Teacher professionalism and knowledge in qualifications frameworks and professional standards

Abstract

This chapter explores how teachers’ professionalism and teachers’ knowledge are manifested through instruments such as qualifications frameworks and professional standards. National systems employ these documents as a reference to guide teachers on what they should know and be able to do. Firstly, we begin by exploring how qualifications frameworks and standards define and shape teachers’ professional competences. We use the metaphor of a “knowledge wall” to explain how the two frameworks relate to each other. Secondly, we analyse the internal structure and the content of five professional standards in Australia, England and Scotland (United Kingdom), the standards developed by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards (United States) and Ontario (Canada). In particular we examine how different types of knowledge components are described and which elements of pedagogical knowledge are specified.