Attitudes of Teachers towards the Policy of Teaching Practical/Vocational Subjects

In 1999, the State President of Zimbabwe appointed a twelve member Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training in Zimbabwe. The commission led by professor Nziramasanga, comprised prominent educationists, administrators and industrialists. It undertook extensive and wide ranging consultations with a wide cross-section of stakeholders. They examined the nature of and status of education and training in Zimbabwe among other things and then came up with recommendations. One of the conspicuous recommendations that the committee put forward was that every secondary school child must do at least one practical subject. As a follow up to this recommendation, the Ministry of Education, then promulgated a policy to this effect. The Secretary’s Circular Minute Number 2 of 2006:6 item 4.3.5 states that, “all pupils are expected to do at least one practical/technical subject in addition to the six core subjects. The policy further declares that “school heads should note that the choice of practical subjects depends largely upon the environment, facilities and staff available in the school, including the individual learners’ preferences”. This study was therefore, principally directed at investigating the perceptions of secondary school teachers towards this policy. The study adopted the descriptive survey. The target population comprised of all secondary school teachers in Nkayi District. The random sample procedure was employed and it was drawn from seven secondary schools out of twenty-six schools. A total of thirty-seven respondents were used of which twenty four were male and thirteen female. The main findings indicated that the majority of teachers wanted all secondary school pupils to be offered practical subjects. Most schools though, did not have adequate resources for use in the practical subjects. The respondents also rejected the comparison of the current policy of teaching practical subjects with the colonial F2 secondary school model. The majority of teachers also felt that effectively teaching vocational subjects could easily reduce the unemployment rates in the country. The study recommends that teachers teaching practical subjects should be given incentives. Secondary schools should award vocational school certificates in conjunction with academic certificates.