The aim of the present study was to investigate the nature and prevalence of bullying among primary school pupils in Nkayi South Circuit in Matabeleland North Province in Western Zimbabwe. The population comprised of all the 300 teachers in Nkayi South Circuit. Random sampling was used to arrive at a sample of 30 teachers from ten schools. The study adopted the descriptive survey design and the questionnaire was used for collecting data. The main findings of the study revealed that the most common forms of bullying were physical (that is, fighting, punching, hitting), verbal (that is, threatening, swearing, teasing) social (that is, deliberately leaving out of a game or group, ignoring). The study also revealed that boys were the main contributors of bullying. The findings also revealed that the bullying behaviours were influenced by home based factors, peers Original Research Article
Schools in developing countries including Zimbabwe face a host of problems related to the twin concepts of poor classroom instruction and low student achievement. According to (Boaduo, 2011a, Glanz, 2010), developing countries face common problems in providing sufficient education of high quality to their learners. Typically these challenges breakdown to matters of instructional supervision, teaching behaviours and general low learner performance. Given this context, it becomes necessary to construct new frameworks in the following aspects: teacher effectiveness, progressive models of supervision and effective leadership styles (Pajak, 2008). According to Boaduo (2011b), the search for instructional supervisory strategies that can deal with the lesson delivery capacities of teachers and poor performance of students of developing countries should be intensified. This study was therefore principally directed at investigating the instructional practices of Zimbabwean school heads of schools. The study adopted the descriptive survey design. The target population comprised of all teachers in primary schools in three of Zimbabwe's educational provinces of the Midlands, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South. The random sample procedure was employed. A total of seven hundred and forty eight (748) respondents were used of which three hundred and ninety-two (392) were female and three hundred and fifty-six (356) were male. The main findings indicated that the majority of heads did not understand the concept of instructional supervision. The study, further, revealed that teachers had negative attitudes towards instructional supervision; that heads of schools engage in the most current and pressing issues like financial management, sporting and grounds development at the expense of instructional supervision. The recommendations are that heads should use effective models of instructional supervision and commitment to long term process of staff development including the prioritization of their operations so that the bulk of their time is taken up by instructional supervision related activities to improve the worth of their teachers.
The paper discusses the experiences of the authors of the research conducted in Gweru urban and peri-urban primary schools. The objective was to investigate the rationale, clarity of policy and timeliness of inclusion of the four to five year olds in the formal schools. The study was conducted in five Gweru urban and peri-urban primary schools. Five school heads, 10 parents and 20 Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers were purposely sampled. Data were collected using interviews, observations and checklists of the appropriateness of the outdoor and indoor play equipment. Findings showed that there is indeed need to include this age group in the public schools because this makes education accessible to all. The inclusion of four to five year olds in primary schools was not timely because the learners were learning and habituating in unsatisfactory infrastructure and generally the schools were unprepared for them in terms of personnel and play equipment. Since the study justified the need for ECD in the schools, it is however, recommended that a more appropriate environment be sought. It also recommended the need to staff develop ECD teachers and supervisors so that they would become craft literate and craft competent, enough to enable them effectively interpret, implement, monitor and evaluate ECD programmes and policies.
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