Towards an Online Teaching Practice Supervision Model for Zimbabwe: Challenges and Possibilities in the context of the 4IR
Shoorai Konyana 
& Joel Timire
Issue: Vol.6 No.8 Article 8 pp. 1389 – 1403
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2025688 | Published online 11th July, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
The 21st Century brought with it new technologies, new knowledge and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This caused rapid changes in human life and the way people work. A change in the way people live and work prompts educational reforms to meet the rapid demands of changes in the workplace. Changes in the curriculum entail changes to the way teachers are developed. Several frameworks for rethinking curriculum reforms have been debated. This study set out to establish the feasibility of an online Teaching Practice model for pre-service student teachers on teaching practice at one teacher education institution in Zimbabwe. Through Domestication Theory, the study adopted a qualitative approach to gather data through teacher-educator interviews, student-teacher-focused group discussions and document analysis. The results indicate that online TP supervision would save time and financial resources. However, teacher education institutions in Zimbabwe are not yet ready for online TP supervision in terms of e-resources to support an online supervision model. The study recommends that for Zimbabwe teacher education to align itself with the demands of the 4IR era, the government through the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development and the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should invest in e-resources to equip teacher education institutions and schools with necessary Information and Technology tools. This study contributes to the ongoing discourse on the use of blended learning in teacher education and the possibility of using the online TP supervision and assessment model taking advantage of the advancement in technology brought about by the 4IR.
Keywords: Teacher Education, Teaching Practice model, Fourth Industrial Revolution, Educational Reforms
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Shoorai Konyana is a PhD holder from the Central University of Technology Free State (South Africa). Currently she is a Curriculum Theory lecturer in the Educational Foundations and Curriculum Development Department at Robert Mugabe School of Education, Great Zimbabwe University. She is a member of the Research Committee at Robert Mugabe School of Heritage and Education. She is interested in integration of ICTs in education and in greening the Teacher Education Curriculum and how the teacher education curriculum addresses environmental, cultural and economic components of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and comparative teacher education. She has proven herself as a scholar by presenting papers in national and international conferences. She has published a number of articles on teacher education in addressing environmental issues and has supervised students’ dissertations at Masters Level. She is an affiliate member of the Southern African Society for Educators (S.A.S.E).
Joel Timire is a lecturer in Mathematics and Technical Education with 34 years experience in education. He holds a PhD in Curriculum Studies from the University of Free State. He has extensively collaborated as a co-researcher with established researchers in the area of engineering teacher development. He is building his research profile under the tutelage of the Center for Diversity in Higher Education Research.
Konyana, Shoorai, and Joel Timire . “Towards an Online Teaching Practice Supervision Model for Zimbabwe: Challenges and Possibilities in the context of the 4IR,” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no.8 (2025): 1389 – 1403. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2025688
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
