Cultural identity in teaching across borders: mainland Chinese pre-service teachers in Hong Kong

This study explores transformations in the cultural identities of a group of pre-service teachers from mainland China during their educational experiences in Hong Kong, and how these transformations subsequently impact their professional identity. Individual and focus group interviews were conducted with 16 cross-border pre-service teachers from a teacher education institution. Findings demonstrate that 1) the participants recast their extant ideologies and cultural beliefs in response to multiple influences in their new context, enabling them to move beyond pre-established teaching values to re-construct their teaching identity; and 2) some participants constructed a bicultural and multilingual identity to gain legitimacy in the host context. The findings indicate that a more supportive context that provides more room for cultural awareness should be co-constructed by local and non-local pre-service teachers, institutions and policy makers. The study extends understanding of the interconnected relations between teacher identity and historical and social discourses.     

The development of a mathematics teacher’s professional identity during her first year teaching

This study is focused on a period that poses several challenges for the development of mathematics teachers’ professional identities and agency: their first year of teaching in schools. During this period, beginning mathematics teachers confront tensions and contradictions among the principles, ideals, and experiences encountered during pre-service education and the demands, and restrictions of their teaching practice in schools. This article approaches this topic by developing an interpretative case study centered on one novice mathematics teacher, Sol. The aim is to describe and understand the development of Sol’s professional identity and agency during her first teaching year. Considering identity development as a diachronic phenomenon, we carry out a narrative analysis of the research data. The findings show that Sol developed her professional identity and agency through a process that gathered together the teaching practices possible inside her school, the positions she could negotiate as a newcomer inside the institution, and the cultural practices and discourses embodied during pre-service education. The results bring to the forefront the profound and tense interactions between the intimate and personal terrain of mathematics teachers and the social and cultural world of the schools where they work. Sol’s case also contributes to understanding the role that a robust pre-service education can play in the development of beginning teachers’ professional identities and in the possibility they could become agents of transformation in their schools.     

顶岗实习：合法的边缘性参与——泰山学院教师教育模式创新

基于对现代教师教育模式的反思与审查,教师教育逐步由个人认知取向的“知识中心论“转型为“身份”与“知识”并重的人类学的教师教育模式.其方式是将“顶岗实习”作为创新点,通过让大学生“合法的边缘性参与”中小学教学实践共同体来形成身份认同和专业知识.建构专业身份认同是教师教育的核心,建构与身份相适应的专业知识是教师教育的重要内涵.自2010年以来,泰山学院教师教育学院以顶岗实习为突破口,让师范生通过“合法的边缘性参与”中小学的教学实践,以此推动教师教育实践的转型,实现了教师教育模式创新.     

Towards critical multicultural teacher education in the midst of ethno-nationalism: Korean pre-service teachers’ international learning experiences

This study explored how Korean pre-service teachers with international learning experiences in the United States negotiated their understanding of multiculturalism/multicultural education. The findings demonstrated that the participants’ position of a racial/linguistic minority in a foreign country and their teaching experiences in a culturally diverse setting helped them understand the importance of multicultural education. Nevertheless, participants continued to regard multiculturalism as a celebration of diversity, without considering their own racial privilege and the historical/socio-political underpinnings regarding racism in both countries. This study discusses implications for international teacher education and professional development that support critical and reflective learning for future teachers.     

Beyond cultural competence: transforming teacher professional learning through Aboriginal community-controlled cultural immersion

ABSTRACT

This paper problematises the concept of cultural competence in teacher professional learning arguing instead for opportunities to develop critical reflexivity in the ongoing construction of a pedagogical cultural identity. In the Aboriginal context within Australia, this research study demonstrates how attaining cultural knowledge, understandings and skills is most effective when professional learning is delivered by local Aboriginal cultural knowledge holders. This research study analyses the New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Connecting to Country cultural immersion programme for local communities and schools. A mixed methods approach, analysing quantitative and qualitative data from questionnaires and interviews, highlights the significant impact this experience has on teachers in building relationships with local Aboriginal community members. Teachers reported learning new knowledge about local Aboriginal people, culture, history and issues that challenged their assumptions, personal and collective positioning and pedagogical approaches to teaching Aboriginal students. Implications from the study identify the significance of privileging Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing in order to realise culturally responsive schooling and empower teachers as critically reflective change agents in their schools. It further identifies the need for significant human and financial investment so that all teachers can engage with this authentic and potentially transformative professional learning experience.     

