The Study On Policy And Practice Of Teacher Professional Development In China:The Case Of Jinhua City

The need for in-service training in schools is getting more attention for teachers to be equipped with new information and skills for them to face any challenge in their teaching practice.In-service teacher training has an important role in professional development and capacity building of teachers,but its effectiveness depends on the effectiveness of its composing elements such as teachers' engagement and interest,the involvement of the key actors,contents of the training,trainers'ability,time and duration,follow-up support after training and so onThe main objective of this study was to identify the main challenges facing Jinhua primary schools to implement in-service teacher training policy and how teacher professional development Institutions contribute to improving teachers' performance in Jinhua primary schools.The study employed qualitative research methods and data were collected in Jinhua primary schools and the College of Teacher Education at Zhejiang Normal University,from October 2019 to January 2020.Twelve(12)Chinese language primary school teachers,three(3)school principals,and three(3)University staff from the College of teacher education participated in this studyThree different data collection tools were used:Interviews,Observations,and Documents analysis.The observation was mainly conducted during teacher in-service training activities;staff interview was at University in their office and for the teacher at school.Data were analyzed under the focus research questions and themes identified in the reviewed literature.Based on the purpose and research objectives,the current study adopted social constructivist and adult learning theory.All participants contributed to find out context-appropriate solutions to the challenges they face in their teaching practice.During the data analysis of the study,many findings were revealed.First,the findings show that teacher professional development institutions have contributed a lot to improve teachers'performance in Jinhua primary schools(China)by providing the opportunity in favor of teachers to improve their diploma level,develop their professional ability,and also promote continuing teacher education(In-service training)Second,show that teachers' workloads,absence of appropriate contents for in-service training and online workshop training(famous teacher network studio)are the biggest challenges to implement in-service training policy in Jinhua primarySchools.Third,the result of the interviews,document analysis,an observation made by the researcher shows that most of the teachers involve themselves in different professional development activities such as online workshop training,classroom observation,group discussion,one-on one training,personal reflection and so on.Participants were all unanimous that teacher's workloads should be reduced and some In-service teachers'training activities should be revisedConclusions drawn from the findings of the study demonstrated that,although teachers recognized the importance of in-service training and the great effort of professional development institutions to enhance their performance,improving their knowledge and their teaching skills but they are unsatisfied with workloads and some in-service training activities because for them it's very hard to keep a balance between teaching and attending constantly too much in-service training activities,and also in-service teacher training activities should be planned based on their current needs.Besides,policy implementation should have a clear message and goals for education stakeholders or local implementers so that they may adopt it as their ownThe researcher strongly suggests that to implement successfully in-service teacher training policy,policy-makers should work together with key actors or stakeholders in the education sector and local implementers before formulating any policy.in-service training policy should be designed based on the teachers' needs,a decrease of a heavy teacher workload to improve academics' participation in in-service training concerning the improvement of teaching quality.And also some in-service teacher training activities should be revised and make it more attractive to the teachers.Another suggestion is that Policy-makers Should be people with a clear understanding of the education and social demands so that when they are formulating education policy,they may base on this knowledge and also to allow local implementers to make an adjustment based on school context.Finally,Teachers should be involved in the preparation of the activities for in-service training so that the program may be more effective and applicable.This study based on the academic aspect of short term basic in-service teacher training and not administrative management aspect.So far,the sources for data collection were selected from sources of academic contribution.However,the data related to administrative and management aspects revealed by participating academics staff were received.