TENSION AND ALTERNATIVE OF IN-SERVICE SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TEACHER PROFESSION DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA
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TENSION AND ALTERNATIVE OF IN-SERVICE SECONDARY MATHEMATICS TEACHER PROFESSION DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA Rongjin Huang University of Macau, China Abstract. It was found that there is a coherent teacher-development system in China. Future teachers have strong subject matter preparation and are immersed in observation of experienced teachers. Once teachers are hired, they enter a system of continuous professional development in school by master teacher. A career ladder provides salary incentives based on demanding standards (Stewart, 2006). In this paper, we first discuss how “with strong subject matter preparation” and “supported by a school-based teaching/research activity system”, the “mentorship” teacher induction system does work smoothly (Ma, 1999; Paine, 2002) before implementation of mathematics curriculum reform. Then, we describe some measures to develop in-service teachers’ profession in order to tackle new challenges. Finally, we will discuss advantages and difficulties of teachers’ learning in the community of practice. Background China’s impressive economic performance over the past twenty years is well known around the world. The achievement attained at the basic education, especially in mathematics has also aroused the interest of international communities and research. For example, Asia Society and the Council of Chief State School Offices led a delegation of K–12 education and business leaders to China in late September 2005. Through meeting Chinese students, teachers, principals, researchers, and senior government officials at different levels (from Kindergarten to University) and different places (such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shaanxi province), a research report by the group, Education in China: Lessons for U.S. Educators, described a coherent teacher- development system in China (Stewart, 2006) such as teachers have made strong subject matter preparation and been immersed in observation of experienced teachers, and they enter a system of continuous professional development in school by master teacher once recruitment. Moreover, an emphasis on mathematics and science in China has been demonstrated in the following ways: clear national standards and textbooks that focus on mastery of a few fundamental concepts; strong subject-matter preparation and professional development for teachers; use of specialized math and science teachers as early as the 1st grade; and strong (some say excessive) societal emphasis on math and science. Regarding mathematics education, a number of studies have shown that Chinese students outperformed their counterparts in the Western countries in both comparative mathematics achievements studies and at the International Mathematical Olympiad (Stevenson et al., 1990; Lapoite, Mead, & Askew, 1992; Stevenson & Stigler, 1992; Wong, 1998). However, many Western researchers have found that the learning environment in China did not seem conducive to “good learning”. For example, with regard to teaching method, it was described as “passive transmission” and “rote drilling” (Biggs & Watkins, 2001). Recently, some studies have showed that the mathematics lessons in China are high coherent and there are some student-centered elements such as eliciting students’ opinions and valuing the students’ the 1
contribution to the knowledge generation, although the teaching is strictly controlled by teachers (Huang & Leung, 2004, 2005; Lee, 1998; MOK,2003). It seems that Chinese mathematics teachers are able to make some differences within large size classrooms. What are the characteristics of professional development in Mainland China? How do the Chinese mathematics teachers develop their professional career? Ma (1999) found that Chinese elementary teachers normally received 10 to 12 years of formal schooling including teacher training while US teachers received 16 to 18 years of schooling. However, the Chinese mathematics teachers were better equipped with knowledge of mathematics as a subject and were able to use more effective methods to teach it. The Chinese mathematics teachers emphasized the understanding of concepts from multiple perspectives, while the American teachers paid great attention to the procedural knowledge. She explained that the Chinese mathematics teachers develop a profound understanding of fundamental mathematics through learning from colleagues, learning from students, and learning from study of teaching reference materials and learning by doing problems solving. Li (2004) further convinced that it is an effective way of professional development of elementary mathematics teacher to study teaching materials in depth. Through comparing the pedagogical content knowledge of mathematics in U.S. and Chinese at middle schools, An et al (2004) found that mathematics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge in the two countries differs markedly, which has a deep impact on teaching practice. The Chinese teachers emphasized developing procedural and conceptual knowledge through reliance on traditional, more rigid practices, which have proven their value for teaching mathematics content. The United States teachers emphasized a variety of activities designed to promote creativity and inquiry in attempting to develop students’ understanding of mathematical concepts. Both approaches have benefits and limitations. It was suggested the practices of teachers in each country may be partially adapted to help to overcome deficiencies in the other. With the release of mathematics curriculum standards for elementary and junior schools (Department of Education, 2001) and mathematics curriculum standards for senior high schools (Department of Education, 2003), teachers from elementary schools and secondary schools have suffered from many challenges. Heavily influenced by constructivism and the US mathematics standards (NCTM, 2000), the new curriculum standards in Mainland China advocate an innovative learning method through manipulation, collaborative communication, exploration independently, and also adopt a dynamic and experimental mathematics perspective so that mathematics is regarded as a creative activity, and making conjecture, experiment, justification and refutation, inspection and improvement are parts of mathematical activity. Thus, even expert teachers who are apt at the teacher-dominated teaching method do not know how to organize an effective lesson. Based on relevant literature review, policies and programs analysis, the paper tends to capture features of the mathematics in-service teacher professional development and the challenges to tackle currently. First, a brief background of pre-service mathematics teacher preparation will be described. Second, the policy and mechanism of in-service teacher profession development will be introduced. Then, the third part will focus on the innovative in-service teachers training programs after implementing the new curriculums. Finally, the characteristics, problems and further actions of mathematics teacher education in Mainland China will be discussed. Preparing Teacher with Strong Mathematics Content Knowledge 2
