European Journal of Teacher Education

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Defining teaching quality around the world

Linda Darling-Hammond

To cite this article: Linda Darling-Hammond (2021) Defining teaching quality around the world,
European Journal of Teacher Education, 44:3, 295-308, DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2021.1919080

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Published online: 16 May 2021.

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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION
2021, VOL. 44, NO. 3, 295–308
https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2021.1919080

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Defining teaching quality around the world

Linda Darling-Hammond
Learning Policy Institute

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Definitions of teaching quality differ across jurisdictions and have Received 15 January 2021
evolved over time. Drawing on a study of five high-achieving Accepted 28 March 2021
countries with strong supports for teachers’ professional learning KEYWORDS
and practice, this article describes the perspectives on good teach­ Educational improvement;
ing rooted in standards for entry, preparation, and practice. These educational practices;
nations increasingly see teaching as rooted in a wide-ranging educational quality;
knowledge base that combines an understanding of content, peda­ educational research;
gogy, and learners to focus on meeting students’ diverse social, teacher development
emotional, and academic needs. These jurisdictions also define
teaching quality as rooted in ongoing research and inquiry on the
part of teachers – a means of developing knowledge for teaching
that is at the core of professional practice.

Introduction
In the debates about how best to prepare teachers, definitions of teaching quality often
lurk under the surface and only occasionally come explicitly to the fore. For some,
teaching ability is an ineffable trait; teachers either have it or they don’t; it cannot be
predicted or particularly prepared for. To those who hold that view, the best way to
ensure high-quality teaching is to allow people who want to teach to become teachers,
measure their students’ performance, and weed out those who are not successful
(Fordham Foundation 1999). Historically, teaching quality has been variously defined as
knowing subject matter, getting high grades or test scores, being compliant and obedi­
ent, or being enthusiastic in the classroom, individual qualities assumed to be related to
student learning that are not necessarily associated with specialised training for the craft
of teaching. (See Schalock 1979; Darling-Hammond, for reviews).
High-performing systems do not operate on this belief. They act on the conviction that
there is a distinct body of knowledge and skills all teachers must be able to demonstrate
and that teachers can learn these competencies and improve their performance. Just as
many systems profess to believe that all children can learn, these systems believe all
teachers can learn as well.
This article describes definitions of teaching quality in a number of jurisdictions around
the world that have well-developed systems for recruiting, preparing, inducting, and
supporting teachers, that serve diverse student populations, and that have demonstrated
stronger and more equitable achievement than most other jurisdictions around the

CONTACT Linda Darling-Hammond execadmin@learningpolicyinstitute.org

© 2021 Association for Teacher Education in Europe
296 L. DARLING-HAMMOND

world. I draw on research I conducted with a team of international colleagues examining

teacher education policies and practices in five such jurisdictions – Australia (with a focus
on Victoria and New South Wales), Canada (with a focus on Alberta and Ontario), Finland,
China (Shanghai), and Singapore. (See Darling-Hammond et al. 2017, for more complete
case studies of these jurisdictions).
Their definitions of good teaching are reflected in standards for teacher education and
teaching: the selection criteria for entering preparation and practice; and requirements for
training. I review these below in each the five jurisdictions, and conclude with observa­
tions about how the framework for defining teaching quality has expanded and defines
an increasingly evidence-and inquiry-based conception of practice in these high-
performing contexts, as well as one that is increasingly child-centred and focused on
concerns for equity and multiculturalism.

Overview
Most of these systems articulate the knowledge and skills teachers must demonstrate in
a set of standards of practice. Grounded in research on effective instruction, these
standards, similar to those for students, spell out what teachers should know and be
able to do in clear ways that can guide teachers’ preparation, practice, assessment, and
professional growth. They make clear the expectations for teachers as well as for those
who support them, so that teachers become increasingly effective.
In the United States, the articulation of teaching standards began in the 1980s with the
creation of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, which outlined
standards for accomplished teaching and developed performance-based assessments
to measure whether teachers could demonstrate those standards. NBPTS’s (1989) five
core propositions include:

● Teachers are committed to students and their learning.

● Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students.
● Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student learning.
● Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience.
● Teachers are members of learning communities.

These standards became the basis for licencing standards for beginning teachers
developed by the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium and
adopted by more than 40 of the 50 states. The idea of shaping teaching by defining
standards has spread across the globe and is now a feature of nearly all high-performing
countries.
With the exception of Finland, where universities got together to set standards and
curriculum expectations for teacher education nearly fifty years ago, each of the jurisdic­
tions we studied has adopted state or national standards that describe the knowledge
and skills that teachers are expected to learn and display. In Singapore, the statement of
Graduand Teacher Competencies has been developed by the National Institute of
Education, which is the primary teacher education institution in the nation. In Canada,
the provinces set standards for the teaching profession: In Ontario, it is the College of
Teachers, and in Alberta, it is the Ministry of Education. In Australia, the profession-led
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION 297

Institutes of Teaching in Victoria and New South Wales play a similar role. As national
standards have been adopted through AITSL, they are implemented through these state-
level professional bodies. Shanghai’s standards are set by the Chinese Ministry of
Education.
The standards have many commonalities and feature some interesting cultural differ­
ences as well. For example, all of them include categories of standards focused on teacher
commitment to students and their learning; professional knowledge and skills – including
skills of reflection used to evaluate practice; and commitment to collaborate with other
professionals and continue learning to improve their practice. In addition, some (e.g.,
Alberta, Singapore, and Shanghai) emphasise teachers’ responsibilities to develop all the
aspects of children’s development – moral and ethical as well as cognitive, social, emo­
tional, and physical. Singapore’s standards also include skills of self-management, people
management, and innovation and entrepreneurship – signals of the country’s desire to
create expectations for a dynamic, highly motivated, and leadership-oriented teaching
force.
Criteria for entering teacher education and practice offer especially high-leverage
definitions of teaching quality in Finland and Singapore, while standards for advancing
in the profession are critically important in Australia and Shanghai. And teacher education
requirements themselves communicate implicit definitions of teaching quality in all of
these countries. Because there are relatively few universities providing training in most of
the jurisdictions we studied – eight in Finland, nine in Alberta, two in Shanghai, one in
Singapore, for example – the implementation of notions of teaching quality is much less
variable than in places like Australia or the United States. (As a point of comparison, it is
worth noting that Finland and Singapore have populations about the size of the median
state in the U.S. where it would not be unusual to find many dozens of teacher education
institutions with widely varying approaches and implicit standards and definitions of
teaching quality.)
Because attrition rates for teachers are quite low in many of these jurisdictions,
universities are not trying to prepare a large number of teachers who will enter and
leave the profession quickly. They are investing in individuals who generally will stay in
the profession for a substantial career. This reduces the total number of teachers needed
and enables these societies to invest more intently in that group of prospective
professionals.

Australia
Teaching standards were historically a state function in Australia. In 2009, following
work on national standards and curriculum for students, the federal government
created a body known as the Australian Institute for Teaching and School
Leadership, which began an effort to develop national standards for teachers and
school leaders.
To develop the standards, AITSL drew on the substantial body of research on instruc­
tion and leadership and consulted with a broad range of stakeholders, including regula­
tory officials, unions, and focus groups of teachers and school leaders. The standards were
adopted by the agency’s board, which represented all segments of the schools and
profession. Thus, the standards from the start had broad buy in and were seen as
legitimate by all parties.
298 L. DARLING-HAMMOND

The standards describe action across three teaching domains – professional knowl­
edge, professional practice, and professional engagement – covering seven standards,
which are similar to those of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the
U.S:
Professional Knowledge

1. Know students and how they learn.

2. Know the content and how to teach it.

Professional Practice

1. Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning.

