(Dis)connection between curriculum, pedagogy and learners’ lived experiences in higher education
The Disconnect Between Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Learners’ Lived Experiences
As an experienced educational writer, I’m deeply concerned about the disconnect between school curricula, teaching practices, and the real-life experiences of students in higher education. This disconnect can have far-reaching consequences, undermining the relevance and effectiveness of education in addressing critical environmental and social issues.
Curriculum Priorities and Deficiencies
Analysis of Nepal’s national curriculum framework and secondary-level curriculum content reveals some troubling trends. While the curriculum aims to prepare “conscientious citizens who can contribute to sustainable development,” the actual content and learning objectives fall short of this ambitious goal (CDC, 2019).
The curriculum and textbooks focus heavily on imparting knowledge about environmental issues, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. However, they lack a strong emphasis on developing the skills, attitudes, and behaviors needed to translate this knowledge into meaningful action (CDC, 2014; 2021).
For instance, the curriculum suggests that students should be able to “introduce,” “identify,” and “explain” environmental concepts, but there are far fewer objectives related to “exploring,” “engaging,” or “demonstrating” pro-environmental behaviors (CDC, 2021). This knowledge-based approach is unlikely to foster the kind of transformative learning that can empower students to become active agents of environmental sustainability and justice.
Pedagogical Practices and Limitations
Classroom observations in Nepalese secondary schools revealed that teaching methods tend to be teacher-centered and focused on lecturing, question-and-answer, and textbook-based learning. While the curriculum suggests a variety of student-centered and participatory approaches, such as problem-solving, field studies, and critical thinking, these methods are rarely implemented in practice.
Teachers often struggle to contextualize the curriculum content and make meaningful connections to students’ lived experiences. For example, a teacher in a mountain region school missed opportunities to use recent, locally relevant examples when discussing environmental issues, despite their availability. Similarly, an urban science teacher could have discussed the causes, consequences, and responses to the air pollution crisis in Kathmandu, but did not.
This disconnect between the curriculum’s intended outcomes and the actual classroom practices highlights a significant gap in translating policy goals into effective pedagogical approaches that empower students to become active agents of environmental sustainability and justice.
Learners’ Perspectives and Experiences
The research revealed that students have a deep understanding of environmental issues and their disproportionate impacts on marginalized communities. They recognized the role of industries, government policies, and unsustainable development practices in exacerbating environmental hazards and climate change.
However, students felt that their perspectives and experiences were often not adequately reflected or valued in the classroom. They expressed frustration with teaching methods that failed to connect the curriculum content to their local contexts and lived realities.
For example, students from the Terai region identified the negative impacts of unplanned development, pollution, and resource extraction on their communities, but felt that these issues were not sufficiently addressed in their education. Similarly, students from the mountain regions spoke about the changing climate and its effects on their livelihoods, but found that their teachers did not leverage these real-world experiences to enhance their learning.
This mismatch between students’ rich, contextual knowledge and the curriculum’s generic, textbook-based approach undermines the potential for education to foster a deeper understanding of environmental justice and empower young people to become active agents of change.
Promoting Environmental Justice Through Education
The findings from this research underscore the urgent need to bridge the gap between curriculum, pedagogy, and learners’ lived experiences in order to advance environmental justice through education. Some key considerations include:
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Integrating Environmental Justice Perspectives: The curriculum and teaching practices should explicitly address issues of equity, fairness, and inclusivity in relation to environmental challenges. This means exploring how environmental hazards and climate change disproportionately affect marginalized communities and examining the root causes of these disparities.
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Centering Learners’ Experiences: Educators should actively seek to understand and incorporate students’ local knowledge, cultural practices, and lived experiences into the learning process. This can help to make the curriculum more relevant, engaging, and empowering for young people.
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Fostering Participatory and Experiential Learning: Teaching methods should move beyond the traditional lecture-based approach and instead prioritize hands-on, community-engaged, and problem-solving activities. This can help students develop the skills, attitudes, and behaviors needed to address environmental challenges in their own contexts.
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Promoting Collaborative and Critical Thinking: Classrooms should become spaces for students to engage in critical dialogue, analyze complex issues from multiple perspectives, and work collaboratively to develop solutions. This can nurture the kind of systems-level thinking and collective action required for environmental justice.
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Supporting Teacher Professional Development: Educators need access to training and resources that help them connect the curriculum to local contexts, utilize participatory teaching methods, and facilitate discussions on environmental justice. This can strengthen their capacity to create transformative learning experiences for students.
By addressing these key areas, schools and educational institutions can play a pivotal role in empowering young people to become agents of environmental justice and sustainability. This, in turn, can contribute to the broader societal transformation needed to address the pressing environmental and social challenges of our time.
As the Stanley Park High School community, we have a responsibility to ensure that our educational practices align with the principles of environmental justice and support our students in becoming informed, engaged, and empowered citizens. By bridging the disconnect between curriculum, pedagogy, and learners’ lived experiences, we can create a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future for all.