A Brief History of Pre-service Mathematics Teacher Preparation Due to historical reason, since the establishment of Peoples’ Republic of China in 1949, Mainland China has learnt from Soviet Russia entirely, including education system. Thus, mathematics teacher education has been heavily influenced by Russian mathematics philosophy and mathematics curriculum, and pedagogy of mathematics till today (Zhang & Wang, 2000). These influences on the evolution of mathematics education in Mainland China mainly are reflected in the following aspects: (1) regarding mathematics as an abstract, rigor, and wide application subject as suggested by Aleksandrov et al (1964). Thus, logical deduction, formal mathematical operation have been emphasized in mathematics education till now; (2) the aim of education is “to transmit the most stable knowledge accumulated over thousands of years” to young generations advocated by Russian Educationalist Kailofu (1951). It is quite in line with Chinese notion of teaching “to transmit, instruct, and disabuse”(师说,师者,所以传道受业解 惑也). Thus, teacher-centered and whole classroom lecture has become a dominant teaching model at primary and secondary schools in Mainland China;(3) Providing a strong mathematics contents knowledge and studying on primary mathematics are necessary for prospective teachers. In 1950s, there were three compulsory advanced mathematics courses (Called as “Old Three Advances”), advanced algebra, analytical geometry and Mathematical analysis which are quite difficult for the freshman who have not learnt primary calculus at secondary school, particularly in learning ε − δ definition of limit. However, through learning these three advanced mathematics courses, the students were trained in rigorous logical reasoning and mathematical literary which lay a sound foundation of mathematics for their future as secondary mathematics teacher. In 1960s, the mathematics courses were extended to include some pure mathematics courses such as functional analysis, abstract algebra, and applied mathematics course such as Probability and statistic, Mathematical equation, Operation research, Computation method. Thus, it is a key advancement of mathematics education in Normal University and has shaped the direction of further development. However, Mainland China has been suffered from two disasters of education, “The Great Leap Forward” (大跃进, 1956-1965) and “The Culture Revolution”(文化大革命, 1966-1977),the education system was damaged seriously. Through some proper policies in around 1980, the mathematics curriculum was recovered as that in 1960s. Advanced algebra, analytical geometry and Mathematical analysis as “old three advanced ones” were recognized dominant courses, and Function analysis, Abstract algebra and Topology were selected as three new advanced mathematics courses as well. Thus, the mathematics content knowledge was further emphasized in the mathematic education in Normal Universities. In the late of 1980s, under the influence of USA and European mathematics education, computer science related courses became compulsory courses, and particularly, in 1990s, Mathematical modeling, Mathematics experiments and Mathematics education technology became optional courses in Department of Mathematics. Since then, modern technology and modern mathematics and mathematics education ideas have played important influence on the mathematics education in Mainland China. Innovative Pre-service Mathematics Education Reform for 21st Century After 1990s, with the development of economy in Mainland China, and the advancement of the mathematics science, and information and technology, mathematics education has been challenged in many ways. Theoretically, with the rapid development of information and technology, doing mathematics is not a business by using “one paper, one pencil and a brain” and also teaching mathematics is not a matter by using chalk and board, while mathematical 3
modeling, mathematics experiment, and mathematical education technology have come to the front of mathematics education. Mathematics is not only as a tool for training mind and expressing other subject, but also comes to the front producing direct economic effect. With the integration of mathematical theory and mathematical technology, the functions of mathematics have been extended widely. Then the ideas of mathematics education have to be changed from traditional and statistic notion to a constructive and dynamic one. In addition, practically, with the expansion of recruitment students at Universities in 1990s, and diversity of employment of graduates, the quality of the students in mathematics department went down unavoidably. Meanwhile, the curriculums at secondary school were condensed and adjusted, some advanced mathematics such calculus, Probability and statistic, Vector and matrix, Mathematical modeling were included in secondary mathematics curriculum. Politically, with the suggestion of policy of “Encouraging comprehensive universities and non-normal university to participate in the program of teacher education at primary and secondary schools” (Sate Department, 1999) and release of Agenda on the reform and development of the basic education (State Department, 2001), “to set up an open and holistic teacher education system in which normal university is the dominant body and other high institutes should participate actively teacher education, both pre- service education and in-service training should be integrated ” was clearly stated. The privilege that only the Normal University is responsible for teacher education at primary and secondary schools was broken. Both internal and external factors have forced the Normal University to take certain reforms to meet the challenges. Through four-year study, a report on the curriculum reform in mathematics department at normal university was reported in 2000(Zhang & Wang, 2000). The report claimed that aims of mathematics education at normal university are basically to train mathematics teacher and to gear for further research or quantitative fields also well. It is necessary to focus on mathematical content knowledge in department of mathematics. In addition, when emphasizing mathematics subject matter knowledge, it is also important to keep one eye on studying primary mathematics with updating ideas. Moreover, it is more important to update the ideas on mathematics and mathematics education. Knowledge Preparation at Normal University Zhang and Wang(2000) suggested that mathematics curriculum at department of mathematics should follow up the following principles: (a)less and refined foundation courses, (b) broad and concise specialization courses, (c) multiple optional courses, (d) high quality mathematics education courses. The aims of the mathematics curriculum are to reduce