The power of one? Conditions which challenge managerial professional development practices

This paper draws upon Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field to better understand and appreciate the conditions which encouraged the productive professional development (PD) practices of one very capable teacher working in a secondary school in the British Midlands. Rather than celebrating this teacher's practices and perspective as evidence of the capacity of the heroic individual to overcome sometimes adverse circumstances, this paper reveals how the experiences of this teacher can be understood as an instance of the socially situated self, engaged by and engaging in an alternative politics to that associated with more managerial conceptions of teacher learning. This research calls for a cautious approach to those renderings of educational practice which construe the creative potential of the habitus, without sufficient regard for the actual conditions which contribute towards this creativity. In this way, this paper is presented not as an example of how one teacher overcame significant barriers to substantive learning practices – as a morality tale for other, individual educators to emulate – but as a provocation to suggest how some teachers' access to professional/community resources helps them sustain a clear focus on substantive learning.     

The lost promise of teacher professional development in England

This paper explores three influences on the effectiveness of teacher professional development for improving schools – the individual teacher, the learning activities in which teachers participate and the structures and supports provided by schools for teacher learning. It does so by relying on survey data collected for a national study of teacher professional development in England. The analysis indicates that while the professional development of teachers in England is generally ineffectual and lacks school level systems and supports, the professional development and supports for professional learning by teachers in high performing schools display many of the characteristics associated with effective professional learning. Given the results showing a link between school factors and professional learning and the lack of influence of individual teacher factors, the paper concludes that the previously reported importance of school capacity in influencing learning and improvement is supported by the findings.     

‘That's not treating you as a professional’: teachers constructing complex professional identities through talk

Public debates about the role of teachers and teacher performance place teachers at the center of a range of national and local discourses. The notion of teacher professional identity, therefore, framed in a variety of ways, engages people across social contexts, whether as educators, parents, students, taxpayers, voters or consumers of news and popular media. These highly contested discourses about teachers' roles and responsibilities constitute an important context for research on teachers and teaching, as researchers and educators ask how changes to the teaching profession affect teacher professional identity. This article investigates the identity talk of three mid‐career teachers in an urban, public school in the USA, to better understand how the teachers used language to accomplish complex professional identities. Research approaches to teacher identity often focus on teacher narrative as a key tool in identity formation. The analysis presented here extends our understanding of language as a resource in teacher identity construction by using discourse analysis to investigate how speakers use implicit meaning to accomplish the role identity of teacher. The analytical lens draws on an interdisciplinary framework that combines a sociological approach to teacher as a role identity with an investigation of language as a cultural practice, grounded in the ethnography of communication. The analysis focuses on how teachers use specific discourse strategies – reported speech, mimicked speech, pronoun shifts, oppositional portraits, and juxtaposition of explicit claims – to construct implicit identity claims that, while they are not stated directly, are central to accomplishing teacher as a role identity. The analysis presented here focuses on the particular implicit role claim of teacher as collaborator. Findings show that, in their identity talk, the teachers strategically positioned themselves in relation to others and to institutional practices, actively negotiating competing discourses about teacher identity by engaging in a counter discourse emphasizing teachers' professional role as knowledge producers rather than information deliverers, collaborative, rather than isolated, and as agents of change engaged in critical analysis to plan action. Awareness of how these counter discourses operate in the teachers' conversation helps us better understand the cultural significance of identity talk as a site for the negotiation of the significances for the role identity of teacher. In addition, the notions of role identity and implicit identity claims offer an accessible way to talk about the complexity of teacher identity, which can be helpful for increasing awareness of the importance of teacher identity in teacher education and professional development, and in bringing teachers' voices more prominently into the debates over education.     

构建教师专业发展动力机制打造卓越教师团队

在教育实践中,由于教师期望与价值追求不高、教师专业发展阶梯不完善等原因,影响了教师专业发展的动力。针对教师专业发展动力机制中存在的问题与不足,在多年的实践探索中,从建设个性校园文化、建立不同阶段教师个人发展阶梯、建立保障性管理制度、坚持师生教学相长、增加海外培训机会、推动教师专业交流等方面,不断激发教师专业发展的内在动力,帮助教师实现专业的持续发展,并就如何建立教师持续专业发展动力机制进行了一些思考。     

Early Childhood Teachers' Curriculum Beliefs: Are They Consistent With Observed Classroom Practices?

