Understanding how Improvement-Oriented High School Teachers Pursue Curriculum Adaptation in High Schools in Gilgit-Balitistan

Abstract

This article sets out to describe and explain how four improvementoriented teachers1 (hereafter to be referred as IOTs), in their day-today teaching, pursue curriculum adaptation as a part of their continuing efforts to promote in-depth student learning in high schools in Gilgit-Baltistan. The data on which this paper is based comes from a 1-year long in-depth study (doctoral thesis research project) concerned with describing and explaining the process of change experienced by four improvement-oriented high school teachers in Gilgit-Baltistan involved in efforts to implement small changes of their own choosing in the three distinct yet interconnected realms of the classroom, the school and the community. Presenting illustrative examples from four IOTs’ teachingthe study provides a broader picture of the IOTs’ endeavors aimed at curriculum adaptation in the classroom. The study establishes the primacy of the teacher in bridging the gap between student learning needs and mandated curricular material. It recognizes the influences the teachers’actions, pedagogical moves and decisions exert on students’ learning are more powerful than the knowledge contained in the curriculum. The study, thus underscores the importance of the contextualization of learning and an active engagement of the teachers with the process of curriculum adaptation as a vital condition to reduce the gap between student learning need and curriculum material.