the foundation courses, integrate the specialization course, broaden the optional courses, and advance the quality of the mathematics education courses. The curriculum schedules in department of mathematics at different Normal Universities are diverse. It is a trend to provide students with more flexible choices in courses and specializations. For example, at East China Normal University, according to students’ interest and requirement, they are streamed into three optional majors: mathematics education, foundation mathematics, and applied mathematics. Thus, the students’ freedom and further social requirement can be associated (Chai, in press). Beijing Normal University (BNU) and East China Normal University (ECNU) are two key normal universities. The curriculum schedules in the departments in these two universities were listed in Append I. It was found that both Universities emphasized on mathematics subject foundations to certain degree while and paid less attention to practicum with 6 weeks periods (occupying 4% of credits). It was also showed that BNU paid much attention to subject knowledge (occupying 46% of credits) than ECNU did (36% of credits), while ECNU paid more 4
attention to mathematics education courses (15% of credits in ECNU while 13% of credits in BNU). Thus, even nowadays, the tradition that preparing prospective with strong mathematics content knowledge but less pedagogical content knowledge and practicum is still kept. In a word, the preparation of pre-service mathematics teacher (i.e. department of mathematics at Normal University) is of the following characteristics: (a) providing pre-service teacher with a profound mathematics knowledge foundation and highly advanced mathematics literacy; (b) emphasizing on review and study of primary mathematics. It was believed that a profound understanding of primary mathematics and strong ability of solving problems in primary mathematics are crucial for being a qualified mathematics teacher at secondary schools. Due to the tradition of exam-oriented teaching, high demanding of problems solving ability is necessary for a qualified teacher; (c) Teaching practicum is weak. Six-week teaching practicum can only provide pre-service teachers with a preliminary experience of teaching at secondary schools. In-service Mathematics Teachers’ Professional Development As aforementioned, the preparation of pre-service mathematics in Mainland China focuses on making a profound foundation in primary mathematics and advanced mathematics, and providing students with some mathematics education knowledge as well. Practicum is less emphasized. Then, how do the graduates from Normal universities who are of a little teaching practical experiences acclimatize themselves to the teaching practice at secondary school and become a qualified or even expert mathematics teacher? What policy and mechanism do help them enhance professional development? In order to explore these questions, it is helpful to know teacher qualification and promotion policies in Mainland China. Then, the mechanism and practice of mathematics professional development will be examined and discussed. Teacher Qualification and Position Promotion Since the establishment of P.R.China in 1949, majority of secondary mathematics teachers were graduated from Normal Universities and assigned by relevant authorities, and there were a small number of teachers graduated from others universities. In extremely cases, some high schools graduates (1960s) taught at junior high schools. In other words, if you have learnt mathematics at secondary, you can teach at that level. Due to the release of Teacher Law (Education Department, 1994), teacher was recognized as a profession from law perspective. Later on, the release of Regulation of Teacher Qualification (Education Department, 1999) further shaped the system of teacher professional qualification. Graduates can become teachers at second schools unless they get a certificate of teacher. The establishment of teacher qualification system is a breakthrough of teacher education system, and enables the education system on a scientific, institutional and law track. According to the regulation of teacher qualification, qualified education degrees for teachers at primary school teacher is graduated from three-year program after graduating from junior schools; junior high school is graduated three-year programs after graduating from senior high school; and senior high school is bachelor degree respectively. According to the regulation of secondary teacher’s position promotion, the positions of secondary teacher include senior(高级) teacher, intermediate(中级) teacher( level 1 and level 2),primary(初级) teacher (level 3). For each level of teacher position, there is a specification in term of political, moral and academic aspects. For example, as a secondary teacher at level 3, he/she should meet following qualifications: political and moral qualification; 5
a diploma of three year program after completing senior high school ; one year probation and passing an examination, and demonstrating the basic knowledge on education, psychology and pedagogy, mathematical pedagogy; and also can teach at least one course at junior high school. For another example, the condition for senior teacher are five year or above serving as secondary school teacher at level 1 or Ph.D holder and demonstrating the ability to take the responsibility of senior secondary teacher, specifically, the candidates should have (a)systematic and sound fundamental theory and specializing knowledge, plentiful teaching experience and good teaching effectiveness, or specializing in political and moral education and classroom management and achieving high performance and getting rich experience,(b)engaging in the education research in secondary education and teaching and writing up experience summary, scientific report and research paper which are of integration of theory and practice at certain academic level , or making remarkable contribution to improvement of other teachers’ academic level and teaching ability. Traditionally Professional Development Mechanisms After receiving certain education degrees, candidates enter teaching career. Some unique teacher professional development programs and practice in Mainland China will be introduced as follows. Mentorship Scheme(师徒制) “Mentorship scheme” is a tradition of school-based novice teacher professional development which has been demonstrated feasible and effective. In order to speed up the development of novice teachers,and use the expertise of the promising and expert teacher, at the beginning of new academic year, majority of secondary schools have a gathering celebrating the forming of Mentorship scheme teacher team. During the gathering, in some cases, formal pacts will be signed which indicate the regulations for both novice teachers and supervisor teachers. This approach to training novice teachers is popularized and regulated to certain extent in Mainland China. For example, in Guangzhou secondary school No. 5, a key secondary school in Guangzhou