Professional Identity Of Physical Education Teachers At Secondary Schools

Professional identity of teachers is defined as the overall concept of teachers themselves as teachers, that is, teachers'general view of values, emotions, ability and investment in the teaching profession formed in the ongoing activities of the individual and society. It refers to the fact that the teacher finds the heart-felt value, meaning and pleasure in the career of the individual teacher. It is the motivation of teachers in self-growth. It is a process as well as a state of mind that determines the attitude of teachers and their teaching behavior.With the gradual advancement of our quality education, school physical education is gaining increasing attention. People show more concern about and have a high expectation of the curriculum reform in physical education, and they also have higher requirements on the development of physical education teachers. The development of physical education (PE) teachers requires better external conditions and further systemic assurance, and it is also necessary to stimulate teachers'desire for development and their aspirations and self-awareness. Only by allowing teachers to appreciate, explore, reflect on their responsibilities and value can we provide assurance for their development and the smooth progress of reform of sports reform programs.Based on the analysis of the current research on teachers'professional identity at home and abroad, with the combination of the current basic education reform and PE teachers'development status, this paper follows the design of mixing research, with theory research, survey research and field study results supporting each other with mutual authentication. Through the systematic study and reflection of professional identity, this paper explores the structure, characteristics and formation process of the professional identity of secondary school PE teachers, thereby it has a positive theoretical meaning and reference value in terms of the improvement of the quality of PE teachers and the deepening of education reform.This paper is divided into three parts, focusing on the compiling of"professional identity scale of middle school PE teacher", the analysis of the differences in professional identity of different groups of middle school PE teachers, and interviews with four teachers with different career lives. Based on the comprehensive results of this study, this author reaches the following conclusions: 1. School PE teachers'professional identity is a multi-dimensional structure composed of five elements: identity of value, identity of emotion, identity of ability, identity of sustainment and identity of dedication. The overall level of professional identity of school PE teachers is fairly high, but the level of the five factors is not balanced, the value identity level being the highest, while sustainment identity level being the lowest.2. The"professional identity scale of middle school PE teacher"this research composed shows good reliability and validity, and it can be an efffective measurement for school PE teachers'professional identity.3. The overall level of professional identity of school PE teachers at different stages of career (age, seniority, title) shows little conspicuous differences, but elements of internal structure and their focuses are different, showing stage characteristics of their professional identity. In the adaptation stage, the identity of emotion is high, and the identity of ability and sustainment is low, and teachers are more concerned about subject knowledge and skills and their adaptation to the working environment; in the development stage, professional identity dimensions have received a certain amount of development, teachers pay much attention to the teaching and learning process, and have higher requirements of their knowledge and skills; at maturity stage, the dedication identity and emotional identity experience some fluctuation, teachers put more stress on updating their teaching concepts and their influence on students'development; in expert stage, the internal strength of teachers'professional identity is not only high but also balanced, and teachers are very concerned about the integration of student development with educational concept and about the pursuit of the unity of personal and team development with national development.4. There are no significant differences in gender identity of school PE teachers, which is not in conformity with others'researches. This means that school culture is more inclined to define female PE teachers as"physical education teachers"instead of"female teachers", and it also reflects the training process of PE teachers and the characteristics of their working environment; school PE teachers with different income do not show significant differences in the degree of professional identity, and yet PE teachers are more concerned about the phenomenon of"unequal pay for equal work"in their schools, reflecting PE teachers'attitudes toward their unequal value; is there is no significant difference in the professional identity of PE teachers teaching different subjects (high school, junior high school); The differences of PE teachers'education, school locations (urban, rural) result in conspicuous difference of their professional identity.5. The construction of middle school PE teachers'professional identity is started from the individual's living world, not the nature of adoption of the role. PE teachers'career life is how they live a real life and how they describe their life experiences. In different fields and at different stages, teachers are always concerned with the problem"Who am I?"and they display the rich connotation of professional identity by asking such questions as"How I became a sports teacher?""What type of PE teacher am I?""What should I do when faced with administrative and teaching reform in my school?""What is my future?".6. The source of middle school PE teachers'professional identity is very broad, including teachers'personal qualities, learning experience, pre-career education experience, reflection in teaching practice, the experience of life development, perception of the teaching environment and so on. The multiple sources of identity result in differences in PE teachers'professional identity, and even generate conflicts.7. Critical incidents which school PE teachers experience have an important influence on the development of professional identity. It implies the choice-making in terms of self professional image and self professional identity when experiencing a critical incident. Whether a critical incident can be critical does not depend on its own, but rather on the teachers'reflection of their professional knowledge structure they already have, their choice of future professional goal and the decision-making process of how to implement their professional actions.8. PE teachers play active roles in professional identity by following the"awakening-reflection-action"mode. During the adaptation period,"submission"provides teachers with a temporary strategy, and thus enables teachers to reflect on their teaching practice, almost with no voluntary behavior; in the development stage, teachers have gradually adapted to the teaching environment, and their ability to reflect is increased, but the action is still relatively limited; in the maturity stage, teachers can follow the"awakening-reflection-action"mode, being able to switch between the structure and voluntariness; in the expert stage, teachers flexibly grasp the relationship between the structure and voluntariness and develop their professional identity.