ABSTRACT

The International Handbook of Teacher Quality and Policy is a comprehensive resource that examines how teacher quality is conceptualized, negotiated, and contested, and teacher policies are developed and implemented by global, national, and local policy actors. Edited by two of the leading comparative authorities in the field, it draws on the research and contributions of scholars from across the globe to explore five central questions:

  • How has teacher quality been conceptualized from various disciplinary and theoretical perspectives? 
  • How are global and transnational policy actors and networks influencing teacher policies and practices?
  • What are the perspectives and experiences of teachers in local policy contexts?
  • What do comparative research studies tell us about teachers and how their work and policy contexts influence their teaching?
  • How have various countries implemented policies aimed at improving teacher quality and how have these policies influenced teachers and students?

The international contributors represent a wide variety of scholars who identify global dynamics influencing policy discourses on teacher quality, and examine national and local teaching and policy environments influencing teacher policy development and implementation in various countries. Divided into five sections, the book brings together the latest conceptual and empirical studies on teacher quality and teacher policies to inform future policy directions for recruiting, educating, and supporting the teaching profession.

chapter |21 pages

Introduction

Conceptualizing Teacher Quality and Policy in a Global Context

section I|91 pages

Disciplinary and Theoretical Perspectives on Teacher Quality

chapter 2|14 pages

Individual Excellence vs. Collaborative Culture

Sociology of Professions and Professionalization of Teaching in the U.S.

chapter 3|14 pages

The Culture of Teaching

A Global Perspective

chapter 4|13 pages

Quality in Early Childhood Education

An Anthropologist’s Perspective

section II|123 pages

Transnational Teacher Policy and Practice

chapter 8|19 pages

Three Models of Global Education Quality

The Emerging Democratic Deficit in Global Education Governance

chapter 9|11 pages

Improving Teacher Quality, Status and Conditions

The Role of Teacher Organisations

chapter 10|11 pages

Teacher Unions and Teacher Quality

chapter 11|12 pages

eTwinning

A Teacher Network in Europe

chapter 12|19 pages

The Global Spread of Lesson Study

Contextualization and Adaptations

chapter 13|14 pages

Comparing Contract Teacher Policies in Two States of India

Reception and Translation of the Global Teacher Accountability Reform

chapter 14|20 pages

Teacher Quality in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries

Translating Global Discourse to National Education Systems

section III|79 pages

Perspectives and Experiences of Teachers in Policy Contexts

chapter 15|14 pages

A Difficult Relationship

Accountability Policies and Teachers—International Evidence and Premises for Future Research

chapter 16|16 pages

Assumptions and Implications of Adopting Educational Ideas from the West

The Case of Student-Centered Pedagogy in Turkey

chapter 17|14 pages

Policy as a Context for Quality Teaching in China

Diversity, Teacher Adaptation, and Chinese Migrant Children

chapter 19|14 pages

Mentoring the Problematic

Context Matters

section IV|124 pages

Comparative Research on Teachers and Their Work Contexts

chapter 20|15 pages

When a Young Student Wants to Be a Teacher

Cross-National Differences in 15-Year-Old Students’ Expectations of Becoming a Teacher

chapter 22|24 pages

Quality Assurance in Teacher Education and Outcomes

A Study of Seventeen Countries

chapter 24|15 pages

Teachers’ Working Conditions

A Cross-National Analysis Using the OECD TALIS and PISA Data

section V|49 pages

Teacher Policy, Implementation Process, and Impacts

chapter 30|14 pages

Learning to Teach in Ghana

Lessons from Institution-Based Teacher Education for the African Context

chapter 31|13 pages

Teach for Australia

What, Who, Why, and How Well?

chapter 32|12 pages

Instructional Coaching in Kenya

Supporting Teachers to Improve Literacy Outcomes

chapter 33|11 pages

School-Based Teacher Professional Development in East Africa

Emerging Lessons from Kenya and Tanzania

chapter 36|15 pages

Eliminating the Stavka System in Kyrgyzstan

Rationale, Impact, and Resistance to Change in the Post-Soviet Era

chapter |14 pages

Conclusion

Teacher Quality and the Fate of Nations