Caveats for change: exploring pre-service teachers’ concerns regarding change

ABSTRACT

Notable within the rhetoric of recent global reform trends is the (re)positioning of teachers from peripheral to critical stakeholders in educational change processes. Responding to this imperative, programmes of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) are now frequently tasked with promoting teacher agency as a core dimension of teaching. Yet, much evidence points to a persistent tension between renewed visions for teacher engagement and agency as part of global curriculum reform processes and the associated enactment of such visions. While teachers’ concerns related to individual reforms are increasingly detailed, less attention is paid to teachers’ views regarding change as a process. Premised on the conviction that better understanding and attention to teachers’ concerns related to change, holds the potential to support more authentic, impactful and sustainable reform developments, this paper explores the reflections of 53 Irish pre-service teachers on their openness to change and examines the caveats they attach to their engagement in and with change. Reflexive thematic analysis identified a range of caveats pre-service teachers attach to their engagement in and with change. Consideration of these caveats by policy makers and initial teacher education providers may support teachers to engage more deeply with change.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-service teachers
• change
• teacher concerns
• curriculum reform, professional agency

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Junior cycle relates to the first three years of post-primary education in Ireland, predominantly ages 12 to 16 years.

2. A short course is designed for approximately 100 hours of student engagement and provides opportunities for schools to broaden the range of educational experiences they offer in Junior Cycle.

3. In order to portray the range of reflections drawn on, each participant was given a number. Quotes are attributed to each participant (P) and given a relevant number aligned to their reflection.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Orla McCormack

Orla McCormack is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Limerick. Her main teaching and research interests focus on teacher agency, particularly in relation to curriculum change and reflective practice.

Raymond Lynch

Raymond Lynch is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Limerick. His research focuses on the relationship between task difficulty, student motivation and performance.

Jennifer Hennessy

Jennifer Hennessy is a Lecturer in the School of Education, University of Limerick. Her research focuses on the impact of performativity on teaching, learning and assessment and the role of teacher research in education.