Conceptualising a pedagogical cultural identity through the narrative construction of early career Aboriginal teachers' professional identities

This paper explores the concept ‘pedagogical cultural identity’ as one that embeds cultural knowledge and lived experience into pedagogical practice. Four narratives were constructed from fifteen in-depth interviews with early career Aboriginal teachers who completed their Aboriginal Studies teaching degree at the University of Sydney. The study found that these teachers enacted their habitus, harnessed their social and cultural capital, and mobilised their relationship building skills in the construction of their professional identity. Significantly, contextual power relations influenced the enactment of a pedagogical cultural identity, challenging assumptions of a presumed identity claim by exploring its potential and limitations.     

An ethical analysis of how ESL teachers construct their professional identities through the use of information technology in teaching

While there is growing recognition of the mutually shaping relationship between teaching with information technology (IT) and teachers’ beliefs, skills and self-efficacy, there has been a paucity of research attention on the construction of teacher identity during actual IT-assisted in-class teaching and out-of-class networking with students, in a full institutional and social context. This study investigates how a group of secondary school English as a second language (ESL) teachers regulated their teaching and practices and constructed their identities in relation to governmental requirements for the use of IT in teaching. Teachers from seven government-subsidised schools in Hong Kong were interviewed about their experiences of using IT in teaching. We frame the reported practices of these teachers as a process of construction of identity, formed in the context of the ‘governmentality’ supporting current examination-oriented educational policy. Observing from the perspective of what has been termed ‘governmentality’ and an ethical framework for self-formation of personal identity makes it possible to see these teachers’ professional identities constructed through the use of IT practices within the contradictory conditions of professional/personal demands, compliance/resistance, school promotion/peer non-cooperation, advantage/disadvantage in use of IT, use of IT/content and pedagogical knowledge. This study has implications for developing a more supportive and rational environment for the use of IT in teaching, in which more autonomy and identity options—rather than constraints—can be provided for teachers in the digital era. This study also informs practitioners and policy makers in other educational settings experiencing a similar IT boom in teaching.     

Learning through participation. The potential of school-based teacher education for developing a professional identity

This article deals with the potential of school-based teacher education for creating a professional community of learners. Learning to participate in the social and cultural practices with regard to education is assumed to be crucial for developing a professional identity as a teacher. From the perspective of socio-cultural theory, we have made a retrospective analysis of a project for collaborative school-based teacher education. The main research question was whether there was a stimulating context for student teachers to develop their own professional identity. To what extent were students able to function as ‘legitimate peripheral participants’ in the school, and to what extent has a ‘professional community of learners’ been realized? Finally, we reflect on the conditions in which teacher education can be centred on a specific school innovation project.     

Reimagining the role of mentor teachers in professional experience: moving to I as fellow teacher educator

New accreditation requirements for Australian initial teacher education programs require that universities and schools establish quality partnerships to ensure strong links between pre-service teachers’ university-based learning and school-based professional learning experiences. This paper focuses on the shifts of identity, thinking and practice that occurred for five school-based mentor teachers as they co-created new professional experience practices alongside university-based teacher educators in a Teaching Academies of Professional Practice (TAPP) project. Interview data was analysed through the theoretical framework of Dialogical Self Theory to examine how the repositioning of mentor teachers as fellow teacher educators allowed for expansion in the understanding and enactment of their role. The findings of this study suggest that partnerships between schools and universities can enhance learning opportunities for all participants when commitments are made to creating collaborative and dialogical spaces to support new approaches to teacher education.     

Negotiating and reshaping Christian values and professional identities through action research: experiential learning and professional development among Christian religious education teachers

In European societies, major patterns of plurality have changed over recent decades due to modernization and globalization. In schools, these new patterns of plurality have consequences for learning processes and may be challenging for students and teachers. This article investigates these issues, taking as its point of departure the way they surfaced in the Norwegian subject-oriented research project ‘Teaching about Religious Diversity in Schools. Applying and Developing an Interpretive Cultural Approach to Religious Education’ (2007–2010). Nine teachers and two researchers worked together in a community of practice, adopting an action research mode of collaboration. Each participant carried out and documented individual development projects, mostly within their own student groups. Developments and results were discussed in regular community-of-practice workshops. The data analysed in this article were generated from these workshops and from interviews with participants. The main research question raised is how an action research project in the field of religious education can lead to professional development for the participants. More specifically, the question is how such development can be described with respect to the relationship between personal and professional aspects of teacher identity and practice. The introduction of core concepts from theories of religious education and action learning triggered a collective inquiry among the participants into their own professional knowledge. Gradually a common professional discourse developed within the community of practice, and the participants became aware of and started to investigate critically how personal values and beliefs played a role in their professional work.     

