A Contrastive Study On The Professional Development Of English Teachers In Private Primary Schools Between Developed And Underdeveloped Areas

Teacher development is the driving force of education reform and development,and the key to improving the quality of education.The status and environment of private primary school English teachers have their own particularities,so it is particularly urgent to study the professional development of primary school English teachers.This study attempts to investigate the current situation of the professional development of private primary school English teachers in economically underdeveloped and economically developed areas,to explore the similarities and differences between these two areas,to find out the reasons and to provide reference for promoting the professional development of private primary school English teachers.The purpose of this study is to answer two questions:1.What are the differences and similarities between English teachers in private primary schools in developed and underdeveloped areas in terms of teacher professional development? What are the reasons for the differences? The Research mainly uses the instruments of questionnaire and interview,and selects 200 English teachers of private primary school in Foshan city and Yongzhou city as the investigation subject.The questionnaire is derived from “The investigation of primary school English teachers' professional development and related factors” by Dai Shuijiao(2013).The questionnaire is based on the New English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education,with the core connotation of teacher's professional development as the main content.It includes three dimensions: professional affection,professional knowledge and professional ability.Through questionnaire survey and interview,the author finds out that the English teachers in private primary schools in developed areas and underdeveloped areas have both similarities in terms of their background,but the differences outweigh the similarities.Besides,there are great differences in their professional affection,professional knowledge and professional ability.The English teachers in developed areas are much better than those in underdeveloped areas in above all aspects.The causes of such a huge difference are as follows: private school teachers in underdeveloped areas have comparatively lower degree of education and their teacher team is more unstable.Teachers' professional identity is not high,and their legitimate rights and interests are more likely to be ignored by the schools.The schools' management style is arbitrary.The schools seldom provide training opportunities for teachers.The teachers are in lack of awareness of independent development and teaching reflection abilities.The author provides some suggestions for the government,schools and teachers: The government could reasonably allocate educational resources and gradually establish the social security system suitable for private school teachers;schools are supposed to correctly treat the needs of private school teachers and provide more training opportunities for teachers to stabilize the teaching staff;teachers could improve themselves from their own levels.