New Realities of Secondary Teachers' Work Lives

There are many books on educational change, its origins, processes and consequences. The unique contribution of this volume lies in its careful documenting and reporting of the reactions of teachers themselves, interviewed in nine countries, about the changes they have experienced and in the comparative nature of the study, which employs both qualitative and quantitative methods in a complementary way. In Part One the educational background to the study in each country is described and teachers' responses to a common research, semi-structured interview schedule are reported. In Part Two the same database is subjected to a statistical analysis for comparative purposes in order to reveal similarities and differences between countries. The project set out to obtain an international picture of the changes in education which have had the greatest impact on the lives of teachers; to explore how actual and perceived changes have influenced teachers' experience and practice; and to identify critical factors in the implementation of change. The result is a book that will enable students to familiarise themselves with practices in other countries and policy makers to evaluate the implications of changes in different social, economic and cultural environments. CONTENTS: Preface; Consortium Members Participating in this Research; Pam Poppleton & John Williamson. Introduction: the comparative background to educational change. PART ONE. SECONDARY TEACHERS' EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATIONAL CHANGE IN NINE COUNTRIES DURING THE 1990s: Rick Churchill & John Williamson. Teachers' Work Lives in an Environment of Continual Educational Change: Australian perspectives; Noel P. Hurley. Once Bitten, Twice Shy: teachers' attitudes towards educational change in Canada; Kan Shi & Huadong Yang. How Cultural and Social Factors of Educational Change Affect Chinese Teachers' Work Lives; Pam Poppleton. 'All Change': English secondary teachers' response to a decade of change, 1988-98; Nóra Arató & Mariann