Professional identity among student teachers of physical education: the role of physicality

In this study, we investigate the role of physicality in the professional identities of physical education (PE) student teachers. Twenty PE student teachers participated in semi-structured interviews during their final teaching practice. Data were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis and typologies. The results showed substantial diversity in the student teachers’ conceptions of physicality and the ways these conceptions were embedded in their developing professional identities. The results also brought to light criticism directed at traditional notions of the body and physicality in PE and PE teacher education (PETE). We suggest that conceptions of the body and physicality represent a central element of PE teachers’ professional identity. The results also indicate a relationship between conceptions of physicality and pedagogies implemented in the future. Time and place for student teachers to discuss body-related matters should be provided in PETE.     

Chinese student teachers’ perspectives on becoming a teacher in the practicum: emotional and ethical dimensions of identity shaping

This research examines the emotional and ethical dimensions of identity shaping in student teachers’ teaching practicum. By interviewing seven Chinese student teachers who had just finished their student teaching practice, the research examines the participants’ emotional experiences and the ethical dilemmas they encountered in their practicum. Specifically, for the emotional aspect of professional identity formation, the student teachers experienced eagerness and anxiety at the beginning of the teaching practicum, shock and embarrassment once teaching, and guilt and regret towards the end of the practicum. Alongside the influx of emotional experiences in the practicum, the researcher identified four paired ethical dilemmas that the participants were trapped within: (1) tensions between classroom authority and the ethic of caring; (2) acting as a community member or an ‘outsider’; (3) working as an office assistant or a ‘real teacher’; (4) conflicting pedagogies regarding teaching different tracks of students. Finally, implications for teacher education are briefly discussed.     

从知识传递者走向文化建设者:新时代乡村教师的角色审思

知识传递者的角色定位为我国乡村教师专业技能的提升、乡村学生的知识学习及乡村社会的进步与发展提供了保障。但这一角色定位也存有淡化乡村教师“乡土色彩”,对乡村学生既有文化身份及其教学价值体认不足,其作为乡村场域中的知识分子身份地位日渐式微等问题。乡村教师从“知识传递者”走向“文化建设者”,使其增强对乡土文化的感知理解及与学科知识的有机融合,培养乡村学生的文化主体意识和文化认同感,发挥作为乡村知识精英在乡村文化建设中的引领作用,是实现乡村文化振兴的现实需要。     

新时代中小学教学名师的培养策略

中小学教学名师培养是提升教师队伍专业化水平的重要举措,在教育均衡化发展过程中起着关键作用。中小学教学名师具有高尚的师德,对教学规律具有科学系统的认识,发挥示范引领作用,其专业成长既需要外力助推,也需要内省式自我发展。然而,当前中小学教学名师培养依然存在发展目标功利性较强、理论与教学实践脱节、教师专业发展自主意识较弱、系统化的专业引领欠缺以及反思教学与行为转化意识欠佳等问题。原因在于名师的专业成长受社会历史文化、教师自我理解与身份认同、实践共同体的共建共享等多重因素共同制约。因此,新时代中小学教学名师培养需设定"以师为本"的培训设定、构建"需求为基"的培训内容、创新"多元参与"的培训方式、实施"行为导向"的培训评估。未来的中小学名师培养要实现四个转变,即培养目标由"外促"到"内生"、培养方式由"共性"到"个性"、培养内容由"反思"到"建构"、培养价值由"个体优秀"到"群体共生",进而促进中小学师资整体水平的提升。     

The professional role and identity of teachers in the private and state education sectors

Abstract

This paper compares the professional role and identity of teachers in private and state schools. It brings together theory within the sociology of the professions and approaches influenced by Basil Bernstein. It utilises his work on recontextualisation to identify the nature of teachers’ professional role; and Beck and Young’s (2010) Bernstein-influenced analytical framework to understand changes in these teachers’ professional identity. Drawing on focussed qualitative research the study shows how, within private schools, when cloistered from the Official Recontextualising Field (ORF) an idealized account of teachers’ professional work flourishes. This idealized understanding of occupational professionalism is contingent on the ‘othering’ of the state sector: to do this private-school teachers adopt a deprofessionalization discourse which represents the state teacher as a passive receiver of the ORF. In contrast, state teachers foreground their agency to negotiate competing professional logics which they express through hybrid approaches to professional practice.     

