| Educational researchers, particularly curriculum researchers, are looking towards teachers' belief and intention paradigms to provide a richer understanding of curriculum implementation because examining only teachers' beliefs prove lacking in focus and direction. In education, not only have conceptual and operational definitions been varied. With Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior, measurements and definition for beliefs have become more precise, allowing researchers a closer examination of teachers' personal belief systems as it relates to affective curriculum implementation. Central to understanding teachers' beliefs about curriculum implementation is an understanding of teachers' beliefs about the subjective probability and evaluation of attributes about the object (the curriculum). In social psychology few theories have had as much success as the theory of Planned Behavior. This study attempted to use this theory to elicit teachers' beliefs and intentions regarding the implementation of affective curriculum. Results indicated that teachers did not make a distinction between the labels affective behaviors and cognitive behaviors. Teachers gave Kaplan's Taxonomy of Affective behaviors a positive evaluation. Teachers' beliefs about perceived behavioral control was negatively correlated with the strand Preference for a Value the most controversial. The study provides evidence for a more positive attitude towards affective curriculum and suggests curriculum developers follow teachers into the classroom prior to planning and designing the curriculum. |