Research Findings: This study examined the consistency between early childhood teachers' self-reported curriculum beliefs and observations of their actual interactive behaviors with children in classrooms. Also tested was the hypothesized moderation by teacher and classroom characteristics of the association between beliefs and practices. A total of 58 preschool teachers completed a survey describing their professional backgrounds and curriculum beliefs. Their classroom practices were observed using a newly developed instrument that documented teacher interactions with children. Most teachers in this sample strongly endorsed child-initiated learning beliefs, although their beliefs about teacher-directed learning varied considerably. The most frequently observed teacher behaviors in the classroom were giving directions to children, responding to children's initiations, and engaging in non-interactive classroom management activities. Overall, teachers' curriculum beliefs and observed classroom practices were weakly correlated. However, there were moderation effects. Stronger congruence between teacher-directed learning beliefs and observed teaching behaviors was found among teachers who had more professional training and more years of teaching experience. Practice or Policy: These results support the importance of early childhood teacher professional development. They suggest that teacher preparation and professional development programs should focus on the intellectual transformation between teacher knowledge and teacher practice, promoting both aspects of development.     

美国教师教育改革新趋势对中国的启示

美国奥巴马政府执政以来,增加联邦教育经费,招募教师和吸引人才,进一步提高学生学业标准并奖励优秀教师,出台了一系列对美国的教师教育发展产生深刻影响的教育革新计划。美国大学在通识教育、培养模式、教学实习、教师资格等方面的改革举措有:在教师教育课程方面,更加注重多学科知识基础;在培养模式上更加多元化;延长教育实习期,完善实习专业标准;严格教师资格认定标准,建立考试体系。美国教师教育改革的经验和创新措施,对我国的启示主要有以下四点:建立和完善国家教师教育课程标准,强化教师综合素质提升;完善教育实习顶层制度设计,建立国家级教师教育实习基地;健全和完善国家评定标准,把好教师准入关;完善多层级的专业发展模式,建立教师资格证书进阶制。     

中等职业教育卓越教师专业特征的分析——以上海市首批中等专业学校正高级教师群体为例

专业化与卓越化是教师专业发展的共同趋势。在职业教育改革的大背景下,深刻理解卓越教师的角色内涵和专业特征是推进职业教育卓越教师培养和评价的应有之义。以上海市首批中等专业学校正高级教师为样本,采用扎根理论的研究方法开展研究,依据对个别访谈文本资料的整理和编码,构建中职卓越教师专业特征框架。从专业特征来看,首先,中职卓越教师具有充沛的专业发展内驱力,不断追求卓越;其次,积极投身并引领职业教育改革,成为"双师型"教师的典范;三是聚焦中职育人实践中的核心问题开展实践研究,形成了丰富的科研成果;四是服务教育、服务行业与服务社会相结合,凸显职业教育特色,具有较高的社会影响力。以此为依据,提出应构建"五位一体"的中职教育卓越教师角色框架,强化以教师自主和协同发展为核心的卓越教师培养体系,探索符合卓越教师专业发展特征的评价内容与导向。     

China's quest for world-class teachers: a rational model of national initiatives and institutional transformations

Teacher education has been undergoing significant transformations worldwide in recent decades, and China has made continuous efforts in its quest for world-class teachers. This paper aims at a comprehensive investigation of the complex policy process in China's national initiatives to nurture a world-class teaching force, with qualitative findings from a case study. It focuses on policy initiatives in China's unique sociocultural context, system transformations and developmental challenges from a rational prospective. Meanwhile, the challenges of institutional change and the limitations to change are examined within two frames – the contextually less amenable to change and the institutionally remediable. Policy implications for teacher education reform in the future are illustrated within these two frames. Lastly, this paper concludes that, along with its rising status, in terms of excellence in educational performance and students' academic achievement as shown in PISA 2009, China provides an alternative model for building a world-class teaching force and this may have multiple implications for the international community in an age of globalisation.     

