Comparing Chinese and Spanish Primary School Teachers’ Key Competences: A Cross-cultural Perspective

Author(s):

Shujing Ding(presenting / submitting)Josefina Sala Roca Laura Arnau Sabates Yumei Han Jianping Xu Xiaoyan Liang

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

WERA Focal Meeting

Format:

Paper

Session Information

WERA SES 05 C, World-Wide Views on Adaptation in Education

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-09

11:00-12:30

Room:

305. [Main]

Chair:

George Head

Contribution

Introduction

The OECD asserted that countries needed to have clear and concise statements of what teachers are expected to know and be able to do in class and school (OECD, 2005). And, the roles of teachers and schools are changing, and so are expectations about them: teachers are asked to teach in increasingly multicultural classrooms, integrate students with special needs, use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) for teaching effectively and involve parents in schools (OECD, 2009). Teacher competence serves as an important index to measure teacher quality (Conway, Murphy, Rath, & Hall, 2009). In the European Life Long Learning Policy and Programmes, teacher competence frameworks not only answer the question of “what teachers are expected to know and be able to do”, but also benefit for all EU countries teacher education and training programs (Caena, Brussels, 2011a, 2011b).

Under this background, the following study attempts to compare the teacher competence from two nations, to explore differences and similarities between Spanish and Chinese teachers’ key competences. Additionally, based on this research, we construct a key competence framework for Chinese Primary teachers. Hopefully, the study would provide implications for Chinese policy makers at two levels: first, by providing tools to build national standards for teacher competence; second, for international educators and scholars to gain cross-culture perspectives on teacher competence.

Research questions

The overarching research questions that this study attempts to answer are: (a).What the similarities and differences on key competences between Chinese and Spanish primary teachers? (b) What China can learn from Spain to improve its teacher education quality?

Theoretical framework

Teacher competence could be delineated as knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and personal characteristics, empowering the teacher to act professionally and appropriately in a situation, deploying them in a coherent way (Koster, Brekelmans, Korthagen and Wubbels, 2005; González & Wagenaar, 2005). According to the European Commission, there are 26 key elements of a recent review of relevant conceptualizations of teacher competences (Williamson & McDarmid, 2008; European Commission, 2004, 2008, 2011). And there are some related to inclusion, such as issues of inclusion and diversity, ability to adapt to multilevel dynamics with cross-influences, and commitment to promoting the learning for all students.

Spain is one of the European Union countries which highlighted on inclusion on the elementary education and teacher training. According to the “Ley Orgánica de Educación” (LOE, 2006) , pointed out eight key competences for Spanish elementary teachers in referred to the OECD’s Defining and Selecting Key Competences Project, known as DeSeCo Project (OECD, 2004, 2005). In these eight key competences, inclusion and diversity are highlighted in competencies of social skills and citizenship, cultural and artistic competences.(Juan Jesús Ruiz Nebrera, 2008).

In China policy level, it has not clearly pointed out which competences elementary teacher should possess, but there are a set of professional standards. According to the Primary Teacher Professional Standards (Trial), there are four basic primary teacher professional standards which are: teachers’ professional ethics, student-centered instruction, focus on teaching capacity, and lifelong learning competence (MEPRC, 2012). However, these standards are general guidance with-less operability for teacher education and training. Additional, a number of China domestic studies of teacher competences have been conducted (Xu & Zhang, 2006; Li & Lin, 2008; Zhu, 2010; Zhang, 2013; Lu, 2013), but these researches have not given much attention to inclusive teaching awareness and flexibility to linking practice to educational policies. Since the Chinese education is influenced by Confucius Thoughts, so teachers’ ethics and attitudes are highlighted in the standards. However, China is still on its way of constructing a nationally recognized teacher competence framework.

Method

Methods This exploratory study adopted a sequential mixed methods approach divided in two phases. The first phase was quantitative. A questionnaire survey was used for collecting data addressing two questions: what competences are considered important for their work from Chinese and Spanish primary school teachers’ point of view, and what competences are considered as a requisite for subject teachers from school leaders’ perspective. The second phase was qualitative. Classroom observations were used to find out how these competences were performed by teachers in their instruction, management and students-teacher relationship. In-depth interviews were also conducted to add up more specific explanation for questions like why those competences are regarded important for teachers’ school work. Comparative analysis was made upon the two nation’s data set. Phase I Two open-ended questionnaires, the Primary School Teacher Competences’ Questionnaire (PSTCQ) and the Primary School Leader Questionnaire (PSLQ), were used to collect first step data from China and Spain. The reliability and validity of these two questionnaires were ensured by panel review. In this research, we finally selected 74 primary school teachers and 9 primary school leaders sample. It includes 42 Chinese teachers (7 male and 35 female) and 6 Chinese school leaders (4 male and 2 female) from 6 public schools in the cities of Chongqing, Taiyuan and Beijing, and 32 Spanish teachers (7 male and 25 female) and and 6 Spanish school leaders (1 male and 5 female) from 3 public schools in the cities of Barcelona, Sabadell and Sant Cugat. The next step, it used content analysis to recode the collected data from two questionnaires. Finally, these recoded data was analyzed by SPSS 20.0 for chi-square testing. (In the original proposal, there were 243 Chinese teacher in the samples. We decreased the sample into 42 in response to the reviews’ suggestions. In same reason, we adjusted the sample mumbles of Phase II). Phase II Upon completion of the questionnaires, 28 teachers (14 from each country) were stratified for classroom observation based on subject category and grade level, specifically, 6 math teachers, 6 language teachers, 4 science teachers, 4 social study teachers, 4 physical education teachers and 4 musical and art teacher from 1rd and 6th grades were chosen in each country. And, 22 subject teachers among the observation sample participated in in-depth interviews, including 14 Chinese teachers (4 male and 10 female) and 8 Spanish teachers (3 male and 5 female). Data collected by interview and observation was analyzed by NVIVO 10.

