Stephen Chatelier, Assistant Professor, The Education University of Hong Kong
This study involved twenty-six International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme (DP) teachers from three different schools in China, Hong Kong, and Australia. The researcher used semi-structured interviews to highlight teachers’ perspectives regarding their experiences of integrating theory of knowledge (TOK) into their subject-based teaching. The aim of the study was to suggest key themes that emerged from the interviews, prioritising the views of teachers while using the researcher’s interpretation and analysis to point to some of the commonalities that exist among the disparate voices. Participants were overwhelmingly positive about TOK as a core component of the DP. They saw it as a useful mechanism for helping students to think scientifically, historically or mathematically, and as key to the development of critical thinking. However, it was also clear that teachers generally lacked confidence in integrating TOK into subject teaching and felt there was not enough time to do so.
