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Teacher
education in China has had a fairly long history. In 1904,
the Qing government promulgated regulations, placing normal
schools on the two tiers of secondary education and higher
education. Three years later, it promulgated new regulations
allowing girls to enroll in normal schools.
After the founding
of the People's Republic of China, the government adjusted
normal schools and set up new ones in a planned way. According
to an educational system promulgated in 1951, normal schools
are to be set up at five levels: schools for kindergarten
teachers, elementary normal schools, secondary normal
schools, specialized normal schools (higher specialized
schools), and normal colleges or universities. Graduates
from schools for kindergarten teachers and some elementary
normal schools are assigned to kindergartens to teach
pre-school children. Graduates from elementary normal
schools and secondary normal schools mainly teach at primary
schools. Most graduates from specialized normal schools,
normal colleges and normal universities serve as teachers
at general secondary schools, vocational secondary schools
and specialized schools of various kinds. As teacher quality
becomes ever more important, requirements on the schooling
of teachers have kept going up. After 1990, the three-tier
teacher education system consisting of secondary normal
schools, higher specialized normal schools and undergraduate
normal colleges (universities) has given way to a two-tier
system consisting of higher specialized normal schools
and undergraduate colleges (universities). From emphasizing
numbers and size, teacher education has come to a stage
where emphasis is placed on raising teaching quality,
optimizing structure and improving training efficiency.
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