Teacher receptivity to system-wide curriculum reform in the initiation stage: a Chinese perspective

TLDR: In this article, the authors investigated teachers' receptivity to the system-wide curriculum reform of the senior secondary education in the initiation stage and understand the factors influencing teachers receptivity in Mainland China.

Abstract: Few studies deal with teachers’ receptivity in the initiation stage of educational change, especially in a non-western cultural context like Mainland China. This study aims at investigating teachers’ receptivity to the system-wide curriculum reform of the senior secondary education in the initiation stage and understanding the factors influencing teachers’ receptivity in Mainland China. Questionnaire survey with open-ended question (n = 763) is employed to explore teachers’ receptivity in four selected experimental provinces, i.e., the first group of provinces which are selected by Ministry of Education to implement the curriculum reform. Results indicate teachers have positive attitudes and behavioral intentions toward promoting the curriculum reform of senior secondary education, and they consider the reform is valuable but difficult to carry out. The existing theoretical model can explain teachers’ behavioral intentions quite well, but its predicting ability to teachers’ general attitudes is limited, which indicates some new variables that need to be considered, too. Implications of this study and suggestions for future research are also discussed in the article.