Teachers, Local Knowledge, and Policy Implementation

Abstract

How can teachers’ understandings of policy as local knowledge inform policy implementation in schools? This article investigates policy understanding and implementation in urban primary schools and locates the inquiry in the transitional South African context. The author illustrates teachers’ understandings of policy in times of transition and shows how such local knowledge affects policy implementation. She argues that although teachers play an important role in our education system, more often than not, they are a silent voice during policy formulation, which implies that local knowledge might be underplayed, discounted, or simply ignored. She discusses the contextual background and how qualitative inquiry can shape and inform policy implementation. The article presents a conceptual framework for policy implementation and thrashes out what policy may learn from teachers at the microlevels, that is, local knowledge. The author discusses the empirical data and the understandings of teachers of policy and concludes with a few implications for policy implementation.