Teacher Education in Professional Learning Communities: Lessons from the Reciprocal Learning Project
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participants’ cross-cultural experiences seemed to be quite positive. Were there any not-so-positive experiences? If yes, what would be the implications of those experiences for teacher development? If the participants stayed for a year or longer, would their perceptions be transformed in any way and if so, why? Did the Canadian participants also unanimously and positively favor their cross-cultural experiences in China? How could program designers and teacher educators help candidate teachers gain a deep understanding of the historical, sociocultural, and even political foundations of the seemingly new phenomena they see during a short period? Many of these questions are beyond the intended scope of this book, but they are worthy of further exploration. There is no best education in the world, but there are many educators who “never lose their initial aspiration” (bu wang chuxin 不忘初心, p. 49) of giving their best to students. This book (re)tells the stories of four Chinese pre-service teachers pursuing their initial aspiration to become teachers under the influence of a transformative cross-cultural experience. As an educator and teacher educator benefiting from cross-cultural experience myself, I strongly resonated with the teachers’ sustained ambition and efforts to become better selves, in an interconnecting world, during uncertain times, and for students. You are highly likely to share my feelings and thoughts once you read the book.
LIAO Wei ( ) Beijing Normal University E-mail: [email protected]
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-020-0025-5 Teacher Education in Professional Learning Communities: Lessons from the Reciprocal Learning Project. Xuefeng Huang. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. XXV+209pp., (paperback), 62.39€, ISBN: 978-3-030-06313-9. The project on which Xuefeng Huang’s Teacher Education in Professional Learning Communities is based was the last of a series of Canadian projects responding, in a sense, to the significant migration of Chinese families to Canada, in
Book Reviews
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this case Toronto, with its implications for the schools. The work began with studies of teachers and the schools the Chinese children were coming from (and returning to) that introduced one of the project leaders to China and schooling in China. Other studies followed and led the Canadian project leaders to contacts in Chinese universities and schools and to a platform for their work in both Canada and China—instead seeing their goal as teaching China the ways of the West or studying the system, they sought a kind of school and teacher-led cross-cultural action research, reciprocal learning. In the words of Huang, Reciprocal learning…means not only a collaborative process that involves practitioners on both sides, but also the expected two-way learning outcomes for the participants. (p. 14) [R]eciprocal learning between the two countries should go beyond mere comparison of aspects of education…[P]articipating educators from different cultures and experiences “come together over common issues and learni
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