Paying lip-service to research?: The adoption of a constructivist perspective to inform science teaching in the English curriculum context
One of my publications is
Taber, K. S. (2010). Paying lip-service to research?: The adoption of a constructivist perspective to inform science teaching in the English curriculum context. The Curriculum Journal, 21(1), 25 – 45. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585170903558299
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Abstract:
Constructivism is a widely influential perspective in science education research. However, there have been strong criticisms of attempts to adopt constructivism as a principle underpinning official science curriculum policy (for example in New Zealand). Over the past decade recommendations for classroom pedagogy in extensive official guidance (particularly through the 'National Strategy') issued to science teachers working in England have explicitly drawn upon constructivist principles. Yet there has been little public debate about this aspect of the guidance, or its reception by teachers, and there are reasons to expect that the potential impact of the recommendations has been severely compromised by the nature of the guidance, and the wider curriculum context. As recent substantive curriculum revisions rely upon science teachers adopting new pedagogy, research is indicated to explore how teachers construe and respond to pedagogic recommendations disseminated through official guidance.
Keywords:
- constructivism
- curriculum guidance
- English National Curriculum
- learners' misconceptions
- National Strategy
- official pedagogy
Contents:
- Introduction
- Constructivism in education and science
- Constructivism in science education
- Constructivist pedagogy in science education
- Criticism of constructivist approaches to pedagogy
- Official pedagogic guidance for science teachers in England
- Constructivist principles incorporated in official English guidance
- The nature of official constructivist pedagogy in the English curriculum context
- Discussion
"…it is only possible to speculate about how constructivist thinking has managed to become so well embedded in official UK guidance without any major debate (compared with the US and NZ). I have mooted some possible factors here, but the issue deserves closer examination as it clearly raises a number of questions. Perhaps, as a result of their training and experience, and a tradition of curriculum development, science teachers in England are able to recognise the approach being recommended as having merit and see little reason to question it. While the present author would be encouraged if that were so, there may be alternative interpretations:
- Perhaps the vast expenditure on official guidance is having very little effect, and science teachers are largely ignoring it?
- Perhaps there has been a major switch in teacher expectations since the 'heady' days of the 1980s, so that most teachers in England now expect to be told what to teach, and how to teach it?
- Perhaps the version of constructivism offered in the guidance has been so sanitised as to appear not to conflict with the 'delivery' of the prescribed science content, and does not appear to ask teachers to radically change their practice?"
