TEACHER QUALITY: THE FOUNDATION OF QUALITY LEARNING

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INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study is to identify critical elements for the development of a curriculum framework that will enable the inclusion of indigenous African instruments into the existing westernised music education programme of Zimbabwean primary schools. To this purpose, I explore the use of indigenous African instruments in the development of curriculum content materials and pedagogies for the senior primary school phase (Grades 5–7) of the Zimbabwean education system. I also sample songs that could be utilized as activities for classroom music teaching and learning initiatives in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has several indigenous African instruments, that is, instruments associated with different ethnic groups.
Chief among these are mbira, marimba, chipendani, chigufe, magagada, chimazambi, hosho, and ngoma. For the purpose of this study, the term, ‘indigenous instruments’, is used to refer to the three instruments chosen for the purpose of this study, namely; the marimba (African xylophone), ngoma (African drum) and hosho (African percussion shakers). To the extent possible, my study investigates and addresses the limited value ascribed to indigenous African instrumental musicology as part of an examinable primary school music curriculum in Zimbabwe. References from literature reflecting global perspectives on curriculum development frameworks are used in this study as basis for suggestions on ways in which music education in Zimbabwean schools could be changed from predominantly western approaches to music appreciation and practice to an approach which reflects a more context-based African perspective.
The use of culture-related resources associated with specific local communities as teaching materials has become one of the topical issues in the contemporary study of music worldwide (Wang and Humphrey, 2009; Van Aswegen and Potgieter, 2010; Nettl, 2013). On the one hand, Hopton-Jones (1995) opines that exposure to various types of traditional music associated with different ethnicities promote greater understanding of universal music rudiments such as melody, form and tone format. On the other hand, Hewitt (2009) posits 2 that, regardless of cultural ethnicity, religiosity and philosophical alignments, the study of musical performances should strive to fulfill three main objectives: pedagogical practices, performance practices and practices of transmission.
From a philosophical point of view, then, this study could be seen as an important postindependence education activity, one which could not only initiate a cultural arts education renaissance but also contribute to the achievement of Zimbabwe’s positive interdependence. The revitalisation of indigenous African core values (such as cooperation, tolerance and integration) through cultural arts performance practices would therefore become the fundamental referral points of contemporary music education scholarship in Zimbabwe. 1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Although music is regarded as one of the compulsory primary school curriculum subjects in Zimbabwe, indications from even a casual observation are that several primary schools in the country do not adhere to this requirement (Palmberg, 2004; Delport and Mufute, 2010). Instead, primary level learners are required to offer a total of eleven subjects that are unequally valued in the curriculum. English, Mathematics, Shona and Ndebele are regarded as core subjects and, therefore, independently examined. The rest of the subjects, including Environmental Science, Home Economics, Guidance and Counselling, Religious and Moral Education, Social Studies and AIDS Education are written under one umbrella examination, generally referred to as the General Paper (Kanyongo, 2005:67).
The diagramme which follows (Figure 1.1) illustrates the Zimbabwe Primary School examination set-up. Upon completing the eight-year primary school education course (Grade 0 – Grade 7), learners proceed to the secondary phase (Form 1 – Form 4) and then finally, to the high school phase (Forms 5 and 6). Secondary school subjects are categorised as Arts, Sciences, Commercial and Practical subjects. Learners are encouraged to identify subject areas which they think will guide them towards their future careers, thus creating opportunities for them to specialize (Kanyongo, 2005: 67-68) in preparation for a career. Subjects like Maths, Science, English and History at secondary level are compulsory from Form 1 to Form 4. Learners are, however, also required to choose at least one practical subject from a list that include Music, Art and Design, Food and Nutrition, Fashion and Fabrics, Brickwork, Metalwork, Woodwork and Agriculture.
