What Counts as a Professional Teacher in Chinese Schools? The Reconstruction of Teachers’ Professional Identity

• In Event: Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: Eastern Asian Perspectives on Teacher Education Policy and Practice

Abstract

An integrated science subject was introduced to replace the traditional subjects as physics, chemistry, biology and geography with the key ideology of progressive education in China from 2001. The study aims to investigate how teachers implemented the subject through the lens of teacher professional identity. Ethnographic method is adopted and data are mainly gathered from the teachers from an experimental district in China. The study found that teachers usually struggle and feel powerless in reconstructing their identity as the reform put them in a dilemma of two contrasting education ideology. In this paper, it is argued that teachers need to be supported and respected to empower them in the process of reconstructing identity.

Author

• Shuang Zhang