Understanding teachers’ will and capacity to accomplish physical education curriculum reform: the implications for teacher development

The purpose of this study is to examine the receptivity of physical education teachers to curriculum reform and their capacity to accomplish the proposed changes. A sample of 145 secondary physical educators with different years of teaching experience was recruited to participate in this study on a voluntary basis. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, teachers’ responses were surveyed using a questionnaire derived from the teachers’ receptivity to curriculum change (Waugh & Godfrey, 1993 Waugh, R. and Godfrey, J. 1993. Teacher receptivity to system-wide change in the implementation stage. British Educational Research Journal, 19(5): 565–578. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Ha et al., 2004 Ha, A. S., Lee, J. C., Chan, W. K. and Sum, R. K. 2004. Teachers’ perceptions of in-service teacher training to support curriculum change in physical education: the Hong Kong experience, Sport. Education and Society, 9(3): 421–438. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). Descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the surveyed data. Subsequently, using Fullan's comprehensive framework for teacher development, a group of 20 teachers was interviewed regarding their views and concerns on the recent reforms in their profession. The results indicate that experienced teachers show statistically significant positive attitudes toward the proposed guidelines (p<0.05) and statistically significant less concern on different issues (p<0.01) as compared to their novice counterparts. In terms of the professional need for reform, the teachers, regardless of their teaching experience, identified ‘pedagogical skills for different types of students,’ ‘teaching of generic skills’ and ‘student assessment’ as the areas which need to be reviewed. Meanwhile, novice teachers consistently require strong leadership and support within and outside the school to promote ‘collegiality’ and ‘knowledge of educational contexts.’ Experienced teachers are particularly concerned about ‘continuous learning’ and ‘change process,’ which could be attributed to their traditional background and less opportunity for professional development. Ultimately, experienced teachers show a stronger commitment to their career, while novice teachers feel insecure about implementing their professional role under the uncertainties of the reform. It is suggested that a teacher development program be purposefully and systematically designed for teachers of different career stages, and more importantly, that their needs be communicated to the government and the public so as to achieve the best outcome out of professional and educational changes.