The continuing professional
development experiences andneeds of English language teachers
Countries: China, Japan and Korea

Simon Borg, Jason Anderson, Ben Beaumont,
Karin Xie, Lora Guo, Ross Thorburn,
Choi Tae-Hee, Hyun Jin Kim, Ikuya Aizawa
and Kiyono Fujinaga

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

ISBN 978-1-915280-11-4© British Council 2022
1 Redman Place, Stratford
London E20 1JQ, UK
www.britishcouncil.org

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Executive summary
1 Introduction
2 The ELT context
3 Literature review
3.1
3.2
3.3

Teacher professional development in China
Teacher professional development in Japan
Teacher professional development in South Korea

4 Methodology
4.1
Aims
4.2
Online teacher surveys
4.2.1 Survey design
4.2.2 Survey administration
4.2.3 Survey analysis
4.3
Teacher interviews
4.3.1 Sampling and conduct
4.3.2 Interview analysis
5 Results: China
5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

Survey results: overall
5.1.1 Response rate
5.1.2 Geographical distribution
5.1.3 Respondent demographics
5.1.4 Awareness of providers of professional development
5.1.5 Professional development needs
5.1.6 Face-to-face professional development
5.1.7 Online professional development
5.1.8 Getting online
5.1.9 Views about professional development
5.1.10 Further professional development
5.1.11 Effective professional development
Survey results: disadvantaged teachers
5.2.1 Understanding the sample
5.2.2 Awareness of selected organisations
5.2.3 Prioritised professional development needs
5.2.4 Recent professional development activities
5.2.5 Factors inﬂuencing participation in online professional development
5.2.6 Online activity
5.2.7 Attitudes to professional development
Interview ﬁndings: teachers
5.3.1 Professional development needs
5.3.2 Feelings about online professional development
5.3.3 Authorities’ attitudes to online professional development
5.3.4 Recent online professional development activities and preferences
5.3.5 Preferred forms of online professional development
5.3.6 Post-pandemic interest in online professional development
5.3.7 Low engagement in online professional development
Interview ﬁndings: professional development facilitators
5.4.1 Professional development interests
5.4.2 Face–to–face vs online professional development
5.4.3 Local vs international online resources
5.4.4 Materials in English or Chinese
China: conclusions and recommendations

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.5.1 China: key ﬁndings
5.5.2 China: recommendations
5.5.3 Limitations
6 Results: Japan
6.1
Survey results
6.1.1 Response rate
6.1.2 Respondent proﬁle6.1.3 Providers of professional development
6.1.4 Professional development needs
6.1.5 Face-to-face professional development
6.1.6 Online professional development
6.1.7 Online activity
6.1.8 Views about professional development
6.1.9 Further professional development
6.1.10 Effective professional development
6.2
Interview results
6.2.1 Professional development needs
6.2.2 Teachers’ attitudes to online professional development
6.2.3 Educational authorities and online professional development
6.2.4 Engagement in online professional development
6.2.5 Live vs recorded online sessions
6.2.6 The future of online professional development
6.3
Japan: conclusions and recommendations
6.3.1 Japan: key ﬁndings
6.3.2 Japan: recommendations
7 Results: South Korea
7.1
Survey results
7.1.1 Response rate
7.1.2 Respondent proﬁle7.1.3 Providers of professional development
7.1.4 Professional development needs
7.1.5 Face-to-face professional development
7.1.6 Online professional development
7.1.7 Online activity
7.1.8 Views about professional development
7.1.9 Further professional development
7.1.10 Effective professional development
7.2
Interview results
7.2.1 Professional development needs
7.2.2 Teachers’ attitudes to online professional development
7.2.3 Educational authorities and online professional development
7.2.4 Engagement in online professional development
7.2.5 Live vs recorded online sessions
7.2.6 The future of online professional development
7.3
Korea: conclusions and recommendations
7.3.1 Korea: key ﬁndings
7.3.2 Korea: recommendations
8 References
Author biographies

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Report citation:
Borg, S., Anderson, J., Beaumont, B., Xie, K., Guo, Y., Thorburn, R., Choi, T., Kim, H. J., Aizawa, I., & Fujinaga, K. (2022).
The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers (Countries: China,
Japan and Korea). London, UK: British Council.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Foreword
English continues in its role as a global lingua
franca and acts as a bridge between cultures
across the world. As English language education continues to evolve through innovation,or, as the past 3 years have shown, throughcircumstance, so must the development andaccess of teachers to appropriate resourcesthat support them in their work.
Digital engagement, both in teaching andteacher development, has been gatheringpace for many years as technologies improveand devices and connections become morewidespread, but the potential advantages of
online development and teaching has notalways been fully recognised and has met
with some understandable reluctance. However, while the Covid-19 pandemic pushed
many online without ideal preparation ortools it has also acted as a catalyst for wider
acceptance of such mediums and accelerated their introduction into mainstream education systems.
As the grip of the pandemic slowly resides, awaterline remains and teachers are now
generally more accustomed to accessing
online platforms and using them both forteaching, and as a part of their Continuous
Professional Development (CPD) journey. But
challenges clearly remain in acceptance,
motivation and access to adequate resources. It is unlikely that education systems will
retreat away from the progress made indigital delivery of teaching and training andtherefore it is important for organisations that
support English teacher CPD to understandwhere we now are, and where future need
may emerge. By extension, it is necessary tounderstand what English teachers prefer, use
and require in their contexts related to digital
01

Foreword

offerings and resources, while also reacting to
the potential future trends and needs in specific country and demographic contexts withspeciﬁc solutions that are relevant to local
teachers.
This online CPD for teachers of English in
China, Japan and Korea study, commissionedby the British Council English Programmes
team, China, and undertaken by a researchteam brought together by Trinity College
London, represents a signiﬁcant step forwardin understanding the digital trends and needsof English teachers in China, Japan and South
Korea, and offers insight into future development directions. Where possible the research
focus has attempted to identify speciﬁc needs
based on urban and rural, or more disadvantaged contexts, to better understand local
needs.
Digital offers and resources are, of course,
constantly updating and evolving, but thesnapshot presented by the study offers valuable insight into how governments, local authorities and English teachers in local contexts
can be supported in future. While much is still
to be learned, I am conﬁdent that the content
within can act as a valuable foundation ofevidence for future strategy, programming andoffers of CPD that support English teachers
digitally in the 3 targeted countries, I am
likewise conﬁdent that its use will support
future opportunities for co-operation andcollaboration across a spectrum of stakeholders in the years to come.

Fraser Bewick
Senior Academic Manager, China
July, 2022

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Acknowledgments

The authors of this report would like to thankthe British Council and Trinity College London
for supporting this study. Within the British
Council, Fraser Bewick, Li Rui and Kathleen
Zhong were particularly supportive at allstages of the process. At Trinity College
London we would like to thank Dr Jayanti
Banerjee, for her ongoing project support, andRuth Paul, who provided invaluable contractualand legal advice. We are also grateful to all
those who helped us reach so many teachers
during the study. Finally, and perhaps mostimportantly, we would like to thank the manyteachers who contributed to the projectthrough surveys and interviews.

02

Acknowledgments

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Abbreviations

BA
BBC
BCEAS
BE
B.Ed
CLIL
COVID
EBS
ELEC
ELT
FLTRP
ICT
JALT
M.Ed
MEXT
MoE
NTTP
PD
PLC
SLA
SPSS
UK
US
03

Abbreviations

Bachelor of Arts degree
British Broadcasting Corporation
British Council East Asia Study
Basic Education
Bachelor of Education degreeContent and Language Integrated Learning
Coronavirus Disease
Educational Broadcasting System (Korea)
English Language Education Council (Japan)
English Language Teaching
Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (China)
Information Communication Technology
Japan Association for Language Teaching
Master of Education degree
Japanese Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education
National Teacher Training Program (China)
Professional Development
Professional Learning Communities
Second Language Acquisition
Statistical Package for Social Sciences
United Kingdom
United States

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Executive
summary04

Executive summary

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Introduction

Respondents

The British Council commissioned Trinity
College London to conduct a landscapereview of online professional development(PD) for teachers in basic education in China,
Japan and South Korea. Data was collectedfrom November 2021 to April 2022 throughboth quantitative (an online questionnaire)and qualitative (online or telephone interviews) tools used with teachers across primary and secondary education in the three
countries via varied gatekeepers and contacts; sampling was opportunistic, rather thanrepresentative. Questionnaires were developed initially in English and then localised foreach context and translated to the primarynational language for online distribution after
piloting. A sub-sample of questionnaire respondents was interviewed in each country.
In China, additionally, a small group of facilitators of professional development was alsointerviewed.

The total number of valid questionnaire
respondents was 7259 (China: 6469; Japan:
394; South Korea: 396), 106 of whom wereinterviewed (China: 74; Japan: 11; South
Korea: 20). Questionnaire data was analysedboth quantitatively (using SPSS and Excel)
and qualitatively (using a general inductive
approach), for open response items. Chineseinterviewees only were purposefully sampled,
stratiﬁed both to context (income level andrurality) and engagement with CPD (high orlow). Interview data was analysed using ageneral inductive approach to identify
themes in the data of relevance to the study
aims. While sample sizes in the three countries were satisfactory, the distribution ofChinese respondents across provinces was
not representative, with 47.5 per cent ofrespondents coming from Sichuan (low-income) and 25 per cent from Hubei (middle-income); as such, respondents from high-income provinces were under-represented in
the sample and certain ﬁndings may reﬂect
characteristics and challenges speciﬁc to thetwo dominant provinces. Primary and secondary contexts were both represented, although
there was a strong bias towards secondary
teachers in the Japanese sample (79 percent) and slight biases towards secondary in
China (59 per cent) and primary in South
Korea (57 per cent).

05

Executive summary

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Key ﬁndings from China
Survey ﬁndings
The most highly prioritised PD needs ofChinese respondents were ‘Teaching 21st
century skills and abilities’ (selected by 49
per cent of respondents), ‘Teaching reading’(40 per cent) and ‘Motivating students’ (38per cent); bottom of the list of 16 choices
provided were, perhaps surprisingly, ‘Teaching English online’ (18 per cent) and ‘Preparing students for English examinations’ (19 percent). Respondents were asked to indicate
their recent face-to-face and online PD activities. The two most frequently selected
face-to-face activities were peer observationof colleagues (82 per cent) and participationin teacher professional development groups(81 per cent); bottom of this list were formal
courses leading to certiﬁcation (10 per cent).
Recent online activities included online
courses, seminars or workshops (69 per cent)and watching online videos about teaching(57 per cent); formal courses also ranked low
online (13 per cent), as did listening to educational podcasts (12 per cent) and ﬁnding
teaching materials online (11 per cent). Concerning factors that inﬂuenced respondents’decision to participate in online PD, a clear
trend was evident in the most highly prioritised factors: an interest in activities that havedirect, practical implications and use in one’s
own classrooms (e.g. ‘It helps me to solve
problems I face in my teaching’). Respondents reported little difﬁculty getting online
for PD, both at home and at work, andthrough a range of platforms (especially
WeChat, QQ and Ding Ding), although some
(45 per cent) felt that high data costs limit
their online activities. Responses to a rangeof Likert scale items eliciting their attitudes
towards PD indicated high levels of interest in
online PD, especially if free. There were also
generally high approval levels for current PD
provision by authorities, although many feelthat they lack sufﬁcient time to participate in
PD activities. With regard to languages,
survey data indicated support for activities
taking place both in English and Chinese with,

06

Executive summary

on balance, an expressed preference for theformer.
Two open-ended survey items inquired aboutareas of their work where respondents felt
they needed more support and their suggestions for more effective PD in general. Once
more, respondents clearly prioritised PD
activities that are of direct use in their classrooms. In response to the ﬁrst of these items,
they indicated needs for a wider range of
support resources (e.g. international resources, ‘authentic’ materials, etc.) and for practicalteaching skills (e.g. methodology, classroom
teaching skills). Their elicited suggestions for
improving PD indicated strongly that itneeded to be practical and based in current(often less than ideal) classroom realities.
There was a strong interest in online activities, particularly because of the convenienceand time ﬂexibility these offered, and in video
observation and international collaboration
with colleagues in other countries.
The Chinese sample was also stratiﬁed to
identify 1233 ‘disadvantaged’ respondents,
whose schools were located in villages or
towns (i.e., rural) in low-income provinces.
Their responses were compared with theremainder of the sample (urban and middleor high-income). Differences identiﬁed weregenerally small, although this data should beinterpreted with particular caution, due tosigniﬁcant biases in the sample (see 5.2.1).
Disadvantaged respondents were found to beslightly more likely to prioritise PD needs in‘motivating students’ and aspects of ELT
pedagogy (e.g. ‘teaching pronunciation’,‘teaching vocabulary’) than their peers. They
were also found to have slightly lower levelsof participation in most PD activities, consistent with slightly lower levels of school-organised PD activities available to them. They also
indicated less available time for PD and aslightly higher preference for face-to-face PD.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Interview ﬁndings
Purposive sampling of interview respondents
allowed us to include similar numbers ofteachers from urban and rural contexts inhigh-, low- and middle-income provinces,including both those who had and had not
engaged recently in PD. As such, the ﬁndings
are likely to be more balanced between
different backgrounds, provinces and perspectives than the survey data.
While survey respondents had indicated aclear preference for teaching 21st century
skills in their self-evaluated PD needs, thiswas less evident among interviewees, whowere more likely to identify needs related tomotivating learners and engaging them in theclassroom. Support with differentiatedinstruction was also often mentioned, particularly among rural respondents. Those who
discussed demonstration lessons (popular in
Chinese PD) often indicated that theseneeded to be more realistic and reﬂective of
their working contexts. Consistent withsurvey responses, plenty of interviewees
indicated a need for support with methodology, use and adaptation of coursebooks, andsupport with ‘core competencies’ ( 核心素养 ),a recent policy initiative in China. A number
indicated a need for more help with speaking
skills, with several of these also discussing
falling motivation levels towards English
among both learners and parents, and others
interested in improving their own proﬁciency
levels in English.
The majority of interview respondents (43 percent) expressed generally positive opinions,although rarely strong enthusiasm, towards
online PD, often stressing its convenience,
ﬂexibility and lower cost, and also indicating
generally positive attitudes to online PD
among authorities. However, smaller numbersof respondents expressed preferences forface-to-face PD (20 per cent), with others
offering a more balanced discussion of relative merits of the two (21 per cent) or noclear preference for either (12 per cent).
Interviewees shed useful light onto how to
07

Executive summarybalance between use of Chinese and English
in PD, indicating Chinese may be better for
more complex theoretical aspects of PD andEnglish for content related directly to classroom practice. Those that had participatedrecently in online PD tended to report arather limited range of top-down activities,
particularly lectures/webinars and remotelesson observations with some interactivity(e.g. discussion afterwards). This contrasts
somewhat with survey responses; other, moreteacher-led activities were only occasionallydiscussed. Evaluations of online PD activities
varied widely. Consistent with survey responses, there was nonetheless a strong belief that
activities should be practical, collaborative,
and useful (particularly concerning content)
for their day-to-day teaching. For those
respondents who had not engaged in online
PD recently, causes for this varied, including alack of opportunity (particularly in rural areasand sometimes for English subject only), a
lack of time, or excessive workload, and, only
occasionally, cost.
Three PD facilitators who were also interviewed largely corroborated the above interview ﬁndings, indicating that teachers arevery much aware of their own PD needs,
prioritising improvements in language proﬁciency, help with learner motivation, exam
preparation and lesson planning, as well as
developing learners’ critical thinking skills.
They also identiﬁed a need for teachers tounderstand principles rather than simply
techniques, particularly from demonstration
lessons, indicating that PD activities were
often based on a transmission of information,rather than reﬂective in orientation. They
were also generally positive about online PD,
reﬂecting similar advantages and concerns to
the teachers, and suggesting that while bothinternational and more local themes were
useful, the latter was more likely to havedirect relevance for teachers’ classroom
practice.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Recommendations for China
The following recommendations are offered
for English teacher professional development
in China:
Practical, realistic materials and activities: In order to be perceived relevant,PD activities should be practical inorientation, including useful and evendirectly useable materials, recognising
current realities in varied contexts
across China at both secondary andprimary levels.
Supporting understandings of theory:
Despite the need for a primary focus
on practical materials, there was also
clear evidence of interest in, and aneed for, deeper understandings ofaspects of teaching theories (e.g. corecompetencies, deep learning) andparticularly how these link to classroom
practice.
Support for current textbooks: Teachers express a strong need for materials
that support and link to their current
curricula and textbook content; working together with relevant publishers is
likely to be effective to this end for PD
providers.
Diversifying online professional development activities: There is a need for awider range of online PD activities tobe explored and implemented, particularly those involving teacher-led andcollaborative approaches.
Further research on recent policychanges: There is evidence that recent
policy initiatives (e.g. double reduction
and core competencies) are inﬂuencing
teachers’ needs and practices, warranting future research into the impacts
they are exerting.

Key ﬁndings from Japan
Survey ﬁndings
The most highly prioritised professional
development (PD) needs of Japanese
08

Executive summary

respondents were ‘Motivating students’(selected by 63 per cent of respondents),‘Teaching speaking (60 per cent)’ and ‘Teaching 21st century skills’ (44 per cent). Deemed
least important were ‘How to ﬁnd teachingmaterials online’ (6 per cent), ‘Preparing
students for exams’ (11 per cent) and ‘Teaching vocabulary’ (12 per cent). Most frequently
mentioned recent face-to-face professional
development activities included peer observation of colleagues (60 per cent) and participation in courses, seminars and workshops(57 per cent). Teacher-led approaches wereless often mentioned, with classroom action
research (2 per cent) second bottom toteaching competitions (0.3 per cent). Courses, seminars and workshops were the mostfrequently mentioned recent online activities(55 per cent), with online reading (22 percent) second; all other options were reported
by less than 20 per cent of respondents, and
it is notable that 25 per cent stated that they
had not participated in any online PD recently. More respondents indicated that they hadtaken part in face-to-face PD (90 per cent)than online PD (75 per cent) over the past 12
months – perhaps surprising given the timingof data collection at the end of the COVID–19
pandemic. Japanese respondents prioritised
the same three factors as Chinese teachers
when making the decision to participate inonline PD or not: ‘It helps me solve problems
I face in my teaching’, ‘It provides activities
and materials that I can use in my own classroom’ and ‘It keeps me up to date with new
ideas and developments’. Least important forthem were language choice, the providingorganisation and the opportunity for promotion or salary increase. Unsurprisingly, Japanese teachers indicated little difﬁculty
getting online, particularly at home, and few
cost-related issues, reporting a wide range of
online platforms (topped by Line, email andYouTube) and devices (especially smartphones and laptops) used. Concerning Japanese teachers’ views about professional
development, the Likert scale items thatelicited the highest agreement rates from
respondents indicated strongly that they had

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

little time to take part in PD (90 per centagreed), as well as clear interests in freesources of online PD (90 per cent agreed)
and new ways to continue their PD online (88per cent agreed). They also indicated very
low approval ratings of current PD provisionin Japan, with 61 per cent feeling that they
are not satisﬁed with the quality of PD they
have access to.
The two open-ended items at the end of thesurvey revealed an important ﬁnding not soapparent in the quantitative items – that many
respondents (over 30 per cent) feel strongly
that they need to improve their own English
proﬁciency. This was clearly corroborated by
the most commonly mentioned suggestion
for making PD more effective by far – toimprove teachers’ English proﬁciency, despite
the fact that the question required respondents to focus on how effective professional
development can be provided. The second
most popular suggestion also related toEnglish proﬁciency, focusing on the need for
PD activities to be conducted entirely inEnglish. There was also evidence in these
open items that many respondents felt aneed for support with their general pedagogical skills, such as classroom management andinterpersonal practices, and interests inlesson observation and locally contextualised
PD activities.
Interview ﬁndingsInterviews were conducted with 11 Japanese
respondents (3 primary, 3 junior high and 5
senior high). Here again there was a regularly
indicated interest in improving English proﬁciency, particularly to facilitate teaching in
English. Peer observation and interest in new
methodological initiatives (e.g. assessment
methods, interactive teaching) were alsomentioned. Interviewees expressed a rangeof attitudes towards online PD, with mostacknowledging both positive (e.g. convenience, cost) and negative (e.g. limited interaction with peers) aspects. Attitudes tocurrent PD provision by educational authorities, including online, were generally rather
negative (consistent with survey responses),
09

Executive summary

revealing that much provision is ‘generic’,‘superﬁcial’ and ‘mandatory’, indicating aclear top-down emphasis. Examples given of
online activities that interviewees had participated in were mainly short courses, seminars
and webinars/lectures (live webinars werepreferred to recorded sessions), with occasional reference to alternative formats (e.g.
interactive professional development groups).
Recommendations for JapanThe following recommendations are offered
for English teacher professional development
in Japan:Japanese teachers’ expressed need forsupport in developing their own English, particularly to be able to teach in
English indicates that initiatives aiming
to develop English proﬁciency, potentially alongside building content understanding, are likely to be useful andpopular;
Further research into Japanese teachers’ current dissatisfaction with PD
provision will be useful. Our ﬁndings
support a clear need for more teacher-driven PD, rather than the top-down,
accountability-oriented provision that
seems to predominate;
Further research into what may be
excessive workloads among Japaneseteachers is also required alongside
initiatives that support and promoteteacher well-being and quality of life;
International PD providers, in order tocater effectively for Japanese teachers’
needs, may beneﬁt from partneringwith local organisations and authorities;
PD themes and offerings are likely to
be most attractive to teachers if they
have immediate practical relevance orutility in the classroom and are tailoredto Japanese contexts;
Concerning online PD, increasing
interest among Japanese teachers
suggests that this is likely to be a
growth area, with teachers preferring
free, live and interactive sessions.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Key ﬁndings from Korea
Survey ﬁndings
The most highly prioritised professional
development (PD) needs of South Korean
respondents were ‘Teaching speaking’ (selected by 45 per cent of respondents) and‘Teaching reading’ (45 per cent), closely
followed by ‘English assessment’ (44 percent), ‘Teaching 21st century skills’ (42 percent) and ‘Teaching writing’ (41 per cent),
indicating a stronger skills interest thanamong Chinese or Japanese respondents.
However, similar to those countries, ‘Preparing students for exams’ (8 per cent) and‘Finding teaching materials online’ (11 percent) were ranked towards the bottom of theavailable options, along with ‘Lesson planning’(11 per cent). Most frequently mentioned
recent face-to-face professional development
activities included courses, seminars andworkshops (56 per cent), reading activities(48 per cent), informal discussions withcolleagues (44 per cent) and peer-observations (43 per cent). As in Japan, teacher-led
approaches were less often mentioned, withclassroom action research (7 per cent)second bottom to teaching competitions (4per cent). Participation in courses, seminars
and workshops was also the most frequently
mentioned recent online activity (66 percent), with watching online videos aboutteaching (53 per cent) also popular. South
Korean respondents prioritised the same
three factors as Chinese and Japanese teachers when making the decision to participate
in online PD or not: ‘It provides activities andmaterials that I can use in my own classroom’,‘It keeps me up to date with new ideas anddevelopments’ and ‘It helps me solve problems I face in my teaching’. Two of the least
important factors were also consistent withJapanese and Chinese responses - language
choice and the opportunity for promotion orsalary increase. South Korean teachers indicated almost no difﬁculty with getting online
and good stability and speed, although,perhaps surprisingly, cost was a prohibitive
factor for 41 per cent of respondents spending time online. Laptops were preferred over
10

Executive summary

other devices for online activities and two local
platforms (Kakaotalk and Naver Café/Band) weremost popular. Concerning South Korean teachers’ views about professional development,
similar to Chinese teachers, there was strongest
interest in online professional development,
particularly involving free resources and innovative activities, with a preference for PD to be in
English rather than Korean. Despite this enthusiasm for online activities, a majority nonethelessindicated a preference for face-to-face PD (61per cent).
Responses to the two open-ended items at theend of the survey indicated a clear interest in
more opportunities for teacher professional
development and a valuing of diversity andvariety in effective PD. A number of respondents indicated an interest in PD activities
involving overseas organisations such as the
British Council, while a smaller number indicated an interest in improving their own English.
Further suggestions for effective PD indicated aneed for collaborative, long-term, participant-oriented activities in response to thecurrent tendency for shorter-term top-down
provision, similar to Japan.
Interview ﬁndingsInterviews were conducted with 20 South
Korean teachers (9 primary, 6 junior high and 5
senior high). Interviewees reiterated the interest in skills-oriented support evident in survey
responses, particularly reading and writing(with some implying aspects of literacy), andthere was also evidence of interest in developing, or keeping up, their own English proﬁciency. Interviewees were overwhelmingly positive
about the value of online PD, recognising its
advantages (e.g. convenience) and future
potential more than any potential drawbacks,
although barriers to accessing some online(e.g. international) resources were also mentioned. Concerning online provision by authorities, while some teachers praised various
aspects, such as the development of professional learning communities (PLCs), others

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teacherslevied speciﬁc criticisms, particularly that
authorities were not ensuring teachers were
sufﬁciently informed of the range of opportunities available, but also a lack of systematisation or practical utility of provision offered.
Examples of online provision experienced
over the last 12 months included commercially branded courses (e.g. ‘Teacherville’,‘BBC’, etc.) and apps (e.g. Clubhouse) as well
as Zoom-delivered programmes and PLC(formal and informal) activities. Similar to
Japanese respondents, there was a generally
stronger preference for live, rather thanrecorded online sessions and an awarenessthat blended PD involving online andface-to-face elements may be the optimum
combination.
Recommendations for South Korea
The following recommendations are offered
for English teacher professional development
in South Korea:

There is scope for long-term, teacher-led, collaborative CPD among South
Korean teachers of English, particularly
through formal and informal PLCs thatare already beginning to develop;
PD opportunities that help teachers todevelop their English proﬁciency, particularly their English for teaching would
likely be successful and are consistent
with current government policy.

