The Transition from Classrooms and Lecture Rooms to the Workplace: Empirical Evidence From Selected Schools and Colleagues in Zimbabwe

The study sought to establish and strengthen school to work transition. The endeavour to assess how efficient school based instruction and learning prepared students for the world of work (by cultivation of employability skills) was the major motivation for undertaking this study. Questionnaires, structured interviews, document analyses and observation(s) were used to gather data from the selected participants. The sample was a result of convenience sampling, which tried to cover all schools types and colleges. The study found that courses being offered in some colleges were inadequate, irrelevant and in some cases even out of date. The most common element was the promotion of overly specific training and encouragement of a dual structure which segregate vocational and academic education. Recommendations made include regular curricula reviews and inclusion of seriously supervised of internships in the training of college and university students.