The Chinese Education Review And Problems About Teachers In Primary And Middle Schools In The Period Of The Republic Of China

The Chinese Education Review is an education periodical with longest duration,biggest circulation and greatest influence in modern China. It is also the first majoreducation periodical issued to the whole country. It provided an important platform tospread education ideas and systems in the Republic of China, reflects educationresearch and practice at that time, and offers significant historical materials for thestudy on the Chinese modern education. So far, study on this periodical is quitelimited; that on the issue of teachers development in it is even little. By focusing onthe reports and commentaries related to quality and salary of primary and middleschool teachers in the Chinese Education Review from1909to1948, we can not onlyknow more about this periodical, but also have a better understanding of the modernChinese society through basic education, so as to realize contributions made bypeople at that time for education progress and national rejuvenation.This paper analyzes the rich reports and commentaries in the Chinese EducationReview from1909to1948by using document analysis method. The first part explainsthe reason why this periodical showed close attention to teachers: the society and thedriving force of education ideas in the Republic of China. The second partsummarizes the researches on problems of primary and middle schools teachers in theperiodical with the consideration in social background, puts forward the idea that bothquality and quantity of teachers, who were quite unstable at that time could not satisfythe education development demands. The third part analyzes the reasons causingabove problems: shortfall in education expenditure, multiple sources and developmentmethods of primary and middle school teachers, and their low salary. The last partlists some suggestions from the Chinese Education Review to improve the quality andsalary of primary and middle schools teachers at that time, including formulatingsalary standard, completing on-the-job training system and enhancing self-education of teachers.