Enabling teachers in systemic reform: the implementation of 'learner-centred' pedagogy in low-income contexts

教育改革是一个重要而又复杂的过程，需要在各种情况下适应新出现的需求。随着全球对“全民教育”的承诺，虽然受教育的机会有所改善，但人们对教育质量的担忧令人担忧，并观察到“学习危机”（UNESCO, 2013）。鉴于教学过程在教育质量中的中心地位（UNESCO, 2014），课堂作为干预场所受到越来越多的关注。我的研究通过关注一种流行的改革方法，即“以学习者为中心”的教学法（Vavrus, Thomas, & Bartlett, 2011），为研究课堂实践复杂性的实证工作的缓慢增长做出了贡献。然而，尽管它很受欢迎，但LCP没有普遍的理解或格式，在不同的背景下效果最好（Schweisfurth, 2013）。它的实施，特别是在低资源环境下，也受到各种相互交织的系统因素的限制（Nsengimana, Mugabo, & Hiroaki, 2020）。选择卢旺达作为案例研究，我进行了一项定性研究，使用半结构化访谈和课堂观察作为主要方法，与教师、教师培训师和政府官员接触，了解他们对LCP的看法和实践。主要发现表明，虽然大多数参与者从学生积极参与各种学习活动的角度来讨论LCP，但其他人认为通过内容而不是教学形式来改善学习。这是由于一系列背景现实，需要强有力的教师主导的指导和管理，以使有效的学习符合课程需要。与会者还批判性地反思了支持教师改革的多个关键推动因素，包括政策、教学环境、教师培训、学校领导、学生和家长。在整个研究期间，我将以这些收集到的定性证据为基础，最大限度地发挥研究的影响。对于学术读者，这将通过在高影响力的期刊上发表论文和在主要会议上传播研究结果来实现。我的研究结果为教育学理论提供了重要的启示。在Guthrie（2018）的教学风格模型的基础上，我的研究表明，在不同的背景下，没有“最佳”实践。相反，有意义和富有成效的变革需要与背景信仰和现实相一致。此外，我的研究支持Fullan（2007）呼吁采用全系统方法进行改革，提供了强有力的证据，表明孤立于更广泛的系统问题之外的教师技能提升不足以实现预期的变化。对于更广泛的受众，该研究还将提供与社会实践密切相关的实质性影响。我的研究强调，为了实现可持续的变革，有必要听取从业者的声音，以教师的意愿为基础，并支持他们制定一系列创新的教学策略，以应对不同的环境和学习需求。除了培训教师外，教学材料也发挥了特别重要的作用。因此，我将使用一系列创新和有效的策略来可视化和传达这些发现，从而最大限度地发挥影响。这些活动包括博客、研讨会和计划在卢旺达针对不同受众的一系列参与性传播活动。总的来说，奖学金将使我能够通过传播来建立我的博士研究，并在未来的研究中推进这些重要问题。通过进一步的培训和在实践中对学生的支持，我将进一步加强自己在教育学和相关问题研究方面的知识和技能。最终，我们希望所有学生都能从优质和公平的教育中获益，从而有效地为他们的未来培养全面的能力。

Educational reform is an important, and yet, a complex process for every context to adapt to emerging needs. Following the global commitment to "Education for All", while access to schooling has improved, a 'learning crisis' is observed with alarming worries over the quality of educational provision (UNESCO, 2013). Given the centrality of teaching-and-learning processes in educational quality (UNESCO, 2014), growing attention is put on classroom as a site of intervention. My research contributed to the slowly growing body of empirical work looking into the complexities of classroom practice, by focusing on a popular reform approach known as 'learner-centred' pedagogy (LCP) (Vavrus, Thomas, & Bartlett, 2011). Yet, despite its popularity, LCP has no universalist understanding or format that works best across contexts (Schweisfurth, 2013). Its implementation, especially in low-resource contexts, is also confined by a wide range of intertwining systemic factors (Nsengimana, Mugabo, & Hiroaki, 2020). With Rwanda chosen as a case study, I undertook a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and classroom observation as primary methods to engage with teachers, teacher trainers, and government officials around their perception and practices of LCP. The key findings showed that while most participants discussed LCP in terms of students' active participation in various learning activities, others argued for improving learning through content rather than teaching formats. This was attributed to a range of contextual realities, which required strong teacher-led instruction and management to enable effective learning in line with curriculum needs. Participants also reflected critically on multiple key enablers of the reform to support teachers, including policies, instructional environment, teacher training, school leaders, students and parents. Throughout the fellowship, I will build on these gathered qualitative evidence to maximize research impact. For academic audience, this will be achieved by publishing in high impact journal papers, and disseminating findings in major conferences. My research findings provided important implication for theories on pedagogy. Building on Guthrie's (2018) teaching style model, my research showed that there is no 'best' practice across contexts. Rather, meaningful and productive change require compatibility with contextual beliefs and realities. Moreover, supporting Fullan's (2007) call for a whole-system approach to reform, my research provided strong evidence that upskilling teachers in isolation of wider systemic issues was insufficient to achieve the desired changes. For the wider audience, the research will also provide substantial impact that has strong relevance to societal practice. My research highlighted that to achieve sustainable change, there is a need to engage with practitioners' voices, build on teachers' willingness, and support them to develop a range of innovative pedagogical strategies that can be responsive to different settings and learning needs. Apart from training teachers, teaching and learning materials were found to play particularly crucial role. I will thus maximize impact by using a range of innovative and effective strategies to visualise and communicate these findings. These include blogs, seminars, and a series of participatory dissemination activities planned in Rwanda addressing different audience. Overall, the Fellowship will enable me to build on my PhD research through dissemination, and to take these important issues forward in future research. Through undertaking further trainings and supporting students in practice, I will further strengthen my knowledge and skills to research on pedagogy and relevant issues. Ultimately, it is wished that all students can benefit fully from quality and equitable education, which can effectively equip them with holistic competencies for the future.