An experiential study on the application of narrative inquiry in teacher development in Hong Kong (China).

摘要

Teacher education has undergone many changes in the last two decades in Hong Kong. These changes are more acute after the establishment of the Hong Kong Institute of Education in 1994.; Being an insider, growing up from a student teacher in the 1980s, and experiencing change as a teacher educator in the 1990s, the researcher started a quest into how teacher education may help local teachers grow into better teachers by reviewing her last 20 years of life in this study. On becoming a teacher educator, the researcher makes an inquiry into teacher education needed for the turn of the century. What is essential in teacher education for the ever changing teaching and learning context?; This study inquires into the potentials of narrative inquiry in teacher education in Hong Kong. The researcher experimented a narrative course with her students, both pre-service and in-service teachers for 12 months. The process and the changes in the participants, including the researcher herself, were documented. The results suggested that teachers became more caring and curious. They showed more interest in their students and the profession. This change was facilitated by the narrative activities they did.; The researcher made four implications for further research in narrative inquiry and teacher development. First, teachers have knowledge that teacher educators and researchers need to acknowledge and build on. Second, teachers do not only learn from "knowledge for teachers", but also from sharing their own experiences with each other by using narrative inquiry. Third, deep and true sharing is possible only within a trustful relationship, which is facilitated by a narrative way of seeing people's experience. Fourth, teachers lead busy lives and teacher educators need to help them make time to learn more professionally. Narrative inquiry, embracing the notion of "teacher knowledge", is running counter to the prevailing notion of "knowledge for teachers" in the local intellectual landscape. The present study has gathered some first hand experiences and begun an exploration into the potentials of narrative inquiry. It is a beginning understanding of narrative inquiry in the Hong Kong context.