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Journal of Educational Change

, Volume 12, Issue 1, pp 25–46 | Cite as

Teachers’ emotions and professional identity in curriculum reform: A Chinese perspective

  • John Chi-Kin Lee
  • Hong-Biao Yin
Article
First Online:

Abstract

In educational research, emotion has attracted substantial attention since the mid-1990s. While there are many studies of teacher emotion in educational change in the West, there is a remarkable dearth of such studies in China. This qualitative study attempts to address this issue by examining teachers’ emotional experiences in the national curriculum reform of senior secondary education in China. Results indicate that teachers revealed complex emotional responses to the reform. These emotions were related to teachers’ perceptions about the use of new textbooks, teaching approaches, and, more importantly, the uncertain changes in college entrance examinations. Three types of teachers with different emotions and professional identities are identified in the reform (i.e., the losing heart accommodators, the drifting followers, and the cynical performers). These findings highlight the Chinese perspective on teacher emotion and provide some implications for the management of curriculum reform and teacher emotion in the Chinese context.

Keywords

Teacher emotion Professional identity Curriculum reform Senior secondary education China 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Curriculum and InstructionHong Kong Institute of EducationHong KongChina
  2. 2.Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of EducationThe Chinese University of Hong KongHong KongChina

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