It is difficult for curriculum reform to achieve sustainable success without support from teachers in the front line. The authors of this paper investigated teacher factors behind the successful implementation of a reformed instructional model, the Dao Jiang Ping (DJP) model, in China. This study is part of a longitudinal project (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015)(2016)(2017) that reported the level of DJP implementation and explored factors that influence teachers' implementation. This paper mainly focuses on the latter. Six teachers were examined to look for reasons behind their different levels of DJP implementation. The theory of planned behavior (TPB), which has been widely used to explain and predict people's behavior or intention to perform a behavior, is used as the theoretical framework for the study. Referring to the TPB framework, this study summarized factors into individual factors, perceived social factors and perceived contextual factors. Furthermore, the authors suggest extending the TPB framework by including teachers' understanding of the reform ideas to facilitate its application in order to explore factors in reform contexts. Lastly, this study discusses several important factors that help teachers to implement new teaching methodologies continually, thus promoting the sustainable implementation of reforms.Sustainability 2020, 12, 1 2 of 21 trend towards over emphasizing knowledge delivery and putting more emphasis on students' active participation to develop their abilities such as collecting and processing new information, gaining new knowledge independently, analyzing and solving problems, and communicating and cooperating with others" [10]. The newest version of the curriculum standard was published in 2011 [11], and the goal of mathematics education was extended from two basics (basic knowledge and skills) to four basics (basic knowledge, skills, mathematical thinking and activity experiences). The standard suggests various instructional approaches to improve students' learning, e.g., self-learning, collaborative learning and inquiry-based learning [11,12]. However, despite the appealing proposals in curriculum reform, research finds that little change is happening in classrooms [13,14]. He and Gao [15], for instance, analyzed 15 middle school mathematics lessons and pointed out that although teachers accepted the reformed model of learner-centered instruction, lecturing still occupied most of their class time. Li [16] found teacher-fronted instruction to be the dominant practice in classes under educational reform, with little interaction between teachers and students. Many Chinese educators call this situation "walk [ing] the old road with new shoes" [12,17].In recent years, while the implementation of national curriculum reform has moved from centralization to decentralization, with decreased control by the central government and more encouragement for developing local curricula by local educational authorities and communities, successful reform cases have been reported at the local level. The D...
It is difficult for teachers to achieve sustainable professional development without support from other teachers. Many researchers have stated that teachers regard informal interactions in daily practice as crucial to learning from one another. In this paper, we present a study in which we investigated informal interactions between Chinese middle school mathematics teachers. Three dimensions of their interactions were identified through an analysis of semi-structured interviews. The data revealed how teachers initiate informal interactions based on shared goals, how they meet expectations of the dual roles of teaching and educational research, and how they perceive the effects of informal interactions on their teaching practices. These results contribute to a better understanding of the process of informal interactions from individual teacher perspectives. In this paper, we also discuss further implications for enhancing sustainable professional teacher development with daily practices.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore what professional knowledge and competence (PKC) that knowledgeable others, namely, mathematics teaching research specialists (MTRS) in China, need to know, and how they may develop their PKC. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts mixed methods. A survey on PKC with 549 MTRS is utilized to examine MTRS’ perceived held and ideal PKC and perceived effective ways of developing their PKC. The responses to the open-ended questions on the survey were used to identify additional dimensions of PKC and ways of developing PKC. Multiple techniques of quantitative data analysis were employed to feature the characteristics of PKC and structure of the survey, and the relationship between background variables and perception of PKC. Collectively, this study paints a rich and comprehensive picture about Chinese knowledgeable others’ knowledge and competence, and its development. Findings The data analysis reveals that the participants appreciated the six-dimension model of MTRS’ PKC. They were confident with their PKC in general, but varied in different aspects. The factor analysis showed the six-dimension model could be further clustered into two components: knowledge about mathematics teaching and learning and competence in mentoring and educational leadership, and knowledge about content, assessing student learning, and use of technology. The participants perceived their learning through multiple ways including: learning through reading, attending specific training programs, attending and mentoring teaching research activities both school-based and across regions, observing and debriefing lessons, sharing within online learning communities. All these venues jointly contribute to developing MTRS’ PKC. Originality/value This is the first empirical study on MTRS’ PKC and its development in China based on such a large sample. The findings of this study not only contribute to an understanding of knowledgeable others in Chinese lesson study and providing suggestions for support of their development, but also provide implications for studies of practice-based mathematics teacher-educators globally.
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