Qualitative Study

Abstract Out-of-field (OOF) teaching is a pervasive reality in education, especially for mathematics instruction. Research has documented OOF teachers’ pedagogical challenges and knowledge gaps. However, a singular focus on remediating these deficits may overlook OOF teachers’ prior knowledge. Grounded in the Landscapes of Practice (LoP) framework, this study takes an asset-oriented approach to teachers’ diverse disciplinary backgrounds. It provides an alternative lens to explore the latent educational value of teachers’ diverse disciplinary backgrounds. We aim to understand how OOF mathematics teachers negotiate their prior knowledge within entrenched educational systems. To explore this dynamic, we conducted a two-phase ethnographic study in three schools in Northwest China. The findings reveal divergent patterns of mutual shaping between OOF mathematics teachers and school mathematics communities. These teachers used knowledgeability to translate prior disciplinary expertise into mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK); also, knowledgeability and social skill supported the teaching group’s adoption of a translated practice. Ultimately, we advocate for an asset-oriented professional development programme that helps teachers translate prior disciplinary knowledge into mathematics PCK and possibly fosters organisational renewal. ...

Abstract Discipline and order hold high value in China, with teachers prioritizing classroom management strictly. Drawing on a longitudinal ethnographic study conducted in an elementary school in China, this article examines the social construction of the “troublemaker” identity. Grounded in Becker’s labeling theory, we track the trajectory of students from their initial entry into school to the eventual solidification of their deviant roles. The findings reveal a cumulative “making” process. Initially, organizational climate and teacher judgements generate situational labels for minor non-conformity. Over time, students internalize these labels, manifesting secondary deviance through either active resistance or passive self-abandonment. Finally, mechanisms of retrospective validation, social quarantine, and institutional calcification trigger a feedback loop that permanently cements their deviant status. We argue that the “troublemaker” is not an inherent trait but an institutional product. This research highlights the critical power of teacher authority in shaping students’ identity. ...

Abstract Typically understood through a universal-statist framework, modern schooling in contemporary China often contributes to the disenchantment of ethnic students. Based on year-long research in a Tibetan-serving secondary school, we provide additional insight in this discussion. We argue that to treat disenchantment as a fixed state ignores the space-temporal quality of human action. The school’s social process is multiple and momentary in nature and often undermines the seemingly linear educational programming. Under the rigid school setting emerge social spaces that expand beyond academic lessons. In those spaces, students continue to interact among themselves and with teachers, where withdrawal and marginalization happen alongside negotiation, appropriation, and participation. While disenchantment anchors the classroom experience of many, it interpenetrates and enmeshes with other aspects of student lives and is interwoven over time. By considering this complex interplay of disenchantment we upend the notion of disenchantment as a singular state, and illustrate this idea through two examples. ...