Are teachers walking the walk or just talking the talk in science education?

Actions speak louder than words. Teachers may verbally agree with curriculum change but seldom do their statements match up with their classroom practice and, as a result, the intended curriculum is never fully implemented. The study described below reports on how primary and secondary teachers’ statements of belief, otherwise referred to as expressed beliefs, influenced the implementation of a new science curriculum. Through the methodology of educational criticism the results revealed that teachers made use of a set of expressed beliefs to influence the direction of the science curriculum. Teachers’ expressed beliefs were categorized into four subsets: platonic expressed beliefs, organizational beliefs, associated beliefs and transitional beliefs. The outcome of this study provides leaders in educational reform with an understanding of the influence of teachers’ beliefs in the direction of curriculum change.