, four Guidance and Counselling heads of departments and twenty-four learners. Semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis were used to collect information from the participants. The study established that the fight against drug abuse by female secondary school learners could be won by making homes more habitable and schools conducive to the academic well-being of female secondary school learners. The study also revealed that schools were trying their best to stop drug abuse among learners through school-based campaigns, stringent school rules and guidance and counselling, despite the fact that the teachers lacked guidance and counselling professional qualifications. The study recommended that all stakeholders collaborate in the fight against drug abuse. The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should train Guidance and Counselling teachers so that they may be able to deal with drug abuse issues. The study also recommended that Non-Governmental Organisations and churches take the lead in the campaigns against drug abuse and also that the police should be more vigilant and should receive continuous training on drug abuse issues. Thus, all stakeholders need to revisit the root causes and fight against drug abuse in pursuant of the mantra by His Excellence, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, that Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo. The study contributes a model for mitigating drug abuse in which schools will be serving as focal centres.
Towards a Model to Enhance Holistic Development of Secondary School Learners during the COVID-19 Pandemic Era in Chegutu, Zimbabwe,
(Great Zimbabwe University, 2024) Makuvaza Taurai
The study examined the holistic development of secondary school learners in the face of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19) in Chegutu, Zimbabwe. The study was informed by Urie Bronfenbrenner‟s bio-ecological systems theory, Erik Erikson‟s psycho-social theory and the Five-Factor Model of Personality development by Robert McCrae and Paul Costa. This study was guided by interpretivism and adopted a qualitative research approach in collecting and analysing data. A multiple case study design was employed. The qualitative research method gave participants the chance to express their opinions and experiences through in-depth interviews and open ended. The qualitative descriptive design was also taken on board for use in this study. A purposively drawn sample of eight secondary school learners doing Forms 4 to 6, eight secondary school teachers and two health workers were used to collect data. The researcher employed the Tesch‟s open analysis method through which themes were isolated. The results of the study showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic period, learners experienced academic anxiety, examination fear, stress, monophobia and depression as they cloistered themselves in their homes to avoid social contact. The results also showed that the frequency, with which clothes were sanitised, and fruits and vegetables were washed with detergents and warm water resulted in the development of neurotic disorders and stigma among secondary school learners. During the COVID-19 pandemic era, learners lost peer relationships as well as collaborative learning and engagement as they strove to maintain social distance. The study recommended that the Government of Zimbabwe provide free education to the secondary school learners who had been affected and infected by COVID-19, given that some had lost their parents. It was recommended that the Government also identify bed-ridden parents of secondary school learners so that they can be provided with palliative care and be financed in order that secondary school learners who attend school instead of providing care for the ailing parent may be assisted. There was need to regularly organise workshops, seminars, educational tours and inservice courses to equip teachers with necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes on how to manage secondary school learners who had been affected by monophobia, anxiety stress, and depression due to the COVID -19 pandemic.