Primary School Teachers' Curriculum Decision Making In Lesson Planning

During the last several decades, teachers have become more and more widely recognized as the key factors in the process of curriculum development. It is suggested that teachers should play the role of 'decision makes' rather than 'implementers' in curriculum. Although theoretically teachers may involve in the curriculum development at the state level, the district level, the school level, and the classroom level, actually teachers' curriculum decision making is mainly located at the classroom level. Curriculum decision making at this level, which focuses on the specific lesson planning, is the main topic of this study.Based on literature review, a framework of four elements (student, textbook, teaching objectives, and teaching activities) is employed to analyze the teachers' curriculum decision making in lesson planning. Using questionnaire survey, interview, and classroom teaching observation as research methods, this study finds that there are six characteristics in the curriculum decision making of primary English teachers: (1) content-oriented planning, that is, teaching content rather than students or objectives is the main starting point of these teachers' curriculum planning; (2) student is a important concern during the process of classroom level curriculum decision making; (3) balance between the form of teaching activities and objectives is one of the important theme in teachers' curriculum decision making; (4) technical reflection rather than practical reflection is dominate in teachers' reflection of their lesson planning; (5) a wide range of professional knowledge is employed in curriculum decision making; and (6) teachers' lesson planning is dramatically influenced by external elements such as the requirements from administrations or suggestions from professional agents.At last, the possibilities and problems of teachers' curriculum decision making under different traditions of curriculum development, different power structures in school systems, and at (and among) different levels of curriculum development are discussed.