Identity transformation of Chinese secondary school teachers during educational reform

Secondary school teachers’ professional identities have often been overlooked despite that they have experienced ongoing and dramatic identity negotiations, conflicts, and even crisis in new Gaokao (university entrance examination). Starting off from this notable research gap, the present study employed a qualitative approach to examine the changes in teacher professional identity cognitively, socially, and emotionally after they had gone through the reform over a period of 3 years since 2014. Nine participants’ interview data and reflective journals were collected and analyzed. The findings demonstrated that there was a sharp transformation of teachers’ cognitive engagement, social interactions, and emotional experiences in terms of school management, teaching beliefs and practices, teacher professionalism and teacher training programmes, revealing the complexities of identity development through which teachers had to adjust themselves to meet the new demands of the reform. The implications for secondary school teachers were also offered.     

Men,masculinities, and the politics of development

Gender identity is clearly as much of an issue for men as it is for women. However, that fact is just beginning to be recognized in development practice and mainstream development still takes men's gender identities for granted. While some women may benefit from their position in a patriarchal society, some men are disadvantaged. Certain men benefit more than others in society since gender identity cuts across other forms of social differentiation, including race, age, and economic class. Each man has varying success in conforming to the norms of masculinity, depending upon experience, upbringing, and external context. Agencies and analysts should seriously consider how men's self-perception in society affects development outcomes and challenges existing approaches to work on gender issues. Including men and masculinities in the gender perspective should broaden and deepen the understanding of power and inequality between both men and women as well as in other social relationships, increasing the effectiveness of development interventions.     

‘Not Easily Put Into a Box’: Constructing Professional Identity

Researching the interplay between social work students' personal and professional identities, I found that, in talking about becoming professionals, students drew on a wide range of discourses. Three common usages of the term ‘professional identity’ are explored here: it can be thought of in relation to desired traits; it can also be used in a collective sense to convey the ‘identity of the profession’. Taking a more subjective approach, professional identity can be regarded as a process in which each individual comes to have a sense of themselves as a social worker. I argue that the variations in students' talk reflect a wide range of cultural understandings that are prevalent within the social work community and society in general, and conclude that professional identity is more complicated than adopting certain traits or values, or even demonstrating competence. The different meanings of professional identity all have something to offer, providing resources for students as they construct themselves as social workers. This is important for social work education because it acknowledges the dynamic nature of professional identity, highlights the difficult identity work which each student must undertake, and prompts us to consider how this process might best be supported.     

Opening our eyes,changing our practices: learning through the transnational lifeworlds of teachers

This article examines the inclusion of a culturally relevant curricular practice of social identity papers within teacher education in the USA that incorporates the transnational lifeworlds of teachers. Using tenets of feminist interdisciplinary frameworks, we highlight how this curricular practice allows teachers and teacher candidates in urban and rural contexts to examine transnational lifeworlds and their influence on culturally relevant practices in relation to notions of oppression and privilege. We focus on linguistic border crossings and both/and perspectives of teacher’s social identities. More research is needed to better understand the construction of teacher’s social identities within and across transnational lifeworlds and the ways it impacts their practices and student’s academic and social achievement.     

The selfish giant: narration and language instruction in a multicultural pre-primary class as a model for teacher change and development

Within the framework of multicultural education, a school-based teacher training program was implemented in a public preschool in Nicosia, Cyprus, where a large number of migrant pupils were enrolled. The main goal of the program was to create a basis for reflection and interaction among the teaching staff about issues related to the social and learning development of migrant pupils. The approach was based on a model for teacher change which focuses on enactment and reflection. Specific methodological aspects were applied in a session related to language instruction, which was carried out and observed by the school teaching staff. The main conclusion was that most of the migrant pupils reacted positively: they played an active role and their participation increased. This teacher training program enabled the teachers to realize how they, as professionals, are influenced by their own experiences and they also recognized the limits of their competences and expertise.     

Exploring the Development of Professional Identity with Newly Qualified Social Workers

This paper discusses the experiences of newly qualified social workers as part of a research project exploring professional identity. Drawing on literature in this area and a subset of data from a larger study involving Australian practitioners, it is argued that while several studies explore experiences of identity, the phenomenon remains under-researched, especially in Australia. Seventeen people participated in three in-depth, semistructured interviews across a 12-month period. A subset of the data explores how participants were actively motivated and benefitted from reflecting on their identities through the research process. Findings indicate newly qualified social workers appreciate meaningful opportunities to critically reflect upon their social work identities. It is concluded that further research is needed, to understand the identities and needs of newly qualified social workers in Australia.     

Teaching Elementary School Social Studies Methods under edTPA

This article reports a self-study that analyzes my experience as a teacher educator navigating a turbulent educational landscape with the advent of edTPA. The data consist of my journal entries, the syllabi, handouts, work submitted by my students, and course evaluations. Data were analyzed by using an inductive process to describe how the edTPA compounds my work of teaching future elementary teachers for social studies for social justice. I discuss challenges associated with my teaching and the ways that I have grappled with these challenges. Implications for teacher educators are discussed, because we all must deal with important issues in the current era of accountability and testing.     

