When people describe teachers who had the greatest influence on them, they invariably describe teachers who were caring, passionate about their subject, and good at getting them to do their very best. But how do we get enough of such teachers? This is the central challenge facing countries across the globe as they seek to develop first-class education systems to prepare students for the fast-changing global knowledge economy. To respond to this challenge, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan hosted the first International Summit on the Teaching Profession in New York City in March. This event brought together ministers, union leaders, and teachers from 16 high-performing or rapidly improving countries (as measured by performance on PISA 2009) to stimulate a global conversation about how best to improve the quality of teachers and teaching in order to raise student achievement. We have a great deal to learn from other nations that are out-educating us Duncan said. The stakes couldn't be higher for individuals and for education systems. Recognizing that the quality of teachers is the single biggest in-school influence on student achievement, the key issues under discussion included how to recruit, prepare, support, evaluate, retain, and compensate truly high-quality teachers and how to engage them in transforming education. The 16 participating countries are not all in the same situation, but there are some widely shared challenges as well as emerging lessons from international best practice: Recruitment and preparation. Many countries are deeply concerned about widespread teacher shortages, especially in certain subjects or geographic areas; high and costly attrition of teachers; the declining attractiveness and status of the teaching profession; and a climate that blames teachers or their unions for all the ills of schools. At the same time, the challenges to schools--to get increasingly diverse students to ever higher standards and with higher-order skills--has never been greater. But the highest performing systems have shown that these challenges can be addressed and teaching made a high-status, expert profession through intelligent incentive structures that are thoughtfully implemented over time. For example, while some countries have responded to the challenge of recruitment by lowering entry standards to the profession, others have gone the other way. England used innovative recruitment strategies to bring a wider range of candidates into teaching. The top performer, Finland, raised standards for entry into teaching and improved teacher preparation programs so that teachers are not only expert in their subject matter but also have strong diagnostic skills and the ability to adapt their practice based on research and evidence. As a result of these changes, teaching is the most widely respected occupation in Finland today, with 6,600 applications for every 660 teacher training places. Teachers are trusted by parents and government and have substantial autonomy to make decisions about curriculum, assessment, and student development. Professional development and evaluation. Even the best preservice teacher preparation can't prepare teachers for all the changes and challenges they'll encounter throughout their careers. However, internationally, relatively few teachers receive the kinds of professional development that link to school improvement or career progression. East Asian systems provide some interesting lessons. In Japan, for example, the consistent quality of teaching is maintained and new teachers are developed through the tradition of lesson study, in which groups of teachers in every school work together to revise, test, and improve the teaching of key concepts. In China, classrooms are routinely open to observation by principals, other teachers, and new teachers. …
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May 4, 2022
Anne Ghory Goodman 
Open Access
