Transforming Education through School-community Partnerships: Lessons from Four Rural Early Childhood Development Schools in Zimbabwe |
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| Authors: | Thamsanqa T Bhengu Evangelista Svosve |
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| Institution: | 1. University of KwaZulu-Natal;2. University of KwaZulu-Natal, svosveeva@gmail.com |
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| Abstract: | This article presents and discusses the findings of a multi-case study that was conducted in four remote rural early childhood development (ECD) schools located in the Chiredzi district, in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. The article explored how school heads enhanced resources mobilisation in remote rural ECD schools through school-community partnerships in order to improve teaching and learning conditions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the school heads, deputy heads and teachers in charge. Document reviews and observations were also used to augment data from interviews. Invitational leadership was used as an analytic tool for the study. The findings suggest that the school heads succeeded to some degree in bringing parents and various stakeholders to the ECD schools to deal with the challenges facing them. Various strategies were used including tapping into local knowledge to ensure that parents who could afford to pay fees managed to do so. |
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| Keywords: | early childhood development invitational leadership rurality school-community partnership transformation |
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