A Study Of English Teacher Agency In Junior High School Under The Double Reduction Policy

In 2021,the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China(hereafter referred to as the CPC)and the General Office of the State Council have issued the Opinions on Further Reducing the Homework Burden and Off-campus Tutoring Burden(hereafter referred to as the double reduction policy)for students undergoing compulsory education.The policy sets the goal of strengthening school education,improving the quality of classroom teaching,optimizing homework assignments,enriching after-school activities,developing students’ comprehensive qualities,reducing students’ after-school burden,and building a good educational environment.The double reduction policy is an important strategic decision and related to the nation’s development.The issue proposed by the CPC Central Committee bears on the development of the country and the future of the nation.It has great strategic significance to the construction of an ecological environment of education.The double reduction policy puts forward new requirements and challenges from the aspects of school management and teacher development.Teachers are the designers,organizers,implementer of classroom teaching.They play an indispensable role in the teaching process.It has been two years since the implementation of the double reduction policy.It is particularly urgent to explore how junior high school English teachers exercise their agency in their professional development,what factors influence teacher agency,and how to improve teacher agency to develop themselves.From an ecological perspective,teacher agency is an emergent phenomenon.It is related to teachers’ environment.The agency can be achieved in certain times and situations.From the perspective of the ecological framework of teacher agency,based on the model of understanding teacher agency,a model of understanding teacher agency in the context of double reduction is constructed.The study takes questionnaire,semi-structured interviews,and classroom observation to explore the English teacher agency in junior high school under the double reduction.This thesis investigates junior high school English teacher agency at D school and surrounding schools in Chifeng city.The following research questions are discussed:(1)In the context of double reduction policy,what is the status quo of junior high school English teacher agency?(2)What factors influence junior high school English teacher agency?(3)In context of double reduction policy,how does junior high school English teacher exercise their agency to achieve professional development?The research results show that in the context of double reduction policy,the level of junior high school English teacher agency is relatively high.There are significant differences in terms of age,length of teaching,and professional titles.Agency of teachers over 30 years is higher than others.And teachers from the age of 21 to 30 are at the lowest level.Teachers with 11-20 years of teaching experiences have a higher level of agency.With the rich teaching experience,teacher agency has an upward trend.After 20 years of teaching,a downward trend appears.Compared with experienced teachers,young teachers are not active enough in terms of age.The agency of teachers with senior professional titles is significantly higher than that of teachers with other professional titles.In addition,this study selects three female teachers as research participants and finds that teachers’ personal experience,personal goals,professional knowledge,teaching practice,school culture,professional title evaluation,family support,and policy implementation would affect teacher agency.Junior high school English teachers are motivated by continuous learning and depend on the environment to promote professional development.The research shows that,under the implementation of the double reduction policy,it is essential to stimulate junior high school English teacher agency.Teachers can take actions to exercise their agency;they constantly absorb professional knowledge and strive to improve their teaching ability and learning ability.The school and local education administrations shall provide corresponding assistance and support.This study can provide some implications for how to improve English teacher agency to further promote their professional development and implement double reduction in China.It is hoped that the findings can provide some help for English teachers to develop their agency.