A Study on the Status and Influencing Factors of Pre-service Teachers' Professional Development at Comprehensive Universities in China

The professional development of the pre-service teachers is directly related to the stability of their future teaching and indirectly affects the quality of education. This study conducted a survey on the level of professional development of 3, 787 pre-service teachers from the comprehensive universities in five major regions nationwide. It was found that the overall professional development level of these pre-service teachers is relatively high, but the level of teacher professional competency is lower than the other dimensions, especially reflected in the need for further improvement indiscipline transformation capacity; The third-year pre-service teachers' development is rather difficult, with regards to the uncertainty of role identity and career planning. The study also found the imbalance of professional development level between urban and rural pre-service teachers. As the places of origins change from cities to rural areas, the pre-service teachers' performance may show different charactersitics in some aspects. To improve the professional development of pre-service teachers from comprehensive universities, it is necessary to integrate discipline courses to deepen their subject understanding, create teacher education culture to enhance teacher professional identity, and highlight regional characteristic of teacher education courses to promote the construction of a high-quality and balanced teaching force.