From "Stories to Live By" to "Stories to Leave By": Chinese Beginning Teachers' Attrition Experiences

• In Event: Global Teacher Selves: Contexts and Conflict

Abstract

This narrative study conceptualizes teacher attrition as a process of ongoing and dynamic teacher-identity making, which attunes to both individual and contextual milieus. Following this rationale, this research uncovers two Chinese beginning teachers’ attrition experiences after two years of employment. Specifically, the beginning teachers experienced tensions in their “stories to live by” (Clandinin, et al., 2009). The “stories to leave by” (Clandinin et al., 2009) emerged when the teachers could no longer sustain their images of “best-loved self” (Craig, 2013) and teachers-as-curriculum makers (Craig & Ross, 2008). Simultaneously, other contributing factors include the imposition of the school administration and the rigid teacher evaluation policy. Implications for fostering teacher professional identity development, especially beginning teachers in China, are discussed.

Author

• Gang Zhu, East China Normal University