Managerial style, the National Curriculum and teachers' culture: responses to educational change in a primary school

This paper analyses the effects of educational change on the attitudes and practices of teachers in a primary school which had a change of headteacher at the time of the introduction of the National Curriculum reforms. The conditions and responses in the school, with a focus on the National Curriculum for science, are compared with the wider influences of the National Curriculum for science concluded from research on a sample of 15 other primary schools. The influences are analysed from a political, technological and cultural perspective and the key issues identified relate to teacher autonomy and collaborative practice which affect the curriculum and teachers' culture. It is concluded that the managerial style and ideology of the headteacher has a direct influence on the culture and educational practice in a school and this has parallels with the way in which the National Curriculum has been developed nationally.