Persistence In Dilemma:A Narrative Research On The Generative Mechanism Of Rural Teachers’Teaching Beliefs

Teaching beliefs not only affect teachers’ instructing behaviors like "mysterious ghost",but also affect teachers’ emotional labors like "pursuit of soul”,which encourage rural teachers to overcome difficult positions and stick to simple and crude classrooms in the countryside.As the spiritual root of rural teachers,teaching beliefs are keys to internalize the external ethical norms and professional expectations into moral consciousness.Therefore,the focus of this study has shifted from increasing external moral constraints to awakening and fulfilling teachers’moral responsibilities,thus relieving rural teachers from the shackles of selfless and unrepentant dedication.Teaching beliefs promote teachers return to the countryside,classroom and teaching,which contributes to initiative their liveness,morality,creativity and wisdom of teaching process.This qualitative research takes a post-80s rural teacher as main character and his colleagues,students and family as supporting roles.Through in-depth interview and classroom observation,this paper describes key events and interfering factors in his career,in order to construct the generative mechanism of rural teachers’teaching beliefs,then provide feasible paths for more and more rural teachers to generate pure and firm teaching beliefs.Except from the introduction and conclusion,this paper consists of the following five chapters:The first chapter defines and clarifies the concept and structure of teaching beliefs.By tracing the concept of beliefs,as well as distinguishing teaching belief from teaching notion,practical teaching knowledge and teaching faith,the connotations of teaching beliefs refer to teachers’ psychological tendency,value judgement and meaning interpretation of believing in teaching activities based on teaching cognition,emotional experience,moral will and instructing practice.Teaching belief consists of a three-layer belief cluster system extending from center to edge,which is followed by values of teachers as human beings,holistic teaching beliefs of teachers as groups,and personalized teaching beliefs of individual teachers.Individual teaching beliefs also include teachers’ beliefs about instruction,curriculum,students and themselves.The second chapter presents the living surroundings and professional images of target teacher.Y township,with agriculture as its core industry,is in the lower position in the economic ranking of T city because of its remote position and mountainous terrain.In recent years,the number of local rural teachers has been extremely compressed and the aging phenomenon has become more and more serious due to the impact of the withdrawal of small-scale schools.Teacher Z,who lives in there,has experienced the job transaction from J Primary School to S Primary School and then to E Middle School.As a member of middle-aged rural teachers,facing the pessimistically compromising,eagerly promoting,hesitantly wandering and unrepentantly devoting colleagues,he became the "lighting character" of rural children with the persistent spirit of overcoming difficulties.The third chapter traces the forming process and concrete expression of teaching belief.Teacher Z has experienced the student era when the values of "I recall my parents and relatives" were touched and awakened,the secondary teachers’college era when the holistic teaching concept of "I want to be an excellent teacher" was cultivated and sprouted,the initial stage when the holistic teaching concept of "I dare to teach here" was shaken and firmed,the middle stage when the individual teaching concept of "I can be a famous teacher" was put into practice and gave feedback,and the late stage when the teaching belief of "I want to stay in the countryside" was systematically precipitated,constructed and sublimated.The fourth chapter summarizes the leading factors that influence the formation of teaching beliefs.After three-level coding of interview data,it is concluded that the alienation of value,the weakness of competence,the dualization of urban and rural areas,the alienation of relationship,and the homogenization of evaluation are realistic dilemmas that hinder the generation of rural teachers’teaching beliefs.Besides,professional self-awareness,essential events,campus culture,social support and policy protection are influencing factors facilitating the generative mechanism of instructing beliefs.The fifth chapter constructs the generative mechanism and cultivating paths of teaching beliefs.On the one hand,according to the narrative story of teacher Z,from the premise preparation of knowing,emotion,will and practices,to the internal logic of constant stability of value orientation,rich and abundant structural elements,concise and hierarchical structure,the mechanism of "teaching concept—teaching practice—teaching belief" is established.On the other hand,from the case object extend to rural teacher groups,this paper puts forward that the orientation of positive values,the ability to develop quality,the construction of ecological classrooms,the creation of campus environment and the optimization of social support are feasible paths for the generation of teaching beliefs which are localized,humanistic,students-based and intelligent.