there is a "class" before there is a "class teacher" - ta who loves students, has the smallest "official position" but manages the most things
2024-09-10
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
"i can hear it in the office. our class is the noisiest in the whole building!" "don't do anything. i know who it is without even looking." "i just heard that physical education class is cancelled. i'll take up two minutes."... today is the 40th teachers' day in my country. some people have compiled these "classic quotes from class teachers" to pay tribute to teachers in a fun and humorous way. class teachers - the people who are jokingly called the smallest "official position" but in charge of the most things - are the warmest memories shared by many people.
on september 7, 2022, teacher zhang jiahui (right) of wuyi road primary school in taiyuan city, brought her former head teacher li yueze to hold a class meeting with the theme of "i will become you when i grow up" in the class.there is a "class" before there is a "class teacher"
some people compare the class to the smallest cell of school education and the head teacher to the nucleus of the cell, to illustrate the smallness of the class as a "unit" and the close relationship between the class and the head teacher. in the modern education system, students are divided into different classes according to their age or knowledge level. each class has a dedicated classroom and a dedicated teacher. the teaching content is unified for all students in the class. this teaching method is called the class teaching system, and the teacher in charge of each class is the head teacher.
this class system is commonplace for modern people, but few people know that it was an advanced teaching model hundreds of years ago. the class teaching system recognized by the academic community comes from europe after the renaissance. before that, in europe, not to mention classes, even receiving cultural education was a privilege enjoyed by very few people.
at that time, even the privileged people in europe had very limited educational resources, with only two major channels: one was the religious theological education controlled by the european church in the first half of the middle ages to train monks and serve religion; the other was from the european royal and noble families from the 9th to the 12th centuries. in their manors and castles, they either trained heirs as one-on-one tutors, or accepted the children of distant relatives or farmers of lower status as apprentices and trained them to be loyal knights. regardless of which of the above teaching models, there is no class management, no overall teaching plan, no time arrangement, and naturally there is no position of class teacher.
the idea of class teachers emerged in the late middle ages: the manor economy gradually disintegrated, commerce concentrated in cities, shops, guilds, banks, these vibrant economies needed more educated practitioners to enrich them, and a professional educational institution - the university - became necessary.
the city universities that emerged after the 12th century were modeled after the manual industry associations. anyone with the conditions could join, breaking the monopoly of the church and the feudal aristocracy on educational resources. the earliest universities were "collectives of people". the original meaning of the latin word "universitas" for "university" was a community or a union of people. medieval universities did not have their own buildings. classes were mainly taught in churches, teachers' homes, or even in the open air. naturally, there were no special classrooms or classes.
if the rise of cities gave middle-class children the opportunity to receive education, then after the renaissance, popular education became the only way for nations and countries to rise. in other words, the number of people entering school increased greatly. in order to ensure the teaching level, the teaching management model must be improved. the class teaching system came into being and became an important way to popularize education.
the netherlands (today's netherlands, belgium, luxembourg and northeastern france) is the birthplace of the renaissance in northern europe. the famous deventer grammar school is the birthplace of the class teaching system. influenced by the renaissance thought, france in the 16th century established the college de guyenne, which also adopted the class teaching system. in the 17th century, czech educator comenius, known as the "founder of educational science", particularly advocated the class system. he first explained the management model of the class teaching system in his book "the great didactic", and then made a more in-depth discussion of class teaching in works such as "the pan-intellectual school" and "principles of creating a disciplined school". in comenius's view, "it is not only possible but also important for one teacher to teach hundreds of students at the same time." perhaps comenius exaggerated the effect of classroom teaching, but at that time, the classroom teaching system was indeed an advanced model and a powerful means to improve teaching efficiency and popularize education for the masses. in a sense, it was also an important symbol of the transition of western education from medieval education to modern education.
during the renaissance, the class teaching system that appeared in european schools was the basis for the emergence of homeroom teachers. the picture shows the class scene in european schools at that time.the duties of "assisting and adjusting" are similar to those of a class teacher
although there was no special position of "class teacher" in the modern sense in ancient china, there were roles with similar functions. for example, private school teachers. in ancient chinese private school education, a private school teacher was usually responsible for teaching multiple students. he not only imparted knowledge, but also was responsible for the moral education and daily management of students, which was similar to a modern class teacher to a certain extent. another example is the headmaster and lecturer of the academy. in higher-level academy education, although the management structure is more complicated, the headmaster or lecturer often also assumes a role similar to that of a class teacher. they are not only responsible for teaching, but also participate in the daily management and moral cultivation of students.
in addition, in ancient china's official education, before the sui and tang dynasties, the highest institution of learning, the imperial college, had a position of "supervisor", and the prefecture, state, and county schools had a special position of "instructor", whose duty was to train and educate. in the ming and qing dynasties, the imperial college also had a special "shengfan hall", which was headed by the supervisor and was responsible for the training function. these positions also have the characteristics of class teachers.
my country's modern class teacher system is generally considered academically to be the product of the integration of chinese and western cultures. if we want to find a starting point in history, we have to start from 1862.
