Teachers’ perceptions of the use of an external change agent in school curriculum change

An external change agent (ECA) was recently employed in three Queensland schools to align the school curriculum with the requirements of the state’s high stakes test known as the Queensland Core Skills test (QCS). This paper reports on the teachers’ perceptions of a change process led by an ECA. With the ever-increasing implementation of high stakes testing in Australian schools, teachers are under mounting pressure to produce ‘results’. Therefore, in order to maximise their students’ success in these tests, schools are altering their curricula to incorporate the test requirements. Rather than the traditional method of managing such curriculum change processes internally, there is a growing trend for principals to source external expertise in the form of ECAs. Although some academics, teachers, and much of the relevant literature, would regard such a practice as problematic, this study found that in fact, teachers were quite open to externally led curriculum change, especially if they perceived the leader to be knowledgeable and creditable in this area.     

Schools, teachers, and curriculum change: A balancing act?

Educational change is a fact of life for teachers across the world, as schools are subjected to constant and ubiquitous pressures to innovate. And, yet, many school practices remain remarkably persistent in the face of such innovation. This paradox of innovation without change is perplexing for policymakers and practitioners alike. This paper investigates the gap between policy and practice, between innovation and the changes in social practices that occur in response to such innovation. It draws upon empirical data from two case studies in Scotland??schools responding to new curriculum policy??exploring contrasting approaches to the management of innovation. One is a laissez faire approach, and the other a more directive managerial strategy. Through an analytical separation of culture, structure, and agency, derived from the social theory of Margaret Archer, the paper sheds light on the social processes that accompanied innovation in these two settings demonstrating how teacher culture and differing management styles impact upon externally initiated policy.     

Teachers’ responses to curriculum policy implementation: colonial constraints for curriculum reform

A new approach to curriculum and implementation in a new era normally requires schools and teachers to take more responsibility for student learning. This might present a challenge at any time, particularly when teachers have been used to more directives and less professional approaches to curriculum implementation. In order to meet such a challenge, a new approach to curriculum policy, namely “soft” policy, was used by policy-makers to implement curriculum reform. With the provision of substantial resources, it was expected by the policy-makers that schools and teachers would have better opportunities to develop themselves professionally and manage the new changes effectively. However, such a view misread the situation because the historical trend and present situation of teachers’ professional development were overlooked. This paper uses case studies of schools and teachers involved in the current reforms to show how teachers and schools implemented the reform process. The cases demonstrate how reforms were understood at the local level and the extent to which it could be claimed that implementation had taken place.     

Teachers’ adaptations to and orientations towards an adolescent literacy curriculum

This study examines teacher implementation of an adolescent literacy curriculum designed as an intervention for students reading two years below grade level. Specifically, this work focuses on the adaptations made by four experienced teachers in a single school that sustained implementation of this curriculum after the intervention trial had ended. Data were collected through observation and interview. An accounts of teaching practice methodology was used to define each teacher’s orientation towards the curriculum, and then to determine whether this orientation demonstrated assimilation or accommodation to intervention principles. I found that the vast majority of time spent implementing the curriculum included adaptations, and that each teacher’s adaptations were different, and reflected her pre-existing orientation towards literacy teaching. Although one teacher demonstrated assimilation and accommodation to intervention principles, the other three primarily demonstrated assimilation. These findings suggest the importance of understanding teachers’ orientations towards curriculum in order to provide more tailored professional development which may help teachers accommodate to the most critical pedagogical features of a curriculum. This may be especially significant in considering sustained implementation, after research-related supports have been withdrawn.     

