Pillars, Aims, Principles & Organisation, Assessment of Curriculum

Pillars of the Curriculum

The review process towards the development of the New Curriculum was centred on five key pillars:

1. The legal and regulatory framework;
2. Teacher capacity development programme;
3. Teacher professional standards;
4. Infrastructure development and
5. The centre for education research, innovation and development (CERID). 

Aims of the Curriculum

The expansion in the capabilities of information and communication technologies and the emergence of an information-driven economy underpin the need for the development of new skill sets the enable citizens to live and work competitively in the global village.

The new Curriculum seeks to achieve the following aims:  

• Motivating learners to cherish their Zimbabwean identity and value their heritage, history and cultural traditions and preparing them for participatory citizenship;
• Preparing learners for life and work in an indigenised economy and increasingly globalised and competitive environment;
• Ensuring learners demonstrate desirable literacy and numeracy skills including practical competences necessary for life; and
• Preparing and orienting learners for participation in voluntary service and leadership; and
• Fostering lifelong learning in line with the emerging opportunities and challenges of the knowledge society.

Principles of the Curriculum

 The Curriculum seeks to promote the following principles:

Inclusivity, life-long learning, equity and fairness; gender sensitivity; Respect (Unhu, Ubuntu, Vumhunu); responsiveness, balance, diversity, transparency; accountability.

Organisation of the Curriculum

The Framework organises the Curriculum into the learning levels including:

Infant School: covers Early Childhood Development (ECD) to Grade 2.  At this level the emphasis is on the acquisition of the foundational skills for learning.

Junior School: covers Grades 3 to 7 which reinforces the foundational skills and starts to provide learners with life and work skills.

Secondary School: covers Forms 1 to 6 which prepares learners for various pathways including university education, technical and vocational training or entering the professions in various training programmes such as teaching, nursing, army and police training and various forms of apprenticeship and on the job training.

Assessment

The assessment will be both formative and summative.  The Framework emphasises continuous assessment, profiling by nurturing and recording the learners’ abilities and competences from infant to secondary levels. For example at the Junior School Level a percentage of the learner’s grade will be determined by continuous assessment and the other percentage will be based on the national examination. At Form 4, the learners’ grades will be based on theoretical examination, practical examination and continuous assessment percentage.