2. Create and maintain supportive learning environments.
3. Assess, provide feedback, and report on student learning.

Professional Engagement

1. Engage in professional learning.

2. Engage professionally with colleagues, parents and caregivers, and the community.

These standards outline what teachers are expected to know and be able to do at each
of four different career levels: graduate, proficient, highly accomplished, and lead. Among
their purposes are to make explicit the elements that constitute high-quality teaching to
support a common discourse about the expectations for teachers within the profession
and among other education stakeholders (AITSL 2011). In addition, the standards are
intended to foster a developmental approach to teaching, supporting an ongoing process
of reflection and learning. States have adopted the standards and are figuring out how to
use them best in their processes of accreditation and registration, as well as professional
learning, appraisal, and recognition.
These standards have been used to leverage improvements in teacher preparation
through a nationally consistent, state-managed, teacher registration process fostered
over the last decade. To be registered, teachers must provide evidence of meeting the
required competencies for teaching as measured against state standards and, since 2013,
national teacher professional standards. Programsprogrammes must now also be accre­
dited to prepare teachers against the same standards, and accreditation requirements
have also been put in place to leverage change.
Programs are expected to provide a rigorous intellectual preparation with strong
subject discipline knowledge, as well as knowledge and skills in the key elements of
teaching practice, including student learning and teaching strategies, classroom and
behaviour management, literacy, technology, Aboriginal education, special education,
and education for students with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. There is
a strong focus on developing teacher expertise to interpret student assessment data,
evaluate student learning, and modify teaching practice.
In New South Wales, in order to develop a more widespread consensus about this
conception of teaching quality, student teachers must be supervised by teachers who
have attained the ‘highly accomplished’ or ‘lead teacher’ levels based on national
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION 299

standards for teaching. The supervising teachers, moreover, will be required to undergo
specific professional development to prepare them for supervising teacher candidates. In
addition, the new policy sets out expectations for outcomes of the placements and calls
for the development of evaluation tools to assess candidates’ experiences in a consistent
way across all institutions of higher education in the state.
In addition, the recent reforms have linked mentoring to the new teaching standards and
to an inquiry-oriented process for learning to teach. To guide their reflection and action,
teachers are encouraged to use a cycle of teacher inquiry and knowledge building as framed
in the national standards. The cycle asks teacher to identify students’ needs, develop an area
of teaching practice necessary to meet those student needs, implement the new teaching
practice in an action plan over a period of 4 to 6 weeks, and assess the effectiveness of the
approach. This approach helps scaffold teacher induction into a cycle of inquiry-based
professional learning that experienced teachers also use in maintaining their own registration,
which frames practice as an ongoing process of inquiring into how to meet student needs.

Canada
In addition to technical knowledge and skills, standards for teaching often treat teachers’
moral and ethical commitments to students and their learning – and, by extension,
teachers’ own ongoing reflection and learning so that they can always improve their
ability meet student needs. For example, in Ontario, the Standards of Practice for the
Teaching Profession, developed by the Ontario College of Teachers, include the following:

● Commitment to students and student learning. Members are dedicated in their care
and commitment to students. They treat students equitably and with respect and are
sensitive to factors that influence individual student learning. Members facilitate the
development of students as contributing citizens of Canadian society.
● Professional knowledge. Members strive to be current in their professional knowledge
and recognise its relationship to practice. They understand and reflect on student
development, learning theory, pedagogy, curriculum, ethics, educational research and
related policies, and legislation to inform professional judgement in practice.
● Professional practice. Members apply professional knowledge and experience to
promote student learning. They use appropriate pedagogy, assessment and evalua­
tion, resources, and technology in planning for and responding to the needs of
individual students and learning communities. Members refine their professional
practice through ongoing inquiry, dialogue, and reflection.

