The emergence of Shadow Education in teacher education: evidence from Zimbabwe

Informed by Charles Wright Mills’ sociological imagination and the Technology Acceptance Model, this qualitative study was undertaken to report the emergence of Shadow Education (SE) in teacher education in Zimbabwe amid COVID-19. WhatsApp discussions and Google interviews generated data from 12 lecturers and 12 students, selected using snowball sampling. The thematically analysed data reveal that behind the lecturers’ and students’ engagement in SE were wider societal problems. Lecturers engaged in SE not only because they were hungry for money but were knee-deep sunk in poverty and incapacitated to support their families. Rather than adopting online teaching and learning to continue education during COVID-19, students who lacked technological skills disapproved of it and turned to SE. The study recommends that employers must review lecturers’ remunerations to motivate them to provide quality online teaching and learning. This study extends the conversation on SE, which had been confined to primary and high schools. © 2024 Technology, Pedagogy and Education Association.