1862 was the first year of the tongzhi reign of the qing dynasty. in order to deal with foreigners, the qing government founded the tongwenguan in beijing to train translators so that they would not be deceived in diplomacy. as the earliest official new-style school in my country, the shadow of "western learning coming to the east" can be seen everywhere in the tongwenguan in beijing: the tongwenguan in beijing aims to cultivate talents for foreign affairs. the curriculum is foreign languages first, and it also focuses on "western learning" and "western arts". the subjects include english, russian, japanese, and french, as well as mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics, international law, medicine, physiology and other subjects. this school opened up the class teaching system in china and gave birth to the prototype of the class teacher. each batch of new students must follow the class teaching system of western schools, divide into classes by subject, and register; at the same time, it follows the teaching and management practices of the russian academy during the qianlong period, including "selecting students for practice", "setting up teachers for special training courses", and "setting up supervisors to specialize in completion".
the "bangti tiao" set up in the tongwenguan in the late qing dynasty was the prototype of the modern class teacher. the picture shows the gate of the tongwenguan in the capital at that time.at the beginning of its establishment, the tongwenguan in beijing had one "supervisor" and one han "supervisor". around the tenth year of the tongzhi reign (1871), two "assistant supervisors" were added. the difference between a "supervisor" and a "assistant supervisor" is that the former does not have to "go to the academy every day", while the latter must "take turns to manage everything in the academy". both are selected from officials of the zongli yamen. according to the records of the duties of the "supervisor" of the tongwenguan in the "qin ding da qing hui dian", the "supervisor" is responsible for "managing training courses and supervising the diligence of students". the specific job responsibilities are: "... take turns to stay in the academy every day, inspect the affairs of the academy every morning and evening... manage their documents, reach their opinions... supervise their training, formulate their awards... discipline their diligence and correct their laziness. manage their books..." in summary, the "supervisor", especially the "assistant supervisor" who takes turns to stay in the academy every day, is mainly responsible for daily inspections of the academy, attendance of students, rewards and punishments for grades, distribution of scholarships and living expenses, diligence assessment, discipline and style management, as well as document writing and management of the printing office.
the number of students in the tongwenguan in beijing was small at first, only 10, and then expanded to 120. although the two "assistants" were responsible for managing all the students in the tongwenguan, each of them managed 60 students on average, which can also be regarded as a "large class". the responsibilities of the "assistants" are very similar to those of modern class teachers, except that they are full-time. after that, the management of various westernization schools basically followed the student management mechanism of the tongwenguan in beijing. in 1900, due to the outbreak of the westernization movement, the tongwenguan in beijing was temporarily closed, and two years later it was merged into the imperial university of peking, which later became peking university.
once the role of class teacher sprouted in the soil of my country's modern school system, it took root and grew step by step. in the same year that the imperial college of literature was merged into the imperial university of peking, the qing government promulgated the "imperial school regulations", referred to as the renyin school system. the regulations are divided into 8 chapters and 84 sections, which make detailed provisions for the school program, subject setting, curriculum arrangement, admissions method, graduation assignment, teacher recruitment, school discipline, management system, etc. the position of "teacher/instructor" is very close to the role of today's class teacher, and it is clear that one class corresponds to one instructor: "the teaching of the primary school should be one teacher to teach one class of students." "the number of instructors required for the primary school should be determined by the number of students. the calculation method is based on the number of student classes, not the number of students."
although the renyin school system was promulgated, it was not implemented. the "regulations of the school" formulated and promulgated by zhang zhidong in 1904 was actually implemented. it stipulates: "for any primary school with more than 60 and less than 120 children, one undergraduate full-time teacher shall be appointed; if the strength is sufficient, one deputy teacher shall be appointed." depending on the number of students in the class, either only one undergraduate full-time teacher or one deputy teacher shall be appointed to be responsible for the overall education of the class, not only responsible for the students' learning, but also concerned about their thoughts and lives. such teachers have basically the same responsibilities as the later class teachers, except that the scope of management is not divided by subject but by grade, and the scope of management of grade teachers seems to be larger than that of class teachers. in 1932, the national government promulgated the "middle school law", which clearly stipulated that middle schools should implement the "grade system". today, it seems that the workload of managing the main course teaching and organizational management of a grade is really not small, but in fact, the teaching scale of most schools in the republic of china was not large, and there was often only one class in a grade, so the grade director can also be regarded as today's class teacher.
the title of "class teacher" was first used in the liberated areas
in 1938, the ministry of education of the national government promulgated the "outline of the tutor system in secondary and higher schools", abolishing the original grade system in primary and secondary schools and replacing it with the tutor system. in the "implementation measures for the tutor system in secondary schools" that followed, the admission and responsibilities of tutors were further clarified: "each school should have one tutor at each grade, who shall be appointed by the principal as a full-time teacher", "in addition to individual tutoring, tutors should make full use of spare time and holidays to gather students of the same grade for talks, discussions, hiking, social gatherings and other group life-related tutoring."
