ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a complex picture of how teachers in Bhutan mediate the tensions related to tradition and educational modernisation. It shows that many teachers attempted to connect the curriculum to students' own social experiences and worldviews when tensions between traditional and modern epistemologies emerged in line with policy. However, at the same time, other teachers employed pedagogic approaches that overlooked the coexisting utility of traditional and modern knowledges and worldviews. As the narratives presented here demonstrate, the interpretation of the curriculum is strongly influenced by teachers' attitudes, beliefs, and values. Some teachers felt strongly that traditional epistemologies should be replaced with modern ideas. However, other teachers held that Bhutanese tradition is variously inculcated during lessons, thereby promoting the country's cultural heritage and serving the national imperative of GNH. However, even when teachers did claim traditional worldviews and espoused support for carrying forward traditional culture, they sometimes did so selectively.