Limitations
The following limitations to data collection
and timing of the study should be noted for all
three countries in addition to the provisos
made concerning the Chinese sample above(see Respondents above):
1.

The evident interest in developing learners’ language skills among teachers
suggests a focus on these in future PD
provision would be impactful;
PD resources and initiatives should havepractical relevance and classroom utility
to appeal to teachers’ self-identiﬁedneeds;South Korean teachers’ enthusiasm
towards online PD indicates that there area range of opportunities in this area,
particularly through live, interactive
2.
sessions offering free, practical resources;
As online PD initiatives increase, there is afelt need among teachers for more
systematic and clearer communication of
events and opportunities from authorities
and PD providers;International organisations with an inter- 3.
est in supporting South Korean teachers’
PD should exhibit sensitivity to the contextual constraints and needs of local
teachers; this may be done most effectively through partnership with localorganisations and materials developedwith South Korean curricula and contexts
in mind;
11

Executive summary

Respondents to the survey were accessed via online modalities only, andopportunistically, including throughBritish Council contacts and online
resources with only limited support fromgatekeepers working within Chinese
basic education. Teachers with lower
levels of digital activity are likely to beunderrepresented, as are those with lessinterest in social media or international
networks.
Some respondents may have declined toparticipate for political and/or cultural
reasons that are indicative of morenegative attitudes towards westernorganisations; their opinions will obviously be underrepresented in thesample.
The survey was conducted towards theend of a period when the COVD-19
pandemic was exerting a clear inﬂuenceon the personal, academic and professional lives of teachers and their learners, and the ﬁndings, particularly withregard to their professional development habits in the previous 12 months,
are likely to reﬂect this.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Chapter-1
Introduction© Christina Morillo/Pexels
12

Introduction

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Trinity College London was commissioned by
the British Council to conduct a landscapereview of online professional development forteachers of English in basic education settings (government primary and secondary
schools) in China, Japan, and South Korea.
This report presents the outcomes of thisreview. A brief discussion of literature onteachers’ professional development is followed by a summary of the research methodology for the study, then the results (based on
surveys and interviews) for each country arepresented in turn. The report concludes withrecommendations for how the professional
development of teachers of English in thethree countries can be further supported.
The Trinity team included a central researchteam consisting of Simon Borg, Jason Anderson and Ben Beaumont, as well as three local
research teams. For China, the team members were Karin Xie, Guo Yonghan and Ross
Thorburn, for Japan they were Ikuya Aizawa
and Kiyono Fujinaga, while the Korea teamconsisted of Tae-Hee Choi and Hyun Jin Kim.

The Trinity teamcentral research team
Simon Borg
Jason Anderson
Ben Beaumont

China

Korea

Karin Xie
Guo Yonghan

Tae-Hee Choi
Hyun Jin Kim

Ross Thorburn13

Introduction

Japan
Ikuya Aizawa
Kiyono Fujinaga

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Chapter-2

The ELT context

14

The ELT context

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Three short overviews of English Education in
China, Japan and Korea are presented here.
Mainland China is divided into 23 provinces(each with its independent education bureau,
overseen by central Government), ﬁve autonomous regions (where there are minority/ethnic groups with different languages andcultural backgrounds) and four municipalities
directly under the Central Government. Thereis a national Ministry of Education, but county-level governments have primary responsibility for the delivery of school education.
Compulsory education lasts nine years andconsists of primary school (grades 1-6) andmiddle school (grades 7-9). High school(grades 10-12) is not compulsory. English isnormally taught as a compulsory subject from
Grade 3. English is also included as a subject
in the national high school and university
entrance examinations. Textbooks are chosen
by schools from a list approved by the Ministry of Education. Public school teachers must
pass the National Teacher’s Certiﬁcate Examination, which is available in four categories(kindergarten, primary school, middle schooland high school). Applicants need to be
graduates of universities or normal colleges.
Japan is divided into 47 administrative/geographic units known as prefectures. Overall
responsibility for curricula and standards lies
with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology (MEXT), but prefectures and municipalities are responsible forthe implementation of programmes. Compulsory education lasts nine years and consistsof six years of Primary school and three ofJunior High school (over 98 per cent ofstudents continue to Senior High school too).
English classes typically start in the 3rd yearof primary school (though some schools startearlier). The Ministry of Education provides all
schools with textbook materials for Grades 3
and 4 English lessons, which are treated as‘foreign language activities’, rather than anassessed school subject. From Grade 5,
English formally becomes a school subject
and is taught through Ministry-approved
English textbooks, produced by private
15

The ELT context

textbook companies. The textbooks are
selected by Boards of Education for Elementary and junior high schools, whereas atsenior high school level, the choice is handed
to individual schools. Students in stateschools take high-stakes tests for entry into
the senior high school of their choice and foruniversity entrance. A licence to teach English is awarded to those who complete ateacher training qualiﬁcation, (which, depending on the type of licence, can be a Master’s
degree, four-year degree, or two-year community college diploma) though in order toachieve full-status teachers must also pass an
exam run by the Board of Education in eachprefecture.
Korea is divided into nine provinces and eightspecial/metropolitan cities. Compulsory
education lasts 12 years and is divided into
primary (grades 1-6), junior high (1-3) andsenior high (1-3). The ministry of education
has overall responsibility for education,
though speciﬁc decisions are delegated to
the 17 educational ofﬁces in the respective
administrative regions. In state schools,
English is compulsory from primary grade 3
onwards and is taught according to textbooks
chosen by schools. English is assessed at thenational level through the Korean Scholastic
Ability Test at the end of year 9, which is used
for college admission. There are three ways
to obtain a teacher certiﬁcate: 1) graduatingfrom a B.Ed. programme, 2) if on a BA programme, doing a minor or a double degree toﬁnish teacher training, 3) obtaining an M.Ed.
after getting a non-teaching degree. Following certiﬁcation, graduates qualify to take anannual teacher recruitment test conductedby the regional educational ofﬁces.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Chapter-3

Literature review

16

Literature review

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

The quality of any education system depends
in large part upon the quality of its teachers
and their teaching (Hattie, 2012; OECD, 2005).
In order to maintain the knowledge, skills,
awareness, attitudes, wellbeing and dedication that are often seen as important toeffective practice (e.g., Darling-Hammond,
2000; Day et al., 2007; Freeman, 1989),
teachers need not only a rounded pre-service
education but also regular, varied and appropriate opportunities for continuing theirprofessional development (PD) throughout
their career (Borg, 2018; Darling-Hammond etal., 2017). Since the turn of the 21st century,
we have seen substantial changes, both in
how PD is offered (particularly the move fromtop-down initiatives to teacher-led approaches) and how it is delivered, with increasing
numbers of PD programmes including online
elements, either blended with face-to-face(F2F) or wholly online (Powell & Bodur, 2019).
Among the many typologies of teacher PD
that exist, the seven elements proposed by
the large-scale, international TALIS study(OECD, 2009) have inﬂuenced a number ofsubsequent studies and were employed as astarting point for this project. These are (p.
50):
1.

2.

3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

17

courses/workshops (e.g. on subject
matter or methods and/or other education-related topics);
education conferences or seminars (atwhich teachers and/or researcherspresent their research results and discuss
education problems);
qualiﬁcation programmes (e.g. a degree
programme);
observation visits to other schools;
participation in a network of teachers(e.g. PLCs) formed speciﬁcally for professional development;
individual or collaborative research on a
topic of professional interest; andmentoring and/or peer observation andcoaching, as part of a formal school
arrangement.

Literature review

Importantly, all of these activities can be
carried out either face-to-face or online, albeit
with some modiﬁcations (e.g. observation
visits may become either live or pre-recorded
video observations).
Because online PD opportunities haveemerged recently and are rapidly evolving, inpart due to their potential for ﬁnancial savings
and in part due to necessity (e.g. the Covid
pandemic), comparatively little is known about
how teachers around the world are both
engaging with, and beneﬁtting from, online
and blended PD (Education Endowment
Foundation, 2020); both of these are areas ofparticular interest in this report, which focuses on three countries: China, Japan and South
Korea, each discussed brieﬂy below.

3.1 Teacher professional
development in China
China has a formally-structured professional
development framework that is strongly
embedded in the state apparatus (Chen,
2020; Ke et al., 2019; Yang & Rao, 2021). Each
teacher is expected to take 360 hours of PD
every ﬁve years (OECD, 2016b), with approximately half of this school-based. While muchof this involves top-down training, it also
includes a number of teacher-led and collaborative activities, including subject-speciﬁc
Teaching Research Groups ( 教研组 /jiaoyanzu), collaborative planning, open lessons
with peer evaluation, and action research(Chen, 2020; Ke et al., 2019; OECD, 2016b;
Thomas, 2020; Wang & Lu, 2012). In order toimprove the quality of teaching, particularly inrural areas, China launched the National
Teacher Training Program (NTTP) in 2010,
with a three-pronged focus on short-termworkshops, distance education and formal
university programmes (Lu et al., 2019; OECD,
2016b); by 2016 the NTTP was reported tohave reached over 9.5 million rural teachers(Yang and Rao, 2020). Online PD has also
expanded rapidly in recent years in China,
with evidence of both success and challenges
reported from various studies (e.g. Forrester& Motteram, 2005; Robinson, 2008; Wang &Lu, 2012).

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

3.2 Teacher professional
development in Japan
Japan has a highly structured professional
development framework, involving extensive
mandatory activities during the ﬁrst year of
school placement (up to 300 hours over 90
days; Ahn et al., 2019; OECD, 2016a). After 10
years, they undergo further training, which
they must repeat every 10 years in theircareer to maintain qualiﬁed status (Ahn et al.,2019; Mullis et al., 2016), although there areregional variations in different prefectures.
Professional development activities offeredby local boards of education include courses
and workshops (Mullis et al., 2016), mentoring
programmes (Tonga et al., 2022) and the now
internationally well-known lesson study ( 授業
研究 /jyugyou kenkyu), in which teachers
work in collaborative groups to develop
lesson plans and materials, try them out inclass while peers observe, and then makefurther amendments as required (Rappleye &Komatsu, 2017). Also noted as important by
Ahn et al. (2019) is the more informal learningthat occurs in the teacher’s staff room ( 職員室 /shokuin shitsu), particularly valued by
novice teachers. Topics for professional
development include a strong focus on
aspects of duty, ethics, responsibility andguidance for students (Orakçı 2015).

3.3 Teacher professional
development in South Korea
Since the introduction of a new teacher education system in South Korea in 2011 (Yoo,2018), teacher professional development has
followed a comparatively top-down, evaluation-based approach involving a credit systemwith two grades of teaching certiﬁcate (Lee etal., 2019; Mullis et al., 2016; Yoo, 2018). Teachers who score low on their yearly appraisal
may be required to take over 200 hours of PD
each year, while those that score more highly
are rewarded with the opportunity to takeresearch-related sabbaticals (Yoo, 2018).

18

Literature review

In order to count towards teachers’ mandatory PD requirements, training programmes
must be approved; these are most oftendelivered through education ofﬁces/centres,
afﬁliated universities and private sector
providers. Delivery modes have historically
been quite traditional, involving residential
courses, workshops and lectures, distancelearning courses and only limited in-class
support (Lee et al., 2019; Mullis et al., 2016;
Yoo, 2018). While there is comparatively little
research on teacher PD in South Korea(Yoon, 2016), research eliciting teachers’
opinions on current PD provision generally
reports rather negative impressions, indicating it has little relevance or effectiveness forteachers (Kim & Kim, 2014), is based on atransmission approach to PD and too repetitive (Lee et al., 2019), and often involves
excessive levels of accountability (Yoo,2018). The South Korean Ministry of Education is currently attempting to modernise thesystem, with recent policy edicts indicatingthat PD programmes must be participant-centred, case-based and encourageteachers to create rather than transmit
knowledge (MoE, 2018). Evidence from morecollaborative PD interventions that have
proven to be successful (e.g. Park & So,
2014; Yoon, 2016) may offer useful guidance
for the changes currently being undertaken.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Chapter-4

Methodology© Mat Wright19

Methodology

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

4.1 Aims
The primary aim of this landscape review wasto provide insights into the professional
development of teachers of English in basic
education in China, Japan and Korea. The
following speciﬁc questions were addressedin each country:
1.
2.
3.

4.
5.
6.

What kinds of (especially free and open)
PD provision are available?
Who provides it?
What areas of their work do basic education (BE) teachers of English wantsupport with (i.e. their PD interests andneeds)?
What kinds of online PD do BE teachers
engage with?
What factors motivate them to engage
in online PD?
What factors limit their engagement?

The study consisted of two phases: an online
survey and interviews. Each phase is now
described. The research tools are available
on request from the British Council.

4.2 Online teacher surveys
4.2.1 Survey design
The online survey for teachers was drafted in
English, then localised and translated foreach country. Each version thus differedslightly, though all contained the same coresections: an eligibility question to conﬁrm
respondents were basic education teachersof English; an introduction providing information about the project; demographic questions about the respondents and theirschools; questions about professional development provision and engagement in
face-to-face and online professional development in the previous 12 months; questions
about the factors that inﬂuence teachers’
decisions to do online professional development and about how teachers get online.
Teachers were also asked a set of questions
to explore their attitudes to professional
development more generally. Two ﬁnal open
questions asked teachers to comment further
on the areas of their work where they wanted
more professional development and on how
20

Methodology

best they felt this professional development
could be provided. The ﬁnal question invited
teachers to participate in a rafﬂe prize draw
and to volunteer for a follow-up interview.
Most questions in the survey were mandatory,
though those on gender and disability andthe two ﬁnal open questions were optional.
On the basis of local advice in each country, it
was decided to use SurveyMonkey in Japanand Korea and Survey Star in China as theonline survey platform.
The nature of this study ampliﬁed the complexity inherent in designing surveys. One
challenge for the BCEAS team was ensuringthat the wide range of issues of interest (asindicated in the project objectives) were
sufﬁciently covered without, however, creating an instrument that was unfeasibly long.
Additionally, while the survey had core questions that were repeated for each country,
each version had items that were localised(such as, for example, questions asking
teachers about their knowledge of speciﬁcorganisations offering PD in their country, or
which online platforms they used). Also, as weshared drafts with the country teams it
became clear that the wording of statements
did not work equally well in all three countries
and revisions were needed. The feedback
from the country teams and the British Council was also extensive and not always easy toreconcile. And, of course, the ﬁnal versions of
the surveys were translated into the threenational languages, placed on online platforms, and piloted, including through ‘thinkaloud’ supervised completion by trial respondents. Piloting led to further revisions andmore subtle localisation to reduce the dangerof misunderstanding and increase the relevance and clarity of items (Anderson & Lightfoot, 2022).

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

4.2.2 Survey administration

4.2.3 Survey analysis

The process of administering the online
survey varied from country to country depending on the relevant stakeholders andgate-keepers who could be enlisted in eachcase. In all three cases, though, ofﬁcial support from national, provincial or district
educational authorities was not obtained andthe research team thus relied on relevant
contacts in each country. In all countries, theBritish Council disseminated the invitation tocomplete the online survey amongst existing
networks of teachers; in Japan, a number ofschool principals were also contacted andinvited to share the link with teachers in theirschools. In China, academics with access to
networks of teachers of English were also
enlisted to support the project. In Korea, theprimary source of support was a teachers’
association (KOSETA), which shared thesurvey links with members and key teacher
education institutes. In addition, all membersof the research team drew on personal contacts in the target countries and used relevant social media in each context to reach as
many teachers as possible. The surveys werelaunched in the third week of December 2021
and closed at the end of January 2022.

The numerical survey data were analysedusing both EXCEL and the statistical analysis
programme SPSS. While the survey platforms
used did allow the data to be exported inboth EXCEL and SPSS formats, much additional work was required (especially in SPSS) toclean the resulting ﬁles, deal with missing
data, deﬁne the variable names and labels in
English, and deﬁne and assign values to
response options. Various checks were also
carried out (comparing results generated by
the survey platforms with those from the
EXCEL and SPSS ﬁles) to conﬁrm the accuracy of the ﬁnal data ﬁles. The result of thisprocess of data preparation was a set of
EXCEL and SPSS ﬁles for each country whichthen allowed the quantitative analysis toproceed rapidly. Descriptive analyses were
utilized, with a focus on frequencies andpercentages, and these are presented below
in both tables and charts. In the case of
China, additional analyses were performed inorder to compare the results of teachers from
more and less advantaged contexts (considering both province income level and rurality)
in the country.
Open-ended survey responses were analysedthematically; for example, where teachers
were asked to comment on the topics theywould like professional development to focus
on, the answers were reviewed and grouped
according to content; teachers’ comments
about how best they felt professional development could be delivered were similarly
categorised.

21

Methodology

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

4.3 Teacher interviews
4.3.1 Sampling and conduct
At the end of the survey, teachers wereinvited to volunteer for a follow-up interview.
The purpose of these semi-structured interviews was to explore in more detail some of
the themes covered in the survey. Local
research teams conducted the interviews in
the primary national language (Mandarin
Chinese, Japanese and Korean). An interview
guidance document was provided to support
the process and this included general advice
on interview conduct as well as on the questions to be asked.
Once the surveys were closed, lists of interviewees for each country were drawn up andcontacted using the details they had provided. For Japan (40 volunteers) and Korea (63),the process was straightforward and a targetof 15-20 interviews per country was set but
for China there were almost 3000 volunteers
and a sampling strategy was devised to targeta total of 75 teachers. For China only, subgroups of respondents were identiﬁed basedon their degree of engagement with online
professional development (engaged/not
engaged). Interviewees were purposively
sampled in each of these subgroups toensure that each included a balance of teachers from both rural and urban contexts
across different income bands (high-, middleand low-income provinces). Care was also
taken to ensure that a balance of respondents from primary, lower secondary (juniorhigh school) and upper secondary (seniorhigh school) levels were included in theinterview sample. With regard to gender, thevast majority of interviewees were female, as
found in the general sample of survey respondents.
In China, an additional set of interviews was
conducted with three teacher researchers(who had some responsibility for co-ordinating teacher development activities).
The conﬁrmed number of interviewees foreach country was as follows:
22

Methodology

China

75
teachers

11
South
Korea 20Japan

3teacher
researchers

teachers

teachers

4.3.2 Interview analysis
The local teams conducting the interviews
were provided with an interview summary
sheet. This included a series of headings that
corresponded to the questions deﬁned in theinterview guide and interviewers were asked
to summarise, including direct quotations,what teachers said in relation to each ofthese headings. The completed summary
sheets were then analysed thematically by
the central research team using a general
inductive approach (Thomas, 2006). For the
additional teacher researcher interviews,
responses were also analysed thematicallyaccording to the key topics that were discussed.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Chapter-5

Results China© Mat Wright23

Results China

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.1 Survey results: overall

5.1.1 Response rate

The survey responses for the whole groupare analysed ﬁrst, then in Section 5.2 a
sub-analysis is provided which compares the
responses of teachers in disadvantaged andnon-disadvantaged contexts.

As Figure 1 shows, of 6835 respondents whostarted the survey, 6469 were eligible (i.e.,they were teachers of English working inbasic education) and completed the survey.

Figure 1. Total number of valid respondents

366

Teacher in basic education
Disqualiﬁed

5.1.2 Geographical distribution
The sample included respondents from allover China. However, the proportional distribution of respondents between provinces is
not representative of the country as a whole(see Figure 2). Seventy-three percent ofresponses came from just two provinces,
Sichuan (47.5 per cent, low-income1 ) andHubei (25.4 per cent, middle-income).
Chongqing (7.4 per cent) and Yunnan (6.0 percent) (middle- and low-income respectively)

6469
were also well represented. Four high-income
provinces, Beijing (4.0 per cent), Shanghai (3.4
per cent), Shandong (1.7 per cent) and Jiangsu (1.6 per cent), made up 10.7 per cent of
total responses, and the remainder of provinces contributed the remaining 3.1 per cent.
Any interpretation of the data here presented
should acknowledge this bias, speciﬁcallytowards two provinces, and, on balance,
towards the lower end of the income scale
across China.

Figure 2. Responses per province
3070

1644

476

24

5

4

an

jia

ng

3

3

3

2

2

1

xi
lin
M In
on ne
g r
Q oli
in a
gh
Ni ai
ng
xi
M a
ac
ao

5

Ji

5

Sh

6

n

6

jin

6

an

7

Ti

7

ng

8

jia

8

Fu

i

aa

Ji

Sh

in

Ha

He

n

8

nx
an i
gx
i
An
hu
G
ui i
zh
o
G u
an
su
Xi
nj
ia
Li ng
ao
n
G ing
ua
ng
Zh xi
ej
He ian
ilo g

9

na

an
gd

Results China

Hu

Si

Based on 2014 ﬁgures [here].

1

21 17

an

29
g

107 105 33

on

221

ch
ua
Hu n
Ch be
on i
gq
i
Yu ng
nn
an
Be
iji
Sh ng
an
g
Sh ha
an i
d
Ji ong
an
gs
u
He
na
G
n
u

258

be

390

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.1.3 Respondent demographics

The vast majority of respondents were female(88 per cent), noticeably higher than thereported national balance in basic education(67 per cent primary; 53 per cent secondary;Anderson, 2019), and 98 per cent reported nodisability. With regard to age, almost half were
between 31 and 40 and only 6 per cent wereover 50, indicating a relatively young average
age among respondents (see Figure 3).

Teaching experience varied widely, with 30
per cent in the ﬁrst ﬁve years of their career,and 24 per cent with over 20 years’ experience (Figure 4). 98 per cent of respondents
were full-time teachers, and 82 per centindicated that their highest qualiﬁcation wasa bachelor’s degree (Figure 5). The vast
majority were certiﬁed English teachers (88per cent), and most taught only English (81per cent), indicating that even at primarylevel many Chinese teachers are subject
specialists (see Table 1).

Figure 3. Respondent age

Figure 4. Respondent experience

50%

50%
45%

40%

40%

30%
20%

30%
24%

25%

10%
30 or under

31-40

41-50

30%

20%
6%

0%

51-60

over 60

24%
16%

17%

Less than 6-10
6 years
years

11-15
years

10%

Figure 5. Respondent highest qualiﬁcation

Figure 6. Respondent teaching level

100%

50%

80%

40%

82%

60%

30%

40%

20%

20%

25

14%

3%
College

Bachelor's Master's

graduate

degreeResults China

degree

0%

0%

PhD

Other 390

41%

13%
16-20
years

over 20
years

44%

15%

10%
PrimaryschoolJunior highschoolSenior highschoolThe continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Table 1. Proportion of English language subject specialists by level
Specialists

Non-specialists

N

%

N

%

Primary school

1754

66.7

876

33.3

Junior high school

2543

88.4

333

11.6

Senior high school

941

97.7

22

2.3

The sample included a good balance between
primary (41 per cent) and secondary teachers (59 per cent), although senior high school
teachers were less well represented (Figure6); government statistics indicate ratios of: 49
per cent primary, 29 per cent junior secondary and 21 per cent senior secondary (National Bureau of Statistics of China, 20182 ),suggesting our balance in this regard isreasonably representative. With regard to
respondents’ school sizes, these ranged widely,peaking in the 1000–2000 category, and with
only 18 per cent below 500, indicating mostworked in large institutions (Figure 7). Data on
school location shows that the vast majority of
respondents work in urban environments, with
only 6 per cent indicating that their school was
located in a village (Figure 8).

