Teacher s Experiences of Teaching in the Sixth Grade: A Phenomenological Study

Abstract: The sixth grade in elementary school has been established as a result of changing processes in the structure of educational system. The success failure, change and development in curriculum are affected by a variety of factors including teachers as one of the major factors. Therefore, the present study seeks to investigate the experience of sixth grade teachers in the first year of implementation. This study was conducted within a qualitative framework through phenomenology. The data was collected through semi organized interviews with 11 teachers. The sampling was purposeful and continued till saturation of data. In order to validate the findings and confirm the accuracy of the data, further reviews were performed and the data were compared. The data obtained were analyzed through the method suggested by Smith. Four main issue resulted include: 1. the teacher's theoretical and practical knowledge; 2. the teacher's concern; 3. the weakness of plan; 4. the attractiveness of changing in the new curriculum. The findings of this study indicated teacher's tendency for getting involved in the process of curriculum development and they pointed to the conflicts between the goals and methods provided by the program and those of teachers. They showed concerns about lack of time for the teaching the content and lack of consistency between student's previous and new experiences due to the absence of coherence. Inadequate training, accumulated content, imbalance between time and goals, quality and quantity of the resources, inadequate training equipments were some of the obstacles to implementing this program according to the teachers. In spite of these problems, the teachers believed that the changes in method and subjects have provided for students.