A Matter of Experience and Practice Revamping the Pre-service Training of Secondary School Teachers in Taiwan
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A Matter of Experience and Practice Revamping the Pre-service Training of Secondary School Teachers in Taiwan Cheng-Cheng Yang • Shan-Hua Chen Hsuan-Fu Ho • Li-Ping Wang
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Published online: 15 November 2012 Ó De La Salle University 2012
Abstract The establishment of teacher education centers is one of the most important teacher education reforms in Taiwan, the purpose of which is to enhance the effectiveness of education by increasing teacher diversity. However, ever since teacher education centers have been established, teaching quality has not improved—or even declined. This study thus endeavors to identify the abilities which are most essential for secondary school teachers and to determine to what extent these abilities are actually learned by the pre-service teachers. The researchers suggest that teacher education centers place practical training at the center of the curriculum. Keywords Pre-service training Secondary school Teacher education Policy development
Introduction Teachers are the very heart of education, for without good teachers, effective learning is not possible. This is why governments around the world put much effort into enhancing the quality of school teachers. Taiwan is no exception, where the government is continually implementing various measures designed to enhance teaching quality, in the expectation that doing so will improve the overall effectiveness of the educational system. One of the most important educational reform measures implemented in Taiwan in recent years has been the establishment of teacher education centers, the purpose of which is to enhance the effectiveness of education by increasing C.-C. Yang S.-H. Chen (&) H.-F. Ho L.-P. Wang National Chiayi University, Chiayi County, Taiwan e-mail: [email protected]
teacher diversity. Before 1994, the training and certification of primary and secondary school teachers in Taiwan was conducted by three normal universities and nine teacher colleges. These normal universities and teacher colleges were established for preparing future in-service teachers in Taiwan. Graduates from these normal universities and teachers colleges could directly be appointed as teachers and be assigned to different schools around Taiwan based on their GPA scores. Normal universities prepared high school teachers, while teachers college prepared primary school teachers. However, after the year of 1994, the implementation of teacher education reforms established teacher education centers in general universities. The Ministry of Education in Taiwan decentralized its teacher education system and the pre-service training of teachers has been offered by teacher education centers at various universities in Taiwan (Fwu and Wang 2002). The original normal universities and teachers colleges do not monopolize the supply of school teachers. Rather, they have to establish their own teacher education centers. College students who are interested in being a school teacher should apply to teacher education programs in their universities. The training
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