ERIC Number: EJ1047053
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014-Nov
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0313-5373
EISSN: N/A
The New Australian Curriculum, Teachers and Change Fatigue
Dilkes, Jessica; Cunningham, Christine; Gray, Jan
Australian Journal of Teacher Education, v39 n11 Article 4 Nov 2014
A new national curriculum has recently been implemented across Australia. This paper reports on a case study of a regional Western Australia government school as they re-wrote and taught the phase one learning areas: maths, English, science and HASS. Results showed what it is like to work in an environment where continual change is not only expected, but also seen as best practice. Cynical, realistic and even enthusiastic teachers suffer change fatigue after years of rapid and continual curriculum change. The research traces back the reasons why teacher change fatigue might occur using Intuitive Inquiry (Anderson & Braud, 2011) as a hermeneutical process. It captures the reactions of teachers as they struggle to adapt to another top-down curriculum framework, badged as "continual school improvement." It documents that change fatigue negatively impacts on what is now known as the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment Outline.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, National Curriculum, Educational Change, Curriculum Implementation, Case Studies, Curriculum Development, Fatigue (Biology), Hermeneutics, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Response, Educational Improvement, Educational Practices, Educational Policy, Performance Factors, Inquiry, Phenomenology, Teaching Experience, Secondary School Teachers, Semi Structured Interviews, Program Attitudes, Program Effectiveness, Program Evaluation, Secondary School Curriculum, High Schools
Edith Cowan University. Bradford Street, Mount Lawley, West Australia 6050, Australia. Web site: http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education; High Schools
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Australia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A