On 5th, November, the establishing ceremony of the Professional Advisory Committee for National Teacher Education and six other committees are set in motion in Beijing Normal University. It is organized by Teacher Work Division in the Ministry of Education and implemented through the Center of Teacher Education (CTER), the Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences for General Higher Education part of the Ministry of Education. A constellation of leading figures and staff at stake are invited to show up, ranging from Chairman of Steering Committee in the Ministry of Education for Teacher Cultivation in Secondary Schools from 2019-2020 and Principal of Beijing Normal University, Dong,Qi to Chairman of the National Professional Advisory Committee for Teacher Education in Higher Education from 2019-2020 and senior professor in BNU, Gu,Mingyuan.

‘The establishment of the Professional Advisory Committee for National Teacher Education is a historical mark.’ says Sun,Yao, Undersecretary of the Communist Party in the Ministry of Education. He also expresses gratitude to all members of committee at present. The point he elaborates on is to train high-competency and specialized innovative teacher teams from the very beginning with effective and radical measures, and it’s also significant to prioritize normal universities as a major arena for teacher education with the same preference paid to teachers’ ethics cultivation. As Principal of Beijing Normal University, Dong,Qi reckons that Chinese teacher education are confronted with transformative challenges in both missions and researches at the doorstep of New Era: whether teachers’ competence will catch up with the times and adapt to social demands on pillar personnel in foreseeable future, how to put scientific evaluation upon effectiveness of teacher education in place, and how do normal universities reconcile teacher education with the building-up of the ‘Double-First-Rate’.

Ren,Youqun, Head of the Teacher Work Division in the Ministry of Education, wraps up saying that with unprecedented emphasis on education matters in New Era laid by General Secretary Xi,Jinping and the CPC Central Committee, their working priority regarding teacher education has been shifted from hardware construction to software one. To accomplish this, four aspects must be dealt with substantially: the key part, the sources, exemplary samples and quality. At the same time, Ren also proposes his sincere hopes expected of members of the Professional Advisory Committee present, looking forward their considerations from multiple lens when it comes to major decision-making, major deployment and plan, identification and promotion of key research areas, cooperation from each side for ideas-spreading, more comprehensive working systems and active engagement in field study and research.

Authorization for CTER to implement this meeting bears undeniable testimony to the Ministry of Education’ s full recognition of its status as a major think-tank in teacher education area. CTER will always cling to ‘Inspiring Teachers with Integrity and Vision’, more arduously interpreting its national think-tank functions in policy consultation, academic research and practice leadership.