city,there are specific requirements for both supervisor teachers and novice teacher as follows: Duties of supervisor are to (a) establish an effective measure for enhancing the development of novice teachers,(b) talk to novice teachers about the experience of teaching and thinking of education twice per month, (c) take care of the thoughts, learning, life and teaching of novice teachers, and help them to solve some practical difficulties or forward those problems to relevant authorities,(d) inspect the teaching schedule and lesson plans of novice teachers and observing their lessons more than 10 times per semester, and help them improve teaching skills by reflection and improvement,(e) examine and supervise novice teachers to implement of “four ones” and “four musts” requirement. The “four ones” refers to writing up a good lesson plan, delivering a good mathematics demonstration lesson, writing up a good teaching and education research paper. And the “four musts” means must to be in school during the office hours, must to speak in Mandarin, must to be a teacher in charging of a class, and must to recognize one supervising teacher,(f) write up a summary on the progress and assessment of the novice teacher ,and report it to the principal. 6
Requirement of novice teachers are to (a) actively report their own working and learning to the supervisor, and modest learn form their supervisor, and conscious accept their supervision,(b) study hard and try their best to improve their basically administrative skills in charging of classes under guidance of school leaders, director of grade management and supervisor,(c) try their best to implement the “four ones” and “four musts” under the guidance of the supervisor,(d) strictly implement the regulation and requirement of classroom administration, and set down teir schedule of learning educational theory and conducting education research (at least writing one paper or summary report per year) , endless improve their theoretical quality and management ability in classroom administration. Before the end of academic year, it is required to write a summary report on the learning progress for the supervisor judgment. Traditionally, the “mentorship scheme” was selected and made by the authority of the school. Recently, there are some improvements for this practice. In some schools, “supervisor” (expert teacher) and “apprentice” (novice teacher) look for their partners from different grades or different subjects on the basis of mutual benefits and satisfactions. It was demonstrated that this model of forming “mentorship scheme” will be beneficial to the effective improvement of novice teachers and the good relationship between novice teachers and their supervisors. Through this partnership, novice teacher can familiarize himself/herself with teaching materials and effective teaching methods as soon as possible. Meanwhile, in order to improve learning, teaching & research through researching into lessons, schools encourage novice teachers to observe more lessons and deliver more demonstration lesson with basic quantitative requirement of them. Classroom observation among teachers becomes a common practice which speeds up the improvement and advancement of novice teacher. School-based Teaching/Research(教研). For mathematics teachers, apart from the teaching period (around 12 lessons per week), they will work at the office (mathematics subject office or grade based office). It is very important and crucial what they engage in the office time. Thus two organizations close related to teacher profession development, mathematics subject teaching/research group, and grader- based (with other subjects) lesson plan preparation group will be examined as follows. Mathematics subject teaching/research group. This group is responsible for guiding the schedule and implementation of mathematics teaching/research in school ( sometimes, the group will be separated into junior high school group and senior high school group if the number of teacher is too large). The roles of the director of the mathematics subject teaching/research group are to:(a) Make, implement and summarize the detailed schedule of mathematics teaching/ research based on the academic year schedule, by taking the subject features into consideration, (b) organize teachers to learn the National Curriculum design and mathematics curriculum standards, specify the teaching schedule and achievement assessment, organize the collaborative lesson plan, realize the lesson plan, homework mark, and teaching effect of mathematics teachers and give proper help and suggestion if necessary,(c)organize teaching related research activities such as select research topic, make research plan, implement research and share research results,(d)organize teachers to research the textbook and relevant teaching materials and study effective teaching design and methods at least two times per semester, guide teachers to collaborative lesson plan and some universal problems solving in teaching practice and share the 7
latest development of teaching reform,(e)examine teacher’s teaching plan, homework mark, and organize exchange activities with other schools under the guidance of teaching affairs officers,(f)plan as a whole the optional courses, scientific activities, exploring learning, specific topics lectures and mathematics games and so on,(g)observe classroom at least 15 lessons per semester, and inspect the implementation of the teaching schedule in due course,(h)organize the design, mark and analysis of the middle term test and final test in association with the teaching affair office and conduct one students symposium to learn students’ feedback of teaching so as to improve teaching,(i)collect, classify and tidy up the relevant teaching materials, and recommend the book of textbooks, teaching reference materials, exercise manual and review material,(j) pay attention to the development of young teachers and help them overcome difficulties faced and improve teaching competence through learning from expert teachers, delivering demonstration lesson, and participating research activities organized by municipal education and research authorities,(k)assist school authorities in assessing and recommending the teachers who want to apply for the promotion of teacher position. Grade-based lesson plan group. Grade-based lesson plan group is an organization related to the implementation of mathematics teaching/research at each grade level. The director of lesson plan group at each grade is responsible for the organization and guidance of lesson plan at that grade. Generally speaking, the roles of grade-based lesson plan group are quite similar to the mathematics subject teaching/research group as far as mathematics teacher profession development is concerned. Teaching/Research Activity at Municipality Functions of teaching/research activities at school level and municipality level are different. They are mutually beneficial and complementary. Regulated Teaching/Research Activities. Except the school-based teaching/research activities, there are a