Research on the influencing factors and cultivation path of students’ professional self-realization in Chinese normal universities

Introduction

Professional self-realization commences when student teachers take initiative to complete training tasks instead of simply performing booked activities, leading to educational subjects with professional significance, practical expertise, intrinsic, and self-driven engagement. In Chinese normal universities, this has greater meaning compared to other fields because it is first and foremost assumed that teacher education is training graduates to be employable, and then, training teachers to be self-sustaining professionals who can develop in the nexus of evolving and complex educational systems. Thus professional self-realization is not simply a concern of being able to teach, rather, it is being able to appreciate and understand teaching as a valuable, deserving, and responsible life activity.

Most of the existing literature has approached this concern through interrelated concepts of professional identity, engagement, self-efficacy, and teacher education. This is a valid rationale because of the challenges that come with observing professional self-realization, as it should be possible to notice the development of professional identity and pedagogical agency. A student who values teaching, feels of able to do so, and is intellectually and emotionally, and invested in learning to teach is in a way, moving toward professional self-realization. It is for the above reasons that the current discourse considers professional self-realization as a sophisticated outcome of identity, motivation, reflection, and practice interrelatedness.

Influencing factors of students’ professional self-realization

An essential point of departure is how student teachers consider the profession and the learning activities related to the same. In cases where teaching is viewed as a stable profession, the participation in teacher education might be instrumental. Students are also likely to put effort in a long-term manner when it is viewed as a significant area of intellectual and moral action. According to Zhang et al. (2016), professional identity of Chinese preservice teachers was associated with performance of the education programme via task value belief and learning motivations, which implies that the performance of teacher education perceived by students defines how much and in which direction the development of their professional identity occurs [1, p. 573]. This connection is significant as self-realization is not commenced at the employment point; it is commenced when the students begin to attribute real values to becoming teachers.

The professional self-realization is also formed under the influence of social and psychological conditions in which students study. Instruction of teachers is not a solitary mental activity. It is played out in support, recognition, expectation, and emotional adjustment networks. When students get affirmed by teachers, peers and institutions they have more chances of seeing a problem as developmental challenges and not a sign of inadequacy. Chen et al. (2020) demonstrated that academic self-efficacy and social support had a significant correlation with professional identity in preservice special education teachers in China [2, p. 374]. This observation suggests that professional self-realization cannot be created by a single individual effort. It is also moderated by the presence or absence of a feeling of social support and psychological competency within the teacher education context of the students.

This process is provided with a more definite developmental design in teaching practicum. Student teachers in classroom experience are put in a situation that requires the bringing together of educational knowledge, personal expectation and institutional reality. Practicum often is the first place where the students find out that their perceived professional identity is able to take the stress of real teaching. But practice does not necessarily make a difference. It is a developmental influence that is determined by the quality of guidance, the level of meaningful involvement, and the confidence that the student holds with regards to dealing with instructional activities. Cai et al. (2022) discovered that teaching internship influenced preservice teacher professional identity both directly and indirectly via self-efficacy and learning engagement [3, p. 1070763]. This implies that the practicum value is not merely exposed schools per se, but rather the degree to which exposure to schools allows students to feel themselves more and more capable as educational players. 

The developmental difference further creates professional self-realization with time. The formation of teachers is not a straight line and not all students react in the same way to the same education. Some build a consistent professional commitment at an early age, whereas others are variable as they experience the complexity of the classroom, academic stress, or the mismatch between idealized teaching and institutional reality. This unevenness cannot be considered as spontaneous noise. It belongs to the logic of development of the professional growth itself. According to a four-wave longitudinal study by Chen et al. (2023), the professional identity of Chinese preschool teacher preservice evolved through time, and took various paths [4, p. 104071]. This finding is very applicable to the current subject since professional self-realization should be viewed as a dynamic and differentiated process and not a standardized training product. 

Pedagogical belief is also a shaping influence on the way students view themselves as future teachers. It is not just a question of whether student teachers are in principle supportive of education that what they believe about teaching, learning, and relationships in education are coherent. These beliefs influence students in the way they make sense of practice, react to feedback, and comprehend their own pedagogical stance. In a mediated mediation model, Li and Khairani (2025) discovered that pedagogical beliefs and social support were also significantly linked to teacher professional identity in China among preservice teachers [5, p. 104856]. This implies that professional self-realization is enhanced as students are not just copying the teaching methods, but they are constructing a more reflective and conceptualized idea of what teaching is, and how it is to be practiced.

Even the identity transformation process is something that should be taken seriously. Professional self-realization cannot be achieved simply through accumulating positive attitudes. It entails rebranding oneself in new discourses, relations and duties. Student teachers must transition to a role of a learner at a university and become inexperienced members of the teaching profession. The process of that transition is frequent and tense, negotiating and redefining. Huang and Wang (2021) approached the transformation of professional identity of pre-service teachers by considering the positioning theory and emphasized the significance of discursive and relational repositioning in professional growth [6, p. 1-18]. In the perspective of self-realization, this observation is useful since it reveals that being a teacher is not just a question of learning how to do it, but also a question of occupying a new social and moral stance.

Educational practice ability is where inner commitment and outward capability come to a junction. The students might appreciate the profession, respect the good teacher and continue with the course work, but still have poor professional self-realization because they are unable to apply the dispositions in effective teaching practice. Professional self-realization thus needs to be embodied in practice. Professional identity and learning engagement were found to be closely correlated with the educational practice ability of normal university students by Peng et al. (2025) [7]. This conclusion is particularly significant since it shows that inner professional development and practical teaching ability are not to be developed separately. A developmental model that honours one and discounts the other will not do much to create truly self-actualized future teachers. 

Professional self-realization of students cultivation path

There should be a more proper cultivation route starting with professional formation that is value-oriented. The education of Chinese normal university teachers must express the idea that teaching is a vocation that has societal meaning, moral imperative, and growth. This formation cannot solely be based on abstract exhortation. It must be incorporated in orientation programmes, teacher ethics education, school observation, pedagogical case discussion and long term facilitation of the student to relate personal aspiration to educational responsibility. There is also a need to have reflective curriculum design. Students should have guided time to analyze their wishes to teach, as well as how they perceive the relationship in education and the type of teacher they would desire to be. This process should then be furthered by progressive practicum connecting early observation, microteaching, supported internship, and post-practicum reflection into a coherent progression. Differentiated mentoring is also necessary as the students proceed through teacher formation at unequal rates of confidence, support and commitment. On the institutional level, universities ought to develop assessment mechanisms that acknowledge reflective maturity, practice-based development, and pedagogical accountability to complement academic achievement. This trend is in line with the national policy. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council (2024) also stressed the necessity to continue the tradition of educators and enhance the development of a high-quality professional teaching force in the new era, which offers a powerful policy platform to consider professional self-realization as one of the key goals of teacher education reform [8].

Conclusion

The issue of professional self-realization in Chinese normal universities must be seen as a developmental attainment and not as a given outcome of joining teacher education. It manifests itself by the interaction of value belief, learning motivation, social support, self-efficacy, practicum quality, pedagogical belief, developmental variation, and educational practice ability. The main question is not whether students successfully finish the teacher education, but whether they come to occupy the position of teacher clearly, competently, and committed. To this end, teacher education cannot be reduced to a model of transmission of knowledge, but can be an integrated developmental model where values, reflection, practice, mentoring and institutional support complement each other. It is only under these circumstances that Chinese normal universities will be able to produce future teachers who are not only qualified, but also professionally based, educationally accountable, and able to develop themselves long-term.