FACTORS AFFECTING THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF MUSIC AS A CURRICULUM SUBJECT IN RURAL SECONDARY SCHOOLS: A STUDY OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MOUNT DARWIN DISTRICT OF ZIMBABWE
There have been policy reforms in education that are aimed at improving the quality of education. Such reforms include the expansion of the curriculum in order to incorporate practical subjects in the school curriculum. These practical subjects include Home Economics, Computers, Music, Carpentry, Building, Technical Graphics, Fashion and Fabrics, Woodwork, Art, and Aviation among others. The philosophy behind the advocacy for practical subjects is guided by the need to prepare students for real life situations. The school is seen as a platform to equip students with skills that are transferable to real life situations. The Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Education and Training (1999:445) made recommendations on the need for a "new education structure that vocationalises education to familiarize pupils with vocational and technical skills at Basic Education level and lay the foundation for specialization at post basic level" To support this idea there was need for the re orientation of people to appreciate practical subjects and labour. It has been more that fifteen years since the adoption of the recommendations of the commission. There are concerns as to the factors that have hindered the successful implementation of a vocationalised school curriculum in Zimbabwe. The study focuses on the factors that affect the teaching and learning of Music as a curriculum subject at ten secondary schools in Mt. Darwin district of Zimbabwe. The purposively selected sample comprised of five school heads from schools offering Music, five school heads from schools not offering Music, five Music teachers and one Music inspector in the district, thus providing a total of sixteen respondents. The study used the qualitative methodology and the case study design. The study came up with the conclusions that lack of trained teachers, lack of resources, lack of innovation, negative attitudes by school heads and education inspectors were some of the factors that negatively impacted on the teaching and learning of Music as a curriculum subject in the selected schools. The study also concluded that Music was one of the non examinable subjects at O"level and as such was not given the importance that was given to examinable subjects. The study recommends that Music as a subject be examined at O"level for teachers, school heads and pupils to take it seriously. Schools and communities have to be innovative enough to produce their own Music equipment and other related resources. Workshops by the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education have to be held to change people"s attitudes as a curriculum subject. Vol 3, Issue 1 PP. 55 66 ISSN: 2394 5788 56 P a g e 3 0 J a n u a r y 2 0 1 6 w w w g j a r o r g