Examinations and good education: Their meaning to the teaching of siNdebele literature in secondary schools in Zimbabwe

The study sought to explore the relationship between examinations and good teaching. This was examined in view of the fact that whilst examinations could be interpreted from a percentage output, good teaching was lifelong and endless. The views of teachers were sought to establish the best way of teaching siNdebele literature that would promote critical thinking and critical analysis in pupils. This was also as a way of establishing the skill to be attained by literature students that would assist them to face the world in a meaningful and constructive way. The constructivist philosophy informed the study where both the cultural heritage approach and the cultural analysis approach to teaching literature were explored. A questionnaire was given to student teachers training to be teachers of siNdebele at secondary school level. SiNdebele lecturers were interviewed. It was found that there were some teachers who were still encouraging students to regurgitate facts from novels instead of analyzing issues and facts contextually. Interpretation and analysis was found to be difficult for students hence teachers opted to teach novels as they would teach a comprehension passage. However, it was found that once a novel was taught in a way mentioned above it ceased to be meaningful to the life of the learner later own in life. It was therefore recommended that students be given a chance to construct new knowledge around a novels basing on their life experiences. Whilst the cultural heritage approach promoted understanding cultural values from the traditional view, the cultural analysis approach could be introduced so that students could analyze any situation encountered intelligently and objectively.