Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education in Zimbabwe
Research, Policy and Practice
Summary
Science, Mathematics, and Technology (SMT) education is recognised globally as a means of developing critically needed human capital. In Zimbabwe, SMT subjects constitute a significant component of the curriculum which, since political independence in 1980, has emphasised application-oriented, experientially-based teaching and learning. Efforts to mainstream this approach have resulted in several significant reforms to the country’s education system. Relatedly, there are ongoing attempts to boost uptake in SMT subjects and, through them, to develop such professional skills as problem-solving, lifelong learning, teamwork, critical thinking, and the capacity to contribute and adapt to our rapidly changing world.
There is a self-evident need to document progress made in these efforts and, in the process, to carefully examine issues at play, challenges met, and solutions developed. This book, developed through a partnership involving Zimbabwean editors and authors, was developed to fulfil this need. It is long overdue.
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Table of Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Foreword
- Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Notes on the Editors
- Notes on Contributors
- THEME 1 Historical Milestones and Perspectives on Science, Mathematics and Technology Education in Zimbabwe
- 1 An Overview of the Zimbabwean Education System
- 2 Advancement of Science Technology and Innovation Education in Zimbabwe: Policies and Practices
- 3 School Science in Zimbabwe: Debate and Critique for New Directions
- THEME 2 SMT Education Challenges in Policy Development and Practice
- 4 Early Childhood Development in Science and Mathematics Education in Zimbabwe: Challenges and Issues
- 5 Identifying and Nurturing the STEM Termites: The Key to Zimbabwe’s Efforts towards a Sustainable STEM Education
- 6 The Changing Roles of a Science Teacher: A Case of High School Teaching When Introducing a Competence-Based Curriculum in Zimbabwe
- 7 The Conceptualisation and Assessment of Science Practical Work in Zimbabwe
- 8 Situating Environmental Science Education to Reflect the Pedagogy of Place and the Socio-Cultural Context in Zimbabwe’s Higher Education Institutions Curricular
- 9 An Education 5.0 Analysis of the Current Status of Science Teacher Education in Zimbabwe
- THEME 3 SMT Education Challenges Faced by Zimbabwean Rural Schools
- 10 Rural Education: Challenges and Issues in Zimbabwe Science Education
- 11 The Era of COVID-19: Science, Mathematics, and Technology Teaching in Zimbabwe
- 12 Teaching Science in Zimbabwe: Enhancing the Teaching and Learning Strategies through Incorporating Information and Communication Technology
- THEME 4 Aligning ESD Integration with SMT Curricula in Zimbabwe
- 13 Education for Sustainable Development and STEM Education: Implications for an Interdisciplinary Approach to Mathematics Education in Zimbabwe
- 14 Embedding Education for Sustainable Development in the Teaching of Technology Courses in Zimbabwe: Policy and Practice
- 15 Reflections on Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education in Zimbabwe: Research, Policy and Practice
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Zimbabwe’s Education System
Figure 1.2 The Education Structure Proposed by CIET
Figure 1.3 The New School Curriculum Exit Profiles
Figure 2.1 The Education Structure Proposed by CIET
Figure 3.1 Zimbabwe School Science structure (Adapted from CBC 2015–2022, p. 38)
Figure 3.2 Holistic model of STEM competencies (self-developed)
Figure 3.3 A Contextualised STEAM Education model
Figure 4.1 Learners Working Together during an Experiment
Figure 4.2 Learners Scrambling for Learning Materials
Figure 5.2 South Africa’s Poor Performance in Soccer. Source: SAFA website
Figure 5.3 Educational Provision on the Bell Curve
Figure 5.4 Curriculum Implications of Characteristics and Learning Needs of Diverse Learners
←xi | xii→
List of Tables
Table 2.1 Lower 6th Students on STEM Initiative (Term 1- 2017)
Table 2.2 Upper 6th Students on STEM Initiative (Term 1- 2017)
Table 3.1 STEAM Education Road Map in Zimbabwe
Table 7.1 Science Subjects on Offer in the Zimbabwean Curriculum
Table 7.2 Assessment Objectives for Practical Science by Era
Table 9.1 The HE5.0CC Conceptual Framework
Table 9.2 Hierarchy of Documents Analysed
Table 9.3 Analysis Matrix (Adapted from Lavender & Mikkola, 2009).