Figure 7. No of pupils in respondent schools

Figure 8. Respondent school location

30%

50%
27%

25%

40%

20%

44%

30%
18%

15%

15%

10%

10%

19
99
20
00
-2
99
30
9
00
-3
99
40
9
00
4
50
99
00
9
or
m
or
e

9

7%

27%

10%

6%
City

CountyTown

Village

0-

99
0-

4%

23%

10
0

50

49
9

Fe
w
er

10
0-

10
0

3%

th
an

20%

16%

5.1.4 Awareness of providers ofprofessional development
Respondents were asked to indicate awareness of six organisations providing professional development in China (Figure 9). Three
seemed to be very well known and extensive
providers of professional development,
particularly the Institute of Education Sciences ( 教育科学研究院 ) and teacher training
colleges ( 教师进修学院 ), both of which had
http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2019/indexeh.htm

2

26

Results China

provided professional development to approximately half of all respondents, closely
followed by universities. In contrast to these,
only a minority indicated having participatedin professional development offered by either
national or international publishers, or otherprivate organisations, although most indicated awareness of such bodies.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 9. Respondent awareness of selected organisations (n = 6469)
Institute of Education Science( 教育科学研究院 )50%

Teacher training colleges( 教师进修学院 )

40%

48%

Local universities

39%

42%

Chinese publishers

14%

International publishers

9%

13%

45%

20%

Private training organisations

10%

53%
55%
53%

14%
27%
31%
39%

I know about them and have participated in PD they provide
I know about them but have not participated in PD they provide
I am not familiar with them

Respondents also had the option to indicate
whether they had attended professional development offered by organisations not listed in
the survey item; 17 per cent of them did. In
many cases, though, their responses repeatedcategories already listed in the ﬁgure above.
Institutes of Education Science (national institute under MOE and regional ones undereducation bureaus) were the organisations
mentioned most (122 times), followed byteacher training colleges at national andregional level (over 100 mentions). Publishers,
such as the Foreign Language Teaching andResearch Press (FLTRP), Pearson or People’s
Education Press were listed by 42 teachers.
Less frequently, various universities were alsomentioned, along with some local privateorganisations such as New Oriental whosometimes work with schools on a projectbasis. The British Council was mentioned 10
times in the additional professional development providers named by the teachers.

© Mat Wrigh27

Results China

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.1.5 Professional development needs
Respondents were asked to identify theirprofessional development needs by selecting
up to ﬁve topics from a list of 16 provided(Figure 10). While all topics garnered interest,‘Teaching 21st century skills and abilities’
topped the list, with almost half of all respondents choosing this topic. Teaching reading
ranked highly, (higher even than teaching

speaking), while motivating students was
also prioritised. Perhaps surprisingly for acountry where high-stakes exams play animportant role in education, preparing
students for exams was near the bottom of
the list; also surprisingly in the current
post-Covid climate, teaching English online
was the lowest ranked topic.

Figure 10. Prioritized professional development needs among respondents (n = 6469)
Teaching 21st century skills and abilities

49%

Teaching reading

40%

Motivating students

38%

Teaching speaking

36%
32%

How to ﬁnd teaching materials online
Using technology in the classroom

31%

Teaching writing

28%

Designing/adapting teaching materials

28%

Teaching pronunciation

27%

English assessment

26%

Lesson planning

25%

Teaching vocabulary

24%

Teaching listening

23%

Teaching grammar

19%

Preparing students for English examinations

19%

Teaching English online

18%

None of the above

5.1.6 Face-to-face professional development
Respondents were asked to indicate what
face-to-face professional development activities they had participated in over the previous
12 months, with 11 relevant activities presented, and additional options to indicate otherforms of professional development and ‘noneof the above’ 3 (Figure 11). Peer observation ofcolleagues and participation in teacher professional development groups (likely including‘jiaoyanzu’, 教研组 , a type of professional

0.2%% of respondents who selected an option(each was allowed to choose up to 5)

learning community promoted in China; Chen,
2020) were by far the most frequently selected. As well as courses, seminars and workshops, teaching competitions were also often
mentioned, and despite COVID-19 restrictions, conferences ranked fairly highly. Formal
qualiﬁcation courses ranked lowest of theavailable options with only 10 per cent ofteachers having completed any in the previous 12 months.

‘None of the above’ corresponds to the option ‘I have not done any face-to-face professional development in theprevious 12 months’.

3

28

Results China

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 11. Recent face-to-face professional development activities (n = 6469)
Peer observation with colleagues in your school

82%

Teacher professional development groups(including lesson study, planning groups)

81%
58%

Courses, seminars or workshops
Teaching competitions

49%

Conferences where teachers and/or researcherspresent research or discuss educational issues

42%

Informal discussions about teaching with otherteachers

38%

Reading books and journals about teaching

36%
35%

Attending lectures by guest speakers
Mentoring or other 1-to-1 peer-support

24%

Classroom action research

23%

Formal courses to obtain a teaching certiﬁcate

10%

No face-to-face professional development in last
12 months
Other forms of face-to-face professional
development (please specify)

Respondents were also asked to indicate both
who paid for these face-to-face professional
development activities, and whether they
were voluntary. The vast majority indicatedthat they had participated in free (to them)professional development (84 per cent),
although up to 30 per cent also indicated they
had contributed to the cost on occasion.
While only 9 per cent indicated that theirrecent professional development had been

2%
1%
% respondents who indicated an activity

always compulsory, there was a balance between always voluntary (49 per cent) andsometimes voluntary (43 per cent) among
responses. They were also asked to indicate
the provider of these activities (Figure 12); thevast majority were provided by educational
authorities, either directly (80 per cent) or
through the teacher’s own school (80 percent). Private and international organisations
were rarely chosen.

Figure 12. Recent face-to-face professional development: Provider (n = 6312)
Ofﬁcial education authority

80%

My school

80%

Local teacher association

11%

Local private organisation, such as a training instituteor publishing house8%

Local university/college

7%International organisation

3%

Others1%% of respondents who indicated a provider (tick any option)
29

Results China

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.1.7 Online professional development
Respondents’ online professional development activities over the previous 12 months
were also investigated, with 11 options provided, some of which corresponded to equivalent face-to-face options (Figure 13). Courses,
seminars and workshops were most frequently mentioned (69 per cent), and online conferences were also popular (44 per cent). Videos
both about teaching and for peer observation
also both ranked highly. Relatively few teachers had engaged in searching for teachingmaterials online, either on ofﬁcial websites or
through other sources – in this regard it isnotable that the least frequently mentioned
online professional development activity was

making use of international websites to ﬁndteaching materials.
Concerning sources of funding and whether
participation was voluntary, responses concerning online professional development
were very similar to those for face-to-faceprofessional development (Figure 14).
Eighty-six percent indicated it was free ofcharge and 53 per cent indicated it wasalways voluntary. Likewise, providers of online
professional development reported were also
very similar to those for face-to-face professional development.

Figure 13. Recent online professional development activities (n = 6469)
Online courses,seminars or workshops

69%

Watching online videos about teaching

57%

Online conferences where teachers and/or researcherspresent research or discusseducational issues

44%

Reading online articles about teaching

43%

Peer observation through video

36%

Informal online professional groups (including throughsocial media)
Finding teaching materials on ofﬁcial government
websites
Finding teaching materials on local non-govemment
websites for teachers in my country

28%
22%
20%

Formal courses to obtain a teaching certiﬁcate,delivered online

13%

Listening to educational podcasts

12%

Finding teaching materials on international websites
In the last 12 months I have not taken part in any
online professional development activities
Other forms of online professional
development (please specify)

11%
4%
1%
% respondents who indicated an activity

30

Results China

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 14. Recent online professional development provider (n = 6238)
Ofﬁcial education authority

79%

My school

76%

Local teacher association

15%

Local private organisation, such as a training
institute or publishing house

11%

Local university/college

10%International organisation

3%

Others1%% of respondents who indicated a provider(tick any option)

Respondents were offered 13 potential factors that might inﬂuence decisions to participate in online professional development, andasked to indicate their importance (Figure 15).
All factors offered were considered either
important or very important by over 60 per
cent of respondents. However, the three mosthighly ranked factors related speciﬁcally tothe practical utility of professional development for the classroom (including whether it
can solve problems they face, update themwith new developments in the ﬁeld, andprovide activities and materials that they canuse when teaching). However, for many, it wasalso important (40 per cent) or very important (51 per cent) that their employer recognised the activity. It was also notable thatthe language used in the professional development activity seemed to be less important
than any other factors, with a slight preference for English over Chinese – althoughparadoxically, over 60 per cent of respondents indicated a preference for both languages, suggesting an interest in multilingual
professional development activities that was
supported by interview data (see 5.4.4).

Figure 15. Factors that inﬂuence decisions to participate in online professional development (n = 6469)
It helps me solve problems I face in my teaching

60%

38%

2%

It keeps me up to date with new ideas
and developments

57%

41%

2%

It provides activities and materials that I can use
in my own classroom

55%

42%

2%

The activity is ofﬁcially recognised by my employer

51%

40%

9%

I do not have to pay myself to take part

50%

42%

8%

The organisation providing the professional
development is well-known

50%

43%

7%

It gives me ﬂexibility in terms of when andwhere to study

49%

46%

5%

The activity gives me the opportunity tointeract with other teachers

37%

51%

12%

It is not too time-consuming

37%

54%

10%

52%

16%

It uses familiar online tools and platforms

32%

Taking part will help me get a salarybonus or promotion

31%

The activity takes place in English

23%

The activity takes place in Chinese

20%

Very important
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Results China

Quite important

Not important

41%
50%
44%

28%
27%
36%

% respondents who chose an option

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Teachers also had the option of identifying
other factors that inﬂuenced their decision to
do online professional development. Three
hundred teachers did so, though the analysis
identiﬁed 117 that were either non-answers(such as ‘nothing to add’ or ‘no’), unclear inmeaning (such as ‘life-long learning’) or not
relevant to the question (such as ‘the school's
teaching task is too heavy, which affects theprofessional development activities participated in’). Another 53 answers also simply referred to ‘improving professional development’, ‘self-improvement’ and similar ideas.
Amongst the responses that did identify
factors that inﬂuence teachers’ decision to
engage in online professional development,
one dominated and there were 62 references
to the importance of practical ideas andactivities that improve teaching in the classroom. Some examples are ‘can improve teaching ability’, ‘practical, useful’, ‘can actuallypromote the improvement of teaching ability’,‘help yourself improve your teaching’, ‘can
5.1.8 Getting online
One section of the survey investigated respondents’ online access and preferred
platforms. The vast majority indicated goodconnectivity, with over 90 per cent judging
that they can get online easily both at workand home, although data costs are a limiting
factor for 55 per cent of respondents, and 24
per cent cannot stream videos (Figure 16).
Both of these are likely to limit teachers from
Figure 16. Internet connectivity (n = 6469)

help me better apply to my work’ and ‘provide
practical teaching aids instead of traditional
theoretical learning’. While not an additional
factor itself (similar ideas were included in theprevious list teachers were asked to choosefrom), these responses conﬁrm teachers’
over-riding concern with professional development that is of direct use to them in the classroom.
Another factor that was mentioned several
times (23 teachers) was the content of professional development. ‘Interesting’ was a characteristic that was mentioned regularly, in addition to ‘informative’, ‘latest’ and ‘cutting-edge’.
Several other factors mentioned less frequently included online professional developmentthat was relevant to their professional needs,
easy and convenient to participate in, having a
ﬂexible schedule, free of charge and which
provided them with resources to use in class.
Some also mentioned certiﬁcates as a factor
that made online professional development
more attractive.
.
exploiting online resources to the full, particularly given that four of the ﬁve most popular
online professional development activities(watching videos, peer observations and participating in both conferences and workshops)
are all likely to require streaming capabilities.
Concerning a lack of internet access among
respondents, this was rare; only 4 per centindicated that they cannot easily get online athome, and 10 per cent at work.
.

It is easy for me get online at home
It is easy for me to get online at work

90%

10%

I have access to a stable internet connection

83%

17%

76%

My internet is fast enough to stream videos
55%

High data costs limit the time I can spend online
Yes
32

4%

96%

Results China

No

24%
45%

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Among the varied online platforms that respondents reported using, WeChat, QQ and
Ding Ding – all Chinese platforms – were allvery popular, with over 60 per cent of respon-dents making use of them (Figure 17). Concerning devices used, the majority of respondents indicated that they had online access
via mobile phone (83 per cent) and/or laptop(73 per cent).

Figure 17. Which online platforms/tools do you use (work or leisure)? (n = 6469)
85%

WeChat

74%

QQ
61%

Ding Ding
Email

43%

Bilibili

41%
37%

Douyin/Tiktok
30%

Xiao Hong Shu
Weibo

26%

Zhihu

25%

Kuai Shou
OthersNone of the above

7%
3%
0.4%

% of respondents who indicated a provider (tick any option)

5.1.9 Views about professional development
The ﬁnal quantitative survey item elicited
respondents’ views in a number of areas
relating to professional development, bothonline and face-to-face (Figure 18). It is notable that two of the most strongly-supported
opinions indicated an interest in continuing
professional development online, particularly
through free sources (97 per centagreed/strongly agreed with this item), andwhile a majority indicated that they preferredface-to-face professional development, thisitem elicited comparatively low levels ofagreement (68.5 per cent) relative to mostother items. There was also evidence ofgeneral satisfaction with the professional

33

Results China

development provided by educational authorities (82 per cent agreed/strongly agreed).
With regard to language choice, 88 per centagreed or strongly agreed with an item
indicating a preference for professional
development activities in English over theirﬁrst language. Evidence that Chinese teachers feel they lack sufﬁcient time for online
professional development was also present in
the responses, with 63 per cent agreeing withan item about this issue. Finally, while amajority agreed that the UK is a source ofexpertise in ELT (79 per cent), a majority also
felt that international organisations do not
fully understand the needs of Chinese teachers (72 per cent).

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 18. Attitudes towards professional development (n = 6469)
I am interested in free sources of online
professional development for teachers of English

43%

54%

3%

The educational authorities in my country provide
me with high quality professional development...

31%

51%

I am interested in ﬁnding new ways of continuing
my professional development online
I would like more professional development
activities in English (not in my ﬁrst language)

30%

64%

5%

27%

61%

12%

I prefer face-to-face professional development
rather than doing it online

23%

45%

29%

I am satisﬁed with the quality of professional
development that I have access to

20%

63%

15%

The UK is a source of expertise in English language
teaching

19%

60%

20%

It is difﬁcult to ﬁnd the time to take part inprofessional development activities

16%

International organisations do not fully understandthe needs of teachers in my country

15%

Agree strongly

Agree

Disagree

47%
57%

15%

34%
26%

Disagree strongly

5.1.10 Further professional development
There were two optional open-ended questions at the end of the survey. The ﬁrst was:
Please write one or two sentences to tell us
about areas of your work as a teacher ofEnglish that you would like to receive more
professional development support for.
There were 4951 responses to this question.
Sample size calculators indicated that analysing a random selection of 350 would provide
representative conclusions and this analysis ispresented here.
Chinese teachers’ responses to the ﬁrst
open-ended item were characterised bysubstantial variety, with a very wide range ofideas being mentioned infrequently. Twoparticular themes did, though, dominate. The
ﬁrst, with 44 responses (12.6 per cent of the
350 randomly chosen for analysis) highlighted
an interest in having access to a wider rangeof resources to support teaching and learning. Examples of comments in this category
were:
34

Results China‘international English teaching resources’‘need more authentic material’‘free online resources’‘have better resources’‘Hope to ﬁnd more free and good resource platforms to share’‘free online practice resources’‘how to obtain high-quality teaching
resources’‘we need reasonable, rich and free teaching resources’‘how to ﬁnd more free teaching resources online’‘have more and richer free teaching
resources’.
The second major category in this question,with 38 mentions, was teaching skills; teachers
were interested, as part of their professional
development, in learning about practical skills
and activities they could use to improve thequality of teaching and learning. Examples ofcomments in this category were:

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers‘training of English teaching methods’‘classroom teaching skills’‘practical teaching methods in the classroom’‘teaching skills and methods’‘improve teaching skills’‘effective teaching methods’‘teaching skills and methods’‘teaching activities’
Teachers did sometimes refer to the teachingof speciﬁc skills, such as speaking or reading,but they typically expressed an interest inteaching methods generally.
Beyond these two dominant categories, there
were some others which were highlighted
several times without exceeding 10 mentions.
These were:
EdTech (10), such as ‘smooth use oftechnology in the classroom’ and ‘theintegration of English teaching andinformation technology’
Observation (7), such as ‘hope to observe the public classes of students of
all levels’ and ‘go to other schools tolisten to regular lessons instead ofmodel lessons’.
Lesson preparation (7), such as ‘how tobetter prepare for lessons’
Motivating students (6), such as ‘stimulate students' interest in learning’ and‘how to arouse students' interest’.
Assessment (5), such as ‘match thecurrent educational examination system
in China with relevant foreign researchor advanced theories and methods ofeducation and teaching’.

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Results China

5.1.11 Effective professional development
The second optional open-ended question was:If you would like to make any suggestions forhow effective professional development can bemade available to teachers of English in primaryand secondary schools in China please use thisspace.
There were 3217 responses to this question
and, once again, a random sample of 350 was
analysed.
Open-ended Item 2 elicited respondents’ suggestions for how to provide effective professional development to Chinese primary andsecondary teachers. The sample was analysedboth for most commonly mentioned themes(coded and then quantiﬁed), and for how these
themes were often linked together. As Figure 19
below shows, by far the most commonly mentioned theme was reference to practical professional development that is useful in the classroom. With regard to preferences for online,
face-to-face or hybrid delivery, while online
professional development ranked higher, thismay be inﬂuenced by the overall survey focus(and delivery online), and it is important to
notice that interest in both face-to-face andhybrid modalities was also high. Consistent withthe practical focus, a number of respondents
indicated that professional development should
involve opportunities for lesson observation(including demonstration lessons), bothface-to-face and online. A number also indicated an interest in greater international interaction, including collaboration with colleagues inother countries, as well as professional development support and input from ‘experts’ (explored further below). Also frequently mentioned — to some extent in tension with theprevious theme — was an interest in professional development being localised, speciﬁc or
relevant to teachers’ current contexts of practice and classroom realities, sometimes withcritical reference to past professional development events. The two most commonly mentioned topic foci for such professional development were speaking and teaching methodology.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 19. Provision of effective professional development
Professional development should…
be practicalbe online
include lesson observation
be localised
involve international collaboration
increasebe face-to-faceinclude speaking focus
include methodology focus
be hybrid (online & face-to-face)
address time concerns
support collaboration
offer resources/materials
be ﬂexible
address theory & practice
be realistic
consider rural contexts
be systematic% of respondents who mentioned the theme

While the proportional balance of these
individual themes among responses is interesting, potentially more insightful is how they
were often linked together, offering visions for
how the respondents felt different elements
could be combined in professional development delivery, content and organisation. Theinterest in online learning was often linked tointerest in practical ideas, the ﬂexibility thatonline learning offers, and the possibility ofexamples or lesson demonstrations through,for example, video observation. The following
two quotes are representative, the second
also interestingly proposing a means fororganising such professional development –this interest in more systematically organised
learning was also common in the dataset:

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Results China

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

Personally think that online training canbe more, because the time is ﬂexible.
An optional online learning menu isprovided every semester. Each learningmenu training focuses on a small practical problem. The menu training cycle isabout a week, and the duration of eachclass is no more than half an hour.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

The strong interest in a practical focus for
professional development activities, was often
linked to reference to classroom realities, witha number of respondents also implying atheory-practice disconnect in current professional development delivery, as implied in thefollowing response:
The teaching difﬁculties of front-line
teachers should be collected ﬁrst, andthen answered in a more targetedmanner, so that theory and practice cantruly be connected.
Respondents’ suggestions for more international collaboration regularly included proposals both for collaboration with, or observations of, colleagues in other countries, andinvited lectures/webinars from international
speakers; among these comments, an undertone of being disconnected from the wider
ELT community was sometimes detectable:
Hope to have the opportunity to communicate with foreign primary and secondary school teachers.
Regularly hold international exchange
lectures to bring us a vision of the world.
A large number of respondents who madereference to lesson observations (including
others observing their own lessons) alsomentioned both demonstration lessons anddirect in-school training support and asked
for, as in this example, ‘more quality class-37

Results China

room observation and training.’
Concerning professional development topics,
while frequent, references to aspects ofmethodology (e.g., ‘latest’ or ‘most advanced
methods’) were not generally insightful,
regularly expressed interest in aspects of
speaking most often implied an interest in
developing aspects of pronunciation or
sub-skills of speaking (both for themselves
and their learners), rather than how to facilitate speaking opportunities for learners.
Voice, especially oral expression at
normal speaking speed.
Provide … practical help, such as professional training in speech and language.
Finally, while the majority of survey respondents worked in urban environments, it wasnoticeable that a number of those who requested more needs-oriented, bespoke or
localised professional development support
also made reference to rural environments,
summarised well in the following quotes:
Carry out more instructive trainings thatare really suitable for practical teachingin rural schools.
Conduct more online and especiallyofﬂine training activities, especiallytraining activities suitable for ruralschools.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.2 Survey results:
disadvantaged teachers
In order to understand the extent to whichmore disadvantaged teachers may havedifferent professional development experiences and needs, a subset of the data wasanalysed both separately and comparatively
to the wider cohort. Two demographic factors
were combined to do this: province income
band and rurality, offering a stratiﬁed subsample of reasonable size: 1233 ‘disadvantaged’

respondents, all of whom indicated that theirschools were located either in villages or
towns in low-income provinces. They arecompared to ‘non-disadvantaged’ respondents, which includes all other participants(i.e., all urban respondents, and respondents
from middle and high income provinces working in villages or towns).

5.2.1 Understanding the sample
Because the dataset is not representative ofChinese teachers as a whole, the sample
analysed here captures only part of thealready biased dataset, predominantly fromone province (Sichuan; 89 per cent). While
this is also the majority province for all re-

spondents, the proportion is higher here, andthis should be kept in mind in the analysis
below. For example, educational practices orpolicies that are speciﬁc to Sichuan are likely
to inﬂuence the ﬁndings more.

Figure 20. Responses per province: disadvantaged respondents
Sichuan1094
124

Yunnan12

Henan
Guizhou
Shaanxi

2
1

It should also be noted that because secondary schools, particularly upper secondary(senior high) schools are more likely to belocated in urban centres, with at least somerural learners commuting to these, respondents working in villages are more likely to be
primary school teachers. This bias towards
primary schools is further compounded byhigher dropout rates in disadvantaged areas,

38

Results China

meaning that there are simply fewer secondary learners in such areas (Qian & Smyth,2008). Thus, the lower percentage of ELT
specialists found in disadvantaged contexts(73 per cent vs 83 per cent) will be inﬂuenced by the fact that rural respondents are
more likely to be primary teachers, who areless likely to be subject specialists (Figure 21).

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 21. Percentage of ELT specialists by level of disadvantage
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Urban high-income
province

Urban mid-income Urban low-income Rural high-income
province
province
province

Are you an ELT specialist?

Yes

Additional so-called “lurking variables” may be
important explanatory factors behind differences here presented, such as the muchhigher proportion of respondents from Hubei(middle-income) working in primary education

Rural mid-income
province

Rural low-income
province

Nothan from Sichuan (low-income) (see Figure22), which clearly inﬂuences the higher proportion of non-subject specialists in both urban
and rural mid-income provinces seen above.

Figure 22. Respondents per province by school type (frequency).
Note. Only provinces with >100 respondents are shown here.
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0

Sichuan

Hubei

Chongqing
Primary n

YunnanBeijingJunior high school n

ShanghaiShandong

Jiangsu

Senior high school n

5.2.2 Awareness of selected organisations
Concerning awareness of providers of professional development, there were similar levelsof awareness of the six organisations in thequestion, although somewhat lower levels ofparticipation in professional development
offered by them (compare Figures 9 and 23).
For example, only 40 per cent of disadvan-

39

Results China

taged teachers had participated in professional development provided by the Instituteof Education, compared to 50 per cent of
non-disadvantaged respondents, and only 29
per cent had participated in professional
development offered by local universities,
compared to 42 per cent of non-disadvantaged respondents.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 23. Awareness of selected organisations (Disadvantaged only: n = 1233).
Institute of Education Science( 教育科学研究院 )Teacher training colleges( 教师进修学院 )Local universities

40%

46%

43%

43%

29%

Chinese publishers

14%

52%

11%

19%

55%

34%
36%

Private training organisations

9%

55%

International publishers

5%

50%

5.2.3 Prioritised professional
development needs

14%

46%

I know about them and have participated in PD they provide
I know about them but have not participated in PD they provide
I am not familiar with them

Perhaps the most noticeable differences
between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged respondents concerned their self-reported professional development needs(Figure 24). For disadvantaged respondents
the most frequently selected topic was “motivating students”. Also slightly more popularwere certain basic aspects of ELT pedagogy:

teaching speaking, pronunciation, vocabulary
and listening (i.e. skills and systems). Over 10
per cent less popular was the topic of teaching
21st-century skills and abilities, possibly suggesting that some of these teachers still feel aneed for fundamental training in language
teaching (likely inﬂuenced in part by the higher
likelihood of their being primary school teachers).

