STRATEGIES OF DEVELOPING CONFLICT RESOLUTION SKILLS
FOR ENHANCING TEACHING, LEARNING AND PEACE IN
ZIMBABWEAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THE MIDLANDS
PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY OF GWERU AND SHURUGWI
DISTRICTS.

STRATEGIES OF DEVELOPING CONFLICT RESOLUTION SKILLS
FOR ENHANCING TEACHING, LEARNING AND PEACE IN
ZIMBABWEAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN THE MIDLANDS
PROVINCE: A CASE STUDY OF GWERU AND SHURUGWI
DISTRICTS.

THONDHLANA SAIDEN

The main objective of the study was to establish the extent to which the development of
Conflict Resolution Skills was being fostered in the Gweru and Shurugwi District Primary
Schools. The study was triggered by the observed conflict among teachers and students and
there appeared a need for conflict resolution skills development among primary school
leadership, teachers and children in the districts under study. Indicators showed that teachers
and school heads needed training in conflictresolution, there was lack of acomprehensive
conflict resolution programme in primary schools. Religion and culture appeared to play a
divisive role in conflict resolution. Therefore, the purpose of this study wasto find out the
extent to which conflict resolution skills development was being fostered in primary schools.
The study was grounded in interpretive paradigm and used a case study design to understand
the phenomenon. Documentary analysis, open ended questionnaires, focus group and in-depth
interviews were used to collect data. The purposive sampling and snowballing techniques
were used to identify participants who included 30 school heads, 227 teachers, 180 children, 2
district education officers, 2 conflict resolution experts, 20 student teachers and 3 teachers’
college lecturers. The study was underpinned in the strategies of conflict resolution skills
development theories. The theories advocated for the use of strategies such as establishing a
cooperative context, negotiation, peer mediation, arbitration, use of the curriculum, academic
controversy, whole school cultural change, cultural exploration, use of a religious framework
and resorting to multiculturalism and inter-faithism. The objective was to come up with a
comprehensive conflict resolution programme that would enhance learning, teaching and
peace Findings revealed that most of the syllabuses contained aspects of conflict resolution
skills development except for human rights, multiculturalism and gender education.
Management practices were bureaucratic and dictatorial, the teachers’ colleges had material
which was quite relevant but it left out information on mediation and academic controversy.
Another finding showed that culture and religion played a divisive role and school structures
showed reduced ability for supporting the development of conflict resolution skills. The study
concluded that; religion and culture are playing a divisive role, there is little existence of a
culture ofconflict resolution in classroom manangement and management practices, there are
various types of conflicts occurring in the primary schools like inter-personal and inter-group,
assessment leaves a lot to be desired and teacher’s colleges have made concerted efforts to
address conflict resolution since 2010. In view of the above findings, it is recommended that
workshops related to the development of conflict resolution skills should be mounted among
teachers, leadership and pupils, ministry of education provide schools with guidelines on
conflict resolution, non – examinable subjects to be taught, cluster to pool resourvces together
and heads and education officers should guide teachers on the implementation of the
curriculum with emphasis onconflict resolution.

ZOU