Teachers' degree of satisfaction concerning the implementation of an inquiry-oriented secondary biology course

Abstract

The Web of Life has gained a virtual monopoly in Australian biology classrooms since its introduction in 1967. Recently, Increases in upper school retentivity have brought a greater diversity of student interests, academic abilities, attitudes and vocational aspirations. These factors have generated formal evaluation and informal debate among Australian biology teachers regarding the appropriateness of the present course. This study sought to investigate this debate by gauging the degree of satisfaction/dissatisfaction of the Web of Life course as indicated by 60 experienced biology teachers. Perceptions and opinions about the implementation of the course were collected using an instrument where each item comprised two parts, which respectively elicited teachers' perceptions and opinions. A tally of the response patterns for each item determined the degree of satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Highest satisfaction was related to the curriculum materials and highest dissatisfaction was related to the externally-set examination, the current population of students, and the knowledge and skills of biology teachers. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving inquiry teaching, and for developing an alternative course to cater for the diverse range of students studying biology in upper school.

Keywords:

• Inquiry
• Evaluation
• Teaching