A Comparative Case Study of Geography Teachers’ Well-being Amid Curriculum and College Entrance Examination Reform in China
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This comparative case study examines how two upper secondary geography teachers in mainland China experienced well-being during overlapping curriculum reform and college entrance examination reform. Drawing on Bernstein’s distinction between competence and performance models, the study analyses pedagogic expectations embedded within curriculum and examination reform, while the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Teacher Well-being framework is used to examine teachers’ cognitive well-being, subjective well-being, physical and mental well-being, and social well-being. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with two geography teachers, one from Liaoning Province and one from Jilin Province, focusing on their retrospective accounts of professional experiences to unpack shifts in their well-being across 2018, 2023, and 2025. The findings show that teacher well-being amid reform is not a uniform response to policy change. Instead, divergent well-being outcomes arise from teachers’ varying interpretations of curriculum expectations, college entrance examination requirements, and geography’s shifting institutional positioning across successive reform phases. Across the two cases, the two geography teachers exhibited contrasting well-being trajectories. Teacher A encountered initial uncertainty adapted gradually and earned greater professional recognition, whereas Teacher B faced largely prolonged uncertainty and grew frustrated in later reform stages over whether competency-oriented pedagogy could secure institutional endorsement via examination outcomes. The study contributes to teacher well-being research by showing that well-being during reform is shaped not only by workload or emotional stress, but also by whether teachers’ competency-oriented pedagogical efforts gain institutional recognition within high-stakes examination contexts.
Author: HE, Xueying
Institutions: University of Helsinki, Northeast Normal University
Language: English
Subfield: Geography, Planning and Development
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7213491562