Early career teachers (ECTs) often face a myriad of challenges as they transition from preparation programs into professional employment contexts. Contextual resources, such as relationships in professional and personal spheres, as well as other support or social networks, can play a crucial role in enhancing ECTs’ teacher quality and in promoting the quality of teaching. In Mainland China, the teaching-research group (TRG) system, comprising in-school TRGs and external teaching-research officials, has been a deeply embedded professional contextual resource in the Chinese education system. These collaborative structures have been widely implemented to foster teacher development and improve the quality of teaching.

However, the experiences of ECTs in navigating the TRG system and their quest for quality teaching remain underexplored. This qualitative study examines the experiences of ECTs within the TRG system in Mainland China. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with 11 ECTs, the research investigates the specific challenges they face, the ways in which they leverage contextual resources, and the strategies they employ to navigate this professional landscape in striving for quality teaching.

The findings shed light on the complex interplay between individual and contextual factors that shape ECTs’ experiences within TRGs. The study also explores ECTs’ agentic behaviour in utilizing informal and personal spheres of contextual resources to compensate for the lack of readily available professional resources within the TRGs.

The study highlights the variation of TRGs as a contextual resource and how Chinese ECTs harness different formal and informal contextual resources to navigate the professional landscape in pursuit of quality teaching. Implications emphasize the importance of fostering a more inclusive and empowering environment to address ECTs’ unique needs, and ECTs’ agentic approach in utilizing a range of contextual resources to navigate the complexities of the TRG system and thrive in their quest for quality teaching.

This presentation seeks to address the role of a teacher education program in relation to Truth and Reconcilia(c)tion education. To do so, Algonquin Anishnàbeg First Nations and non-First Nations colleagues will share their experiences and research collaborations aimed at confronting truth before reconcilia(c)tion. Their work emphasizes the importance of co-creating, co-rewriting, and co-restorying anti-colonial narratives that challenge the settler colonial legacy within teacher education and K-12 schooling. Collaborations with the Kitigan Zibi Anishnàbeg First Nations community highlight how meaningful relationships with Indigenous communities are essential for comprehending and addressing the intergenerational impacts of colonialism in relation to the historical consciousness and lived experiences of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens. In alignment with the 2025 International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching (ISATT) conference theme, “Reconciling Tensions for a New Social Contract in Education,” our research collaborations suggests that the historical and contemporary roles of teacher education played in the residential schooling system and its resulting harms must be fully understood before existing relations and their tensions can be reconciled. Through our partnerships with Residential School Survivors, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers teacher education can be transformed to reflect Canada’s colonial history and the lived experiences of Survivors. Our relational pedagogical approach encourages educators to engage with the deep, often painful truths shared by Survivors, ensuring that reconciliation is grounded in relational accountability rather than performative gestures. Inspired by UNESCO’s “Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education,” the presentation critiques current framings of reconciliation that overlook the critical processes of truth-telling. Our relationship with the Kitigan Zibi Anishnàbeg community serves as a model for prioritizing truth-telling and creating, supporting, and sustaining a relational social contract. By integrating Indigenous Knowledges and Survivors’ stories into teacher education, structural changes that honor these truths and foster genuine anticolonial futures can emerge.