When rural meets urban: the transfer problem Chinese pre-service teachers face in teaching practice

• Published in: Journal of education for teaching : JET 2016-01, Vol.42 (1), p.28-49
• Main Author: Ye, Wangbei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Case Studies; China; Chinese languages; Colleges & universities; Educational Experience; Educational Practices; Educational Quality; Foreign Countries; Industrialized nations; Internship Programs; Language teaching methods; Pedagogy; Practicums; pre-service teacher; Preservice Teacher Education; Preservice Teachers; Prior Learning; Questionnaires; Rural areas; Rural Education; Rural schools; Rural Urban Differences; rural/urban divide; Schools; Student Teacher Attitudes; Student teachers; Teacher education; Teachers; Teaching; teaching practice; Teaching Skills; Theory Practice Relationship; Transfer of Training; Transfer problem; Transfers; Urban Education; Urban schools
• ISSN: 0260-7476; 1360-0540
• DOI: 10.1080/02607476.2015.1131366

Traditional teacher education's supposed failure to prepare prospective teachers for classroom realities (the transfer problem) is a widely discussed topic in the teacher education literature. Previous studies have focused on causal relationships between teaching and such factors as pre-service teacher education programmes, contextual factors in the practicum school, and transition shock; however, most of these studies have been set in developed countries, and have paid little attention to the interactions among such factors. This study, involving 35 East China Normal University pre-service teachers, explores the transfer problem in a rural/urban divide context, discusses the possible impacts of pre-service teachers' previous educational experience (i.e. before teacher education) on their teaching, and examines the interactions among teachers' previous education experience, teacher education, and practicum schools.