教師在歷代社會中扮演一個非常重要的角色。自赫爾巴特 (Johann Friedrich Herbart) 於一八○六年提出教育學 (Science of Education ) ，以倫理學與心理學分別作為教育目的與教育方法之基礎，使教育成為一種專門的「學問」後，專業化師資培育理念乃陸陸續續於西方國家中形成，繼而有系統地進行師資培育，才逐漸奠立當代師資培育專業化概念之基礎。本文主要是探討二十世紀以來，英、美兩國在師資培育理念的發展。從課程內容的改變，到師範學院紛紛成立，其後更改制為大學，或在綜合大學設教育系、所培育師資。在提高國小師資素質的發展過程中，或重視學術知識，或強調實踐經驗累積與改造的培育方式，乃使師資培育取向時而擺盪於理論與實踐之間爭議。而這不同論點間的辦證關係，實推動著師資培育朝向專業化的方向前進。我國師資培育制度單一市場的解構，以及師資培育機構學術層級的提升，亦展現出與世界主要國家師資培育兼重多元化與專業化發展的時代趨勢。所以，本研究擬從歷史的角度，初步探討英、美兩國國小師資培育理念取向之發展，作為進一步深入研究之基礎，並藉以思考我國師資培育理念，提供理論參考之依據。

Teachers playa very important role in modem society. They not only take the responsibility for their students, but also have a greater influence on their students than others. From a historical perspective, J. F. Herbart's work" Science of Education" (1806) lays a foundation for the studies of education, in which he suggests that ethics and psychology are the two basic disciplines for educational studies in general. The theory of initial teacher training has also been led to develop since then. However, as teacher's social status has never been properly valued and the profession of teaching has not been fully acknowledged, the issue of initial teacher training is still widely tackled in educational circle. This study starts from a historical viewpoint, illustrating the main ideas and practices of initial teacher training in England and the U.S. in the twentieth century. The author suggests the undertakings for advancing the quality of initial teacher training in these two countries have been manifested by the dialectic relationship between theory and practice. Given the observation that Taiwan has been heavily influenced by the West for decades, the author tries to draw some lessons from the cases of England and the U.S. in the hope of giving concrete suggestions concerning Taiwan's initial teacher training programs.