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Transition Of Teachers Educational Institutes In The United States: Historical Perspective And Case Study

Posted on:2008-10-26Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:F Y WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:1117360212991442Subject:History of education
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Normal education system in the United States came to form in the first half of 19th century and went through two transitions in the following century.The first public normal school in the United States, whose aim is to train teachers, was built in Lexington in 1839. After a half century, a semi-closed normal education system that consisted of normal schools and arts & sciences colleges came into being in the United States. At the end of 19th century and the beginning of 20th century, it was a period of rapid development of secondary education in the United States. In this period, there were enough primary teachers but teachers' quality needed to be improved, so the first transition of normal institutes in the United States began, normal schools transited into teachers colleges. Strictly speaking, this is a level-up transition. Since then, the closed teacher-training system came into being in the United States.After World War II, to improve its competence in the new political environment, to promote social development, to reduce the stress of higher institutes and to get new educational recourses, teachers education in the United States went in a comprehensive way. With the rapid development of higher education, teachers colleges became arts & sciences colleges, multi-objective colleges or comprehensive universities; or those teachers colleges were transited into colleges of education in a comprehensive university, or departments of education in a multi-objective college or an arts & sciences college. At the same time, entrance requirements, teaching content and the training process changed a lot. This is an institute transition in a real sense. After that, the closed training system was replaced by an open one.The transition of teachers educational institutes in the United States is a must in the history of development of world teacher education. It is easy to see, after two transitions, that educational level was upper, learning period was longer, teaching content was more academic, teachers as researchers were more popular, and teachers' training was more open and multi-natural. Though those changes are not enough to deal with the problems in teacher education, undoubtedly, this transition plays a positive role in the reform and development of teachers education in the United States.Based on the history development of society and education in the United States, this thesis intends to reshow the process of the transition of teachers educational institutes in the United States and to analyze the purpose, content and significance to obtain some enlightenment.This thesis consists of five parts.The first part is Period of Normal Schools: Rising and Development of Teachers Institutes in the United States. This part mainly introduces the cause of rising of normal schools in the United States and their development in the following century, together with the features, contributions and problems in the development of stated normal schools.The second part is Level Transition of Teachers Educational Institutes in the United States. Normal schools began to change into teachers colleges at the end of 19th century. This part analyzes the main aspects during this transition, achievements and problems, and the cause of this transition.The third part is Period of Comprehensive University: The Complete Institute Transition. This part explains the development of teachers educational institutes from colleges to universities and from closed to open, the achievements and new problems, and causes of this transition.The fourth part is Case Study: Teachers College of Columbia University. This part describes how Columbia University set up the first teachers college whose aim is to train teachers, analyzes and assesses the significance of Columbia University during the period of transition of teachers education in the United States from normal schools to teachers universities. Here it is stated that the being and developing of Teachers College of Columbia University can be the epitome of transition of teachers educational institutes in the United States.The last part is Conclusion. The thesis, in this part, firstly restates the development of teachers institutes' transition and teachers education ideas in the United States briefly; secondly summarizes the general features of the transition; thirdly analyses the significance of the transition and finally puts forward some thinking on the tendency of development of teachers education in the United States and the development of teachers education in China.
Keywords/Search Tags:Normal Education, Normal Education in the United States, Teachers Educational Institutes, Transition
PDF Full Text Request
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