This book provides an evidentiary basis for policy decisions regarding initial teacher education and beginning teaching and informs the design and delivery of teacher preparation programs. Based on a rigorous analysis of international literature and the policy context for teacher education globally, and assessing data generated through a longitudinal study conducted in Australia, it investigates the effectiveness of teacher education in preparing teachers for the variety of school settings in which they begin their teaching careers. Over four years, the Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education (SETE) project tracked roughly 5,000 recently graduated teachers and 1,000 school principals in Australia to capture workforce data and gauge graduate teachers’ and principals’ perceptions of their initial teacher education programs. This book offers a synthesis of the research findings and uses the SETE as a catalyst for innovative theorization of the effectiveness of teacher education.

Teacher quality is the single most important school-related factor influencing student success. The author examines the body of research on the subject of teacher quality to draw conclusions about which attributes makes teachers most effective, (experience, preparation programs and degrees, type of certification, specific coursework taken in preparation for the profession, and teachers' own test scores), with a focus on aspects of teacher quality that can be translated into policy recommendations and incorporated into teaching practice.

This open access book examines the interrelationship of national policy, teacher effectiveness, and student outcomes with a specific emphasis on educational equity. Using data from the IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) conducted between 1995 and 2015, it investigates grade four and grade eight data to assess trends in key teacher characteristics (experience, education, preparedness, and professional development) and teacher behaviors (instructional time and instructional content), and how these relate to student outcomes. Taking advantage of national curriculum data collected by TIMSS to assess changes in curricular strategy across countries and how these may be related to changes in teacher and student factors, the study focuses on the distributional impact of curriculum and instruction on students, paying particular attention to overall inequalities and variations in socioeconomic status at the student and country level, and how such factors have altered over time. Multiple methods, including regression and fixed effects analyses, and structural equation modelling, establish the evolution of these associations over time.

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.

Systems of teacher appraisal and evaluation are being created across the world in order to monitor and assess teacher performance. This book builds on current theory and international research, opening up possible new debates.

This book shows principals how to successfully balance the needs and priorities of their schools while continuously developing and refining their leadership skills.

Alan Skelton considers what constitutes excellence in higher education teaching, the central case study being the practice of the UK's most excellent university teachers, as judged by the National Teaching Fellowship Scheme.