Within and beyond a grow-your-own-teacher program: Documenting the contextualized preparation and professional development experiences of critically conscious Latina teachers

ABSTRACT

This study provides an account of seven Latina teachers’ select educational, professional, and personal experiences over the past 10 years as they completed a grow-your-own-teacher program, became licensed teachers, and established themselves in Latinx minority–majority public schools within their rural, mid-western community. More specifically, as a Latina researcher and participant observer, I sought to better understand the culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) Latina teachers’ process-oriented engagement and conscientization over time. Far from being ‘ready-made’ conscientized teachers, in this work I discuss the ways CLD Latina teachers’ multiple and developing identities as bilingual learners, mothers, racialized minorities in schools, and educated professionals serve as both burdens and gifts in their engagement and processes of conscientization for teaching CLD students. Through the use of critical literatures, and life and professional story methodologies informed by Chicana feminist epistemologies, I sought to privilege Latina teachers’ narratives as well as uncover the mechanisms and experiences that proved most impactful for their development and sustainment within white normative educational spaces. Findings illustrate an emergence of racialized, identitarian resources among Latinas and implicate a nuanced, culturally contextualized, pedagogical approach to pre-/in-service CLD teacher professional development that engages participants in reflective storying, critical inquiry, and restorative community building.     

“It’s like starting all over again”. The struggles of second-career teachers to construct professional identities in Hong Kong schools

Educational-policy makers worldwide are concerned with finding effective strategies to recruit and retain high-quality teachers. The recruitment of second-career teachers has been seen as one means of fulfilling this aim. Against a background of calls to better understand SCTs, this article reports the results of a qualitative study investigating the experiences of six second-career teachers in Hong Kong. Based on a theoretical framework of teacher-identity construction, discourse analysis was used to explore the participants’ perceptions of their professional development. In-depth interviews were conducted to gain detailed insights into how the teachers construct their identities-in-practice and identities-in-discourse within Hong Kong schools. The findings expose tensions between attempts the positioning of SCTs within dominant discourses as ‘traditional’ and ‘conventional’ teachers, for example, and the participants’ self-positioning in practice as ‘innovative’ and ‘risk-taking’ teachers. Ways in SCT agency, and hence identity construction, can be facilitated through the introduction of the innovative pedagogical practices which many SCTs seek to pursue in Hong Kong schools are considered.     

Becoming an urban science teacher: How beginning teachers negotiate contradictory school contexts

Teacher attrition rates are high in urban schools, particularly for new science teachers. Little research has addressed how science teachers can be prepared to effectively bridge the divide between preparation and urban teaching. We utilized the theoretical frameworks of social justice, identity, and structure-agency to investigate this transition. Specifically, we examined the Urban Science Teacher Preparation (USTP) program as a critical case of “well-prepared” urban science teachers. Study participants included one cohort of four teachers. Data, primarily from individual interviews, a focus group, and written reflections, were collected from participants during pre-service preparation and their first year of teaching. The USTP program nurtured the development of a professional identity aligned with teaching science for social justice, with a unique emphasis on identifying structural injustices in schools. Findings indicate all four teachers used their identities to negotiate school policies and procedures that restricted student opportunities to learn science through three processes: deconstructing the context, positioning themselves within and against the context, and enacting their identities. These findings suggest the importance of USTP programs to provide teacher candidates with political clarity for teaching for social justice and sustained induction support to resist school socialization pressures.     

教师情境学习:潜藏于教师教学实践中的学习力量

教师情境学习是教师在工作情境中的一种社会文化实践学习,是教师在教学实践参与过程中,与所处社会、文化环境持续互动,观察与学习他人教学行为,判断与解决实践问题,协调自身与环境关系,与同事、专家、材料等进行互动,不断改进教学实践,从而适应学校文化、建构专业身份并不断获得实践知识、提高专业能力的过程。教师情境学习具有情境性、实践性、身体性、社会性、文化性等特征。教师情境学习有助于促进教师协调自身与环境的关系,促进教师身份建构与教学效能感提高,并促进学校文化传递与组织整体能力提升。     

Examining professional learning and the preparation of professionally competent teachers in initial teacher education

The relative contributions of higher education and schools, and hence the conceptual and practical aspects of ITE, to student teachers’ professional learning have been an issue of concern in teacher education. This article reports a mixed-methods study showing the relationship between student teachers’ engagement with the practical and conceptual aspects of a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) Programme in Hong Kong and different facets of their perceived professional competence. One hundred and thirty-two student teachers participated in the quantitative survey of whom seven were interviewed. The findings reveal that experiences associated with learning the pragmatic facets of professional practice were more valued by student teachers compared to learning the conceptual aspects of ITE. Yet, in terms of relationship with professional competence, student teachers’ engagement with the practical aspects of ITE was related to competence in classroom teaching, whereas their engagement with the conceptual aspects contributed to their mastery of professional knowledge, competence in classroom teaching and competence in interacting with stakeholders. The study illuminates the distinctive contributions of schools and higher education in ITE. While acknowledging the important role of schools in providing a setting for practical work, this study affirms the distinctive contribution of higher education in equipping student teachers with practical and conceptual tools in the preparation of professionally competent teachers.