Chinese teachers’ imaginaries: comparing the pros and cons of Chinese education and other education systems

Abstract

The article presents a qualitative study which explores Chinese school teachers’ imaginaries of Chinese and other education systems. It also investigates how social media has shaped their imaginaries. By reference to the literature on imaginary, discourse, and media, the study views imaginary as an instantiation of a particular discourse or discourses. This research employs qualitative coding methods and textual analysis to interpret the meanings of 163 opinion articles written by part-time graduate students, who were full-time school teachers. These methods were also used to analyse interview and observation transcripts. The findings reveal that most participants adopted stereotypical perspectives of western and Chinese education, and exhibited a strong sense of self-deprecation. Interestingly, WeChat, a popular Social Network Services (SNSs), played a prominent role in constructing these teachers’ imaginaries. The study highlights the hegemonic power given to western education and the critical role played by social media in the Chinese context.