The Study Of Development Of Teacher Education In Modern Britain

"If a country is to be prosperous, it should attach importance to the teachers and masters". This means not only to provide teachers adequate material and spiritual encouragements but also with proper training and appropriate positions so that they will shape themselves when teaching others. The main function of normal schools is to offer competent teachers to society to ensure the quality of the education. To this end, an international common practice is to lay heavy attention to the development of normal schools, an embodiment of the appreciation of the significance of the teachers. Nonetheless, different countries vary in their cultural, political and economical backgrounds, and their education development courses each enjoy their own unique features. This paper, based on the long traditional culture of Britain, devotes itself to the history of the development of teacher education in Britain, focusing mainly on its success and failure with the aim to find out common rules that may be employed as reference for the teacher education reform in our country.Besides the introduction and the summary, the article includes five parts.Chapter one (from the end of 18 century to the end of 19 century) deals with the initiative of British teacher training. British teacher training sprouted at the end of 18 century, and due to the development of British elementary education, various teacher training institutions had since established. This part tidies up different teacher training systems (Monitorial System, Pupil-teacher System, and Training college), and in passing, summarizes their historical significances as well as their possible defects.Chapter Two (from the end of 19 century to the 1940s) addresses the finalization of British teacher training. As the foundation of Day Training Colleges and LEA Training Colleges spread through Britain, the middle school teacher training and the elementary school teacher training gradually diverted into different modes. Up to the beginning of 20 century, British teacher training had already evolved a relatively rigorous system. This part focuses upon the aforementioned two teacher training institutions and the teacher training system of middle schools and that of elementary schools.Chapter Three (from the 1940s to the 1980s) concerns the development of the teacher training in Britain.After the World War Two, the international environments, political and economical alike, had changed considerably. In face of the increased competition in all aspects in the world, Britain carried out three education reforms. As a result, the mode of the incorporate system in teacher education emerged. This part takes a close look at these reforms and provides a detained analysis of their weak points.Chapter Four (from the 1980s till now) is mainly about the perfection of the teacher education in Britain.When 1988 Education Reform Act came into effect, there appear some new problems in British teacher education. Britain was now paying much more attention to the In-service training though the reinforcement of the initial teacher training was still emphasized. This part discusses the effort made by to reform the current teacher educational system for the sake of coping with the challenge of the times,Chapter Five discusses the success and failure of the teacher education in Britain in general.The teacher education in Britain has experienced a long journey. During the course, it has made some admiring achievements, but it has also brought along some problems. This part summarizes the lessons that the teacher education development in Britain has told us.