Learning to Teach Under Test-Based Accountability: A Comparative Study of American and Korean Novice Teachers

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Making Meaning of Justice and Equity: Inquiries Into Pedagogy and Practice

Abstract

Using phenomenological research design, in this study I examine how novice secondary teachers experience test-based accountability and carry out their learning to teach in two different national contexts—the United States and South Korea—where they are commonly substantially affected by test-based accountability. The teachers’ lived experience suggests that although they experienced considerable constraints in their instructional autonomy and creativity as mentioned in the previous research, they came to learn the significance of “affective labor,” a practice that involves care and relationship building with students, and strived to reconcile it with the testing mandates in their own working contexts.

Author

• Jina Ro, Sungkyunkwan University