Research Into Strategy Of The National Education Association's Advancing Teachers Professionalization Of The USA

It is one of the most important characters in the USA that all kinds of professional organizations are producing extensive and profound impact on people's social lives. The National Education Association(NEA), the biggest teacher professional organization in the USA, adopts effective strategy and advances teachers professionalization greatly. NEA takes actions to influence governments' educational decisions, protect teachers' rights and interests, elevate teachers' professional status, improve education quality of the country as a whole and helps with the development of public education as a result. At the present time, educational reform centered on teachers professionalization is carrying on . It is very important to form and perfect teacher professional organizations. This research can help us to understand more deeply the important roles which teacher organizations are playing in the development of teachers professionalization. It can also provide a kind of new thought and perspective on the theory and practice of teachers professionalization in our country.The thesis includes 4 parts:Part One gives a brief description about NEA's long history of its development. From the very beginning , NEA employed "Professionalism" and advocated elevating the professional nature of teaching by means of raising teaching professional standards, providing high quality service to win the public acknowledgment and elevating teachers' status, In the 1960s, confronted with the challenge from the American Federation of Teachers, for the survival and development of the association, NEA realized the shifting from a professional organization to a union and professional organization. Since the 1980s , the "Unionism" has been in trouble in America. Improving the service quality of public education and elevating teachers' professional level have been new goals. According to the new situation of the society as well as the development of teachers professionalization , NEA has turned to the "New Unionism" characterized by responsibility, cooperation and sharing. Under the leadership of NEA, teachers professionalization in the USA is shifting continuously from collective, outside and passive development to individual, inside and active development.Chapter Two concentrates on the introduction and research on NEA's effective strategy in different stages according to the problems of teachers professionalization. NEA's strategy includes trying to improve teachers' economic condition, protect their legal rights and interests; participating government's political progression to influence the educational policy-decision concerning teachers; making professional code of ethics to control teachers' professional behaviour and show a kind of professional spirit; regulating teaching professional standards to keep teaching service at a high level and so forth.Part Three focuses on how NEA is making difference to grow in the hard competition. With the development of the society and public sense of value, NEA's strategy is confronting with some problems inevitablely. NEA has been doing something actively and changed to the strategy of "New Unionism". In the future, NEA will continue to play the most important role in the progression of teachers professionalization.Part Four provides some policy suggestions about the construction of teacher professional organizations in the course of our own teachers professionalization,such as establishing and developing teacher professional organizations to protect teachers' legal rights and interests; constructing and improving teacher professional organizations according to local conditions to produce driving force for our teachers professionalization; forming and improving the decision-making regime for teachers' participation to make the decision-making democratic , scientific and legislative.