Exploring teacher quality with a/r/tography in a teacher education course in China
ISSN: 1443-9883
Article publication date: 16 July 2020
Issue publication date: 19 January 2021
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to model the creative pedagogy of children's book development and then engages teacher education students in this work, as a way to explore and express conceptions of teacher quality, across cultural perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
This self-study engages a/r/tography and currere to explore teacher quality in a teacher education classroom in a Chinese university. A/r/tography (Irwin et al., 2006) considers teacher quality through the conventional lens based on standards and through a more aesthetic lens shaped by cultural nuances and personal experiences. This self-study engages currere (Pinar, 2004) as a methodology marked by contiguous living inquiry explored with an abstract lens aimed to see openings for insight leading to transformation (Pourchier, 2010).
Findings
Discussing similarities and distinctions across the presentation and conceptualization of teacher quality in the created children's books promoted dialogue considering intercultural, international pictures of a caring student–teacher relationship. A/r/tographic, currere approaches to exploring this enhanced reflective insight and supported acceptance of diverse notions of teacher quality.
Originality/value
As 21st-century global societies evolve, the meaning of progress also evolves from vertical linear trajectories to horizontal, webbed transformations, driven by differences leading to rhizomatic global connections. A/r/tography and currere are meaningful methodologies to explore the concept of teacher quality from aesthetic angles and on a more personal level so that our understandings may be shaped meaningfully by more diverse perspectives and voices.
Keywords
Citation
Liu, L.B. and Wang, J. (2021), "Exploring teacher quality with a/r/tography in a teacher education course in China", Qualitative Research Journal, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 101-112. https://doi.org/10.1108/QRJ-05-2020-0041
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited