Teacher perspectives on specialisation in the elementary classroom: implications for science instruction^*

* Research conducted at George Mason University.

ABSTRACT

In the current educational climate of testing and accountability, many elementary teachers find they lack adequate time and confidence to enact reform-based science teaching due to pressure to perform in reading and mathematics. With this tension in mind, we explore the phenomenon of elementary teacher specialisation in comparison to the traditional, generalist model of teaching, wherein a teacher is responsible for teaching all subjects to one group of students each year. This mixed-methods study examines teacher perspectives on the practice of specialisation and generalisation through teacher interview data. Our teachers spoke candidly about their attitudes towards specialisation, the perceived impacts of specialization on teachers and students, and the role of accountability, administration, and testing in their decisions to specialise. Additionally, our teachers discussed time dedicated to science in specialist and generalist classrooms. Our findings suggest that specialist roles are sought by those who see specialisation as a means of reducing workload, while allowing for content mastery and improved instruction. Alternatively, generalist roles are sought by those who primarily view the role of elementary teaching as the care and development of children, and who prefer to focus on the classroom as a holistic, fluid space. Implications for science teaching are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Elementary/primary school
• in-service teachers
• specialist

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Susan Poland http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3018-6611

Notes

* Research conducted at George Mason University.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Education, Investing in Innovation (i3) Program [grant number U396B100039].