An education strategy to reduce cultural conflict in schools administered by mines in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Cultural conflict is endemic in diverse societies and schools. It manifests in both subtle and overt ways, permeating the whole school environment and posing tremendous challenges for society. The purpose of this study is to devise an education strategy to reduce cultural conflict in schools administered by mines in Zimbabwe, with a particular reference to language and teacher capacity to cope with diversity in mining-town schools. This study was guided by three theoretical frameworks: Bourdieu’s capital theory, Nussbaum’s cosmopolitan education theory and unhu/ubuntu moral theory. Nine models for the reduction of cultural conflict in diversity were reviewed in order to gain insight relating to cultural conflict in mining-town schools. The qualitative research design of the study was approached from a phenomenological perspective with regard to document analysis, face-to-face and focus group interviews as well as classroom observation. Three school administrators, three SDC members, two company managers, three Grade 2 teachers and 30 Grade 6 learners were purposively selected to participate in the study. It emerged from the study that conflict was attributable to teachers with no command of language(s) spoken by the school-going population and lacked training and apititude for the task of dealing with language and cultural diversity in the classroom. It was also found that cultural conflict as described above could be reduced by establishing well-resourced language learning centres that foster essentially civilised values like respect, tolerance and dialogue. Participants also saw an ethnic match between staff and learners as significant in averting cultural conflict. The study recommended that the government should provide services that address diverse learners’ unique needs.