Teacher Competence For Early Career Teachers In China

"Examining the teacher education landscape in China, Xiaojing Yan focuses on how early career teachers (ECTs) build their competence during the initial years of teaching, challenges that come with teacher training and pathways to improve teacher competency. Although there is a growing trend in China to focus on teacher quality and professional development, teacher competence varies across teacher groups: ECTs, in particular, face a variety of challenges in the initial period. Using a qualitative-based approach, Yan examines 55 teacher education policies and three education laws between 1949 and 2019 in China. The chapters offer valuable insights into teacher education policy and practice, as well as teachers' professional development strategies and competence growth at the secondary level. With teacher's needs in mind, this book provides a framework for policy development and teaching implementation, as well as for teachers' practices and effective professional learning. Discussing critical issues and opportunities in the development of ECTs competence, this book will appeal to researchers, students and practitioners across the fields of teacher education and professional learning development. It will also be relevant and accessible to policymakers involved in education and teacher training"--

Examining the teacher education landscape in China, Xiaojing Yan focuses on how early career teachers (ECTs) build their competence during the initial years of teaching, challenges that come with teacher training and pathways to improve teacher competence. Although there is a growing trend in China to focus on teacher quality and professional development, teacher competence varies across teacher groups: ECTs, in particular, face a variety of challenges in the initial period. Using a qualitative-based approach, Yan examines 55 teacher education policies and 3 education laws between 1949 and 2019 in China. The chapters offer valuable insights into teacher education policy and practice, as well as teachers' professional development strategies and competence growth at the secondary level. With teacher’s needs in mind, this book provides a framework for policy development and teaching implementation, as well as for teachers' practices and effective professional learning. Discussing critical issues and opportunities in the development of ECTs competence, this book will appeal to researchers, students and practitioners across the fields of teacher education and professional learning development. It will also be relevant and accessible to policymakers involved in education and teacher training.

While occupational stress is an inevitable part of being a teacher, early career teachers are often more vulnerable to the negative effects of job-related stress due to their age and level of experience. Since early career teachers represent the future of the teaching workforce, it is vital to gain greater understandings about the causes of stress and ways to overcome the negative aspects of stress if new teachers are to be retained in the profession and thrive in ways that are conducive to their professional development and learning. Despite its importance, there appears to be a lack of Chinese research in the area, especially in terms of research investigating early career teachers in China. This gap provided the impetus for the current research. This qualitative study investigated Chinese early career secondary teachers’ perceptions of the sources of their occupational stress, the strategies they employed to cope with their perceived stress, and the support they accessed and/or needed to alleviate stress. Ten early career teachers with up to five years of teaching experience working in a Chinese urban secondary school took part in this study. Data were generated using semi-structured individual interviews. The findings showed that the participants experienced a number of stressors, particularly in relation to workload pressures, meeting professional expectations, student behaviour management, and aspects unique to the Chinese context such as the role of a class supervisor, preparing for professional rank evaluation, and the strong emphasis on students’ academic scores. The study indicated that the early career teachers recognised the importance of mentoring and collaborative learning among colleagues in the school as strategies to mitigate stress. The participants also expressed a desire for increased remuneration, realistic expectations on students’ academic scores, an increase in the status of vocational education, the implementation of ‘qualityoriented education,’ and more parental involvement in children’s learning. While this study highlighted ways that could support Chinese early career teachers to reduce occupational stress, it is also suggested that there is still much to attend to in terms of policy, practice, and further research.

Teachers in their first few years of their teaching career require high quality, structured support to begin the journey towards becoming experts. Establishing research-based best practices and working habits set up early career teachers for a fulfilling and successful career. The requirements of teachers are constantly changing, and teachers need to continually adapt their knowledge and practices to fit schools’ changing demographics. Having a toolbox of research-based best practices to draw upon can support early career teachers as they move from theory to practical application when the learning curve is the steepest. Strengthening the system of support includes increasing teachers’ influence over their day-to-day work and developing positive and supportive cultures of learning. Supporting Early Career Teachers With Research-Based Practices presents both theoretical and practical research to support the conceptual understanding of educational praxis for common areas with which early career educators may require additional expertise or support. This book is intended to be a valuable contribution to the body of literature in the field of education by supplying research-based teaching practices for modern education. Primary topics covered include professional learning, classroom management, student-teacher relationships, teaching diverse students and inclusive educational practices, and teacher self-care strategies. This book is a valuable reference tool for early career teachers of all subject areas and grade levels, school administrators, teacher mentors and guides, education faculty in higher education, educational researchers, curriculum developers, instructional facilitators, practicing teachers, pre-service teachers, professional development coordinators, teacher educators, researchers, academicians, and students interested in teaching practices and support for the early career teacher.

