Abstract:
The study used focus group interviews at three administrative
offices (provinces) that house trainee/educational psychologists in
order to explore their experiences on how they learn about their
support roles and responsibilities regarding the implementation of
inclusive education. 13 trainee/educational psychologists from these
provinces volunteered to participate in the study. The study used
a qualitative design based on a phenomenological perspective and
inductive thematic content was used to analyse data. The results
indicate that trainee/educational psychologists had known their
support roles through master's degree programmes, a single 2016
workshop, personally guided reading and collaborative work with
workmates. Their views indicated inadequate training and supervision,
and negative feelings towards internship after master's programme,
payment of supervisors, continuing professional development
points, lack of degree programmes inMaster of Science in educational
psychology, and location of conferences. The results provide
important information about educational psychology in Zimbabwe
with important implications for training and policymaking.
