Curriculum beyond Classrooms: Unfolding the Pedagogical Practices of Home

Abstract

Educational discourse has traditionally situated pedagogy within classrooms as a part of the explicit curriculum. The intellectual community has largely accepted the idea that home is the first school of children. If home is understood as a school, it necessarily contains a curriculum. These ideas reflect the curriculum beyond the classroom. Accordingly, the objective of this study is to explore pedagogical practices in the home curriculum. A qualitative research approach and case study design were employed in this study. I have selected one home, one grandparent, one parent, one child and one expert as a teacher by purposive sampling method. In-depth interviews with parents and children, observations of daily family routines, and the learning process of the child have been employed for information collection. This study was conducted in Dailekh district, Gurans Rural Municipality, which is a rural area of Nepal. The data were analyzed thematically and interpreted theoretically. The findings showed that home pedagogy is largely implicit, experiential, flexible, and individualized. I found that modeling, imitation, participation in household chores, dialogue, and shared responsibilities are the major strategies of home pedagogy. The parent focuses on moral values, cooperation, self-reliance, cultural continuity, and emotional development of the child. The role of parents and elders as informal pedagogical agents guides learning through care, example, and contextual instruction to children. The study concludes that the pedagogy practiced at home makes learning practical and experiential.