Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to report the findings of a synthesis of literature reviews and stakeholder interviews conducted in Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The synthesis provides an overview of instructional leadership policy and practice in these six countries. Design/methodology/approach: This paper…

This paper presents a conceptual model which explains the challenges of providing high quality sustainable, teacher professional development at scale. It provides a framework to support holistic thinking at a systemic level, applicable across different systems. It draws on sociocultural theories of learning and encourages the user to think about…

Curriculum Development in Zambia is highly centralized, with the Curriculum Development Center (CDC) being charged with developing the curriculum through consultative and participatory approaches through the course and subject panels where teachers are engaged. Nevertheless, there has been no empirical evidence to show how teachers are actively…

Zambia has a large, autonomous community schooling system that formed during the nation's transition from a socialist economy. The community schooling system has expanded during the past 20 years to increase education access in remote areas. Estimates suggest that the number of Zambian community schools has increased from 100 schools in 1996 to…

Contextual diversity in early childhood development present challenges and opportunities for holistic child development. This study explored home and parental factors associated with early childhood developmental outcomes in rural communities. Using purposive sampling, 175 families with children aged 0-8 (87 girls and 88 boys) were recruited to…

As the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) was in the last year of its 2015-2021 strategic plan, COL sought to evaluate the impact of its interventions in open and innovative schooling (OIS) in the period 2018-2021 through an external review. An online quantitative study was carried out in Belize, Malawi, Mozambique, Trinidad and Tobago, and Zambia,…

Teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has the potential to influence lesson planning, teaching and students' academic performance in science. Since PCK is embodied in lesson planning (as planned PCK), this study employed the multiple-case design to describe in-depth the biology teachers' profiles of planned topic-specific PCK (plTSPCK) for…

The aim of this study was to develop the profile and competencies of a harmonised curriculum for a multi-country regional sector-specific higher education programme. The study, which was based on a case study of Renewable Energy involving six countries in Southern Africa, was based on established methodologies proposed by previous studies on…

Teachers' intercultural understanding has a growing importance in teacher education. In a society with more diverse classrooms, there is an increasing need for teachers with a broad intercultural understanding. Student teachers who have had school practice in different cultural settings have a broader understanding of their multicultural pupils…

Background: The most effective indigenous games well known to pre-schoolers must be used in schools, given the significance of literacy and numeracy abilities in children's future educational prospects and successes. Aim: The goal of this article was to determine the efficacy of indigenous games in promoting literacy and numeracy skills among…

Since pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) influences the teaching learning process, it has dominated research on teacher effectiveness. This case study explored teachers' enacted topic-specific PCK (TSPCK) during the biology lesson study stages: planning, teaching, and reflecting. The enacted TSPCK in two video-recorded research lessons was…

This study examined the opportunities and difficulties of online learning in Zambia's higher education system, emphasizing the effects of self-regulation as a mediator between teacher-scaffolded online interactions and student learning engagement. Students and teachers frequently encounter significant challenges, such as low motivation,…

In Zambia, curriculum development for primary and secondary schools is done centrally. The Curriculum Development Centre (CDC), the institution placed with the responsibility of facilitating curriculum development, claims that the Zambian school curriculum is developed through a consultative and participatory approach through course and subject…

To explore their role in enhancing graduate employability, the study investigated the effectiveness of student internships as pedagogical practices in promoting employability skills amongst graduating students in four Social Science Degree programmes of selected universities in Zambia. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 162…

The most recent incarnation of development goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), call for a more intentional integration of higher education in development. Research can provide an avenue by which this done, developing relevant solutions to social problems. But who benefits from research, and whose knowledge counts in this process?…