Effecting changes in Spanish secondary schools: Teacher agency in mathematics curriculum construction under the 1990 'Ley de Ordenacion General del Sistema Educativo'

This study is an inquiry into the implications of math teachers' attempt to effect changes in the secondary school curriculum in Spain. It is related to the establishment of a system of comprehensive education promoted by the Socialist Government, which culminated with the approval, by the parliament, of the Ley de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo (LOGSE) in October of 1990.; The Act requires a variety of substantive changes in the school organization and the curriculum. It also delineates new organizational ways of bringing about curriculum change, which are having profound implications for the Spanish teaching profession. This study is concerned with the way that these curriculum and organizational changes are being perceived, interpreted, contextualized, and effected by the math teachers of a typical Spanish secondary school.; These changes converge in a new integrated vision of the school curriculum called the Proyectos Curriculares (Curricular Projects). Located at the intersection of top-down policies and school initiatives, these projects constitute a privileged site within which a variety of interests are at stake. The teachers' response to the challenge of constructing the Proyectos Curriculares provides a unique insight into secondary teachers' ability to critique and construct curriculum; Using document analysis, interviews, and direct observation, this study traces the math department teachers' collective work over a decade. The study reinterprets some of the prevalent assumptions on teachers' attitudes in the face of curriculum change such as submission and obstructionism.; In addition to substantiating that curriculum can be constructed and enacted professionally and effectively at the school level, the study detects the existence of multiple, and frequently conflicting contexts in which public secondary teachers in Spain conduct their work. Particularly determinant among these contexts are the provincial inspectorate, the school, and the department.; This research extends the existing literature on teachers' agency in effecting curricular changes in three different ways. First, it reveals the mutable, intricate and context specific nature of agency; rather than a characteristic of individuals or institutions, agency is shaped by the specific interaction of individual teachers, school organizational groups, and educational institutions. Second, it underscores the importance of attending to the personal and practical pedagogical knowledge that the teachers already possess. Finally, it prompts reformers and practitioners to understand agency in terms of the interpretations of the actors who experience it.