The Teaching of Home Economics in Primary Schools in Zimbabwe

Home Economics is a practical subject, such that teachers are expected to teach both practical and theory lessons. It is mainly concerned with skill development, so there are more practical lessons as compared to theory lessons. Both the theory and practical lessons address the social, economic and environmental goals as guided by global, regional and national development goals such as New Urban Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals, and Africa Agenda 2063 which address issues of food security and nutrition. Whether pupils work as individuals or as members of a group, home economics is essentially concerned with planning, designing and working; in ways that involve investigation and experiment and the organisation and management of time and materials. It has to do with important issues concerning the social and material welfare of people living, with a greater or lesser degree of independence, as members of families. It is therefore, particularly well placed to play its part in developing a wide range of skills in pupils as they progress through school, because it provides many contexts within which those skills are called into play and that relate closely to pupils’ own homes and families.