91.
This paper describes a two‐part investigation into how teachers perceive the curriculum. In the primary stage, teachers were asked to assess how much freedom they felt they should have to determine the content of what they taught in their own classrooms, and how much freedom they fell they actually had, in this respect. A sample of 196 teachers, from varied schools and teaching backgrounds, took part. It was found that there was a very definite tendency to take a ‘middle way’ between total freedom and total constraint, in both cases. By and large, these teachers seemed to feel that they should have some freedom to determine what they taught in their own classrooms, but that there should be restraints as well. The general lack of discrepancy between what the teachers wanted, and what they felt they had, seemed to indicate that the great majority of the teachers were happy with the situation as they perceived it.
The same sample of 196 teachers was then asked to assess thirty varied potential influences, in terms of their power to shape the content of what they themselves taught in their own classroom. These potential influences included LEA advisers, parents, school governors, national educational associations etc. A factor analysis of the ratings made by the respondents showed that they regarded EXTERNAL‐PROFESSIONAL influences as the most important of all. This category included such influences as local colleges, and universities, national reports (such as the Warnock Report), professional journals and articles, local teachers’ centres, LEA advisory personnel, H.M. Inspectorate, etc. Four other types of influence were seen as important, but the EXTERNAL‐PROFESSIONAL category was seen as the most important by far. It was concluded that teachers’ perceptions of the influences which they felt shaped their curricula were positive and optimistic. 相似文献
