Educator Resistance to Change: A Grounded Theory Study of the Technology and Engineering Education Transition

Technology and engineering education is a school discipline formulated out of the convergence of industrial arts, technology education, career and technical education, and engineering education. The problem is that the industrial arts educators have resisted the curricular transition to technology and engineering education and the discipline lacks a theoretical perspective that provides explanation for this phenomenon. The purpose of the qualitative grounded theory study was to explore why the industrial arts educators resisted the organizational change to technology and engineering education. An exploratory, grounded theory method was used to identify new theory related to educator resistance as the current literature does not provide a theoretical perspective as to why the industrial arts educators have resisted the change. The sampling frame was derived from a database of 379 secondary technology and engineering education teachers in the state of Kansas. Theoretical sampling was utilized in order to make adjustments as needed according to the evolving theory through the on-going data collection and analysis. A sample size of 13 participants was needed to reach theoretical saturation of the phenomenon. The data for the study was collected through observations and face-to-face semi-structured interviews with in-service industrial education teachers. Data collected from the observations and interviews were analyzed using the three-phase classic grounded theory coding technique and the analyses resulted in the emergence of three substantive theories related to the study phenomenon: (a) inefficacious transition to technology and engineering education, (b) value for technical learning, and (c) industry demand-based change. Three recommendations for professional practice included (a) differentiate current technology and engineering education curriculum from previous modular technology curriculum, (b) articulate and include technical learning opportunities within technology and engineering education curriculum, and (c) align technology and engineering education curriculum with industry and workforce needs. Three recommendations for future research included (a) a Delphi method study to operationalize the emergent theories, (b) a quantitative quasi-experimental or experimental study to test the three theories, and (c) a sample survey study related to the emergent theories distributed to a larger geographic population to generalize the findings.