Figure 24. Respondents’ prioritized professional development needs by disadvantage level
Teaching 21st century skills and abilities
Teaching reading
Motivating students
Teaching speaking
Finding teaching materials online
Using technology in the classroom
Teaching writing
Designing/adapting teaching materials
Teaching pronunciation
English assessment
Lesson planning
Teaching vocabulary
Teaching listening
Teaching grammar
Preparing students for English exams
Teaching English online
None of the above
Disadvantaged
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Results China

Non-disadvantaged

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

The following comparison of the top andbottom ﬁve professional development needsin both groups may also be useful for noticing
broad similarities and several key differences:

Top 5 professional development needs
Disadvantaged
Motivating students
Teaching 21st century skills
Teaching reading
Teaching speaking
Teaching pronunciation

Non-disadvantaged
42%
40%
40%
37%
31%

Teaching 21st century skills
Teaching reading
Motivating students
Teaching speaking
Finding teaching materials online

51%
40%
38%
35%
33%

Bottom 5 professional development needs
Disadvantaged
Designing/adapting TLMs
English assessment
Preparing students for exams
Teaching grammar
Teaching English online

Non-disadvantaged
23%
23%
20%
19%
17%

Teaching vocabulary
Teaching listening
Teaching grammar
Preparing students for exams
Teaching English online

23%
22%
19%
18%
18%

5.2.4 Recent professional development activities
Concerning recent professional development
activities, the most important difference tonotice is that disadvantaged respondents, on
average, nearly always indicated lower engagement with each of the activities offered,both face-to-face and online (see Figures 25
and 26). Differences were slightly greater
concerning online activities, reﬂecting slightly
greater challenges getting online for disadvantaged respondents. However, other, somewhat more surprising differences are also
noticeable. For example, peer observation
through video was only slightly less popularamong disadvantaged respondents, while
reading activities (both face-to-face andonline) seem to be signiﬁcantly less popularamong them, suggesting that differences
observed are not simply to do with connection speeds or costs. Disadvantaged respondents reported similar professional develop-

41

Results China

ment providers to the wider cohort, although
one detectable difference was the reporting ofless professional development activity organised by respondents’ schools (70 per centface-to-face; 66 per cent online) when compared to the wider dataset (80 per centface-to-face; 78 per cent online). Concerning
issues of payment for professional development, non-disadvantaged respondents wereslightly more likely to report having participated in professional development that was freeof charge, both face-to-face (85 per cent vs 78
per cent for disadvantaged) and online (88 percent vs 80 per cent for disadvantaged); other
differences were smaller. And concerningwhether recent professional development was
voluntary or compulsory, it was noticeable that
disadvantaged respondents were less likely toreport “always voluntary”, and more likely toreport “always compulsory”, both face-to-faceand online (Figure 27).

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 25. Recent face-to-face professional development activities by disadvantage level

Peer observation with colleagues in your school

81%
82%

Teacher professional development groups

78%
81%
50%
58%

Courses, seminars or workshops

47%
49%

Teaching competitions

35%
42%

Conferences to present and discuss educational issues
Informal discussions about teaching withother teachers

33%
38%

Reading books and journals about teaching

28%
36%

Attending lectures by guest speakers

29%
35%

Mentoring or other 1-to-1 peer-support

20%
24%

Classroom action research

19%
23%
9%
10%

Formal courses to obtain a teaching certiﬁcate
3%
2%

None
Other forms of face-to-face professional development

1%
1%
0%

Disadvantaged

42

Results China

Non-disadvantaged

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

% respondents who indicated an activity

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 26. Recent online professional development activities by disadvantage level
64%
70%

Online courses, seminars or workshops

55%
58%

Watching online videos about teaching

38%
46%
34%
45%

Online conferences to present research or discuss
educational issues
Reading online articles about teaching

35%
36%
25%
28%

Peer observation through video
Informal online professional groups (including
through social media)
Finding teaching materials on ofﬁcial
government websites
Finding teaching materials on local non-gov.websites
for teachers in my country

18%
23%
14%
21%

Formal courses to obtain a teachingcertiﬁcate, delivered online

13%
13%
7%
13%
6%
12%

Listening to educational podcasts
Finding teaching materials on international websites
None
Other forms of online professional development
0%
Disadvantaged

5%
3%
0%
1%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

% respondents who indicated an activity

Non-disadvantaged

Figure 27. Recent online professional development: Voluntary, compulsory or varied, by disadvantage level

50%

54%
48%
44%

40%

41%

30%

20%

10%
5%
Always voluntaryNon-disadvantaged
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Results China

Disadvantaged

8%

Always compulsory

Sometimes voluntary andsometimes compulsory

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.2.5 Factors inﬂuencing participation in
online professional development
Broadly similar patterns were found between
disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged respondents with regard to their assessment of

the importance of different factors when
deciding whether to participate in online
professional development (Figure 28).

Figure 28. Importance of factors inﬂuencing participation in online professional development by disadvantage level
How important are the following
factors when deciding
whether to participate in online PD?

Disadvantaged

50%

48%

It helps me solve problems I face
2% in my teaching

62%

36%

2%

47%

50%

It keeps me up to date with new
3% ideas and developments

59%

39%

2%

45%

52%

It provides activities materials
3% I can use in my own classroom

58%

40%

2%

46%

45%

9% The activity is ofﬁcially recognisedby my employer

52%

39%

9%

51%

41%

8% I do not have to pay myself totake part

50%

42%

8%

41%

50%

9% The organisation providing the PD
is well-known

52%

42%

6%

41%

53%

It gives me ﬂexibility in terms of
6% when and where to study

50%

45%

5%

33%

56%

12% The activity gives me the chance
to interact with other teachers

38%

49%

12%

31%

59%

10% It uses familiar online tools andplatforms

38%

53%

10%

26%

60%

14%

50%

16%

25%
18%
16%

45%
56%
50%

It is not too time-consuming

34%

30%

Taking part will help me get asalary bonus or promotion

32%

26%

The activity takes place in English

24%

34%

The activity takes place in Chinese

21%

Very important44

Non-disadvantaged

Results China

40%
49%
42%

Quite important

28%
27%
37%

Not important

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.2.6 Online activity
One area where noticeable differences mightreasonably be expected is online activity.
However, with regard to online platforms/toolsthat respondents used, the most popular ones
were the same (We Chat, QQ and Ding Ding),
although Bilibili, Xiao Hong Shu, Weibo andZhihu were all less popular among disadvantaged respondents, and both QQ (5 per centdifference) and Ding Ding (9 per cent differ-ence), more popular. Concerning devices
used, mobile phones were equally popularamong disadvantaged and advantaged respondents, although disadvantaged respondents were less likely to report use of laptops
or tablets and more likely to report use ofdesktop PCs – another potential indicator of
expendable income (Figure 29).

Figure 29. Devices used by disadvantage level
83%
83%

Mobile phone63%

LaptopDesktop PC

43%
16%

Tablet

76%

48%

24%

1%
0%

Other

% respondents reporting use
Disadvantaged
Non-disadvantaged

Differences in internet connectivity were also
fairly minimal, although difﬁculties weregreater for disadvantaged respondents, as
would be expected. The greatest differences

seemed to relate to connection stability,
speed, and unsurprisingly, cost: 61 per centof disadvantaged respondents found this aprohibitive factor in their online activity(Figure 30).

Figure 30. Internet connectivity by disadvantage level
Disadvantaged

20%

7%

It is easy for me get online at home

86%

14%

It is easy for me to get online
at work

97%

3%

91%

9%

25%

I have access to a stable internet
connection

85%

15%

65%

35%

My internet is fast enough tostream videos

78%

22%

61%

39%

High data costs limit the time I canspend online

40%

60%

80%

100%

0%

Yes

45

Non-disadvantaged

93%

75%

0%

Internet connectivity

Results China

No

54%
20%

46%
40%

60%

80%

100%

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.2.7 Attitudes to professional development
Finally, responses to the opinion items at theend of the questionnaire were fairly similar to
those of non-disadvantaged respondents,
although once again, they were less likely toindicate strong agreement with any of theoptions offered (Figure 31). The largest differences were disadvantaged respondents
indicating less time for professional development activities and slightly greater preference
for face-to-face development.
These differences between disadvantaged
and non-disadvantaged respondents arelargely consistent with what might be expected. Disadvantaged respondents were more
likely to indicate less disposable income, lesstime, fewer opportunities and possibly lessmotivation for professional development, as
well as indicating greater likelihood of internet connection challenges, and a need for a
focus on more basic professional development topics (possibly inﬂuenced by the larger
number of primary teachers in the sub-sample). However, perhaps the most importantﬁnding of this comparative analysis is that,
despite large differences in income levels
across China, particularly between rural andurban areas (Qian & Smyth, 2008), we ﬁnd
relatively small differences in the professional
development needs, interests and experiences of teachers working in the most disadvantaged circumstances, or at least among thoseavailable within the respondent cohort.

Figure 31. Attitudes to professional development: More and less-disadvantaged respondents
Disadvantaged

33%

Non-disadvantaged

63%

24%

57%

3%

I am interested in free sources of online
professional development for teachersof English
The education authorities in my

16% 3% country provide me with high

45%

52%

2%

33%

50%

15% 2%I am interested in ﬁnding new ways ofcontinuing my professional development online

32%

63%

4%

I would like more professional development

29%

60%

11%

quality professional development opportunities

21%

70%

8%

18%

66%

15% activities in English (not in my ﬁrst language)

21%

51%

prefer face-to-face professional development
25% 2% Irather
than doing it online

24%

44%

30% 3%

15%

68%

am satisﬁed with the quality of professional
16% 2% Idevelopmentthat I have access to

22%

62%

15%

13%

61%

UK is a source of expertise in English
24% 2% The
language teaching

20%

60%

19%

14%
14%

54%
64%

Agree strongly

46

Results China

29% 3%21%

Agree

It is difﬁcult to ﬁnd the time to take part inprofessional development activities

16%

45%

35% 3%

International organisations do not fully
understand the needs of teachers in my country

15%

56%

28% 2%DisagreeDisagree strongly

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.3 Interview ﬁndings: teachers
As explained earlier, as a supplement to themain survey data and to build a more detailed
understanding of the online professional
development activities, needs and preferences of Chinese teachers in basic education,
seventy-ﬁve of the survey respondents wereinterviewed via phone or video call by the
local research team.
5.3.1 Professional development needs
All interviewees were ﬁrst asked about theirgeneral professional development needs tosupplement insights gained from the survey
item on this topic (see 5.1.5). An important
initial observation is that comparatively few of
the interviewees in their responses to thisquestion prioritised the most frequently
selected professional development topic fromthe survey itself, ‘Teaching 21st century skills
and abilities’ – only four references to ‘core
competencies’ and single references tocritical thinking and Bloom’s Taxonomy could
be linked to these; however, evidence formost other topics prioritised in survey responses was clear in the interview data.
Motivation, differentiation and planning
One of the most commonly mentioned professional development needs related to learnermotivation (n = 13; including ‘interest’ and‘engagement’ in English, and student ‘conﬁdence’), sometimes linked to the declining
status of English in schools. As one teacher
put it: “If the activities aren’t interesting thestudents go to sleep” (senior high, urban;
Beijing). Also common was mention of differing abilities among groups (n = 9), includingreference to lower achieving learners, mixed
abilities and a need for support on how toprovide effective differentiated instruction,
particularly from teachers in rural areas. A
number of teachers also mentioned lessonand curriculum planning/design ( 课程 or 课堂设计 ) (n = 9).

Demonstration lessons
Eleven teachers made reference to demonstration lessons, some requesting more ofthese, but others critiquing the somewhat
unrealistic, often rehearsed, ‘model’ lessonsby ‘expert’ teachers that they observed. Of
those that critiqued these, some mentioned
the fact that they weren’t really reﬂective of
their own contexts, learners and challenges;
this was particularly evident among teachers
working in more disadvantaged (rural, lower-income) contexts. Thus, many of those who
made speciﬁc requests in this area indicateda need for more realistic/real lessons ordirect observational support in their own
classrooms:
What I really want is coaching from anexpert who can help show me how tobetter teach children from the countryside. (primary, rural; Hubei)
I want to observe real teachers teachingreal students. (junior high, urban; Hubei)
New ideas and methods
A large number of interviewees (n = 16)
expressed an interest in new ideas and ‘theories’ for teaching, particularly concerning
methodology, but also how to teach ‘core
competencies’ ( 核心素养 ; see Wang & Luo,2019) as well as activities and techniques thatthey could use in their class. While somereferences to ‘new directions’ and ‘international cutting-edge methods’ were rather
vague, others requested ideas to help keep
their learners engaged in lesson activities.
Several speciﬁcally requested some kind of
injection of ideas from beyond their contexts,
including other parts of China and insights
into the practices (including use of English) of‘foreign teachers’.
Textbooks and teaching
resource materials
Numerous interviewees discussed challenges

47

Results China

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

they faced with regard to their textbooks (n =14). For several, these challenges related to aneed to adapt or supplement them withappropriate alternative material, also often
mentioning that such material was not easily
available online. There was indication among
responses from several provinces that new
textbooks had been introduced recently, andwhile several who had received training on
how to use these felt that this had helped,
others were struggling to prepare lessons
with these and meet ambitious curriculum
demands.
EdTechNine interviewees mentioned the fact thatthey would value more professional development support for aspects of educational
technology, including the use of hardware(e.g. projectors) and design tools (e.g. PowerPoint), but also the potential for online andhybrid learning. For example, one teacher
wanted to know more about using online
tools to conduct formative assessment oflearners.
Discussion of the four skills
Concerning discussion of the four skills,
speaking (n = 11), reading (n = 6) and listening(n = 4) were most frequently mentioned. Many
teachers mentioned a lack of awareness of
how to ‘teach’ speaking skills, with somespeciﬁcally referencing and presuming that aknowledge of phonetics/phonology, including‘authentic pronunciation’, was useful here.
This was often linked to certain classroom
challenges, particularly the low motivation oflearners to speak, challenges with using
English in the classroom, and the current
declining status of English relative to othersubjects:

48

Results China

Parents are not serious about getting
their kids to learn English, because they
think China is becoming a stronger
country so the world should start learning Chinese instead of us learning English. We think it’s an international language, but parents think differently about
this. (primary, urban; Hubei)
However, other teachers prioritised reading
skills, some even commenting on a recent,gradual shift in focus away from oracy (seeWang & Luo, 2019). Several mentioned a needto make textbook content interesting, butothers linked this to high school exams andrecent curriculum changes that have madereading more challenging for learners, particularly in high schools.
Awareness of own English
proﬁciency needs
The most commonly perceived personal needrelated to teachers’ own English proﬁciency (n= 22), particularly speaking skills and pronunciation. A number of the respondents who indicated this did not teach solely English – it wasmore common among primary school teachers. It was notable that a number of theseinterviewees, including one who had done an
MA TESOL in the UK, felt that their speaking
skills had got worse over the years, and expressed a desire to improve this (evidence,
perhaps, that these interviewees were notteaching primarily in English):
When I was a student, my English wasquite good. But since becoming ateacher I’ve found my English getting
worse. I’ve forgotten a lot. (primary,rural; Hubei)

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Bottom-up teacher development
Four teachers made reference to bottom-up
approaches to teacher development, including teacher research groups and action
research, with somewhat mixed evaluations,
including two indications that these weren’tvery productive:
I really want to discuss my ideas withother teachers. We have meetings in our
school with all the teachers together, but
we never talk about teaching! (seniorhigh, urban; Yunnan)

49

Results China

Only four of the 75 interviewees felt that they
did not have any pressing professional development needs.
While Word Clouds cannot convey respondent
narratives and neglect themes that are conveyed through a number of synonyms, thefollowing Word Cloud, sensitive to collocations, provides a pictorial impression of manyof the key topics interviewees discussed:

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.3.2 Feelings about online
professional development
From this point onwards, all interviews
focused on online professional development.
Interviewees were ﬁrst asked an open question to elicit how they felt about doing professional development online and responses
varied. The largest group (43 per cent) indicated a positive opinion towards online
professional development, although there wasrarely strong enthusiasm for it. Many of theseteachers emphasised its convenience, whilesmaller numbers stressed its ﬂexibility andthe fact that it was often free:
I think it’s ﬁne. You can share more
online. You can learn more online, lower
costs, less time (no travel) and you canmeet great teachers you wouldn’t meetotherwise. (senior high, urban; Anhui)
I think this has advantages, you canstudy and work at the same time. (juniorhigh, rural; Sichuan)
Twenty percent of interviewees indicatedeither that they preferred face-to-face or
expressed a generally negative opinion of
online professional development. The mostcommon reason for preferring face-to-faceprofessional development among this group
was the opportunity it provided for interaction
with colleagues and trainers/experts; oneteacher also observed that training was likely
to be contextualised to local conditions when
delivered face-to-face. Smaller numbers citedthe challenge of self-discipline relating toonline professional development, particularlyin the face of distractions:
I prefer face-to-face. It’s very obvious.
On the internet, there are many interesting things to look at. It's easy to get
distracted. There’s an atmosphereface-to-face, when you’re sitting together with colleagues, that atmosphere is
irreplaceable. Online I can’t share withthe trainer in a detailed way. There’s
just less interaction online. (senior high,urban; Sichuan)
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Results China

Sixteen interviewees (21 per cent) offered
more detailed comments on the relativeadvantages of face-to-face and online professional development. Several of these indicatedthat while online professional development
may be convenient, there is also the challenge
of being distracted by other things at home, or
lacking self-discipline or free time. Several
mentioned simply that it had been necessitated by the pandemic, and two felt that webinars
particularly needed to be watched live, otherwise they never got round to viewing them.
Two interviewees indicated that it depends,
either on the individual or the activity type.
Nine interviewees (12 per cent) indicated noclear preference for either online orface-to-face professional development, andonly three recognised that the combination ofboth might be the most useful:I think [online professional development]
has to exist, but isn’t the only way. It's
good to have both online and ofﬂine.
Discussion and research is more convenient ofﬂine. Sometimes speaking online
is more convenient. Online professional
development can’t replace ofﬂine professional development. It has to exist as an
extra. (senior high, rural; Zhejiang)

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.3.3 Authorities’ attitudes to online
professional development
The ﬁnal item addressed to all four groups ofinterviewees investigated their impressions of
the attitudes of education authorities towards
the online professional development ofteachers. The majority (64 per cent) felt that
their local or school authorities were supportive of online professional development.
Several noticed that they had become
increasingly so during the COVID pandemic,
mainly due to necessity, and four respondents indicated that they also tried to balance this with face-to-face professional
development. Thirteen respondents provided
concrete recent examples, including online
videos of lessons or lectures and speciﬁc
websites for online professional development4. Two detailed examples offer a ﬂavourof some of the activities involved:
Because of COVID and we’ve got too
many teachers to ﬁt into one room, onetime we watched a class together online– this was broadcast live. Afterwards wetalked about it together in groups, thenheard the opinions of some experienced
teachers. The most useful parts werewatching the class and listening to theexperienced teachers. They noticed
some things that we didn’t notice.
(junior high, urban; Hubei)
I think they support it, because they put
on events. They get us to do competitions to make us reﬂect, think andcreate an environment of professional
development. However, these don't
happen very frequently. The online
competition is at the national level. We
had to prepare lessons, upload these to
an online platform, then get feedback
from others. This used to be ofﬂine, but
now it's online. (senior high, rural; Zhejiang)e.g., http://www.bcvet.cn

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Results China

A relatively small number (9), mainly fromthose respondents who themselves indicatedlow engagement in online professional development, felt that the authorities were doing
little or no online professional development. A
small number indicated concern with the
efﬁcacy of online professional development
offered by the authorities, two speciﬁcallymentioning that teachers tend to just “put thevideo on” to prove they’ve watched it, then dosomething else:
I feel that the time of the training sessions are too long and only pay attention
to courses that I'm interested in, if not I
just leave the videos on. (primary, rural;
Zhejiang)

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.3.4 Recent online professional
development activities and preferences
Of those teachers who had indicated in theirsurvey responses that they had participatedin online professional development of some
type, a sample were interviewed (n = 57) toelicit further details. The most striking ﬁndingthat emerges from this data is that the majority of online professional development seems
to have involved only two activity types. The
ﬁrst of these were ‘lectures’ ( 讲座 ), alsotranslatable as ‘webinars’; mentioned by 27),
usually delivered live by ‘experts’ or ‘professors’ to large numbers of teachers, andsometimes involving a degree of interactivity(e.g. through subsequent smaller discussion
groups, chat modalities). The second involved
remote lesson observation, nearly always‘open door’ observations ( 公开课 ; mentionedby 18) in which either an expert teacher
provided a model lesson (sometimes rehearsed, making it less realistic), or (lessoften) a lesson that is subsequently analysedby an expert; several respondents indicatedthat these professional development sessions
were sometimes collaborative, with a small
group discussion after the lesson. This contrasts somewhat with the impression offeredby Figure 13 from the survey data, where thetwo most frequently selected responses were
‘Online courses, seminars or workshops’ and‘Watching online videos about teaching’. In
reality, it seems, the former are more likely tohave been more one-way lectures/webinars
than ‘courses’ or ‘seminars’, and the latter tohave been videos of lessons (although thelatter was also offered, as ‘Peer observation
through video’, ranking ﬁfth). Much lessfrequently mentioned were research group
activities, online discussion groups, or opportunities for teachers to record, share anddiscuss their own lessons (each mentionedby three or four teachers only).
The most commonly mentioned professional
development provider by far was either the
local education authority or a related governhttps://www.ﬂtrp.com/en/

552

Results China

ment body (n = 22); smaller numbers of
respondents indicated universities, national
publishers (particularly the Foreign Language
Teaching and Research Press; FLTRP5), international publishers, or self-initiated attempts
to ﬁnd materials or content online. Five
respondents mentioned speciﬁc independentcompanies that provided training for theeducational authorities (e.g. Aopeng Edk, Elite
Teachers International Education). Consistent
with survey data, the vast majority indicatedthat the professional development in question
had been free for them (n = 21) rather than
paid for (n = 4), with local authorities typicallyfunding activities. A number of hosting/conferencing platforms for professional development were mentioned frequently, including
Ding Ding and Tencent Meeting; bespoke
platforms of training organisations were alsomentioned by several.
The most frequently mentioned topics foronline professional development were aspects of methodology (7) or skills and systems foci (7). Lesson planning/preparation
was also common (6), as were lectures that
focused on using either a current or new
textbook (often delivered by FLTRP; 6). Bothsubject-speciﬁc (i.e., English) and non-subject-speciﬁc topics seem to be fairly common.
Less common topics mentioned included
core competencies, using picture books,
training in EdTech, designing homework andmotivating learners.
Evaluations of online professional development varied quite widely. While the mostcommonly voiced evaluation was that an
activity was ‘useful’ or ‘very useful’ (n = 14),many felt that it depended on the activity
type and content. There were also criticalvoices, with six respondents indicating thatthey were only sometimes interesting or
useful, and four that they generally were notuseful. Respondents were more likely toThe continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

evaluate them as useful if they were speciﬁcally targeted at challenges, content andactivities that the teachers dealt with on adaily basis, illustrated in the following twocontrastive quotes:
The ﬁrst winter holiday … they held live
webinars on how to design homework. I
learned their way of designing homework for this winter holiday and it was
effective. (primary, rural; Zhejiang)
I didn't ﬁnd it very useful as I don't
teach textbooks by Oxford University
Press, so I still don't know how to teachtextbooks by FLTRP. (primary, rural;
Hubei)
Several of those who were more criticalmentioned the issue of idealised or overly
theoretical content that did not really relate
to real classrooms or their contexts. Fiveinterviewees speciﬁcally mentioned that
subject-speciﬁc activities were more usefulthan non-subject-speciﬁc ones.
Finally, and unsurprisingly, a large number (n= 17) indicated that the online professional
development interventions that they had
experienced were either forced online due to
COVID pandemic restrictions, or the choice toprovide them online had been inﬂuenced bythis.

