Teacher Education and the University: A comparative analysis with implications for Hong Kong

The university of education might be seen as a new type of university, which has emerged in recent decades in Asia, and which may be able to contribute both to teacher education and the needs of the knowledge society in new ways. This article begins with a historical overview of the development of universities and normal colleges in Western and Asian societies. It explores the value orientations of these two types of institution, and their links to the different historical periods in which they emerged. These contrasting value orientations are schematized in the second part of the paper, which addresses its core question: how can teacher education attain a level of excellence parallel to that of universities, while maintaining those values of the normal college that are relevant to the knowledge society? A comparative historical analysis of three Western and three Asian societies in the third part of the paper gives an overview of different ways in which this dilemma has been resolved. The fourth part then draws out four distinctive models of teacher education that have emerged historically, and evaluates them comparatively. The paper concludes with comparative reflections on teacher education in Singapore and Hong Kong, suggesting the model of a university of education as uniquely suited to the Hong Kong situation, and possibly only culturally viable in an Asian environment.