Exploring the influence of the curriculum on student learning in culturally and ethnically diverse classroom contexts: praxis, paradoxes and perspectives of stakeholders

This paper explores the perceptions and lived experiences of Nepalese educators and stakeholders inrelation to the school curriculum and its influence upon student learning in a culturally and ethnicallydiverse classroom context. The study adopted a qualitative research design using face-to-face semistructured interviews and focus group discussions to gather the perceptions of students, teachers,school principals and curriculum experts from three different schools representing distinct anddiverse Nepalese settings. The findings identified that there are six main factors that affect curriculumdelivery in Nepal: a centralised education system; social, economic and cultural diversity; politicalinstability; curriculum content; the involvement of curriculum development stakeholders; andteachers’ content and pedagogical knowledge and related attributes. These six factors all contributeto a significant influence on student learning