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

ABSTRACT 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.