Museums as Pedagogical Spaces in the Implementation of Zimbabwe's Heritage-Based Curriculum: Teachers' Perspectives

Through the Secretary's Circular Number 4 of 2024, the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education in Zimbabwe announced the adoption of the Heritage-Based Curriculum Framework for 2024-2030. This program stands aligned with Vision 2030 and is aligned with the National Development Strategy One (1) and Two (2). Its fundamental principle is to create an education system that leverages on heritage-based education to produce goods as well as services in the economy's value chain. This adopted new approach in Zimbabwe's education system presents an opportunity for museums as well as heritage sites to serve as complementary learning spaces that improve the effective application of heritage-based learning. Museums offer students an opportunity to handle as well as study real objects and artifacts, which fosters problem-solving as well as interaction with others, thus making them valuable supplementary learning spaces. If properly utilised, museums have the capacity to enrich education by providing the much needed access to history, culture, and heritage-based technology and innovation. Engagement with museum artifacts enhances students' interest as well as improving learning outcomes across varied subject areas. This study thus explores how heritage sites, museums as well as monuments can enhance heritage-based learning, mostly in secondary schools, given the challenge that most teachers as resource persons in these schools are mainly trained not in history or heritage disciplines. This research therefore investigates the perceptions of secondary school teachers in Masvingo urban government schools in regards to the use of museums and heritage sites as complementary learning spaces. Through the use of qualitative research methods, this study reveals that regardless of existing challenges, teachers have a positive perception of museum-based learning, recognising its role in fostering fact-based education and providing a dynamic, hands-on teaching and learning environment. This then highlights the potential need for museums and heritage sites to effectively support the demands of Zimbabwe's heritage-based curriculum (2024-2030).