Traditional African dance education as curriculum reimagination in postcolonial Zimbabwe: a rethink of policy and practice of dance education in the primary schools

Abstract

This paper examines the teaching and learning of traditional dance at primary school level in Zimbabwe as a key aspect of postcolonial curriculum reimagination within the broader project of reclaiming a nation’s heritage. The paper used the survey design to determine how a cohort of primary school teachers understood traditional dance and how they taught and practiced it in primary schools in Zimbabwe. The paper found that although the teachers had relatively fair knowledge of the most popular dances, they had very low competency levels to demonstrate how the dances were performed and done, thus limiting its practice. The paper thus concluded that the teachers were inadequately prepared to teach traditional dances in the primary school partly because of a general reluctance to utilise indigenous knowledge systems as a basis of socially responsive curriculum practice. It is recommended that there be a policy rethinking that should place greater value on dance education as distinct from Music education as well as an improvement in teacher preparation and methods in order to work towards critical postcolonial dance recovery.