Out in the Margins

Using a social construction model of both disability and lesbianism this paper focuses on the intersection of these two identities in questioning the accessibility of the lesbian community to women who are both lesbian and disabled. Whilst many physical barriers and lack awareness can contribute to the exclusion of disabled lesbian women from the lesbian community, so also can the unquestioned assumptions by many ablebodied lesbian women that disabled lesbian women are asexual and are somehow 'other', and are 'different' from themselves. Disabled lesbian women may be forced to contend with, and resist, discrimination from both an ablebodied heterosexist society and ablebodied discrimination from within the lesbian community. Within the discussion of identities will be an attempt to problematize my own ablebodied lesbian identity in both doing the research and in writing this paper. The challenges of addressing the complex issues of identity commonality, difference, and diversity will be discussed within a feminist perspective.     

Intersecting Sexual,Gender, and Professional Identities Among Social Work Students: The Importance of Identity Integration

ABSTRACT

Discrimination toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social work students can negatively affect academic performance and personal and professional identity development. Intersectionality is a conceptual approach that states that social identities interact to form different meanings and experiences from those that could be explained by a single identity. This study explored how the educational experiences of LGBTQ social work students in the United States and Canada influenced their professional and personal identities. Using an intersectional analysis, three major themes emerged: the need for social work programs to better promote LGBTQ identity and emerging social work professional identity integration, a lack of LGBTQ content in the curriculum, and unsupportive LGBTQ school climates. Implications for social work education are considered.     

Deaf identity construction in Malaysia

This paper focuses on the identity creation processes of Deaf people in Malaysian society using an intersectionality approach to issues of identity, disability, and Deaf studies. Deaf people belong to a marginalized community and typically experience stereotyped, prejudiced, and stigmatized treatment from the hearing community, which has a serious impact on their social and personal identity development. Without sufficient information about the process of identity creation for Deaf people, the hearing community cannot reduce inequality nor can it increase social integration and stability for the Deaf community. There is a paucity of research about this identity creation process in Malaysia, and few studies have used identity-related theories and Deaf studies to examine the issue. This study uses a constructivist point of view, employing an interpretive phenomenological epistemology in order to construct insightful accounts of participants’ personal and interpersonal experience in mainstream society. The data was analyzed using methods associated with grounded theory and constant comparative analysis in order to reveal the extent to which they identify themselves, that is linguistic minority or PWD. The findings suggest that, on the one hand, mainstream society categorizes Deaf people as Persons with Disabilities rather than as a linguistic minority; on the other hand, without realizing it, Deaf people typically accept society's evaluation by identifying with it and playing the expected roles of PWD.     

POLITICAL IDENTITIES AND POLITICAL LANDSCAPES:

This article presents case studies of two men who have a history of political activism on "women's' issues. The aim of my analysis is to describe the interpretive practice (Gubrium and Holstein 1994) through which the respondents construct individual political identities that make sense of their activism. The analysis treats identity as a narrative construction and also demonstrates that the context of this identity work is itself a construction. When respondents talk about their involvement in women's issues, they simultaneously construct an image of the political landscape, their own identities, and a relationship between the two.
In their narratives, the two men constructed very different images of the political landscape and identities in relation to it. One man interpreted the autobiography he constructed in terms of socialization and social learning in an effort to demonstrate an ongoing engagement with feminist concerns. The other man invoked a folk theory, consistent with feminist standpoint epistemology (Harding 1990), that used his gender to "define him out' of activism on women's issues.
I argue that these cases (1) demonstrate that narrative operates as a site at which men negotiate their relationship to gendered politics and women's issues and (2) represent a previously unrecognized dynamic of interpretive practice (Gubrium and Holstein 1995) in which actors assume discretion over the narrative construction of both their identities and the context in which that identity is to be understood.     

论完善教师职业的社会责任

教师职业的社会责任是要把广大青少年培养成为有理想、有道德、有文化、有纪律的社会主义建设人才。人才的培养不仅决定于教师的劳动,而且决定于周围环境的关系。为了使环境符合教育学,教师必须遵循社会主义教师职业的道德要求,正确处理教师和社会的关系,教师职业要适应新时期的要求和建设的需要。     

With a little help from my friends? Integration and the role of mainstream pupils

This paper examines the role of mainstream pupils in the integration of pupils with special educational needs (SEN), based on their accounts of this process. It is argued that mainstream pupils control the experiences of pupils with SEN in both positive and negative ways and that schools need to become more aware of this if integration is to be successful. The paper ends with some suggestions as to how schools might guide mainstream pupils' understanding of disability and promote good relationships.     

Special Children,Integration and Moral Education

SUMMARY: This paper explores issues concerning the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream schools and draws out the implications of the discussions for moral education. Social and personal theories of disability are reconciled to provide a basis for a moral education which bridges ‘alternative’ moral traditions. I argue that successful integration requires a moral education for teachers and pupils which encourages the development of both a ‘caring justice’ and a ‘judicious care’.     

