Curriculum deliberations of experienced elementary teachers engaged in voluntary team planning

Abstract

Few reports have been published about the deliberations on classroom curriculum conducted by teachers. This qualitative case-study explored the curriculum deliberations of three fourth-grade teachers who met weekly to plan social studies and science lessons. The teachers participated voluntarily and routinely produced viable plans for the coming week. The planning meetings were audiotape recorded and transcribed. The resulting transcripts were analysed using Walker's System for Analysing Curriculum Deliberations (SACD). The teachers had deliberated routinely about their lessons for four years. This veteran group experienced few conflicts and invested most of their planning energy in SACD episodes identified as ‘brainstorms’. Group members valued the social aspects of their meetings as well as the curriculum plans produced. This case-study demonstrates the power of teachers who work together to craft the curriculum they implement. This type of team planning requires a structure that allows teachers the freedom to make their own decisions. This requirement for freedom alerts school administrators and curriculum writers on the importance of allowing teachers truly to be the ‘ultimate arbiters of classroom practice’.

Keywords:

• collaborative decision-making
• curriculum planning
• curriculum research
• elementary school curriculum