5.3.5 Preferred forms of online
professional development
Interviewees were asked about their preferences for online professional development.
Unsurprisingly, the same two activity types
dominated this discussion. Observing videosof lessons was popular (11 mentions), including observation before group discussion,
lessons taught by ‘foreigners’, and videos
self-accessed according to need, although theresourcefulness of the following teacher was
generally rare among interviewees:

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Results China

I prefer videos on YouTube to watch
what I want. I look for classes, for example, I'll search for the topic I'm going toteach, like, the ﬁrst class of the year or aquestion I have, like how to write ateaching plan. (junior high, urban; Beijing)
One teacher was happy to pay to observe
competition-winning lessons on Taobao,
where she was also able to download thematerials to use for her own lessons.
Also popular were online webinars/lectures.
Many interviewees speciﬁcally mentioned thatthey wanted them to be live and interactive,
so that they could ask questions, prepare inadvance or respond to ‘expert’ suggestions insome way:
I think webinars are much better. But weneed to prepare for the webinar, dosome pre-tasks. In the webinar it should
be more interactive. They need to dosomething (active). The problem withwebinars is the participants are usually
passive. (senior high, urban; Anhui)
Despite many mentioning that they enjoyedsuch live events, eight interviewees also
indicated that having access to the webinars
afterwards was useful for follow-up viewing,
and that downloadable materials were also
useful. Several indicated that they were often
busy when live events took place.
The only other responses that were fairly
common were requests for useful apps (n = 6),
relevant WeChat posts (n = 5) and websites (n= 4). Details on these three were sparse,
although several mentioned that particularly
websites need to be well designed and easily
navigable. Once more, three themes weredetectable in more evaluative comments(apart from the need for interactive webinars):
the professional development should be
relevant, convenient and practical.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.3.6 Post-pandemic interest in online
professional development

5.3.7 Low engagement in online
professional development

Finally, those 57 interviewees who had engaged in online professional development
were asked if they were still interested indoing online professional development
post-COVID, and if so, what types. The majority (n = 37) indicated clearly that they were.
Only a minority (n = 4) felt that face-to-faceprofessional development is better, and eightindicated that both are potentially importantor useful, being able to identify pros and cons,
depending on the situation or topic:

From the few teachers who indicated in theirsurvey responses that they had experienced
no online professional development in theprevious 12 months (n = 231; 3.4 per cent),
18 were interviewed to understand both thereasons for this lack of engagement and what
factors would increase their engagement
further6. During the interviews, six respondents indicated that they actually had participated in some kind of online professional
development, often self-initiated after (reporting that) their authorities had provided
no professional development for them. Someof these interviewees did not perceive that
their own attempts to access resources that
help them to do their job more effectively
constituted professional development, as theOpen Language app anecdote (below) illustrates.

Online is more convenient. You canstudy and learn anywhere. If you haveto sit and pay attention and learn, that’s
okay too. But ofﬂine, you have to pay
attention. But online you might get
distracted more easily. The value reallydepends on the speciﬁcs. (senior high,rural; Zhejiang)
A number of respondents indicated that, tomaintain their interest, online professional
development had to be practical or collaborative, providing opportunities to interact withothers. But most importantly, interviewees
stressed that it was the content that was mostimportant, and this had to be useful; a wide
range of topics was mentioned in passing,similar to those previously discussed (e.g.
methodology, planning, core competencies,
developing oral English, written skills), however, one addition was that of material from highschool teachers to help them prepare learners for assessment, particularly for Gaokao
exams.
Once more, convenience was mentioned as
the biggest advantage of online professional
development, with smaller numbers alsomentioning that it was time-saving and ﬂexible. Only one respondent mentioned connection issues as a prohibitive factor to her
engaging in online professional development.

Reasons for not engaging in online
professional development
Five of the 18 respondents indicated that
there was no, or almost no, professional
development of any type in their school. Mostof these respondents said simply that the
management do not organise it, with several
mentioning apathy among school leaders,and one that the authorities preferredface-to-face professional development. Three
respondents speciﬁcally indicated that professional development was rare in rural areas:
Teacher development is rare in the
countryside. I’ve been teaching here forthree years. I've only been to training
twice. Once I observed teachers teachingin another school. Nothing else. (primary,rural; Hubei)

Note that 13 of these 18 were primary teachers, partly reﬂecting the higher proportion of primary teachers overall
in this group. While stratiﬁed sample sizes were small, teachers in rural areas (who were more likely to be primary) in
mid- and low-income provinces were much more likely to report no online professional development (5.9%) compared to other, less disadvantaged groups (2.6%).

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Several respondents indicated that while
professional development opportunities doexist, these are fewer for English language
teaching, which has become less important
recently, with two speciﬁcally mentioning‘double reduction policy’ ( 双减 ) as an inﬂuence in this change7. For those respondents
who teach multiple subjects, it seems thatthey have a greater priority for professional
development in subjects other than English.
Time was the most frequently mentioned
basis for a lack of engagement in professional
development, with 11 of the respondents
mentioning it in different ways. Seven indicated that their current workload was prohibitive,
and four mentioned that responsibilities orinterests beyond school left little time forself-initiated professional development. Only
two respondents indicated that cost was aprohibitive factor, and one of these indicatedthat she had even personally paid for an app,
‘Open Language’ ( 开言英语 ), out of her own
pocket – anecdotal evidence that if resources
are directly relevant to teachers’ personal
challenges, even those least interested inprofessional development will invest in toolsthat help them to do their job more easily.
Just two respondents indicated that online
professional development is not convenient
for them, both perceiving that they needed toattend live online webinars, which usually
took place during the day. This tendency toview online professional development primarily as live events was evident among a numberof interviewees.

and/or needs (eight respondents); practicalthemes and student background were often
mentioned in relation to these needs:
If it’s useful for my students, I’d love tojoin. If the school tells us to go, all theteachers will attend. I think it also depends on the trainer and the topic andthe platform. Practical topics, like how tomake classes more interesting, how tomake classes more effective are best.
(junior high, urban; Hubei)
The above respondent’s reference to school
authorities was also quite common, withseveral mentioning that they would participate
if they received more encouragement to doso, and (for three respondents) if it were madeobligatory.
Time was also mentioned, although not as
frequently as in responses to the previous
question; four indicated that they would participate in online professional development if
they had more time, and three if the times
offered were more convenient for them. Three
mentioned that lower costs would encouragethem to participate.

Factors that would increase engagement with online professional development
When asked what factors would increase their
engagement with online professional development, a majority of respondents indicated thatthey would be more enthusiastic to participate if they felt it were more useful for them,either mentioning this directly (six respondents) or through reference to their interests

Double reduction is a recent educational policy change. See Li et al. (2021) and Xue & Li (2022); also here.

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.4 Interview ﬁndings: professional
development facilitators
Online interviews were also conducted withthree Chinese professional development
facilitators (two female and one male) fromtwo provinces (Hubei and Sichuan). Their roles
and ofﬁcial titles varied (such as ‘teacher
researcher’ or ‘teacher workshop leader’), but
in all cases they co-ordinated and facilitatedactivities to support the professional development of teachers of English (one each at
primary, junior middle school and junior highschool level). The numbers of teachers they
were responsible for also varied; in the smallest group, which had a core membership ofeight teachers, the facilitator noted that thesewere mostly young teachers
because the younger teachers are moreinterested in professional development …
and because they are more interested in
the new ideas and they're open to theothers, and they want to share the ideasof their own, with the others.
The interviewees received the interview
questions in advance and were able to discussthese with teachers in their groups. During theinterview they often reported their teachers’
views in addition to explaining their own. Key
themes covered in the interviews are now
summarised in turn.
5.4.1 Professional development interests
One facilitator felt that:the majority of primary teachers have astrong need for professional development, they are not satisﬁed with thecurrent situation of their own professional development. And they are eager tochange the current situation. And theywant very much to develop on themselves.
Each respondent provided a clear explanationof their teachers’ professional needs. The ﬁrst
facilitator stated that:56

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most of the members in my workshop
want to improve their language ability
ﬁrst. So how to improve language
proﬁciency is what they want to do ﬁrst.
That's the ﬁrst one. And second, theteachers in my context are interested ineverything about teaching, and thatmeans they want to know how to planlessons, how to motivate the learners,
how to assess the learners, or something like that. Especially they want toknow some practical classroom activities which can help them to help thestudents learn better..
The second facilitator identiﬁed six areas for
professional development for middle school
teachers:
The ﬁrst one is how to prepare students
for English examinations. And then how
do you involve critical thinking in English
language teaching. A lot of teachers areconcerned about this task. Next is how
to improve students’ proﬁciency oflanguage ability, such as reading, writing,speaking and listening. And then how tomotivate students. What kind of activity
and teaching content can attract andmotivate their students. And the ﬁfth one
is how to do teaching research work. The
teachers want to involve this kind ofwork, but they maybe don't know how tostart. And the last one, how to ﬁnd
English resources online, they want toknow where to ﬁnd and how to use thesekinds of resources.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers‘Teaching research’ is the activity teachers in
China are encouraged to do to seek solutions
to problems they face in the classroom. It
involves reading journals as well as conducting small-scale classroom inquiry (such as
action research).
With reference to primary school teachers, thethird facilitator also mentioned teachingresearch as well as other professional needs:
I think there are three kinds of things I'dlike to stress and the ﬁrst one is forEnglish teachers’ own English ability. The
speaking ability is the number one need.
And we have to do some teaching
methodology and the method of doing
research.
Primary school teachers were in particularneed of support to improve their English:
English teachers’ speaking ability declines most quickly after their graduation, because they almost have nochances to practise spoken English at
appropriate level. Yeah, if I teach primary English class, I only have the chance
to practise primary English. You know …
and the more years, the poorer his
speaking ability.

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Teachers of English in China have many opportunities to see demonstration lessons by‘excellent’ teachers, but it was felt that the
principles behind such lessons was often notaddressed during professional development:
we have different kinds of demonstration classes every year and many English teachers attend these events. And
they observe the demo lessons and they
can copy lots of teaching techniquesfrom these demo lessons, but they don't
know why the lessons can be designed
like this. So most primary school teachers in Hubei need the ability to integrate
all kinds of teaching methods and to be
reﬂective, to teach by principles, andeventually to form the teaching stylewith their own characteristics.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.4.2 Face–to–face vs online
professional development
All three respondents felt that educational
authorities were generally positive about
online professional development and were
providing teachers with various kinds ofonline courses. For example, one explainedthat ‘‘Chinese educational authority strongly
support and encourage online professional,
development activities’ and said there werearound 120 online courses for teachers (of all
subjects) to choose from. These included‘lectures, and there are some videos. So some
excellent teachers they present class demonstration’. However, face–to–face professional
development remained the preferred approach due to concerns from the education
authorities that ‘the front line teachers havelots and lots of ways to just sit in front of thescreen pretending to learn’.
According to the facilitators, the teachers
they worked with had similarly mixed feelings
about online professional development. One
facilitator reported that ‘nearly 60 per cent ofteachers have a positive attitude towards
online meetings’ and gave three reasons for
this: ‘it's convenient without time and placerequirements … it can maximize the personalized needs of teachers. And it costs less’. At
the same time, the other 40 per cent preferred face–to–face professional development
because ‘they can get involved and havemore interaction with each other so that theycan express their ideas’. Another facilitator
also felt that face–to–face training allowed
teachers to concentrate more:

If they work in the same class, we havepeer pressure, they have to listen to theteacher carefully … The teachers told
me that when they take part in theofﬂine training they have to sit in place
just like students, to listen carefully, totake notes … that environment helps
them to concentrate on the training
itself. … some teachers told me that theywould like to do the training face to facebecause in that environment they are
more likely to concentrate on the training itself. And sometimes they can
discuss with the colleagues or someother people, and sometimes they takenotes and then they can learn morefrom this kind of training.
In addition to online courses, ﬁnding teaching
resources (especially through mobile phones)
was one of the areas of online professional
development teachers were most interested in:
They're more likely to be interested inresources, which related to their teaching, you know, they can download different kinds of resources from the internet… each one has a mobile phone at the
moment. And it's easier for us to download the resources from the mobile
phone than from the computer … they
use their computer to download the
download report resources. But you
know that the mobile phone is moreconvenient.
Platforms such as WeChat were also widelyused as a source of online resources forteachers along with Chinese search engines
such as Baidu. Online meetings were also
commonly held using the TenCent platform.

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.4.3 Local vs international online resources
The facilitators did not feel that the teachers
they worked with had strong preferences
about whether online resources should be
local or international in origin and advantagesof both were noted:
Some teachers think it doesn't affecttheir interests, they think any resources
available are valuable … Most teachers
will enjoy resources presented by English [sic] because they think they areteaching English. When they are more
exposed in the target language they
themselves will improve faster in boththeir language proﬁciency and theirprofessional development.
According to another facilitator:
They think it has nothing to do with localorganisations or international organisations but it has something to do with theresource itself. That means if the online
resources are free, and suitable for theirteaching, the teachers would be glad to
use them, they will be glad to download
them and use them in the teaching. But I
also ﬁnd the teachers who are notfamiliar with the newest methodologies
prefer resources that are provided
locally because these resources can beadapted by them properly and easily.
This point about the added relevance of local
materials was also made by another facilitator:
Generally speaking, I personally thinkthat the Chinese English teachers we
prefer online resources provided by
local authorities … a large number of
new concepts emerged in the literature
or in China, for example, we are now
having such concepts as core competences and we have incorporation of
traditional Chinese culture into English
classroom teaching. And we have concepts like deep learning … some ofthese, I think, are directly borrowed fromthe West, but undoubtedly they havebeen localized …when browsing the59

Results China

online resources provided by international organizations, we are sure toencounter these concepts, but thequestion is, are we talking exactly about
the same thing? The same idea? Yeah,
this is quite a problem. So, some philosophies, some methods, some techniques valued by these internationalorganizations may not be so suitable in
the Chinese context.
5.4.4 Materials in English or Chinese
As noted above, online resources in English
were sometimes preferred because they
increase teachers’ exposure to the language
and contribute to developments in theirEnglish proﬁciency. No arguments were madefor materials solely in Chinese but the potential of a bilingual approach was raised:
For the language, I think that it does
matter. It deﬁnitely matters. And I thinkthat the teachers here prefer to choose
the kinds of bilingual one. What I meanis, the website has a kind of English andChinese.
Content in Chinese also has the advantage ofappearing in local search engines such as Baidu.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.5 China: conclusions
and recommendations
This report presents the ﬁndings of a combined survey and interview study into aspectsof the professional development of Chineseteachers in basic education, with a speciﬁc
focus on online professional development. We
collected data from 6469 teachers in theinitial survey phase, although 73 per cent ofrespondents came from just two provinces(Sichuan and Hubei). Interviews were conducted with 75 teachers, purposively sampledfrom the survey respondents, to offer a rangeof perspectives across different income levels,
degrees of rurality and school types to understand their professional development experiences and needs, and particularly their engagement with online professional development. Three Chinese professional development facilitators were also interviewed. A
subset of the survey data was also analysedcomparatively to offer insights into the extent
to which more disadvantaged teachers (thoseworking in rural areas in lower income provinces) differ in their responses when comparedwith less-disadvantaged respondents.
5.5.1 China: key ﬁndings
Overall, the report indicates that Chineseteachers working in basic education areaccessing professional development opportunities, both face-to-face and online, and thatinternet connection challenges are not presenting serious difﬁculties with the latter forthe vast majority of respondents, even in rural
areas in low-income provinces, although highdata costs limit the time many can spend
online. These professional development
opportunities seem to be varied and useful,and are invariably free to the teachers. While
there is evidence in the survey responses ofvaried professional development opportunities, including participant-centred activities
that are less top-down in their nature (e.g.
teacher research groups, action research,peer observation) (see Figure 11), both survey
and interview data revealed that online professional development currently seems to be
dominated by top-down interventions andactivities,8 typically offered by education
authorities, and sometimes in collaboration
with universities and publishers of school
textbooks. Interviewees indicated that it was
dominated by two types of activity:
Lectures and webinars delivered by‘experts’ to large numbers of teachers
live with comparatively little opportunity for interaction, either with the experts or each other. There is someevidence in the data that these webinars are often overly theoretical, withinsufﬁcient links to practice to be usefulto teachers.
Demonstration or model lessons, also
often delivered by ‘experts’, with some
opportunities for discussion or interaction afterwards. However, there was afeeling amongst many interviewees thatthese demonstration lessons were, atleast in part, staged, and unreﬂective of
the challenges in their contexts.

A number of interviewees did not view their self-initiated efforts to ﬁnd useful materials and ideas online as professional development activities; this may have inﬂuenced this ﬁnding somewhat.

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

On the whole, respondents were positive
about online professional development (attimes, more than face-to-face professional
development) and recognised its advantages(e.g. convenience, ﬂexibility, free resources),
although interviewees also cautioned that
distraction, self-motivation and false engagement (e.g. playing a video without actually
watching it) may be emerging issues. Amonginterviewees there was some recognition thatcombining online and face-to-face (i.e. blended) professional development was optimal.
Probably the strongest trends in both survey
and interview data were respondents’ prioritisation of professional development activities
that are practical, directly related to thechallenges they face in their own classrooms,
and offering new ideas, skills and methods.
Concerning topics for professional development, survey responses were varied, topped
by interests in learning more about 21st
century skills, how to teach reading andspeaking, and also how to motivate learners –this latter topic became the most important
one for teachers working in more disadvantaged contexts. Interview respondents
echoed most of these ﬁndings, although
discussion of 21st century skills was much
more limited and they also prioritised needs
related to differentiation, lesson planning, useof textbooks and teaching resources, EdTech,and support for their own English proﬁciency(an issue that the professional development
facilitators stressed). Interestingly, despite
frequent discussion in academic literature of
the negative washback of high stakes exams
on classroom practices in China (e.g. Kirkpatrick & Zang, 2011), there was little evidence ofinterest in professional development focusing
on exam preparation among respondents andinterviewees. There was also comparatively
little interest in professional development
focusing on teaching online (see Figure 10).

Differences between the survey responses ofmore disadvantaged respondents (thoseworking in towns and villages in low-income
provinces), when compared with less disadvantaged peers, were generally small. Asidefrom the difference in professional development topics mentioned above, disadvantaged
respondents were more likely to indicate lessdisposable income, less time, fewer opportunities and possibly less motivation for professional development, as well as indicating
greater likelihood of internet connection
challenges, and a need for a focus on morebasic professional development topics (possibly inﬂuenced by the larger number of primary teachers in the sub-sample). Overall, they
consistently reported less engagement withprofessional development activities over theprevious 12 months than their peers.
With regard to languages, survey data indicated support for activities taking place bothin English and Chinese with, on balance, an
expressed preference for the former9. Interviewees shed useful light onto how to balance the two, recommending Chinese formore complex theoretical aspects of professional development and English when it
relates more to classroom practice.
Only 11 per cent of survey respondents
indicated that they used international websites when looking for materials online, andwhile only a very small number of respondents had negative attitudes towards international organisations,10 a large number nonetheless felt that such international organisations may not understand the needs of Chinese teachers.

This expressed preference may be inﬂuenced by social-desirability bias.
It should, of course, be borne in mind that those who have such negative attitudes are less likely to participate
in this study.

9

10

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

5.5.2 China: recommendations
Considering the above ﬁndings, we make thefollowing recommendations for meeting the
PD needs of Chinese teachers of English inbasic education.
1.

2.

62

Practical, realistic materials and activities: Chinese teachers of English
working in basic education frequently
express a clear preference for materials and activities that are practical intheir orientation (rather than theoretical), and easy to ﬁnd, download anduse. These materials and activities
need to recognise the current realities
and challenges of teachers, where
possible reﬂecting real classroom
conditions and issues. Because challenges vary between more- andless-disadvantaged contexts, thesematerials may need to be differentiated by context type. Materials andprofessional development supportshould also consider the needs ofprimary teachers who are not subject
specialists and often, as a result, havelower levels of English proﬁciency andless conﬁdence in their own English.
Supporting understandings of theory:
Despite the strong focus on the valueof professional development that haspractical utility, teachers also referredmany times to various concepts that
had been introduced to their curricula
and to the need to keep up-to-datewith current theoretical ideas in theﬁeld. ‘Core competences’ and ‘deep
learning’ were two examples. Thus
there is also scope for professional
development support that focuses onsuch issues, helps teachers understand what they mean, and illustrates
how they can be translated into classroom practice. Similarly, while a strong
tradition of demonstration or model
lessons exists in China, teachers may
value professional development resources which allow them to go
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beyond mimicking such lessons andunderstanding the principles that
underpin their design.
3.

Support for current textbooks: There isrepeated evidence in the data thatmany Chinese teachers of English inbasic education need more easily
accessible materials (e.g. reading texts
for use in class, PowerPoint presentations) that support and supplement
content in their current textbooks
directly; these materials may need to be
textbook-speciﬁc to be most effective,
and their development is likely to be
most impactful if conducted in collaboration with the textbook publishers (e.g.
FLTRP, OUP), some of whom have provided such support directly to teachers
in the past.

4.

Diversifying online professional development activities: Because online
professional development in China is
still at a nascent stage, there is adanger that it may currently be too
top-down and repetitive in its nature.
Exploring and promoting ways toensure that teacher research groups,
dialogic peer-observation (rather than
online observation of model lessons)and informal discussion opportunities(all of which seem to be happening in
face-to-face professional development)
can be conducted or supplemented
online, which may increase the variety
and usefulness of online professional
development, particularly in the eventof further pandemic restrictions. Even
those top-down activities such as‘lectures’ and observation of demonstration lessons can be made moreinteractive through the inclusion of

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

carefully-designed before and after
activities that engage teachers inonline collaborative discussion andreﬂection. There are also opportunities
for more structured, self-accessed
online courses that include a range ofthese activities and can be differentiated to participant needs.
5.

Further research on recent policychanges: There is evidence from avariety of sources in the data thatmany teachers of English in China areexperiencing novel challenges as aresult of two recent policy changes(‘double reduction’ and the introduction of ‘core competencies’11) that have
implications for the status, role andaims of English language teaching. The
impact of both of these should be
investigated and assessed throughfurther research, which itself would
need to lead to speciﬁc recommendations to support Chinese teachers tomeet these new demands effectively.

5.5.3 Limitations

that are indicative of more negative attitudes
towards such western organisations; theiropinions will obviously be underrepresented
in the sample. Further, because of the opportunistic sampling approach adopted, thesample should not be seen as representativeof teachers in China as a whole. While interviewees were purposefully sampled to elicit
experiences and opinions from a range ofincome levels, because of the overall limitations in the sample, the stories of opportunities and challenges that they tell are likely to
only be reﬂective of experiences in a small
number of provinces. There may be otherexperiences and alternative opinions fromother parts of China that are not represented
here.
Secondly, it should be noted that the survey
was conducted towards the end of a period
when the COVD-19 pandemic was exerting aclear inﬂuence on the personal, academic
and professional lives of Chinese teachers
and their learners, and the ﬁndings, particularly with regard to their professional development habits in the previous 12 months, arelikely to reﬂect this.

The following two limitations to data collection
and timing of the study should be noted:
Firstly, it should be noted that respondents tothe survey were accessed via online modalities only, and opportunistically, using a rangeof modes, including British Council contacts
and channels, and with only limited support
from gatekeepers working within Chinese
basic education. Teachers who make less useof the internet are likely to be underrepresented in the sample, as are those with lower
levels of digital literacy, and these factors may
correlate with other proﬁle characteristics(e.g. age). Further, potential respondents weremade aware that the survey was being conducted by the British Council and Trinity
College London before deciding whether toparticipate. Some respondents may havedeclined for political and/or cultural reasons
See Xue & Li (2022) and Li et al. (2021) for double reduction, and Wang & Luo (2019) for core competencies.

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Chapter-6

Results Japan

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.1 Survey results
6.1.1 Response rate
A total of 518 respondents started the survey.
Of these, 124 were disqualiﬁed for not being
English teachers in government primary or
high schools or for being assistant language
teachers (ALTs). This left an eligible sample of394 respondents. The number of teachers
completing items, though, decreased progressively and individual ﬁgures are provided foreach question below.

6.1.2 Respondent proﬁleFigure 32 shows that the sample of respondents from Japan was 58 per cent female and40 per cent male, with 2 per cent not identifying a gender. Figure 33 shows that the fullrange of age brackets was represented12,though almost 55 per cent were over 40. Of
391 respondents, 378 (96.7 per cent) reported having no disability.

Figure 32: Japan survey sample by gender (n = 391)

Figure 33: Japan survey sample by age (n = 397)
30%

1% 1%

58%

32.5%

25%
24.4%

20%

40%

20.7%

22.4%

15%
10%

Male

FemaleOther

30 or underPrefer not to say

31-40

41-50

51-60

Over 96 per cent of respondents werefull-time teachers. Their teaching experience(Figure 34) varied, though the largest groupwere the most experienced and accounted foralmost 35 per cent of respondents.

Figure 35 shows the distribution of respondents according to the level they taught
English at (just over half worked in senior highschools).

Figure 34: Japan survey sample
by experience (n = 397)

Figure 35: Japan survey sample bylevel of school (n = 397)

30%

34.8%

51%

25%
20%

23.2%
18.4%

15%

12.1%

10%
less than
6 years
12

6-10
years

11-15
years

28%
Primary

11.6%

16-20
years

over 20years

Junior high school
Senior high school

Retirement age for government school teachers in Japan is 60.

