Who buys into curricular reforms and why? Investigating predictors of reform ratings from teachers in Germany

Abstract

Prior research suggests that teachers’ positive perceptions of a reform are key when it comes to its successful implementation. The importance of teachers as enactors of change efforts results from their close tie to what is happening in the classroom. This suggests that without persuaded change agents, innovations are unlikely to be implemented coherently, and in turn, likely to fail. In this study, we investigated the relationships between different sets of predictors (specific to the teacher, the school, the reform, or support structures) and teachers’ overall rating of a curricular reform. We found that teachers’ perceived added value and their perceptions of specific reform aspects predicted overall reform ratings. Furthermore, we identified heterogeneity regarding the importance of specific predictors between different school tracks, which calls for increased attention to school context when considering teachers’ perceptions of reforms.