Teachers’ Strategies in Embracing Curriculum Change: A Case of Lesotho Urban Teachers

Abstract

Curriculum reforms involve changing organisational structures, administration, resource distribution and allocation, communication   links, stakeholders’ practices, beliefs, and attitudes. They could devastate the consequences of teaching and learning to teachers as  curriculum implementers. They could further affect teachers’ cognitive stability and psychological and social well-being. This study  explores the teachers’ experiences in implementing curriculum reforms at the primary school level in Lesotho. An interpretive paradigm  and appreciative inquiry framework guided this qualitative study. Thirteen teachers were selected purposively from three primary schools  in Maseru. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions allow for the collection and interpretation of data. Their  experiences with curriculum change and the coping mechanisms they utilised to survive the demands and challenges surfaced. The  thematic findings highlighted how teachers’ resistance to change, inadequate training, and increased workload pressured most participants. To survive the pressure, challenges, and demands of educational change, teachers highlighted the need to form subject  panels and schemes, accessibility and the use of technology and the Internet, and support from school management and the Ministry of  Education and Training. Educational change can positively and negatively affect teachers as curriculum implementers. Therefore,  teachers need to improvise appropriate coping mechanisms.