from the above regulations, we can see that the tutors at that time had management and education responsibilities for students' thoughts, behaviors, studies, and health. their job responsibilities were the same as those of today's class teachers, but the names were different. the duties of the tutors set by the national government were similar to those of the head teacher. in the liberated areas of the same period, the "provisional regulations of the primary school system of the chinese soviet republic" in 1934 stipulated: "each class shall have a head teacher. if a class has more than 40 students, an assistant teacher may be added." the head teacher here is also equivalent to the class teacher.
the title of "class teacher" was first used in the liberated areas. the verification information of the "graduation certificate of the second branch of the chinese anti-japanese military and political university" includes: "after the red army arrived in northern shaanxi during the long march in october 1936, he entered the first phase of the anti-japanese military and political university (the second phase of the red army university) advanced class (military and division-level red army cadres) to study, and later stayed in school as the class teacher of the advanced class." for example, the "outline of primary school discipline" of the education department of suide special district in 1942 mentioned: "to implement the unified teaching and learning system, the responsibility of the class teacher must be strengthened, otherwise the teaching director will be too busy." from these records, it can be seen that since the 1930s, in the soviet areas, anti-japanese bases, and liberated areas under the leadership of the communist party of china, whether it was primary schools, middle schools, normal schools, or the anti-japanese military and political university, every class had a class teacher.
in the 1930s, china's anti-japanese military and political university already had "class teachers". the picture shows students attending class.the teaching tradition born in the old revolutionary base areas continued to be carried forward after the founding of new china. in march 1952, the ministry of education of china issued the "provisional regulations for primary schools (draft)" and the "provisional regulations for middle schools (draft)", which confirmed the system of class teachers in the form of legislation. the "provisional regulations for primary schools (draft)" proposed: "each class in primary schools adopts the teacher responsibility system, with one class teacher and subject teachers as appropriate." the "provisional regulations for middle schools (draft)" also requires: "each class in a middle school shall have one class teacher, who shall be selected by the principal from the teachers of each class. under the leadership of the dean and deputy dean, he shall be responsible for contacting the teachers of each subject in the class to guide students' life and study."
from the grade system, tutor system to the class teacher system, the class teacher's job responsibilities are becoming increasingly important and the roles are becoming more diverse. the class teacher is not only the organizer, educator and instructor of the class, but also a powerful assistant in implementing the national education policy and school education philosophy, and a bridge between family and school. in the healthy growth of students, the class teacher is not only a manager, but also a leader and the soul of the class. because the work of the class teacher is complicated, complicated and trivial, some people compare the class teacher to a "superman", and some people say: "the class teacher is the smallest 'official' in the world, but he manages the most things." although it is very hard, there are still many caring and responsible teachers who take the initiative to take on the work of the class teacher. according to the ministry of education's 2021 education statistics, there are 4,501,852 classes in primary schools, junior high schools and high schools across the country, which means that the number of class teachers in my country has exceeded 4.5 million. this respectable and large team has now become an important part of my country's education.
【comparison between china and the west】
chinese characteristics of class teachers
the term "class teacher" originated from the western "class teaching system" hundreds of years ago. in the process of combining it with china's reality, it has gone through three stages: the grade-based system, the tutor system and the class teacher system. it has now become the mainstream class management system in our country.
class teachers are born based on classes, but there may not be a class teacher if there is a class. for example, in the american education system, class managers have an important role called "counselor" (in english). the roles of counselors and class teachers overlap but are not quite the same: the former usually has a background in psychology and is completely separated from teaching, but also provides advice on students' further education and planning; the latter is held by the subject teacher (often the main subject teacher), and in addition to inspiring and guiding students, they are more responsible for management. because they have more contact with students, they also have more feelings for students and love them more. in addition, because class teachers participate in daily teaching, they have a deeper understanding of students' learning status. by comparison, it can be seen that the work content undertaken by class teachers in my country is more complex and the responsibilities are more diverse. therefore, in terms of talent training, team building, and allowances for class teachers, the state has introduced various policies to continuously improve the enthusiasm and combat effectiveness of this education team.
"love for students" is the most distinctive feature of chinese class teachers. the picture shows hu hongbo, the class teacher of tianshui middle school in gansu province, playing football with students on september 6, 2017.【modern style】
class nameplate with the class teacher's name
"lijuan class", "hongxia class", "yuling class", "yangshuo class", "pingli class"... in nanhua primary school in futian district, shenzhen, on the lintel of each classroom, in addition to the traditional class nameplate named with numbers, the other side is named after the head teacher. this is a new attempt by the school to name classes after head teachers for teaching management since 2021.
"love your teacher and believe in his teachings." this naming method binds the name of the head teacher to the class, which enhances the teacher's sense of responsibility and adds a human touch to teaching management. the words and deeds of students no longer represent only themselves, but also represent the common honor of the class and the head teacher. the establishment of this "sense of symbiosis" and "sense of security" is the source of motivation for collective progress. at the same time, the head teacher is not only the leader and coordinator of the class, but also a member of the class. students call their class by the name of the head teacher. no matter what happens, they think of the head teacher first, which makes the head teacher more friendly, shortens the psychological distance between teachers and students, and makes teachers more responsible. when students feel close to their teachers in spirit, they will cooperate more with the teacher's teaching, and the pleasant classroom atmosphere makes students more interested in learning.
image provided by: visual china
