Reform of teacher education in China

Abstract

For more than 20 years the People's Republic of China has engaged in a significant transformation of its economy and social institutions, including its education system. This article provides a general picture of what changes have taken place in Chinese teacher education at a time of rapid transition from central control to devolved and distributed management and decision making, along with the country's shift from a planned economy to a socialist market one. Two major topics of this work focus on how institutions of higher and teacher education respond to the challenges of the changing environment, and on the major trends, priorities and direction of recent education reform. Embedded in the discussion are issues such as the merger and amalgamation of institutions, teachers' professional development under the auspices of market and knowledge economy, educational information, internationalisation and others, and their effects on Chinese teacher education both in the short and the long term.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• teacher education models
• teacher certification
• professional development
• teacher education policies
• institutional mergers
• reform
• China

Notes

1. Historically, the four types of institutions of Chinese pre‐service teacher education were: (1) top‐level normal (teacher) universities with postgraduate education such as Beijing Normal University, East China Normal University, etc., preparing faculty members for other teacher institutions of higher education at lower levels; (2) four‐year undergraduate normal (teacher) universities and colleges, preparing teachers for high schools; (3) two‐ to three‐year professional teacher colleges preparing teachers for middle schools; (4) normal (teacher) schools at secondary education level, preparing teachers for primary schools and kindergarten.

2. Historically, the three‐level institutions of in‐service education were: (1) provincial institutes of education or teacher colleges of continued education for high school teachers; (2) regional and municipal institutes of education or teacher colleges of continued education for middle school teachers; and (3) county teacher continued education schools for primary and kindergarten teachers.