Navigating individual and collective notions of teacher wellbeing as a complex phenomenon shaped by national context

In an era of globalisation (Spring 2008), wellbeing no longer can be explored within one’s own national borders, but necessitates cultivating shared international understandings to maintain healthy twenty-first-century classrooms. This literature review across Chinese and English international publications contends that understanding wellbeing entails more thoughtful global discussions examining wellness as a personal commodity and shared societal experience. This paper initiates explorations of teacher wellbeing as an individual and collective phenomenon that includes teacher autonomy, goal orientation, professional efficacy, personal health and positive collegial relationships, institutional recognition/support and professional development opportunities. This review suggests teachers in Western and Chinese contexts may benefit from unique forms of support to balance and reconcile individual and collective aspects of teacher wellbeing. Teachers across contexts must have professional opportunity and incentives for engaging in autonomous practice supported by professional collaboration and development.     

美国“临床实践型教师教育”的教育实习模式探析

教师是一个类似于医学、护理或临床心理学的临床实践专业。为达成培养高效教师的终极目标,美国"临床实践型教师教育"聚焦实践性教育学环节,对教育实习的目标与内容、实习基地学校和指导教师的资格认证均作出了明确规定。为确保教育实习的成效,"临床实践型教师教育"强调相关主体应建立起支持性合作伙伴关系,并尝试搭建全国性的信息网络平台,从而形成具有整体性、连贯性的教育实习体系,以培养高效教师,满足教育需求。     

A National Investigation of Teachers’ Environmental Literacy as a Reference for Promoting Environmental Education in Taiwan

Taiwan's government enacted the Environmental Education Act in June 2011. In the beginning of the implementation of the Act, a national assessment of schoolteachers’ environmental literacy was performed in order to establish the baseline for evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education policy. This large-scale assessment involved a large sample size of in-service teachers across schools at all levels and regions in Taiwan using the stratified random sampling method. Data showed that the teachers have satisfactory levels of environmental knowledge and attitudes, but presented low degrees of environmental action. Differing from previous research results, elementary teachers performed better than high school teachers on this assessment, which may be attributed to their teacher training experiences. Results from this study may provide implications for teacher professional development programs and school environmental education policy.     

师徒制对缓解高职院校高年资教师职业倦怠的影响机制研究

高年资教师是我国高职院校教师队伍的中流砥柱,然而“躺平（职业倦怠）”亦成为阻碍其进一步推动我国高等职业教育事业高质量发展的重要因素。本研究基于社会交换理论,以我国高职院校99对高年资教师与青年教师为对象,展开了为期5天的调查研究。结果发现：（1）师徒制存在“师—徒”间的双向增益机制;（2）师徒制能够通过知识重组路径抑制高年资教师职业倦怠的滋生,同时,指导成效是干预这一效果的重要边界条件。在此基础上,本研究通过组态分析提出了“专业资本导向型”与“心理资本导向型”两种基于师徒制的高年资教师职业倦怠应对方案,进而建议相关院校加大对师徒制的资源投入力度,赋予该制度一定的灵活性,以期从根源上解决高年资教师的职业倦怠问题。     

Teacher action research as Bildung: An application of Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics to teacher professional development

Teacher action research seeks to bring together action, reflection, theory, and practice; and it is acknowledged as a way to value and honour teachers’ practical knowledge. The purpose of this article is to conceptualize teacher action research as Bildung, applying Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics as a theoretical framework. Based on five teachers’ lived experiences of conducting action research in their classrooms, this study explores how teachers go through the process of the development of the self as a teacher, furthering themselves as professionals through action research. It aims at understanding the role of action research as Bildung, one’s inner process of formation and cultivation of self, to shed light on teacher professional development as a hermeneutical and ontological practice.     

