Teachers’ Principled Resistance to Curricular Control: A Theoretical Literature Review

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to conduct a theoretical literature review of the research that has documented examples of teachers’ principled resistance to curricular control. Principled resistance occurs when teachers reject curricular policies and programs that control their work and conflict with their professional principles. The authors examined the pedagogical commitments that led to teachers’ principled resistance and drew upon Lacey’s and Sikes et al.’s model of teacher socialization to analyze how teachers have engaged in principled resistance. The authors located 62 studies published between 1984 and 2022. Teachers resisted forms of neoliberal curricular control they believed did not meet their students’ academic and social needs, most negatively impacted ethnically diverse and impoverished students, and was not culturally responsive. Teachers enacted principled resistance through strategic compliance, strategic compromise, strategic redefinition, overt and outright resistance, and leaving. Implications for researchers, school administrators, policymakers, and teachers are discussed.

Keywords

principled resistance curricular control teacher resistance strategies teacher agency

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abell

S. K.

Roth

(1994). Constructing science teaching in the elementary school: The socialization of a science enthusiast student teacher. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 31(1), 77–90. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.3660310108

Achinstein

Ogawa

R. T.

(2006). (In)fidelity: What the resistance of new teachers reveals about professional principles and prescriptive educational policies. Harvard Educational Review, 76(1), 30–63. https://doi.org/10.17763/haer.76.1.e14543458r811864

Adcock

S. G.

Patton

M. M.

(2001). Views of effective early childhood educators regarding systemic constraints that affect their teaching. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 15(2), 194–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568540109594960

Allington

R. L.

Johnston

P. H.

Day

J. P.

(2002). Exemplary fourth-grade teachers. Language Arts, 79(6), 462–466. https://doi.org/10.58680/la2002265

Barrett-Tatum

Dooley

C. M.

(2015). From idealized to actualized instruction: Two elementary teachers’ enactment of the ELA Common Core State Standards in instructional scripts. Literacy Research and Instruction, 54(4), 257–284. https://doi.org/10.1080/19388071.2015.1062941

Bauml

(2015). Beginning primary teachers’ experiences with curriculum guides and pacing calendars for math and science instruction. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 29(3), 390–409. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2015.1040565

Beatty

(2011). The dilemma of scripted instruction: Comparing teacher autonomy, fidelity, and resistance in the Froebelian kindergarten, Montessori, Direct Instruction, and Success for All. Teachers College Record, 113(3), 395–430. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811111300305

Beck

Kosnik

Caulfield

Cleovoulou

(2018). Principled resistance to system mandates among early-career teachers. In Santoro

D. A.

Cain

(Eds.), Principled resistance: How teachers resolve ethical dilemmas (pp. 35–52). Harvard Education Press.

Bisplinghoff

B. S.

(2002). Teacher planning as responsible resistance. Language Arts, 80(2), 119–128. https://doi.org/10.58680/la2002290

10.

Brezicha

K. F.

Kavanagh

K. M.

Martin

A. E.

Fisher-Ari

T. R.

(2024). “This school is killing my soul”: Threat rigidity responses to high-stakes accountability policies. Urban Education, 59(5), 1455–1488. https://doi.org/10.1177/00420859221081762

11.

Bullough

R. V.

Gitlin

Goldstein

S. L.

(1984). Ideology, teacher role, and resistance. Teachers College Record, 86(2), 339–358. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146818408600203

12.

Burke

C. J. F.

Adler

(2013). Personal consequences of compliance and resistance to mandated reforms for teachers in low-performing schools. Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research, 9, 6–17.

13.

Bushnell

(2003). Teacher in the schoolhouse panopticon: Complicity and resistance. Education and Urban Society, 35(3), 251–272. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013124503252284

14.

Calkins

Neville

(2003). Units of study for primary writing: A yearlong curriculum (grades k-2). Heinemann.

15.

Chapman

L. A.

Elbaum

(2021). How―and why―middle school intensive reading teachers make adaptations to a scripted curriculum. Teacher Education and Special Education, 44(4), 281–299. https://doi.org/10.1177/0888406421992377

16.

Choi

P. L.

Tang

S. Y. F.

(2005). Role management strategies of beginning teachers in Hong Kong. Teacher Development, 9(3), 369–388. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530500200273

17.

