Teacher Autonomy: A Multifaceted Approach for the New Millennium ...

In a distillation of the study’s data, the authors found that the importance of external accountability was not among the categories that teachers defined as most important to their teaching. The data indicated that the teachers “did not compromise their beliefs and change their usual practices due to pressures and conflicts” (p. 1299) associated with the high stakes test. This argument posed by Rex and Nelson is similar to that of Cohen and Spillane (1991). However, in discussing how schools respond to external guidance, especially in terms of curriculum and pedagogy, Cohen and Spillane stated that “the din of diverse, often inconsistent, and generally weak guidance lends considerable latitude to those [teachers, administrators, etc.] who work in it” (p. 22). Although this response (by teachers) is reflected in the data described by Rex and Nelson, Cohen and Spillane indicated that teachers’ reasons for responding to guidance were more understated and perhaps subconscious than Rex and Nelson indicated.

Reflecting on these articles, one can conclude that autonomy gives teachers the freedom to prioritize curriculum requirements according to their own beliefs about their students’ abilities and needs. Primarily, Rex and Nelson (2004) cited teachers’ sense of responsibility toward their students as the principal motivating force driving what they decided to focus on in the classroom. The study showed that a teacher’s primary concern was tied closely to his or her feelings about what would happen to students after they left school. Because of this concern, the teachers focused on developing in their students the skills they perceived would be most helpful to their future success.

Teachers granted test preparation a secondary role. Even though they respected administrative pleas regarding test preparation, teachers still made a conscious decision not to make test preparation a primary focus. Some of the teachers studied even went so far as to criticize publicly the role that test preparation played in their curriculum.