Primary School Teachers’ Views on Grade 7 Examination Preparations: A Comparative Analysis of Urban and Peri-urban Primary Schools in Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study sought to compare teachers’ views on the preparation for grade 7 examinations between urban and peri-urban primary schools in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe. Four primary schools were purposively selected comprising of two from each school location. 60 teachers (30 from each school location) volunteered to participate. A convergence parallel design was utilized. The results show that teachers in peri-urban schools received lower scores (M = 4.30, SD = 1.52) than did those teachers in urban areas (M = 7.00, SD = 1.73), t (58) = 34.57, p < 0.01, two tailed. The size of this effect is large (effect size r = 0.95). Most urban teachers had above 16 years teaching experience, while most peri-urban teachers had between 6 to 10 years teaching experience, χ2 (1, N = 60) = 19.08, p < 0.05. Although the two variables are not independent of each other, the strength of the association between them is moderate (V = 0.56). The lecture method was a form of instruction for both school locations. After completion of the syllabuses the use of past examinations papers will be frequent in urban schools. Lack of resources and unknown school missions hamper teachers’ effectiveness in teaching in peri-urban schools.