Morgan Zintec College was established in 1981. Initially it was sharing premises with David Livingstone Primary school. It was later moved to the current location where the college took over the boarding facilities of Morgan High School. The Zintec programme was established in order to solve the serious teacher shortage that was experienced soon after independence. Initially it was offered as a four-year programme and was implemented as a 1:10:1 model. Students would spend one term at the college, ten terms on teaching practice after which they would return to College for a term. In 1995, the programme was modified to a 2-8-2 model. Students would now spend two terms at the college, eight terms on Teaching Practice and the final two terms at the College.In the year 2000 (January) the 2-8-2 programme was modified to the 2-5-2 whereby the course would now take three years to complete, which for the institution was concluded in 2020. In September 2019, the College adopted the 3-3-3 model that all subsequent Intakes will adopt.
Nature of Programmes Offered
| GENERAL COURSE | ECD |
| 1. Theory of Education with major components of Psychology of Education, Philosophy of Education, Sociology of Education. | 1. Theory of Early Childhood Development with major components of Psychological Foundations, Sociological Foundations and Historical and Philosophical Foundations. |
| 2. Professional Studies Syllabus ‘A’ Methodology | 2. Professional Studies Syllabus ‘A’ including Methodology, Administrative and Management skills. |
| 3. Professional Studies Syllabus ‘B’ Applied Education Language, Humanities, Sciences and Practical subject. | 3. Professional Studies Syllabus ‘B’ focusing on the development of knowledge, teaching skills, in specific learning areas of Maths – Science, Expressive Arts, Social Sciences and Language Arts as learning areas. |
| 4. Professional Studies Syllabus ‘C’ – Research Methods and Curriculum Depth Study. (CDS) | 4. Professional Studies Syllabus ‘C’ – Research Methods and Curriculum Depth Study (CDS) |
| 5. Professional Studies Syllabus ‘D’ – Contemporary issues i.e Health and Life Skills, NASS and ICT. | 5. Professional Studies Syllabus ‘D’ Contemporary issues i.e Health and Life Skills, NASS and ICT. |
| 6. Main subject – students choose one subject to specialize in for enrichment up to first year degree level in the following: English, ChiShona, Social Studies, Religious and Moral Studies, Mathematics, Science, Music, Physical Education and Sport, Art and Design. | 6. Main subject – students choose one subject to specialize in for enrichment from the following; English, ChiShona, Social Studies, Religious and Moral Studies, Mathematics, Environmental Science, Music, Physical Education and Sport, Art and Design. |
| 7. Teaching Practice – Under the 3-3-3 model, students spend 3 terms practicing in primary schools. | 7. Teaching Practice – Under the 3-3-3 model, students spend 3 terms practicing in primary schools. |
The Teacher In-Service Programme
The mode of training teachers requires that the student teacher be attached to schools for a period of one year. At the schools they are mentored by mentors for the greater part of the year. It was observed that these mentors lacked supervisory and ICT skills. The college then came up with an intervention in the form of a Diploma programme in Supervision and ICT. The programme runs for four school terms and at the end students sit for exams which lead to the award of the Diploma. Initially, the programme was offered in association with UNESCO but later UNESCO weaned the college off and the college managed to continue the programme successfully because of its sustainability.
The idea behind the programme is to enable mentors who host our student teachers on Teaching Practice to supervise the interns effectively relying on the expert power base gained from the diploma programme.
Courses on the programme
- Supervision in Education;
- Information and Communication Technology;
- Counseling; and
- Mentoring
Progress to date
From its inception in 2014, a total of 840 mentors have graduated and are now offering quality supervision to our student teachers who are on teaching practice.
The ECD Programme
The observation made was that ECD centres had sprouted in the community and that these centres were manned by staff who had no background knowledge in handling ECD issues. In response to that the college introduced an ECD short course with the prime purpose of equipping facilitators at ECD centres with skills to offer quality service.
Learning areas on the ECD Programme
- Heritage Social Studies
- Physical Education and Mass Displays
- Information and Communication Technology
- Indigenous Language
- Visual and Performing Arts
- Foreign Language
- Administration of ECD centres
- Professional Studies Syllabus A
- Theory of Early Childhood Development
Duration of the course
The course runs for six months and then students sit for an examination and are awarded a certificate in Early Childhood Development.
Progress to date
From the time the programme started, 660 students have graduated. The trend so far shows an ascending trajectory. Enrolment is thus going up.
Chinese Language programme
Morgan Zintec College through the University of Zimbabwe Confucius Institute offers Chinese language lessons to student teachers at the college. This programme started in 2010 and has been on going ever since. To date more than 500 students teachers have managed to learn the language and have acquired different levels of proficiency that ranges from HSK 1 to HSK 6.
The outstanding students in this programme are offered an opportunity to visit China for three weeks under the Summer Camp Programme. This tour affords the student teachers the opportunity to improve their Chinese language skills as well as to explore the Chinese culture in a real-life setting.
Upon graduation most of the student teachers have gone on to teach the language in our schools.