CURRICULUM INNOVATION : A STUDY OF THE CLUE PROGRAMME WITH REFERENCE TO TEACHERS' ATTITUDES AND CONCERNS

Abstract

The past half decade saw a series of changes and developments in the education scene in Singapore. Among the most significant is the introduction of the New Education System for both primary and secondary levels which resulted in curriculum change in schools. This then led to the establishment of the Curriculum Development Institute of Singapore which is responsible for the development of curriculum innovations. In the area of English language, the CLUE materials which came into use in 1984 warrant much attention for its new designs and approach. This study was initiated in response to the need to find out the reception and reaction of classroom teachers to the CLUE materials. It sets out to identify and describe lower secondary English Language teachers' attitudes, concerns and their level of use within the framework of the concerns-based adoption model with regard to the CLUE materials. Various instruments such as the questionnaire, observation and interview schedules were utilised to collect data for this study. The questionnaire was used to gather information on attitudes and concerns expressed by the teachers while the observations and interviews were conducted with the purpose of identifying their level of use and the problems encountered in the use of the materials. The target sample population consisted of lower secondary English language teachers who were using the CLUE materials. Based on the response of the 185 respondents, the one-way analysis of variance revealed that no statistically significant relationship was established between the background variables and their attitudes towards CLUE. The t-test showed that the type of pupils, 'express' or 'normal' pupils, has no effect on teachers' attitudes. The findings revealed that teachers experienced a variety of concerns with high concerns in the Collaboration Stage 5, Refocusing Stage 6 and personal Stage 2 in descending order. At the Refocusing Stage 6, teachers are concerned about exploring the possibility of major changes or replacement with more powerful alternatives. The high Personal Stage 2 concerns reflect teachers' anxieties and uncertainties about the demands of the innovation in relation to their 'new' role. ~The observation and interview data revealed that the majority of the teachers (35%) fell predominantly into the Mechanical level of use 3. This reflects their lack of effective management and anticipation of daily problems and events. 27% of the teachers were assigned to the Routine level of use 4a, 19% to Refinement level of use 4b and 19% to Integration level of use 6. The data yielded on concerns and level of use led to several recommendations being drawn up.