Understanding how Improvement-Oriented HighSchool Teachers Pursue Curriculum Adaptationin High Schools in Gilgit-Balitistan

This article sets out to describe and explain how four improvementorientedteachers1 (hereafter to be referred as IOTs), in their day-todayteaching, pursue curriculum adaptation as a part of theircontinuing efforts to promote in-depth student learning in high schoolsin Gilgit-Baltistan. The data on which this paper is based comes froma 1-year long in-depth study (doctoral thesis research project)concerned with describing and explaining the process of changeexperienced by four improvement-oriented high school teachers inGilgit-Baltistan involved in efforts to implement small changes of theirown choosing in the three distinct yet interconnected realms of theclassroom, the school and the community. Presenting illustrativeexamples from four IOTs’ teachingthe study provides a broaderpicture of the IOTs’ endeavors aimed at curriculum adaptation in theclassroom. The study establishes the primacy of the teacher inbridging the gap between student learning needs and mandatedcurricular material. It recognizes the influences the teachers’actions,pedagogical moves and decisions exert on students’ learning are morepowerful than the knowledge contained in the curriculum. The study,thus underscores the importance of the contextualization of learningand an active engagement of the teachers with the process ofcurriculum adaptation as a vital condition to reduce the gap betweenstudent learning need and curriculum material.