| Shanghai launched its curriculum reform since the late 1980s, which was followed by the second round curriculum reform started in 1998. Owing to those constantly wheeling processes of reform, curriculum materials, teaching methods, curriculum evaluation, curriculum organization, accountability and people's conception of curriculum experienced a big change. These changes challenged teachers' traditional understandings of curriculum and teaching as well as their ways of acting. The practice of teaching becomes more and more complicated, and there are a lot of conflicts and uncertainties in it. Rather than choosing between the right and wrong, teachers make their decisions through negotiations with many elements in the dynamic field. Based on these considerartions, this research focuses on the content of decisions teachers make at the level of classroom along with analysis of these processes which are framed in a perspective of negotiation.;Considering the characteristics of research questions, The study adopted qualitative approach and case study strategy. Six teachers from two elementary schools in a district of Shanghai were chosen as cases. Data was collected through observations, interviews and documents, and then coded and analyzed them by Nvivc8.;The findings of this research indicate that: (1) The content of teachers' curriculum decision-makings at the level of classroom concentrated on teaching goals, content and process, while emphasizing evaluations after classroom instead of instantaneous evaluations in teaching. (2) Thenegotiation with situation factors was the main avenue teachers took to decide teaching goals and contents. When conflicts emerged between teachers' beliefs and situation factors, most of teachers were inclined to step back and make compromise with situation factors. (3) Teachers' negotiation with other people provided accesses for teachers to getting emerging curriculum ideas, learning processes and methods of teaching. People who have authority in experience of teaching, professional knowledge and administrative power were important evidences for teachers' decision-making. (4) Along with accumulation of experience in teaching, teachers' decisions mainly depended on their negotiations with themselves. (5) Teachers' final decisions were co-products of their negotiations with situation, other people and themselves, while each of these three elements played different role in this process.;Through analyzing content and process of decision-makings of teachers in elementary school in Shanghai, this research summed up the characteristics of negotiation embodied in the Chinese teachers' decision-making at the level of classroom. Those findings will shed some light on the improvement of curriculum reform in Chinese basic education as well as on teacher development domain. |
