Teacher Mediated Agency in Educational Reform in China

Teacher Mediated Agency in Educational Reform in China PDF

Author: Hongzhi Yang

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-03-26

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 3319159259

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book examines teacher agency in implementing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum reform in the Chinese university context. It theorizes the concept of teacher agency from a sociocultural theory perspective and draws on a study conducted in a conservative and less developed area in China. The book uses Engeström's activity theory and Vygotsky's concept of the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) to understand the nature and extent of teacher agency in adapting one’s teaching with respect to beliefs, knowledge and instructional practices. The study concludes that curriculum reform in China needs to shift from reliance on 'top-down' policies to 'bottom-up' implementation that mobilizes local understandings and practices. One of the implications of this study is that transformative teacher education programs aimed at developing teacher pedagogical agency require that teachers have ongoing opportunities to design, develop and evaluate curriculum-based mediational means.

Education in China

Education in China PDF

Author: Xiaohuan Su

Publisher: 五洲传播出版社

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9787801139931

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The chapters in this book consider the past and present of education in China, elementary education, vocational education, higher education, adult education, education for ethnic minorities, modern distance education, teacher education and teachers, international exchanges and cooperation, the education funding system, and the study of education as a science.

Empowered Educators in China

Empowered Educators in China PDF

Author: Mistilina Sato

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-04-03

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 1119369657

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

BEST PRACTICES FROM CHINA'S HIGH-PERFORMING SCHOOL SYSTEM Empowered Educators in China is one volume in a series that explores how high-performing educational systems from around the world achieve strong results. The anchor book, Empowered Educators: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World, is written by Linda Darling-Hammond and colleagues, with contributions from the author of this volume. Empowered Educators in China describes the nation's policy reforms that built the modern Chinese educational system and the educational practices that are considered typical in China. The book spotlights Shanghai's system which is distinctive and superior. Shanghai offers a clear illustration of an educational system that continually invests in educating a diverse student population and, by measures of international comparison tests, is achieving outstanding results. Many factors contribute to the Shanghai system's ongoing success, including the students' motivation toward strong performance, the parental support for education that is culturally ingrained throughout the country, the focus that teachers place on high expectations for students, and the individual tutoring they provide. The author argues that these factors are only a partial explanation of Shanghai's success and then closely describes educational policies that support teachers' preparation, hiring, ongoing development, and opportunities for awards and leadership. These policies are based on the assumption that teachers are key to the nation's future and must be appropriately supported in order to contribute to student performance and achievement, an assumption that is also explicitly stated within Chinese law. This volume offers specific descriptions of how these national policies are translated, adapted, and enacted in Shanghai.

Education Reform in China

Education Reform in China PDF

Author: Janette Ryan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-03

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 1136719180

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Over the past decade there has been radical reform at all levels of China’s education system as it attempts to meet changing economic and social needs and aspirations. Changes have been made to pedagogy and teacher professional learning and also to the curriculum - both at the basic education level, from kindergarten to year 12, and at the higher education level. This book focuses on reform at the early childhood, primary and secondary levels, and is the companion book to China’s Higher Education Reform and Internationalisation, which covers reform at the higher education level. Education Reform in China outlines the systematic transformation that has occurred of school curriculum goals, structure and content, teaching and learning approaches, and assessment and administrative structures, including the increasing devolvement of control from the centre to provincial, district and school levels. As well as illustrating the changes that are occurring within classrooms, it demonstrates the continuity of cultural and educational ideas and values in the midst of these changes, showing that reform does not just involve the adoption of foreign ideas, but builds on and even resurrects traditional Chinese educational values. Importantly, it considers how exchanges of people and ideas can contribute to new ways of working between Western and Chinese educational systems.

From Teach For America to Teach For China

From Teach For America to Teach For China PDF

Author: Sara Lam

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-11-13

Total Pages: 229

ISBN-13: 0429833652

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book examines the role of Teach For China in addressing educational equity and expanding public participation in education. The author uses the case of Teach For China to explore the broader theme of the mobility of education models between contexts characterized by neoliberalism and those characterized by strong state control. Transnational advocacy networks are increasingly influential in the education policy making process. These networks, comprised of entrepreneurs and education corporations, think tanks, philanthropists, and government agencies, facilitate the global mobility of policy models. It is widely accepted that an education model should not be transplanted from one context to another without careful consideration of how contextual differences might impact the model’s effectiveness. The book explores the argument that the same model is not only quantitatively different in terms of effectiveness, but that models can play qualitatively different roles in neoliberal and strong-state contexts, sometimes moving education reform in opposite directions. The book will appeal to anyone interested in global teacher education reform and equity in education.

