Inside a curriculum project: a case study in the process of curriculum change

Difficulties encountered by coordinators and teachers in the Integrated Curriculum Project in Humanities, implemented in secondary schools in UK, were the special demands of team teaching - The responsible team had underestimated the requirements for the introduction of innovations which arises problems in many areas: reorganization of the structural design, publication and diffusion of instructional materials, relationship with teachers. Change agents are considered as marginal persons having no established career and subject to conflicting pressures. This project imposed a real burden on teachers who had to adapt curriculum materials, introduce local studies, define new timetables, prepare reports for feedback and participate in teacher seminars. The report evaluates teacher motivation for change, but also their anxiety about achievement of standards, pressure of external examinations and evaluation of integrated work. A precise analysis of the varying teacher attitudes allows to infer implications for the introduction of instructional innovation on a large scale. A sophisticated model of the interaction process has to be developed.