A Research In Class Advisers’ Perception Of Professional Identity In Middle Schools

Class advisers’ perception of professional identity refers to the positiveperception, experience and behavior intention of the class adviser job and theinternalized class adviser role. It consists of occupational values, role values,occupational perception of affiliation and occupational behavior intention.In China, researches on class advisers’ perception of professional identityare still in the initial stage. Firstly，few achievements have been reached in termsof theoretic or descriptive researches on class advisers’ perception ofoccupational identity, which, on one hand, is related to the differentunderstanding of the nature of class adviser, and may be related to the classadviser system imitating the education system of the former Soviet Union as wellas the limited existing overseas research literature on the other. Secondly, veryfew research achievements have been reached with respect to class ad’visersoccupational psychology, especially the current status of perception ofoccupational identity. Thirdly，no practical and scientific measuring toolapplicable to class adviser research with has been established.In this research, the current status of the perception of occupational identity,job satisfaction and job burnout of the class adviser teams of middle and highschools in P region was researched objectively with questionnaires; thedifferences, between the status of the perception of occupational identity, jobsatisfaction and job burnout of class advisers of middle and high school under theindividual background and that under the school background, was revealed; andthe relation between the perception of occupational identity of class advisers ofmiddle and high schools and the job satisfaction and job burnout wasinvestigated. It was found that class advisers’ perception of occupational identity ofmiddle and high schools in P region was above the average level after theinvestigation, and among the four elements of class advisers’ perception ofoccupational identity, the perception of occupational values was at the highestlevel. There was no difference in class advisers’ perception of occupationalidentity in terms of gender, politics status, education background, years ofworking as class adviser，monthly allowance，subject or other demographicfactors. However, significant difference existed in terms of job title, and classadvisers with senior professional titles were of lowest perception level whileclass advisers with secondary titles were of heist perception level. In addition，difference existed in terms of school type as role perception of class advisers ofprivate middle schools was lower than that of class advisers of public middleschools.The investigation also revealed that class advisers’ perception ofoccupational identity was in positive correlation with job satisfaction, while thefour elements of class advisers5perception of occupational identity were innegative correlation with emotional exhaustion，dehumanization，cognitiveburnout, and in positive correlation with sense of personal accomplishment. Theoccupational values，role values, occupational behavior intention and jobsatisfaction were all in positive correlation with the five elements of jobsatisfaction.In addition，individual interviews were conducted to listen to theintroductions given by moral education leaders of the regional administrativedepartment for education, moral educators and researchers of regional furtherstudy schools for teachers, regional backbone teachers, directors of offices ofstudent affairs and class advisers engaged in subjects not involved inexaminations, learn about regional measures and plans related to the promotion of occupational development of the class adviser teams and improvement ofperception of occupational identity, have an understanding of key events occurredduring development of backbone class advisers and hear about the opinions andadvise on improvement of class adviser team construction.The interviews discovered that the regional administrative department foreducation attached great importance to occupational development demands of theclass advisers and the working strategies of strengthening the "top-down design"of occupational development, promoting layering and diversiifcation andreinforcing practice. Regional moral education research studios emphasized theindividualized guidance and personalized cultivation of class advisors, and laidstress on the systemic, layered and categorized development of training courses.Key events experienced by backbone class advisers during their developmentreferred to high-level and high starting point professional trainings for classadvisers, and the backbone class advisers believed that the trust and supportgiven by leaders can greatly arouse individual class ad’visers confidence.Directors of offices of student affairs appealed to reform the current status whereclass advisers undertake unlimited responsibilities, and they hoped that furtherguidance on class adviser evaluation could be provided.The countermeasure sand advice formed in this research are:1. to establishspecialized planning and layering and category management from the perspectiveof the regional administrative departments for education;2. lay stress on echelonconstruction, development of training courses, cultivation of research and studyculture and organize contests and appraisal from the perspective of moraleducation research departments of regional further education schools for teachers;3. improve appraisal standards, optimize team structure, create community ofpractice, strengthen humanized care and unblock the development path from theperspective of regional middle school management; and4. lift up the realm of education, conduct education researches，improve cognitive styles, reinforce timemanagement and learn about use of new media from the perspective of individualclass adviser of middle and high schools.