The subjects chosen by learners during the secondary phase have a strong bearing on their Advanced Level studies in Forms 5 and 6. Moreover, eligibility to enrol for the Advanced Level is determined by the individual learner’ academic proficiency as reflected in the General Certificate of Education – Ordinary Level (GCE-O) examinations (Kanyongo, 2005). I wish to declare right away that my study does not focus on the structure of the Zimbabwean education system per se. Neither does it concentrate on the curriculum provisions of secondary nor high school learning experiences in Zimbabwe. Instead, it focuses on the position and value of music in the Zimbabwean primary school curriculum strata, hence my intention to describe its worth as a ‘compulsory’ but non-examinable subject in Zimbabwean primary school curriculum provisions. As indicated in Figure 1.1, music seems to be regarded as unworthy of inclusion even as part of the primary school general paper examination. By implication, music teaching in Zimbabwean primary schools is actually regarded as an extracurricular activity of no academic importance. Moreover, the absence of indigenous African musical arts practices in the non-examined primary school music curriculum have the effect of propagating western arts civilisation at the expense of local musical arts development and philosophical traditions in what is supposed to be a democratic Zimbabwean education system (Mavhunga, 2006). This approach to music teaching in Zimbabwean primary schools stretches far back – to the inception of westernised ‘formal’ education in Zimbabwe [formerly known as Rhodesia] through the enactment of discriminatory pieces of legislature.

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Declaration of authorship and copyright
• Declaration by language editor
• Abstract
• Table of contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of acronyms
• List of addenda
• CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
  • 1.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
  • 1.3 INSTRUMENTS OF FOCUS
  • 1.4 JUSTIFICATION FOR CHOOSING MARIMBA AS THE MAIN INSTRUMENT
  • 1.5 LOCATING MYSELF WITHIN THE STUDY
  • 1.6 PROBLEM STATEMENT
  • 1.7 RESEARCH AIM AND OBJECTIVES
  • 1.8 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY
  • 1.9 SIGINIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
  • 1.10 CONCEPT CLARIFICATION
  • 1.11 OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
  • 1.12 CHAPTER OUTLINE
• CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
  • 2.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 2.2 HISTORY OF MUSIC EDUCATION IN ZIMBABWE
  • 2.2.1 Music in the pre-colonial period
  • 2.2.2 Musical practices of the colonial era
  • 2.2.3 Post-colonial music education in Zimbabwe
  • 2.2.4 Musical arts preservation and appreciation
  • 2.3 INDIGENOUS AFRICAN EDUCATION (IAE) IN PERSPECTIVE
  • 2.3.1 Goals for indigenous education in Africa
  • 2.3.2 The National Institute of Arts Education (NIAE) in Zimbabwe
  • 2.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
  • 2.4.1 Wolf’s Curriculum Development Model
  • 2.4.2 Shulman’s Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) model
  • 2.4.3 Swanwick’s Theory of Music Development
  • 2.5 INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT: CHALLENGES AND POSSIBILITIES
  • 2.5.1 The concept of curriculum development
  • 2.5.2 Spiritual elements and humanising effects of African music
  • 2.5.3 Social transformation through curriculum change
  • 2.5.4 The problem of essentialist authenticity in IMK practices
  • 2.5.5 Epistemological tyranny against indigenous musical knowledges
  • 2.5.6 Tension between African and Western musical perspectives
  • 2.6 CONTEXTUALISATION OF AFRICAN MUSICAL ARTS IDENTITIES AND PRACTICES
  • 2.6.1 Cooperative learning in African music ensemble performances
  • 2.6.2 African ensemble performance didactical dilemmas
  • 2.6.3 Methodological approaches to African musical arts research
  • 2.7 TEACHER QUALITY: THE FOUNDATION OF QUALITY LEARNING
  • 2.7.1 Associate colleges
  • 2.7.2 Training models
  • 2.7.3 Teacher training phases
  • 2.7.4 Educator competency: a non-negotiable protocol
  • 2.7.5 Teacher professional identity and self-efficacy
  • 2.7.6 Mentoring music students: non-specialist teachers at crossroads
  • 2.8 MULTICULTURAL ARTS EDUCATION: CURRICULUM IMPLICATIONS
  • 2.8.1 Variables impacting multicultural music curriculum implementation
  • 2.8.2 Evaluating a multicultural music curriculum instruction
  • 2.9 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
  • 3.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 3.2 ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER
