Mid term review of the Bikita Quality Education Project (QEP) in Zimbabwe

Background
SCN Zimbabwe launched the Bikita Quality Education Project (QEP) in May 2005. This launch made the Zimbabwe Country Programme become the 4th country to participate in the pilot SCN Quality Education Project going on in 3 other countries, Ethiopia, Zambia and Mozambique. The project targeted a group of 40 teachers at various levels of the education system in Masvingo Province where SCN Zimbabwe has a basic education project (19 Cluster Resource Teachers, 5 school heads, 6 Education Officers and 9 teacher education lecturers). These 40 teachers had 2 250 children in their classes. The idea was to develop action research skills and reflective practices in the teachers so that we influence the teaching and learning in the schools. The QEP was designed to respond to the 2000 SCN global education thematic evaluation, which found little or no effective learning in the classrooms despite the massive investment in buildings, furniture, textbooks in project areas.

Purpose/objective
The objectives of the evaluation were to determine:
1. The degree to which the major aim of the project, which is to assist participants to develop reflective skills in their
practice, had been achieved
2. Whether action research skills and knowledge of doing action research had been adequately and satisfactorily
acquired
3. Key learning points and challenges of the project, and
4. Whether the project was sustainable and learning outcomes of children could be improved.

Methodology
The method used in the evaluation was a participatory mapping exercise. The method gave the project participants an opportunity to record and reflect upon their experiences in the project. Thus, this was a qualitative research methodological approach to establish the project insiders’ viewpoints, insights and perceptions about QEP. The methodology was to hear the voice of the project participants. It was them who learnt and used action research in their work that had something to tell. In September 2007, the participants took part in a SWOT analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and the threats to the QEP approach. In December 2007, the participants presented their action research reports. Between September and December 2007, the evaluators held five focus group discussions with groups of children being taught by the project participants.

Key findings
Strengths and Opportunities
The strengths found included the tremendous change in the teachers’ way of thinking and attitudes towards their work and practices in the classroom. The project participants’ action research reports carried evidence to substantiate reflection skills. They developed an intensive programme to take QEP to more other teachers. The involvement of teachers colleges brought the opportunity for the project to have a system-wide effect by training teachers who will carry the QEP philosophy into their work and different parts of the country. Some project participants reported that the QEP approach of self-critique had permeated into their day-to-day lives, even at home. In the FGDs with teachers one of them said ‘… I have ceased to transfer all blame to my pupils, school administration and the parent when my pupils fail to perform. I have rather begun to see myself as part of the problems and readily labour the problems to identify them … understand them and seek the solutions myself.’ On another note, a pupil in an FGD said that ‘their teacher had stopped beating them when they fail the Maths test but goes over the problems using a
different way from when he first taught them.”

Weaknesses and Threats
The weaknesses and threats identified included inadequate financial and material resources to compliment the support the project was getting from SCN, the possible high turnover of staff due to the worsening economic situation in the country, skilled personnel leaving the country for ‘greener pastures’ in neighbouring countries and promotion or transfers of QEP trained staff to other districts.

Recommendations
The recommendations included scaling up the QEP project to take on board 150 more teachers in Bikita District and 45 lecturers from the 3 primary school teacher training colleges in Masvingo Province. This was designed to take the project to all schools in the district and have one or two teachers in each school that would support other teachers in that school to be reflective and use action research to resolve problems they encounter in their teaching. One other recommendation was to develop a shorter but intensive training programme to develop action research and reflective skills in more teachers and college lecturers on the QEP approach. Yet another key recommendation was to bring out more of the voices of the children taught by teachers trained in action research. The children are the intended beneficiaries of the Quality Education Project.

Comments from the organisation, if any
The internal evaluation provides useful insights into what it should take to facilitate ‘vibrant’ classrooms. In view of this, the Quality Education Project (QEP) is planned to run as a pilot for 2 more years, 2008 and 2009 to reach more teachers in all the 89 schools in Bikita District and 45 more lecturers in the 3 participating teacher training colleges teachers in Masvingo Province. The potential of this project is to benefit an average of 40 000 children in primary school in Bikita District and reaching an average of 1 600 teacher trainees who complete training every year from the 3 teachers colleges. The involvement of the University of Zimbabwe as a technical partner that is responsible for the curriculum in teachers’ colleges and monitors standards in teacher education is strategic in many ways. On the one hand, it can take action research skills training to other colleges in the country as well as infuse it into the pre-service teacher-training curriculum.