Ugandan Teachers Epistemological Beliefs and Child-Led Research: Implications for Developing Inclusive Educational Practice

ABSTRACT

There is a complementarity between Uganda’s aim for ‘education for all’ and the pedagogy indicated as underpinning Uganda’s child-focused thematic curriculum. However, child-focused pedagogies are rare. The case is made that child-led research is an appropriate model for developing inclusive classroom practice. This research is the first to consider the relationship between Ugandan teachers’ epistemological beliefs and child-led research. The findings from questionnaire responses of 187 teachers and educators challenge the argument that Ugandan teachers’ epistemological beliefs are the primary barrier to implementing child-focused pedagogies and indicate that a child-led research initiative would complement the epistemological beliefs of many teachers and offer a potential model for an inclusive pedagogical approach.

KEYWORDS:

• Teachers’ epistemological beliefs
• Ugandan curriculum
• child-led research
• inclusive education
• thematic curriculum
• special educational needs
• happiness
• social constructivist pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.