Curriculum reform in the secondary school - the voices of experienced biology teachers

The Board of Studies NSW introduced major changes to the NSW Higher School Certificate Science subjects in 2000 with the introduction of five new Stage 6 senior sciencesyllabi. This paper details the perspective of two experienced high school biology teachers over a two and a half year period as they go about implementing the Stage 6 Biology syllabus. The research was conducted using semi-structured interviews which began with the release of the new syllabus six months before implementation and continued until the HSC examination results for the first cohort of students were known. The research contributes to the growing body of literature about the work of science teachers in classrooms, highlights what teachers see are constraints on their practice and the ongoing changes they make to their practice, along with their rational for that change.