Experiencing and experimenting: An exploration of teacher agency in an international collaborative teacher professional development programme using experiential learning

Abstract

This paper investigated Chinese teachers' professional development in an experiential learning programme situated in a cross-cultural context and focused particularly on the role of teacher agency in the learning and localisation of foreign pedagogies. Analysis of interviews and classroom observations revealed the influence of experiential learning on deepening participants’ understanding of foreign experiences. It also highlighted the role of teachers as active agents in recontextualising overseas pedagogical practices in China, either by showing ambivalence towards changes or by developing transcultural pedagogies. The construction of their agency was related to their previous teaching experiences and learning of international perspectives on pedagogy.