variety of activities at municipality and county. It is an important way to share the experience, improve classroom teaching ability and educational research ability. There is an extreme diversity in terms of the methods and quality in different provinces or cities. We just take Guangzhou city, Guangdong province as a case of investigation. There are two reasons for the selection of Guangzhou city. First, Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province which includes diverse districts in terms of the economic development. Second, Guangdong province is one of the four experimental areas of the implementation of National Mathematics Standard for Senior High Schools (Education Department, 2003) since year 2004. Guangzhou city takes the leading role in this new curriculum textbook experiment. It will be helpful for understanding the development after implementation of new curriculum standard. Examining the teaching/ research schedule at senior high school in 2003/04, organized by teaching/research office, Guangzhou Education Bureau academic (see append II) provided us with a general picture on the characteristics of the activities. Based on the schedule, the following features can be observed:(a) There are around four times of activities per semester, namely, one activity for one month. Usually, the activities were arranged in the morning of Friday. This arrangement would avoid the conflicts between school based activity and municipal activity, and reduce the negative impact on normal teaching work, (b) in each activity, the theme and lecturer were decided in advance so that the activity would be systematic and topic focused, (c)the speeches by the lecturers from expert teacher at secondary 8
school, teaching/ research educator(教 研员) at district education institutes, or mathematics educators from Universities can give teachers proper demonstration and sample, (d)regarding the contents of lectures, it would be focused on the teaching content analysis and teaching suggestion while it still be focused on the preparation of entry examination for the teacher who give lesson with final years of the students. In general, the aim of the activities is to improve classroom teaching. Under strict examination systems, it is reasonable to focus on the preparation of entrance examination. Competition of Teaching Skill Besides the normal teaching/research activities, educational authorities and relevant organizations have organized various competitions of excellent lessons through public appraisal. Take Guangzhou city for example. There is a competition of “Ten excellent young mathematics teachers in Guangzhou” organized by the municipal education authority and mathematics education association. The aim of conducting this competition is to enhance the education and teaching competence of young mathematics teachers, and provide them an opportunity to develop their professional competence. Since 2002, various competition activities have been established. For examples, “Ten excellent young mathematics teachers at senior high school in Guangzhou”, “Ten excellent young mathematics teachers at junior high school in Guangzhou”, and “appraisal through comparison of mathematics teaching/research paper of secondary mathematics teachers in Guangzhou”, and “competition of solving problems secondary young mathematics teachers” and son on. Educational organizations and schools have actively participated and supported these kinds of activities so as to make those activities successful. Since 2003, these kinds of activities have been carried out regularly. In summary, these competitions for young mathematics teachers require three advanced teaching basic skills, i.e. classroom teaching, problem solving and research paper writing. The champions of these competitions since 1999 have won good reputes in young mathematics teachers in Guangzhou, which demonstrated the catalyzing roles of young teacher’s development. In addition, there are some nationally excellent research papers selection such as “national mathematics education research appraisal at secondary school” organized by secondary mathematics teaching profession committee, China Education Association. Besides these kinds of competitions, there are different kinds of short terms training programs, and symposiums. All of them have played positive roles in mathematics teacher’s professional development, particularly in classroom teaching skill and mathematics education research ability. Continuing Education Project for 21st Century During the 10 year of “culture revolution”, education enterprise has been damaged seriously. For example, only 10% of junior school teacher have got an education diploma (three year programs after completing senior high schooling). In order to tackle this problem, in 1980s, the policy of in-service teacher training was to “learn what you need to teach” and “provide what you are weak”, the main aim was to achieve the education degree standard and teaching qualification, called “compensation training”. However, in middle of 1990s, with the achievement of the aim of “compensation training”, Education Department put forward a new agenda on continuing education, that is to serve for all, give prominence to the key teacher(骨干), pay attention to the achievement, make great efforts to explore a basic framework and model which is suitable for continuing education in Mainland China. In the Education Revival Agenda for 21st Century (Education Department, 1999),one “across century teacher project” was 9
proposed. According to the project, within three years, all the principals and teachers at primary and secondary schools would be trained in various ways. Within two years, 100,000 key teachers selected from primary and secondary school and vocational schools would be trained, and Education Department would take the responsible for training 10,000 key teachers. In 1999, Education Department deployed and started the “continuing education project for primary and secondary school teachers”,and mobilized governments and educational authorities at different levels to make their efforts in advancing teachers’ ability of implement of quality education, and enhancing the whole quality of the teaches(Cheng,2002). Training of Mathematics Key (骨干)Teachers Mathematics key teachers can be classified into three levels, namely, national, provincial and municipal. In 2000, Education Department activated the National training programs for key teacher from primary and secondary schools by using some centralized education resources. And the local governments also made their efforts in training key teachers from primary and secondary schools through establishing multiple channels of rising specific funding for the teacher training. The aims of key teacher training at different levels are to build teams of modernization, demonstration and ushering teachers to bring along the improvement of whole teachers at primary and secondary schools. Mathematics key teachers training program. There are two levels in this program: national and local program. At the national