Teachers' beliefs about curriculum design: Evidence of a superordinate curriculum meta-orientation construct

Using McNeil’s (1996) four curriculum orientations as an example, four scales were constructed to measure 915 teachers’ beliefs about the academic, social reconstructionist, humanistic, and technological curricula. A curriculum meta-orientation was conceptually defined as a second-order construct that subsumed McNeil’s four curriculum orientations. Confirmatory factor analysis of teacher data supported the hypothesized hierarchical structure, though the model fit was marginal. The meta-orientation satisfactory explained 97.9% of the covariances among the four curriculum orientations. In contrast to most past studies, all the correlations among the curriculum orientations were found to be considerable and positive. Directions for future research are suggested. Copyright © 2002 James Nicholas Publishers.