Professional learning through a teacher capacity development programme : experiences of rural senior primary school teachers in one Zimbabwean province

Abstract

Unprecedented changes in curriculum reforms by many education systems globally have often brought challenges for teachers due to mismatches between new reform demands and teacher knowledge and skills. Zimbabwe was not an exception. Following the introduction of a new curriculum in 2014, Zimbabwe met serious challenges, as teachers lacked the requisite skills, knowledge, dispositions and aptitudes to handle the curriculum (MoPSE 2015; Hawson and Kingsbury 2021). Consequently, the government launched a state-sponsored teacher capacity development programme (TCDP) through five universities. This was to enable teachers to professionally learn and upgrade their knowledge to deliver the new reform. The government focussed on, on-the-job professional learning as it was impossible for all teachers to undertake fulltime study (MoPSE 2015). Many teachers thus enrolled on this TCDP. However, the nature of their professional learning engagements is not clearly known. This study sought to explore the professional learning engagements of rural senior primary school teachers (SPSTs) enrolled on this government sponsored TCDP, teaching in one province in Zimbabwe. The study also wanted to establish the mediational tools that enhanced professional learning on the programme as well as forms of support that the teachers received in their schools to promote their learning on the TCDP. The third generation of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) guided this study to generate and analyze data, and explain findings. This generation of CHAT, is composed of seven nodes/elements: subjects, object, mediation tools/artifacts, rules, community, division of labour and outcome, which constitute an activity system (Engestrom 2015). This was a qualitative study within an interpretive paradigm where data were generated from 30 purposively selected rural SPSTs through individual face-to-face interviews, focus group discussions and professional learning map discussions. Manual data analyses involving eight interrelated steps of open coding was adopted. Findings indicated that professional learning for the rural SPSTs occurs in interaction in multiple domains of formality: formal in the university, non-formal in school meetings and ministry workshops, and informal/incidental through spontaneous collegial chats (Mukeredzi 2016). Formal university learning occurred in face-to-face lectures through student-student interaction, student-lecturer interaction, note-taking, lecturer guidance, group work, and question and answer. The study also found that rural SPSTs engage in professional learning through various forms of technology: PowerPoint, Web sites, WhatsApp, and zoom classes. Non-formally, rural SPSTs engaged in professional learning in whole-school staff development meetings, grade-level meetings and lesson observation/supervision by school management. In wider professional sites, professional learning was from cluster meetings and ministry workshops; while WhatsApp, and informal discussions promoted informal learning. Mediational tools that supported teacher professional learning on TCDP, included computers, handouts, infrastructure and human mediational tools-like lecturers, and peers. The rural schools offered teachers on TCDP resource support, emotional support, and collegial support. It also emerged that rural SPSTs enrolled on the TCDP for both intrinsic and extrinsic push/pull factors. While the study yielded significant findings, this was a small research of 30 participants teaching in one district of one province. This thesis therefore suggests comprehensive research involving more provinces and more universities. Regarding the CHAT, while the framework was helpful in analysing professional learning, it emerged that on its own it does not allow for differentiation of the nature of professional learning activities that take place within the activity system. This study, therefore suggests a typology combining CHAT with domains of formality: formal, non-formal and informal to fully understand professional learning engagements on the TCDP. The study therefore proposes an all-embracing study, drawing on the theoretical framework to develop it beyond this study.