Early Childhood Teacher Identity In The Context Of Curriculum Reform

Since the 1980 s,the tide of education reform has swept the world.Most countries are carrying out education reform with curriculum reform as the core.The issue of teacher identity and its formation is a critical perspective to understand teachers’ experience and response to curriculum reform.In the new stage of high quality and connotative development of early childhood education in China,based on the curriculum reform of early childhood education,this research used the qualitative research method of meaning interpretation orientation and the strategy of case study to select 11 kindergarten teachers born in the 1960 s,1970s,1980 s and 1990 s in Shanghai as research participants and investigate how kindergarten teachers understand and construct their teacher identity from the macro(public narration),meso(school situation)and micro(individual)levels.The main findings of this study are as follows:The first study aims to explore how the macro context affects the construction of kindergarten teacher identity by comparing the expectation of teacher identity in public narration with the metaphor of teacher identity.In the first part,based on the relevant policy texts and expert discourses on the curriculum reform of early childhood education promulgated by the state and Shanghai since the reform and opening up,the study discussed the transformation of public narrative of kindergarten teacher identity expectations.It is found that as the concept of curriculum model changes from the traditional subject-centered of "teachers,classrooms and textbook" to the basic concept of "child development oriented",the expectation of teacher identity in public discourse is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: it shows the change from knowledge imparter to "first among equals" in the aspect of teacher-student relationship;In terms of curriculum implementation: it is not only the role of curriculum executor,but the teachers are expected to improve the ability of curriculum reflection and research;As for teacher development: curriculum reform attaches importance to the role of teacher culture in reform and teacher development,and encourages teachers to create teacher community and share knowledge through communication and cooperation.The second part examines the metaphors of kindergarten teachers’ identity in Chinese context.It is found that kindergarten teachers metaphorically expound the teacher identity from the perspectives from views of children,teachers’ responsibilities,teacher-student relationship and early childhood education purpose.Based on the analysis of educational philosophy,this study finds that kindergarten teacher identity metaphors embody three orientations: "teachers as role models" from the perspective of traditional teacher view,"teachers as nurturers" from the perspective of child centered view,and "teachers as spiritual awakeners" from the perspective of existentialism.In the second study,from the perspective of social culture and agency theory,the interaction among teacher identity,agency and school situation in curriculum reform was discussed,in order to reveal how the curriculum reform influences the kindergarten teachers’ identity construction through the intermediary of school,and the agency performance of kindergarten teachers’ identity in the process of interaction with situational factors.Firstly,the impact of curriculum reform on kindergarten teachers’ identity permeates all aspects of teachers’ work.This research is mainly reflected in teachers’ perception of non-teaching work,including education supervision and teacher evaluation,and teacher development work,containing school-based research and teaching project research.Curriculum reform has different effects on the construction of kindergarten teachers’ identity through the intermediary of school.At present,the education supervision and evaluation system guided by managerialism leads to the intensive tendency of teachers’ work,however,kindergarten teachers in schools that comply with performativity culture are more negatively affected by heavy administrative affairs,text work,instrumental evaluation and deprofessional research activities,which to some extent reduces teachers’ professional enthusiasm and limits their professional autonomy.On the contrary,teacher development oriented schools provide supporting conditions for the cultivation of teachers’ professionalism and the formation of positive teachers’ identity by reducing non-teaching work,providing process support,through team collaborative development,and carrying out teaching and research activities to promote the improvement of education and teaching,The results show that: in different school situations,kindergarten teachers present four identities: loyal followers,conservative followers including marginal and regressive followers,active adjusters and self creators.According to the regulations and requirements of the school in the reform situation,loyal followers take positive actions,and measure success mainly by external standards.When the conservative submissive is restricted by the school situation factors,they take the attitude of obedience to the school regulations.This type of identity also includes two sub identity types: marginal submissive and regressive submissive.The former shows vague career orientation and weak sense of efficacy,while the latter is reflected in the decrease of motivation and enthusiasm for career development.Under the influence of school restrictive factors,positive adjusters can persist in practicing their career ideals through autonomous learning,emotion regulation,and participation in off campus training.Self creators have a clear identity,clear values and a sense of professional mission.They are no longer subject to the requirements and expectations of the environment,but reflect and act on their self-development according to the internal standards.The research shows that the school is an important intermediary for kindergarten teachers to experience and respond to the policy requirements.In the process of interaction between teachers’ identity and school situation,teachers’ initiative can not only be promoted,but also restricted.This process is closely related to other individual factors,such as professional motivation,self-efficacy,self-development ability and emotion.Finally,from the perspective of narrative,the study explores the process of kindergarten teachers’ identity construction in individual life history,and clarifies the main factors that affect the construction of kindergarten teachers’ identity.The research finds that: the influencing factors of kindergarten teachers’ identity construction mainly include micro factors: individual psychological factors(career motivation,occupation orientation,self-development ability,efficacy,emotion and initiative),relationship with parents and other elders,influence of important others in the experience of receiving education;meso factors: the kindergarten principal’s leadership style,interaction experience with children and colleagues,on and off kindergarten professional development activities;macro factors: the concept of curriculum reform and the educational management system.The research shows that the construction of kindergarten teachers’ identity is the result of interaction of three factors,namely,personal life history,professional background and external political environment,making the construction and reconstruction of teachers’ identity constantly.As a whole,in the context of curriculum reform of early childhood education in China,the public narrative strongly influences teachers’ acceptance of the new concept of curriculum reform through a top-down way.In this study,all participants agree with the concept of "child development oriented".“Care,respect,understanding,listening,teaching children in accordance with their aptitude,fair treatment of every child,and teacher as supporter and so on” is their specific explanation.It can also be seen from the expression of identity metaphor that the relational identity with children is an important dimension for teachers to understand their identity.In addition,the expected identities of kindergarten teachers in the public narrative are diverse,but in practice,due to the influence of individual factors(such as personal value system,ability)and school context(such as managerial leadership,lack of sufficient support),teachers can’t achieve all the identity requirements in a meaningful way.By analyzing the process of kindergarten teachers’ identity construction in different school contexts,this study found that the differences in kindergarten teachers’ perception of curriculum reform and teachers’ identity performance were the result of the combined effect of kindergarten factors,professional motivation and independent development ability.In a favorable school situation,whether their original choice to be a kindergarten teacher is due to intrinsic motivation or extrinsic motivation,teachers with strong self-development ability can enhance their motivation to achieve career goals.When faced with unfavorable school factors,teachers with different career motivation and self-development ability show differences in the negotiation of career orientation.Teachers with intrinsic career motivation,if their consciousness of selfdevelopment is weak,they will shake their adherence to the original career orientation,and wander between just taking their career as a job,devoting less emotion,and realizing their self-worth.Teachers with intrinsic career motivation and strong selfdevelopment ability will insist on their professional ideal by improving their professional ability,adjusting their emotions and pursuing professional support.Teachers who choose this profession because of external factors are more subject to the negative influence of school factors,which not only weakens the motivation to achieve the original career orientation,but also saps the motivation of self-development.Personal experience plays a more profound role in the process of identity construction,affecting teachers’ career motivation,career orientation and agency.According to the above research results,this study puts forward suggestions from the following three aspects: We should improve the management system of teachers’ burden and provide institutional guarantee for teachers;It is significant for kindergarten principals to practice transformational leadership and cultivate development oriented school culture;Narrative writing can be taken as a tool to promote teacher’s reflection and enhance the ability of teachers’ identity construction.