Chapter 2: Professional development of chemistry teachers in the new curriculum

Since the beginning of the 21st century, teachers in China have been paying more attention to curriculum reform. At the same time, the professional development of teachers has become a key issue in education research and practice.

As for research, there are two orientations: one is research on teachers’ development stages and related factors, in which teachers’ daily activities are recorded by natural observation. Such research focuses on the concerns and problems of teachers at different stages of career development (Fuller, 1969; Huberman, 1997).

The other orientation focuses on professional development, and has become highly popular in recent years. According to Liu and Shen (2006), teacher learning has three dimensions: