The role of research in the policy and practice of quality teacher education: an international review

Abstract

The stated goal of current education reform is the redesign of education systems in pursuit of quality. Systems that consistently ‘come out on top’ have excited much interest in uncovering the features that have contributed to their success; notably among these is the preparation of future teachers. Research on teacher education quality assurance processes has begun to provide evidence that common features shared by successful systems include the design of teacher education programmes around criteria such as that set by accreditation requirements, in part because they are intended to help shape programmes’ intentions and approach, curriculum design, and outcomes. An important question for the field of teacher education is how to boost the research on diverse approaches’ outcomes to improve programme design as indicated by successful practice, while taking into account the role of economic and socio-cultural factors in the process.

Keywords:

• teacher education outcomes
• quality assurance research
• Chile
• Finland
• Singapore
• USA

Acknowledgements

Dr Beatrice Avalos-Bevan, Associate Researcher, Universidad de Chile, Chile; Dr. Peter Youngs, Associate Professor, University of Virgina, USA; Dr Khoon Yoong Wong, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Dr Patrik Scheinin, Dean of the Faculty of Behavioural Sciences and Professor of Education, University of Helsinki, Finland; Dr Jouni Välijärvi, Professor at University of Jyväskylä, Finland; John Furlong, University of Oxford; Geoff Whitty, Institute of Education; Ian Menter, University of Oxford and several anonymous reviewers. Funding sources: the US National Science Foundation [NSF REC 0514431], Michigan State University College of Education, BERA/RSA.

Notes

1. A longer version of this article was developed as a background paper with the title: The Role of Research in International Policy and Practice in Teacher Education for the 2013 BERA/RSA Inquiry on the contribution of research in teacher education and school improvement, and can be found in the BERA website http://www.bera.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BERA-RSA-Interim-Report.pdf.

2. Quality Assurance is defined by the dictionaries as ‘a programme for the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service, or facility to ensure that standards of quality are being met.’