Cohen

D. K.

(1990). A revolution in one classroom: The case of Mrs. Oublier. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(3), 311–330. https://doi.org/10.3102/01623737012003311

18.

Costello

(2016). The struggle for teacher professionalism in a mandated literacy curriculum. McGill Journal of Education, 51(2), 833–856. https://doi.org/10.7202/1038605ar

19.

Costigan

A. T.

(2013). New urban teachers transcending neoliberal educational reforms: Embracing aesthetic education as a curriculum of political action. Urban Education, 48(1), 116–148. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085912457579

20.

Crawford-Garrett

Riley

(2015). Inquiry, policy, and teacher communities: Counter mandates and teacher resistance in an urban school district. Workplace: A Journal for Academic Labor, 26(1), 36–51.

21.

Crocco

M. S.

Costigan

A. T.

(2007). The narrowing of curriculum and pedagogy in the age of accountability. Urban Education, 42(6), 512–535. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085907304964

22.

Datnow

Castellano

(2000). Teachers’ responses to Success for All: How beliefs, experiences, and adaptations shape implementation. American Educational Research Journal, 37(3), 775–779. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312037003775

23.

Dewey

(1938). Logic: The theory of inquiry. Henry Holt.

24.

Duarte

B. J.

Brewer

C. A.

(2019). “Caught in the nets of ‘discipline’”: Understanding the possibilities for writing teachers’ resistance to standardization in local policy. Educational Policy, 33(1), 88–110. https://doi.org/10.1177/0895904818807326

25.

Duncan Owens

. (2010). Commercial reading programmes as the solution for children living in poverty. Literacy UKLA, 44(3), 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-4369.2010.00548.x

26.

Dunn

A. H.

Deroo

VanDerHeide

(2017). With regret: The genre of teachers’ public resignation letters. Linguistics and Education, 38, 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.linged.2017.02.003

27.

Edelsky

(2005). Relatively speaking: McCarthyism and teacher-resisters. In Poynor

Wolfe

P. M.

(Eds.), Marketing fear in America’s public schools: The real war on literacy (pp. 11–28). Lawrence Erlbaum.

28.

Eisenbach

B. B.

(2012). Teacher belief and practice in a scripted curriculum. The Clearing House, 85(4), 153–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/00098655.2012.663816

29.

Gibbs

(2019). “I guess I just realized how tired I had become”: In defense of insurgent pedagogy. Critical Education, 10(10), 1–19.

30.

Gitlin

Margonis

(1995). The political aspect of reform: Teacher resistance as good sense. American Journal of Education, 103(4), 377–405. https://doi.org/10.1086/444108

31.

Goldstein

L. S.

(2007). Beyond the DAP versus standards dilemma: Examining the unforgiving complexity of kindergarten teaching in the United States. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 22(1), 39–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2006.08.001

32.

Goldstein

L. S.

(2008). Kindergarten teachers making “street-level” education policy in the wake of No Child Left Behind. Early Education and Development, 19(3), 448–478. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409280802065387

33.

Griffith

(2008). The impact of a scripted reading program on teachers’ professional spirits. Teaching & Learning: The Journal of Natural Inquiry and Reflective Practice, 22(3), 121–133.

34.

Gumina

(2022). Bilingual teachers’ improvisations as agentive policy work in a constrained policy context. Bilingual Research Journal, 45(1), 26–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/15235882.2022.2079764

35.

Hikida

Taylor

L. A.

(2020). “As the test collapses in”: Teaching and learning amid high-stakes testing in two urban elementary classrooms. Urban Education, 58(6), 1032–1060. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085920902263

36.

Hochman

Santoro

D. A.

Houser

(2018). Tweeting to transgress: Teachers on Twitter as principled resisters. In Santoro

D. A.

Cain

(Eds.), Principled resistance: How teachers resolve ethical dilemmas (pp. 203–222). Harvard Education Press.

37.

Huddleston

A. P.

Ohle

Mullins

Lowry

Shake

(2020). Models of resistance: Novice teachers negotiating barriers to best practice. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 59(3), 41–60. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol59/iss3/4/

38.

