A Historical Study On Teacher Education In Basic Education In U.S.A

The historical process of the reform and development of the primary and secondary teacher education in the United States is discussed in this dissertation, including the teacher training in the colonial period, the normal school teacher training, the normal college teacher education, the teacher education in comprehensive universities and the teacher education since1980s. From a macroscopic point of view, this dissertation attempts to analyze the characteristics, the change pattern and the motivation for the development of primary and secondary teacher education in the United States, and from a microscopic point of view, it specifically discusses the teacher education and training system, the teacher education quality assurance system, the social support system, and a variety of factors and their interaction in various historical periods of American primary and secondary teacher education with the aim to find out what China could learn from American teacher education.The dissertation contains five parts:The first part introduces the cause and the value of the research, literature review, the framework and the specific research methods.The second part focuses on the precedents of American normal school training for the primary and secondary teachers (from the beginning of the17century to the beginning of the19century). The American teacher training germinates from the colonial period and the early days of the establishment of the United States. Advocate for teacher training and the teacher training practice in academies and the teacher training by tutor system serve as a preparation for the formal teacher training in the19th century.The third part focuses on the teacher training during the normal school period (from the beginning of the19th century to the end of the19th century). The establishment of the first normal school in the United States marked the generation of teacher education in the United States. This period witnesses the transition of the private normal schools to the state normal schools as well as the transition from elementary teacher training to secondary teacher training. The first teacher certification act is developed during this period. After half a century of development, a systematic normal training system for primary and secondary teachers is developed at the end of the19th century.The forth part focuses on the primary and secondary school teacher education during the normal college period and the teacher education in comprehensive universities (from the end of the19century to80s of the20century)(including Chapter III and Chapter IV in the paper). The third chapter discusses the development of the primary and secondary teacher education during the normal college period (from the end of the19th century to the first half of the20th century). The American teacher education progressed together with the socio-economic development. The normal school was upgraded to the normal college which marked the professional training of primary and secondary teachers. By that time, a more advanced teacher education system took shape. Chapter IV discusses primary and secondary teacher education in comprehensive universities (from to the first half of the20th century to80s of the20th century). International competition and the change of the teacher education model changes prompted a major reform of teacher education in primary and secondary schools. Teacher education sponsored by education colleges of comprehensive universities or education departments of Liberal Arts Colleges turns the "oriented" trend of teacher education into "non-oriented" one which marked establishment of a modern teacher education system in the United States.The fifth part focuses on the reform and development of the primary and secondary teacher education since1980s. The need for the primary and secondary teachers’ professional development as well as the development of American teachers’education accreditation system contributed to the reform of the primary and secondary teacher education since1980s. The teacher education in this period shows the integration of pre-service teacher education, induction of new teachers and in-service teacher education. The professional development school (PDS) is a typical mode of integration of pre-service teacher education, induction of new teachers and in-service teacher education. Teachers’ quality assurance system has been further improved during this period. Teachers’ professional development and integration of teacher education is the main the characteristics of American primary and secondary teacher education in this period.The sixth part of the dissertation summarizes the characteristics of as well as the advantages of American primary and secondary teacher education. The constant development of American primary and secondary teacher education throws light on China’s primary and secondary teacher education, that is:China should quicken the integration of primary and secondary teacher education so as to promote teachers’ professional development, further improve the quality assurance system and strengthen social support of primary and secondary teacher education in China.