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Respondents were also asked about theirhighest qualiﬁcations and for the vast majority (78.8 per cent) this was a Bachelor’s
degree; 14.1 per cent said they held a Master’s degree. The majority (81.6 per cent) also
said they were specialist English teachers (i.e.
they did not teach other subjects).

Geographically, respondents worked in nine
regions, as shown in Figure 36, though, Kyushu(34.5 per cent), Kanto (18.4 per cent) and
Tohoku (16.4 per cent) together accounted foralmost 70 per cent of the total. School location
was also biased towards cities (85.1 per cent);
just under 13 per cent said their school was ina town and only 2 per cent in a village.

Figure 36: Japan survey sample by region (n = 397)

Okinawa

0.8%

Kyushu34.5%

Shikoku
Chugoku

11.8%
3.0%

Kinki
Chubu

9.1%
4.8%

Kanto

18.4%

TohokuHokkaido

16.4%
1.3%

Figure 37 shows the distribution of respondents’ school sizes (in terms of student numbers), which was mostly evenly split between
the two middle categories.
Figure 37: Japan survey sample by school size (n = 395)

50%
40%

42.8%

42.0%

30%
20%

10%

11.6%

Fewer than 100

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Results Japan

3.5%

100-499500-999

1000 or more

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.1.3 Providers of professional development
Respondents were asked about their familiarity with various providers of teacher professional development in Japan. Table 2 summarises their responses. The Board of Education is, unsurprisingly, the provider for whomlevels of awareness and participation are
highest (92.2 per cent). The British Council
ranks second (38.2 per cent) and Eiken13 third(28.8 per cent). Eiken also stands out, as

almost 63 per cent said they knew about it
but had not participated in their professional
development activities (the equivalent ﬁgurefor the British Council was 39 per cent).
Finally, almost 63 per cent said they were notfamiliar with the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT), followed by 55.3 percent for the English Language Education
Council (ELEC) and just under 23 per cent for
the British Council.

Table 2: Awareness of providers of teacher professional development (n = 385)

Prefecture Board of Education
Eiken Foundation of Japan
English Language Education
Council (ELEC) Training Center
British Council
Japan Association for Language
Teaching (JALT)I know about them andhave participated in
PD they provide

I know about them buthave not participatedin PD they provide

I am notfamiliar with
them

92.2

7.5

0.3

28.8
8.6

62.6
36.1

8.6
55.3

38.2

29.0

22.9

62.9

26.8

10.4

A total of 175 respondents said they had
participated in professional development
provided by organisations not listed in Table
2 and Figure 38 summarises their responses.
These organisations (which in some cases
were already covered in Table 2) can begrouped into the following six categories inorder of how often they were mentioned:

publishers, non-proﬁt organisations, preparatory schools, universities (both domestic andoverseas), prefectural board of education/Ministry of Education (MEXT), and study
groups organised by volunteer teachers.
‘Other’ organisations such as foreign embassies (e.g. the US Embassy) and second language acquisition (SLA) research groups werealso mentioned.

Figure 38: Other providers of CPD in Japan (n = 175)
Publishers (e.g. ALC, Oxford University Press)

57
32

NPO (e.g. Japan Society of English Language Education)
Preparatory schools (e.g. Sundai Preparatory School)

24

Universities (e.g. domestic and overseas)

20

Prefectural board of Education/Ministry of Education (MEXT)
Volunteer study groups (e.g. with teachers
from other schools within the same prefectures)

18
11

Others7

Invalid responses

6
Number of respondents

According to https://www.eiken.or.jp/eiken/en/association/, ‘Eiken produces and administers English-proﬁciency
tests with the backing of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) andin cooperation with Japanese prefectural and local boards of education, public and private schools, and otherleading testing bodies’.

13

67

Results Japan

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.1.4 Professional development needs
Respondents were asked to identify, from alist provided, up to ﬁve aspects of teaching
English they were interested in learning more
about. Table 3 summarises their choices, indescending order of frequency. The threemost popular choices were motivating students, teaching speaking and teaching 21st
century skills. How to ﬁnd materials online
was the lowest ranked item, chosen by only
5.9 per cent of respondents.

Table 3: Topics for teacher professional development (n = 376)

68

Topic

N

%

Motivating students

236

62.8

Teaching speaking

224

59.6

Teaching 21st century skills

166

44.1

English assessment

122

32.4

Teaching writing

114

30.3

Teaching listening

112

29.8

Using technology in the classroom

109

29.0

Lesson planning

106

28.2

Teaching reading

94

25.0

Designing/adapting teaching materials

93

24.7

Teaching English online

69

18.4

Teaching pronunciation

69

18.4

Teaching grammar

61

16.2

Teaching vocabulary

44

11.7

Preparing students for English examinations

42

11.2

How to ﬁnd teaching materials online

22

5.9

Results Japan

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.1.5 Face-to-face professional development
Teachers were asked about their participationin face–to–face professional development in
the previous 12 months.14 Table 4 presents
their responses. Just over 10 per cent reported doing no face–to–face professional development. Amongst the rest, peer observation,
attending courses, seminars and workshops,

observation visits to other schools, and reading about teaching were the four mostcommon activities. In contrast, the bottom four
were formal courses, attending conferences,classroom action research and teaching competitions.

Table 4: Face–to–face professional development in Japan (n = 375)

Face–to–face professional development activity

N%

Peer observation with colleagues in your school

225

60.0

Courses, seminars, workshops

215

57.3

Observation visits to other schools

140

37.3

Reading books and journals about teaching

140

37.3

Informal discussions about teaching with other teachers

118

31.5

Teacher professional development groups

64

17.1

Mentoring or other 1-to-1 peer-support

40

10.7

None

39

10.4

Attending lectures by guest speakers

30

8.0

Formal courses to obtain a teaching certiﬁcate

26

6.9

Conferences

23

6.1

Classroom action research

92.4

Teaching competitions

1

0.3(including lesson study, planning groups)

In terms of cost, over 75 per cent of teachers(n = 338) said the face–to–face professional
development they did in the previous 12
months was free. Just over 14 per cent said
they paid in full, while 18 per cent paid in part(teachers could choose more than one
answer).

The extent to which face–to–face professional
development was compulsory, according to
the teachers, is shown in Figure 39. Almost half
the respondents said it was always voluntary,
while just over a quarter said it was always
compulsory. According to the remainder, thedegree of choice they were given varied.

Figure 39: Choice in face–to–face professional development in Japan (n = 338)

26.6%

Always voluntary
Always compulsory

47.6%

25.7%

Sometimes voluntary and sometimes compulsory
COVID–19 will have impacted on levels of face–to–face professional development in 2020-2021.

14

69

Results Japan

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Teachers were also asked to comment on
who organised the face–to–face professional
development they engaged in; Table 5 showstheir responses. Local education authorities

and teachers’ schools were the main providers, with limited reference to internationalorganisations.

Table 5: Providers of face–to–face professional development for English teachers in Japan (n = 332)

ProviderN%

Ofﬁcial education authority

205

61.7

172

51.8

59

17.8

53

16.0

29

8.7

9

2.7

My school
Local private organisation
Local teacher association
Local university/college
International organization
Various ‘other’ providers of face–to–face
professional development were also identiﬁed. These included various kinds of study
groups (for example, ‘High School Education

Study Group’), and individual schools (forexample, ‘Sundai Preparatory School’ or‘Yoyogi Preparatory School’).

6.1.6 Online professional development
Table 6 summarises what teachers said about
their participation in online professional
development in the previous 12 months. Over25 per cent said they had not participated insuch development at all. For those who had,
online courses, webinars and workshops wereby far the most common choice, followed byreading online articles and peer observation
via video. The least common choices wereformal courses, educational podcasts andattending conferences.

Table 6: Online professional development in Japan (n = 375)

Face–to–face professional development activity

N%

Courses, seminars or workshops

203

54.7

93

25.1

82

22.1

74

19.9

66

17.8

63

17.0

59

15.9

54

14.6

40

10.8

36

9.7

25

6.7

21

5.7

None
Reading online articles about teachingPeer observation through video
Watching online videos about teaching
Finding teaching materials on local non-government
websites for teachers in my country
Finding teaching materials on ofﬁcial government websites
Informal online professional groups (including throughsocial media)
Finding teaching materials on international websites
Formal courses to obtain a teaching certiﬁcate
Listening to educational podcasts
Conferences

70

Results Japan

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

In terms of the cost of online professional
development (n = 279), 76.3 per cent said it
was free, 20.8 per cent said they paid in full
while 11.5 per cent paid in part (teachers
could choose more than one answer).
Once again, for the majority of the teachers(62.5 per cent), online professional development was always voluntary, with 16.6 per centsaying it was always compulsory and almost 21
per cent saying it varied.
The providers of the online professional development taken by respondents are listed in Table
7. The local educational authority is again themain provider, though local private organisations are second and teachers’ schools third.
International organisations remain the provider
mentioned least often.

Table 7: Providers of online professional development for English teachers in Japan (n = 265)

ProviderN%

Local education authority
Local private organisation
My school
Local teacher association
Local university/college
International organization

157
90
58
37
31
22

59.2
34.0
21.9
14.0
11.7
8.3

Respondents also identiﬁed various ‘other’providers of online professional development
for teachers of English. These included volunteer teacher study groups and various individual schools.
Teachers were additionally asked about theimportance of various factors in their decision to take part in online professional development. Table 8 presents their responses (allﬁgures are percentages) and the three factors most often rated as very important were
helping them solve problems in their teaching, providing activities and materials they
can use and keeping up to date with new
ideas. Factors such as career advancement,
the reputation of the provider and whether
the activity was in the native language were,in contrast, very important for low percentages of teachers.

Table 8: Factors inﬂuencing decision to do online professional development: Japan (n = 363)

It helps me solve problems I face in my teaching
It provides activities and materials that I can use in my own classroom
It keeps me up to date with new ideas and developments
It gives me ﬂexibility in terms of when and where to study
I do not have to pay myself to take part
It is not too time-consuming
The activity gives me the opportunity to interact with other teachers
The activity is ofﬁcially recognised by my employer
The activity takes place in English
It uses familiar online tools and platforms
Taking part will help me get a salary bonus or promotion (to a higher
position such as senior teacher or vice-principal)
The organisation providing the professional development is well-known
The activity takes place in my native language
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Results Japan

Very
important

Quite
importantNotimportant

64.4

34.1

1.5

54.1

41.5

4.4

47.3

45.4

7.3

43.9

45.9

10.2

43.9

41.5

14.6

29.8

54.6

15.6

25.9

44.9

29.3

23.9

31.7

44.4

22.0

44.4

33.7

20.0

45.4

34.6

11.7

17.6

70.7

10.7

33.2

56.1

8.8

29.3

62.0

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.1.7 Online activity
Teachers were asked three questions about
their online activities more generally. The ﬁrst
was about the online platforms they used (forwork or pleasure). As Figure 40 shows, Line,e-mail and YouTube are the three online
platforms most widely used (by upwards of
75 per cent respondents in each case).

Figure 40: Online platforms used by Japanese teachers of English (n = 362)
Line

82.6%

Email

79.3%

YouTube76.0%

Facebook

51.4%

Instagram

47.5%

Twitter

42.0%

Tiktok

8.3%

WhatsApp

5.8%

Others3.3%

Linkedin

3.0%

None

1.1%

Viber

0.3%

The second question in this section asked
teachers about the devices they used to get
online. Figure 41 summarises what they said(‘other’ was also an option but was notchosen by anyone). Smartphones and laptops
were the options most commonly chosen
here.

Figure 41: How Japanese teachers of English get online (n = 362)

86.7%

Smartphone

62.2%

TabletDesktop

Laptop72

Results Japan

20.7%

86.5%

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Finally, teachers were asked some questions
about access to the internet and their answers are summarised in Figure 42. Overall,these ﬁgures indicate that in Japan teachers

have access to fast and stable internet athome and work and that data costs do notlimit their time online.

Figure 42: How Japanese teachers of English get online (n = 361)

High data costs limit the time I can spend online
My internet is fast enough to stream videos

87.8%

12.2%

I have access to a stable internet connection

87.3%

12.7%

It is easy for me to get online at work

86.1%

13.9%

97.8%

It is easy for me get online at home
Yes

73

88.4%

11.6%

Results Japan

No

2.2%

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.1.8 Views about professional development
The ﬁnal major section of the questionnaire
asked teachers for their views on a number ofstatements related to professional develop-

ment. Table 9 summarises their responses(ﬁgures in percentages).

Table 9: Views about professional development: Japan (n = 360)
Agreestrongly

Agree

DisagreeDisagreestrongly

43.9

46.1

9.4

0.6

42.5

47.2

9.2

1.1

25.0

48.9

24.7

1.4

The UK is a source of expertise in English language teaching

19.2

42.2

36.1

2.5

I am interested in ﬁnding new ways of continuing my profes-

16.7

70.8

12.2

0.3

16.7

55.8

24.7

2.8

10.3

45

36.7

8.1

5.0

54.4

38.6

1.9

2.8

36.4

50.8

10.0

It is difﬁcult to ﬁnd the time to take part in professional
development activities
I am interested in free sources of online professional development for teachers of English
I prefer face–to–face professional development rather thandoing it online

sional development online
I would like more professional development activities inEnglish (not in my ﬁrst language)
The educational authorities in my country provide me withhigh quality professional development opportunities
International organisations do not fully understand the needsof teachers in my country
I am satisﬁed with the quality of professional developmentthat I have access to

These results indicate that:
90 per cent of respondents believe it
is difﬁcult to ﬁnd the time to take partin professional development
almost 90 per cent are interested infree sources of online professional
development
over 87 per cent are interested inﬁnding new ways of continuing theirprofessional development
almost 74 per cent preferface–to–face professional development rather than online
over 72 per cent would prefer more
professional development in English
just over 64 per cent feel the UK is asource of expertise in ELT
almost 60 per cent believe thatinternational organisations do notunderstand the needs of teachers in
Japan
74

Results Japanjust over 55 per cent said the local
educational authorities provide highquality professional development forteachers
fewer than 40 per cent said they aresatisﬁed with the quality of professional development they have access to.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.1.9 Further professional development
There were two optional open-ended questions at the end of the survey. The ﬁrst was:English that you would like to receive more
professional development support for.

Please write one or two sentences to tell us
about areas of your work as a teacher of

There were 321 responses to this question
and Figure 43 summarises these.

Figure 43: Further professional development support (n = 321)
Teachers' English proﬁciency

110

General pedagogical skills

71

ICT competence

41
32

Curriculum and resource development
24

Task based instruction
Assessment
Time and budget for professional development
Others10
627

Number of respondents

Improving teachers’ own English was by far
the most common theme here (mentioned by
110 teachers – over 30 per cent of all respondents). Some of the examples regarding thisparticular theme included “an ability to conduct lessons entirely in English”, “an ability topronounce English words as accurately as anative speaker” and “opportunities to improve
my own vocabulary knowledge”. Many respondents saw the improvement of theirEnglish proﬁciency as a key area for professional development.
The second theme was “general pedagogicalskills” and accounted for 22.1 per cent (71responses) of the participants who responded
to this question. Some of the recurring responses included “classroom management
skills”, “an ability to create cohesive groupnorms”, “an ability to increase students’motivation to learn foreign languages” and“an ability to act as a facilitator in communication focused English lessons”.

75

Results JapanThe third theme, mentioned by 41 teachers(12.8 per cent of the respondents) was “ICTcompetence”, exempliﬁed in responses, suchas “how to use tablets effectively in classroom” and “how to conduct effective online
lessons”.
A total of 32 teachers (10 per cent of the
respondents) gave answers related to curriculum and resource development. Their comments included “an ability to design speaking
materials that promote communication
focused learning” and “materials that are inline with the new national curriculum which is
focused on the development of critical thinking and active learning”.
Various ‘other’ areas for professional development were also mentioned, such as “knowledge about inclusive and diverse learning
environments”, “opportunities to study
abroad as part of professional development”
and “regular opportunities to attend academic conferences to keep updated with theoretical knowledge of SLA”.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.1.10 Effective professional development
be made available to teachers of English in
primary and secondary schools in Japan
please use this space.

The second optional open-ended question
was:
If you would like to make any suggestions forhow effective professional development canThere were 310 responses to this question
and Figure 44 summarises these.

Figure 44: Features of effective professional development (n = 310)

Improve teachers' English proﬁciency

92

Be conducted entirely in English

25

Include lesson observations

24

Be localised

22

Teach how to conduct communication focused lessons

21

Teach effective ICT use

19

Not be top down

17

Encourage collaboration with ALTs

16

Be practical rather than theoretical

14

Have opportunities to interact with native speakers

12

Be conducted overseas

12

Be long-term training

11

Teach speciﬁc pedagogical skills

6

Be mainly catered for less experienced teachers

5

Involve team teaching

4

Others10

Number of respondents

76

Results Japan

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Reinforcing the point made in the ﬁrst
open-ended questions, the predominantcategory here (92 teachers) was once againteachers’ own English proﬁciency (eventhough this second question was more about
how professional development can be provided). Some examples related to this theme
included “professional development should
help teachers conduct lessons entirely inEnglish”, and “teachers should improve theirown speaking skills through professional
development courses”.
The second most frequently cited theme wasalso related to English proﬁciency andfocused on “the exclusive use of English toprovide professional development”. This
theme accounted for 8.1 per cent (n = 25) of
the participants who responded to this question. An illustrative response here was that“professional development should be offered
entirely in English, so teachers can improvetheir communication skills in English”.

77

Results JapanThe value of lesson observations as a professional development strategy was noted by 24teachers, as shown in comments such as“professional development should include
opportunities to observe other teachers’
lessons” and it “should focus on interaction
with other teachers for feedback”.
A total of 24 teachers also suggested thatprofessional development will be more effective when it is localised to the context. Examples included “professional development
should reﬂect local needs” and it “should bedesigned based on speciﬁc textbooks andmaterials we use at school”.
Amongst the points noted in the ‘other’category was the suggestion that “professional development should be free of charge
for any teachers, whether it be full-time orpart-time status”.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.2 Interview results
Survey respondents from Japan were invited
to volunteer for a follow-up interview and 40
teachers of English did so and provided theirdetails. Of these, 11 responded positively to afollow-up message and were interviewed
online in Japanese. Their responses are
summarised below. The interviewees were
English specialists (10/11), over 30 years old(10/11), female (9/11) and working in cities(11/11). They taught in primary (3), junior high(3) and senior high (5) schools and covered
the full range of experience (less than six
years to over 20 years).

6.2.1 Professional development needs
Responses to this question covered several
aspects of their work that teachers felt theyneeded more support for. These included:• designing materials• how to teach vocabulary• making lessons interactive• doing peer observation• inclusive teaching• improving their own English proﬁciency• use of ICT• classroom management skills• teaching grammar in a motivating way• using communication activities• support for the new High School curriculum• CLIL.
Across the 11 respondents, most of theseissues were mentioned only once. For example, regarding classroom management, one
teacher explained that
I want to learn more about classroom
management skills. I teach a group of up
to 40 high school students. Some ofthem are not well disciplined. I want totake training that focuses on how tocreate cohesive group norms andmanage students well in large class size
settings.

78

Results Japan

A few themes, though, were highlighted by morethan one teacher. Improving teachers’ English
proﬁciency was a particular concern that recurred and which reﬂected the increasing
expectation in Japan that English lessons betaught in English:
I want to improve my own English proﬁciency, especially speaking as I now haveto conduct my lessons in English.
Some of my colleagues can't even speak
English well. They have never been
abroad. They are now having to teachclasses in English.
A desire to make English lessons more interactive was also noted a few times, for example:
I want to learn how to make my tasks
more relevant, genuine and meaningful tolearners. I also want to learn how toincorporate group work and groupprojects. I feel like the traditional way ofteaching (teacher centred approach) is
not working anymore. Students need tobe motivated to learn English themselves.
I want to learn new teaching skills tochange how I teach.
Such concerns were also expressed withreference to the new high school curriculumthat was being introduced:
Next year at high school a new curriculum will be introduced which changes theassessment methods (kanten-betsu)
including knowledge, skills, critical thinking, active participation. I need to learn
how to teach following this new system.
Some responses here also expressed aninterest in peer observation as a way ofhelping teachers develop professionally. One
teacher stated that “I want to have opportunities where I can observe other teachers'
lessons and I also want others to come andobserve my own lessons for feedback”, while
another noted that

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

I also want younger teachers to observe
each other's lessons more regularly andlearn to give each other feedback. I likethe idea of introducing micro teaching.
Younger teachers might be good atEnglish but are still not good at teaching
English.

6.2.2 Teachers’ attitudes to online
professional development
During the interviews, teachers were asked
for their views about online professional
development. One respondent was very
negative, explaining that “I don't like doing
professional development online because thewhole point of attending professional development seminars is to meet other teachers
from other schools within/outside the prefecture. I miss attending in-person professional
development seminars”. Another, in contrast,
was very positive, and felt that “during the
pandemic I have been able to attend more
professional development seminars thanprevious years because everything is available online. I want to keep this way”. The
majority of interviewees, though, recognised
some advantages of online professional
development, despite reservations, as these
illustrative quotes show:
I can save time without commuting. But I
also don't take online professional
development seriously.
I have very positive attitudes towards
online professional development but I
want to return to face-to-face. I miss theinteractive aspect of training. I likeonline because I can join and leavemeetings depending on my own schedule, but I don't often engage in sessions
because I often join these sessions
when I do other things (eating dinneretc).
With a small group, online professional
development is effective and convenient. Instructors can share digital
79

Results Japan

resources easily with participants. I can
attend professional development
courses overseas. But I also likeface-to-face where I can see facial
expressions of other participants.
I prefer face-to-face because we learn
not only content (knowledge) but alsoteaching techniques from professional
development seminars. I would like to
be in the actual classroom to experience different teaching techniques.
That being said, online is also good
because I can save money and time. I
can also attend seminars outside
Osaka. I can also watch seminars
whenever I have time while doing
something else”.
I attend training sessions because I can
network with other teachers so online
has not been my favourite way toattend professional development
courses. But I still see lots of beneﬁts
such as convenience, free of charge
attendance, opportunities to speak topeople abroad”.
I like online professional development. I
can attend anytime. But I also lessvalue them because there's not pressure or obligation”.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.2.3 Educational authorities and online
professional development
The general view expressed by interviewees
was that, while the education authorities inJapan have provided access to (often mandatory) online professional development forteachers, the quality of this provision was notvery high:Our prefecture has mandatory training
at the start, 5th year and 10th year …
They now have external organisation[Eiken] to run professional development
courses where teachers just watch
recorded videos on the internet.

I just often have to watch a recorded
video and write essays when I attend
professional development courses run
by the government.

There are several professional development opportunities organised by theprefectural board of education including
the mandatory training for new teacherswhich I did three years ago when I
joined my school. But these were notvery useful.

Their professional development is often
superﬁcial and unhelpful. The content of
their professional development can be
too generic and not conﬁned to English
teaching. We need more training opportunities focusing on the teaching ofspeciﬁc subjects.

80

Results Japan

It was also noted that, while the ofﬁcial online
training provided focuses on teaching skills,
what many teachers wanted support with was
the improvement of their own English proﬁciency.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.2.4 Engagement in online
professional development
All interviewees said they had taken part inonline professional development in the previous 12 months and were asked to provide

details. The various initiatives they mentioned
are listed in Box 1 below.

Box 1: Online professional development by English teachers in Japan

I attended ﬁve-day online professional
development courses organised by academics at the University of Hong Kong. It was
about how English language teachers should
conduct CLIL lessons at junior and highschool level. The course was expensive but
I'd be happy to pay for training opportunities
like this.
Professional development course organisedby Oxford University Press in Japan about
online teaching and learning during the
pandemic.
Two-hour session on teaching (in general)by Eiken.
A ﬁve-day course organised by a publisher
called ALC in Japan. It was about E-Learning
in ELT.
A two-hour seminar organised by Eiken
about assessment in ELT.
A one-hour seminar organised by Rikkyo
University about internationalisation and
ELT.

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Results Japan

Two-hour sessions ‘general education
training’ by an organisation called TOSS
which is a very popular course among many
school teachers not only English teachers
but also other subjects.
We have a professional development groupcalled TOSS in Osaka. They organise interesting sessions where teachers can share theirown teaching ideas with the rest of thegroup.
One was organised by Eiken about active
learning and curriculum development, three
sessions over a period of three weeks, eachsession two hours.
I attended a lot of online professional development training. One was a half day session
with a professor at University of Tokyo who
discussed the purpose of English educationand teaching methods.
I also attend lots of online training that I ﬁnd
on Twitter (e.g. assessment). I also attend
English classes to improve my own English
skills.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.2.5 Live vs recorded online sessions
There was a clear preference among theinterviewees for live sessions on Zoom:
Zoom is my favourite platform because I
can interact with other teachers.
I prefer Zoom rather than YouTube
because I don't engage if it's not interactive.
I prefer live interactive sessions where I
can speak to other teachers from otherprefectures or even overseas.
I prefer live sessions where I can interact with other participants.
Some, though, did prefer recorded formats:
I like recorded sessions because I canskip irrelevant sections.
I prefer YouTube or similar recorded
format that I can return to and resume
when I have time.

