Reculturing Pedagogical Practice: Probing Teachers’ Cultural Models of Pedagogy

Abstract

A number of educational reform attempts, chief among which are pedagogy by objectives, competency-based approach, and pedagogy of integration, have been made to establish pedagogical reform in Moroccan public primary school. However, results have not been up to par. Failure of school reform has been largely rationalized in terms of technical problems associated with innovation delivery system. By adopting a “technicist” stance towards issues of pedagogical reform, decision makers and curriculum developers have paid a scant attention to the fact that pedagogical innovations are social constructions, and as such value-laden. The institutionalization of pedagogical frameworks import has so far failed to take into account the local sociocultural meanings. A close look into our classrooms shapes an understanding why prevailing traditional practices persist in spite of the progressive ideals advocated in reform packages. Pedagogy is more than techniques; it is deeply embedded in the sociocultural context. Upgrading pedagogical practice requires a sociocultural approach in which the nature of the cultural perspective of pedagogy is recognized and failure of pedagogical reform is also sought in the workings of the enveloping social structure. Such a cultural undertaking of pedagogy can be fulfilled by probing teachers’ cultural models of pedagogy. Without proper examination and understanding of teachers’ conceptualization of pedagogy and how it reflects on classroom practice, it will be difficult to determine an appropriate focus for pedagogical reform. Therefore, the study of teachers’ cultural models of pedagogy has the potential to provide reflective insight into many facets of teachers’ thinking and practice. Attentiveness to cultural models of pedagogy can lead and enlighten educational practice towards directions that current research has not explored yet.