Kavanagh

K. M.

Fisher-Ari

T. R.

(2017). Constraints and negotiations: TFA, accountability, and scripted program in urban schools. Perspectives on Urban Education, 14(1), 1–16. https://urbanedjournal.gse.upenn.edu/volume-14-issue-1-fall-2017-15-years-urban-education-special-anniversary-edition-journal/constraints

39.

Kelly

L. B.

(2018). Compliance and resistance: Showing future teachers how to navigate curriculum. Studying Teacher Education, 14(1), 71–87. https://doi.org/10.1080/17425964.2018.1428794

40.

Kersten

(2006). Hybridization, resistance, and compliance: Negotiating policies to support literacy achievement. The New Educator, 2(2), 103–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/15476880600657272

41.

Kersten

Pardo

(2007). Finessing and hybridizing: Innovative literacy practices in reading first classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 61(2), 146–154. https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.61.2.4

42.

Lacey

(1977). The socialization of teachers. Methuen.

43.

Lacey

(1987). Professional socialization of teachers. In Dunkin

M. J.

(Ed.), The international encyclopedia of teaching and teacher education (pp. 634–645). Pergamon Press.

44.

MacGillivray

Ardell

A. L.

Curwen

M. S.

Palma

(2004). Colonized teachers: Examining the implementation of a scripted reading program. Teaching Education, 15(2), 131–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047621042000213575

45.

Maniates

Mahiri

(2011). Post-scripts: Teaching reading in the aftermath of prescriptive curriculum policies. Language Arts, 89(1), 10–21. https://doi.org/10.58680/la201117154

46.

Marzano

R. J.

(2003). What works in schools: Translating research into action. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

47.

Masuda

A. M.

(2010). The teacher study group as a space for agency in an era of accountability and compliance. Teacher Development, 14(4), 467–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2010.533489

48.

McCarthey

S. J.

Woodard

(2018). Faithfully following, adapting, or rejecting mandated curriculum: Teachers’ curricular enactments in elementary writing instruction. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 13(1), 56–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2017.1376672

49.

McCarthey

S. J.

Woodard

Kang

(2014). Elementary teachers negotiating discourses in writing instruction. Written Communication, 31(1), 58–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/0741088313510888

50.

Meidl

T. D.

Meidl

(2011). Curriculum integration and adaptation: Individualizing pedagogy for linguistically and culturally diverse students. Current Issues in Education, 14(1), 1–29. http://cie.asu.edu/

51.

Meyer

R. J.

(2002). Captives of the script: Killing us softly with phonics. Language Arts, 79(6), 452–461. https://doi.org/10.58680/la2002264

52.

Myers

(2019). Confronting mandated curriculum: Being a transgressive teacher and meeting the needs of our urban learners. Penn GSE Perspectives on Urban Education, 16(1), 1–13. https://urbanedjournal.gse.upenn.edu

53.

Nolan

(2015). La educación in room 320: Toward a theory of care-based resistance in the context of neoliberal school reform. Teachers College Record, 117(5), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811511700506

54.

Nolan

(2016). Schooling novice mathematics teachers on structures and strategies: A Bourdieuian perspective on the role of “others” in classroom practices. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 92(3), 315–329. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-015-9668-1

55.

Parsons

S. A.

Vaughn

Scales

R. Q.

Gallagher

M. A.

Parsons

A. W.

Davis

S. G.

Pierczynski

Allen

(2018). Teachers’ instructional adaptations: A research synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 88(2), 205–242. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654317743198

56.

Pease-Alvarez

Samway

K. D.

(2008). Negotiating a top-down reading program mandate: The experiences of one school. Language Arts, 86(1), 32–41. https://doi.org/10.58680/la20086698

57.

Powell

Cantrell

S. C.

Correll

(2017). Power and agency in a high poverty elementary school: How teachers experienced a scripted reading program. Journal of Language and Literacy Education, 13(1), 93–124. http://jolle.coe.uga.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/93-124_JoLLE2016_242_Powell-Cantrell-Correll_Ready.pdf

58.

Santoro

D. A.

(2013). “I was becoming increasingly uneasy about the profession and what was being asked of me”: Preserving integrity in teaching. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(5), 563–587. https://doi.org/10.1111/curi.12027

59.