Learned adaptations: Teachers’ understanding and use of curriculum resources

This study focused on the use of curriculum materials for three teachers who had enacted instructional sequences from the materials on multiple occasions. The study investigated how the teachers drew on the materials, what they understood about the curriculum resources, and how they connected their use of the materials to their observations of student thinking. There were similarities across the teachers, particularly with respect to their goals and how they read and followed recommendations in the teacher resource materials. There were differences in how their task revisions were in response to what they observed about student thinking. The teacher who most intensively observed student thinking made connections between her interpretations of students’ strategies and her use of the curriculum resources, allowing her to design learned adaptations. Learned adaptations required both an understanding of the design rationale and empirically developed knowledge of how that rationale played out in practice. The empirically developed knowledge could not be totally anticipated by the designers, in part because it developed within a particular context by a teacher with particular characteristics. The case of the teacher who developed learned adaptations showed how these complementary forms of knowledge helped her to use the curriculum resources in ways that enhanced students’ opportunities for sense making. Furthermore, her adaptations were intended to facilitate success not only at the task level, but also across instructional sequences as well. This study also shows how professional vision is not limited to informing only in-the-moment instructional decisions, but also to the use of curriculum materials.     

Teachers’ curriculum agency in teaching a standards-based curriculum

Abstract

In 2011, Sweden introduced explicit standards for the curriculum used in compulsory schooling through the implementation of ‘knowledge requirements’ that align content, abilities and assessment criteria. This article explores and analyses social science teachers’ curriculum agency through a theoretical framework comprised of ‘teacher agency’ and Bernstein’s concepts of ‘pedagogic device’, ‘hierarchical knowledge structure’ and ‘horizontal knowledge structure’. Teachers’ curriculum agency, in recontextualisation of the curriculum, is described and understood through three different ‘spaces’: a collective space, an individual space and an interactive space in the classroom. The curriculum and time are important for the possibilities of agency – the teachers state that the new knowledge requirements compel them to include and assess a lot of content in each ‘curriculum task’. It is possible to identify a recontextualisation process of ‘borrowing’ and combining content from curriculum tasks across the different subjects. This process is explained by the horizontal knowledge structure and ‘weak grammar’ of the social sciences. Abilities, on the other hand, stand out as elements of a hierarchical knowledge structure in which a discursive space is opened for knowledge to transcend contexts and provides opportunities for meaning-making. The space gives teachers room for action and for integrating disciplinary content.     

Teachers’ enactments of curriculum: Fidelity to Procedure versus Fidelity to Goal for scientific argumentation

Fidelity of implementation (FOI) has received attention in calls for funding and research; however, there are numerous ways of conceptualising and measuring this construct. We argue that this conceptualisation is important for recent reform efforts focused on science practices. Consequently, we explored FOI in the context of the enactment of a middle-school curriculum focused on one particular science practice, argumentation. We coded videos of five teachers’ enactments of argumentation lessons using two different fidelity coding schemes. First, Fidelity to Procedure targeted teachers’ adherence to the order and types of procedures. Second, Fidelity to Goal examined teachers’ adherence to the overarching argumentation goals. This analysis resulted in case studies that illustrate distinct patterns in the teachers’ curriculum enactments. One case in particular, Ms Newbury, received a low score for Fidelity to Procedure, but a high score for Fidelity to Goal. She altered procedures to provide her students, all of whom were English Language Learners, with different linguistic supports, but maintained the overarching argumentation goals. Consequently, we argue that FOI for goals may better capture whether teachers’ enactments are supporting students in the science practices. Furthermore, the results suggest the importance of educative curriculum including rationales for the curricular goals.     

Making curriculum relevant to the lives of second level students: Teachers’ classroom practice

Abstract

This paper examines the professional practices of exemplary, post‐primary teachers in Ireland, England and the USA and identifies the ways in which these teachers make classroom experiences relevant to the lives of their students. In making the curriculum relevant, the teachers plan rich experiences and overtly discuss career requirements while focusing on the development of students’ personal and societal values together with their intellectual development and academic attainment. The main strategies used by these teachers to convey the relevance of the curriculum comprised self‐disclosure, the purposeful selection of curriculum content and instructional strategies, and the use of unanticipated opportunities which arise in the course of instruction.     

