Boundaries and transcendence: a tale of a newly qualified Chinese language teacher teaching in a UK school

Teacher professional development (PD) is shaped by context in a complex way. Teachers encounter diverse challenges and take personalised and situated actions for their PD. Previous studies have mainly focused on teachers’ difficulties in general but have rarely explored how they overcome these difficulties and how their negotiations fluctuate. Adopting the framework of boundary crossing for teacher PD, this study examines a newly qualified Chinese language teacher’s professional boundaries while teaching in a UK school, and approaches of boundary crossing. Using a longitudinal approach and a single-case design, and following the four boundary-crossing mechanisms – identification, coordination, reflection, and transformation – this study argues that new boundaries present a challenge to reflection, leading to a new cycle of boundary-crossing mechanisms. This study contributes to understanding of how newly qualified language teachers navigate professional challenges and provides insights into effective strategies for teacher PD in diverse educational contexts.