In addition, the Ontario standards, similar to those in several other countries we

studied, explicitly address teacher responsibilities to contribute to the well-being of the
school as a whole and to be members of professional learning communities:

● Leadership in learning communities. Members promote and participate in the crea­

tion of collaborative, safe, and supportive learning communities. They recognise
their shared responsibilities and their leadership roles in order to facilitate student
success. Members maintain and uphold the principles of the ethical standards in
these learning communities.
300 L. DARLING-HAMMOND

Alberta’s Teaching Quality Standards, established in 1997, are similar: They describe
desired knowledge, skills, and attributes for teachers throughout their career, and they
guide teacher certification, professional development, supervision, and evaluation. They
emphasise viewing children holistically, understanding contextual factors that influence
learning, and incorporating that understanding in adaptive decision making. One purpose
of the standards is to evaluate teacher education programs. Every 5 years, the professional
standards branch of the ministry completes an efficacy report, similar to an audit, of each
university’s programprogramme, ensuring that the institution meets the teaching quality
standards. This process includes surveys of current students, alumni, and employers of
program graduates.
The standards are also used to guide professional growth. In 1998, a teacher growth,
supervision, and evaluation policy were developed to support the teaching quality
standards. Each school year, every teacher completes an annual professional growth
plan that (1) reflects goals and objectives based on an assessment of learning needs by
the individual teacher; (2) shows a relationship to the teaching quality standards; and (3)
takes into consideration the education plans of the school, the school authority, and the
government. This annual plan must be submitted for review or approval to either the
principal or a group of teachers delegated by the principal. In these ways, the standards
are threaded throughout the teaching career.
As in Australia and Finland, preparation for teaching in Canada is increasingly occurring
at the graduate level in 2-year master’s-level programs in which teacher candidates
undertake their own research as well as using research generated by others. At the time
of our study, 8 of the 9 programs in Alberta were already two-year graduate level
programs; Ontario adopted related requirements in 2015, with a longer practicum and
an enhanced emphasis on culturally relevant and responsive pedagogies and on meeting
the needs of diverse learners, including First Nations learners and students with special
needs. The goals of the University of Toronto, whose pioneering program led related work
throughout the province, are indicative of the evolving definitions of teaching quality that
emphasise a student-centred, equity-oriented framework. UT/OISE teacher education
candidates are expected to demonstrate capacities such as:

● Knowledge of the learner (for example): ‘Understand that teaching includes respon­
sibility for student learning.’
● Teacher identity (for example): ‘Develop a personal philosophy of education that embo­
dies principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, social justice, and environmental justice.’
● Transformative education (for example): ‘Understand the roles teachers, learners,
families, communities, schools, and systems play in this transformative process [of
education].’
● Teacher as decision maker focused on student success (for example): ‘Make informed
pedagogical decisions with the goal of success for all students based on knowledge
of the learner, context, curriculum, and assessment.’
● Learning and teaching in social contexts (for example): ‘Understand how systematic/
institutional practices dis/advantage social groups/learners and ways that they can
work with others to counter inequalities.’
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION 301

