A Study On Teacher Learning In The Period Of Identity Conversion

Since the 1980 s,teacher learning has gradually become a relatively independent research field from daily discourse.Teacher learning is a dynamic,continuous and active process.In the continuum of diachronic and synchronic coexistence,being a person and becoming teacher integration,there are two crucial transitions:(1)from apprenticeship observation to pre-service teacher;(2)from pre-service teacher to novice teacher.On the one hand,apprenticeship observation forms a series of pre-concepts about teacher,teaching,student and self in pre-service teacher and novice teacher based on simple practical experience such as observation and acting.These pre-concepts will accompany them into the pre-service training and post-employment development stages,and have a profound and lasting impact on their subsequent learning and practice as a filter and a springboard,typically manifested in self-confidence,illusion and misunderstanding of teaching,and show characteristics that are difficult to change.On the other hand,in the early days of entry,novice teachers are confronted with difficulties and challenges such as the transformation of theory into practice and the complexity of teaching.In addition,due to the sudden change of status,role,space-time situation and subjective state of mind,they will encounter "reality shock" and "transition shock" in varying degrees,showing maladjustment and crisis feeling,and experiencing negative emotional experience such as anxiety,loss,frustration,doubt,disappointment,denial and even giving up.The experience in this period has a crucial influence on the formation of their professional self and professional identity,as well as subsequent professional learning,professional growth and development.Therefore,this paper probes deeply into the transformation of preconceptions and its driving factors in the process of learning to teach;deeply portray the way in which novice teachers explore the transformation of theory into practice and the complexity of teaching and their psychological journey.And then explaining the meaning of teacher’s world;revealing teacher learning process and mechanism,and providing real scene description,life meaning interpretation,experience sharing and possible path inspiration for pre-service training,induction and learning,growth and development of pre-service teacher and novice teacher are the core research problems and objectives of this study.Based on this,the study focuses on two key transitions in the continuum of teacher socialization,teacher learning,teacher growth and development,especially focuses on two research problems:(1)what kind of changes have taken place in the preconceptions about teacher,teaching,student and self which were formed during apprenticeship observation in the process of learning to teach,and their driving factors;(2)What kind of coping styles novice teachers have adopted and what kind of psychological journey they have experienced in the process of exploring problems and challenges such as "the transformation of theory into practice" and "the complexity of teaching".On the basis of answering these two research problems,the process and mechanism of teacher learning are further revealed.Focusing on research problems,the study uses transformative learning theory and qualitative research methods to conduct in-depth interviews with 35 high school novice teachers in Changchun city from the perspective of the parties and subjectivity.On the basis of in-depth interviews,a teacher was selected for case study to deeply explore the teacher’s life world,emotional world and meaning world through exploring the story,experience and psychological journey of the sample teacher.At last,the study found that,on the one hand,in the process of identity conversion from apprenticeship observation to pre-service teacher and from pre-service teacher to novice teacher,the changes and processes of preconceptions are highlighted by four transformations:(1)the understanding of teacher has experienced a transition from “being sacred” to“going down to the altar”;(2)the understanding of teaching has undergone a transition from “idealism” to “realism”;(3)the understanding of student has gone through a transition from “passive storage” to “active living body”;(4)the understanding of the self has gone through transition from "Who do I want to be?" to "Who am I? Who do I want to be?" On the other hand,in the process of identity conversion from pre-service teacher to novice teacher,novice teachers show three aspects of changes when exploring the two major problems and challenges of“transformation of theory into practice” and “complexity of teaching”:(1)Teaching dimension: from “looking up to the starry sky” to “being down-to-earth”;(2)Learning dimension: from “mechanical learning” to “meaningful learning”;(3)Self-dimension:recognition and choice of conscience,responsibility and mission.At the same time,the study also found that the driving factors of the transformation of the preconceptions and the transformation from theory into practice mainly include five aspects:(1)important others and critical events;(2)reality polishing and practice correction;(3)conflicts and multi-game;(4)research and reflection;(5)independent learning and active development.On this basis,the study further believes that transformation and becoming are the process and mechanism of teacher learning,including external and internal dimensions.The external process and mechanism are manifested in three aspects:The internal process and mechanism are manifested in two aspects:On this basis,this paper explores the potential implications of the research on pre-service teacher training,induction,and the learning,growth and development of pre-service teachers and novice teachers:(1)For the pre-service teacher training,it is necessary to pay full attention to pre-service teacher’s preconceptions that formed during apprenticeship observation and their changes in the pre-service training stage,and effectively use important others,critical events,practice,research and reflection to create cognition conflict,making pre-service teacher’s preconceptions explicit,effectively intervening them,and then connecting the known and the new knowledge,making pre-service teacher education a "strong intervention" that affects teacher’s learning,growth and development;(2)For induction,it should pay full attention to existential state,internal needs and psychological journey of novice teacher in crisis period,and provide appropriate and moderate challenges while providing a continuous and strong external support in terms of time,resources and targeted training programs.At the same time,it is necessary to give novice teachers time,space and expectations for study,practice,research,reflection,growth and development;(3)For pre-service teacher and novice teacher,they should be fully aware of the existence of preconceptions and maintain a high degree of vigilance,strengthen and consolidate positive preconceptions while reflecting,examining,criticizing and transforming negative preconceptions in order to construct and generate new concepts.At the same time,they should fully realize the complexity of the transformation from theory into practice,and maintain the pursuit and motivation of self-learning,active development and self-realization when dealing with the practical problems and contradictions that have to be solved.