Educators’ Attributions to the Prevalence of Non-Readers among Learners at Early Childhood Education (ECE) Level in Bulawayo Metropolitan province

This research sought to establish educators’ attributions to the prevalence of non-readers among learners at ECE level in Khami district Bulawayo Metropolitan province. The study was guided by the theoretical framework of Attribution theory by Bernard Weiner. The mixed methods approach and case study with snowball sampling method were used to enable an in-depth exploration of primary schools teaching reading at ECE level. Open-ended questionnaires and structured interview guide were employed for generating data. The study revealed that there was a high prevalence of non-readers among learners at ECE level in Khami district Bulawayo Metropolitan province. The study also revealed that the prevalence of non-readers among learners at ECE level was attributed to educators’ lack of knowledge on the child development theories, lack of psychology of reading, lack of clarity of ECE policy or circular on teaching reading at ECE level in Zimbabwe and to mother tongue interference. The research also attributed the prevalence of non-readers among learners at ECE level to educators’ lack of reading teaching skills, attitude toward teaching reading and to unavailability of reading resources as well as to poor staffing in infant department. The study recommended that there is need for the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to revise and review the ECE policy on teaching of reading at ECE level, to ensure that ECE teachers are adequately trained, developed and assisted to obtain the highest qualifications and skills possible in the teaching of reading at ECE level and, to provide quality and relevant ECE reading resources and facilities to ECE teachers.