ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book explains that teacher unions are organizing in ways that create alternative models of what teacher quality can be. It shows how a powerful and well-supported computer platform can be created to increase communication, professional development, and the promotion of best practices among teachers themselves. Local adaptation of 'global' reforms occurs through collective sense-making, negotiation, and contestation, resulting in divergent implementation and effects of the reform. The book shows how national policy makers themselves use transnational reforms in ways that satisfy national political needs. It highlights the multiple aspects that must be considered when assessing what 'quality' in teaching means. The book examines the characteristics of the important contexts, teachers' working conditions and other factors that impact job satisfaction and retention. It provides examples from multiple continents on how national governments have engaged in implementing reforms aimed at promoting teacher education.
