From Charity To Professional College:A History Of Early Teacher Training At Teachers College,Columbia University

In the late 19th century,normal schools,which originally undertook the important task of teacher training,sought transformation and upgrading one after another because of the strong competitiveness of universities after entering the teacher training market and their own deficiencies in teacher training.As a typical teacher training institution in the United States,the Teacher College of Columbia University also became a research institution for professional training teachers during this period.The domestic academic circles mainly pay attention to the development advantages and experience of the Teacher College of modern and contemporary Columbia University,and pay little attention to the development and transformation process of its early teacher training.Through the possession of detailed historical documents and combing the early development history of the teachers’ College,it is found that the teacher training carried out by the teachers’ College of Columbia University has also completed the transformation from a charity to an educational graduate school for professional training of teachers,which has laid an important foundation from charity.Clarifying the efforts of teachers’ Colleges in Teachers’ professional training in this period can not only enrich the academic research on American education,but also deepen the understanding of American teachers’ colleges and teachers’ professional training,which is of great enlightening significance for rethinking and exploring the orientation,function and development trend of current education colleges.In addition to the introduction,this paper is divided into three chapters:The first chapter is "the origin of teacher training: the collision between philanthropy and educational ambition".This chapter describes the background of the establishment of the vegetable garden Association,the predecessor of the teachers’ College,and its subsequent transformation.At the end of the 19th century,the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization,rapid population growth and other factors formed a huge gap between the rich and the poor in American society.The public’s voice for education increased day by day,and women began to have the demand for education.At the same time,due to the difference between the rich and the poor,philanthropy began to revive.Under this background,Dodge,as a philanthropist,noticed the difficult situation of poor women at the bottom of society,and established the vegetable garden Association,which became the initial starting point of teacher training in the teachers’ college.With the increasing demand for teachers,the vegetable garden association has been transformed into an Industrial Education Association,which has opened the prelude to professional teacher training.The second chapter is "exploration of teacher professional training: alliance with universities".Following the content of the first chapter,this chapter describes the process from alliance to alliance with Columbia College in order to seek a greater development platform after the beginning of professional teacher training.In the late 19th century,the field of higher education began to pay attention to teacher training.In order to improve its competitiveness,teachers’ colleges sought a cooperation platform with universities,successfully allied with universities through a difficult process,and further promoted the work of teacher training.After the alliance with Colombia,the teacher training of the teachers’ college has made some progress.At the same time,there are dangers under the appearance of the prosperity of the college.In order to ensure the smooth progress of teacher training,the teachers’ College proposed to Columbia University to join it and become its affiliated college.At this time,some universities in the field of higher education have set up departments of pedagogy or lectures on pedagogy,coupled with the achievements of teachers’ Colleges in teacher training.In view of this,the University agreed to this proposal,and teachers’ colleges began to officially become a part of universities.The third chapter is "the maturity of teacher training specialization in Teacher Colleges: multi-level talent training".This chapter introduces the multi-level talent training mode gradually formed by the teacher college after joining the University.Through the enrichment of courses and the introduction of professional teachers,the teacher training work of the teacher college is becoming more and more mature,which has trained many talents for the American educational circles.It can be said that the reform of teacher colleges reflects the evolution of teacher training in the United States.By training and innovating teachers,teachers’ colleges actually promote the reform of American education and society.