Editor’s Introduction: Understanding Cross-National Differences in Globalized Teacher Reforms

Abstract

We have observed a global focus on improving teacher quality through reforming teacher education, certification, recruitment, and evaluation during the past two decades. Previous single country studies have documented the focus, design, and implementation of teacher reforms in various national contexts, yet few studies systematically analyzed what explains the cross-national difference in how a national, federal, or state government develops and implements a teacher reform influenced by global dynamics. This article presents a conceptual framework to understand how this cross-national divergence emerges within a global convergence on reforming teachers and their work to guide the future research. The author argues that this divergence is a result of collective sensemaking, negotiation, and contestation over a “teacher quality” problem and the solution among policy actors at national and local levels, which are influenced by global dynamics but occur within nation-specific teaching and policy environments.

Principal instructional leadership for teacher participation in professional development: evidence from Japan, Singapore, and South Korea

“…The growth of international databases on teachers such as TALIS contributed to our understanding of cross-national characteristics of teacher learning (Akiba 2017). Our study builds on and extends this line of research by adding evidence about the relations between principal leadership and teacher PD in the three Asian countries.…”

“…High-achieving countries in Asia (e.g., Japan, Singapore, and South Korea) have recently received increasing attention from policy makers to investigate evidence for setting political agendas around "best practices" and solutions to local problems (Akiba 2017;Hiebert and Stigler 2017). Global policy agendas have focused on teacher quality, and teacher reforms in Asian countries have conceptualized teachers' participation in teacher PD as a requirement and a shared norm in the teaching profession.…”

Instructional Leadership Capacity of Elementary School Administrators

“…The theory of instructional leadership has been widely studied (Hallinger & Walker, 2017;Montecinos et. al., 2018;Akiba, 2017), and there are various models and theories that explain instructional leadership. Some of these models and theories include that of Murphy Models (1985), Model Weber (1996), Model Jensen andMurphy (1990) andMc Ewan Model (2009).…”

The policies and politics of teachers’ initial learning: the complexity of national initial teacher education policies

“…The focus upon improving teacher quality through teacher education is construed as a global phenomenon (Akiba, 2017). The attention to teacher education can be seen as part of a broader more neoliberal approach to educational reform.…”

“…These PISA results have then been used to critique teacher education (Trippestad et al, 2017). These international assessments, associated policy reports (including from bodies such as the OECD, UNESCO, World Bank), as well as various media portrayals of teaching and teacher education as poor quality, all contribute to the 'global dynamics' and pressure upon national governments to reform teacher education (Akiba, 2017).…”