ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses various ideological, social and cultural forces that have defined and guided China's teacher education and development in recent Chinese history, including traditional Confucianism, Maoism, Deng's pragmatism, and Dewey's progressivism. The discussion examines how they interacted to bring China's teacher educational system to its current state, and to determine which of these forces are exerting the strongest influence today. Meanwhile, secondary education expanded its vocational and technical education components to generate the manpower needed to support the country's economic development. The recent changes in education have had a tremendous impact on all facets of teachers' lives and work, including their workload, income and benefits, wellbeing, and teaching and living conditions. In the years to come, it appears that neoliberalism joins traditional Confucianism, Maoism, Deng's pragmatism, Dewey's progressivism, and many other trends of thoughts in informing, defining, guiding, and challenging China's teacher education system.
