On The Organizational Dimension Of Teacher Professional Development

Today teacher professional development (TPD) is being given unprecedented attention. TPD of high quality has been weighed heavily in every education and school reform. And TPD research from various perspectives and different dimensions has achieved significant outcomes. But most current research about TPD is concerned with the individual dimension, neglecting the organizational dimension. Stereotyped ideas must be broken to re-recognize the social attributions of teachers and the social significances of TPD:from the individual dimension to the organizational dimensions of risk and commitment sharing, from the passive to the active, from the periphery to the center, from the backstage to the front. Therefore, drawing on Organizational Sociology (OS), This study examines the historical evolution of teacher organizations between China and America, addresses their concepts, strategies, implementations, impacts and orientations about TPD with literature review, text analysis, comparative study and survey research. The basic theory, organizational framework, operation institutions, and support conditions of TPD are explored as a way of inspiring the future development of TPD in our country.The paper has eight chapters. The first chapter reports on the literature, the second and third chapters formulate the theoretical foundation. The descriptive research reported in the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters offers the evidence to the value judgment of the seventh chapter, and then the eighth chapter proposes the countermeasures.Chapter1:the introduction. All kinds of different teacher organizations have been set up due to the highly developed market economy, multiple cultural institutions, and numerous populace fancy of organization in America. U.S. Department of Education(USED), National Education Association (NEA)/American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) impact dramatically on American TPD with distinct roles and strategies. In contrast, the function of teacher organization and its impact on TPD have not been paid enough attention in our country, which calls for a further theoretical and practical study.Chapter2:the definition of TPD. Teacher occupation is an aspiring profession with the goal orientation of "professional development" focusing on individual dimension and the goal orientation of "organizational development" focusing on organizational dimension. Underlined by "professionalism" with the goal orientation of "organizational development", TPD is an endless process of continuing exploration and gradual maturing. In a favorite professional organization, with the knowledge system as a premise, the teaching praxis and education research ability as a force, the positive emotion and noble personality as an impetus, the refinement of internal professional attainment as an ethos, TPD refers to the professional standards setting, the updating of professional knowledge, the professional skills improvement, the professional ethics remodeling, the professional accountability fostering, and the professional community construction.Chapter3:the OS analysis of TPD. By review and reflection on the traditional individual dimension of TPD, in the perspective of OS, the paper regards teachers as individuals in the organization, and the organization as the matrix of TPD. It is necessary and possible for teachers to integrate into the united and cohesive teacher organizations. Furthermore, TPD can only be promoted by organizations with clear organization goals, definite organization behavior, strict organization boundary and extensive social network. The organizational dimension of TPD is divided into three categories:trade union, bureaucratic organization, and professional organization according to the traits of the teacher organization, such as membership, value orientation, and etc..Chapter4:the trade unions in China and America. The development course, the organizational features, the responsibilities, the strategies and the influences on TPD of trade unions in China and America are respectively elaborated. It finds that trade union in China is a semi-official and semi-governmental organization coordinating with the relevant policies and regulations of TPD. The American NEA/AFT also pursue their members material interests with collective bargaining and strikes. The "new unionism" concerning with teacher professional characteristics, teaching quality, education equality and social justice is booming, but the intrinsic nature of the contender for economy interest an political power of American trade union can never be changed.Chapter5:the bureaucratic organizations in China and America. The historical origins and functions as well as the initiatives around TPD and its effects of bureaucratic organization in China and America are separately covered. It finds that there is improving efficiency in Chinese bureaucratic organization and improvements in teacher status, teacher credentials, teacher training, and teacher professional standards formulating in spite of limited discourses of teachers because of its administrative orientation. Although TPD is not dominated by USED in America, the orientation of bureaucracy is apparently still exists.Chapter6:the professional organizations in China and America. The founding backgrounds, the organization structures, the measures of TPD and its impacts of professional organizations in China and America are individually presented. The study finds that our professional organization has achieved much in establishing teacher development schools and undertaking experimental studies of TPD in addition to academic exchanges and theoretical discussion. It will display more important potentials in the future thanks to its own advantages. One of the most active subject of TPD in America—NBPTS has clearly defined teacher professional attributes. The qualification of accomplished teacher is designed to certify accomplished teachers, showing the strong orientation of professionalism.Chapter7:the functional differences of organizations of TPD in China and America. The functional differences of organizations between China and America are rather obvious, which can be attributed to the political, economic, cultural, technological elements, while culture is one of the key interpretations. There is material mark, spiritual beliefs, institutions criterion, and the vivid representation of specific social behaviors and prevailing customs as well. So the paper tries to probe into the differences mainly from the spiritual culture, the institutional culture and the behavioral culture to interpret their diversity and uniqueness.Chapter8:the future tendency of TPD in China. Considering a more ambitious political, economic, historical, cultural, and social circumstances of TPD, based on the reality and look forward, the paper proposes that the construction of teacher professional organization is a powerful organizational guarantee to TPD; the fostering of teacher professional community is a preferred path to school-based TPD; the remodeling of teacher professional ethics is the essence of TPD; the establishment of teacher professional accountability is the symbol of the teacher morality assuming; the individual dimension and the organizational dimension alternate dynamically and work dialectically in the progress of TPD from the novice teachers to the experienced teacher and then to the expert teacher, while the passive development will finally and surly be taken place by the positive self-development.