Santoro

D. A.

(2016). “We’re not going to do that because it’s not right”: Using pedagogical responsibility to reframe the doublespeak of fidelity. Educational Theory, 66(1–2), 263–277. https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12167

60.

Santoro

D. A.

(2017). Teachers’ expressions of craft conscience: Upholding the integrity of a profession. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 23(6), 750–761. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2016.1228627

61.

Santoro

D. A.

Cain

(Eds.). (2018). Principled resistance: How teachers resolve ethical dilemmas. Harvard Education Press.

62.

Santoro

D. A.

Morehouse

(2011). Teaching’s conscientious objectors: Principled leavers of high-poverty schools. Teachers College Record, 113(12), 2670–2704. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811111301208

63.

Scales

R. Q.

Wolsey

T. D.

Young

Smetana

Grisham

D. L.

Lenski

Dobler

Yoder

K. K.

Chambers

S. A.

(2017). Mediating factors in literacy instruction: How novice elementary teachers navigate new teaching contexts. Reading Psychology, 38(6), 604–651. https://doi.org/10.1080/02702711.2017.1323056

64.

Schniedewind

Sapon-Shevin

(2012). Educational courage: Resisting the ambush of public education. Beacon Press.

65.

Shanton

K. D.

Valenzuela

T. C.

(2005). Not in the script: The missing discourses of parents, students, and teachers about Success for All. In Poynor

Wolfe

P. M.

(Eds.), Marketing fear in America’s public schools: The real war on literacy (pp. 111–132). Lawrence Erlbaum.

66.

Sikes

P. J.

Measor

Woods

(1985). Teacher careers: Crises and continuities. Falmer.

67.

Smagorinsky

Cook

L. S.

Moore

Jackson

A. Y.

Fry

P. G.

(2004). Tensions in learning to teach: Accommodation and the development of a teaching identity. Journal of Teacher Education, 55(1), 8–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487103260067

68.

Smagorinsky

Lakly

Johnson

T. S.

(2002). Acquiescence, accommodation, and resistance in learning to teach within a prescribed curriculum. English Education, 34(3), 187–213. https://doi.org/10.58680/ee20021609

69.

Smith

(2013). The moral oppression of the teaching profession: Learning to transcend [Master’s thesis, University of Central Florida]. STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2002-2019. http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0004940

70.

Stillman

(2009). Taking back the standards: Equity-minded teachers’ responses to accountability-related instructional constraints. The New Educator, 5(2), 135–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688X.2009.10399569

71.

Stillman

(2011). Teaching learning in an era of high-stakes accountability: Productive tension and critical professional practice. Teachers College Record, 113(1), 133–180. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811111300107

72.

Stillman

Anderson

(2011). To follow, reject, or flip the script: Managing instructional tension in an era of high-stakes accountability. Language Arts, 89(1), 22–37. https://doi.org/10.58680/la201117155

73.

Thompson

Pease-Alvarez

(2018). Working the system: Teacher resistance in a context of compliance. In Santoro

D. A.

Cain

(Eds.), Principled resistance: How teachers resolve ethical dilemmas (pp. 69–84). Harvard Education Press.

74.

Tierney

R. J.

Pearson

P. D.

(2024). Fact-checking the science of reading: Opening up the conversation. Vancouver-Berkeley. https://literacyresearchcommons.org

75.

Tracy

S. J.

(2013). Qualitative research methods: Collecting evidence, crafting analysis, communicating impact. Wiley-Blackwell.

76.

Vaughn

(2013). Examining teacher agency: Why did Les leave the building? The New Educator, 9(2), 119–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688X.2013.778763

77.

Vaughn

Parsons

S. A.

Gallagher

M. A.

(2022). Challenging scripted curriculum with adaptive teaching. Educational Researcher, 51(3), 186–196. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189x211065752

78.

Weeda

(2018). Teacher resistance: Personal or professional? In Santoro

D. A.

Cain

(Eds.), Principled resistance: How teachers resolve ethical dilemmas (pp. 139–153). Harvard Education Press.

79.

Yoon

(2013). Rewriting the curricular script: Teachers and children translating writing practices in a kindergarten classroom. Research in the Teaching of English, 48(2), 148–174. https://doi.org/10.58680/rte201324323

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.08 MB