Exploring High School Teachers' Responses to High School Credit Policies

The objective of this study was to examine the responses of high school teachers to the high school credit system. To this end, focus group interviews were conducted with nine teachers, divided into three groups: one comprising teachers from general high schools (public and private), and two comprising teachers from Meister high schools. The interviews revealed that teachers' responses could be classified into three categories: passive acceptance, making do, and active acceptance. The background or causal domain could be further subdivided into three subcategories: concerns about policies, contradictions and conflicts between policies, and drivers of implementation. Each theme is further subdivided into sub-themes, with the exception of passive and active acceptance (in the Idealised Responses category) and policy contradictions and conflicts (in the Background and Causes category). Based on the results of the analysis, the following implications were drawn: the complexity of policy responses at school sites, alignment based on educational will, and enhancing policy coherence by analysing the causes of responses.