level, this program was organized and implemented by several comprehensive and normal universities such as Beijing Normal Universities, East China Normal University, Southern China Normal University and so on. The program includes learning of theory, field observation, and educational research. The second national key teachers training program has the following characteristics: (1)catering for the requirement of teacher professional development in the future, and paying attention to participants’ practice and need, insisting on the high standards of national training program, and sticking to enhancing the theoretical literacy and teaching practice at the same time, particularly , aiming at implementing the general aim of qualify education into subject teaching, developing multiple but unique training courses system and teaching methods based on the uniqueness of each training institute;(2) elaborative organizing a comprehensive and opened tutor team which consist of high prestigious subject expert, educationalist, and famous teacher at second school;(3) insisting on integration of participant’s principal role and tutor’s steering role, and enhancing participants’ self-learning, self-practicing and self-researching by means of multiple teaching approaches;(4) developing a set of high quality demonstration lessons through elaborate design and teaching and revision;(5)insisting on doing research and improving the awareness and ability of doing research. Encouraging participants to apply recent education and subject achievement to teaching practice, and enhance this transformation through doing research (Education Department,2001). According to the suggestion by Education Department (2000), the courses for Key teacher training program include theory and skill (40%), practice and observation (30%), education research (30%). Let us take Guangzhou case for example. In October, 2000, Southern China Normal University conducted two national programs for key mathematics teachers at secondary and primary schools respectively. The contents of the training programs included three elements: Theory and skill, Practice and observation, and Educational research. Theory and skill includes update of education ideas, cultivation of teacher moral, extension of mathematics and relevant subjects knowledge, content- pedagogical knowledge and skills, modern educational technology 10
etc.. It is intended to make the trainees love education enterprise, form a scientific point of view on teaching and mathematics education, update the knowledge structure, master the modern education technology, improve the mathematics education theory and practical skill, and enhance the academic ability. Practice and observation means to organize trainees to investigate some representative schools or cases through analyzing, discussion, sharing and reflection report writing. It aims to improve the ability of applying theory into practice, and reflecting and improving practice so as to train them to be mathematics education experts. Educational research consists of doing certain education research through selecting themes, purposeful reading, and research paper writing under tutors’ supervision. Its purpose is to enhance the awareness and ability of doing education research, and further foster the education creative ability. Usually, it will take more than one year. During the first week in full-time, through reading and discussion , the research topics are selected, then around year in part-time, the trainees will conduct a research and complete the research papers , finally, within one week, the research paper will be defended and the training programs will be completed. At provincial and municipal levels, the program was organized by provincial universities or institutes locally. The framework of provincial and municipal key teacher training programs is similar to that of national key teacher program. Training for Advanced Education Degrees For the sake of the demand of social development, higher degrees such as master degree or master course diploma at secondary schools are required. Some programs for obtaining advanced degrees have been created since 2000. Meeting requirement of education degree through multiple training programs and channels. For those who have not met the education degree requirement of secondary school teacher, there are different channels to purse the advancement of education degrees. Some continuing education schools at universities have made contribution to the advancement of unqualified education degree teacher through teaching by correspondence, nigh university, and self-learning examination etc. Since 2003, the internet education school at university also plays important roles in the education degree advancement secondary teachers. Achieving higher education degree for basic education. In order to advance qualified secondary teacher with higher education degree, some master course programs or master in education programs specializing in mathematics education have been opened in many provinces since 1998. The models of these programs have been matured progressively. There are multiple models such as full-time, half full-time and half part-time, holiday courses etc so as to meet the requirements of different candidates. The candidates who complete master course program will get certificates and can apply for a master degree if they pass an English test and thesis defenses. Both programs of master degree education are beneficial to the advancement of education degree of secondary teacher, and improvement of the education degree structures of secondary teachers. In the year of 2005, the qualified rates of teachers’ education degree at primary school, junior school and high school are 98.62%, 95.24% and 83.46% respectively. The number of advanced education degree of teacher has been increased stably. For example, there are more than 56.35% of primary specified teacher holding a three year training diploma, and there are more than 35.31% of junior specified teacher achieving bachelor degree, and there are more than 11