China (Shanghai)
China’s Ministry of Education released two sets of professional teaching standards in 2011,
one for primary teachers and one for secondary teachers. These standards were devel­
oped to align with laws governing education and to give stronger guidance to teacher
preparation programs about the professional expectations for teachers. These standards
are organised into four broad categories and then further specified into 61 basic require­
ments or teaching standards.
The first broad area focuses on establishing a student-centred approach to teaching.
These standards speak to respecting the rights and individual personalities of the stu­
dents, understanding physical and developmental needs of the students, and caring for
and protecting the students. The second broad area focuses on the teacher’s ethics. The
standards include expectations of the teacher to serve as a role model and to have a love
of the work they do with career aspirations and strong professionalism.
The third broad area focuses on the theoretical and practical aspects of teaching. These
knowledge and skills standards include general pedagogical knowledge, such as class­
room management, understanding student thinking, understanding cultural character­
istics and behaviours of students, and understanding overall life development and values
formation. They also include disciplinary knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge,
such as methods and strategies for teaching specific content subjects.
The final broad area focuses on the teachers’ lifelong learning and contribution to the
ongoing development of the whole educational enterprise. These standards specify that
teachers should work with their colleagues to share experiences and resources. Teachers
should also take initiative to ‘collect and analyze relevant information, and constantly
reflect and improve education and teaching.’ (Ministry of Education of the People’s
Republic of China 2011; Wu 2014). To do this, teachers should identify practice-based
needs and problems and address them through exploration and research. As described
below, this research is frequently published and widely disseminated beyond an indivi­
dual teacher’s classroom or school.
Shanghai’s teachers are largely prepared in the two normal universities – Shanghai
Normal University, a provincial-run institution, and East China Normal University,
a comprehensive university with national ranking. Unlike many countries, where under­
graduate teacher education takes up 2 years of the college program, following 2 years
of largely disconnected academic course work, in China the full 4 years are fully packed
from start to finish with focused training for teaching, which prepares teachers to be
thoughtful, ethical, community-centred, inquiry-oriented practitioners. In addition to
content and pedagogical courses, for example, the Shanghai Normal School curriculum
includes coursework on moral principles, family education, and educational research
methods.
Courses in research methods help teachers learn how to think through and inquire into
a teaching or schooling problem, and this is then used throughout their careers. In all
schools, the jiaoyanzu, or teacher research groups, spend time collectively developing
hypotheses, collecting evidence, analysing the evidence, and developing conclusions. The
goal of the jiaoyanzu is the improvement of educational practices for individual teachers
as well as the school. To accomplish this goal, the jiaoyanzu members meet weekly and
engage in a variety of activities, including examining curriculum together, designing
lessons, observing each other teach and discussing the lesson together, writing tests,
302 L. DARLING-HAMMOND

coordinating teacher professional development such as lectures and visit to other schools,
working with student teachers from preparation programs, soliciting input from students
on the quality of teaching they are experiencing, and looking at student work.
Jiaoyanzu are led by a teacher who is recognised in the school as high-performing and
is often at a higher level on the teaching career ladder. The school principal works closely
with the heads of the jiaoyanzu, who serve as an informal council or cabinet offering
advice. Some teachers hold the title of researching teacher and have positions in the
district offices. These teachers help coordinate and monitor the research happening in
schools. Topics of research range from pedagogical issues, subject matter–specific ques­
tions, administration processes, and educational policies. Teachers also do their own
research individually (Liang et al. 2012) and about 75% have published at least one
study (Gang 2010). Schools annually file some of their research reports with their district
office and much teacher research is published in books and teaching magazines.
China also defines teaching quality and offers incentives for teacher learning by
sponsoring teaching competitions. The teaching competitions require a teacher to con­
duct a lesson with a group of students in front of a panel of judges and receive a rating on
an observation protocol. The lesson plan for that lesson is also made available to the
judges so that they can see how and why the teacher selected his or her teaching
strategies and student engagement strategies.
Importantly, the standards for the competitions incorporate the country’s standards for
teaching towards 21st-century competencies, and winners are looked at as exemplars and
teachers of teaching. The evaluation form for the competitions articulates the aspects of
valued teaching reflected in the teaching standards; these illustrate a student-centred
approach to inquiry-oriented teaching and learning. These criteria include respecting,
motivating, and appreciating students; differentiating instruction for individuals; caring
for struggling students and using various ways to involve them in learning; challenging
students ‘responsively and appropriately;’ giving timely feedback; engaging students with
diversified ways of learning that involve ‘independent, explorative, and cooperative
learning’; ensuring that students have a good grasp of the learning content, make
progress in challenging areas, and have successful learning experiences.
The evaluation form also indicates that award-winning teaching in Shanghai is focused
on meaningful content that is appropriate for the teaching context. The lesson should
show students engaging in learning activities prior to the teachers engaging in instruc­
tion, encouraging students to think and participate in the lesson activity. The teachers’
role is to encourage and motivate, to guide, prompt, and inspire the students to engage in
active learning during the lesson. At least 80% of the lesson should focus on exploration,
cooperation, presentation, and communication. Broad-based student engagement is
expected, with attention to all the students regardless of their performance standing in
the class so that students meet the learning goals.

