School Teachers’ Experiences of Science Curriculum Reform

Abstract

We examine teachers’ experiences of a major reform of the school science curriculum for 14–16-year olds in England. This statutory reform enhances the range of available science courses and emphasises the teaching of socio-scientific issues and the nature of science, alongside the teaching of canonical science knowledge. This paper examines teachers’ experiences of the reform and the factors that condition these experiences. A designed sample of 22 teachers discussed their experiences of the reform within a semi-structured interview. Our analysis considers how the external and internal structures within which teachers work interact with the personal characteristics of teachers to condition their experiences of the curriculum reform. In many cases, personal/internal/external contexts of teachers’ work align, resulting in an overall working context that is supportive of teacher change. However, in other cases, tensions within these contexts result in barriers to change. We also explore cases in which external curriculum reform has stimulated the development of new contexts for teachers’ work. We argue that curriculum reformers need to recognise the inevitability of multiple teaching goals within a highly differentiated department and school workplace. We also show how experiences of curriculum reform can extend beyond the learning of new knowledge and associated pedagogies to involve challenges to teachers’ professional identities. We argue for the extended use of teacher role models within local communities of practice to support such ‘identity work’.

Keywords:

• Curriculum reform
• Teacher development
• Teacher identity

Acknowledgement

The work reported here is one outcome from a three-year study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation, grant number RES-179-25-0004.

Notes

The Enactment and Impact of Science Education Reform (EISER) study: http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/research/projects/enactment-and-impact-of-science-education-reform-eiser.

Around 90% of students in England attend such schools.

In one small school, a single additional teacher was chosen.

In labelling interview extracts, each number denotes a particular school, each letter refers to a specific teacher (‘A’ indicates a Head of Science). Within the extracts [xxx] signifies a replacement and/or insertion to clarify meaning, (…) signifies the removal of short segments of text from the transcript.

Here the teacher refers to, in turn, the ‘Core’ science course with a focus on scientific literacy, the Additional Science course with a more traditional academic focus, and the Additional Applied Science course presenting science within employment settings. The majority of students will complete the Core science course and then either the Additional Science, or the Additional Applied Science course.

Personal and social education.

Within secondary schooling in England Key Stage 3 refers to students aged 11–14 years; Key Stage 4 to students aged 14–16 years.