Making Do: A Multiple Case Study on the Designerly Thinking and Action of Primary School Teachers in Under-Resourced Schools of Bhutan

• Main Author: Gyabak, Khendum
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest LLC 2018; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
• Subjects: Barriers; Brainstorming; Creativity; Curriculum Design; Data Analysis; Disadvantaged Schools; Educational Environment; Educational Planning; Educational Quality; Educational Resources; Elementary School Teachers; Faculty Development; Foreign Countries; Instructional Design; Learning Processes; Learning Strategies; Nongovernmental Organizations; Prediction; Rural Schools; South Asian Studies; Student Needs; Teacher Characteristics; Teacher Collaboration; Teacher education; Teaching Methods; Bhutan
• ISBN: 9780438637535; 0438637534

The literature on teacher practice is abundant but the notion of framing teachers as designers is comparatively new. Teachers are highly embedded in doing design on a daily basis. As designers of instruction and learning experiences they are unique in that they are also content experts, deliverers of instruction, and have a nuanced understanding of assessing the needs of their students because of the nature of their embedded practice. Furthermore, teachers in under-resourced environments may out of necessity be forced to act as designers in a more immediate way than teachers who have a lot of resources and a predetermined curriculum. The descriptions of teacher practice in under-resourced schools has consistently focused on the challenges and barriers teachers face while teaching in such contextual conditions but fail to mention how these teachers overcome such challenges and manage to make do with scarce resources to find innovative ways to foster learning for their students. The purpose of this multiple case study is to investigate the thinking and actions within teacher practice that could be considered designerly, in particular those carried out by primary school teachers who are teaching or have had experience teaching in under-resourced schools. The study found that designerly thoughts and actions were present among teachers across the seven cases. While designing may not be foregrounded in the professional practice of these teachers, they are engaged in acts of designing from the moment they begin to think about their goals for class, adhere to the curricular requirements set by the governing bodies, and negotiate and work their instruction around the contextual conditions of their teaching and learning environment. Although teachers do not follow a formalized and systematic way of engaging in design, the cases from the study suggest that teachers are engaged in design activities like planning, reflection, analysis, visualization, framing, schematizing, collaboration and brainstorming, recollecting, predicting, theorizing, making, and tinkering. To the extent of framing teachers as designers, this study has implications for teacher professional development, design theory, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) that work with teachers who are positioned in under-resourced classroom contexts around the world. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]