Finland
Finland began defining teaching quality differently from most other countries many
decades ago when it placed teacher education in master’s degree programs in 1979. At
this time, many other countries in the world did not even require a bachelor’s degree for
all teachers, and even today, Finland is one of only a few countries that require a master’s
degree for all teachers – although many leading nations are now moving in this direction.
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION 303

The professional conception of teaching quality the Finns sought to develop is at the
same time both highly intellectual and deeply clinical. The Finnish definition of teaching
quality includes the ability to use and engage in research and inquiry as a central
component of serving children well. This is accompanied by a deep knowledge base
around both content and child development that encompasses a robust definition of
what an educated person will experience and learn and a well-developed set of skills for
reaching and teaching diverse learners.
Entrance to preparation is highly competitive – only one in 10 applicants is admitted to
preparation for primary teaching in Finland – and applicants must complete an examina­
tion that engages them in reading and interpreting primary research on teaching. The
VAKAVA, developed by faculty members from the eight research universities that offer
teacher education programs, is a 3-hour written exam consisting of questions based on
a set of research articles that students must analyse and interpret. This begins to create
a research-based profession from the very beginning of the selection process. In 2013, for
example, the VAKAVA included seven articles – among them a study that examined
children’s discourse in mathematics classrooms and research that investigated children’s
use of social media and how they portrayed themselves to others. Candidates have
approximately 6 weeks to read and study the materials before the exam, which is given
at the same time in all eight universities in May.
For those who pass the exam, interviews follow. At the University of Helsinki, candi­
dates are interviewed individually and in groups by professors and lecturers of the
Department of Teacher Education. In the group interview, three to four candidates are
given a text to read or an illustration about teachers and their work and prepare to discuss
together how they might introduce and discuss it in a group situation. The group of
prospective candidates is observed by teacher educators, who are watching for motiva­
tion, reasoning ability, and capacity for collaboration.
For a primary school teacher qualification, students must complete course work in
qualitative and quantitative research and analysis (which also includes the writing of
theses for the bachelor’s and master’s degrees) along with course work in the disciplines
they will teach, pedagogy, and communication and language development. Their
master’s degree thesis tackles a problem of pedagogical practice which they research
both through the literature and by undertaking a pedagogical strategy and seeing the
results.
Candidates’ clinical work – which occurs largely in professional practice schools that
are public schools connected to the university – teaches inquiry skills as the schools are
designed to both model best practices and engage in research. Student teachers learn
how to observe children through assignments that require them to chart social relation­
ships, interview children, and apply what they are learning in their child development
courses. They also observe teachers’ teaching and classroom interactions with a focus, as
in their coursework, on understanding child development and how to teach students who
learn in different ways, including those with special needs. Master teachers in these
schools – many of whom hold doctorates and multiple masters degrees – are typically
engaged in research on their own and with university faculty, instantiating the definition
of teaching quality as informed by research and inquiry.
The highly professional conception of teaching quality creates significant trust. Much
of the teacher appraisal function in Finland is integrated into the ongoing work of
304 L. DARLING-HAMMOND

teachers with their principal and focused on individual growth and inquiry, along with
collegial contributions to the school. In Helsinki, where principals use a common form to
guide the conversation with teachers about how they have fulfilled the objectives the
teacher set for the year, the form lists key features of teaching that are considered
important: ‘personal performance,’ ‘versatility,’ ‘initiative,’ and ‘ability to cooperate.’
The ‘versatility’ of the teacher refers to whether she or he can ‘acknowledge and meet
diverse students in different circumstances,’ and can ‘acknowledge diverse learning
needs.’ asks teachers and principals to consider the degree to which the teacher demon­
strates ‘initiative’ (which includes, for instance, ‘using new and meaningful working
methods and practices’ and ‘active participation in in-service training, [within-school]
work groups, development initiatives, district workgroups’). The communal notion that
teachers are evaluated in part on how they contribute to the welfare of the school and
share their knowledge for the whole school community’s use is a common thread across
the jurisdictions. Teaching quality is not defined by ranking teacher’s individual compe­
tence or effectiveness against that of other teachers. It is defined by the teacher’s role in
a thoughtful and effective teaching team that collaborates and continues to learn and
improve.

