Peer-reviewed article
Teachers’ professional learning and development experiences in Chinese kindergartens: Opportunities and tensions
Mengran Liu, Maria R. Cooper, Helen Hedges ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-sonnet-5-5This qualitative study looks at how kindergarten teachers in China experience professional learning and development (PLD) sessions. It involved seven participants from two early childhood settings. Formal sessions led by leaders and experts created tensions for teachers, because of established values and hierarchy. Teachers responded by seeking informal, teacher-initiated situations in which they could learn together and share knowledge. The authors argue that valuing these informal spaces can support professional growth in hierarchical settings, and that this may improve the environments that shape young children's learning.
Key points
- PLD for Chinese kindergarten teachers often brings in imported knowledge and is led by leaders and experts rather than teachers.
- Teachers experienced tensions in formal PLD sessions that came from established values and hierarchical constraints.
- These constraints limited teachers' joint reflection and joint action.
- Teachers sought out informal situations with more flexibility to develop shared knowledge.
- These informal situations let teachers use relational agency, aligning their expertise to make PLD decisions, which eased tensions.
Limitations
The study is small (seven participants in two settings) and qualitative, so it cannot show how common these experiences are. It reports no measured outcomes for children, so the link to children's learning and well-being is only suggested.
Abstract
Professional learning and development (PLD) activities for Chinese kindergarten teachers have introduced imported knowledge to promote teaching and learning. Much PLD provision is led by leaders and experts rather than teachers. To understand the educational beliefs and power differences that surface among teachers, leaders and experts during PLD sessions and how teachers navigate this complex terrain, this paper presents a post-intentional phenomenological study involving seven participants from two Chinese early childhood settings. Data collection included semi-structured interviews, observations of PLD meetings and videos of teachers’ implementation of PLD ideas. Educational policies, PLD materials, and the researcher’s reflexive journal were also used for analysis. Analysis involved a line-by-line reading process where theoretical concepts, data and researcher reflexivity interacted. The findings reveal that teachers experienced tensions in relation to formal PLD sessions. These tensions stemmed from established values and hierarchical constraints that limited their joint reflection and actions. Our analysis, framed by the concepts of relational agency and in-between spaces, shows how teachers navigated these tensions. Despite these constraints, the teachers responded by creating opportunities for collaborative learning. They sought out informal situations where they had the flexibility to develop shared knowledge. We argue that Chinese teachers’ PLD can occur within and across such tensions and opportunities. These informal situations empowered teachers to enact relational agency by aligning their expertise to make PLD decisions. This process eased tensions and created space for collaborative learning. The study concludes that valuing these informal, teacher-initiated spaces is crucial for moving beyond top-down knowledge transmission and fostering sustainable professional growth in hierarchical educational contexts. Ultimately, by empowering teachers as collaborative and adaptable professionals, this model of PLD offers new insights into enhancing the professional environments that shape teaching practice and young children’s learning.