Curriculum change in science teaching: the need to listen to teachers

Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 2, Issue 1, Article 1 (Jun., 2001)
Amanda Berry and John Loughran
Curriculum change in science teaching: the need to listen to teachers

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Conclusion
This overview of science curriculum reform highlights a number of important issues that should be seen as timely reminders for curriculum writers and education bureaucrats - science teachers' understanding and knowledge of the intricacies of teaching and learning should not be overlooked. As end users of curriculum documents they do not function as technicians simply following a 'protocol'. Science teachers are informed professionals who are responsible for helping their students to better learn and understand the world around them.
It is an ongoing matter of concern that in education we seem to continually confront problems that are (in many ways) of our own making. The example of the Science CSF in Victoria highlights how, eventually, some congruence between curriculum intent and classroom practice was achieved. However, it was through a 7-year implementation process driven by a major re-orientation of the purpose of curriculum documentation and a development of a centralised decision-making process that was often at odds with the reality of schools and classrooms.
This is not to suggest that science teachers now fully agree with the directions of the Science CSF 2000, but that they have come to know how to use it better in relation to their perceived needs and responsibilities in schools. It seems to us that the lesson to be learnt from the Victorian experience is for curriculum development to proceed in ways that are informed by our knowledge of the change process. Further, that in the case of science, that which we have learnt through research should continually shape our attempts to influence approaches to teaching and learning in positive ways so that our science teachers feel confident that what they are asked to do, and what they know they need to do, are truly convergent.