Being Novice School Teachers in China

This book adopts a qualitative research methodology to explore novice teachers’ professional development (TPD) under the background of the New Curriculum Reform in mainland China. With a purposeful sampling strategy, in-depth, semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from twelve novice primary school teachers. As the specific design of the qualitative method and research procedures have been demonstrated, this book could be reading material for courses such as Qualitative Research Methodology and would be beneficial for undergraduate and postgraduate students learning qualitative research.

In addition, this book provides suggestions for pre-service and novice teachers. The study found that although TPD programs and better welfare are desirable, collegial support from seniors, internet resources and online courses, and self-reflection were more direct and effective in enhancing professional growth and reducing negative emotions that developed from challenges in classroom management, workload, and accountability.

This book also suggests three directions for the future development of TPD to school leaders and policymakers. First, more training on classroom management and time management is helpful as poor classroom management and excessive workload were the causes of teacher burnout. Second, more school-level mentoring is wanted because it is considered more effective than the state and individual-level opportunities of TPD. Third, more development opportunities for teachers in rural areas are required to improve their professional competence and narrow their gap with their urban counterparts.