Teachers as Cultural Mediators: Pedagogical Integration of Indigenous Agricultural and Ecological Knowledge in Uganda’s Lower Secondary Schools

The successful integration of indigenous knowledge within formal education depends not only on curriculum content but also on pedagogical mediation. This study examines how teachers in Uganda’s lower secondary schools integrate Indigenous Agricultural and Ecological Knowledge (IAEK) within the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). Guided by Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory and culturally responsive pedagogy frameworks, the study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods design involving 382 teachers, interviews, focus group discussions, and classroom documentation review in Central Uganda. Quantitative findings reveal that 82% of teachers report regular integration of indigenous knowledge into classroom instruction (M = 3.95), primarily through experiential learning, subject-based examples, project-based tasks, and school garden activities. However, community expert engagement (51%, M = 3.17) and structured apprenticeship models remain limited. Regression analysis indicates that pedagogical practices significantly predict perceived educational benefits (β = .258, p < .001). Qualitative findings reveal structural constraints including limited training, resource shortages, time constraints, and assessment misalignment. The study argues that teachers function as cultural mediators who bridge indigenous epistemologies and formal scientific knowledge. However, effective mediation requires systemic pedagogical scaffolding within curriculum architecture. The study contributes theoretically by extending sociocultural mediation to institutional pedagogical structures and empirically by demonstrating the predictive role of pedagogical practices in indigenous knowledge integration outcomes.