The Landscape Of Professional Socialization

It is due to challenges and opportunities adult education is facing when the lifelong education system and the learning society are constructed, the extending of the connotation of socialization, the rapid development of professionalization, and my personal experience as an adult educator, that this study discusses issues relating the professional socialization of adult educator. And narrative inquiry is applied as the main research method, so as to explore the "andragogy" in real life, making adult educators'voice heard. By walking into the real life of the adult educators, listening to the voice of them, describing their experience in-depth, this study clarifies the complex relationship between the adult educators'educational background, their work, the society and their personalities, explains the path of adult educators'professional socialization, and displays the colorful landscape of adult educators'professional socialization.This study consists of 7 chapters:Chapter 1 explains the research background, objects and main concepts.Chapter 2 is literature review, which pays great attention to Personality Development Theory, Life Course Theory, Structural-functionism Theory, Conflict Theory, Symbolic Interaction Theory.Chapter 3 is study design, which introduces the framework of the study, explains the reasons for choosing narrative inquiry as the main research method, and displays the concrete study process that concludes selecting study cooperator, entering the field, composing field texts and composing research texts.Chapter 4-6 presents the stories of adult educator A to G, according to the timing they enteried adult education and their psychological and behavioral characters, they are grouped as "exploring and moving on", "from being frustrated to keeping up" and "inheritance and development". Their professional socialization is depicted, and the drives for their professional socialization are also explored from the perspectives of family background, educational background, working background, society background and personalities.Chapter 7 understands the professional socialization of adult educators, which explains the influence factors, realizing paths and basic landscape for the professional socialization of adult educators. The influence factors conclude personal factors, working environment and the society environment. The realizing paths conclude professional education and training, lifelong self-directed learning and reflective practice. The basic landscape presents the dynamic process of adult educators' professional socialization, the multiple driving forces and the dialectical interaction of the "model".