Singapore
A child-centred inquiry orientation is also at the core of the definition of teaching quality
in Singapore. There, standards for teacher education were established to support the 21st-
century competencies established for students and the nation’s new vision of teaching
and learning that is ‘student-centric and values-driven’ (Heng 2012). The National Institute
of Education has established a framework for teacher preparation that articulates the
values, skills, and knowledge needed of a 21st-century teaching professional who can
develop learners who are problem-solvers, critical thinkers, and contributors to the
community. Interestingly, this framework focuses especially on three sets of values –
learner centeredness, a teacher identity that aims for high standards and strives always to
improve, and service to the profession and the community – as well as skills and knowl­
edge. These are articulated in the ‘V3SK’ framework, which communicates that technical
knowledge exists to be used in the service of the learner
These values are in play even before candidates enter teacher education. After screen­
ing based on their academic record and English proficiency (English is one of four official
languages in Singapore and is the language of instruction in schools), top candidates are
invited for interviews conducted by a panel led by currently serving or recently retired
principals. Interviewers look for good communication skills, deep passion for helping
others, and a growth mindset that leads to a desire to improve by always seeking answers
to teaching problems.
The framework aims to prepare teachers for a heterogeneous student population,
enabling teachers to be thinking professionals who can perform the multiple roles of 21st-
century teaching, such as knowledge organiser, motivator, facilitator, co-inquirer, facil­
itator, and designer of the learning process. During the course of preparation in course
work and the practicum, there is a focus on teaching for problem-based and inquiry
learning, developing collaboration, and addressing a range of learning styles in the
classroom.
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION 305

Table 1. GTC framework from NIE.

Performance Dimension
Professional Practice
Leadership and Management
Personal Effectiveness
Source: Singapore NIE (2009).
Core Competencies
1. Nurturing the whole child
2. Providing quality learning of child
3. Providing quality learning of child in CCA
4. Cultivating knowledge:
i. with subject mastery
ii. with reflective thinking
iii. with analytic thinking
iv. with initiative
v. with creative teaching
vi. with a future focus
5. Winning hearts and minds
i. Understanding the environment
ii. Developing others
6. Working with others
i. Partnering parents
ii. Working in teams
7. Knowing self and others
i. Tuning into self
ii. Exercising personal integrity and legal responsibilities
iii. Understanding and respecting others
iv. Resilience and adaptability

Alongside this framework are the graduate teacher competencies (GTCs), which outline
the professional standards, benchmarks, and goals for graduates of the initial teacher
education programs at the National Institute of Education (see Table 1). These compe­
tencies are modelled after the Ministry of Education’s teacher appraisal and development
system – the enhanced performance management system – and specify three dimensions
of preservice teacher professional performance: professional practice, leadership and
management, and personal effectiveness.
Acknowledging the human qualities and commitments needed to teach with concern
for the child and colleagues, the competencies begin, as does the performance manage­
ment system, with ‘nurturing the whole child,’ and they specify areas of knowledge and
skills to accomplish that. They continue with ‘winning hearts and minds,’ including help­
ing to develop others, and they conclude with ‘knowing self and others,’ including
integrity, respect, resiliency, and adaptability.
All preservice preparation in Singapore occurs in the National Institute of Education
(NIE), which is affiliated with Nanyang Technological University (NTU). At the NIE, candi­
dates learn to teach in the same way they will be asked to teach. Every student has
a laptop, and the entire campus is wireless. The library spaces and a growing number of
classrooms are consciously arranged with round tables and groups of three to four chairs
so that students will have places to share knowledge and collaborate. Comfortable areas
with sofa-and-chair arrangements are designed for group work among teachers and
principals, with access to full technology supports (e.g., DVD players, video and computer
hook-ups, and plasma screens for projecting their work as they do it).
Key to this vision is a focus on problem-based learning with real-world applications and
a new assessment competency framework for 21st-century teaching and learning aimed
at enabling NIE educators and teachers to adopt innovative assessment practices as, of,
and for learning. This includes helping teachers learn to design appropriate assessment
tasks, plan assessment as part of effective teaching and learning, provide feedback to help
306 L. DARLING-HAMMOND

