How To Cultivate Sound Middle School Teachers

After the promulgation of the new school system in 1922,the status of higher normal colleges was weakened,and the training of teachers in middle schools was also affected.Scholars have launched a debate on the cultivation of middle school teachers.The debate mainly revolves around the goal of teacher cultivation in middle school,the institution of teacher training and the improvement of college of education in the university.Debate on the goal of sound teacher cultivation in middle school.The scholars involved in this debate are mainly divided into two opposing groups.On one side are the "amateur educators",as they are often called,who criticize the role of education in teacher cultivation and hold the view that "people can be teachers".One is the view of the educational circle.They take maintaining the status of education discipline and cultivating sound middle school teachers as the starting point,refuting the view that "people can be teachers",and propose that sound middle school teachers need not only subject knowledge training but also education professional training.Debate on teacher training institutions.The arguments mainly divided into three parts.The first is that principals,teachers and directors of high school affiliated to universities represent the demand side of the middle education sector.In order to improve the quality of middle school teachers,they proposed to restore the high normal system or set up more high normal university throughout the country.The second point of view advocates that in order to train middle school teachers quickly,it is proposed to set up teacher training classes attached to universities to provide one or two years of professional training for college graduates.The Director general of China Vocational Education Association and the Education Design Committee of Guangxi Department of Education hold this view.The third is the opinion of professors from university’s school of Education.They put forward a realistic plan to let the college of education assume the responsibility of teacher training based on the need and lack of financial resources in middle schools.The debate on the target orientation of College of Education in universities.The education scholars who participated in the debate are divided into two groups.The first group of education scholars,in order to solve the problem of the low quality of middle school teachers,proposed that the college of education should be changed into a teacher institution with the nature of a normal school specializing in teacher training.The other school of education scholars from the standpoint of maintaining the development of education discipline insists that the original goal and teacher cultivation should still be maintained in the college of education.These two schools also discussed in detail the division,curriculum setting and training mode of college of education.These arguments did not form a consensus,but they led to the Regulation of Normal Colleges in 1938.Even though the standards of teacher cultivation and the problems of teacher training institutions were clearly defined in the Regulations of Normal Colleges in1938,problems such as organizational contradictions and enrollment difficulties arose in the practice of teachers colleges affiliated to universities.In the development process of normal education,the controversy about teacher cultivation in middle school did not stop.By presenting this complex debate,we can see that each debate promotes the progress of educational ideas and the reform of educational practices.