Education And Training Policy Teachers Matter

Teachers Matter provides a comprehensive, international analysis of trends and developments in the teacher workforce in 25 countries around the world including research on attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers.

Good teachers are the backbone of any education system. That’s why governments are constantly seeking teacher policies that will help them recruit and retain the best. Most countries are concerned with an ageing teaching workforce and attracting new recruits, coupled with the demands of more diverse student populations, higher expectations and new responsibilities. To be effective, teacher policy must address these issues. Teachers Matter provides a comprehensive, international analysis of: trends and developments in the teacher workforce in 25 countries around the world; research on attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers; innovative and successful policies and practices that countries have implemented; and teacher policy options for countries to consider. While documenting many areas of concern about teachers and teaching, the report also provides positive examples of where policies are making a difference. It spotlights countries where teachers’ social standing is high, and where there are more qualified applicants than vacant posts. Even in countries where shortages have been a concern, there are recent signs of increased interest in teaching, and policy initiatives appear to be taking effect.

Based on a DfES funded study of 300 teachers in 100 primary and secondary schools in England, the authors identify different patterns of influence and effect between groups of teachers, which provide powerful evidence of the complexities of teachers' work, lives, identity and commitment, in relation to their sense of agency, well-being, resilience and pupil attitudes and attainment. This, in turn, provides a clear message for teachers, teachers' associations, school leaders and policy makers internationally, in understanding and supporting the need to build and sustain school and classroom effectiveness.

"Global processes are transforming educational policy around the world in complex ways, with different implications for different local arenas. Over the last two decades, a global neoliberal policy paradigm has emerged, placing the teacher at its centre. Two well-known examples are the OECD report on education and training policy, Teachers Matter, and the McKinsey & Company report entitled How the Worlds Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top. It now seems more important than ever to highlight some alternatives that might contribute to a broader understanding of the meaning of being a teacher.In a time of standardised performance and accountability, this special issue raises critical questions about the space for teachers agency and teachers as curriculum agents. The different articles from some of our most distinguished researchers in the field provide essential perspectives on the question of where, when and how teachers matter. Our interest is not primarily to understand the scope of teachers agency but rather to understand what becomes important for teachers in their everyday activities, such as teaching students, handling educational norms and rules, working in a local as well as a global society etc. A common theme throughout the articles isthat teachers matter in spaces where they can act as moral subjects in their profession in the present, drawing on collective and individual experiences of the past whilst imagining a desired future.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Curriculum Studies."--Provided by publisher.

Global processes are transforming educational policy around the world in complex ways, with different implications for different local arenas. Over the last two decades, a global neoliberal policy paradigm has emerged, placing the teacher at its centre. Two well-known examples are the OECD report on education and training policy, ‘Teachers Matter’, and the McKinsey & Company report entitled ‘How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top’. It now seems more important than ever to highlight some alternatives that might contribute to a broader understanding of the meaning of being a teacher. In a time of standardised performance and accountability, this special issue raises critical questions about the space for teachers’ agency and teachers as curriculum agents. The different articles from some of our most distinguished researchers in the field provide essential perspectives on the question of where, when and how teachers matter. Our interest is not primarily to understand the scope of teachers’ agency but rather to understand what becomes important for teachers in their everyday activities, such as teaching students, handling educational norms and rules, working in a local as well as a global society etc. A common theme throughout the articles is that teachers matter in spaces where they can act as moral subjects in their profession in the present, drawing on collective and individual experiences of the past whilst imagining a desired future. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Curriculum Studies.

In Teachers Matter, education researcher Marcus A. Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, argues that our failure to identify and reward high-quality teachers has been devastating for public school students. The question is how do we sort out the good teachers form the bad? Sure to be controversial, Winters's plan will be of interest to the education community, policy makers, and parents concerned about the future of education in America.

This report, building on data from the Indicators of Education Systems (INES) programme, the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Teachers make a difference. The success of any plan for improving educational outcomes depends on the teachers who carry it out and thus on the abilities of those attracted to the field and their preparation. Yet there are many questions about how teachers are being prepared and how they ought to be prepared. Yet, teacher preparation is often treated as an afterthought in discussions of improving the public education system. Preparing Teachers addresses the issue of teacher preparation with specific attention to reading, mathematics, and science. The book evaluates the characteristics of the candidates who enter teacher preparation programs, the sorts of instruction and experiences teacher candidates receive in preparation programs, and the extent that the required instruction and experiences are consistent with converging scientific evidence. Preparing Teachers also identifies a need for a data collection model to provide valid and reliable information about the content knowledge, pedagogical competence, and effectiveness of graduates from the various kinds of teacher preparation programs. Federal and state policy makers need reliable, outcomes-based information to make sound decisions, and teacher educators need to know how best to contribute to the development of effective teachers. Clearer understanding of the content and character of effective teacher preparation is critical to improving it and to ensuring that the same critiques and questions are not being repeated 10 years from now.

This co-authored book is based upon a four year study of variations in teachers' work and lives and their effects on pupils. It involved three hundred teachers of different age and experience, working in one hundred primary and secondary schools of different socio-economic status in England. The study is the first and largest of its kind. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the teachers, heads and pupils (including test results at key stage 1, 2 and 3, English and Maths) over a three year period. These concerned the impact on teachers' lives and work related to their own histories and to that of colleagues of similar experience working in similar contexts. Different patterns of influence and effect were identified between groups of teachers which provide powerful evidence of the contextual complexities of teachers' work, lives, identities and commitment in relation to agency, well-being, resilience and the associations between these and pupil attitudes and attainment. These have clear messages for policy makers, school leaders, teachers' associations and teachers themselves in understanding, supporting and sustaining their capacities to build and sustain classroom effectiveness.This distillation of the work presents those findings of the study which will be of direct interest to policy makers, teachers' associations and had teachers not only in the UK but also internationally. The book highlights the importance of career and professional development, the positive and negative influences upon these, the relationship between school leadership, culture and teachers' lives and how these relate to effectiveness. The work is original and highly relevant, since its messages relate directly to teacher recruitment and retention and the work-life balance, well-being and effectiveness agendas.

Teachers play a critical role in the success of their students, both academically and in regard to long term outcomes such as higher education participation and economic attainment. Expectations for teachers are increasing due to changing learning standards and a rapidly diversifying student population. At the same time, there are perceptions that the teaching workforce may be shifting toward a younger and less experienced demographic. These actual and perceived changes raise important questions about the ways teacher education may need to evolve in order to ensure that educators are able to meet the needs of students and provide them with classroom experiences that will put them on the path to future success. Changing Expectations for the K-12 Teacher Workforce: Policies, Preservice Education, Professional Development, and the Workplace explores the impact of the changing landscape of K-12 education and the potential for expansion of effective models, programs, and practices for teacher education. This report explores factors that contribute to understanding the current teacher workforce, changing expectations for teaching and learning, trends and developments in the teacher labor market, preservice teacher education, and opportunities for learning in the workplace and in-service professional development.