Abstract:
In the 21st century, the need for countries around the world to circumnavigate through the
impact of globalization with more responsive school curricula was evident. In Algeria,
curriculum reform of the year 2003 was an effort towards this end. In view of the crucial role
that teachers play when involved in curriculum reforms, the study seeks to recommend a
model to curriculum development that seeks to involve teachers by combining top-down
government mandates with bottom-up teachers-based initiatives. More explicitly, the study
aims at exploring and identifying perceptions, views and concerns of secondary school
English language teachers’ on their implementation of Curriculum 2003 for English language
teaching. The study also aims at revealing barriers to their autonomy and involvement in
curriculum development in order to pave the way for a deeper understanding and planning
towards such an involvement. Ultimately, the definitive purpose of the investigation was to
illustrate how teacher action research can be encouraged in schools to allow for teachers’
initiatives to supply top-down attempts to develop curricula. The critical paradigm was the
conceptual framework guiding the present research with data availed through a questionnaire
survey for secondary school English language teachers at Sétif province and asynchronous
email interviews with five national education inspectors of secondary schools. Proportional
stratified random sampling provided the 156 participants of the study. Quantitative data was
analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS 23.0 whereas the process of
analysis for qualitative data was built upon the techniques of thematic analysis. The findings
advocated the existence of imbalanced power relation between the government and teachers
with the former controlling and dictating curriculum from the centre as well as excluding
teachers from the whole process of curriculum development. Though the good intentions of
the curriculum 2003 are acknowledged, these were constrained by a multitude of curriculum,
instructional, organizational, and institutional factors. Several concerns to be considered for
teacher training and support also evolved from analysis of teachers’ perceptions of the
curriculum reform and implementation. The findings and recommendations of this research
are expected to alert both teachers and policy makers to consider seriously and acknowledge
the delicate role that teachers should play and the status quo they should have in curriculum
development. The findings of the study have also implications for policy makers, who can
either encourage or discourage curriculum reforms and therefore possibly affect the
sustainability of the teaching power and overall education effectiveness.
