Quality teachers, quality schools: International perspectives and policy implications

Teachers are at the heart of educational improvement. Any benefits that accrue to students as a result of educational policies require the enabling action of teachers. It is for this reason that the OECD, through its Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI), recently undertook a comparative study of policies aimed at improving teacher quality. This paper presents the main findings of the country studies conducted in 1993. Following a description of the conceptual Framework of the OECD study, the two central sections of the paper contain an analysis first, of the attributes and activities of these highly accomplished teachers, and second of the key characteristics of the schools in which they work. The key characteristics of high quality teachers highlighted by the study are: commitment, love of children, mastery of subject didactics and multiple models of teaching, the ability to collaborate with other teachers, and a capacity for reflection. The school level characteristics supportive of high quality teachers identified in the case studies are: a consensus on vision and values, an organisation for teaching and learning, coherent management arrangements, formal and informal leadership, staff development Focused on the workplace, and effective relationships with the community and local district. The evidence of the case studies suggests that there are three sources of teacher quality-the individual teacher, the individual school, and the external policy environment. In the final section of the paper these three alternative sources of teacher quality are described, as well as the policy implications flowing from them. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd