Learner Centered Teaching: Barriers in Develo...

Learner Centered Teaching: Barriers in Developing Countries

Author Name : Dr. Rajendra Kumar Shah

Abstract

Many developing countries has been attempting to bring a paradigm shift from TCT to LCT classrooms for years, particularly through annual in-service training, yet most of the classrooms remain dominated by rote-learning. One potential reason is that although scholars have suggested that LCT is grounded in deeply rooted cultural values resistant to change, research and training programmes have rarely attempted to identify and address these underlying beliefs. To address this gap, this study explores how teachers’ beliefs relate to their practice, and whether there are certain prevalent beliefs that conflict with a learner centred paradigm. Several prevalent cultural beliefs that are indeed antithetical to LCT. This research should generate useful insights for teacher educators and policymakers and other developing countries, regarding the need for engaging with teachers’ beliefs, and the need for contextualizing Western-originating progressive pedagogies in keeping with local cultural contexts. In the present article, barriers in the implementation of LCT have been discussed. Eleven main topics such as: constraints in the school environment; teachers’ beliefs; professional capacity; parents’ attitudes; student perceptions; assessment practices; top-down reform; lack of systemic alignment around LCT; policy issues; culture; language; readymade materials; lack of proper teaching methodology; and lack of well-equipped libraries have been discussed in this article.