| The Faculty Development Centre is an institution with direct responsibility for the development of university faculty,and its greatest significance is to assist in the enhancement of the teaching and learning of university faculty and to improve the quality of university teaching.Faculty development centres have been commonly established in many universities overseas and are playing an increasingly important role.With its advanced concept,rich functions and efficient operation,the Faculty Development Centre of top universities in the United States has become the world leader in faculty development centres and an indispensable "magic weapon" in promoting the professional development of university teachers and school construction.As the development of higher education in China is now at a critical stage in the construction of "double first-class",which has put forward more stringent requirements on the comprehensive strength of universities and teachers’ teaching standards,it is particularly important to establish and safeguard teacher development centres in order to promote the comprehensive development of universities and enhance teachers’ teaching abilities..With the help of policies,university faculty development centres have been established in China,but their functions and operational effectiveness are uneven,with problems such as ambiguous organisational goals,low faculty participation and little influence within the university.Based on theories of organisational behaviour,structural-functional theory and teacher professional development,this article takes the teacher development centres of Ivy League universities as a case study,and uses case study,comparative study and literature research methods to summarise the functions and positioning of the centres in Ivy League schools.It also analyses how the various elements of its operation function and the logical coupling that exists between the operational systems,and on this basis discusses the basic experience of teacher development centres in top American universities..The study found that the functions regarding the positioning of Ivy League faculty development centres are mainly research functions(undertaking scientific research and encouraging teaching and learning research),service functions(meeting individual needs and promoting organisational development)and management functions(quality assessment and accountability,organisational assurance and supervision),and the relationship between the three functions is mainly based on the service function as the core,the research function as the supplement and the management function as the basis,with the three coordinating with each other Together,they advance the organisation and are expanded according to the functions performed.With regard to its operational logic,the various elements of the operational system of Ivy League schools are analysed from three aspects: organisational composition,activity programmes and organisational system,and the logical coupling between the three is explored:goal coupling: enhancing teachers’ teaching ability;content coupling: carrying out teacher development programmes;process coupling: promoting a virtuous circle in the centre.Finally,based on the findings of the study,the basic experience of teacher development centres in top universities in the US is proposed,which also provides ideas and inspiration for the construction of teacher development centres in Chinese universities,i.e.clear organisational objectives and clear functional positioning;reasonable organisational structure and professional management staff;broad audience and rich project activities;scientific incentive mechanism and diversified feedback platform.This study aims to summarise the basic experiences of the faculty development centres of top universities in the United States in their sixty years of development,based on an objective analysis of their functions and operational logic,with a view to drawing lessons for faculty development centres in Chinese universities. |
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