Table 10.1 Number of Schools by Province
Table 10.2 Establishment of Science Teachers by Province
Table 11.1 Science, Mathematics, and Technology Teaching Practices before and during the Pandemic
Table 11.2 Science, Mathematics and Technology Instruction Challenges during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Table 11.3 Teaching and Learning Arrangements during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Table 14.1 ESD Themes Embedded in the Teaching of Technology Courses
←xiii | xiv→
Foreword
Historical and current educational perspectives are epistemologically challenging to weave together. In an attempt to provide a historical account of the Zimbabwean Science, Mathematics, and Technology (SMT)1 education, the book ‘Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education in Zimbabwe: Research, Policy and Practice’ affords a detailed and well thought out account of that. The book revolves around the teaching, learning and educational policies of SMT, the major subjects viewed as the drivers of the economy in any developing country. Efforts in the past 41 years since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 were primarily directed toward providing quality and inclusive education for learners. Despite this emphasis on quality education across all subjects, Zimbabwean learners’ performance in SMT subjects has been perceived to be weak. This book provides an exposé of the instructional and scholarship challenges and how research, policy and practice have contributed to the development of SMT education in Zimbabwe.
Peter Lang and editors Brantina Chirinda, Lwazi Sibanda, Joseph Vere and Gladys Sunzuma, supported by an expert author team, deserve a great compliment for bringing into being a book that effectively speaks to some of the matters afflicting the teaching and learning of SMT subjects as well as the integration of technology in the education system in Zimbabwe from Early Childhood Development (ECD) to tertiary level.
Chapter 1 provides an entry to the book with a reflective perspective of education in Zimbabwe prior to independence in 1980 and after. The chapter paints a picture of the diabolic education system provided to African nationals during the British colonial rule and how after independence, the system ←xv | xvi→remained diversified to include and accommodate African children in schools meant for white colonialists. The link between education and the economy of Zimbabwe and how the political-economic policies impacted the quality of education is well encapsulated in the chapter.
Chapter 2 carries on where Chapter 1 left off but includes and provides a condensed perspective of the various interventions involving the ministries of education, the institutions of higher education such as the University of Zimbabwe, with support from NGOs sponsored by numerous governments such as the Netherlands and the ‘Science Education In-service Teachers Training (SEITT)’, the German ‘Better Environmental Science Teaching (BEST)’, the UNESCO ‘Teacher Capacity Development Programme’. These were initiatives advanced to mitigate the low instructional and learning outcomes associated with STEM subjects in Zimbabwe.
Chapter 3 provides a debate and critique of school science, synthesises the literature on how science has developed in schools since 1980 and provides strategies for strengthening its goals. The chapter recommends adopting a contextualised STEAM education model.
Chapter 4 explores Early Childhood Development education in Zimbabwe’s teaching and learning of mathematics and science. It documents the challenges in Early Childhood Development schooling, which include, among other things, overcrowded classrooms, limited learning space, inadequate learning materials and lack of support from administrators.
Chapter 5, using Capability Approach Theory, outlines the importance of identifying and using learners’ intellectual abilities as the starting point for curricula formulation and providing support to learners in STEM subjects.
Chapters 6 and 8 are reflective accounts of how teachers’ roles have changed from examination-oriented instructional approaches to those that propagate relevant life skills in learners by drawing from culturally inclined experiences, with Chapter 8 emphasising how indigenous knowledge can be integrated into subjects such as environmental science. The instructional approaches addressed in the foregone chapters were collaborated with the assessment of practical perspectives of sciences in Chapter 7, whereas Chapter 9, like Chapters 2 and 3, documents the need for curriculum changes in STEM in Zimbabwe that advocate for teaching competence affordances that embrace emerging trends, tap on diversity, and sustain lives and the economy. Chapter 10 focuses on education in rural communities and the challenges such as underdeveloped infrastructure, lack of teaching and learning materials and inability to retain qualified teachers. The COVID 19 pandemic interrupted learning worldwide, and Zimbabwe was not spared.
