The Continuity Of Teachers’ Teaching Experience In The Context Of Curriculum Reform

The continuity of teaching experience supports teachers to understand the demands and problems of the new environment based on the experiences developed in past teaching contexts,to make decisions accordingly,and to solve problems.However,frequent curriculum reforms mean that the goals,content,and structure of teaching and learning,teaching approaches,and assessment methods place new demands on teachers,perhaps making it difficult for teachers’ experiences or ways of experiencing to be sustained in the new environment.This study,therefore,explores the following question: How do teachers balance the need to maintain continuity of their teaching experience with the demands of curriculum in the context of curriculum reform?This study adopted a qualitative research method and collected data in two stages.The first stage involved semi-structured interviews,classroom observations,and textual materials to collect data from 9 Chinese language,mathematics,and English teachers who have been teaching for more than 15 years at a middle school in Shanghai.In the second stage,11 participants with matching subjects and teaching experience to those in the first stage were selected from a teacher training program in a district in Chongqing.Data was collected primarily through teaching narratives,supplemented by semi-structured interviews and textual materials,and research notes were written based on initial perceptions of the data.Finally,the above data were compiled and analyzed to complete this thesis.This study found that teachers encountered three difficulties in balancing the continuity of teaching experience and the requirements of curriculum reform: First,they were uncertain about the direction of teaching mainly because of the inconsistency between the original experience about the direction of teaching and the existing curriculum requirements,which triggered teachers’ confusion and disorientation;second,the requirements of curriculum materials were much higher than teachers’ experience,which posed challenges for teachers to understand and handle the new curriculum,thus also hindering teachers’ growth of experience;third,weak interaction between teachers and peers made the teaching research team not play its role of supporting teachers but even brought additional confusion to teachers.In addressing these challenges,teachers showed three patterns of continuity of their teaching experiences,and the difference between the three patterns was reflected in the distinction between pedagogical directionality,subject coherence,experiential growth,and teacher-peer interaction.The direction of teaching anticipates the nature of continuity of teaching experience and its alignment with the goals of curriculum reform;subject coherence is an inherently stable trait of teachers in a changing environment that influences their teaching direction,interaction with others,and growth of experience,as well as their perceptions and practices of curriculum reform;in addition,teachers’ relationships with materials and students under the new requirements influence the extent and effectiveness of their implementation of the curriculum,and thus the growth of their experience.Teachers’ interactions with their peers affect their understanding of the curriculum,the effectiveness of curriculum implementation,and the sources of their experiences.Specifically,the three patterns of continuity of teachers’ teaching experiences were as follows:Teachers in the first pattern demonstrate a consistent pursuit of teaching values,i.e.,developing students’ competence and character.They have strong pedagogical autonomy,promote understanding of new requirements by actively interaction with their environment,pursue consistency between their original teaching experiences and reform requirements,and strive to achieve pursuits of value and meet current curriculum requirements.They focus on exploring the value of course materials,develop students’ competence and character in two-way interactions with students,and reflect on their teaching experiences based on students’ learning effects,and grow their teaching experiences by helping students construct meanings of course materials in their teaching.At the same time,these teachers interact more benignly with their teaching and research teams,thus increasing the sources of new teaching experiences.Teachers in the second pattern believe that it is their responsibility to meet the requirements of curriculum reform,but the external requirements far exceed their teaching experience,so they are constantly adjusting in practice,gradually adapting to the curriculum reform in the process of gradual experience growth,displaying the subjective quality of adaptation.They interact with textbooks and students in an overall one-way manner,taking textbooks as the scope and track of teaching and learning,trying to meet the requirements of the reform as they understand it,improving the scaffolding of teaching and learning based on the assessment of students,and increasing their experience of “how to teach”.Therefore,they regard the teaching team as the psychological gatekeeper,the teaching researchers as the supervisors of teaching forms,and the university scholars as the guides of teaching ideas,but there is often a distance between them and these forces.Thus,there is also a distance between the teachers and these forces,which hinders healthy interaction.The teachers of the third pattern focus on students’ scores in examinations.Because they ignore the requirements of the new curriculum,they show old-fashioned and “cocooned” characteristics.In addition,they hold traditional,superficial and fragmented thinking about the teaching materials,and make students memorize by rote,lacking effective teacher-material-student interaction,resulting in a dilemma of experience growth.At the same time,closed and old-fashioned,they usually cannot effectively interact with the teaching and research team.In conclusion,teachers’ teaching practices show significant differences in maintaining continuity of teaching experiences and responding to the demands of curriculum reform.By comparing this difference,this study advises to guide teachers’ teaching,develop teachers’ positive beliefs about curriculum reform,balance individual and structured relationship,promote interaction between teachers,materials and students,and reduce distance between teachers and teaching and research teams.