Esoteric Rumination: Can Emerging Researchers in Zimbabwean Teachers Colleges Genuinely Disengage the Publish of Perish Intonation?

Esoteric Rumination: Can Emerging Researchers in Zimbabwean Teachers Colleges Genuinely Disengage the Publish of Perish Intonation?

Patrick Senderayi , Sihle Patience Senderayi & Bekithemba Dube

Issue: Vol.5 No.4 Issue Article 2 pp.380-392
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024542 | Published online 5th April, 2024
© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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ABSTRACT

The ‘publish or perish’ mantra has long defined university culture worldwide. This research paper thus explored research dilemmas faced by emerging researchers in teachers’ colleges in publishing research. In extant literature, not much attention has been paid to dilemmas facing emerging researchers in teachers’ colleges, particularly in Zimbabwe. This study was framed within the lens of the Integrated Theoretical Model of Research Productivity which argued that academic writing is a social practice encompassing power relations, identity and ideologically inscribed knowledge. The study used a qualitative research approach couched in a constructivist paradigm. Eight lecturers from a teachers college were purposefully sampled for face-to-face interviews and the data was subjected to deductive thematic analysis. The study found that emerging researchers decried lack of institutional funding support, training and mentorship, inadequate writing skills, and the absence of collaborative writing as major impediments. Writing was not yet part of the academic culture in teachers colleges which made emerging researchers lack the wherewithal to research. In light of the findings, the study recommends that to attain relevance in the Education 5.0 era, teachers colleges require a paradigm shift which will encourage the development of a writing and publishing culture to promote innovation.

Keywords: Emerging Researchers, Neoliberalism, Publish Or Perish, Research Dilemmas, Teachers Colleges.

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ABOUT AUTHOR(S)

Patrick Senderayi, PhD (UKZN) is a Senior Lecturer at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic, Zimbabwe where he teaches research and psychology courses. He is interested in qualitative and quantitative research, organizational and behavioral psychology, community development, education management and children’s rights. He worked as a Consultant for SOS Children’s Village and World Vision (Zimbabwe) in 2023.

Sihle Patience Senderayi, MEd (GZU) has extensive teaching experience spanning twenty-four years. She is a Senior Lecturer at Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Polytechnic, Zimbabwe where she teaches research and language courses. Her interests are research, counselling, orphans and vulnerable children, children’s rights, language and culture, and indigenous knowledge systems.

Bekithemba Dube is a full Professor in Curriculum Studies currently with the Centre for Diversity in Higher Education, Central University of Technology, South Africa. He holds a PhD in Curriculum Studies from the University of Free State, South Africa. He has written extensively on the area of Curriculum, Politics and Religion in post-colonial African countries. He has published more than 120 articles and book chapters in accredited journals in the past 7 years. He has successfully edited three books on curriculum, politics and religion and edited 4 special issues on education. He is currently the section editor for the Alternation Journal, Section Editor for the Research in Social Science and Technology Journal, Associate Editor E-Journal of Humanities, arts and Social Sciences and Associate Editor for the E-Journal of Religious and Theological Studies all accredited with DHET. He has served as a Head of the Department for Education Foundation and Department of Curriculum Studies at UFS. He is a visiting Professor at Appalachian State University (USA) and he has received funding such as Thuthuka, USDP award with Colorado State University (USA) and UKSADP with the University of Highlands and Inlands (Scotland). He has received various excellent awards for being exceptional in research, teaching and engaged scholarship.

TO CITE ARTICLE

Senderayi, Patrick, Sihle Patience Senderayi and Bekithemba Dube.“Esoteric Rumination: Can Emerging Researchers in Zimbabwean Teachers Colleges Genuinely Disengage the Publish of Perish Intonation?,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 5, no.4 (2024): 380-392. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2024542