How Autonomous are Teachers in the Implementation of Grade Three Pre-Scripted Literacy Lessons in Selected Primary Schools in Lusaka District?

The government of the republic of Zambia through the Ministry of Education has designed lessons and lesson procedures including materials for teachers to use in the teaching of literacy. However, teacher autonomy in the use of these pre-scripted literacy lessons remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to establish how autonomous teachers were in the implementation of Grade Three Pre-scripted Literacy Lessons in selected Public Primary Schools in Lusaka District. Multimodality and the Code and Pedagogical theories served as the theoretical framework. The research question is: How autonomous are teachers in their lesson preparations and teaching? The study utilized the descriptive research design that, involved the collection and analysis of qualitative data. Purposive sampling technique were used to come up with 27 respondents of which 20 were grade 3 teachers teaching literacy, 5 were Head teachers, 1 Educational manager, 1 Curriculum Specialist. Data were collected through interviews, classroom lesson observations and document analysis. Triangulation of data provided detailed information on teacher autonomy in the implementation of pre-scripted literacy lessons. The findings showed that while some teachers were autonomous in their teaching by rejecting power through the use of scripted lessons, others accepted power by accepting the use of scripted literacy lessons. Still others were moderately autonomous as they negotiated power as they were able to alter the lessons. Arising from the findings, the study recommended that there is need for policy makers to sensitize teachers on why literacy lessons were pre-designed and the role of teachers in their implementation and their expected role in the implementation of the lessons. There is need to sensitize teachers in order to clear the misconceptions surrounding pre-scripted lessons.