The Karmic cycle of reform: teacher-student interactions shaping persistent practices and pedagogical possibilities in Nepal's basic schools

Dahal, Pritha (2026) The Karmic cycle of reform: teacher-student interactions shaping persistent practices and pedagogical possibilities in Nepal's basic schools. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Nepal’s school education system has seen repeated reform efforts over the past two decades, which are aiming to improve quality and equity and promote Learner-Centred Education (LCE). Yet the everyday interactions that shape teaching and learning in classrooms remain underexamined, while the classroom practices have persisted with little change over time. This persistence reflects a ‘black box’ in which policy ambitions circulate without attending to what teachers and children actually do, value, and experience in daily classroom life. This thesis explores how policy–practice gaps endure over time. It uses the locally grounded metaphor of a karmic cycle to characterise reforms that continually return in incomplete ways.

To understand how pedagogical practices are enacted, experienced, and negotiated, the study positions teachers and children as central actors in shaping classroom life. Particular emphasis is placed on children’s experiences, which remain underrepresented in LCE research and Nepali policy discourse. Drawing on the theory of the pedagogical nexus and an onto-cultural perspective, the study examines how pedagogy emerges through interactions among structural pressures, cultural values, and everyday relationships.

Within this nested context, culturally embedded teaching styles surfaced, forming a Nepali interpretive frame: guru (authority, discipline, responsibility) and abhibhawak (care, guidance, relational support). Teachers blended these styles along a spectrum rather than treating them as fixed categories, helping explain why authority-driven practices persist while relational orientations simultaneously create subtle openings. The study uses a Comparative Case Study design across three community schools in Kathmandu, Kapilvastu, and Baglung, informed by an ethnographic orientation. I was embedded across the three school contexts in daily interactions, six days a week for 27 weeks. Data were generated through multiple methods: semi-structured teacher interviews, creative participatory activities with children, informal conversations, fieldnotes, and classroom observations. The data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis.

Across the schools, a palette of pedagogical practices emerged, dominated by content-driven and exam-centred teaching. These practices were shaped not by LCE reform mandates but by teachers’ and students’ expectations, beliefs, and everyday cultural logics. Children negotiated classroom practices through compliance, silence, resistance, and peer-led support.

By centring children’s voices and situating pedagogy within its cultural and structural contexts, the thesis explains why LCE reforms tend to cycle back repeatedly. It argues that meaningful transformation may not come from imported models. Instead, it may lie in strengthening the relational possibilities already present within classrooms.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Supported by funding from the College of Social Sciences, University of Glasgow.
• Subjects: L Education > L Education (General); L Education > LB Theory and practice of education; L Education > LG Individual institutions (Asia. Africa)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Education
• Supervisor's Name: Lynch, Dr. Paul and Brown, Dr. Rhona
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-86333
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 11 Nov 2026 09:58
• Last Modified: 11 Nov 2026 10:00
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.86333
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/86333