In-Service Science Teachers’ Understanding and Classroom Implementation of Inquiry-Based Teaching in Turkey: A Multi-Case Qualitative Study

This study examines how in-service middle school science teachers in Turkey conceptualize and implement inquiry-based teaching (IBT) within an examination-driven, centralized system. Employing a qualitative multi-case design, five teachers were purposively selected, and data were triangulated through semi-structured interviews and extended classroom observations. The findings indicate that while teachers value IBT for fostering questioning, evidence-based reasoning, and collaboration, their enactment is constrained by high-stakes examinations, rigid pacing guides, limited laboratory resources, and episodic professional development. Teachers reported adapting by blending inquiry with test-oriented routines, narrowing investigations, and relying on informal peer support to address material and time constraints. Cross-case synthesis reveals an implementation gap between policy rhetoric and everyday practice, sustained by misalignment across curriculum, assessment, and professional learning. The study provides a comprehensive, context-sensitive account of how teachers interpret and negotiate IBT under structural pressures, offering analytic insights that are transferable to similarly centralized systems. Closing this gap requires coherent assessment policies that reward investigative practices, sustained, job-embedded professional learning, and the equitable provision of laboratories, consumables, and manageable class sizes. By foregrounding teachers’ voices alongside observed practice, the study advances understanding of the practical conditions under which IBT can transition from aspiration to routine classroom reality across diverse regions and comparable systems worldwide.