PROVISION OF QUALITY EDUCATION IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS: REFLECTIVE PRACTICES IN LOW-COST PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BULAWAYO METROPOLITAN PROVINCE, ZIMBABWE

Autors/ores

  • Senamiso Midzi Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
  • Lwazi Sibanda Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
  • Joyce Mathwasa School of General and Continuing Education (SGCE), University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejsss.v6i2.1016

Paraules clau:

quality education, low-cost secondary schools, resources

Resum

Quality in education has become a cause for concern to every stakeholder in education. The study sought to assess the provision of quality education in low-cost private secondary schools in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province. The study adopted the interpretivist paradigm in qualitative approach, using a case study design. Semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used for collecting thematically analysed data from purposively sampled four school heads and six teachers from low-cost private secondary schools. The study established that in pursuit for quality education, selected schools employed qualified teachers who engage in continuous professional development programmes to sharpen their teaching skills. The findings revealed that the schools understudy are making efforts to offer practical science and computer lessons using the limited resources to ensure the provision of quality education. It emerged that selected schools use e-learning and multimedia resources which arouse learners’ interests and increase the retention rates. It came out that the schools understudy have environmental clubs which work together with school health departments in attending to sanitary issues. Whilst selected schools practiced heterogeneous grouping, the findings revealed that learners with physical disabilities are not enrolled in those schools due to lack of appropriate physical facilities and there are no teachers with relevant expertise to teach learners with special needs. The study revealed that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education provided guidelines in the form of policy documents and circulars to monitor the provision of quality education in the selected schools. Despite the efforts made by low-cost secondary schools in providing quality education, the study found that high staff turnover is negatively affecting the quality of education due to lack of continuity in learning. The findings indicated that inadequate learning resources and infrastructure such as libraries, computer and science laboratories, internet services, and lack of teachers with special needs expertise adversely affected the provision of quality education. The study concludes that lack of financial resources is a hindrance in the provision of quality education in low-cost secondary schools. The study recommends that a comparative study on provision of quality education should be conducted in private trust secondary schools.

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Biografies de l'autor/a

  • Senamiso Midzi, Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
    Senamiso Midzi is a holder of a Master of Science Education in Accounting and Business Studies and a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Accounting and Business Studies from National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe. She has taught commercial subjects for over 17 years in secondary schools. She has vast experience in teaching in both public and private schools.
  • Lwazi Sibanda, Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
    Lwazi Sibanda holds Doctor of Philosophy in Education from University of Fort Hare in South Africa and is a senior lecturer in the Department of Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, in the Faculty of Science and Technology Education at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe. She is currently the Executive Dean in the Faculty of Science and Technology Education. She specialised in Education Management and is involved in teacher education. She teaches education courses (modules) to undergraduate and postgraduate students. She supervises undergraduate research projects and postgraduate dissertations and theses at Master’s and Doctoral Levels. She has vast teaching experience extending from primary to higher education. She worked as a primary school teacher for fifteen years and moved to Secondary Teacher Education College as a Professional Studies lecturer for three years. She joined NUST ten years ago and is involved in conducting qualitative research in education management including science education. Her interest is on improving instructional delivery in all levels of education, that is, primary, secondary and higher education. She has published quite a number of journal articles and book chapters individually and collaboratively. She has reviewed various manuscripts from a number of journals. She is also involved in UNESCO programme for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) which emphasises on inclusion of ESD concepts in teacher education curriculum.
  • Joyce Mathwasa, School of General and Continuing Education (SGCE), University of Fort Hare, East London, South Africa
    Joyce Mathwasa began her career in education after obtaining a teaching certificate specialising in Infant classes. She taught in the Early Childhood for twenty years raising through the ranks to headship of primary schools for fifteen years. She furthered her education attaining a Bachelor’s degree in Educational Administration, Planning and Policy Studies (University of Zimbabwe); Master in Educational Administration, Planning and Policy Studies (Zimbabwe Open University) and PhD (University of Fort Hare, South Africa). Currently she is a Researcher in the Early Childhood Development School of Excellence in the University of Fort Hare. Dr. Mathwasa is also an Adjunct lecturer with Lupane State University in Zimbabwe and supervisor in the UNISA Teaching Practice Unit for SDAC students (Zimbabwe). She has a teaching experience extending from early childhood to tertiary education. She has several journal articles in accredited journals and five book chapters.

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Descàrregues

Publicat

2021-03-09

Número

Vol. 6 Núm. 2 (2021)

Secció

Articles