2.1 Teacher Professionalization
According to the Collins Cobuild Dictionary (1995), “a profession is a type of job that requires advanced education and training.” The Newbury House Dictionary defines professionalism as “the qualities of competence and integrity demonstrated by the best people in the field” (1996). Then is a teacher profession like that of doctor and a lawyer? This is a complicated question which has being discussed in various countries. With the development of the whole-world education and improvement of teacher education, teacher as a career gradually has the qualifications and characteristics of a profession as a doctor and a lawyer. The occupation of a modern teacher is a kind of profession which requires the practitioner to have the higher specialized knowledge, skills and accomplishment.
The first organization of teacher training was founded in France in 1681. People took it as the start point of teacher professional development system in many countries such as Britain and American. In 1960s, the UK had used the term in a teacher education program, in which they described “the development of increasing opportunities for professional development was argued in reports on every aspect education”. The concept of teacher professionalization was proposed. In 1996, United Nations Educations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and International Labor Organization proposed in Recommendation Concerning the Statues of Teachers that “Teaching should be regarded as a profession: it is a form of public service which requires of teachers experts knowledge and specialized skills, acquired and maintained through rigorous and continuing study; it calls also for a sense of personal and corporate responsibility for the education and welfare of the pupils in their charge.” After focusing on the subject of “education and training of teachers” in 1963, UNESCO puts forward a new subject “professional development of teachers” in 1980. Since then, teacher professional development has become a hot issue of modern educational reform, and teacher had been greatly concerned. 高中英语教师专业发展现状调查研究(3):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_14431.html