Teachers’ Experiences in the Implementation of G&C in Junior Primary Schools in Mutare District, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study explored teachers’ experiences on the implementation of Guidance and Counselling in junior primary schools. The research was prompted by the growing recognition of the importance and the need for formal inclusion of Guidance and Counselling into the Zimbabwean primary education system. To gain a deeper understanding, a qualitative research design was utilized enabling teachers to share their experiences and thoughts in a naturalistic setting and allows the researcher to capture detailed, nuanced perspectives from teachers in the real-world contexts. This study adopted a case study design, focusing on four purposively sampled schools to gather detailed, contextual data and foster a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. The schools were drawn from a peri- urban area and rural areas respectively. Semi- structured interviews, observations and document analysis were used to generate data. The study comprised sixteen primary school teachers and four school heads. Data were analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings outlined that; teachers had mixed experiences as they were found ill-prepared as their arguments were confirmed by their professional documents which were silent about G&C. The research also revealed that teachers are treating G&C as a club not as a core and standalone learning area. The results of the study further pointed out that though some teachers wanted to implement G&C properly they were hamstring by lack of resources such as the G&C syllabus. The study recommends that culturally relevant pedagogies such as embracing cultural counselling villages should be adopted.