Much research has been done in organisations such as schools and private corporations on the subject of change (Berman & McLaughlin, 1975; Ní Shúilleabháin, Johnson, Prendergast, & Ní Ríordáin, 2016). This research reveals the common themes and threads that enable us to see patterns to the pitfalls of implementing educational change while giving us an understanding of what influences the introduction of successful educational change. Teachers are often regarded as playing a conservative role in educational change, resisting and opposing its introduction (Duke, 2004). Given the critical role that teachers play in the effective implementation of innovation, it is essential to understand why they frequently resist change and who they believe are the main influencers.

Currently, countries within the OECD ever increasingly reliant on cross-border trade, foreign investment, cooperation between governments and international market stability. These factors have created a fiscal race between countries where international benchmarking of educational standards has given rise to a competitive nature within curriculum reform. This coupled with, the rapid pace of the digital/technological revolution has generated uncertainty over the skills students will require in the future. The number of unskilled jobs is diminishing at an exponential rate, while the future workforce will require problem solvers for still unforeseen challenges. To achieve these aims modern curricula development internationally has reflected the need for students to become learners for the twenty-first century. This has resulted in a renaissance in curriculum development across the EU and other OECD countries. Such international change has given birth to a trend away from centrally controlled, content-based curricula towards school-based curricula developed within a central framework (Sinnema & Aitken, 2014). Not only is this trend a factor in the quantity of curricula change but, according to Priestly, Robinson, and Biesta (2012), it also places the teacher at the forefront of curriculum development. This, amongst other factors: curriculum content; how new curricula are implemented; the environmental context they are introduced into; and, personal factors, all affect how teachers view and experience change. For teachers to maintain a positive attitude towards curriculum change, such concerns must be addressed and the factors influencing them evaluated. In the midst of an international curriculum revolution, it is essential that we assess and continue to reassess the fundamental question of formal schooling: ‘What knowledge, skills and values are most worthwhile’ (Cuban, 1992. p. 221). Then not only should the direction of reform but also the rationale for change be conveyed to those implementing it. In the absence of this, teachers will have increased self and task concerns during and succeeding the implementation phase, the result of which can lead to complete infidelity. In turn, can either lead to the complete rejection or the implementation of a syllabus or curriculum that no longer resembles what was initially created by curriculum developers. This should not come as a surprise. Change theory tells us that when people see the benefits of the change and see that the risk of implementation is less than the rewards of implementation, then the change will be successful. However, if the rationale for implementation is misunderstood then the benefits of the change are more obscure and failure is more likely than success.  This paper will look at the concerns of three cohorts of Irish secondary teachers to curriculum change in their subject areas. Each of these reforms has been implemented at different time periods over the past ten years and the results may show a pattern of how teachers’ concerns change over time.  

Al-Shabatat, A. (2014). Gifted' Teachers Stages of Concerns for Integrating E-Learning in the Gifted Schools in Jordan. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 79-87. Berman, P., & McLaughlin, M. (1975). Federal Programs Supporting Educational Change: Vol. IV, The Findings in Review. Santa Monica: CA: RAND Corporation. Retrieved from http://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R1589z4.html Bradshaw, K. (2009). Teachers' Attitudes and Concerns towards Integrating Students with Special Needs in Regular Classrooms: A United Arab Emirates Perspective. Journal of the International Association of Special Education, 10(1), 49-55. Cuban, L. (1992). Curriculum Stability and Change. In P. Jackson, Handbook of Research on Curriculum (pp. 216-247). New York: Macmillan. Duke, D. (2004). The challenges of educational change. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Fuller, F. (1969). Change forces: Probing the depths of educational reform. London: Falmer Press. Hall, G. E., & Hord, S. M. (2006). Implementing Change, Patterns, Principles and Potholes. Pearson A and B. Hall, G., Wallace, R. J., & Dossett, W. A. (1973). A developmental conceptualization of the adoption process within educational institutions. Austin, TX: Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, The University of Texas at Austin (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 095 126). Hall, J., Chamblee, G., & Slough, S. (2013). An Examination of Interactive Whiteboard Perceptions using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model Stages of Concern and the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Model of Instructional Evolution. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 21(3), 301-320. Lochner, B., Conrad, R., & Graham, E. (2015). Secondary Teachers' Concerns in Adopting Learning Management Systems: A U.S. Perspective. TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning, 59(5), 62-70. NCCA. (2012a). A Framework for Junior Cycle. Dublin: Department of Education and Skills. Ní Shúilleabháin, A., Johnson, P., Prendergast, M., & Ní Ríordáin, M. (2016). Pre-service mathematics teachers' concerns and beliefs on implementing curricular reform. Science and Mathematics Education Conference, (pp. 61-67). St. Patrick's Campus, Dublin City University. Priestley, M., Robinson, S., & Biesta, G. J. (2012). Teacher agency, performativity and curriculum change: reinventing the teacher in the Scottish curriculum for excellence? In B. Jeffrey, & G. Troman, Performativity across UK education: Ethnographic cases of its effects, agency and reconstructions (pp. 87-108). Painswick: E&E Publishing. Sinnema, C., & Aitken, G. (2014). Emerging International Trends in Curriculum. In M. Priestley, & G. Biesta, Reinventing the Curriculum (pp. 187-207). London: Bloomsbury.