The professionalisation of teaching and teacher education in China: a policy analysis of a nation-wide reform

Through analysis of policy documents and interviews with educational practitioners, this study investigates the policy of professionalisation of teaching and teacher education in China. Key findings include participants' overall endorsement of professionalisation and identification with its objective along with mixed feelings towards several aspects of the policy, discontinuity between participants' attitude and action, and concerns about using a high-stakes certification exam to promote the teaching of the New Curriculum. The findings suggest that while the policy helps to enrich Chinese teacher education curricula and enhance the status of teaching and teacher development, it needs to encourage a more well-rounded teacher education and promote occupational professionalism and systemic school reform to be successful in a global era.