Ontrastive Study Of ETPD Between Private And Public Middle Schools In Western Guangdong Province

With the fast development of foreign language education, teachers are required to seek professional development in order to keep pace with the times. Currently, the overall quality of foreign language teaching staff in compulsory education stage needs to be improved, especially the private schools where English teachers’professional level is relatively low, which is a great challenge for them to adapt to the requirements of the compulsory education reform.This essay is based on professor Ye Lan’s (2000) interpretation of teachers’professional development, the connotation of teachers’professional development and the internal and external factors which influence teachers’ professional development. Moreover, it is also with the actual situation of western Guangdong. Sixty English teachers randomly chosen in two public and two private middle schools are investigated in order to offer some advisable suggestions for English teachers’professional development in western Guangdong. The questionnaire of TPD of middle school EFL teachers measures five aspects:teachers’professional concept, teachers’professional knowledge, teachers’ professional capability, the consciousness of teachers’professional development and support for TPD.The study tries to answer the following three questions:1) What are the needs of English teachers on TPS in public middle schools and private ones on TPD in western Guangdong?2) What are the consciousness of TPD of English teachers in public middle schools and private ones on TPD in western Guangdong?3) What are the external factors that influence English teachers in public middle schools and private ones on TPD in western Guangdong?After data analysis and interviews, the main findings are:The results of present study show:1) on the whole, the English teachers of public middle schools are better than those English teachers of private middle schools on teachers’professional structure. The aspects are as follows. As for teachers’professional concept, the consciousness of the English teachers of public middle schools is subtle stronger than that of the English teachers of private middle schools; on teachers’ professional knowledge, the English teachers of the public middle schools are superior to private teachers on the English grammar and the knowledge about students; on teachers’ professional ability, public and private teachers have strong abilities on teaching and management. All in all, the public teachers and private teachers do well in teacher’ professional structure, but their comprehensive knowledge, comprehensive ability and the scientific research ability still need to be improved.2) On teachers’ consciousness of professional development, both public and private teachers are aware of the importance of their professional development and the weakness of their professional development. However, private teachers feel less pressure from the society, schools and students than public teachers, so the private teachers are less active to professional development planning and autonomous learning.3) On the guarantee of environment and policy, firstly, public schools are more supportive for teachers’ professional development; secondly, most public and private teachers realize the importance of the teachers’ culture on their professional development; finally, most of the private teachers are in uncertainty on these training methods except the teaching reflection.According to these findings, some implications are given:the government should improve in-service backbone teachers’ treatment, otherwise the qualified teachers may turn to the middle schools in the pearl river delta; the middle schools should offer enough space, time and chances for ETPD; the English teachers should recognize the needs on teachers’ professional structure for teachers’ further professional development.