218 / 2021-06-30 22:16:01

“I’m supposed to be a change-maker, but I’m worn out”: Challenges faced by FNE teachers in professional development

Free-Normal Education,English teacher,Emotion experience,Professional development

Teachers graduated from the Free-Normal-Education (FNE) Program are often expected to make contributions to China’s rural education. While recently it’s reported that an increasing number of FNE teachers try to break their contract, especially those who just stepped into the career. The reasons why these teachers want to quit teaching are worthy of attention and this paper tends to examine the everyday struggles faced by FNE teachers by a case study of a female FNE English teacher who comes from Sichuan. Teacher emotion is an important factor that affects teaching practice and reflects the negotiations between socio-cultural environment and teachers themselves. Envisioning emotion as a socially constructed experience that potentially hinders or facilitates teachers’ professional development, the researcher collected the emotion experiences of the participant through weekly emotion journals for a semester and conducted two interviews during which the participants’ understanding of her emotions, and the ways she managed her emotions were discussed. The current study finds that the main factors affecting teachers' emotion experience are teaching, school affairs and students' classroom behaviors, all of which constitutes the various challenges faced by FNE English teachers during their work. Based on these findings, this paper provide suggestions for future FNE programs, wishing to promote the professional development of FNE teachers.