Teacher Competence for Early Career Teachers in China: The Distance Between "Ivory Tower" and "Lectern"

Examining the teacher education landscape in China, Xiaojing Yan focuses on how early career teachers (ECTs) build their competence during the initial years of teaching, challenges that come with teacher training and pathways to improve teacher competence.

Although there is a growing trend in China to focus on teacher quality and professional development, teacher competence varies across teacher groups: ECTs, in particular, face a variety of challenges in the initial period. Using a qualitative-based approach, Yan examines 55 teacher education policies and 3 education laws between 1949 and 2019 in China. The chapters offer valuable insights into teacher education policy and practice, as well as teachers’ professional development strategies and competence growth at the secondary level. With teacher’s needs in mind, this book provides a framework for policy development and teaching implementation, as well as for teachers’ practices and effective professional learning.

Discussing critical issues and opportunities in the development of ECTs competence, this book will appeal to researchers, students and practitioners across the fields of teacher education and professional learning development. It will also be relevant and accessible to policymakers involved in education and teacher training.

Xiaojing Yan is a lecturer at Capital University of Economics and Business, China and holds a PhD in Education from Monash University, Australia. She has published extensively on Chinese early career teachers’ competences and teacher standards. Her research interests are sociology of education, teacher education, and rural education.