Pre-Service Teacher Education and Induction in Southwest China

A Narrative Inquiry through Cross-Cultural Teacher Development

Ju Huang

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9783319964782
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Curricula

This book is a narrative inquiry that focuses on four participating Chinese teacher candidates' cross-cultural learning in Canada and stories of induction in Southwest China. Through the lens of "three-dimensional inquiry space" and "reciprocal learning in teacher education, " the author explores the influence of cross-cultural experiences on the dissonance of pedagogies, teacher-student relationships, socialization, and beliefs about teaching and learning that interweave global and national curriculum boundaries. The chapters provide insight into how Chinese beginning teachers struggle to voice and to socialize among a cacophony of past practices, lived experiences, and cross-cultural experiences.

© The Author(s) 2018

Ju HuangPre-Service Teacher Education and Induction in Southwest ChinaIntercultural Reciprocal Learning in Chinese and Western Educationhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96478-2_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Ju Huang¹

(1)

Southwest University, Beibei district, Chong Qing, China

Ju Huang

“Travel ten thousand miles, and read ten thousand books.”

—An old Chinese saying (This traditional saying dates back 2500 years, when the Chinese thinker Confucius (551 BC to 479 BC) traveled with his students to seven kingdoms away from home and participated in scholarly and political activities there (China Culture Org, 2004)).

End Abstract

Context of the Pre-Service Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program

My study is contextualized in my five-year participation in Dr. Shijing Xu’s (2011a) ongoing Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program, which is now part of Xu and Connelly’s 2013–2020 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant Project. This project integrates two existing programs: Xu’s (2011a) Pre-Service Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program and Xu and Connelly’s (2009) Sister School Network. The purposes of Xu and Connelly’s (2013b) project are to “build educational knowledge and understanding from a cross-cultural perspective and to support new approaches … to teaching and learning in schools and teacher education programs in response to change brought on by heightened global awareness” (para. 1).

Xu first initiated the Pre-Service Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program with Dr. Ling Li in 2008 and it has fully developed with the involvement of Dr. Shijian Chen at Southwest University (SWU) in China since 2009 (Xu, Chen, & Huang, 2015). Since June 2010, the program has grown into a strong partnership between the University of Windsor (UW) and SWU with more new collaborative initiatives, and with the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) as a key partner. It was funded by the UW Strategic Priority Fund and SWU teacher education fund (Xu, 2011a). In 2013, Dr. Xu collaborated with Dr. Michael Connelly at the University of Toronto and succeeded in their application for a seven-year research project funded by the SSHRC Partnership Grant (Xu & Connelly, 2013a). According to Xu’s (2011c) program introduction,

The Teacher Education Reciprocal Learning Program consists of two parts each year: in the fall semester teacher candidates from Southwest University come to the Faculty of Education at the University of Windsor to take pre-service classes, observe in local schools, and participate in cultural events. In the spring semester, University of Windsor teacher candidates visit SWU to attend classes, workshops and lectures at Southwest University, observe in local Chinese schools and participate in cultural activities and fieldtrips in China. The University of Windsor teacher candidates also do workshops at Southwest University to introduce Canadian culture, Canadian teacher education and Canadian school education to Southwest University students (para. 1).

The program has intended to follow both Chinese and Canadian pre-service teacher candidates to provide ongoing intellectual and professional support. Dr. Xu and other faculty members visit SWU with the cohort of UW teacher candidates for one to three months. Chinese teacher candidates who have been to Canada and who are going to Canada are invited to participate in the hosting activities. As Dr. Xu had planned, the new cohort of SWU teacher candidates improve their communicative skills in English, develop rapport with the UW teacher candidates at SWU, and enhance their understanding of teaching through these activities. Based on Xu’s idea of “mutual and reciprocal learning between the East and the West” (Howe & Xu, 2013, p. 39), my study, which is a part of this long-term research program, focuses on the cross-cultural learning and induction experiences of four Chinese beginning teachers who participated in the program in 2010 or 2011. I present the inquiries through the lens of cross-cultural dialogue and reciprocal learning (Xu, 2014) in order to determine the influence of cross-cultural experiences that interweave global and national curriculum boundaries.

Purpose of the Book

My study attempts to explore the experience of Chinese beginning teachers who participated in the UW and SWU Reciprocal Learning Program in 2010 and 2011 by exploring the influence of their cross-cultural experience on their early teaching practice in Southwest China. I studied the lives of four Chinese beginning teachers inside and outside of the classroom with the primary goal of gaining insight into their cross-cultural learning experience in Canada and analyzing their stories of learning to teach within the Chinese cultures and school cultures in Southwest China. Particular attention is paid to the influence of cross-cultural experiences on teachers’ teaching methods, teacher-student relationships, and thoughts and beliefs about teaching and learning.

Following the narrative research tradition of Connelly and Clandinin (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Connelly & Clandinin, 1988), this study is also guided by Xu and Connelly’s framework of school-based narrative inquiry (Xu & Connelly, 2010). This narrative inquiry involves intensive “telling, retelling, and reliving” (Whelan, Huber, Rose, Davis, & Clandinin, 2001, p. 144) of the stories of my participants: Shan, Siyuan, Hailiang, and Weiguo, who went to Canada as students and returned to China as student teachers and took positions as beginning teachers in China.

This study is further influenced by the literature on teacher induction (Feiman-Nemser, 2001, 2010), the notion of reciprocal learning (Xu, 2006, 2017; Xu & Connelly, 2008, 2015), curriculum research that concentrates on the contextualized knowledge of global and local trends (Anderson-Levitt, 2008; Howe & Xu, 2013; Xu, 2011b), and the exploration of cross-cultural teacher education and teacher induction (Howe, 2005; Schlein, 2007). In addition, I consult the research on studying abroad in teacher education (Cushner, 2007a, 2007b) in shaping the investigative framework. Moreover, Conle’s (1996) notion of resonance serves to bridge my participants’ experiences and my work as a researcher and participant.

In conducting this study, my participants reflect on their cross-cultural experiences, benefit and develop them professionally by reflective practice as a form of teacher professional development (Connelly & Clandinin, 1988). My inquiry explores and analyzes teachers’ experiences of life and teaching as they move among multiple landscapes, rather than an examination of what cross-cultural competence they have improved, knowledge that teachers must obtain as a means of teaching in Chinese schools, or the way that knowledge of the Western model of teaching and learning ought to be integrated into Chinese schooling. It has the potential to contribute to teacher induction and to teacher education from a cross-cultural and global perspective. This study seeks to contribute to teachers’ professional development in the Chinese context and may help school administrators across cultures to adopt more appropriate methods to support beginning teachers.

My four-year participation in the program as a graduate assistant aids me in re-experiencing and identifying the issues related to Chinese and Canadian schools from the perspective of participating pre-service teacher candidates. Through the utilization of narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Co...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Teacher Education and Induction from a Cross-Cultural Perspective
• 3. Research Methodology: The Way of Narrative Inquiry
• 4. Never Lose the Initial Aspiration (不忘初心): Shan’s Narratives
• 5. Contemplating an Exit: Siyuan’s Narratives
• 6. Connecting Teaching to Daily Life: Hailiang’s Narratives
• 7. “Pursuit to Be an Excellent Teacher”: Weiguo’s Narrative
• 8. Discussion of the Cross-Cultural Experiences and Chinese Teachers’ Induction
• 9. Educational and Societal Implications of the Cross-Cultural and Induction Experiences
• 10. Conclusion
• Back Matter