Publisher's Synopsis
Educational change is highly complex and it is widely recognised that the teacher plays a pivotal role in the change process. Educational systems attempt to adapt to these changes by imposing curricular reforms, ingenuously expecting that curricular change will suffice to improve teaching. While structural and curricular changes in education are necessary, they may not be sufficient unless they take into account that the teacher is the key to qualitative improvement of education systems, and determines the success or failure of whatever curricular reform or innovation it is desired to implement. This book examines the implementation of an inquiry-oriented curriculum and focuses on teachers as they implement changes in their classroom practice. These classroom practices are described, as well as the ways in which teachers have been challenged and supported in implementing by drawing on a broad range of data from teacher questionnaires, individual and focus group interviews. This book also presents a review of the role that serious games can play in affecting educational change. Serious games are digital tools whose purpose is to both entertain and educate. In addition, the authors of this book explore the relationships among leadership, organisational learning and teacher and student outcomes. A deeper level of critical thinking within educational systems is encouraged in order to arrest the potential for and to turn back the more harmful effects of globalisation.