6.2.6 The future of online
professional development
Interviewees agreed that some element of
online professional development would
continue to be offered after the pandemic,
and teachers’ opinions were mixed regardingwhether they would persist with online offerings or return to more face–to–face options:
I want to keep the online mode ofdelivery because it's more convenient.
I'm often too busy to physically attend
PD seminars.
I believe that online format will remain
and is useful to reach out to teachers
who live outside my prefecture (Okayama) but I want to return to face-to-faceformat as soon as permitted.
Both will remain because I can see pros
and cons of both online andface-to-face training.
Online professional development willremain but I personally want to return
to face-to-face.
It will be more face-to-face but I would
like more online professional development because it's convenient. I live so
far away from school, so I don't havetime to attend professional development courses.

82

Results Japan

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.3 Japan: conclusions
and recommendations

6.3.1 Japan: key ﬁndings

The conclusions for Japan are based on
responses to an online survey provided by
329 teachers15 and online interviews with 11
teachers selected randomly from a volunteer
sample of 40 survey respondents. Overall, thesample was balanced in gender, spread
across the full range of age (under 30 years
to 60) and experience (less than six years toover 20) and qualiﬁed at BA level. Participating teachers taught largely in junior andsenior high schools (79 per cent) in urban
areas of nine regions of Japan (most commonly Kyushu) and were specialist English
teachers.

The following key ﬁndings have emerged fromthis study.

It needs to be acknowledged that the online
nature of the study may have encouraged
particular groups of teachers to participate
more than others (though the age range ofthe respondents does not suggest any bias toyounger teachers). In Japan, widespread
access to and use of the internet and associated technologies also make it less likely thatthe respondent proﬁle was severely skewed
by the online methods used in the study. In
national terms16, though, the response rate
was not high and the primary reason for thiswas lack of ofﬁcial support. Prefectural anddistrict education did not promote the research and access to teachers was obtained
through a range of personal contacts anddirect requests (with varying success) toteacher associations and selected school
principals. Further research into the professional development needs and practices ofgovernment school teachers of English in
Japan will beneﬁt signiﬁcantly from engagement with local education authorities who
control access to teachers and who can, inparticular, ofﬁcially invite large numbers ofteachers to contribute to online surveys.

Teachers of English in Japan haveaccess to a wide range of professional
development opportunities, online andface–to–face, provided largely by localorganisations and, in particular, byeducation authorities and schools.
Teachers identiﬁed a wide range ofareas they wanted to focus on for
professional development purposes;
recurrent themes were motivating
students, teaching speaking and 21st
century skills; many teachers were also
keen to improve their own English
proﬁciency.
Almost 90 per cent of respondents said
they had taken part in face–to–face
professional development in the previous 12 months; the equivalent ﬁgurefor online professional development
was just under 75 per cent.
For both face–to–face and online
professional development, the majorityof respondents (around 75 per cent inboth cases) indicated that their participation was free. There was, though, aconsiderable element of compulsory
participation too, especially forface–to–face professional development(almost 48 per cent said it was always
compulsory) and to a lesser extent for
online development activity (almost 17
per cent).
For face–to–face professional development, ofﬁcial education authorities andschools were the main providers, withpeer observation (including in other

This is the number who answered all questions.
Figures for the number of government school teachers of English in Japan are not included in the statistics
published by MEXT – see https://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/toukei/002/002b/1417059_00006.htm.

15
16

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachersschools), courses, seminars and workshops and reading about teaching
being the activities most frequently
cited by respondents.
For online professional development,ofﬁcial education authorities wereagain the main provider cited, andcourses, seminars and workshops wereonce more the predominant activity,
followed by reading online articles
about teaching, peer observation
through video, and watching online
videos about teaching.
Overall, fewer than 40 per cent of theteachers were satisﬁed with the qualityof professional development they haveaccess to. In the interviews, teachers
were generally critical of the quality ofthe ofﬁcial online professional development provided. It was, in particular, notseen to address the need teachers felt
to improve their own English proﬁciency.
The main factors that inﬂuence Japanese teachers’ decisions to engage in
online professional development are
whether it helps them solve problems
in their teaching, provides activities
and materials they can use and keeps
them up to date with new ideas. Flexibility of when and where to study andcost were also important factors foralmost 44 per cent of respondents.
Japanese teachers of English havegood access to stable internet and thecosts of data do not limit the time they
spend online; smartphones and laptops
are the devices most widely used byteachers to get online.
YouTube, e-mail and Line are the online
platforms most commonly used by thissample of teachers of English in Japan.
While a majority (almost 74 per cent)of survey respondents said they prefer
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Results Japanface–to–face professional development, most were, nonetheless, interested in ﬁnding new (especially free) waysof doing professional development
online. Live interactive sessions wereclearly preferred to recorded online
sessions.
Only two-thirds of respondents saw theUK as a source of expertise in ELT andalmost 60 per cent also felt that international organisations do not fully
understand Japanese teachers’ needs.
International organisations seem tocontribute in a minor way to bothface–to–face and online professional
development for teachers in Japan.
While the language used was notreported by teachers to be a major
factor in their decisions to do online
professional development, the use ofEnglish was seen to be very importantby 22 per cent compared to almost 9
per cent who said the use of Japanese
was a factor in their decisions. Over 72
per cent, though, did say they would
like more professional development
activities in English, a point also highlighted in the interviews.
In explaining how professional development could be effectively provided
for them, respondents again highlighted the importance of opportunities toimprove their English proﬁciency. Peerobservation was also seen to be effective, along with professional development content that was closely alignedwith teachers’ curricula and textbooks.
According to the interviewees, online
resources that appeal to Japaneseteachers will be closely linked to theircurricula and textbooks and easily
adaptable for use.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

6.3.2 Japan: recommendations
nese teachers were even more likely toindicate excessive workload and related
fatigue that are likely to be having detrimental effects on their mental health andclassroom practice. As well as recommending further research into theseissues, initiatives that support and promote teacher well-being and quality oflife are likely to be of great use to Japanese teachers.

To conclude this section, we present somerecommendations for the professional development of basic education for Japaneseteachers of English.
1.

2.

Respondents’ clear interest in developing
their own English language proﬁciency,
particularly for practical purposes, suchas use in the classroom and use in PD
initiatives, indicates strongly that appropriate PD support needs to focus on this,and include an element of “English forteaching” (e.g. Freeman, 2017), potentially alongside bilingual support resources,
particularly for teachers with lower levelsof proﬁciency.
When compared with respondents from
China and South Korea, Japanese teachers were signiﬁcantly more dissatisﬁedwith current professional development
provision. This indicates a clear need toinvestigate the sources of this dissatisfaction, and how it can be rectiﬁed. Particularly, qualitative data in this study supports the introduction of more teacher-driven activities, which contrast markedly with the current top-down, accountability-oriented provision available. Initiatives that are collaborative, exploratory
and longer-term are likely to be more
effective in this regard, including potentially peer observation programmes (bothface-to-face and online), the promotion of
professional learning communities, andsupport for teacher research initiatives
such as action research and lesson study.
However, conventional forms of professional development, such as training
courses, workshops and webinars remainvery widespread in Japan and new professional development offers also shouldseek to tap into this well-establishedtradition.

3.

Even when compared with South Korean
and Chinese teachers, who also regularly
indicate that they feel overworked, Japa-

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4.

International PD providers interested inincreasing their appeal and reach inJapanese basic education should takenote of Japanese teachers’ concernsthat foreign organisations often do notunderstand their needs and challenges.
By partnering with local organisations,international providers may be better
able to understand these needs andprovide for them appropriately.

5.

Japanese teachers’ expressed need forresources which have immediate practical relevance or utility implies that professional development resources that areeasily transferrable to the classroom
and/or provide concrete illustrations onwhat teachers can do in their own work
are likely to be well received. To be mosteffective, such concrete illustrations
should involve Japanese classrooms (e.g.
videos of lessons) and curricular content.

6.

The study has highlighted features of
online professional development thatJapanese teachers appreciate. Attempts
to provide online material should takenote of these, including their preference
for live interactive sessions over recorded material and their interest in accompanying resources that are free and not
too time-consuming to engage with.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers8.
7. While teachers’ individual preference willvary (for example, depending on the grades
they teach), this study highlighted key
general interest among teachers in improving both speciﬁc (such as teaching speaking) and general (such as motivating students or 21st century competences) pedagogical skills. Professional development
products and resources which connect withsuch themes are more likely to be seen as
relevant by teachers of English in Japan.

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Results Japan

Line and YouTube are the leading online
platforms for teachers in Japan (and for
the Japanese generally) and theseplatforms should be exploited as part ofany strategy which seeks to promote
new online professional development
services in the country.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Chapter-7

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.1 Survey results
7.1.1 Response rate
As Figure 45 shows, of 396 respondents who
met the inclusion criteria (i.e., they wereteaching English in basic education), 312
started the survey, and 252 completed it. The

numbers of teachers responding to eachsurvey item are provided for each question
below.

Figure 45: Korea survey response rate

396
312
252

57
Completed survey

Started survey

Basic educationteacher of English

Did not meetinclusion criteria

7.1.2 Respondent proﬁleFigures 46-49 below provide further information about the Korea sample (the response
rate here was 312 throughout). The vast
majority of respondents were female (80 percent), similar to the reported national balancein basic education (77 per cent in 201417), witha majority in the 31-40 (almost 42 per cent)and 41-50 (just over 31 per cent) age groups.

Figure 46: Korea respondents by age

Figure 47: Korea respondents by experience

50%

30%

40%

25%

41.7%

30%

20%

31.1%

19.9%

16%
10.3%

30 or under

31-40

41-50

51-60

Results South Korea

16.7%

10%
Less than 6-10
6 years
years

over 60

11-15
years

16-20
years

over 20years

slightly more considered themselves specialist English teachers (61 per cent). The sample
included a good balance between primary(57.4 per cent) and secondary (42.6 per cent)teachers, although the cohort included
noticeably fewer junior high school teachers
than senior.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20141216000856

17

15.4%

1%

The teaching experience of respondents was
well-distributed, from novice to highly experienced teachers, the vast majority of whom
(89 per cent) teach full-time. Most had eithera Bachelor’s (54 per cent) or Master’s (41 percent) degree, although only 46 per centindicated that they had ELT certiﬁcation;

88

22.1%

15%

20%
10%

26%

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 49: Korea respondents by location

Figure 48: Korea respondents by level

50%

50%

57.4%

40%

40%

30%

30%
29.4%

25.6%

20%

20%

17%

10%
Primary

53.4%

10%

Junior highschoolSenior highschoolAs Figure 50 shows, there was a strong bias
towards the capital city, Seoul, and its surrounding province (Gyeonggi-do), with justover half of the respondents (53.2 per cent)coming from these highly populated areas.

2.9%

14.2%

Rural/village
Island&mountainous
area

City

Small
town

Consistent with this regional representation,
the vast majority of respondents stated thatthey worked in cities (53.4 per cent) or small
towns (29.4 per cent). School sizes ranged
fairly evenly across the categories, with mosthaving between 100-499 (37 per cent) or
500-999 (35 per cent) pupils.

Figure 50: Respondents by area
Seoul

34
19.2

Gyeonggi-do
Chungcheongbuk-do

9.3

Chungcheongnam-do

7.7

Gyeongsangnam-do

5.1

Gyeongsangbuk-do

4.5

Incheon Met. City

4.5

Daejeon

4.2

Busan

3.2

Gangwon-do

2.2

Dageu Met. City

2.2

Ulsan Met. City

1.3

Gwangju

1.3

Sejong Special SG City

0.6

Jeollanam-do

0.3

Jeollabuk-do

0.3% respondents

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.1.3 Providers of professional development
Respondents were asked to indicate theirawareness of six organisations providing
professional development in South Korea (seeFigure 51). While the vast majority of respondents indicated awareness of all six, noticeably fewer said that they had participated intheir professional development services. For
example, almost 80 per cent of respondents
indicated that they had heard of the British
Council, but only 19 per cent stated that they
had participated in British Council professional development. The most widely known andused professional development providers
were the Education Training Institute of theDistrict Ofﬁce of Education (79 per cent had
engaged with its professional development),

followed by the National Education Training
Institute (49 per cent).
One-hundred and ten teachers reported thatthey attended professional development
programmes offered by other institutes, with
91 naming the providers. The providers
mentioned most frequently were YBM (21times) and I-Scream (16), followed by the
Korean Teachers' Union (7) and the Korea
Educational Broadcasting System (6). A wide
range of additional institutes were also listed
less frequently, including the Gyeonggi-do
Institute for Language Education (4), Sookmyung Women's University (4), and Teacher
Ville (3).

Figure 51: Awareness of selected providers of professional development (n = 290)

British Council in Korea
Education Training Institute attached to a university
KERIS Education Training Center
English Teachers' Associations (eg. KOSETA)

18.6%

60.3%

33.1%
17.6%

21%

55.2%
67.6%

34.8%

Education Training Institute of District Ofﬁceof Education

14.8%

45.5%
79%

National Education Training Institute

48.6%

11.7%

19.7%
18.3% 2.8%

41.4%

10%

I know about them and have participated in PD they provide
I know about them but have not participated in PD they provide
I am not familiar with them

7.1.4 Professional development needs
Respondents were asked to self-evaluate
their professional development needs byselecting up to ﬁve topics from a list of 16
provided, covering both skills (such as teaching reading and speaking) and systems (grammar, lexis and pronunciation) foci, as well as
aspects of classroom management, learnersupport and lesson and materials preparation. Figure 52 shows the responses, with90

Results South Korea

teaching reading, writing and speaking in the
top ﬁve along with assessment and 21st
century skills. Online teaching and use oftechnology also ranked highly. Systems-focused professional development came towards the bottom of the list, just above thefourth skill (listening) and aspects of lesson
and exam preparation.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 52: Professional development needs of Korean teachers of English (n = 273)
Teaching speaking

45%

Teaching reading

45%

English assessment

44%

Teaching 21st century skills and abilities

42%

Teaching writing

41%

Using technology in the classroom

38%

Teaching English online

37%

Motivating students

37%

Designing/adapting teaching materials

29%

Teaching vocabulary

19%

Teaching pronunciation

15%

Teaching grammar

14%

Teaching listening

12%

How to ﬁnd teaching materials online

11%

Lesson planning11%

Preparing students for English examinations
None of the above% of respondents who selected an option

8%
0%

10%

0%

20%

30%

40%

50%

7.1.5 Face-to-face professional development
Respondents were asked to indicate what
face-to-face professional development activities they had participated in during the previous 12 months, with 12 relevant activities
presented, and additional options to indicate
other forms of professional development and‘none of the above’. As Figure 53 shows, four
activities were chosen by over 40 per cent ofrespondents, with ‘Courses, seminars orworkshops’ ranking highest (56 per cent). It isnoticeable that two of these top four are

informal activities (reading and discussions
with colleagues). Low on the list were participation in conferences (13 per cent) andclassroom action research (7 per cent). Five
per cent indicated other forms of professional development and 10 per cent indicatedthey had not done any face-to-face professional development activities. The impact of
COVID–19 on teachers’ responses here mustbe acknowledged (for example, conferences
would have been much less available).

Figure 53: Face–to–face professional development in previous 12 months (n = 272)18
56%

Courses, seminars, workshops

48%

Reading books and journals about teaching
Informal discussions about teaching with other teachers

44%

Peer observation with colleagues in your school

43%

Teacher professional development groups(including lesson study, planning groups)

29%
21%

Formal courses to obtain a teaching certiﬁcate
Mentoring or other 1-to-1 peer-support

13%

Conferences

13%
10%

Observation visits to other schools

7%

Classroom action research
Teaching competitions

4%

Other forms of PD

5%

None of the above

10%‘None of the above’ here means no face–to–face professional development in the last 12 months.

18

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Respondents were also asked (see Figure 54)
to indicate both who paid for theseface-to-face professional development activities and whether they were voluntary; thevast majority indicated that these activities
were free of charge (79 per cent) and always
voluntary (80 per cent). They were also asked
to indicate the provider of these activities;

ofﬁcial education authorities (60 per cent)and the teacher’s school (35 per cent) were
the two most commonly selected providers. It
is notable that, according to these responses,
international organisations only provided 2
per cent of the face-to-face professional
development referred to here.

Figure 54: Providers of face–to–face professional development (n = 240)
60%

Ofﬁcial education authority
35%

My school
Local private organisation, such as a training
institute or publishing house

22%
19%

Local teacher associaton
13%

Local university/college
International organisationI
Others2%6%% of respondents who indicated a provider (tick any option)

7.1.6 Online professional development
Respondents’ online professional development activities over the previous 12 months
were also investigated, with 11 options pro-vided, some of which corresponded to equivalent face-to-face options. Figure 55 summarises the responses.

Figure 55: Online professional development in previous 12 months (n = 263)19
66%

Courses, seminars, workshops

53%

Watching online videos about teaching
Finding teaching materials on local non-government websites
for teachers in my country

36%

Finding teaching materials on international websites

25%

Finding teaching materials on ofﬁcial government websites

25%

Informal online professional groups(including through social media)

25%

Formal courses to obtain a teaching certiﬁcate

25%

Reading online articles about teaching

21%

Peer observation through video

20%
16%

Conferences

11%

Listening to educational podcasts
Others5%None of the above

6%‘None of the above’ here means no online professional development in the last 12 months.

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Participation in courses, seminars and workshops again topped the list (66 per cent). The
only other high ranking response was watching online videos about teaching (53 percent). Among the 11 options offered, three
related to where teachers ﬁnd teachingmaterials; local, non-government websites
ranked noticeably higher (36 per cent) thanthe other two (international websites andofﬁcial government websites; both 25 percent). It is notable that online reading seems
to be signiﬁcantly less popular than reading
printed materials (see face-to-face responses
above), and that, while participation in online
conferences might have been expected toincrease during the Covid-19 pandemic, only
16 per cent indicated that they had done thisin the previous 12 months.

Concerning sources of funding and whether
participation was voluntary, responses concerning online professional development
were almost identical to those forface-to-face professional development.
However, differences were notable withregard to providers of online professional
development (Figure 56); while ofﬁcial education authorities were once again dominant(54 per cent), local organisations (e.g. training institutions, publishing houses, etc.) andteacher associations both ranked higher than
the teacher’s own school. Also, as might be
expected, the share of international organisations providing online professional development is slightly higher than for face-to-face,at 6 per cent.

Figure 56: Providers of online professional development (n = 245)
54%

Ofﬁcial education authority
Local private or ganisation, such as a training
institute or publishing house

35%

Local teacher association24%

My school

23%

Local university/college
International organisation
OthersRespondents were asked to rank the importance of 13 potential factors that might
inﬂuence their decision to participate inonline professional development. As Figure
57 shows, the three most highly ranked
factors related speciﬁcally to their practicalutility in the classroom (including activities
and materials they can use, how they cansolve problems they face, and updates on
new developments in the ﬁeld). Most otherfactors were deemed either very or quite
important, including factors relating to as-

18%
6%
9%

pects of convenience (time, cost, ﬂexibility),
and interaction with other teachers. Interestingly, language choice does not seem to be
an inﬂuential factor either way, although aslight preference for activities in English overnative languages is notable. Consistent with
their primary interest in practical issues, also
low ranking was what might be called instrumental motivation to participate in professional development (e.g., for salary bonus or
promotion).20

This, of course, may reﬂect promotion policies in Korea – i.e. these may not be linked to teachers’ engagement in
professional development.
20

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Figure 57: Factors inﬂuencing decisions to do online professional development (n = 257)
It provides activities and materials that I can use in my own classroom
It keeps me up to date with new ideas and developments
It helps me solve problems I face in my teaching
It is not too time-consuming
It gives me ﬂexibility in terms of when and where to study
The activity is ofﬁcially recognised by my employer
I do not have to pay myself to take part
The activity gives me the opportunity to interact with other teachers
It uses familiar online tools and platforms
The organisation providing the professional development is well-known
The activity takes place in English
Taking part will help me get a salary bonus or promotion
The activity takes place in my native language
0

Very important

20

Quite important

40

60

80

Not important

7.1.7 Online activity
Figure 58 shows the results of ﬁve questions
Korean teachers were asked about getting
and being online. As might be expected for aworld leading country with regard to technology, few difﬁculties getting online were re-ported by respondents, although the one
inhibiting factor of note, interestingly, washigh data costs, found to limit just over 41
per cent of respondents’ time online.

Figure 58: Internet access for teachers of English in Korea (n = 255)

It is easy for me get online at home

96.5%

It is easy for me to get online at work

97.3%

I have access to a stable internet connection

92.5%

My internet is fast enough to stream videos

95.7%

High data costs limit the time I can spend online

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41.2%

yes

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

The majority of respondents made use of
laptops (75%) to get online, while smart

phones, desktop computers and tablets werealso fairly commonly used (Figure 59).

Figure 59: How Korean teachers get online (n = 255)

Laptop75%

Smartphone

43%

Desktop

39%

Tablet
Other

30%

0%

With regard to online platforms (Figure 60), it
is notable that, alongside email, South Koreanteachers make frequent use (for leisureand/or work) of several national platforms
such as the KakaoTalk messaging app, theNaver Café search portal and Band, a social
media platform. International platforms such
as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are
noticeably less popular.

Figure 60: Online platforms used by Korean teachers (n = 255)

Kakaotalk84%

Naver Café/Band

62%

Email

61%

Instagram

35%

Facebook

22%

Twitter

4%

Line

3%

Tiktok

1%

OthersI do not use online platforms

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18%
2%

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.1.8 Views about professional development
The ﬁnal quantitative survey items (Figure 61)
elicited respondents’ views on a number ofissues relating to professional development,
both online and face-to-face. Although 61 percent expressed a preference for face–to–face
professional development, respondents were,on the whole, positive about making use of
online professional development. Thus, 95
per cent agreed or strongly agreed that they
were interested in ﬁnding new ways of continuing their professional development online

while 98 per cent were interested in free
online professional development resources.
The UK was recognised by 87 per cent as asource of expertise in ELT, although 62 percent also agreed that international organisations do not fully understand Korean teachers’ needs. The vast majority (84 per cent)also indicated that they would like more
professional development activities in English, rather than Korean.

Figure 61: Views about professional development (n = 252)

I am interested in free sources of online professional development for teachers of English

59%

I am interested in ﬁnding new ways of continuing
my professional development online

39%

48%

2%

47%

4%

I would like more professional development activities in English (not in my ﬁrst language)

35%

49%

14%

The UK is a source of expertise in English
language teaching

33%

54%

12%

I prefer face-to-face professional development
rather than doing it online

26%

35%

35%

It is difﬁcult to ﬁnd the time to take part in professional development activities

18%

50%

25%

I am satisﬁed with the quality of professional
development that I have access to

16%

The educational authorities in my country provide
me with high quality professional development
opportunities

15%

International organisations do not fully understandthe needs of teachers in my country

13%

49%

DisagreeDisagree strongly

Agree strongly

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Agree

71%

64%

12%

19%

35%

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.1.9 Further professional development
There were two optional open-ended questions at the end of the survey. The ﬁrst was:
Please write one or two sentences to tell us
about areas of your work as a teacher ofEnglish that you would like to receive more
professional development support for.
There were 211 responses to the ﬁrst question and Figure 62 summarises these. A
number of teachers did not, as requested,specify topics they wanted to focus on in
their professional development but rather
reafﬁrmed the need they felt for further
development opportunities, including online
training courses. Similarly, responses whichreferred to overseas training, British Council
courses or training provided by native English
speakers did not specify what areas of theirwork teachers wanted them to focus on.
Those who did specify topics for professional
development emphasised an interest in
learning about teaching methods (26 mentions), teaching materials (26) and English
conversation (16 – this refers to teachers’
own spoken proﬁciency). All of the otherissues listed here were mentioned fewer than
10 times. Combined references to pronunciation training, conversation and classroom
English suggest an interest among teachersin improving their own English skills.

