This study investigates and analyses the processes of mathematics teachers' recontextualization of the official discourse, in the context of the recent Chinese education reform. Teachers' complex recontextualising processes are described in relation to the different discourses that influence them. Using a theoretical framework built on Bernstein's model of pedagogical discourse, the recontextualising process within- the pedagogic recontextualising field is analysed, exploring relations between the sub fields of this field. The recontextualising process in the field of reproduction is then studied. Twelve teachers from two comprehensive schools in a middle sized Chinese city took part in this study. The teachers were interviewed in order to explore the elements that influence their understanding and interpretation of the ideas of the official discourse. Lessons taught by these teachers were observed to find out what resources they draw on to support their teaching practices, and in what ways they incorporate innovative ideas into their practices. Analysis of these interviews and observations show how the teachers' recontextualisation process is affected by external influences from the discourses produced by the sub fields of the recontextualising field, and by internal influences created by the particular culture of a given school, by the relationships between teachers and school heads, between teachers themselves and between teachers, students and parents, as well as by teachers' own mathematics learning and teaching experiences. The effectiveness of the influences exerted by the various discourses is discussed in relation to the accountability, responsibility and authority of the agencies and agents of the different fields where these discourses are generated. This study has identified that the majority of teachers do not take a direct route of access to the rules and principles of the official discourse, but get to know these rules and principles by means of recontextualised discourses which they treat as equivalent to the official discourse. All the external and internal discourses play a part in the teachers' recontextualisation, affecting their practices in different ways. From amongst all the possible influences, the conventional discourse that relates to the teachers' past mathematics learning and teaching experience, and the local discourse that consists of school culture, the relation between teachers, school head, students and parents, appear to be the most influential.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:573073 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Xu, Guo-Rong |
| Publisher | UCL Institute of Education (IOE) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://eprints.ioe.ac.uk/20627/ |
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