The Development of Quality Assurance Mechanisms for Teacher Education in Taiwan

In many countries, the government serves as the gatekeeper and developer of the quality of teacher education mechanisms. As time goes on the quality of teacher education has been maintained through teacher certificate and by the management systems of institutes that provide teacher education programs. From the perspective of social closure, teacher professionalization involves the use of quality assurance mechanisms for teacher education, such as license, certificate, and accreditation. On the basis of social trust, these three mechanisms for teacher education are instituted as a quality assurance system by the government to confer professional status upon teachers. This study discussed the development of quality assurance mechanisms for teacher education in Taiwan to elucidate crucial factors in the design and implementation, the strengths and weaknesses, and the potential limitations of such mechanisms, serving as a reference for the formulation of teacher education quality assurance measures in other countries.