Teachers’ beliefs and educational reform in India: from ‘learner-centred’ to ‘learning-centred’ education

Abstract

The challenges faced by learner-centred education (LCE) reforms in developing countries may be partly explained by their failure to engage with the culturally shaped beliefs in which teachers’ practice is rooted. Drawing from a mixed methods study of 60 government primary teachers in India, this research points to cultural tensions faced by LCE reforms in India. Although India’s own Constitutional values and pedagogical reform movements support LCE’s ideals, many teachers’ beliefs are shaped by dominant ideologies that contradict LCE’s assumptions. Imposing a predetermined, ‘Western’ model of LCE practice will inevitably face challenges if not supported by teachers’ underlying beliefs – and in fact contradicts LCE’s own ideals of empowering teacher agency. Instead, the paper argues for pedagogical reforms to focus less on a predesigned model of learner-centred practice and more on its underlying beliefs: by seeking to instil culturally relevant learning-centred beliefs, and involving teachers themselves in determining what learning-centred practice might look like within their context.

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