Supervision of student teachers in Zimbabwean Primary Schools: Implications for teacher pre-service programmes.

The economic crisis in Zimbabwe has resulted in poor working conditions, low remuneration and lack of resources. This situation has led to low morale of qualified teachers. The supervision of student teachers therefore, represents extra work for the teachers, who are already over-burdened by large classes and the demands associated with the introduction of new subjects from time to time. Some mentors feel that they need to be given incentives for their role in the training of teachers. Furthermore, research suggests that some student teachers are struggling with their teaching practice which is an important aspect of their teacher education. It is for this reason that the researcher sought to conduct a case study that would examine the supervision of student teachers by school based supervisors in Zimbabwean primary schools. Purposive sampling was used to select eighteen student teachers and nine supervisors. This study, which is qualitative in nature, was grounded in the constructivist paradigm. Semi-structured interviews were deployed to gather data and Focus Group Discussions and document analysis were also used for triangulation purposes. The data revealed that although student teachers were supervised by their mentors, there were divergent perspectives with regard to how supervision of student teachers should be conducted, with a significant number understanding supervision as checking and controlling of student teachers‟ work. It also emerged from the data that good relationship with mentors was beneficial to student teachers. However, the majority of student teachers reported serious challenges that included lack of orientation mentors and inadequate supervision due to busy schedule of their mentors. Based on the findings of the study, the study recommends that School ~ viii ~ Heads should choose well-qualified and experienced teachers to mentor and supervise student teachers so that they serve as good role models to the students, and that clear supervision guidelines be developed to achieve uniformity in the supervision of student teachers