Teaching without Preparation: PhD Graduates’ Adaptation to School Teaching Through the Interplay between Structure and Agency

• In Event: Centering Equity & Agency in Teacher Learning: Innovations & Tensions in Professional Development Across Contexts

Abstract

As the global expansion of higher education leads to an oversupply of PhD graduates, their transition into non-academic sectors has become a pressing international issue. In China, PhD graduates increasingly enter the teaching profession without preparation. Drawing on a narrative inquiry approach, the study examines the experiences of eight PhD graduates with limited teaching experience, analyzing how they exercise agency and adapt to teaching. Using Archer’s social realist framework, we identify three adaptation patterns: teaching-centered adaptation, where teachers focus on classroom practice; integrative adaptation, in which PhD graduates apply their research expertise to innovate teaching practices; and survival-oriented adaptation, where teachers adjust to structural constraints by developing coping strategies. We show that adaptation is shaped by differentiated structural configurations, including professional recognition, institutional support, resources, and collegial culture. We highlight how PhD graduates leverage their research competences to innovate teaching, but also challenge the assumption that all PhD graduates aim to apply their academic knowledge. Instead, their agency could focus on stabilizing teaching practices. By highlighting how structural conditions and personal aspirations shape diverse agential responses, this study offers critical insights into the structural and reflexive supports essential for the effective integration and professional development of PhD teachers.

Author

• Chujun Luo, Chinese University of Hong Kong