English teachers’ beliefs and curriculum implementation in Switzerland: the case study of lower secondary schools in a French-speaking region

Abstract

The teachers’ role is of paramount importance in educational innovations, particularly when it comes to implementing a new curriculum (Wedell, 2009). To embrace the desired changes, teachers need to restructure their beliefs that act as a filter and guide actions (Fives & Buehl, 2012). The current research explores this issue in a Swiss context, where English was added to compulsory education in the early 2000s. This has recently led to the publication of a new curriculum and to the introduction of a new course book. The study was conducted against this backdrop, in state lower secondary schools in the French-speaking part of the canton of Valais. It aims to uncover the English teachers’ beliefs and practices to gain a better understanding of their relationship, and to analyse their role in the implementation of the curriculum. In addition, the impact of factors such as training and experience was examined. The originality of the project is that German, the majority language of the country, has a higher status than English in education. There are consequently no high-stakes examinations in English at lower secondary school.A mixed methods research design was adopted. The quantitative analysis of eighty-nine questionnaires provides a general picture while the qualitative data (interviews, observations and stimulated recall) focus on a few teachers to obtain a fine-grained analysis. This case study, taking the teachers’ observed practices as a starting point for investigating their beliefs, shows the complexity of the belief systems organisation. A satellite metaphor that depicts their dynamism and instability is suggested. The findings demonstrate that the curriculum standards may be achieved by different means from the official ones. Teachers indeed rely on the syllabus and on their colleagues to adapt the curriculum to their context while taking their previous experience into account. In addition, the teachers’ philosophy of teaching is shaped by their core beliefs about the curriculum, their teachers’ roles and the role of English. The teachers’ beliefs of what is possible or desirable are very influential, and some locally situated beliefs, such as class size and self-imposed time constraints, appear to limit the teachers’ implementation of desired practices despite a favourable context. It has also emerged that teachers with different training and experience have different beliefs. The implications for policy makers and teacher training are discussed, and some methodological recommendations are outlined.

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