The purposes of this study were to examine the extent to which literature was used to discuss findings in selected papers from Zimbabwe Journal, and to compare the quality of reviews in this journal with other international journals. The study was largely qualitative in nature and used convenient sampling. In the study, the Zimbabwe Journal was chosen because of easy access. Three papers were conveniently selected based on personal interest and areas previously studied. Content analysis was used to compare the quality of discussion of literature in the sampled papers. Findings suggest that authors cite relevant literature extensively in the background to the study but use the same literature sparingly in the discussion of their results. Further, in the discussion of findings, the use of literature was limited to confirming what was already known, and does not show how the new studies reported contribute to knowledge. The study concluded that the journal studied was failing to attract authors who write high quality papers. Perhaps the journal should broaden its brief and target an international audience, because at present as evident in the three cases cited, the journal can only reach out to practitioners within (Southern) Africa.
The purpose of the study was to establish lecturers and student teachers' perceptions of the importance of subject matter knowledge and how these views affected supervision and assessment of pre-service and in-service science teachers at University of Mashonaland (pseudonym) in Zimbabwe. The study was largely qualitative and used group discussions, interviews and document analysis to collect data. Lecturers that offered professional courses had varied backgrounds with the majority claiming a background in science education at university level and a large number did not study science beyond Ordinary Level. There were mixed feelings about quality of supervision and assessment received from lecturers who did not have sound science knowledge. Student teachers thought they did not benefit much from supervision by non-science educators and their view was supported by science educators. On the other hand lecturers with no science background insisted they were competent to assess documents and live lessons conducted by the student teachers. Further research was recommended to determine qualitative and quantitative differences in supervision and assessment by lecturers with different backgrounds in science education.
This study explored identities commonly used in teacher education and student teachers' motives for becoming a teacher. The qualitative case methodology employed interviews and biographical questionnaires data collection methods. Data was gathered through interviewing student teachers and lecturers. Qualitative data analysis began by defining a priori themes and identifying parts of the interview transcripts that were relevant to these a priori themes. The initial coding was then refined by adding additional codes which emerged from the data to create a final coding template to interpret findings. Data analysis methods revealed that student teachers were motivated to join teaching by chance, important other, remuneration, vocation and interest developed through work experience. However prospective candidates did not get places to train as teachers on the basis of their motivation to become teachers. Further the study revealed that motives influenced "what", "where", and "how" student teachers were learning. This study recommends using interviews to establish motives as a way to supplement selection of student teachers.
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