Effectiveness of teachers’ professional development in Dalits’ opportunities for capability development in Nepal

ABSTRACT

In this article, I analyse non-Dalit teachers’ outlooks by positioning them within a culturally complex caste system, considering its influence on Dalits’ education. Nepalese society is ruled by a caste system, where non-Dalits–Brahmins and Kshatriya are considered pure and powerful, and Dalits are viewed as impure and powerless. This multi-dynamic caste system promotes social truths that are accompanied by educational prosperity for non-Dalits and deprivation for Dalits. This study involves six teachers in in-depth interviews, twenty-four students in focus group discussion, twenty-four students in video elicitation and a total of thirty-nine teachers and students in observation. The work of Amartya Sen, Pierre Bourdieu, Raewyn Connell, and Nepalese scholars are key to the theoretical framing of this research. The study found that non-Dalit teachers are not critically reflexive of their caste-based prejudiced attitude and dispositions, which eventually reproduces unjust school education. Instead of blaming teachers, the study concludes that professional development did not offer opportunities for teachers to be critically reflexive of their teaching habits.

KEYWORDS:

• Teachers professional development
• reflexive practice
• students
• capability development
• qualitative research

Acknowledgments

This study is an outcome of my PhD study, which was financially supported by Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. I would also like to show my sincere gratitude to my supervisors Dr Andrea Gallant and Dr Claire Charles for the support they provided throughout my PhD research. I would like to thank Dr Kirk Allen and Dr Theodore Wachs for providing feedback on this paper. I would like to acknowledge students, teachers, and the school principal who were involved in this research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Roster trainers are subject expert (also known as resource teachers), who provides short term workshops in addition to their regular teaching jobs.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sudeep Khanal

Dr Sudeep Khanal completed his PhD at Deakin University. His PhD research is concerned with better understanding the effects of power and hierarchy on the educational experiences of Dalits in Nepal and working toward educational justice for this group.