There is a good number of us who feel insecure in their places of work. We feel that we are inadequate and live in constant fear of being found out and outed for being the pretenders we think we are. Sadly, most of the time we have no reason to feel this way at all.
The feeling usually comes from not being at the same level of education with our colleagues and sometimes having inferior ‘qualifications’ to subordinates. Yes, this may be true but level of education does not always equal level of knowledge. People should get degrees and certificates because they want to learn and not because they feel inadequate. Learning cannot always be measured by certificates.
Of course it’s not always easy to prove that you know what you know without producing ‘papers.’ Sometimes employers themselves push you to acquire the papers even when they can tell from your results that you know your stuff. In 2015, the government embarked on an exercise that saw all teachers who had been previously employed without teaching degrees and teaching certificates enroll for a Post Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) because they were ” not equipped enough ” to be teachers.
It is what it is. Even though the employment market is structured this way, it is not necessarily a bad idea to go get that degree or post grad qualification especially if your motivation is to learn. The challenge then remains of how to make time for your education and still keep your job. Online education using international institutions is becoming tricky when you are living in Zimbabwe where the currency situation is confusing.
Good News from ZOU.
The Zimbabwe Open University has now embraced digital and they are offering good programmes via the web. Besides the flexibility of geography (you can learn from wherever) they are now offering the flexibility of time.
You can upgrade your Diploma to a degree in just 2 years. You can get your PGDE in 18 months!
ZOU has embarked on bridging programs that will see diploma holders enrolling for bachelors degrees in their respective fields and complete the program and be awarded with a degree in just 2 years. Currently, the programs that a diploma holder can bridge into are:
- Bachelor of Accounting Honors
- Bachelor of Banking and Finance Honors
- Bachelor of Science in Records and Archives Management
- Bachelor of Science in Library and Information Technology
Any relevant diploma from these fields will get you into this programme where you get into these 2-year programmes and voila you have a degree. ZOU will be rolling out this program to all their programmes in subsequent years so if your programme is not on the list, do not despair, your dawn maybe closer than you think.
For those who are industry trained ( those with none teaching degrees) but can’t find employment and want to try their luck in teaching, be it at primary, secondary or tertiary education, the PGDE is just 18 months. The PGDE will train you to be a teacher fit for the teaching profession at large.
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