Active Learning in Kabul Schools : Afghan Teachers’ Views and Practices Heelai Sahar Faculty: Art

Abstract:

Afghanistan is one of those countries where the education system is influenced by traditional system where the teachers has a central position while students is passive and do not have chance to express their opinions. However, active learning is essential need for educational context of Afghanistan.

So, the aim of the study is to explore some teachers’ perspectives and practices in relation to active learning and identify some of the main challenges of this approach in Afghan schools.This study has been based on quantitative approaches with 100 male and female teachers in Kabul schools which included the questionnaires from 100 teachers and structure observation of 10 different subject teachers.

The findings show that although the National Education Strategy Plan (NESP) and Curriculum Framework (CF) of Afghanistan suggest the active learning/student-centred approach but teachers mostly use the traditional lecture methods. It means that the implementation of active learning in various stages of teaching process at Kabul schools is low. As well as, the use of active learning such as group work, pair work and open questions are not mostly considered during teaching processes. Because of some main obstacles such as: lack of classroom space, large number of students in classrooms, shortage of time, the amount of content that needs to be covered, and lack of materials.

At all, the viewpoints of teachers were in support of using active learning approach in the teaching-learning process but observation shows that the majority of instructors focus on lecturer-centred method because of some main obstacles which are mentioned before.