A Review of the Development of Chinese Preschool Teacher Professional Standards Since 1904

Since the beginning of preschool teacher education in China in 1904, the development of professional standards for preschool teachers have undergone four stages: the "nanny" mode period, the "care and education" mode period, the "cultivation" mode period and the "professional" mode period. Three main characteristics can be identified throughout the development of the preschool teacher professional standards, including: the interplay of educational foundation and global context in policymaking; the integration of occupational and professional identity of the standard’s subject; the construction of a systemic and normative standard system. Based on the analysis of the current situation of preschool teacher professional standards in China, this paper proposes several policy suggestions: the establishment of the teacher professional standards should start from adhering to the value principles and then go through the channel of policy making and eventually result in the quality of the standard’s content.