Experiences of enacting critical secondary school history pedagogy in rural Zimbabwe

Abstract

Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of a critical approach in the teaching and learning, especially for candidates dealing with complex subjects as History. This study corroborates research in this field by reporting on the experiences of a teacher who taught secondary school History as a subject in rural areas. The findings from a teaching practice at one secondary school in Mwenezi District reveal that there are peculiar issues that are common among rural school learners. The major objective of the study is to give a critical reflection on the in-service teacher education programme for teachers deployed in under-resourced and remote secondary schools. Through action research, the paper demonstrates that teachers face distinct challenges of non-compliance and resistance in enacting a critical pedagogy. Engaging with history and historical evidence is made complex by material shortages in schools and skill gaps among the learners. Whilst exposing rural learners to sophisticated historical narratives is the rationale behind the implementation of a critical pedagogy, there are structural challenges that are evidenced by stringent syllabus requirements, time constraints and nature of learners that are found in the schools. The paper therefore recommends that there should be some flexibility in the history syllabus to allow learners and teachers to fully engage with history material. Resource mobilisation is critical and schools need to support teachers who intend to improve rigour and discourse analysis on the subject.