On Teachers' Impedance In The Practice Of New Curriculum

Curriculum practice is a bridge to link curriculum design and institutionalization, an activity to turn curriculum theory into practice, and a key link to decide success or failure of curriculum reform. Teachers are the main bodies of curriculum practice, the key roles to put new curriculum into practice and to determine in what degree that new curriculum is put into practice. Although there exist many factors affecting the practice of new curriculum, teachers'impedance is one of the crucial factors to influence or restrain the practice and promotion of new curriculum. In such a case, to analyse and study teachers'impedance in their practice of new curriculum is both significant to be aware of the real practice of the reform of our contemporary basic educational curriculum and to pointedly solve the problems restraining the smooth driving of our curriculum reform so as to further develop the contemporary reform of our basic educational curriculum.This paper tries to comb the research documents at home and abroad on curriculum practice, recall the origins, development, orientations, models, strategies, implications of impedance and factors bringing about teachers'impedance in this field. By drawing on the relevant research works, this paper gives a theoretical exposition on factors influencing teachers'impedance and the practice of new curriculum such as teachers'knowledge, beliefs, identity and campus culture. This paper has also developed six individual questionnaires and outlines to interview teachers on the practice extent of the new curriculum, teachers'impedance, teachers'knowledge, beliefs, identity and campus culture, with an aim to be aware of the real conditions listed above. Furthermore, this research has analysed and studied the correlations between influencing factors, teachers'impedance and the extent of the new curriculum practice, which will lay a solid foundation and provide strong evidence for putting forward concrete,clearly-aimed or purposive suggestions and decision-making.As for methodology, this research mainly adopts methods of questionnaire and interview. The objects investigated are teachers and headteachers in primary and junior secondary schools. In order to make these questionnaires be well of representativeness in terms of regions, gender, ages, lengths of service, positions, professional titles, educational background, schools'categories, levels and locations, we use random group sampling to deliver questionnaires among 1300 teachers and headteachers from four provinces, namely Henan, Shanxi, Gansu and Inner Mongolia. We have also interviewed two teachers from primary schools, two from junior secondary schools, and one from local research section.The findings are as following:1. The teachers'general attitude toward new curriculum wavers between supporting and waiting-and-seeing. They show some impedance to the new curriculum, and some teachers or schools are still in a wait-and-see stage. By comparison, teachers'attitudes towards new curriculum are relatively positive, and nearly 70% teachers support new curriculum; As for taking new curriculum into practice, they are relatively backward, and only about 60% teachers are taking real actions.2. Up to now, only 2/3 of the goal of the new curriculum has been ideally achieved, which means that putting the new curriculum into practice has some way to go. A protruding problem is that some (2/3) schools have not opened local and school-based curriculum. There is no atmosphere for teachers to study and prepare lessons together, student group learning and thematic discussion have not universally formed, and teachers'awareness of curriculum is weak. Meanwhile, the practice of the new curriculum in rural schools is comparatively lower than that in urban schools; primary schools better than junior secondary schools.3. Among the four factors analysed and studied, teachers'identity is of the first importance in the impedance and new curriculum practice. As far as teachers'identity itself is concerned, factors closely connected with teachers'interests strikingly affect teachers'impedance. These factors include the cost efficiency of curriculum reform, the practical use of the curriculum itself, and other items they are concerned about. Factors affecting the degree of curriculum practice are a mixture of those from inside and outside, among which support from schools to new curriculum reform is the most important. The second important support is from the practical use of the curriculum itself and other items teachers are concerned about. The support from outside schools and cost efficiency are factors less important in affecting new curriculum practice. The fact is that at present the five factors: school support, outside support, the practical use of the curriculum, items teachers concerned about, and cost efficiency have only achieved respectively the ideal goals of 65%, 53%, 62.5%, 61.8% and 68.25%. Therefore, insufferent support from inside and outside schools, relatively poor practical use of the curriculum, teachers'excessive sacrifice and so on are main factors resulting in teachers'impedance and thus restraining new curriculum practice.4. Among the four factors analysed and studied, teachers'knowledge is in the second place in affecting teachers'impedance and restraining new curriculum practice. In this respect, curriculum knowledge, general methodological knowledge and teaching knowledge play a remarkable part in affecting teachers'impedance and new curriculum practice. A present, the three knowledges listed above have respectively achieved the ideal goals of 70.0%, 64.2% and 75.5%. Thus, teachers'relatively poor knowledge forms a main factor affecting teachers'impedance and new curriculum practice.5. The third-place factor affecting teachers'impedance and new curriculum practice among the four factors mentioned is campus culture. As for campus culture in affecting teachers'impedance, the first affecting factor is professional values, the second factor is devotion to reform and professional cooperation, and the third factor is the leadership of the headteacher and professionalself-confidence; As for campus culture in affecting new curriculum practice, the three factors are respectively devotion to reform, school vision, professional cooperation and professional values listed according to importance. And devotion to reform, professional cooperation, professional values and school vision have up to now achieved respectively the ideal goals of 62.5%, 70.5%, 70.5% and 57.75%. As a result, deficient devotion to school reform, lack of common version and professional cooperation are three primary factors resulting in teachers'impedance and holding back new curriculum practice.6. Among the four factors analysed and studied, teachers'belief forms the fouth important factor affecting teachers'impedance and holding back the depth of new curriculum practice. Teachers'attitudes towards subjecting students to discipline, as well as their understanding of curriculum and teaching plan constitute the chief factors affecting teachers'impedance and new curriculum practice. Today, some teachers still uphold such traditional concepts"classroom-centred, textbook-centred and teacher-centred"as their educational beliefs, which is also a factor restrainig the practice of new curriculum.At the same time, teachers from different regions, schools, sexes, ages, lengths of service, professional titles and posts have different opinions on impedance degree, new curriculum practice degree, knowledge, identity, belief , campus culture and so on.This paper has also put forward suggestions on how to decrease teachers'impedance and how to raise the practice degree of new curriculum. More specifically, these suggestions include: governments and educational authorities at different levels should deepen their understanding, strengthen leadership, enhance supervision and evaluation on new curriculum practice, promote unflinchingly the enforcement of new curriculum; strengthen public awareness, mobilize social participation, construct supporting systems beneficial to the promotion of new curriculum; increase input into education, improve school-running conditions in rural areas; strengthen the development and enforcement of local and school-based curriculum, ensure the realization of the goal of three-level curriculum; further strengthen the training and improvement of teachers, especially those from remote and ethnic minority areas, improve teachers'adaptability to new curriculum; reform college entrance examination system synchronized with the new curriculum so as to relieve teachers of their stress; strengthen the analysis and research on the practical application of new curriculum; pay close attention to teachers'devotion to new curriculum reform as well as their repayment for that, arouse the teachers'enthusiasm to practice new curriculum; headteachers should refresh their minds, transform their roles in earnest into real promoters and executors of curriculum reform; reconstruct campus culture appealing to new curriculum.