Affirming irregular spaces in a school-wide curriculum initiative: A place for the animals

Abstract

School-wide curriculum initiatives are complex fields of activity, held together by a cast of heterogeneous actors who put diverse discourses to work in their everyday efforts to shape their work. This paper draws upon qualitative data collected across an 18-month period in a regional Australian primary school that, since the beginning of 2012, has implemented a school-wide science specialism. In this paper, we focus in detail on how one feature of the initiative – classroom animals – played out as the science specialism was enacted. The data provide glimpses into the practice of the curriculum initiative from a range of viewpoints. We explore the discursive positioning of the classroom animals, and the construction of teachers' work and student learning in relation to this. Tensions are explored between views of the initiative from above – from the perspective of the school leadership and key advocates of the initiative – and views from the ground – presented by classroom teachers as they reflect on their encounters with the animals. We discuss the divergent ways in which teacher practice can be constructed in relation to curriculum innovation and advocate practice-based theories as providing a generative lens for understanding and supporting teachers' innovative curriculum work and for understanding teaching practice more generally as an innovative, creative and productive undertaking.

Keywords:

• curriculum innovation
• teacher practice
• discourse analysis
• de Certeau
• science education

Acknowledgments

The data reported in this paper were collected as part of a Deakin University Partnership and Participation Project with approval from the Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee. The first draft of the paper was written at a 2013 research retreat, hosted by The Warrnambool Collective and funded by the Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. An amphibian also known as a Mexican salamander or Mexican walking-fish.

2. A fish also known as the Asian seabass, the Australian seabass and the giant perch.

3. Sea monkey is the brand name for a type of brine shrimp, a small crustacean.

4. An Australian freshwater crayfish.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Julianne Lynch

Julianne Lynch is a senior lecturer in curriculum and pedagogy in the Faculty of Arts & Education, Deakin University, Warrnambool 3280, Australia. Her research focuses on curriculum innovation, teacher practice and educational technology, with a particular interest in engaging marginalized learners in diverse settings and teacher and student perspectives.

Sandra Herbert

Sandra Herbert is a lecturer in mathematics and science education in the Faculty of Arts & Education, Deakin University. Her research focuses on mathematics and science education, teacher professional learning and pre-service teacher education, with a particular interest in regional and rural spaces.