| Teachers’ knowledge plays a pivotal role in the professional development of rural teachers. Teachers in the rural world should not only have content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, practical knowledge, and cultural knowledge, but also local knowledge. Rural teachers" local knowledge (RTLK) consists of their understanding on everyday life, history and culture, convention, folk art, geography, and conceptions of the good in the places where they teach and live, as well as their comprehension of students’ family encounters. By mastering local knowledge and literally applying it into school education, rural teachers may sharpen students’ skills in understanding what they have learned, cultivate their feelings and life wisdoms, and inherit the local culture.Building upon such a research background, the author undertook "A Survey of Rural Teachers’ Local Knowledge." After reading major sources on the topic, she clarifies the connotation, value and constituents of RTLK, and finally establishes a theoretical framework. In its part of empirical studies, the author employs questionnaire along with intensive interviews to comprehensively cover the facts and currents of RTLK. First of all, she compiled "The Questionnaire on the Survey of Rural Teachers’ Local Knowledge" based on current research and individual interviews, tested and revised it in advance. Second of all, the survey investigated961rural teachers respectively in provinces of Zhejiang, Shandong, and Hebei through questionnaires, and undertook thorough and considerable interviews with8local teachers in different areas. Last but not least, the author reports rural teachers’ recognition and application of local knowledge, and examine differences presumably caused by demological variables on the development of RTLK.The study suggests that the main sources of RTLK are "the local living experience,""one’s own history since childhood,""communication with colleagues and friends. There were over80%rural teachers claimed that RTLK plays a critical or relatively significant role in their teaching, while only less than40%rural teachers believed they were always referring to RTLK in classroom. The statistical analysis found that local teachers have a better understanding of the local knowledge than non-local teachers, and also pay more attention to the use of local knowledge in teaching. In addition, there are significant differences in the use of local knowledge for rural teachers with different length of service, while no significant differences in other dimensions. Having these survey results, the author indicates the development of.RTLK may be promoted in ways as follows:(ⅰ) to add the training of RTLK into pre-professional services of rural teachers;(ⅱ) to encourage the formation of learning community among rural teachers, where they have opportunities to discuss how to apply RTLK in classroom;(ⅲ) to encourage rural teachers to utilize local resources in their pedagogy. |