1.18% senior specified teacher holding a master degree or above. In addition, the percent of higher position of teachers at primary school, junior school and high school are 42.55%、6.56% and 19.29%, increasing to 3.28%、0.93% and 0.80% respectively, compared with those in the last year( Education Department, 2006). Implementation of Mew Mathematics Curriculum With the release and implementation of Mathematics Curriculum Standard for Compulsory Education Stage (experimental version) in year 2001, relevant mathematics experimental textbooks have been implemented for experiment around Mainland China since 2005. After the release of the Mathematics Curriculum Standards for Normal Senior High School in 2003, four provinces were participated in the experiment of the new textbook guided by the new standard in 2004, and there are 8 experimental providences around Mainland China in 2005. It is an extreme reform of mathematics curriculum since the establishment of P.R.China in 1949. To implement the new curriculums, the teachers have to meet the following challenges such as upgrading and transformation of teaching notions, putting into effect of the teaching aims, understanding and mastering of some new contents, exploration of the innovative teaching methods, mastery and applying of the education technology, implementation of the assessment of the teaching and so on. Take the experiment of the new curriculum for senior high school in Guangdong for example. From primary school to junior high schools, new textbooks pertaining to the new curriculum standard were adopted in all grades since 2005. According to the guidance by Education Department, namely, “before using it you must be trained; you can’t use it without training” , it is necessary to be trained with at least 40 hours before using the new textbook(Education Department, 2004), all the experimental areas have organized training programs for the teachers who will use new textbooks. The teacher’s training for implementation of new curriculum has been carried out systematically according to the guidance of Education Department. First of all, it is the training of trainers and key teacher nationally, and then the training of local trainers, after that, all the teachers who are going to use the new curriculum will be trained. Training of The Key Trainers of Mathematics New Curriculum In the training of teachers who teach the new curriculums, it is very important to educate the trainers who are from the education organization, normal universities and training organization and the key teacher. All of them will take a core role of the implementation of the new curriculum and lead the teachers to engage in the experiment of the new curriculum. Regarding mathematics subject, there are two levels of key trainers’ training program, i.e. national and provincial programs. National key trainers study program. Education Department has organized national key trainers study programs. The model of the study consists of expert lectures, group exchange, cooperation discussion, cases teaching, field classroom observation and examination and so on. Usually, the key trainer training program includes the following phases: (a) Before participating the program, candidates must have investigated the situation in the experiment area where they work and collected the teachers requests, and collected and written typical teaching cases( 3-5 cases) on the teaching of the new curriculum 3-5 cases, (b)before the completion of the program, all participants must submit a summary report individually, (c) after completion of the program, the participants must submit a training schedule for provincial key trainers . 12
Provincial key trainer study program. With the deployment of the new curriculum experiment, it is important to educate provincial key trainers so that the experiment at local level can be implemented effectively. During the process of experiment of the new curriculum, some critical and urgent issues have to be tackled. For example, the misunderstanding of the new curriculum principles by the teachers, the mismatch between textbook and curriculum standard, the conflict between innovative teaching methods and traditional teaching methods, the gap between the subject knowledge required by the new curriculum and the subject knowledge had by the teachers, the assessment of the effectiveness of implementing the new curriculum. The study program for the provincial key trainers was intended to discuss and tackle these pertinent and practical problems so that these educated key trainers have the abilities to creatively implement the ideas of the new curriculum into classroom and deal with certain unexpected situations. The methods of the study are whole classroom lectures and grouping discussion. It is more important to participate in and contribute to the study community in order to enhance the effectiveness of the study. After the program, the frequent interaction between experts and key trainers was encouraged. Training of Senior High Teachers for Implementation of New Curriculum Take Guangdong province for example. In year 2004, all the mathematics teachers who teach at senior high school year 1 were required to participate in training programs organized by the department of mathematics at Southern China Normal University group during that summer. The training program includes two main components, pedagogical content and subject content. The pedagogical knowledge includes (a) the background, aims, content and policy of this basic education reform; (b) new curriculum and new teaching principles; (c) new curriculum and assessment reform; (d) new curriculum and shift of the teacher roles. One the other the pedagogical content knowledge was included such as theories of mathematics teaching and learning. Subject matter knowledge refers to (a)interpretation of mathematics curriculum for senior high schools,(b)analysis of the mathematics textbooks and teaching cases for senior high schools, (c) comparison of the textbooks between new version and old one and (d)classroom observation and discussion, typical cases discussion and critical comments. By the end of 2005, there are 7 millions of primary and junior high school teachers and 7 millions of senior high school teachers completing 40 hours of training of new curriculum. And Education Department had directly trained around 22 thousands of key trainers and key teachers of new curriculum sending the seeds for implementation of new curriculum at provincial level and, effectively promoting the experiment and extending of new curriculum at basic education(Education Department, 2006) Internet-based Summer Course for Training Secondary and Primary School Teachers Since year 2003, Education Department initiated a “program of national teacher internet alliance” aiming at enhancing the integration of teacher education system, and satellite television, computer internet and other education resources. Implementing this program includes four levels of tasks: national, provincial, country and school-based. By the end of year 2005, the first three levels of tasks have been carried out step by step. In the summer of year 2006, Education department conducted a Web-based summer course for practical teacher at city and county, which is an exploratory way for teacher training. This course is served for more than ten thousands of key teachers at front of teaching from 49 counties. At the same time, there are other 13