Managing curriculum change and ‘ontological uncertainty’ in tertiary education

Curriculum reform at institutional level is a challenging endeavour. Those charged with leading this process will encounter both enthusiasm and multiple obstacles to teacher engagement including the particularly complex issue of confronting existing teacher identities. At Unitec Institute of Technology (Unitec), the ‘Living Curriculum’ initiative focused on whole-of-institution curriculum renewal and, in the process, acknowledged and addressed teacher beliefs and practices that variously supported and contested both the initiative itself and the professional development offerings that accompanied it. The related research project identified factors and processes that unsettle teachers, rendering them ‘insecure’, and strategies that have proven effective in supporting teachers through significant change in conceptions of curriculum, teaching and learning.     

Teachers’ use of educative curriculum materials to engage students in science practices

New reform documents underscore the importance of integrating science practices into the learning of science. This integration requires sophisticated teaching that does not often happen. Educative curriculum materials – materials explicitly designed to support teacher and student learning – have been posited as a way to support teachers to achieve these ambitious goals, yet little is known about how elementary teachers actually use educative curriculum materials to support student engagement in science practices. To address this gap, this study investigated how five upper elementary teachers supported students to engage in science practices during an enactment of two curriculum units. Three of the teachers had units enhanced with educative features, informed by current research and reforms, while two of the teachers had units without these features. The teachers varied in how they supported students in the science practices of justifying predictions, constructing evidence-based claims, recording observations, and planning investigations. For example, some of the teachers with the educative features supported students in constructing evidence-based claims and justifying predictions in ways called for by the educative features. Implications for curriculum developers and teacher educators are discussed based on the patterns found in the teachers’ use of the educative curriculum materials.     

One size never fits all: Teachers’ responses to standardized curriculum materials and implications for early childhood teacher educators

ABSTRACT

The age of accountability introduced by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 triggered widespread development of local control-oriented policies in an effort to “leave no child behind.” Research makes it clear that such policies directly impact instruction. However, primary grade teachers are rarely included in these studies, leaving teacher educators with little empirical data on which to ground their work with preservice teachers as it relates to such policies. This article reports findings from a study of 15 experienced primary grade teachers who work with standardized curriculum materials. Data from these teachers’ experiences can inform today’s teacher educators as they prepare the next generation of teachers to navigate “one size fits all” curricula. Findings suggest that experienced teachers of young children adapt, augment, and extend the intended curriculum to promote academic proficiency in tested subjects in very specific ways. Implications for preservice teacher education are discussed.     

Teachers as ‘reform-doers’: developing a participatory curriculum to teach English as a foreign language

Action research concerns action, and transforming people’s practices (as well as their understandings of their practices and the conditions under which they practise). Sometimes we may feel that action research works best when it contributes to our understandings. In this paper, by contrast, I want to explore the ‘happening‐ness’ of action and practice, as they are lived and changed by action research. I want to explore the place of action research in shaping and making history by changing what is done. The central argument of this paper is that, while action research certainly does contribute to theory, it also, and perhaps more importantly, contributes to history.     

Teachers’ role in curriculum design in Portuguese schools

Teachers’ role in curriculum design is a broad question that inspires political educational reforms among European countries, a trend that even extends to higher education politics. The perspective on teachers’ role in curriculum, both at the level of the policies and of the practices, shapes recent educational reforms in Portugal. These are the concerns underlying our research that intends to substantiate school teachers’ involvement in curriculum development as it is experienced by them, and while comparing their views to the roles they are attributed in the political and academic dominant discourses. To reach teachers’ perceptions, we distributed questionnaires which were completed by 214 teachers in primary and secondary schools. We could conclude that the enactment of a professional identity on the basis of teacher assumption of their role as real curriculum designers is still far from being achieved.     

