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What do we know about teachers’ selection and professional development in high-performing countries?

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High-performing countries use various mechanisms to select the best candidates to the teaching profession. In Finland, Hong-Kong (China), Macao (China) and Chinese Taipei, students who wish to enter teacher-training programmes must pass a competitive entry examination. In Japan, teaching graduates must pass a competitive examination to start teaching and in Singapore, they must complete a probation period. These requirements, however, are also found among some low-performing countries suggesting that early selection, while important, is not enough to ensure a highly qualified teaching force. In countries that performed above the OECD average in science, at least 80% of the students are in schools that invite specialists to conduct teacher training or organise in-service workshops for teachers or where teachers cooperate with each other. This is higher, on average, than what is observed among other countries.

Author(s): OECD AND IBRD/THE WORLD BANK

Year Published: 2017

Language: English

Country: China (Hong Kong), Finland

Download: https://neqmap.bangkok.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/87acdc87-en.pdf