Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation Jing Liu

Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
Jing Liu
Teachers’ Self-Directed Learning in China: Readiness, Experience and Context
Abstract
Within the current fast-changing society, it is not easy to be a contemporary teacher. The massive, escalating proliferation of information and technology are readily available and teachers do no longer know everything better than their students. Therefore, teachers are expected to keep up with the development and respond in their teaching. Many researchers emphasized the importance of teacher’s lifelong learning and professional development. Given that self-directed learning is an essential skill for lifelong learning (Guglielmino, 2013), and many researchers have focused on the person and process of self-directed learning, but little attention has paid to the context where the learning takes place. This study will explore individual teachers’ readiness and experiences of self-directed learning in the different contexts of school-based professional development in China.
This study adopts a mixed method approach where quantitative and qualitative data will be used to construct three main case studies in three different types of schools in Beijing, China. Data collection methods include quantitative data from the survey to analysis the readiness of self-directed learning, which includes attitudes, abilities and personal characteristics. Qualitative data from semi-constructed interviews with teachers and the head of Teaching Research Group, on-site observation of Teaching Research Groups, and relevant documents will allow a better understanding of teachers’ experience of self-directed learning in different school contexts. The Person-Process-Context Model developed by Hiemstra and Brockett (2012) serves as the theoretical framework for this study, this model emphasis three dimensions of self-directed learning: person, process, context, which form the basis of the domain of this study and will contribute to the analysis and interpretation of the data and findings related to teachers’ self-directed learning in different contexts.

Date Tuesday 12 April 2016
Time 4pm to 5pm
Room 103
Location Annexe Building 31A

Panel: Dr. Christina Gowlett (Chair), Dr. Jana Visnovska
Principal Advisor: Dr. Simone Smala
Associate Advisor/s: Associate Professor Katie Makar