Re(constructing) Professional

Identities: Two Chinese Student

Teachers Practicum Experiences in
The Free Teacher Education (FTE)
Program
Gang Zhu
Advisor: Dr. Cheryl Craig
College of Education, University of Houston

Weaving the
stories of our
lives

Crafting my professional identities:

Parallel stories

My schooling trajectory:
Carp Leaping over Dragon
Gate

Henan
Provinc
e

Looking backward and moving

forward: My student teaching
experience

An aid or a hindrance:
My university supervising
experience

Professional identity:
Was I a legitimate aid for the preservice teachers?

How to authentically facilitate teachers

development: My teacher PD facilitation
experience

Rhetoric of conclusions (Schwab, 1958);

Knowledge for teachers vs. Teacher knowledge (Connelly and Clandinin, 2000; Craig & Ross, 2008;
Craig, 2015 )

Research Contexts: Free Teacher Education (FTE) program in China

The landscape of Free Teacher

Education (FTE) program in China

Beijing
Normal
Universi
ty

East
China
Normal
Universi
ty

Free Teacher
Education (FTE)
Program
Northea Central
China
st China
Normal
Normal
Universi Universi
ty
ty

Southwe
st
Universi
ty

Shaanxi
Normal
Universi
ty

Free Teacher Education (FTE) program

in China
Benefits: tuition exemption, free accommodation, and a
monthly stipend for 4-collge year.
Responsibility: (1) Serve for a period of ten years in
primary or secondary schools in their home provinces. (2)
Teach in rural schools for two years first.
If not: (1)Refund all educational costs, (2)Pay a certain
amount penalty, (3)Being blacklisted in the Credit Record
Archives.

The multiple contexts related to

professional
identity
Universit
y
Superviso
r
Cooperati
ve
Teacher
FTE
program
policy

National
Curriculum
Reform Policy
FTE Studentteachers
Professional
Identity in the
Practicum

Subject
Matter

Universitybased Teacher
Education
Coursework
Placeme
nt
Schools

Knowledge
Communiti
es

Research Questions

How do the FTE student-teachers (re)construct

their professional identities in the practicums?

Methodology backdrop:
Narrative inquiry
John Dewey

Joseph
Schwab

Connelly&
Clandinin

Cheryl
Craig

he three dimensional space of narrative inqu

Temporalit
y

Sociality

Place

Narrative Analysis and Representation

(Connelly &
Clandinin,
1990) Broadening
burrowing,
storying
and restorying

Parallel
stories

(Craig,
1999)

(Craig,
1997)
Telling
stories
method
Story
constella
-tions

(Craig,
2007);

Introducing Research Participants

Xiaoya and Wenting
Xiaoya (pseudonym) :I want to break the contract. I do
not want to be a teacher after graduation

Wenting (pseudonym): I am not competitive in terms of

my pedagogical skills

Proposed Timeline
4-6 Story interview, collect reflective writings.
7-8 Create and organize field notes
9-10 Observe student teaching, relive and re-story
11 Develop dissertation proposal and defend it

Q&A
Thank you!