←xvi | xvii→Chapter 11 reports on the difficulties encountered due to the pandemic, including the challenges of online teaching and learning in STEM subjects. Development in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) affords access to effective instructional approaches and optimises learning. Chapter 12 reports on the challenges of teaching science in Zimbabwe and how ICT can be used to advance instruction and enhance learning. Education for Sustainable Development is key to advancing relevant competencies, knowledge, and attitudes among STEM students. Chapters 13 and 14 document the challenges of education for sustainable development in Zimbabwe and reveal issues of policy disparities and curriculum innovations. Chapter 15 provides a synopsis of the book by extracting almost in summary from the criticalities of each chapter.
In short, the book is a research-based scientific excavation of the education system of Zimbabwe before and after independence in 1980 by focusing on SMT, policies and innovations and practices at pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. The synergy between the challenges and the government education policies is revealed in each chapter, providing the reader with a balanced view of the problems at hand.
Kakoma Luneta
University of Johannesburg – South Africa
←xvii | xviii→1 SMT education here may be taken loosely in the usual separate disciplines sense and not necessarily in the strict STEM education context, where science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are considered components of an integrated whole.
Preface
The importance of SMT education in preparation for the needed future human capital has been emphasised globally. In Zimbabwe, SMT subjects are intended to promote the scientific, mathematical and technological literacy and innovative capacity of learners at all levels and constitute a major curriculum component. From the onset of political independence in 1980, the country has emphasised an applications-oriented approach and experientially based curriculum and learning, resulting in several significant reforms in the education system in Zimbabwe. SMT education in Zimbabwe has been undergoing changes to address the future needs by attracting students to the SMT field that would contribute and adapt to the changing world. Those students must possess professional skills, such as problem-solving, lifelong learning, teamwork, and thinking skills. Hence, the editors and authors of this book partnered to examine the state of SMT education in Zimbabwe since gaining independence.
A book about the state of SMT education in Zimbabwe is long overdue. There is a need for such scholarly work on ‘the state of the art’ Zimbabwean SMT education, despite the country’s challenges for a long time. This book addresses gaps identified in the existing literature on SMT education in Zimbabwe to fulfil this purpose. These include historical perspectives and key milestones in policy development, curriculum implementation and assessment challenges faced; rural education challenges and related issues; and alignment of ESD with the curriculum.
Drawing on lessons learnt in the past 41 years (1980–2021), the book aims to provide a valuable, scholarly resource for informed SMT education policy development, research, and practice in Zimbabwe and beyond. It has the following objectives:
←xix | xx→• To acquaint readers with Zimbabwe SMT education milestones and offer historical perspectives on policy development and implementation.
• To share informed perspectives on SMT education policy and implementation challenges in Zimbabwe and propose viable, evidence-based suggestions for the way forward.
• To identify, critically analyse, and suggest solutions to challenges and issues surrounding SMT education in rural Zimbabwe.
• To propose appropriate and implementable strategies for aligning ESD with Zimbabwe SMT education curricula.
Details
- Pages
- XXXIV, 294
- Year
- 2023
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781433194023
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781433194030
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9781433194016
- DOI
- 10.3726/b19195
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2023 (March)
- Keywords
- Mathematics teaching and learning in Zimbabwe Policy Practice Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education in Zimbabwe Science teaching and learning in Zimbabwe STEM education in Zimbabwe Technology teaching and learning in Zimbabwe Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education in Zim-babwe Research, Policy and Practice Brantina Chirinda Lwazi Sibanda Joseph Vere Gladys Sunzuma Zimbabwe education system Education 5.0 Education for Sustainable Development Mathematics Education research
- Published
- New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Lausanne, Oxford, 2023. XXXIV, 294 pp., 17 b/w ill., 15 tables.
