This paper explores the transitional process the English teachers going through to get adapted to the competence-oriented education with the help of a one-year teacher development programme. The results show that teacher perceptions change more easily than practice, and the pressure from exams is a major factor hindering the change.
This paper reports on a one-year teacher development programme designed to help teachers adapt to the new policy of competence-oriented education. The main purpose of the study is to answer the following questions: 1) How did the teachers perceive the usefulness of the one-year program in improving their understanding and practice of competence-oriented education? 2) What changes can be identified concerning the teachers’ understanding and practice of competence-oriented education during the one-year program? 3) What factors may influence the teachers’ learning of competence-oriented education during (and/or after) the one-year program? 4) How may the teacher change influence the school change? Qualitative research approaches were adopted in this study. Drawing on activity theory (Y. Engeström, 1999; Yrjö Engeström & Sannino, 2010) and frame analysis approach (Bannister, 2015; Coburn, 2006), the monthly discussions after classroom observation were transcribed and analysed to answer research questions 1 and 2. Teacher interview data were mainly used to answer research questions 2 and 3. The preliminary findings include: firstly, teachers mostly held very positive attitudes toward the one-year program due to the regularly scheduled contact hours with the university researchers through face-to-face meetings and via Wechat and email communication. The friendly and supportive atmosphere of this learning community also encouraged extensive and meaningful interactions between all the participants of the program. Secondly, teachers’ understanding of the key competences and competence-oriented education improved substantially, but the changes in their actual teaching practice may still be very limited. Thirdly, factors that may influence teachers’ learning in the program mainly included teachers’ participation patterns in the discussion sessions, teachers’ academic reading/writing practice in general or concerning the key competences in particular, and pressure from the exam-oriented education.
