Teachers: ‘No square pegs in round holes’

DEPLOYING teachers to teach outside their areas of expertise due to shortages of qualified personnel in some areas, including ineffective recruitment processes, is undermining performance and productivity in already under-performing schools, an official has said.

Speaking at a recent provincial workshop for schools with zero percent pass rate in the 2017 Ordinary Level examinations, provincial education deputy director Mrs Clara Kanoyerera expressed concern over the ability of teachers teaching outside their areas of specialisation.

“Teachers teaching areas they did not specialise in are struggling and this has resulted in learners under-performing, as these teachers are incapacitated to deal with the needs of the given subjects,” she said.

She attributed the mismatch of teachers to ineffective recruitment processes, with some schools facing acute shortages of qualified teachers in some areas, as well as cases where replacement teachers take longer than expected to be deployed to affected areas.

It is believed that some areas are not even getting replacements.

“Some schools are understaffed due to lack of replacements, especially when teachers are transferred or die. As a result, most schools have to contend with the remaining personnel, which means an increase in their workload; that affects their productivity by diminishing their capacity. This has the effect of lowering performance levels because when teachers are unable to cope, it is the learners who suffer.”

“In some cases, the teachers are replaced internally, with affected classes being given teachers who are less qualified or who teach a totally different subject.”

Schools inspector Mrs Magoli Murahwa added that in most cases, teachers who teach outside their areas of specialisation struggle to interpret syllabi in the new areas assigned to them.

Faced with such a predicament, the teachers end up using traditional and ineffective methods.

“Less qualified teachers are struggling to break down the syllabus into teachable units and in most cases, learners write national examinations without even finishing the syllabus,” she said.

She also pointed out that although thousands of teachers graduate every year, under-performing schools remain understaffed, forcing the available personnel to take more classes than they can manage.

Provincial educational director Mr Edward Shumba said teachers required ongoing education and training to enable them to meet their needs, including the needs of learners.

“Staff development is important so that teachers are equipped with the necessary skills to be able to deal with different curriculum activities.”

He also spoke of the need to re-examine the recruitment process to ensure equitable allocation of human resources.

He encouraged teachers to adopt new teaching methods to raise performance levels.