Perceptions of Multigrade Teaching: A Narrative Inquiry into the Voices of Stakeholders in Multigrade Contexts in Rural Zambia

Title
Perceptions of Multigrade Teaching: A Narrative Inquiry into the Voices of Stakeholders in Multigrade Contexts in Rural Zambia
Publication Date
2015
Author(s)
Kivunja, Charles
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3520-0745
Email: ckivunja@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:ckivunja
Sims, Margaret
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4686-4245
Email: msims7@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:msims7
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Canadian Center of Science and Education
Place of publication
Canada
DOI
10.5539/hes.v5n2p10
UNE publication id
une:17039
Abstract
Multigrade teaching is used widely in primary schools throughout the Majority World. This study reports the findings of a narrative inquiry undertaken to answer the question: what are the perceptions of stakeholders in rural Zambian multigrade contexts about multigrade teaching as an education strategy? We were interested in exploring the reality of multigrade education. The inquiry found that although stakeholders in the main held positive perceptions about multigrade teaching, necessitated by lack of resources in rural areas, they saw it as a poor substitute for monograde teaching. The study confirms that the human and physical infrastructure in rural Zambia is in a poor state making unlikely the achievement of MDGs by 2015. Capacity building to enhance multigrade education is suggested as a possible strategy to accelerate the realisation of the MDG of Education for All (EFA) by 2015. Failure to provide effective multigrade teaching will commit millions of children, particularly in the rural areas in the Majority World, to the vicious cycle of extreme poverty, unemployment, hunger, ignorance and disease.
Link
Citation
Higher Education Studies, 5(2), p. 10-20
ISSN
1925-475X
1925-4741
Start page
10
End page
20

Files:

NameSizeformatDescriptionLink