learners improve, and develop the capacity for self-assessment in order to build reflective
and self-directed learners. Different course coordinators constantly communicate with
each other in order to ensure continuity and alignment in the assessment competence
coverage in different courses. In addition, preservice teachers are exposed to assessment
literacies within and across content disciplines. Throughout the program, structured
reflection is encouraged and facilitated.
There is a strong values component in teaching and teacher development in
Singapore. The teacher education programs emphasise that teachers ought to have
a deep understanding of learner development and diversity and be committed to bring­
ing out the fullest potential of each child. They should be passionate about their subject
and their role as a teacher and have a deep drive for high standards as well as a thirst for
learning. They should be ethical, adaptable, and resilient in the challenging educational
landscape and collaborative with other professionals. An early emphasis on collaborative
learning and group projects in preservice programs in NIE helps to sow the seeds for
professional learning and sharing when preservice teachers become beginning teachers.
In line with its strong emphasis on values, the NIE requires students to take courses in
character education and to undertake a community service project. The project is con­
ducted in groups of 20 and takes at least 20 hours, at the end of which each student
prepares a tangible product. Teachers in Singapore are expected not only to be masters of
content and pedagogy but also to be contributors to the well-being of their students,
families, and communities.
For in-service teachers, the Teacher Growth Model (TGM) guides professional growth
and learning for teachers. The TGM is organised to address five learning outcomes: the
ethical educator, the competent professional, the collaborative learner, the transforma­
tional leader, and the community builder. Competencies associated with each outcome
are enumerated within the model. Teachers use the TGM to examine their professional
learning needs. There are programs and activities that are themed according to each
outcome and competency. Teachers can select the area that they would like to be
developed and participate in the tagged professional learning courses and activities.
Much of this professional development involves teachers in research and innovation
projects examining their teaching and learning to better meet the needs of students.
Every school has a professional learning community (PLC), and there are learning teams
organised by subject, grade level, and special interest. Schools provide structured time for
teachers to come together as a group to discuss and implement their projects. The PLCs
may choose to use a variety of teacher inquiry approaches – action research, lesson study,
learning study, and learning circle – to investigate their practices. The PLCs meet weekly;
they select a key issue concerning student learning, collect and analyse data, develop and
try out instructional solutions, and assess the impact of these solutions. To facilitate
teachers’ development of research competence, they may receive support from teacher
leaders within the school, who have typically had opportunities for action research
training, and they may take seminars or workshop series at NIE or the Academy for
Singapore Teachers. Research findings are also shared at various platforms at the depart­
mental and school levels, other local schools, and at local and international conferences.
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF TEACHER EDUCATION 307

Conclusion
Evolving definitions of teaching quality around the world increasingly see teaching as
rooted in a wide-ranging knowledge base that combines an understanding of content,
pedagogy, and learners which is focused on meeting students’ diverse social, emotional,
and academic needs – rather than just covering the curriculum. Furthermore, the recog­
nised need for teachers to be able to respond to students’ individual trajectories for
learning if they are to be effective means that they must study both the learning process
and the learners they teach. Consequently, definitions of teacher and teaching quality are
increasingly rooted in ongoing research and inquiry on the part of teachers – a means of
developing knowledge for teaching that is at the core of professional practice (Cochran-
Smith and Lytle 2009).

Disclosure statement
Learning Policy Institute.

Notes on contributor
Linda Darling-Hammond is Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Teaching and Teacher Education,
Emeritus at Stanford University and President of the Learning Policy Institute.

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