Kindergarten Teachers' Consciousness and Action of Autonomous Professional Development

Abstract

This study focuses on kindergarten teachers' consciousness and action of autonomous professional development. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 teachers from a public kindergarten in Shanghai to elicit their perspectives. It was found that teachers with a strong consciousness of autonomous development actively participate in various learning activities in order to facilitate their professional growth, while teachers lacking that consciousness have negative attitudes toward training and learning opportunities. Based on the findings, cooperative learning in the professional learning community and reflective teaching could help strengthen kindergarten teachers' consciousness of autonomous professional development and facilitate positive actions to achieve development.