Are Integrated STEM Educational Reforms at Risk? Teachers' Motivations and Perceived Barriers to Integration

Datos Bibliográficos

ID10219331
AutoresRadu Bogdan Toma (0000-0003-4846-7323, Department of Specific Didactics Universidad de Burgos Burgos Spain, autor de correspondencia), Antonio García‐Carmona (0000-0001-5952-0340, Department of Didactics of Experimental and Social Sciences Universidad de Sevilla Seville Spain), Juan Quílez (0000-0001-5428-4617, GEDH—Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry Valencia Spain)
Año2025
Volumen62
Número10
Páginas2238-2254
Fecha de publicación2025-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaJournal of Research in Science Teaching (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-4308 • E-ISSN: 1098-2736
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/tea.70026
OpenAlexW4415543942
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas3
Referencias citadas84

Integrated STEM education (iSTEMe) is increasingly emphasized in educational reforms around the world. These reforms prompted curricular changes in many countries, including Spain. In the Autonomous Community of Valencia, a new curriculum model was introduced that organized both STEM and non‐STEM subjects into broader interdisciplinary domains, designed to be taught through an integrated approach. However, the success of such reforms largely depends on teachers, who are the primary agents of educational change. This underscores the importance of understanding their motivation and intention to implement iSTEMe. Drawing on the expectancy‐value‐cost model, this study examined secondary education teachers' motivations toward iSTEMe, with a particular focus on STEM teachers, who comprised 70.2% of the total sample ( N = 439). The research addressed four key questions: RQ1. What are secondary school teachers' expectancies for success, values, perceived costs, and intentions to implement iSTEMe?; RQ2. How do secondary school teachers' expectancies for success, values, perceived costs, and intentions to implement iSTEMe vary according to sociodemographic characteristics?; RQ3. To what extent are secondary school teachers' expectancies for success, values, and perceived costs related to their intentions to implement iSTEMe?; and RQ4. To what extent do sociodemographic characteristics mediate the relationship between teachers' expectancies for success, values, and costs and their intention to implement iSTEMe? Multivariate analysis and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling revealed that teachers generally feel unprepared to implement iSTEMe, perceive limited pedagogical value in it, and associate it with significant instructional and learning challenges. Consequently, their intention to adopt iSTEMe was low, and this was associated with the perceived lack of pedagogical value. These findings raise concerns about the feasibility of iSTEMe reforms, which may struggle to succeed without stronger support and greater teacher engagement

Curriculum · Focus group · Multivariate analysis · Sample (material) · Secondary education · Self-efficacy · Structural equation modeling · Value (mathematics) · Diverse Educational Innovations Studies · Educational Research and Pedagogy · Science Education and Pedagogy