Challenges and Prospects for Teaching Practice in the Zimbabwe Open University: Learning from Experiences in the First Semester 2016 Teaching Practice Supervision Exercise in Masvingo, Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South

Abstract

In this qualitative study, we examine the experiences of the Zimbabwe Open University Post-Graduate Diploma in Education (ZOU PGDE) in-service student teachers, their academic supervisors and host schools supervisors in Masvingo, Bulawayo, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces. The major aim of the study is to establish challenges and prospects for the teaching practice programme to map up the way forward for teaching professionalization through distance and open learning in Zimbabwe. Teaching practice simply repre­sents the range of experiences to which student teachers are exposed when they work in classrooms and schools. All over the world, teaching practice has been made an integral part of teacher training as it gives student teachers hands on experience in the actual teaching and learning environment. Guided by this background knowledge and Adult Learning theories, we explore the experiences of Intake 14 Masvingo Region ZOU PGDE student teachers through primary observations, teaching practice supervision reports and impressions of academic supervisors from the January – March 2016 teaching practice supervision session. The paper reaffirms Marais and Meier’s (2004) observation that teaching practice is a challenging but important part of teacher training. We established that in the current Zimbabwe Open University context, teaching practice effectiveness could easily be diminished or eroded by a range of challenges. Some of such challenges include geographical distance, uneven levels of supervisors and mentors expertise, a wide-ranging lack of resources as well as a lack of discipline among a wide cross-section of learners and educators.

Keywords: Teaching practice, mentor, challenges, prospects, experiences, supervision, student teacher, professional development.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-7-09

Publication date:March 31^st 2019