Teachers’ principled resistance to curriculum change: A compelling case from Turkey

Outline Reform implementation Teachers’ resistance Contextual background: Turkey Methodology Findings Teacher views on content change Teaching practices Teacher motives for supplementing the curriculum Conclusion

Reform implementation Role of teachers Curriculum mediation Factors: Educational level, knowledge, skills, identity, beliefs, age Typology of teacher responses

Teacher resistance Definition: A desire and intention to maintain existing practices in the face of changes that teachers consider to be undesirable and threatening. Causes of resistance Typical characterisation

Principled resistance Overt or covert acts that reject instructional policies, programmes, or other efforts that contradict teachers’ professional principles Motives for resistance

Background information :Turkey Size: sq km Population: 76 million Official language: Turkish

Curriculum change Rationale for curricular change Knowledge economy Globalisation EU harmonisation process Low student motivation Low international test results Curriculum 2004 Competency based curriculum Student- centred pedagogy Authentic assessment

Methodology Fieldwork Turkey (Spring 2009) Sample Pilot schools in Ankara (8) School management, teachers and key informants Interviews 14 head teachers and deputy head teachers 69 classroom teachers

Teacher views Acknowledgement of the need for change High content coverage requirements Rote learning Overloading of students Time pressure to complete curriculum Disagreement on what kind of change is needed

Welcoming change Children do not need to acquire much information up to grade five The role of education in behavioural and attitudinal change is more important Lessons are easier and more enjoyable Students learn better The role of teacher is no longer imparting knowledge, but teaching children about the ways to seek and attain knowledge

Opposing change Content load is reduced too much Too much focus on student activities Quality of textbooks are low Insufficient information on subject matters Lessons are boring and superficial Concerns about academic success Exam dilemma Intensification of educational inequalities

Teaching practices The majority supplemented the curriculum with additional knowledge Use of supplementary educational materials Use of old textbooks Photocopy-centred learning Direct teaching

Teacher motives for supplementing the curriculum The ‘emptiness’ of the books The myth of research assignments Preparing students for nationwide exams Old habits Parental pressure

Conclusion Marginalization of knowledge acquisition Two different types of resistance Conventional resistance Principled resistance Tendency to perceive ‘knowledge’ as diametrically opposed to ‘competencies’ Emptying the content, denying a distinct voice for knowledge in education