How Do Teachers Understanding The Curriculum

Curriculum is the core of school education,and the continuing focus of educational reform.Since the new century,the nationwide implementation of the action in education and curriculum reform has triggered a widespread debate and controversy in relevant subjects.The source of this controversy is that the curriculum understanding among different subjects is multiple and even conflicting.This multivariate state highlights the classic question of “how to understand the curriculum”,which is still worthy of attention in the research of educational theory and practice.Then,the teachers' curriculum understanding is being focus as the core of weather the curriculum reform successful or not.The teachers' curriculum understanding is running through their personal curriculum practice,which have deep impact on curriculum,teachers,students and curriculum situation,so the study of teachers' curriculum understanding have important reference value in knowing the situation of current education problem.We found most researches in the curriculum understanding were theoretical and the empirical researches to the curriculum understanding were about the reform and development of curriculum mostly which focused the “appropriate” problem of curriculum understanding of teachers from the scientific curriculum view.The results which explored the creation,the development and the significance of practice based on the development orientation of teachers were relatively few.Based on the above background,this study will explore “how teachers understanding the curriculum and act within the framework of curriculum understanding” and form the following basic research questions:What kind of curriculum understanding does the teacher have? How does they exist and changed ? What is the significance of curriculum understanding for the curriculum,teachers,students and curriculum situation development and the improvement ?In this study,we obtained important experience about 9 teachers' life history and practice of curriculum by field investigation and critical incident interviews from middle schools in a county of Qinghai Province,explored the critical incidents which condensed the teachers' understanding and explain.Through the process of narrative inquiry,the researcher and the teachers go back to basic facts and situations to get the teachers' curriculum understanding in “the moment”.This study revealed how teachers can make the significance of their own curriculum practice by action,understanding and explaining,and also present the curriculum experience,curriculum practical logic and curriculum philosophy which included in teachers' curriculum understanding by “clarify ” teacher's description and explanation.Besides,by unscramble some continuity and non continuity("conflict")which presented in the understanding of curriculum of teachers,the study revealed the complexity,open and interventional of teachers' curriculum understanding.By the inquiry of teachers' curriculum understanding,the study formed the general knowledge of how constructing curriculum understanding of teachers:the experiences are the main cause of multiple curriculum understanding,and the teachers' curriculum understanding and behavior are always solidified and changed based on the influence of some "effect history".Teachers' curriculum understanding and curriculum action are mutually constructed,the factors which influence this process are include in practice difficult and critical incidents,practice difficult has important value for promoting teacher' curriculum understanding,and critical incident is effective method for intervene teacher' curriculum understanding to formation and development.Teachers' curriculum understanding is a continuous and open process;teachers' curriculum understanding shows contextual and individual differences.Back to rethinking the problem of education development and reform,it is very important to awareness that teacher's experiences and understanding not only can not be excluded in curriculum and reform,but also should be face up to promoting and “intervened scientifically”.