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This paper reports on a study of the current state of social studies implementation in Nepalese schools through the perspectives of teachers with regard to their practices that influence the promotion of democratic citizenship among young students. This study also investigates the extent of alignment between the intended and the enacted curriculum and explores what it means to educate ‘value-oriented citizens’ in Nepal as emphasized in the 2016 School Sector Development Plan. Internationally, the importance of civic engagement by young people is gaining recognition among governments, civil society stakeholders, Non-Governmental organisations and young people themselves. This engagement can enable young people to develop life skills and effectively practice and exercise citizenship and improve their employability (Eapro, 2008). This growing worldwide renewal of interest in education for democratic citizenship at school levels demands a closer examination, particularly with regards to the teachers, and how they implement social studies in their schools. What are their perspectives on curriculum reform to address changing national and global contexts? What are the challenges in implementing social studies’ multidisciplinary contents? How concerned policy makers and planners are responding to the changing national and global socio-cultural, political and citizenship contexts? What are the social studies teachers’ practices and suggestions to promote the democratic attributes among students?
Nepal provides a rich developing-world context to explore these issues. Despite possessing strong historical foundations of democratic institutions, democracies in South Asia have often failed to fulfil the people’s aspirations and have accordingly struggled to promote democracy (Mazhar & Goraya, 2015). Following a decade-long civil war in Nepal, the ending of a benevolent monarchical regime, and the ushering in of more democratic political structures in 2008, increased attempts were made to extend democratic governance in Nepal. Despite these efforts, sluggish economic development, political paralysis, policy stagnation and the continuation of underlying challenges have placed the country behind on a range of global and regional standards and stifled the development of Nepal’s democracy (Wagle, 2015). In contemporary Nepalese schools, where students learn about democracy and its associated virtues, there are significant challenges for teachers given that the lived reality of democratic experience has been less than optimal.
Citizenship education in most South and South-East Asian countries including Nepal is being taught under the umbrella of social studies. However, recent assessments indicate that many Nepalese students are underperforming in social studies, which directly affects their ability to complete schooling and developing active citizenship. For example, around 24% students did not secure enough marks in the social studies in the 2017 Secondary Education Examination, making them ineligible to complete grade 11 and 12 (Kantipur, 2017; myRepublica, 2017). These results suggest a mismatch between learning objectives and outcomes in terms of the social studies which represents a key driver in the Nepalese formal education system to promote education for democratic citizenship. To determine implementers’ perceptions on how Nepalese social studies education promotes democratic attributes among young students, this paper reports on a qualitative analysis of the interviews conducted with social studies’ teachers in the Nepalese formal education system.
This paper is a case study of teachers’ perspectives on practices, challenges and suggestions with regards to the implementation of social studies curriculum and textbooks at the school level. The case study approach allows exploring the teachers’ perspectives in depth at a time marked by changing social, institutional and academic circumstances (Creswell, 2014). This case study is grounded in the social constructivist theory, which holds that humans construct knowledge and meaning from their experiences (Lewthwaite, 2011. The study was guided by a research question: What are the perceptions, practices, and suggestions of teachers regarding the implementation of social studies curriculum and textbook?
The interviews conducted with the teachers were analysed through thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and organised according to the themes. The study revealed that teachers’ concerns centred around four main areas: i) centralized curriculum and textbook writing processes; ii) diverse socio-economic, cultural and political context; iii) issues of textbook quality; and iv) teachers’ capacity to implement the diverse curriculum and textbook contents. The findings suggest that the Nepalese formal education system appeared progressive in terms of its aims, which duly acknowledged the need for protecting and promoting social and cultural solidarity and unity in diversity. Similarly, 9 out of 12 national educational goals are directly related to the objectives of social studies. The findings, however, also indicated that the Nepalese formal education system is under the influence of centrality beliefs about the teaching and learning processes which are responsible for the existing gap between the policy and practice levels. Furthermore, at the implementation level, the social studies curriculum and textbook contents pay limited attention to addressing issues of socio-cultural diversity and economic hardship of the students. There are also issues of the low quality of textbooks, the need for democratic school governance, limited training opportunities for teachers, the inclusion of several disciplines into the social studies, limited weightage to the civic component and non-alignment between the curriculum and textbook that have some adverse implications for Nepalese social studies teachers and students.
The findings suggest that delegating authority to make selections of curriculum and textbook contents to the local level and engaging teachers in the process could be a step forward in addressing: gaps between the social studies curriculum and textbook, teacher capacity building, quality of textbooks and democratic school governance. A planned curriculum reform that recognizes cultural diversity, socio-economic adversities, politics, stakeholders and global citizenship contexts could be useful to address specific issues related to the Nepalese social studies and their delivery. It is very crucial that teachers views and concerns about the implementation of social studies are duly addressed so that they will be able to effectively promote the education for democratic citizenship and contribute to the development of active and value-oriented citizens as envisioned by the Nepalese social studies.