  • 3.3 PARADIGMATIC PERSPECTIVES
  • 3.3.1 Meta-theoretical paradigm: Interpretivism
  • 3.3.2 Methodological paradigm: Qualitative approach
  • 3.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
  • 3.4.1 Descriptive and interpretive case study
  • 3.4.2 Application of the multiple case study design
  • 3.4.3 Limitations of interpretive case study design
  • 3.4.2 Selection of participants
  • 3.4.3 Data collection processes
  • 3.5 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTEPRETATION
  • 3.5.1 Discourse analysis
  • 3.6 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
  • 3.6.1 Informed consent and voluntary participation
  • 3.6.2 Confidentiality and anonymity of participants
  • 3.6.3 Protecting participants from harm
  • 3.6.4 Researcher-participant relationship of trust
  • 3.7 QUALITY CRITERIA
  • 3.7.1 Credibility
  • 3.7.2 Transferability
  • 3.7.3 Dependability
  • 3.7.4 Confirmability
  • 3.7.5 Authenticity
  • 3.8 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER FOUR DATA ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND PRESENTATION
  • 4.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 4.2 OVERVIEW OF DATA COLLECTION STRATEGIES
  • 4.2.1 Documentary Analysis
  • 4.2.2 In-depth interviews
  • 4.3.3 Participant Observation
  • 4.4.4 Focus group discussions
  • 4.3 THEME 1: THE IMPACT OF COLONIAL REPRESSION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEXT-BASED MUSIC EDUCATION CURRICULUM FOR ZIMBABWE
  • 4.3.1 Non-recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ (IP) rights
  • 4.3.1.1 Negativity against local cultural arts practices
  • 4.3.1.2 Conflict of philosophies and religions in local ethnicities
  • 4.3.1.3 Conflict of musical resource usage in schools
  • 4.3.2 Preservation of musical arts identities
  • 4.3.2.1 Identity formation through cultural arts exhibitions
  • 4.3.2.2 Culture dynamism negating musical arts preservation
  • 4.4 THEME 2: POST-INDIPENDENCE SCHOOL CURRICULUM MUST INCLUDE INDIGENOUS AFRICAN MUSICAL ARTS PRACTICES TO JUSTIFY RELEVENCE
  • 4.4.1 Cultural practices as substantive curriculum repositories for arts education
  • 4.4.1.1 Education curriculum responding to community needs
  • 4.4.1.2 Hybridisation of music education curriculum – the way forward
  • 4.4.2 Unavoidability of multicultural teaching approaches
  • 4.2.1.1 Identification of culture-specific music resource materials
  • 4.2.1.2 Categorisation of indigenous Ndau songs
  • 4.5 THEME 3: THE TEACHING OF MUSIC IN ZIMBABWEAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IS GENERALLY UNIMPRESSIVE
  • 4.5.1 Lack of clear policy
  • 4.5.1.1 Low teacher efficacy
  • 4.5.1.2 Limited music education resource materials
  • 4.5.2 Inadequacy of primary teacher training
  • 4.5.2.1 Limited teacher education curriculum content coverage
  • 4.5.2.2 Limited pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) scope
  • 4.6 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER TOWARDS A NEW CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT MODEL
  • 5.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 5.2 RATIONALE FOR THE ARTS EDUCATION LEARNING AREA
  • 5.3 THE STRUCTURE OF THE LEARNING AREA – ARTS EDUCATION
  • 5.4 THE INTERACTIVE CULTURE-RESPONSIVE CURRICULUM (ICRC) MODEL
  • 5.4.1 Arts literacy sensitivity
  • 5.4.2 Culture sensitivity
  • 5.4.3 Contextual sensitivity
  • 5.4.4 Pedagogical sensitivity
  • 5.5 OVERVIEW OF THE HYBRIDIZED CURRICULUM
  • 5.5.1 General aim of the hybridized curriculum
  • 5.5.2 Objectives
  • 5.5.3 Sekuru Chinyangana’s apprenticeship version
  • 5.6 ANNUAL TEACHING PLAN
  • 5.6.1 First term (January –April)
  • 5.6.2 Second term (May – August)
  • 5.6.3 Third term (September – December)
  • 5.7 ARTS EDUCATION SCHEME OF ASSESSMENT
  • 5.7.1 Music examinations
  • 5.7.2 Scope and Sequence
  • 5.8 CONCLUSION
• CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
  • 6.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 6.2 OVERVIEW OF THE PRECEDING CHAPTERS
  • 6.3 SITUATING RESEARCH FINDINGS WITHIN THE STUDY’S CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
  • 6.4 CONCLUSIONS IN TERMS OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS
  • 6.4.1 Secondary Research Question
  • 6.4.2 Secondary Research Question
  • 6.4.3 Secondary Research Question
  • 6.4.4 Main Question
  • 6.5 POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
  • 6.6 INSIGHTS GAINED FROM THE STUDY
  • 6.7 RECOMMENDATIONS
  • 6.7.1 Recommendations for future research
  • 6.7.2 Recommendations for practice and future training
  • 6.8 CONCLUSION

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