Perceptions of Multigrade Teaching: A Narrative Inquiry into the Voices of Stakeholders in Multigrade Contexts in Rural Zambia

Multigrade teaching is used widely in primary schools throughout the Majority World. This study reports the findings of a narrative inquiry undertaken to answer the question: what are the perceptions of stakeholders in rural Zambian multigrade contexts about multigrade teaching as an education strategy? We were interested in exploring the reality of multigrade education. The inquiry found that although stakeholders in the main held positive perceptions about multigrade teaching, necessitated by lack of resources in rural areas, they saw it as a poor substitute for monograde teaching. The study confirms that the human and physical infrastructure in rural Zambia is in a poor state making unlikely the achievement of MDGs by 2015. Capacity building to enhance multigrade education is suggested as a possible strategy to accelerate the realisation of the MDG of Education for All (EFA) by 2015. Failure to provide effective multigrade teaching will commit millions of children, particularly in the rural areas in the Majority World, to the vicious cycle of extreme poverty, unemployment, hunger, ignorance and disease.