Zimbabwean youth with disabilities in Technical Vocational Education and Training: An institutional ethnography

Abstract

Background: People with disabilities remain under-represented in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), despite global and regional policies promoting their inclusion.
Objectives: This study examined the barriers and facilitators to the inclusion of youth with disabilities in Zimbabwe’s TVET programmes.
Methods: Situated in a critical qualitative paradigm, we utilised an institutional ethnographic (IE) design to explore how youth with disabilities experienced inclusive TVET. Data were generated through observations and semi-structured interviews with 11 youth with disabilities and two principals at inclusive centres. We used IE and the Listening Guide to map how institutional policies, practices and social norms coordinate learners’ participation and lived experiences.
Results: Participation in TVET was influenced by intersecting institutional and social factors. Facilitators encompassed positive instructor conduct, inclusive pedagogy, robust family and community support, favourable societal attitudes and accessible infrastructure. Conversely, participation was hindered by limited government support, caregiver fatigue, families’ low socioeconomic status, disability type, literacy requirements, inaccessible infrastructure, long distances and conflicts between social norms and institutional rules.
Conclusion: Achieving inclusive TVET in Zimbabwe requires aligning instructor capacity, accessible foundational education and sustainable government funding to mitigate families’ weak socioeconomic status.
Contribution: Beyond identifying barriers and facilitators, this study offers a novel methodological contribution, unravelling the invisible, text-mediated forces that coordinate learners with disabilities’ experiences across pre-enrolment, training and post-training work transitions. It provides practitioners and policymakers in low-resource settings with a user-focused mapping of how institutional mechanisms can be reconfigured to foster authentic inclusion.