Early Transition Challenges Faced by Chinese Transnational Teachers in U.S. Elementary Schools

• In Event: Global Teacher Selves: Contexts and Conflict

Abstract

As part of a larger study on Transnational Teachers in the United States, this paper focuses on early transition challenges faced by a group of teachers who came from China but taught in U.S. elementary schools. Nowadays, given the current and projected shortage of teachers in many states across the U.S., the recruitment of transnational teachers has become one of the innovative strategies to solve some teacher shortage problem. However, little attention has been paid to the issue of transnational teachers’ early transition and acclimation to new socio-cultural contexts. The findings from this study highlight a number of personal and professional challenges encountered by transnational teachers who came from another cultural-educational tradition.

Author

• Pei-Ying Wu, California State Univerisity - Fresno