Teacher resistance against school reform: Reflecting an inconvenient truth

Abstract

In this article, the contexts, forms and consequences of teacher resistance against school reforms based on quality assurance policies are discussed. The problems are demonstrated by recurring on research devoted to the acceptance and/or resistance of (German) teachers against standards-based accountability policies. These results demonstrate that the majority in the teacher force ignores, misinterprets or misuses the feedback information from standards-based performance tests aiming at a data-driven development of classroom teaching. Only a small part shows an adequate usage of feedback information, especially those schools that already have developed a culture of internal evaluation. In general, the success or failure of educational innovations is difficult to estimate, because it is a matter of interpretation and post hoc reconstruction. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.