Rethinking healthy school relations for curriculum change in Zimbabwe: A relational leadership approach

Bekithemba Dube and Thuthukile Jita
University of the Free State, South Africa

The article addresses the challenges faced in the implementation of the new curriculum in Zimbabwe. The new curriculum was rolled out in the midst of various trajectories (challenges), such as lack of resources, inadequate teacher preparation and resistance from teachers and parents, among others. We used relational leadership as a theoretical lens, which buttresses a need for school leadership that prioritises relationships within the implementation context. The study was qualitative, with 25 participants chosen through purposeful sampling and snowballing from five different schools in rural Zimbabwe. Data were collected through interviews and a focus group discussion. The data were then analysed using the lens proposed by Laws, Harper and Marcus (2003), where various themes were identified responding to the research questions. The study found that healthy school relations, though overlooked, are very important in the success of any curriculum implementation process and that there is a need for curriculum planners, school heads, teachers and learners to invest in healthy relations underpinned by social justice, emancipation and improvement of school conditions as alternatives to enhance a contested curriculum implementation.
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Authors: Bekithemba Dube holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in curriculum studies from the University of the Free State, South Africa, where he is currently a lecturer in the School of Education Studies, Faculty of Education. He is the Managing Editor of the African Journal of Education in Rural Contexts. His area of research is curriculum, religion and politics in post-colonial states. Email: dubeb@ufs.ac.za Thuthukile Jita is a lecturer in the School of Education Studies, Faculty of Education, University of the Free State, South Africa. She is a discipline coordinator for Curriculum Studies and the Research Coordinator for the Instructional Leadership and Curriculum Implementation Studies research cohort at UFS. Dr Jita is also a post-PhD grant-holder from Thuthuka National Research Foundation (NRF reference number: TTK170405225946). Email: jitat@ufs.ac.za Please cite as: Dube, B. & Jita, T. (2018). Rethinking healthy school relations for curriculum change in Zimbabwe: A relational leadership approach. Issues in Educational Research, 28(4), 901-917. http://www.iier.org.au/iier28/dube.pdf