Discrepancy between Intention and Realization in an Implementation Research Perspective: When Researcher and Teachers Talk Past Each Other

What is it about?

Attempting to change the practice of teachers can be a complicated matter. In a study on students' beliefs about mathematics, the researcher repeatedly experienced that what the teachers did in the classroom was quite different from what they had agreed upon in the planning sessions. To seek an explanation, a case of the planning and enactment of one lesson is analyzed using theory connected specifically to implementation. Thereby, it becomes clear that a variety of factors may influence an implementation proces. In this case, particular the characteristics of the two involved teachers, the nature and design of the project, and the support offered to the teachers, seemed to play an important part in the process of turning intentions into reality. What is more, the combination of some of these factors may even have been the reason for the difference between the agreed plans and what was actually carried out.

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