couples of ten thousands of teachers learn by themselves through web-based courses. This training focused on important points, difficulty points and doubtable points during the implementation of new curriculum. By focusing on the practical problems appeared when teaching the reform-oriented textbooks, the course consists of three major themes, namely, classroom teaching, students’ learning, and teacher professional development. The contents of this course are mainly cases studies catering for closely related to practices, classrooms, and subjects. The training mainly adopted the following methods: watching video online, reading text material, sharing experience, discussing problems, expert comment and so on. Based on a questionnaire survey, there are more than 90% of participants satisfying with this programs, and positive comments on this programs have been received widely (Education Department, 2006). However, no matter the web-based training program or key teacher training programs are at national level and local levels. It is mainly course-based training which is still not related to specific content and specific practical situation. These approaches still can not solve the effective implementation of new curriculum in classrooms. Thus, school-based teaching/research aiming to improve the quality of classroom teaching under the condition of implementation of new curriculum is more urgent. Although there is a long tradition of school-based teaching/research in China, it has been challenged due to the implementation of reform-orientated curriculum. Recently, an exploratory school-based teaching/research model, called school-based study(研修) has been experimented and populated in China. Some of the features will be discussed in the next session. From School-based Teaching/Research(教研) to School-based Study(研修) As described above, teaching/research activity has been in place for a long history, which has demonstrated some positive roles in teacher professional development. However, recent years, school-based study has been advocated and populated around Mainland China. What are the new development and unique feature of the school-based study? With the deployment of the new curriculum, the school-based study is a development of teaching/ research by adopting the “learning community” notions (Lave & Wenger, 1991). The school-based study includes the following shifts (Gu, 2005): (a) from a teaching skill proficiency oriented to teaching cultural oriented, (b) from study on content and pedagogy to study on student’s learning and teaching behavior, (d) from focus on the teaching schedule to focus on the cultivation of research awareness, (e) from focus on the experience to upgrade of the education ideas and cultural reconstruction. Thus, the school-based study is a profound revolution of teacher’s teaching methods and research methods, and teacher learning and developing as well. It is the school- based study that makes the teacher to be the ownership of teaching, research and cultivating. The knowledge of teacher consists of explicit knowledge which is written in text and the tacit knowledge which is embedded in context and situation. The tacit knowledge can not be transmitted from one to another, only can be learnt through participating in activities and interaction with others. In the school-based study, it is emphasized the “integration of knowing and action”(知行合一) and collaborative teacher learning. Teacher learning is problem-driven. Through recognition of practical problem and designing the method to solve the problem and finally solving the problem in quest, teachers have experienced the process of solving practical problems and developed their practical wisdom but not only purely theoretical knowledge. Teacher learning is also a case-based reasoning because the problems that teachers faced are ill- structured ones. It is important to have the multiple representations of problems and random 14
assess to the problems. Knowing and affection are inseparable. In the school-based study, teachers’ affection and experience is particular concerned. As a human being, a teacher should be regarded as a whole and interpersonal people. The wholeness means that teachers should have experienced in “seven affections and six desires” and “acridness, sweetness, bitterness and pepper”. Thus it is necessary for teachers to engage in learning and knowing with affection. “Interpersonal” people means that teachers as normal people need to learn and share together within a practical community. Thus, it is also important to establish practical community with a safe, reliable, mistakable atmosphere so that the reflection meeting during as study activity is not a kind of criticism one but a constructive and brainstorming session. With the learning community, any mistakes they make will not be criticized to create pressure to the teachers but be treated as a learning opportunity. “Focusing on classroom” is an educational research trend, and also the key of improving teaching quality; it is no doubt that the school-based teaching/ research should pay key attention to the researching into classroom. In year 2002, Gu et al suggested a model of in-service teacher professional development, called “Action Education” (Gu & Wang,2003).According to this model, Keli (similar to Japanese Lesson Study) study is a medium of unfolding the program, expertise leading and action follow-up are emphasized(Huang& Bao,2006). Through collaborative experiencing three phases, i.e. existing behavior, new design and new behavior, the practicing teachers have improved their classroom teaching. By overcoming the gap between the first stage and second one, and gaps between the second and third one, the practicing teachers update their education ideas and adjust their teaching behavior, and finally improve the quality of classroom teaching and professional knowledge. “Action research” is a research paradigm which aims at improvement of action, and recoding the process of improvement, i.e. design-action- reflection, and theoretical application and practical wisdom learning with a practical community (Gu, 2005). Conclusion and Discussion Emphasizing on Mathematics Subject Foundations On the basis of curriculum framework in the department of mathematics at normal university, both tradition and innovation ones emphasizes the foundation of mathematics subject knowledge. With the establishment of multiple teacher education system, more and more graduates from other comprehensive universities will join the teacher enterprise. Due to the demanding recruitment of comprehensive universities (possible higher scores of university entrance examination and higher requirement of mathematics training at university), their mathematics literacy will not less than the graduates from normal universities. Thus, the tradition of the mathematics teachers with a profound mathematics subject knowledge will be kept.Moreover, Leung (2003) argued that emphasizing on subject knowledge of teachers is rooted in notion of teachers and normal university in Mainland China. The graduates from normal university (teachers’ model) should be the model of their students with regard to moral and academic aspects. It is necessary for teacher to have sound subject knowledge. In fact, many studies also emphasize the important impact of mathematics subject knowledge on the teacher professional development. In his landmark review of 30 studies of teachers’ knowledge of mathematics, Begle (1979) concluded: “It seems to be taken for granted that it is important for the teacher to have a thorough understanding of the subject matter being taught” (p. 28). The Glenn 15
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