Teachers’ cultural differences: case studies of geography teachers in Brisbane,Changchun and Hong Kong |
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| Authors: | Lam Chi Chung Lidstone John |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong;(2) Queensland University of Technology, Australia |
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| Abstract: | The primary purpose of this exploratory study is to identify variations in the ways in which individual teachers in different
educational contexts interpret their curriculum and plan their lessons and in particular to explore the possibility that cultural
differences as identified by Hofstede (1991) may be a contributing factor to understanding how teachers understand their work.
“Educational reform” has become a catchphrase in the Anglo-American world, including the United States, Canada, Australia,
and England and Wales, as well as in the Confucian Heritage Areas such as Mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Across the world, the educational reform measures being implemented are surprisingly similar. This paper describes a study
of how geography teachers in Queensland, Australia, Hong Kong, and Changchun, China, plan their lessons and curriculum. From
classroom observations and interviews with the teachers involved, we confirmed marked differences in each location regarding
their cultural traits of power distance, individualist and collectivist preference and uncertainty tolerance, and that these
traits appear to be highly influential in their curriculum planning. Despite the small scale of this study, we contend that
there are good reasons for caution before national education systems import policies and curriculum reform initiatives from
other countries for unthinking adoption. |
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| Keywords: | cultural differences teacher decision making geography teaching |
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