The Study Of Development Of Teacher Education In America

Normal education (teacher education) is always regarded as the basic part of education. It is directly related to the training of teachers and the development of the whole education system. On the basis of systematical review of the formation and development of teacher education in America, this thesis shows the historical characteristics and developmental rules of American teacher education with the aim to find out which could be employed as reference for the teacher education reform in China.Besides the introduction and the summary, the dissertation includes six parts.Part one (from the beginning of the 18^th century to the beginning of the 19^th century) focuses on the precedents of American normal education. American normal education germinates before the occurrence of formal teacher training institute.Part two (from 1820s to the end of the 19^th century) describes the origin and establishment of American normal education. American teacher training sprouted at the beginning of the 19^th century. After a half century's development, a systematic normal education system appeared at the end of the 19^th century.Part three (from the end of the 19^th century to the first half of the 20^th century) concerns the development and finalization of American normal education. With the economic development, American normal education grew faster and faster. Teacher training institute was upgraded from secondary normal schools to higher teacher colleges.Part four (from 1950s to 1980s) addresses the further development of teacher education in America. After the World War II, to increase the competition in the world, America carried out a drastic reform in teacher education. Teacher training focused on the training by education college of University or education department of Liberal Arts College. Instead of being self-contained, teacher education became more and more diverse.Part five (from 1980s till now) deals with the reform and perfection of American teacher education. Facing the challenges of the times, further reform was executed in American teacher education, by developing the specialty of teacher training and the incorporate system in teacher education.Part six discusses the success and failure of teacher education. Reviewing the history of American teacher education, this part summarizes the lessons of the development of American teacher education as the reference for the development and reformation of our normal education.