教师文化何以关涉教师幸福

教师职业幸福基于教师文化职业价值体系,受到心理环境和伦理规范影响;它依存于教师文化所构成的静态与动态、多层与多样、互动与互变的情境之中;它是在教师文化行为系统中产生的,是在教师追求自我发展,在教学的求真、求善和求美过程中实现的。     

Individual and collective agencies in China's curriculum reform: A case of physics teachers

This study explores how physics teachers in a high school negotiate the relationships between individual and collective agencies in the context of the on-going curriculum reform in China. Drawing on Bandura's social cognitive theory, the study employs ethnographical methods including observation, interviewing, and the researcher's and teachers’ reflective journaling through the researcher's involvement with various school activities. The findings indicate that collective teacher agency creates a platform for individual teachers’ professional development, a conducive culture for teacher collaboration, and provides concrete examples that individual teachers can constantly refer to, reflect upon, and learn from for reform implementation. The results offer an understanding of the influences underlying physics teachers’ agency deployment as they engage with curriculum reform processes, especially the negotiation between individual and collective agencies. The findings justify a case for preparing physics teachers on how to deploy both individual and collective agencies in the face of the complicated social structures and ultimately shed light on the desired curriculum decentralization in the Chinese school system.     

Minban education: the planned elimination of the “people-managed” teachers in reforming China

Minban (“people-managed”) schooling was used as a very important instrument to deliver educational and political values in China in Mao's era. Originating in the Yan'an Period in the middle 1940s, minban education experienced radicalized and hyperpoliticized development during the Great Leap Forward in 1958 and the Cultural Revolution during 1966–1976. In the reform era since 1979, since China's national development policies required education to target educational quality and economic modernization, the Chinese government planned to eliminate minban schools and minban teachers by the year 2000. The elimination of minban schools was achieved easily through closing and merging schools. However, the minban-teacher elimination policies, including differentiating minban teachers' payroll, admitting a very small proportion of them into the public teacher force and dismissing the majority, have created a variety of problems in rural basic education expansion. The elimination of minban teachers has been a drawn out and painstaking process, which continues into the new millennium.     

教师专业发展取向的“花盆效应”及改革路向

教师专业发展取向的“花盆效应”指理智、反思及生态取向下教师专业发展中外部成长空间与自身发展的局限性等问题,这会导致教师个体生态、群体生态以及生态系统的失衡。由此提出:在教师专业成长的起始阶段,应坚持理智取向下教学理论与教育实践的协同;在专业发展的成长阶段,应坚持实践取向下教学反思与教师协作共同引领;在专业成长的成熟阶段,应由生态平衡与专业创新共同守护。     

Professional primary school teacher identity development: a pursuit in line with an unexpressed image

The results presented in this article are taken from a case study of novice primary school mathematics teachers’ professional identity development from the perspective of the teachers themselves. The empirical material was collected through self-recordings, observations and interviews. The results show how the professional identity development of these novice teachers becomes a pursuit in line with their image of a primary school teacher. To develop a sense of themselves as primary school teachers they need to establish their own criteria - individual (including graduation and personal knowledge) and social (the ability to work in one school, have colleagues and have a class of their own for which they do the planning and teaching). These criteria are shown to be both a precondition for and a part of professional identity development. The novice teachers’ image of what it means to be a primary school teacher directs their actions and becomes the goal of their professional identity development. Because of its high impact, student and novice teachers’ image of primary school teachers ought to be made visible in both teacher education and teacher induction.     

Investigating relationships between school context,teacher professional development,teaching practices,and student achievement in response to a nationwide science reform

Situated in the context of the Advanced Placement curriculum reform in the sciences, this quantitative study validates selected elements of Desimone's (2009) conceptual framework on teacher professional development. Using national data sets with data from 133 336 students and 7434 teachers, multi-level structural equation models indicate that professional development participation and contextual school- and teacher-level factors influence teachers' classroom practices. In turn, aspects of instructional enactments characteristics are significantly, but very weakly, associated with student performance. Thus, this study reinforces calls to provide teachers opportunities for high-quality professional development and suggests to advance research that identifies effective instructional practices.     

论香港师训会对香港教师专业发展的影响

我国香港地区师训与师资咨询委员会是香港教师教育领域最重要的咨询机构,对香港教师专业发展产生了重大影响,是香港教师专业发展的规划者和推动者,以及政府、学校、教师三主体之间的协调者。在分析师训会的相关重要文件报告基础上,详细论述师训会对香港教师专业发展的影响,以期对内地架构和发展教师专业发展咨询体系提供借鉴。