Stakeholder disharmony as lens to examine the failure of the political economy of Zimbabwe syllabus reform agenda

The unsuccessful reform of the Political Economy of Zimbabwe (PEZ) syllabus is frequently attributed to the political disputes related to the secondary school curriculum that emerged shortly after independence in the 1980s in Zimbabwe. Such explanations are often incomplete and simplistic, failing to address the critical issues surrounding the symbiotic relationship among stakeholders in education, which are essential for the implementation of reform ideas in classrooms. This paper adopts stakeholder disharmony as a lens to examine and explain the apparent failure of the PEZ curriculum reforms in Zimbabwe. The current research indicates that the failure of the PEZ syllabus can be attributed, in part, to the political contestations surrounding its genealogy, design, and attempted implementation; however, the significant impact of stakeholder disharmony must not be overlooked. Data were gathered via document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key informants from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education and an official overseeing education in the Catholic Church. The data were utilised to ascertain the causes of the failure and/or stillbirth of the PEZ reform process in Zimbabwe. This account indicates that stakeholder disharmony may be a critical factor in understanding the failure of the PEZ syllabus in Zimbabwe. This paper concludes that, despite numerous reasons proposed to explain the failure of curriculum reforms, the discussions remain incomplete without addressing the role of key stakeholders' inability to find common ground, which has resulted in a detrimental turf war. Key Words:curriculum reform, instructional leadership, Political Economy of Zimbabwe Syllabus