The dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in Zimbabwe: selected cases

Zimbabwean secondary school history teachers have taken their political inclinations and dire economic situation into the classroom. There is a deliberate attempt by ZANU-PF opponents to infuse their political ideologies to learners as they go about their teaching business. Equally the same, those s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chakawa, Joshua
Format: Other
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11408/1475
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1779905662395875328
author Chakawa, Joshua
author_facet Chakawa, Joshua
author_sort Chakawa, Joshua
collection DSpace
description Zimbabwean secondary school history teachers have taken their political inclinations and dire economic situation into the classroom. There is a deliberate attempt by ZANU-PF opponents to infuse their political ideologies to learners as they go about their teaching business. Equally the same, those supportive of the government and the ruling party sometimes take their line of thinking into the classroom. Further, certain topics in ‘O’ Level History Paper 1 and ‘A’ Level Paper 5 meant to be taught and in the syllabus are skipped and war veterans may not be welcome as resource persons. In addition, there is some kind of reluctance by instructors to openly discuss certain topics which are deemed sensitive because the teachers themselves are suspicious of each other. In addition, the meager salaries received by teachers have increased their potential of carrying their frustrations into the classroom. The research was a product of a survey that was carried out in some Zimbabwean schools with a bias towards Midlands Province. It sought to establish how poverty and political affiliation has affected the teaching of history and how that has ultimately impacted on the student. Use was made of chosen topics that teachers find sensitive when teaching. There was also an attempt to interview the bulk of ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ history teachers. The paper is crucial because it unpacks how the silent war in schools impact on concerned stakeholders inclusive of parents. It also unveils how the Zimbabwean government has used history to bolster its support. From 1980 to 2002, history was optional in schools and then made compulsory from 2003 with some papers thought to be aligned to the West being scrapped from the syllabus.
format Other
id ir-11408-1475
institution My University
language English
publishDate 2016
record_format dspace
spelling ir-11408-14752022-06-27T13:49:05Z The dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in Zimbabwe: selected cases Chakawa, Joshua Political ideology, Syllabus, Resource persons, Curriculum, Sellouts Zimbabwean secondary school history teachers have taken their political inclinations and dire economic situation into the classroom. There is a deliberate attempt by ZANU-PF opponents to infuse their political ideologies to learners as they go about their teaching business. Equally the same, those supportive of the government and the ruling party sometimes take their line of thinking into the classroom. Further, certain topics in ‘O’ Level History Paper 1 and ‘A’ Level Paper 5 meant to be taught and in the syllabus are skipped and war veterans may not be welcome as resource persons. In addition, there is some kind of reluctance by instructors to openly discuss certain topics which are deemed sensitive because the teachers themselves are suspicious of each other. In addition, the meager salaries received by teachers have increased their potential of carrying their frustrations into the classroom. The research was a product of a survey that was carried out in some Zimbabwean schools with a bias towards Midlands Province. It sought to establish how poverty and political affiliation has affected the teaching of history and how that has ultimately impacted on the student. Use was made of chosen topics that teachers find sensitive when teaching. There was also an attempt to interview the bulk of ‘O’ Level and ‘A’ history teachers. The paper is crucial because it unpacks how the silent war in schools impact on concerned stakeholders inclusive of parents. It also unveils how the Zimbabwean government has used history to bolster its support. From 1980 to 2002, history was optional in schools and then made compulsory from 2003 with some papers thought to be aligned to the West being scrapped from the syllabus. 2016-05-24T14:12:53Z 2016-05-24T14:12:53Z 2015 Other http://hdl.handle.net/11408/1475 en International Conference on history education in Africa; open
spellingShingle Political ideology, Syllabus, Resource persons, Curriculum, Sellouts
Chakawa, Joshua
The dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in Zimbabwe: selected cases
title The dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in Zimbabwe: selected cases
title_full The dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in Zimbabwe: selected cases
title_fullStr The dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in Zimbabwe: selected cases
title_full_unstemmed The dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in Zimbabwe: selected cases
title_short The dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in Zimbabwe: selected cases
title_sort dilemma of teachers’ unfavorable working conditions and political ideology on the teaching history in zimbabwe: selected cases
topic Political ideology, Syllabus, Resource persons, Curriculum, Sellouts
url http://hdl.handle.net/11408/1475
work_keys_str_mv AT chakawajoshua thedilemmaofteachersunfavorableworkingconditionsandpoliticalideologyontheteachinghistoryinzimbabweselectedcases
AT chakawajoshua dilemmaofteachersunfavorableworkingconditionsandpoliticalideologyontheteachinghistoryinzimbabweselectedcases