The Relationship between a School Culture’s Openness to Creative Solutions and Inquiry‐based Teaching Practices

Abstract

AbstractWhile inquiry‐based pedagogy is expected to prepare students well for their future life and work in the modern world, research indicates that teachers still prefer the more traditional lecture‐based teaching practices. To explore better the issues underpinning the adoption of inquiry‐based teaching, this study hypothesized that inquiry‐based teaching involves creative problem‐solving behavior and therefore looked into an important but underexamined factor in teachers’ choosing to take up inquiry‐based teaching: their perception of their schools’ culture of openness to seeking creative solutions in the field of teaching and learning. Analysis of data from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey of junior high school teachers in Taiwan provided evidence of a relationship between teachers’ perception of a school culture open to creative solutions and teachers’ inquiry‐based teaching practices, with the teachers’ self‐efficacy in inquiry‐based teaching serving as a mediating factor. The findings suggest that inquiry‐based teaching is enhanced by cultivating a school environment characterized by openness to creative solutions.