Theorizing Teacher Learning With Chinese Characteristics: Teachers’ Holistic Learning in Core Reflection to Link Practice, Theory, and Person

Purpose The purpose of this study is to show how a holistic approach to teacher learning can narrow the gap between practice, theory, and person. The facilitator-guided core reflection employed in the approach may serve as a powerful tool for teacher professional development. Design/Approach/Methods The study integrates a modified version of Korthagen's onion model and Chinese cultural resources as the theoretical framework to examine how a narrative action research workshop in China attempted to assist teachers in holistic learning. Qualitative research methods are used to collect and analyze data focusing on one class teacher's case. Findings The findings illustrate that the core reflection helped the teacher recognize and rectify the incongruencies between multi-layers of her learning, such as doing, knowing, feeling, and aspiring. The mechanisms that the facilitator used to help the teacher learn include (1) prompting the teacher to realize her mismatched practices by asking soul-searching questions, (2) introducing theories to explain why and how her practices were inconsistent, (3) evoking her core qualities of empathy and compassion emblematic of Chinese culture through core reflection. Originality/Value The value of this study lies in illustrating some typical cultural characteristics of Chinese teachers’ holistic learning. This finding as well as the conceptual framework of this study may provide references for teacher education not only in China but also in other parts of the world.