This qualitative study explores the school-based instructional leadership role of Heads of Department (HODs) in the implementation of different History syllabi. It seeks to establish the practices that History HODs carry out in order to improve the teaching and learning of the subject. HODs are subject specialists who are responsible for establishing and ensuring high standards of teaching and learning in their subjects. This study is a response to the claim that History HODs often fail to rise to expectations in ensuring effective curriculum implementation in the subject. Qualitative data was collected through the study of circulars and policy documents and by conducting structured, in-depth interviews with fifteen key informants sampled from selected schools in the Glen View/Mufakose district in Harare. The key finding from this study is that the HODs were the de facto instructional leaders during the implementation of the History syllabi and that their level of involvement determines the success and/or failure of History syllabi. The paper concludes by asserting that HODs play a critical role in the implementation of History syllabi, since they are at the chalk face and directly supervise the implementation of changes in the subject as illustrated at five secondary schools used in the study. Keywords: HOD; Instructional leadership; Implementation; History Syllabus; Supervision.

The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of teachers on the development and implementation process of the History 2167 syllabus reform in Zimbabwe. Successful implementation of syllabus reforms depends on teachers’ ownership and knowledge about the reform ideas. Teachers are the closest individuals to the circumstances of the decisions made and their role as implementers gives them a significant influence on curriculum decisions. However, studies on syllabus development and implementation have often explored these processes using the input from other stakeholders while overlooking teacher perceptions. Data for this qualitative phenomenological study were generated from transcripts of in-depth interviews with five purposively sampled history teachers drawn from five secondary schools in the Glen. View/ Mufakose District in Harare Metropolitan Province. Findings showed that the success of curriculum reforms largely rests on the shoulders of teachers, since they are the ones who put reform ideas into practice. We conclude that in order for curriculum reforms to succeed, the policy-makers and teachers should work harmoniously to cultivate appropriate instructional practices. We recommend that teachers should actively participate in the syllabus development process, as well as have the power to influence the decisions about the implementation of the curriculum. Key words: development and implementation; History 2167 syllabus; syllabus reform; teachers’ perceptions.

Pandemics leave long-term consequences in their wake. The Covid-19 pandemic reached catastrophic levels in Africa, similar to what it did in the rest of the world. Rural schools in developing countries, already reeling from extreme poverty and economic vulnerability, have borne the most severe brunt of the pandemic. In this study, we explore the effects of Covid-19 on rural schools in Lesotho using data from semi-structured online interviews with 10 rural-based teachers. We address two questions: "What are the effects of Covid-19 on rural schools in Lesotho?" and "What steps have been taken to mitigate the effects of Covid-19-induced school closures in Lesotho?" Findings show that enforced school closures meant to contain the spread of Covid-19 disrupted rural learners' lives. Innovations to mitigate the effects of the pandemic bridged the gap between the classroom and totally remote settings by introducing online education that, however, remains elusive for most rural learners.