Language Teacher Agency

Language Teacher Agency PDF

Author: Jian Tao

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-11-18

Total Pages: 115

ISBN-13: 1108912575

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This Element aims to elucidate the concept of language teacher agency by exploring the 'what' question, offering major conceptualisations of agency and explaining how they shape the way we approach teacher agency. The authors then continue with the 'why' question, and elaborate on the reasons that language teacher agency matters, based on a discussion of the varied purposes of teacher agency at multiple levels. They also acknowledge that teacher agency does not operate alone, and discuss how it intersects with such concepts as teacher identity, emotion, belief and knowledge. Based on this, they identify ways to promote teacher agency through making changes to contexts and/or actors. They then introduce the concept of collective agency and propose a multi-layered model based on an illustrative study. The Element ends with a call for a trans-perspective on understanding language teacher agency so as to facilitate the professional development of language teachers.

Education Policy in Chinese High Schools

Education Policy in Chinese High Schools PDF

Author: Jian Li

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-05-24

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 9811623589

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book investigates the education policy in Chinese high schools from both concept and practice perspectives. It offers a specific lens to explore Chinese high school education since the reform and opening up, the teacher policy in Chinese high schools, the curriculum and textbook policy in Chinese high school, the school layout policy of Chinese high school education, the enrollment policy of college entrance examination, and the diversified development of high school education in China. All those dimensions related to exploring the education policy in Chinese high schools offer an understanding of the modernization of high school education in contemporary China since 1949. This book provides multiple perspective to investigate the systematic landscape of high school education, contextually.

Teacher Agency

Teacher Agency PDF

Author: Mark Priestley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2015-10-22

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1472525876

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Recent worldwide education policy has reinvented teachers as agents of change and professional developers of the school curriculum. Academic literature has analyzed changes in how teacher professionalism is conceived in policy and in practice but Teacher Agency provides a fresh perspective on this issue, drawing upon an ecological theory of agency. Using this model for understanding agency, Mark Priestley, Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson explore empirical findings from the 'Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change' project, funded by the UK-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Drawing together this research with the authors' international experiences and perspectives, Teacher Agency addresses theoretical and practical issues of international significance. The authors illustrate how teacher agency should be understood not only in terms of individual capacity of teachers, but also in respect of the cultures and structures of schooling.

Understanding the Impact of INSET on Teacher Change in China

Understanding the Impact of INSET on Teacher Change in China PDF

Author: Ming Li

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-18

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 9811333114

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This pivot considers the impact of INSET courses on EFL teachers practicing under the national curriculum reform in China. Providing context-specific findings on the policy and implementation of INSET as well as its impact on teacher education initiatives in both China and similar contexts, it explores the limitations of one off training events such as INSET and the inconsistency between teacher learning results and their classroom practices. The book argues that teachers, when returning to pre-INSET teaching, are influenced by their prior deeply-rooted beliefs largely considered more powerful than newly-learnt theories. Addressing the rarely discussed fact that the complex and dynamic characteristics of teacher learning change over time and support the construct of teacher learning as a social event rather than a one-off event, the book also offers practical solutions on how to improve teacher education and enhance the long-term INSET impact on teacher development, with the ambition of promoting education reform for both teachers and students alike.

The Work and Lives of Teachers in China

The Work and Lives of Teachers in China PDF

Author: Qing Gu

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-10-30

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 1317804058

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

By bringing together a distinguished group of scholars who have deep, extensive and complementary knowledge and expertise of the Chinese education system, The Work and Lives of Teachers in China engages in detailed discussions on contemporary issues about teachers and teaching in China. It locates teachers’ work and lives in a critical analysis of the political, socio-cultural, ideological and educational reform contexts, and through this, demonstrates how teachers in different professional life phases and in different schools are able to retain their vocational strength and commitment for learning and development. Using rich illustrations from real teachers in real primary and secondary schools, this book represents a collection of scholarly writings which build research and practice informed new knowledge about the nature of teachers’ work and lives in China. Through these comprehensive case studies, the book illustrates to policy makers, head teachers and training and development organisations the importance of sustaining teachers’ commitment and wellbeing in their efforts to improve quality and standards in today’s Chinese schools. The Work and Lives of Teachers in China provides valuable insight for policy makers, educators, researchers, teachers and students in education and beyond.