AN ASSESSMENT OF THE BACHELOR OF EARLY CHILDHOOD
DEVELOPMENT DEGREE PROGRAMME IN ITS INITIAL STAGES
AT ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE BACHELOR OF EARLY CHILDHOOD
DEVELOPMENT DEGREE PROGRAMME IN ITS INITIAL STAGES
AT ZIMBABWE OPEN UNIVERSITY

ROSEMARY NGARA

RICHARD NGWARAI

RODGERS NGARA

The Bachelor of Early Childhood Education degree (BEDECD) is a teacher development programme which was
introduced for study at Zimbabwe Open University in September 2010 in response to the need for more ECD-trained
teachers. BEDECD is four year programme. It had run for three semesters at the time the study was conducted. The
study was conducted at Zimbabwe Open University, in Masvingo region to assess opinions of students and lecturers on
the implementation of the BEDECD curriculum, in the stated period. Generally, students and lecturers were of the
opinion that modules designed for the programme had been useful and had recent data and the design of the modules
was of high quality. Pre-Teaching Practice Microteaching was viewed by most participants as helpful but micro-teaching
was not accorded adequate time. However, participants were generally, unhappy about the delayed provision of some
modules in each of the semesters. Students felt that tutorials were in most cases fruitful as tutors were thoroughly
prepared but students reported that tutors did not employ any media that could have driven home ideas and concepts at
stake. The study recommended timeous provision of curriculum materials and feedback on assignments, among other
things

Greener Journal of Educational Research

2013