Constructivism in Mathematics Classrooms: Listening to Ghanaian Teachers’ and Students’ Views

One of the challenges of implementing a new curriculum is how to bridge the gap between the underlining principles of the curriculum and the cultural and social orientations of the society which includes teachers and students. This article reports on a study that explored how the cultural and social orientations of teachers and students can influence the implementation of a constructivist curriculum in mathematics classrooms. The data for the study came from 250 students and 41 mathematics teachers, using questionnaires, observations, and interviews. The results showed that inasmuch as mathematics teachers and their students acknowledge the importance of student’s active participation and teamwork, these practices have not been fully conceptualised into the Ghanaian mathematics classroom due to some cultural factors. Two main cultural factors were discovered from the analyses of the results. Firstly, the culture of acknowledging only correct answers in class has a negative impact on individual students’ confidence and participation during mathematics lessons. Also, the culture of teamwork is not fully accepted within Ghanaian classrooms as most students find it difficult working in groups and accepting and appreciating each other’s view. It was evident in all lessons that students were ridiculed by their peers when they provide a wrong answer to a question and this affected individual students’ participation in the classroom. Therefore, we suggested that teachers should be pro-active in promoting a classroom environment which is free from fear and intimidation to motivate students to be actively involved in the classroom discourse.     

Societal culture and teachers’ responses to curriculum reform: experiences from China

Educational change is intrinsically bound to the cultural characteristics of the society. However, the relationship between educational change and societal culture is rarely explored, especially in the context of mainland China. Following a 3-year qualitative research project, the present study explored the influence of societal culture on teachers’ responses to the national curriculum reform of upper secondary education in mainland China. The results generated three themes highly relevant to teachers’ responses to curriculum reform in Chinese culture, namely teachers’ obedience, teachers’ facework and teachers’ collaboration. These teachers’ responses reflected some Confucian ethics rooted in Chinese culture and explained the absence of radical teacher resistance to the national curriculum reform. It was suggested that a culturally sensitive approach to change leadership may have been more fruitful for facilitating the aims of curriculum reform in mainland China.     

Teachers’ beliefs and practices related to mathematics instruction

Beliefs and practices related to mathematics were assessed for 21 fourth- through sixth-grade teachers. At the beginning and the end of the school year teachers’ beliefs about (1) the nature of mathematics (i.e., procedures to solve problems versus a tool for thought), (2) mathematics learning (i.e., focusing on getting correct solutions versus understanding mathematical concepts), (3) who should control students’ mathematical activity, (4) the nature of mathematical ability (i.e., fixed versus malleable), and (5) the value of extrinsic rewards for getting students to engage in mathematics activities were assessed. (6) Teachers self-confidence and enjoyment of mathematics and mathematics teaching were also assessed. Analyses were conducted to assess the coherence among these beliefs and associations between teachers’ beliefs and their observed classroom practices and self-reported evaluation criteria. Findings showed substantial coherence among teachers’ beliefs and consistent associations between their beliefs and their practices. Teachers’ self-confidence as mathematics teachers was also significantly associated with their students’ self-confidence as mathematical learners.     

Teachers’ perceptions of their most significant change: source,impact, and process

The purpose of the study was to examine the differences among significant changes in the practice of individual teachers. Seventeen US teachers were interviewed about the most successful change in their teaching career. The differences in teacher change were based primarily on the source and impact of the change. The sources of change were divided into two categories: other-initiated or self-initiated. The level of impact was determined in three ways: by whether teachers described a new practice, a new direction, or a change in their beliefs. By organizing according to both the source and impact of the change, four types of change were identified: Response to School Initiatives, Professional Development Initiatives, Student-Centered Changes, and Self-Designed Changes. Self-Designed changes were further distinguished based on the time required for the change process. Implications for developing new strategies to foster teacher development are discussed.     

A self‐study of a national curriculum maker in physical education: challenges to curriculum change

This paper captures a national curriculum maker’s experiences of revising the physical education curriculum in South Korea. A self‐study was conducted in order to make known the chairperson’s experiences concerning the various obstacles encountered in revising the national curriculum and to offer previously unseen insights afforded by the curriculum maker’s personal reflections. This study specifically offers a detailed analysis of four challenges the national curriculum maker encountered: (1) personal obstacles encountered as a young female chairperson, (2) environmental obstacles encountered as a marginally positioned chairperson, (3) professional obstacles faced as an innovative chairperson, and (4) institutionalized obstacles related to being named the official chairperson. In this self‐study conducted in the narrative inquiry tradition, several important findings emerge about the nature of curriculum making and how curriculum making transpires at a national level.