A Study Of Teacher Change Based On Learning Community In Junior Middle School

Fullan(1991: 117)proposed that “educational change depends on what teachers do and think–it's as simple and complex as that”.This study stated that the biggest challenge for school education is to encourage all teachers positively face changes at various levels in learning community.The paper aimed at clarifying the concept of teacher change,and to identify whether learning community has influences both on individual teachers and teaching and research group.This study was conducted from March 2016 to February 2017,including 50 English teachers of 13 rural middle schools in Jinghong.Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from 50 teachers within the learning community in this study.The data collection mainly came from questionnaire,interviews,and classroom observations of the participants for a period of 11 months.Wenger's(1998)Community of Practice theory and Vygotsky's(1978)social constructivism were used as theoretical framework that allowed the data analysis about teacher change from both individual and teaching and research groups' community perspectives.The collected data indicated that there was actually change of individual teachers and teaching and research groups within the learning community.What's more,teachers' change was also restricted by many factors.This study found some characteristics for teacher change within school system,and the suggestions are also provided for the school administrations,teachers and teacher trainers.