A Study On The Construction Of Special Normal Education System In New China

Nowadays, social justice and educational fairness are highly valued by different countries in the world. Whereas the development of special education has become one of the very important indicators which measures the development of the social economy and the level of civilization of a country. As long as the development of special education is considered, it is largely depended on the preparation of a great number of professional teachers. In recent years, Chinese government pays more and more attention to special education. As an abstract concept, "to develop special education, comes the first the teachers’development" has become a concrete policy guide and educational practice. Under such a background, a large number of high-education institutions are putting special education on their agendas. Till 2014, almost 60 colleges and universities are providing special education majors which are focused on special education teacher training and development. The special teacher education in China is developing with a very fascinating speed. However, there is still a lack of special education teachers in terms of the quantity of the teachers and their proficiency in the field. Special teacher education in China still faces various problems and challenges. These problems and challenges are produced by the deficiencies in the special teacher education system. Yet, little attention has been paid by researches on the special teacher education system in China; Let alone systematic researches in the field. A confliction is found between the actual needs of special education development and the deficiencies of the existing system. This is a field that calls for researchers’ attention and in-depth investigations.In order to explore special teacher education system in China, this research mainly focused on three levels of issues. At the first level, this inquiry studied the historical development of the Chinese special teacher education system. Firstly, historical research methods, documentary research and case studies were applied. In order to trace the development of special teacher education system, this research explored the procedure of institutionalization of special teacher education since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. The history of development of special teacher education system is divided into three different historical stages or periods for better investigation. The first stage is the time prior special teacher education teacher was been institutionalized in China. This stage includes late Qing dynasty, the period of the Republic of China and the time which is after the founding of the People’s Republic of China but before the reforming and opening up to the outside world. During this period of time, although there existed special education in the country, spontaneous was its characteristic and it was not yet institutionalised. The second stage started from 1980s to the late 1990s. It was the time that special teacher education institution became institutionalised. During this span of time, China started to develop special teacher education system. Secondary and higher special education institutions began to appear. Post-service special teacher education institution was also gradually set up. The last stage began from the new century. As a consequence of the reform of teacher education, special teacher education system experienced tremendous changes. These alterations covers various areas such as goals for special education teacher training, models of training, levels of training, institutions which conduct trainings, and the system of special education teacher training. Obvious changes can be found when one compares above mentioned areas with the same elements at the early ages of the institulisation of special teacher education institution in China. Based on the theory of institutional change, these changes are in fact a shift of special teacher education institution. The historical development of special teacher education system can be clearly traced from the above mentioned three stages; while these stages are separately discussed in the first three chapters of this article. While reviewing the historical development and evaluation of special teacher education institution in China, this article also applied theories or perspectives such as the new institutionalism theory, changes in the system concept and other theory for in-depth study on the development of special teacher education system.The purpose of reviewing the historical development of the system is for better reflections on the issues of the current system. To analyse issues of the system is not only a main task in the research of the system, but also a key to further reflections and improvement on the system. This is where this article lays its second level at. Also, this is the topic that is covered in Chapter four. The chapter mainly discusses the current situation of special teacher education system in China and the related issues. To examine the issues of special teacher education system, following four topics were investigated:policies of special teacher education system, pre-service special teacher education institution, post-service special teacher education institution and the impact of special teacher education system.As the special teacher education system, it is vital to reflect on the developments and to explore new paths which will lead to better results. Based on the understanding of issues of special teacher education system in China and the background of special teacher education system, this articel proposes "the Modern Special Teacher Education System" as a new conception and blueprint for further development. This forms the third level of discussion and it serves as well as the fifth chapter of this article. The writer considers the modern special teacher education system a correspondence to the concepts of modernization of education, teachers’ professionalization and inclusive education. It is a breakthrough and new creation of the system and which is professional, practical and standardised. The modern special teacher education system is developed to fill up the gaps in the current system and to meet the needs of development of the society. In order to develop the modern special teacher education system, experiences and practices from educational advanced countries were also taken as references. It is developed to solve current problems which barriers the development of special education teacher training. On the other hand, it puts heavy concerns on the long-lasting development of the special teacher education system. Taking these goals and assumptions as main consideration, this article was based on current teacher education theories and it proposed five strategies and suggestions in order to improve the special teacher education system. These strategies and suggestions include:First, to develop regulations regarding the developments of special education teacher training institutions. Second, to improve the recruitment system of special education major students. Third, to reform the special education major and investigate good models of institutionalization of special education teacher training at the university level. Forth, to combine the pre-service and post-service special education teacher training systems as a whole. Fifth, to standarlise the special teacher education system which can start from qualify and certifying special education teachers.