Volume 20, Issue 4, July 2017, Pages 1085–1098
My Essaid Chafi1 and Elmostapha Elkhouzai2
1 Laboratory IDDS, University Hassan I, FSTS, 26000 Settat, Morocco
2 Laboratory IDDS, University Hassan I, FSTS, 26000 Settat, Morocco
Original language: English
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper presents an ethnographic study conducted in five Moroccan primary schools in Marrakesh and region. This study utilizes cultural models theory as an instrument of inquiry to probe primary school teachers’ beliefs and assumptions about pedagogical reform initiatives. The intent is to develop awareness of the sociocultural embeddedness of teachers’ thinking with regard to pedagogical renewal. In the course of interviews, the overwhelming majority of teachers harbor lingering doubts about the possibility of institutionalizing pedagogical reform. Imported pedagogies are informed by knowledge, values, and justifications generated in their own contexts. Henceforth, there is a need for a thoughtful consideration of the local context if imported pedagogies are to yield some of their anticipated results. The teachers believe that reform in primary school, in the face of daunting challenges, is doomed to failure. This might explain the fact that after years of ‘implementation’, pedagogical innovation in primary school has done poorly in terms of being institutionalized and does not appear to have achieved its desideratum. In the absence of optimal conditions that facilitate implementation, reform effort is a waste of time, money and energy. The teachers call for a bottom-up model for policy development which takes into account the central role of teachers’ beliefs and actual practices in the policy design and enactment processes.
Author Keywords: culture, teacher, reform, cultural models, pedagogy.
My Essaid Chafi1 and Elmostapha Elkhouzai2
1 Laboratory IDDS, University Hassan I, FSTS, 26000 Settat, Morocco
2 Laboratory IDDS, University Hassan I, FSTS, 26000 Settat, Morocco
Original language: English
Copyright © 2017 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
This paper presents an ethnographic study conducted in five Moroccan primary schools in Marrakesh and region. This study utilizes cultural models theory as an instrument of inquiry to probe primary school teachers’ beliefs and assumptions about pedagogical reform initiatives. The intent is to develop awareness of the sociocultural embeddedness of teachers’ thinking with regard to pedagogical renewal. In the course of interviews, the overwhelming majority of teachers harbor lingering doubts about the possibility of institutionalizing pedagogical reform. Imported pedagogies are informed by knowledge, values, and justifications generated in their own contexts. Henceforth, there is a need for a thoughtful consideration of the local context if imported pedagogies are to yield some of their anticipated results. The teachers believe that reform in primary school, in the face of daunting challenges, is doomed to failure. This might explain the fact that after years of ‘implementation’, pedagogical innovation in primary school has done poorly in terms of being institutionalized and does not appear to have achieved its desideratum. In the absence of optimal conditions that facilitate implementation, reform effort is a waste of time, money and energy. The teachers call for a bottom-up model for policy development which takes into account the central role of teachers’ beliefs and actual practices in the policy design and enactment processes.
Author Keywords: culture, teacher, reform, cultural models, pedagogy.
How to Cite this Article
My Essaid Chafi and Elmostapha Elkhouzai, “Imported pedagogies… can’t work here: Teachers’ cultural model on pedagogical reform,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 1085–1098, July 2017.
