Principled Development of Workplace English Communication ...
Teachers’ principled resistance to curriculum change : A compelling case from Turkey
description
Transcript of Teachers’ principled resistance to curriculum change : A compelling case from Turkey
Teachers’ principled resistance to curriculum change: A compelling case from Turkey
Outline Reform implementationTeachers’ resistance Contextual background: TurkeyMethodologyFindings
Teacher views on content changeTeaching practicesTeacher motives for supplementing the curriculum
Conclusion
Reform implementation
Role of teachers
Curriculum mediation
Factors: Educational level, knowledge, skills, identity, beliefs, age
Typology of teacher responses
Teacher resistance
Definition: A desire and intention to maintain existing practices in the face of changes that teachers consider to be undesirable and threatening.
Causes of resistance
Typical characterisation
Principled resistance
Overt or covert acts that reject instructional policies, programmes, or other efforts that contradict teachers’ professional principles
Motives for resistance
Background information :Turkey
Size: 783 000 sq kmPopulation: 76 millionOfficial language: Turkish
Curriculum change
Rationale for curricular changeKnowledge economy
Globalisation
EU harmonisation process
Low student motivation
Low international test results
Curriculum 2004Competency based curriculum
Student- centred pedagogy
Authentic assessment
MethodologyFieldwork
Turkey (Spring 2009)Sample
Pilot schools in Ankara (8)School management, teachers and key informants
Interviews 14 head teachers and deputy head teachers69 classroom teachers
Teacher viewsAcknowledgement of the need for change
High content coverage requirementsRote learningOverloading of studentsTime pressure to complete curriculum
Disagreement on what kind of change is needed
Welcoming change
Children do not need to acquire much information up to grade five
The role of education in behavioural and attitudinal change is more important
Lessons are easier and more enjoyable
Students learn better
The role of teacher is no longer imparting knowledge, but teaching children about the ways to seek and attain knowledge
Opposing changeContent load is reduced too much
Too much focus on student activities
Quality of textbooks are low
Insufficient information on subject matters
Lessons are boring and superficial
Concerns about academic success
Exam dilemma
Intensification of educational inequalities
Teaching practices
The majority supplemented the curriculum with additional knowledge
Use of supplementary educational materialsUse of old textbooksPhotocopy-centred learning
Direct teaching
Teacher motives for supplementing the curriculum
The ‘emptiness’ of the books
The myth of research assignments
Preparing students for nationwide exams
Old habits
Parental pressure
Conclusion
Marginalization of knowledge acquisitionTwo different types of resistance
Conventional resistancePrincipled resistance
Tendency to perceive ‘knowledge’ as diametrically opposed to ‘competencies’Emptying the content, denying a distinct voice for knowledge in education