This research examines Chinese student teachers’ professional vulnerability through the lens of micropolitical theory. First, this research illustrates the participants’ five aspects of professional vulnerability during teaching practicums, which includes establishing professional relationships, negotiating the feasibility and ethics of different pedagogical approaches, conflicting commitment and responsibilities, peripheral positions and conflicting interests, and the politics of practicum implementation. Second, this study reveals how the participants navigate the hierarchical power dynamics embedded in the teaching practicums. Third, this study demonstrates that the micropolitical realities of the teaching practicums affect the Chinese STs’ professional vulnerabilities. The implications for improving teaching practicums, especially student teaching in China and beyond, are discussed.
Keywords: Student teachers Micropolitical theory Professional vulnerability Teaching practicumAchinstein, B. (2002). Conflict amid community: The micropolitics of teacher collaboration. Teachers College Record, 104(3), 421–455.
Achinstein, B. (2006a). New teacher and mentor political literacy: Reading, navigating and transforming induction contexts. Teachers and teaching, 12(2), 123–138.
Achinstein, B. (2006b). Mentors’ organizational and political literacy in negotiating induction contexts. In B. Achinstein & S. Z. Athanases (Eds.), Mentors in the making (pp. 136–150). New York: Teachers College Press.
Ball, S. (1987). The micropolitics of the school: Towards a theory of school organization. London, UK: Routledge.
Blase, J. (1989). The micropolitics of the school: The everyday political orientation of teachers toward open school principals. Educational Administration Quarterly, 25(4), 377–407.
Blase, J. (1991a). The micropolitical perspective. In J. Blase (Ed.), The politics of life in schools: Power, conflict and cooperation (pp. 1–8). Newbury Park: SAGE.
Blase, J. (1991b). Everyday political perspectives of teachers towards students. In J. Blase (Ed.), The politics of life in schools: Power, conflict, and cooperation (pp. 185–206). Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.
Blase, J., & Anderson, G. L. (1995). The micropolitics of educational leadership: From control to empowerment. London, UK: Cassell.
Blase, J., & Björk, L. (2010). The micropolitics of educational change and reform: Cracking open the black box. In A. Hargreaves (Ed.), Second international handbook of educational change (pp. 237–258). Netherlands: Springer.
Blase, J., & Blase, J. (2002). The micropolitics of instructional supervision: A call for research. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(6), 6–44.
Bloomfield, D. (2010). Emotions and ‘getting by’: A pre-service teacher navigating professional experience. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 38(3), 221–234.
Clement, M., & Vandenberghe, R. (2000). Teachers’ professional development: A solitary or collegial (ad) venture? Teaching and teacher education, 16(1), 81–101.
Ehrich, L. C., & Millwater, J. (2011). Internship: Interpreting micropolitical contexts. The Australian Educational Researcher, 38(4), 467–481.
Flores, M. A. (2006). Being a novice teacher in two different settings: Struggles, continuities, and discontinuities. Teachers College Record, 108(10), 2021–2052.
Gao, X. (2008). Teachers’ professional vulnerability and cultural tradition: A Chinese paradox. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(1), 154–165.
Gao, X. (2011). The ‘falling language standards and teachers’ professional vulnerability in Hong Kong. Research Papers in Education, 26(4), 485–498.
Glaser, B. G. (1998). Doing grounded theory – issues and discussions. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press.
Hallman, H. L. (2012). Community-based field experiences in teacher education: Possibilities for a pedagogical third space. Teaching Education, 23(3), 241–263.
Hinchion, C., & Hall, K. (2016). The uncertainty and fragility of learning to teach: A Britzmanian lens on a student teacher story. Cambridge journal of education, 46(4), 417–433.
Hodkinson, H., & Hodkinson, P. (1997). Micro-politics in initial teacher education: Luke’s story. Journal of Education for Teaching, 23(2), 119–130.
Jokikokko, K., Uitto, M., Deketelaere, A., & Estola, E. (2017). A beginning teacher in emotionally intensive micropolitical situations. International Journal of Educational Research, 81, 61–70.
Kelchtermans, G. (2005). Teachers’ emotions in educational reforms: Self-understanding, vulnerable commitment and micropolitical literacy. Teaching and teacher education, 21(8), 995–1006.
Kelchtermans, G. (2009). Who I am in how I teach is the message: Self-understanding, vulnerability and reflection. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 15(2), 257–272.
Kelchtermans, G. (2011). Vulnerability in teaching: The moral and political roots of a structural condition. In C. Day & J. Chi-kin Lee (Eds.), New understandings of teacher’s work (pp. 65–82). Netherlands: Springer.
Kelchtermans, G., & Ballet, K. (2000). Developing micro-political literacy: A narrative-biographical study on teacher development.
Kelchtermans, G., & Ballet, K. (2002a). Micropolitical literacy: Reconstructing a neglected dimension in teacher development. International Journal of Educational Research, 37(8), 755–767.
Kelchtermans, G., & Ballet, K. (2002b). The micropolitics of teacher induction. A narrative-biographical study on teacher socialisation. Teaching and teacher education, 18(1), 105–120.
Kelchtermans, G., & Deketelaere, A. (2016). The emotional dimension in becoming a teacher. In J. Loughran & M. L. Hamilton (Eds.), International handbook of teacher education (pp. 429–461). Singapore: Springer.
Lasky, S. (2005). A sociocultural approach to understanding teacher identity, agency and professional vulnerability in a context of secondary school reform. Teaching and teacher education, 21(8), 899–916.
Miles, M. B., Huberman, M. A., & Saldana, J. (2013). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Tan, J. P. I. (2015). Examining the socialisation of new teachers through the lenses of positioning theory and micro political theory. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 24(1), 177–188.
Tang, S. Y. F. (2003). Challenge and support: The dynamics of student teachers’ professional learning in the field experience. Teaching and teacher education, 19(5), 483–498.
Tang, S. Y., Cheng, M. M., & Wong, A. K. (2016). The preparation of pre-service student teachers’ competence to work in schools. Journal of Education for Teaching, 42(2), 149–162.
Wang, F., & Clarke, A. (2014). The practicum experiences of English language major student teachers during a period of profound curriculum reform in China. International Journal of Educational Development, 36, 108–116.
Webel, C., & Platt, D. (2015). The role of professional obligations in working to change one’s teaching practices. Teaching and Teacher Education, 47, 204–217.
White, S., & Forgasz, R. (2016). The Practicum: The place of experience? In J. Loughran & M. L. Hamilton (Eds.), International handbook of teacher education (pp. 231–266). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer Press.
Yuan, E. R. (2016). The dark side of mentoring on pre-service language teachers’ identity formation. Teaching and Teacher Education, 55, 188–197.
Yuan, R., & Lee, I. (2016). ‘I need to be strong and competent’: A narrative inquiry of a student-teacher’s emotions and identities in teaching practicum. Teachers and Teaching, 22(7), 819–841.
Zhu, G. (2017a). Traditional teaching methods still hold water. Narrative inquiry of STs’ professional identities at the intersections of teacher knowledge and subject matter knowledge. In E. Chan, D. Keyes, & V. Ross (Eds.), Intersections of teacher knowledge and subject matter knowledge: Narrative approaches at the crossroads of the classroom (pp. 225–247). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing.
Zhu, G. (2017b). Chinese student teachers’ perspectives on becoming a teacher in the practicums: Emotional and ethical dimensions of identity shaping. Journal of Education for Teaching., 43(4), 491–495.