Teacher Effectiveness in Singapore

Singapore is an island city-state located at the southernmost tip of the Malay Peninsula in Southeast Asia. Although one of the smallest countries in the world by landmass, it has an outsized record for educational excellence as evidenced by consistently high rankings on indicators of international comparison. While no single measure is indicative of educational quality, the Singapore education system is unquestionably effective. In this chapter, the quality and effectiveness of teachers are explored, beginning with a brief history of Singaporean education and then an overview of three defining characteristics of the Singapore education system as related to teacher quality. Then, the chapter presents a career-spanning perspective on teaching in Singapore from entry to pre-service preparation to induction, continuous professional learning, and career advancement. Throughout, a prevailing theme is evident: the value placed on teacher quality is an intentional, strategic feature of the Singaporean system, at the core of which is valuing teachers as learners and innovators.

Characteristics of Education and the Current State of Teacher Effectiveness in Japan

This chapter analyzed how Japanese teachers' qualifications and abilities, as well as educational policies, have been promoted since the postwar period to the present day and summarized these results. There are discrepancies between the needs of students' families and the real world and the ideas and contents required by the Course of Study. Teachers have tried to play a positive role in bridging the gap and in merging the reality and the ideals. In order to bridge the “difference” faced by school sites, it is necessary to start by examining the contents of the reforms required from the bottom and reforms required from the top. As an initiative from below, in most elementary schools in Japan, groups of teachers have voluntarily gathered, and “Jugyo-Kenkyu” have been conducted for many years to analyze the challenges of their own school's students as a team. Although Jugyo-Kenkyu has achieved some positive results, the way to measure the effectiveness of the research is still an issue.

Teacher Effectiveness in Canada

There are only a few countries in the world in which education is not the responsibility of national governments but the responsibility of smaller units—provinces and territories in Canada and states in Australia and the United States. Canada has 10 provinces and three territories; hence, there are 13 systems of public education with about 5.5 million students and over 450,000 teachers (Canadian Education Statistics Council, 2020). Consequently, there is considerable variability across the country in the quality of education and in the way it is managed and delivered.

Teacher Effectiveness

China has a long tradition of respecting teachers and valuing education. In order to strengthen the teacher workforce, the central government of China has implemented a series of educational policies related to teachers and teaching since the 1990s. Alongside this line of educational reforms, the conceptual frameworks with regard to teacher effectiveness also have been evolving. This chapter reviews the major policies that have been issued over the past 30 years in China and examines their implications for teacher preparation and certification, professional development, and educational equity. In addition, some unique features of teacher effectiveness practices in China are explored in this chapter.

Examining Issues Concerning Teacher Effectiveness

This chapter addresses various issues related to teacher effectiveness in Kenya. The chapter begins with a brief historical perspective of teacher education and effectiveness in Kenya. The discussion provides a theoretical framework based on social constructivism as a philosophical paradigm for teacher effectiveness. It explores models used in teacher preparation in Kenya and the various teacher competencies required for effective teaching in Kenyan schools. The prevalent characteristics of teacher effectiveness in Kenya are discussed along with the dimensions of teacher training, recruitment, induction, evaluation, and professional development. Unique aspects of teacher effectiveness emphasizing information and communication technology are highlighted. Finally, the implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching are mentioned.

Beyond Borders

This synthesis of relevant research and practice publications examines, explains, and illustrates the fivefold hallmarks of effective online teaching in K-12 learning contexts. These attributes of online K-12 teaching excellence include technologically-informed pedagogical content knowledge, or TP(A)CK; student-focused, curriculum-based, contextually-sensitive pedagogical practice; awareness and astute implementation of current online teaching standards; and demonstrated teacher presence, caring, and engagement online. All of these aspects of effective online teaching combine to catalyze and support engaged, communal, and digitally responsible student learning online. The authors acknowledge that the empirical literature base for effective online teaching in K-12 learning contexts, while growing, is still sparse, with considerably more research having been completed and reported to date in higher education.

Conceptions of Teacher Effectiveness and Its Implications for Educational Policy and Practice in the United States

This chapter provides an overview of the educational system from the founding of the country to today. Like Australia and Canada, the governmental structure involves the national government with smaller units in the form of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. This structure means variation of educational systems across governmental units. The authors provide an overview of the influence of conceptions of teaching effectiveness including the development of professional organization standards, passing of national legislation aimed at defining teacher effectiveness in terms of student outcomes, and standards-based teacher evaluation systems. Unique features of the United States perspective include a focus on differentiation to include getting to know the needs of individual students and meeting those individual needs. The authors describe the cultural basis for these unique features.

Establishing Links Between Teacher Effectiveness Research and Research on Teacher Improvement

This chapter draws on teacher effectiveness research (TER) and elaborates on factors associated with teacher effectiveness to make suggestions for professional development. The first part provides a critical review of TER in which the major findings of this field are studied. In the second part, taking into account the limitations of TER, the dynamic model of educational effectiveness is presented. The rationale and major assumptions of this model are outlined. Effectiveness factors operating at the teacher level and their measurement dimensions are presented, and the concept of grouping of factors is introduced. In the third part, the authors provide a summary of national and international studies that were conducted to test the validity of the dynamic model at the teacher level. This part is also concerned with empirical studies that revealed relationships among factors operating at the teacher level which helped the authors define specific stages of effective teaching. In the last part, implications for TER and research on teacher professional development are drawn.

Teacher Effectiveness in Finland

Effective teaching is understood very differently in Finland than in many other countries. In fact, it is not considered a relevant aspect of the education system. All Finnish schools are considered to be good, and all the teachers have the same high quality educational preparation. Thus, when it comes to considerations for determining or assessing teacher effectiveness, a culture of trust is a specific feature of the Finnish education system. Teachers and schools are trusted, both on the grassroot level by the parents, and on the governance level by the education authorities at the local and the national levels. This chapter explores teacher effectiveness in Finland.

Teacher Effectiveness

This chapter examines teacher recruitment, selection, and evaluation policies in South Korea and explores how teacher quality and effectiveness are understood, ensured, and assessed in the country. To show how the concepts are understood in Korea, the chapter starts with an analysis of the goals of education, of the kind of education perceived by the Korean government and citizens as high quality, and of the way effective teachers are defined by the goals they achieve. The analysis illustrates the historical, political, economic, and cultural backgrounds that have shaped Korean perspectives on the goals of education. Subsequently, the chapter describes policies and practices in the recruitment of teacher candidates, the selection of public school teachers, and the evaluation of in-service teachers' teaching quality and effectiveness. Lastly, it discusses the effectiveness of these policies and practices.