Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Higher Education in Bhutan: Case Study at Royal Thimphu College

Abstract

The current study was conducted to understand the need, challenges, and opportunities in higher education at the Royal Thimphu College. Lee Shulman's concept of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) was used as the conceptual framework for the study. Four categories under PCK were identified: content knowledge, curriculum knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge to structure the questionnaire design. The study employed a sequential explanatory mixed methodology, and data was collected in a two-phase approach. Survey questionnaires were administered to all RTC faculty members (“tutors”, n=76) in phase one, and focus group discussions (n=15) and in-depth interviews (n=13) were conducted in the second phase. The results show that most tutors reported being comfortable with the content knowledge of the subject matters they teach, however, relating content to real-life experiences and providing context-specific examples was more difficult for novices. Prescriptive curriculum design was challenging for all tutors, and this had a negative relation to tutors' ability to be creative in teaching and assessment design. Almost all tutors reported using various mixed student-centred strategies for lessons and assessments, however, only a handful of tutors could articulate the use of learning theories in their lesson plans. Students’ underdeveloped skill of independent learning was a major challenge in using student-centred learning design.