The adoption and recontextualization of learner-centred pedagogy in Rwanda

In the last two decades, various sub-Saharan countries, including Rwanda, embarked on curricular and pedagogical reforms as a response to what has been called the “learning crisis”. The learning crisis refers to the situation in many countries, in which children in many schools still lack basic literacy and numeracy skills after several years of education. Most pedagogical reforms included learner-centred pedagogy (LCP), since LCP was commonly perceived as the panacea for the learning crisis. However, most empirical data on the implementation of LCP in low- and middle-income countries showed a far from promising picture. This was explained by factors such as material scarcity and teachers’ inadequate capacity to understand and implement LCP well. These data led to a debate on the feasibility of LCP in low- and middle-income countries. This research contributed to this debate by examining why and how LCP has been adopted in Rwanda and how Rwandan primary and secondary school teachers and teacher educators have recontextualized LCP. It focused on the interplay between teachers’ capacity and the context and circumstances of their work and it assumes an active role of those who receive LCP. This study confirmed that context matters and it revealed how context impacted the implementation and recontextualization of LCP. It was therefore, among others, recommended to acknowledge personal and professional experiences, and social and organizational structures in schools, since these factors impacted the way teachers recontextualized LCP.