Wednesday, June 15, 2011

LETS BUILD ZIMBABWE

In the mid 80s I worked as a Curriculum Developer for the Ministry of Education in Zimbabwe.  The CDU at this time was headed by Fay Chung and was very lively and active.  I was in the Technical Subjects group, developing material for Secondary School courses. 

Before independence subjects like building had been offered in "african" schools  as semi-vocational courses for the "less gifted".  We had a vision that Building could become an ideal integrating subject for pupils of all ability levels, challenging them to bring together knowledge from all disciplines and apply it to problem solving situations. 



The "Lets Build Zimbabwe" series of  booklets were written by Malcolm Davis and myself and given away free to schools.  We completed 3 out of 5 booklets, then Malcolm had an accident & I inherited a number of other responsibilities (Team Leader, Chief Examiner, etc) 

As Chief Examiner I had to set theory papers & practical exams that were conducted at schools all over the country.  Visits to schools in the more remote rural areas were a special treat.  Students were so keen to learn in spite of everything.  We were so optimistic about the prospects of newly independent Zimbabwe in those days.

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