Institutions of Teacher Education in Asia

In the new millennium, one of the core issues in ongoing worldwide educational reform is the development of a highly qualified and committed teaching force (Cheng, Chow, & Tsui, 2001). In the reform process, whether or not we can enhance the needed teaching force depends very much on how effective are the institutions of teacher education in their provision of education to pre- and in-service teachers (Maclean, 2001).

Areas in Asia like mainland China, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan have adopted in the past decades models of teacher education and development that differ from those in English-speaking countries. Interestingly, a comprehensive search for international literature on these models shows that there are not that research work done on the topic. A plausible explanation is that, given that the overwhelmingly majority of the current literature on teacher education is published in English and that the model of university of teacher education is not in use in many Englishspeaking countries, the relevant literature would therefore be meager.

This, however, is unfortunate. Global-sharing of educational research findings is essential to the field of study of teaching and teacher education (Zeichner, 1999). After all, the institutions of teacher education in some areas of Asia have in various ways asserted various critical impacts upon teacher education and development and, in turn, on schooling, pedagogical advancement, and curriculum development of school education in these areas. Thus, enhancing a better understanding of the institutions of teacher education at work in Asia is imperative.