Learning to Become Student-Centered Teachers: The Paradox of a Test-Centered Education System

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Thinking and Teaching Differently: Teachers Confront Themselves

Abstract

Assuming that test-centered education system is a challenging context for beginning teachers’ professional learning, this study aims to understand its specific impact on their learning and the nature and characteristics of teacher learning in such context. Using phenomenological research design, four Korean beginning teachers’ lived experience was analyzed. The findings inform that a significant professional learning occurred regarding their identity formation. Specifically, every teacher established the identity of being a more caring teacher after observing and dealing with students who were stressed out from excessive study pressure. It suggests that more attention is needed regarding teachers’ identity formation in a test-centered education system and the ways to support putting it into practice.

Author

• Jina Ro, Sungkyunkwan University