Teachers' conceptions of liberal studies teaching in a case study school

Abstract

This study is a qualitative case study which aims to investigate teachers’ conceptions of Liberal Studies teaching in a case study school after Liberal Studies became compulsory in the Senior Secondary curriculum. A list of aspects of teaching were compiled based on previous research studies and were used to identify teachers’ conceptions. Data were collected from three participating teachers with two research tools, namely, lesson observations and semi-structured interviews. The teachers came from different educational backgrounds but they taught students at the same secondary level. The findings reveal that participating teachers possess multiple conceptions and there are discrepancies between what they think Liberal Studies teaching should be and their real classroom practices. They also do not have complete understanding of what an issue-enquiry approach is. The reasons participating Liberal Studies teachers gave in response to the formation of their conceptions are found to be related to their major subject taught or major subject completed at a degree level. It is also found that when they attended Liberal Studies related training courses, they tended to use their educational background to selectively pick up teaching strategies introduced in the courses.