Empowered Educators How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality Around the World

Producing highly skilled and committed teachers is not the work of a single innovative school or the aggregation of heroic individuals who succeed against the odds. In high-performing countries, the opportunities for teachers to learn sophisticated practices and continue to improve are embedded systemically in education policies and practices. Empowered Educators describes how this seemingly magical work is done—how a number of forward-thinking educational systems create a coherent set of policies designed to ensure quality teaching in all communities. . . and how the results are manifested in practice.

Spanning three continents and five countries, Empowered Educators examines seven jurisdictions that have worked to develop comprehensive teaching policy systems: Singapore and Finland, the states of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia, the provinces of Alberta and Ontario in Canada, and the province of Shanghai in China. Renowned education expert Linda Darling-Hammond and a team of esteemed scholars offer lessons learned in a number of areas that shape the teaching force and the work of teachers, shedding unprecedented light on areas such as teacher recruitment, preparation, induction and mentoring, professional learning, career and leadership development, and more.

• Find out how quality teaching is developed and conducted across the globe
• Discover a common set of strategies for developing, supporting, and sustaining the ongoing learning and development of teachers and school leaders
• See how high-performing countries successfully recruit and train educators
• Understand why the sharing of expertise among teachers and administrators within and across schools is beneficial

A fascinating read for researchers, policymakers, administrators, teacher educators, pre-service teachers and leaders, and anyone with an interest in education, this book offers a rare glimpse into the systems that are shaping quality teaching around the world.

LINDA DARLING-HAMMOND, president of the Learning Policy Institute, is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education Emeritus at Stanford University. She is the award-winning author of numerous books including Beyond the Bubble Test: How Performance Assessments Support 21st Century Learning, and Powerful Teacher Education: Lessons from Exemplary Programs (Jossey-Bass).

DION BURNS is a senior researcher with the Learning Policy Institute and research analyst at the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.

Foreword v

Acknowledgments xi

About the Sponsoring Organizations xiii

About the Lead Authors xv

Online Documents and Videos xvii

Chapter 1 Teaching Policy Around the World 1

What Kinds of Policies Affect Teaching? 3

Why Study International Teaching Policy? 5

Why Study These Jurisdictions? 8

What We Found 12

Developing Both Teacher Quality and Teaching Quality 17

Organization of This Book 19

Chapter 2 Contexts for Teaching and Learning Systems 21

Australia 22

Canada 26

Finland 32

Shanghai 36

Singapore 43

Summary 47

Chapter 3 Recruiting and Preparing Profession-Ready Teachers 49

Recruiting the Best 50

Financial Compensation 50

Attractiveness of the Profession 53

Selection Practices 55

Preparing Professionals 61

Preparation That Enables Professional Practice 68

Induction 88

Lessons Learned 100

Chapter 4 Developing High-Quality Teaching 105

Incentives and Infrastructure for Learning 107

Time and Opportunity for Collaboration 111

Curriculum Development and Lesson Study 116

Teacher Research 123

Teacher-Led Professional Development 127

Feedback and Appraisal 132

Lessons Learned 146

Chapter 5 The Teaching Career and Leadership for the Profession 149

Career Pathways 150

Opportunities to Lead Professional Learning 163

Recruiting and Developing School Leaders 168

Lessons Learned 182

Chapter 6 Perseverance in the Pursuit of Equity 185

Resourcing Student Learning 186

Recruiting and Supporting Teachers in High-Needs Schools 193

Lessons Learned 208

Chapter 7 Global Learning for Ongoing Improvement 211

Policy Borrowing: Learning From Success 212

New Horizons 224

Conclusion 232

Appendix A Research Methodology 241

Appendix B Qilun Elementary School Lesson Plan 243

Appendix C Qibao Teaching Contest Evaluation Form 249

References 253

Index 271

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