Social identities, class identity and political perspectives

There has been considerable controversy over the extent to which class is a salient social identity, and the importance of other social identities Marshall and his colleagues (1988) argue that class identity remains a salient frame of reference in people's daily lives while Saunders (1989;1990) and Emmison and Western (1990) argue that class identity is not as strong as they claim, and the importance of other social identities cannot be denied. However, proponents and opponents in the debate are agreed that the salience of social identities depends upon the context in which they are found which cannot be fully explored in highly-structured interviews. Drawing on data from a ‘qualitative re-study’ of the Affluent Worker series, it will be argued that people have many different identities, including a strong class identity, which co-exist at the same time. That said, their class identity is the most important influence on the formation of political perspectives. This finding concurs with the Essex team and Saunders even though he has sought to distance himself from this conclusion.     

Dilemmas in International Social Work Education in the United Arab Emirates: Islam,Localization and Social Need

This paper discusses emerging dilemmas in social work education and practice in the United Arab Emirates. Here social work education is primarily based on Westernized curricula; however localized cultural sensitivities require that some mainstream issues, particularly in relation to issues of abuse, are not engaged with. Nevertheless research findings show that social problems such as these are clearly present in UAE society. Therefore it is argued that what is required is an accountable, effective social work education that retains cultural congruity whilst empowering practitioners with the knowledge needed to engage with contemporary social problems. Finally, to contextualize the dichotomy between local culture and the wider community of Islam in relation to social work, some comparisons are drawn with other Muslim nations, specifically Malaysia.     

Contexts for Learning: Sociocultural Dynamics in Children's Development (Book)

We look across two studies, conducted within the current new managerialist policy context in Australia, which capture the construction of social spaces mediated through the nexus of material, activity, and discursive space. The focus of the first study is the negotiation of identities for a second language (Indonesian) teacher and his Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The social space of their classroom is carnivalized, parodying traditional teacher/student relationships, and stripping the teacher of his authority. The students position the teacher as Other and, in the process, map the border of "white" space, temporarily allowing Aboriginal students access to dominant discourses. The second study documents strategies for reengaging young people who are not enrolled in mainstream schools. While policy makers have not articulated processes for reengagement, the default or implicit strategy of organizations that fund programs to reconnect young people in learning or earning pathways emphasizes information dissemination, or reengagement as contact. However, some youth workers are remaking the social space of school, enacting a strategy that prioritizes reengagement as commitment. These studies highlight the way processes of schooling dis/place both teachers and students. Our response is to consider ways of dis/placing school.     

Picturing social work,puzzles and passion: exploring and developing transnational professional identities

ABSTRACT

Exploring and in turn developing professional identity is a challenge faced by social work programmes, nationally and internationally. This paper developed from the authors’ shared research interest in how social workers and students of social work develop and express their professional identities. We report findings from a workshop designed to explore how a group of social workers from different countries conceptualised social work identity, including the effects of transnational and cultural contexts. Our starting point drew on theoretical concepts developed in Wiles’s research, in which the term professional identity is used to convey multiple meaning, and the method developed in Vicary’s research which uses drawing to elicit data. We found that a collective identity is shared across national boundaries albeit, and ironically, that this shared identity has components that are not cohesive and are continually being redefined. In the participants’ own words, the notion of social work identity is always just out of reach conceptually, or ‘over the horizon’. Tensions in identity were also revealed, alongside a sense of passion or deep commitment. These findings complement and add to the existing literature on exploring and developing professional identity in social work.     

Some indications for professional development in social work: a study of theoretical interest and attitudes towards research among Icelandic social workers

This study among Icelandic social workers generally showed positive attitudes towards research activity in the field. Most respondents, whereof half were practice teachers, saw the practicum as an important tool for the integration of theoretical application and research activity to practice. Almost all saw research activity as a feasible way to empower social work as a profession. Simultaneously, a relatively small percentage report their own research activity. Besides this discrepancy some interesting differences were found according to number of years after graduation, field employment and experience as practice teachers. It is argued that the theme in focus is a critical indication of professional development and highly relevant for the educational discourse as for future professional development.     

Five Star Teacher: In-Service on the Move

Teachers learned knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions through spending significant amounts of time working with heritage sites as they learned more about social studies. Elementary social studies teachers engaged in teacher in-service to increase their abilities to meet geography standards. Teacher professional development that caused instructors to engage with cultural and historic sites benefited them and should be considered as well as other models of teacher in-service. Teachers used study travel opportunities to engage in geographic investigation and exploration to accomplish inquiry. Teachers determined that extended time was required to experience the place, to value it, and to harbor the disposition to teach about it; they learned in-depth content from spending time on-site, and they learned skills to extract knowledge from site through reading the landscape. Teachers encountered multiple perspectives, technology, and controversial issues through their studies of regions in the Ohio River Valley. Teachers of elementary social studies may wish to consider this type of professional development to understand a sense of place and how it relates to the curriculum they teach.