Expected Outcomes

Findings Preliminary findings of this study mainly include two parts. First, regarding the similarities and differences between Chinese and Spanish primary school teachers’ key competences, results show that, (a) both nations’ teachers agree that pedagogical competence as the most important competence, but they hold different views about application of pedagogical competences in real classroom settings. Chinese teachers highlight more than Spanish teachers on making systematic pre-class instruction plans and designs to help students learning, and they do not emphasis as much as Spanish teachers on using new technologies to assist teaching or on developing students’ critical thinking. (b) Chinese teachers regard professional values, attitudes and ethic as the secondary important competences, while Spanish teachers think communications and social emotional competences the secondary important competence. (c) Chinese teacher consider culture and cross culture competences as the least important competence in 8 key competences, while Spanish teachers rate curricular and subjects related knowledge competence at the lowest score. (d) Spanish teachers and school leaders hold higher value for inclusion and diversity in culture and cross culture competences. Chinese teachers also believe that responsibility, passion for teaching and caring for pupils all make a positive effect on pupil’s behaviors and learning. Second, based on analysis of the teacher competences framework of European Commission, a synthesis of literature review of both Chinese and other international literature regarding teacher competences, and together with the quantitative data analysis from both teachers’ and school leaders’ perspectives of both nations, a conceptual framework that consists of 8 key competences for Chinese primary school teachers is developed. These 8 key competences are curricular knowledge competence, pedagogical competence, assessment competences, classroom management competences, communications and social emotional competences, culture and cross culture competences, learning to learn competences, professional values, attitudes and ethical competences.

References

Chinese education ministry. (2012). Primary School Teacher Professional Standards (Trial). Teacher [2012] No. 1. Retrieved October 27, 2013 from http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s6991/201212/xxgk_145603.html Deakin Crick. (2008).Ruth: “Key Competencies for Education in a European Context: narratives of accountability or care”. European Education Research Journal Volume 7 N 3. Esther Chinera, Maria Cristina Cardona. (2013).Inclusive education in Spain: how do skills, resources, and supports affect regular education teachers’ perceptions of inclusion?. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 17, 5, 526-541. European Commission. (2011). Common European Principles for Teacher competences and qualifications, Published April of 2011. Retrieved June 26, 2013, fromhttps://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/strategic-framework/doc/teacher-competences_en.pdf European Commission (2012). Implementation of “Education and Training 2012” Work program. Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. A European Reference Framework. Retrieved January 26, 2013, http://www.google.es/url?url=http://www.alfa-trall.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/EU2007-keyCompetencesL3-brochure.pdf&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ei=SsfGVO3dJafZ7Abat4CIAg&ved=0CCAQFjAC&usg=AFQjCNF-ZZrj_EDUWCTCuguDGbOgqAs2qQ Francesca Caena. (2011a), Teachers´ core competences: requirement and development, Retrieved March 12, 2013, from http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/strategic-framework/doc/teacher-competences_en.pdf Francesca Caena, Brussels, (2011b), Policies concerning Teacher Competences- an Analysis of a survey of TWG members, Retrieved May 17, 2013, from http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/strategic-framework/archive/documents/best-for-teaching_en.pdf Gretchen McAllister & Jacqueline Jordan Irvine. (2000). Cross Cultural Competency and Multicultural Teacher Education, Review of Educational Research, No. 1, 2-24. Juan Jesús Ruiz Nebrera. (2008). Las competencias básicas en la educación primaria. Retrieved March 21, 2014 from http://www.efdeportes.com/efd127/las-competencias-basicas-en-la-educacion-primaria.htm LEA (17/2007). Ley de Educación de Andalucía. Retrieved May 16, 2013 from http://www.efdeportes.com/efd127/las-competencias-basicas-en-la-educacion-primaria.htm MEPRC, (2010) “National long-term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020)”. Retrieved May 20,2014, from http://www.moe.gov.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/A01_zcwj/201008/xxgk_93785.html MEPRC, (2012). Chinese Ministry of Education and relevant ministries jointly issued six documents to enhance the construction of teachers. Retrieved May 20,2014, from http://www.teacheredu.cn/jyzc/news/20121214/641.html MEPRC, (2013) "Interim Measures Teachers qualification examination" and "qualified school teachers regularly registered Interim Measures" notice. Retrieved May 20,2014, from http://www.moe.edu.cn/publicfiles/business/htmlfiles/moe/s7151/201309/156643.html Rychen, D. S., Saganik, L.H & Mclaughlin, M. E. (Eds.) (2003). Definition and Selection of Key Competencies. Contributions to second DeSeCo Symposium. Swiss Federal Statistical Office. Xu Jianping, Zhang houcan (2006). Primary and secondary school teacher competency model: a behavioral event interview study, Educational research, No.1, 57-61.

Author Information

Shujing Ding (presenting / submitting)

Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain

Josefina Sala Roca

Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain

Laura Arnau Sabates

Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain

Yumei Han

University of Massachusetts Boston, USA

Jianping Xu

Beijing Normal University, China

Xiaoyan Liang

Shanxi University, China

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