The Teachers' Role in Inculcating Values through a Mandated Curriculum: Isolation and Instrumentalism in High School Science and Language Arts Classrooms in England.

This study examined interrelationships between educators' role in teaching values and their responsibility for teaching mandatory curricula and preparing students for formal assessment. It investigated 15 British teachers' values as transmitted to 10th grade science and language arts students, gauging the impact of their values on student experience. Teacher interviews were followed by classroom observation in which two critical incidents were selected as the focus for followup interviews with teacher-student groups. Critical incidents related to subject matter and classroom management, student behavior, and teacher control. Overall, teachers emphasized the demands of the examination system, transmitting largely instrumental values. English teachers were more likely than science teachers to explore intrinsic values. Teachers of disruptive students often appealed to the instrumental value of the subject. English teachers introduced their values as part of a balanced debate. Science teachers were uncertain about the role of values in subject teaching. Respect was ill-defined but linked to teacher power. Science teachers did not exhibit resistance to the dominant culture of testing and imposed curriculum. Less academically successful students were alienated from science values. They saw school rules rather than shared values as indicators of social injustice and double standards. (Contains 17 references.) (SM)