Perceptions of teachers on the change in schooling

This study investigates the perceptions of teachers of change in schooling. It is contextualized in the After-Genocide Rwanda; a period marked by a plethora of social and economic transformations as well as sporadic educational changes. Similarly, the world is experiencing manifold changes which reshape social relations, individual and societal needs, the structure of the labour market and the understanding of life. The school system has been overhauled in its dimensions; however, this dynamicity did not get a similar echo from the scientific community. The study at hand stands out by its intention to give voice to teachers and bring to the fore their digestion of both changes in schooling and the current changing environment. A sample of 30 teachers was given room to share their perceptions of change through semi-structured interviews. The main finding of this research is the differentiated perception of the change by the teachers in three ideal types with associated different potentials to promote change: the instrumental understanding of the change as policy-oriented for a stable society, the vacillating understanding of the change as context adaptation-oriented for integration into the global world and the functional understanding of the change as human capital investment-oriented for a knowledge society. Again, this study reveals a differing perception of the changing world between optimism and pessimism. These findings have been discussed in line with theories of teachers’ agency in change, school improvement, and globalization.