Figure 62: Areas for further professional development (n = 211)

More chances for Teacher professional developement

31

New teaching method

26

Teaching materials

26

English conversation

16

Online teacher training programme

13

Assessment

979Overseas training

6

Professional development programmes for NETs

5

BC training course

4

Prounciation training

3

Certiﬁcate course

3

Curriculum development and assessment

2

Co-teaching with NET

2Classroom English

2

Classroom observation

2

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.1.10 Effective professional development
The second optional open-ended question
was:
If you would like to make any suggestions forhow effective professional development canbe made available to teachers of English in
primary and secondary schools in Korea
please use this space.
There were 76 valid responses to this question and Figure 63 summarises these. In
different ways, teachers emphasised thevalue of diversity and variety as features ofeffective professional development. Other

features that were mentioned several times
were opportunities to exchange experiences
and knowledge (including via online platforms), long-term (rather than short andintensive) professional development, andprovision that was participant-focused - i.e.
based on their needs. Several additional
items listed in Figure 63 were listed infrequently, but combined to highlight moregeneral concerns. For example, references toworkloads, certiﬁcation, recognition andﬁnancial support all point towards conditions
which teachers feel would facilitate their
participation in professional development.

Figure 63: Features of effective professional development (n = 76)

Diversity and variety

15

Opportunities to exchange experiences and knowledge

11Long-term/continuous PD provision

8

Participant-orientated7

Mandatory English subject teacher system for the primary6

Online platform for exchanges

6

More opportunities for PD

6
4

Reducing workload (e.g- administrative support)

98

Active promotion of the BC programmes

3

Intensive training

3

Easiness of the navigation for online programmes

2

Involves self-reﬂection2

Programmes being recognised by the Korean MoE

1

Programmes resulting in certiﬁcation

1

Providing ﬁnancial support

1

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.2

Interview results

There were 63 survey respondents from
Korea who volunteered for a follow-up interview and provided contact details. Names
were randomized and contacted in order and
20 interviews were completed. Responses are
summarised here under headings that reﬂect
the themes covered in the interviews. Theinterviewees worked in primary (9), juniorhigh (6) and senior high (5) schools and camefrom nine different regions. The majority (16)
had 15 years’ experience or less and 75 percent were also English specialists.
7.2.1 Professional development needs
Respondents highlighted several aspects ofEnglish teaching and learning they wanted
more professional development on. Thosementioned by several teachers were:• teaching reading skills• teaching writing skills• teaching students of different levels, especially lower levels• improving teachers’ own proﬁciency inEnglish.
These points are illustrated in the quotations
below:
In primary school English classes, while
speaking and listening are emphasized,
opportunities to develop reading andwiring [sic] skills are not much available… I found out that teaching reading andwriting to my students is very difﬁcult.
In 5th and 6th grades, as students
should learn longer sentences, the ratioof underachievers in reading andwriting increases. So I think the PD
should be more focused on teachingreading and writing skills.
I [junior high school teacher] want todevelop skills to teach students with
difﬁculty in basic reading skills. National
English curriculum assumes that secondary school students have alreadyacquired awareness of phoneme-graph99

Results Japaneme correspondences and how to readwords, but in fact there are a considerable number of underachievers. In
addition, secondary school teachers
may not have been trained enough toteach for those areas.
This year I was assigned to teachstudents of lower levels, especially
students with reading difﬁculty. So I’minterested in teaching basic reading
skills, reading picture books, and reading ﬂuency.
I am teaching English at middle school,
so I am always concerned that myEnglish skills may decrease every year.
So, I want to maintain my English skills.
Also I want to use English as a medium
of instruction in my classes as much as
possible. I don’t want myself to be abad model as an English teacher.
Before pandemic era, I had taken PD
programs to learn various activities for
my English classes. But during
COVID-19 I couldn’t ﬁnd opportunities
for communicate in English, so I mainly
took English conversation courses.
Besides, since we expect similar situations like COVID-19 will take placeagain, I believe PD programs like English conversation courses should be
more provided.
Other topics that were mentioned less frequently (twice at most) were:• online teaching tools• project work
• teaching speaking• English culture.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.2.2 Teachers’ attitudes to online
professional development
The Korean interviewees were overwhelmingly positive about the value of online professional development, focusing in particular on
the following advantages:• it is efﬁcient and you can save time
• it is easy to access anytime and anywhere• it does not require travel• a range of programmes are available• it gives teachers access to different lecturers.
One teacher, for example, explained that
I always found various PD programs
available from the ofﬁcial notices by
educational authorities, but I couldn’t
take the sessions that I wanted, such as
using multimedia in English classes orteaching English through drama. I
missed those sessions because they
were provided ofﬂine. These days it isvery difﬁcult to travel safe and notdesirable, especially, for us teachers totravel long distance for PD when considering our young students. So I hopeeducational authorities keep providing
online PD sessions rather than ofﬂine
sessions.
Another added:
I prefer teaching online as a teacher
and taking online courses as a participant. As for online teaching andlearning, we don’t need to move, and
it is very convenient to share data andrun classroom rules. Besides I caneasily watch video clips on my own
computer.
Some noted that the quality of online professional development was better when thelecturers were effective and sessions wereinteractive.
One respondent explained barriers she had
faced to online professional development:

100 Results South Korea

Teachers have a very limited access tointernational websites at school.
Schools do not provide teachers
enough support necessary to use many
useful international websites at school.
To use those websites like Kahoot andmany others, teachers have to create
their own personal accounts since they
are not allowed to use school ofﬁcial
accounts. We have to sign up for our
personal accounts and pay with school
credit cards. International websites
usually run on the yearly base. If we do
not cancel at the right time before theextension for another year and we
transfer to other schools [public school
teachers transfer regularly to otherschools], it causes complex administrative problems. For this reason, schools
are not willing to support us for using
international websites.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.2.3 Educational authorities and online
professional development
Interviewees provided a mixture of positiveand more critical comments on the online
professional development provided byeducation authorities in Korea. One teacher
felt that
educational authorities provide very
well-organized PD programs. They
provide very practical contents which I
can easily apply to my classes. They
plan what teachers need in advanceand continuously provide training
opportunities so that teachers can takethem whenever they want. So I think
Korean government is doing very goodjob for that matter.
In particular, various positive comments weremade about professional learning communities organised by the education authorities:
Project learning is recommended atschool now. Learning communities for
project learning are organized andsupported by ofﬁces of education.
Ofﬁces of education arrange communities lead by head teachers. Head teachers open a community and selecttopics. For example, there was a community for teaching reading picture
books. Each teacher there shared theirteaching practices such as how to use
picture books in class and recommend
good books and teaching ideas to eachother. I could learn a lot.
I found [online] PD programs offered by
the ofﬁce of education very useful.
Since 2020, they provided PD programs like professional learning communities where actual classroom
practices were shared. For example,
head teachers or lead teachers shared
their teaching practices.

101 Results South Korea

Several more critical comments were also
made and one that recurred was that, while
online professional development opportunities
are provided by the education authorities,
teachers were not sufﬁciently informed about
them. The interviewees noted that one-timeofﬁcial notices that teachers received were
not an effective way to encourage teachers toparticipate. As one teacher noted, ‘just sending ofﬁcial documents does not guaranteethat all teachers are well informed of programs’. Others made similar points:
During COVID-19, many teachers asked
for technology-based learning andusing ZOOM for real time classes, andthe ofﬁces of education reacted immediately and arranged PD sessions. But I
think those PD programs were notenough promoted. Various practicalsessions were available at e-learning
centres, but many teachers were notwell aware of it. Overall, PD programs
have now improved a lot to a verysatisfactory level. But the problem isthe lack of promotion. I think otherways of promotion except routineofﬁcial notice should be activated.
Educational authorities notify available
PD programs through ofﬁcial notices,so I can learn what is available and canchoose what I want to take because myschool well runs regular curriculum
meetings, and at the meetings we canshare and view those ofﬁcial notices.
But not every teacher is well informedof available PD programs. Just sendingofﬁcial documents does not guaranteethat all teachers are well informed ofprograms.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

A second observation made by several
teachers was that the ofﬁcial online professional development available was not sufﬁciently practical:
PD programs offered by ofﬁces of
education do not contribute to development. When I took those sessions, I
thought the teachers as lecturers
worked hard and tried efforts but they
just displayed their teaching skills andshowed how they themselves were
doing a great job. Of course I could getsome teaching materials for my classes
but I didn’t ﬁnd the programs useful fordeveloping my practical teaching skills.
As far as I know, I think PD offered byofﬁces of education is rather formal
and perfunctory and not practical.
Teachers may feel the same way, I
guess. I’m afraid I may not understandthe situation so well, though. I think PD
programs should be classroom-based
and practical.

102 Results South Korea

In addition to these two recurrent criticisms,
teachers also highlighted other less positive
views about the Ministry of Education online
professional development they had access
to: it was ‘unsystematic’, with overlap between different courses; there was insufﬁcient focus on the development of teachers’
educational technology skills; the quality of
trainers varied (they are often teachers); andthe feedback participants provided does notseem to be used to improve subsequent
training programmes:
Despite beneﬁts of online PD andeducational authorities’ efforts andsupport, some courses overlapped incontents because the pool of lecturers
is limited. Since usually they use theprofessors or teachers in the local
areas as lecturers, it happens that thesame lecturers frequently teach similar
sessions. … Besides, I found out thatvery basic contents that teachers
already know were taught in somecourses, so I think contents need to bescreened in advance. … I know educational authorities’ efforts, but they justarrange PD programs and provide
opportunities, but that’s it. I do notknow what they do after running the
programs. That is what I am sorry
about.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.2.4 Engagement in online
professional development
All 20 interviewees said they had engaged in
online professional development in the previous 12 months and they were asked to pro-vide details of this. Box 2 below highlights therange of activities they mentioned.

Box 2: Korean Interviewees; online professional
development• online professional development by Ofﬁceof Education, via Zoom
• online courses at several private professional development websites such as
Teacherville, Yanadoo, I-scream media• Zoom programmes regarding teaching basic
skills provided by ofﬁces of education incooperation with KICE (Korea Institute ofCurriculum and Evaluation)• professional learning community activities• informal teacher communities on social
media (for example, Kakao) are a usefulsource of information and materials• websites (for example, BBC) and social
Overall, interviewees noted that they obtained useful ideas from these sources, butsome also commented less positively on thequality of the online professional development they had taken part in. Three observations were thatmedia sites such as Naver blogs and cafes• online British Council course on teaching
the four skills• British Council global teaching website• recorded News listening course at YBM
websites• EBS online courses• online programmes provided by institutes(such as Chungbuk and Chungnam)• online courses to improve teachers’ own
speaking skills• training about mobile app called PengTalk,
developed for primary school students• mobile apps such as Clubhouse.
Online English courses at private
providers are not targeted just forteachers of English but for teachers of
all subjects. The number of thesecourses is decreasing. These courses
are easy for teachers of English andchallenging for teachers of othersubjects.

• online professional development provision bycommercial providers was often not suitable
for teachers of English and focused more on• some online courses for teachers were lackdeveloping basic English skills
ing in interactivity among participants.
Some courses from the private providers, for example I-scream, were not
In online sessions, participants are lesstaught by English teachers. Because
active. They are not willing to ask
the courses were taught by those who
questions or respond. Koreans tend toare not teachers but just persons withbe less active in classrooms and thisgood English skills, the contents weretendency increases in online classnot appropriate for teaching students. I
rooms. For example, in Zoom conferfelt the target was not the teachers but
ences, people usually turn off the mics,
anyone who wants to develop English
so we cannot hear other participants’skills.
responses or reactions to the instructor. Eye contact is difﬁcult and immedi• provision was often not speciﬁc to English
ate response is not easy to be noticed.
and was designed for teachers generally
Instructors get passive and defensive inteaching online.

103 Results South Korea

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.2.5 Live vs recorded online sessions

7.2.6 The future of online
professional development

Respondents were asked whether they preferred online training to be live or recorded.

The Korean teachers interviewed were unanimous in the view that there would continue tobe a demand for online professional development even post-COVID–19. They felt that, due
to the pandemic, many teachers had now
experienced the beneﬁts (including convenience) of learning online and they would bekeen to continue doing so. It was also felt that
because the Ministry of Education is placing
greater emphasis on online learning forstudents, this would also fuel teachers’ interest in online professional development. Someteachers noted that a blended approach thatcombined face–to–face professional development and online professional development
would be effective:

A few teachers were in favour of recorded
online professional development because it
can be watched any time; (‘I prefer recorded
webinar since I can watch it anytime. On thecontrary [sic], in the case of live webinar, I
can miss part of it when unexpected things
occur’). Also, if teachers had other matters toattend to, they could pause recorded sessions and return to them later. Most teachers,though, expressed a clear preference for live
online sessions, largely because they provide
opportunities for real-time interaction andcommunication:
Two-way interactive online sessions are
not available right now. I prefer interactive live online sessions if available.
Live webinar is effective. Interaction canoccur and engagement will increase
even though it depends on how the
instructor runs sessions.
I prefer live sessions where real-time
interaction can occur. Also, I think thenumber of the participants is important.
In small-sized sessions, we can practiceteaching activities in online sessions.
One teacher noted they did not mind whether
the online professional development was live
or recorded as long it was recognised by the
Ministry and teachers received credit for
taking part. Another felt that, while they did
not mind doing recorded online professional
development for the purposes of gaining
credits, real-time interactive courses provided
a more authentic professional development
experience.

104 Results South Korea

Even though the pandemic is over, I thinkteachers will demand online PD. As foronline programs, you can take the courses at school after work or at home,anytime you want. There will be needsfor online sessions where the beneﬁts
from online sessions are expected but at
the same time there will also be demands for ofﬂine where close interaction
is essential.
Teachers faced situations where they
had to use online tools during the pandemic era. They went through online
teaching experiences and acquired
relevant skills. So they want to make thebest use of those experience and skills
even after the pandemic. I think PD
programs are improving and evolving ina way that can integrate beneﬁts fromonline, for example, developing to a
blended approach to PD.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.3

Korea; conclusions andrecommendations

The conclusions for Korea are based on
responses to an online survey provided by
252 teachers21 and online interviews with 20
teachers selected randomly from a volunteer
sample of 63 survey respondents. Overall, thesample was female, 31-50 years old, qualiﬁed
at BA and (for just over 40 per cent) MA level,
and teaching in both primary (57 per cent)and secondary schools (43 per cent) in cities(especially the capital) or small towns. Less
than 40 per cent of primary school teachers
described themselves as ELT specialist teachers (for junior and senior high schools thecorresponding ﬁgures were 92.5 per cent and88.8 per cent respectively).
It needs to be acknowledged that the online
nature of the study may have encouraged
particular groups of teachers to participate
more than others (though the age range ofthe respondents does not suggest any bias toyounger teachers). In Korea, widespread
access to and use of the internet and associated technologies also make it less likely thatthe respondent proﬁle was severely skewed
by the online methods used in the study. In
national terms22, though, the response rate
was not high and the primary reason for thiswas lack of ofﬁcial support. Regional education ofﬁces were not able to promote theresearch (they required letters of support
from central educational authorities which wewere not able to obtain in the timeframes forthe study) and access to teachers was obtained mainly through associations for English
teachers who agreed to promote the study
among their members. Further research into
the professional development needs andpractices of government school teachers ofEnglish in Korea will beneﬁt signiﬁcantly fromengagement with local education authorities
who control access to teachers and who can,in particular, ofﬁcially invite large numbers ofteachers to contribute to online surveys.

7.3.1 Korea: key ﬁndings

The main ﬁndings to emerge from the Korea
study were the following:•

Teachers of English in Korea have accessto a wide range of professional development opportunities, online andface–to–face, provided by educational
authorities, local education institutes, andprivate organisations.

•

In terms of topic for professional development purposes, there was a clear interest
among Korean teachers in teachingreading, writing and speaking, along withassessment and 21st century skills. Teachers’ interest in improving their own English proﬁciency also emerged clearly
during the interviews. A concern for how
to teach students of different levels was
also evident.

•

Almost 90 per cent of respondents said
they had taken part in face–to–face professional development in the previous 12
months; the equivalent ﬁgure for online
professional development was just under
95 per cent.

•For both face–to–face and online professional development, the majority of respondents indicated that their participation was free of charge and voluntary.

•

For face–to–face professional development, ofﬁcial education authorities (suchas National Training Institutes) andschools were the main providers, withcourses, seminars and workshops being
the activity most frequently cited byrespondents. Reading about teaching,
informal discussions and peer observation
were also common activities.

•

For online professional development,ofﬁcial education authorities were again

This is the number who answered all questions.
Figures in various ofﬁcial reports (such as those produced by the Korea Educational Development Institute)suggest there are c. 40,000 teachers of English in Korean primary and high schools.
21

22

105 Results South Korea

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

the main provider cited, and courses,
seminars and workshops were once more
the predominant activity, followed bywatching online videos about teaching andﬁnding teaching materials online.
• Although over 87 per cent were satisﬁedwith the professional development they
had access to, in the interviews, teachers
expressed varying views about the qualityof the ofﬁcial professional developmentthat was provided in Korea; its relevance tothe local context was valued but teachers
also wanted to be informed more effectively about what was available; some also feltthat ofﬁcial professional development was
not sufﬁciently co-ordinated or practical.
• The main factor that inﬂuences Koreanteachers’ decisions to engage in online
CPD is its practical utility; teachers werealso interested in online professional
development that keeps them up-to-datewith new ideas and considerations of time
(duration of activities) and ﬂexibility (whenand where to study) also inﬂuenced decisions about whether to participate.
• Korean teachers of English have goodaccess to stable internet, though for over
40 per cent of respondents the costs ofdata limit the time they spend online;
laptops are the devices most widely usedby teachers to get online.
• Kakaotalk and Naver Café/Band are, alongwith e-mail, the online platforms mostcommonly used by this sample of teachersof English in Korea.
• While a majority (61 per cent) of survey
respondents said they prefer face–to–face
professional development, most (and the
majority of interview respondents) were
nonetheless positive about the value of
doing professional development online.
Live interactive sessions were generally
preferred to recorded online sessions.
• Attitudes to the UK as a source of exper106 Results South Korea

tise in ELT were positive, although it wasalso felt by a majority that internationalorganisations do not fully understandKorean teachers’ needs. Internationalorganisations seem to contribute in aminor way to both face–to–face and online
professional development for teachers in
Korea.
• While the language used was not reported
by teachers to be a major factor in theirdecisions to do online professional development, the vast majority of survey respondents (84 per cent) did indicate thatthey would like more professional development activities in English, rather than
Korean. Insights from the interviews suggested that language preferences also
depended on whether the professional
development focused on language improvement (in which case English waspreferred) or teaching skills (where Korean
might be preferable).
• In explaining how professional development could be effectively provided forthem, respondents highlighted the importance of a having access to a variety ofoptions, including opportunities to exchange experiences with other teachers,
as well as longer-term activities that addressed their needs. Professional learning
communities, both formal and informal,
were noted by teachers as a valuableapproach to professional development.
• Workloads and the lack of certiﬁcation,
recognition and ﬁnancial support werenoted as factors that hindered Koreanteachers’ efforts to engage in professional
development.
• According to the interviewees, online
resources that appeal to Korean teachers
would have a practical orientation and beavailable as PDFs and useable withoutmajor adaptations. Interviewees felt thatsocial network services would be aneffective way for the British Council topromote its online resources.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

7.3.2 Korea: recommendations
To conclude this section, we present somerecommendations for the professional development of basic education for Korean teachers of English.

4. A number of qualitative responses indicated that opportunities to participate inonline PD are sometimes compromised orlost due to poor administration of initiatives, particularly notiﬁcation of eventsand systematic planning of online opportunities. Educational organisations andauthorities in Korea may beneﬁt fromdeveloping more appropriate and effectivemeans to communicate such activities.

1. While teachers’ preferences will varydepending on the grades they teach (e.g.
whether they are subject specialists ornot), this study highlighted general interest
among teachers in improving their ability
to develop learners’ language skills, particularly reading, writing and speaking (including catering for the needs of varying levels 5. As in Japan, international providers offering professional development support inof students in skills development). ProfesKorea should be cognisant of local norms
sional development offers which target
and constraints inﬂuencing teachers’
these areas have the potential to appeal topractices and needs in basic education.
a wide range of teachers.
Partnerships with local organisations that
2. Korean teachers are interested in keeping
are experienced in providing for theseneeds would likely offer much more potenup to date with new ideas relevant to thetial for success than exclusively individual
teaching of English, but they are more
efforts involving globalised materials.
likely to be attracted to resources which
Through such partnerships, PD resources
have immediate practical relevance or
can be tailored to Korean contexts (e.g.
utility; this implies that professional develuse of curricular content and classroom
opment resources should be easily transvideos) more effectively.
ferrable to the classroom and/or provide
concrete illustrations (including through6. There is evidence in the data that PD
demonstration videos) on what teachers
approaches that are more teacher-driven,can do in their own work. Lack of focus oncollaborative and longer-term are having apractical teaching skills was a common
positive impact among Korean teachers,
criticism of the ofﬁcial professional develsuch as teacher professional communities
opment available to respondents in this(including online) as well as collaborative
study.
initiatives (e.g. collaborative research,
instructional rounds). Innovative ways of
3. While teachers in Korea still preferdeveloping such approaches using bothface–to–face professional development,
online and hybrid modalities can be exthis study suggests that attitudes to online
plored further.
professional development in the country
are positive (more so even than in China
7. Korean teachers place clear value in theirand Japan) and that teachers appreciate
own English language proﬁciency, in line
the beneﬁts that learning online provides,with ofﬁcial policy for English to be taught
indicating clear opportunities for growth in
through English. However, there is evithis area. Their preferences for live interacdence of challenges in this area, indicatingtive sessions over recorded material are
that, similarly to Japanese teachers, many
dominant (though the convenience ofneed support with their English skills forasynchronous resources was also acknowlclassroom teaching through, for example,
edged). A preference for downloadable‘English for teaching’ type courses (e.g.
PDFs rather than documents in MS Word
Freeman, 2017).
and resources that are free and time-economical should also be noted.
107 Results South Korea

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

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The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Author biographies
Central team

China team

Simon Borg
Simon Borg has been involved in language
teaching and teacher education for over
30 years. He specialises in the design,
implementation and evaluation of professional development programmes andpolicies and has completed assignments
related to English language teacher education in over 20 countries. Details of his
work and his blog are available at http://simon–borg.co.uk/.

Karin Xie
Based in Shenzhen, China, Karin Xie is anacademic manager providing teacher
support for Trinity GESE Exams and acourse tutor and director for Trinity CertTESOL courses.

Lora Guo

Dr Jason Anderson
Dr Jason Anderson is a teacher educator,
researcher and award-winning author ofbooks for language teachers. He has
experience working in over 30 countries
worldwide for UNICEF, British Council andnational ministries of education.

Experienced in teacher training andcourse management, Lora Guo is working
as an examinations manager for Trinity
GESE exams and an internal assessor for
the Trinity Certiﬁcate for Practising Teachers in China.

Ross Thorburn

Dr Ben Beaumont
Dr Ben Beaumont is Head of Teacher
Education at Trinity College, London, andoversees pedagogical support and teacher
qualiﬁcations offered to teachers across a
range of localised teaching contexts.

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Author biographies

Ross Thorburn is a teacher trainer andmaterials writer. Ross has publishedresearch on teaching young learners,
teacher motivation, and racism in language teaching. He is the host of the TEFL
Training Institute Podcast.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

Author biographies
South Korea teamJapan team

Dr Choi Tae-Hee
Dr Choi Tae-Hee was Associate Professorand Leader of the Education Policy Research Cluster at The Education Universityof Hong Kong and from September 2022,
will be at University of Southampton. She
has provided English teacher education
and/or policy advice in twelve countries
and published widely on these topics.

Dr Ikuya Aizawa
Dr Ikuya Aizawa is lecturing and supervising on the BA and MA Applied Linguistics
programmes at the University of Nottingham. His research focuses on the effectiveness of English Medium Instruction (EMI) in
higher education.

Dr Kiyono
Fujinaga-Gordon
Dr Hyun Jin Kim
Dr Hyun Jin Kim is a professor at Cheongju
National University of Education, Korea. She
has experience educating primary school
English teachers, publishing English textbooks, and developing national English
tests.

113

Author biographies

Dr Kiyono Fujinaga-Gordon is a lecturer ofJapanese at Ursinus College/Middleburry
College in the U.S. She has worked as a
researcher for the University of Tokyo andthe National Institute of Japanese Language and Linguistics.

The continuing professional development experiences and needs of English language teachers

This landscape report on the digital CPD
needs of teachers of English in basic education in China, Japan and South Korea is theresult of comprehensive research that took
place in 2021 and 2022. Using questionnaires
and interviews, over 7,000 teachers working
at primary and secondary levels across China,
Japan and South Korea gave information
about their professional development experiences and preferences for future PD. The
resultant ﬁndings and recommendations
contained in this report will therefore beinvaluable reading for policy makers, providers of teacher education and other stakeholders involved in the professional developmentof state sector English teachers.

ISBN 978-1-915280-11-4© British Council 2022
The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.