Science Teacher Perceptions of the Barriers to Implementing Dialogic Teaching: A Qualitative Case Study

Abstract

Dialogic teaching (DT) has been shown to improve student performance and increase interest in science. Despite these reported advantages, DT is not widely adopted. This research aims to determine whether science teachers perceive there to be barriers to the implementation of DT and to determine the nature of these barriers. This case study was conducted with a cohort of science teachers in a United Kingdom secondary school. Inductive content analysis was used to interpret data from a questionnaire, interviews, and a focus group. Results show that science teachers do believe there are barriers to implementing DT. The most commonly reported perceived barrier was the confidence and anxiety of students. This has not been described previously and may be one of the many negative outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst science teachers believed that most barriers could be overcome, there were few suggestions on how to overcome the barrier of student confidence and anxiety. This study also found that whilst science teachers were positive about DT, their understanding of the term is not fully developed. This could lead to incorrect implementation. The findings indicate a need to provide high-quality training programs to improve understanding of DT and how to overcome the barriers identified.