The Chinese language is now used by a quarter of the world’s population and is increasingly popular as a second language. Teaching Chinese Literacy in the Early Years comprehensively investigates the psychology, pedagogy and practice involved in teaching Chinese literacy to young children. This text not only explores the psycholinguistic and neuropsychological processing involved in learning Chinese literacy but also introduces useful teaching methods and effective practices relevant for teaching within early years and primary education. Key issues explored within this text include: The Psycholinguistics of Chinese Literacy Neuropsychological Understanding of Chinese Literacy The pedagogy of teaching Chinese as a first language The Pedagogy of Teaching Chinese as a second language Teaching Chinese literacy in early childhood settings Assessing Chinese Literacy Attainment in the Early Years With the addition of two reliable Chinese literacy scales, Teaching Chinese Literacy in the Early Years is an essential text for any student, lecturer or professional teacher who is interested in learning and teaching Chinese literacy.

This edited collection brings together papers written by a number of experienced international academics who share a passion for promoting research-informed, high-quality pre-service and in-service teacher education that makes a positive difference to the lives of teachers and their students. Taken together, the contributions to this book represent a call to arms for all who lead education policy at local, regional, and national levels, teacher educators, and schools themselves, to engage in sustained and productive collaboration. Topics include: the centrality of empathy to the classroom, ‘practical theorising’ that is a central part of all good teachers’ armoury; the possibilities for collaborative professionalism which enables them to extend and enrich their thinking, commitment, and capacity for resilience; the pedagogical reasoning, habits of mind, critical reflection, knowledge, and skills that lead to the best classroom practices. Only when the voices of stakeholders at all these levels are brought together, heard, and enacted, are students in all schools in all contexts and in all jurisdictions likely to receive the quality of education to which all are entitled. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Teachers and Teaching.

This book exemplifies the challenges and successes of online learning, teaching and leading in times of crises. It helps shed light on the issues facing online and face-to-face practitioners having to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and continue education within the confines of a specific interface. The volume includes new research and information, which can be built upon in the coming months and years depending on how long the pandemic persists. Therefore, it adds a geometric dimension to the current research on online teaching, learning and leading with emphasis on what can be done during a pandemic. The book is beneficial because it is timely and significant based on current happenings in the world. Its findings contribute to expansive research on online learning, teaching and leading but with a focus on emergency education. The information contained in the book is significant to different regions in the world such as the Caribbean, UK, USA, Greece, Mauritius inter alia. The book is of interest to teachers, students, parents, leaders and anyone who wants to adopt online education.

The Chinese language is now used by a quarter of the world’s population and is increasingly popular as a second language. Teaching Chinese Literacy in the Early Years comprehensively investigates the psychology, pedagogy and practice involved in teaching Chinese literacy to young children. This text not only explores the psycholinguistic and neuropsychological processing involved in learning Chinese literacy but also introduces useful teaching methods and effective practices relevant for teaching within early years and primary education. Key issues explored within this text include: The Psycholinguistics of Chinese Literacy Neuropsychological Understanding of Chinese Literacy The pedagogy of teaching Chinese as a first language The Pedagogy of Teaching Chinese as a second language Teaching Chinese literacy in early childhood settings Assessing Chinese Literacy Attainment in the Early Years With the addition of two reliable Chinese literacy scales, Teaching Chinese Literacy in the Early Years is an essential text for any student, lecturer or professional teacher who is interested in learning and teaching Chinese literacy.

Teachers of Chinese as a foreign language in many international contexts are searching for pedagogic solutions to promote effective learning. Models of innovative and successful approaches are urgently needed. This volume presents a collection of compelling and empirically rich research studies that showcases innovative developments in the practice of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The studies focus on three interrelated areas: learners, teachers, and applications of new technologies. Specifically, the studies explore methods for fostering learner-centred classrooms, autonomous learners, intercultural learning, the role of teacher views and identities, the nature of a ‘middle ground’ approach, and technologies that accommodate the unique aspects of the Chinese language, with new options for mobile and interactive learners. Providing both inspiration and practical models for language practitioners and researchers, it offers a vital resource for teachers’ professional development, and for pre-service teacher education.

A “fascinating” (The Economist) dive into the world of linguistics that is “part travelogue, part science lesson, part intellectual investigation…an entertaining, informative survey of some of the most fascinating polyglots of our time” (The New York Times Book Review). In Babel No More, Michael Erard, “a monolingual with benefits,” sets out on a quest to meet language superlearners and make sense of their mental powers. On the way he uncovers the secrets of historical figures like the nineteenth-century Italian cardinal Joseph Mezzofanti, who was said to speak seventy-two languages, as well as those of living language-superlearners such as Alexander Arguelles, a modern-day polyglot who knows dozens of languages and shows Erard the tricks of the trade to give him a dark glimpse into the life of obsessive language acquisition. With his ambitious examination of what language is, where it lives in the brain, and the cultural implications of polyglots’ pursuits, Erard explores the upper limits of our ability to learn and use languages and illuminates the intellectual potential in everyone. How do some people escape the curse of Babel—and what might the gods have demanded of them in return?