Teacher quality and effectiveness: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Effective teaching is defined by Coe, Aloisi, Higgins and Major (2014) as that which leads to improved student achievement using outcomes that matter to their future success. Whilst defining effective teaching is not easy, the research keeps coming back to this critical point; student progress is the yardstick by which teacher quality should be assessed. Well motivated, skilled teachers are at the heart of effective schools. Schools need to attend to the quality of teachers using a range of monitoring strategies. Teachers require access to opportunities for formal and informal professional development and understand the value of this for the schools objectives and the development of their own careers. The best teachers help young people to develop the capacity to reflect on and recognise their contribution to their world, its value and their developing spirit.