ABSTRACT
Teacher education is receiving unprecedented attention in national policy making due, in large part, to the now widely accepted notion that high-quality teaching is the most important within-school factor influencing pupil achievement, especially for less advantaged pupils. High-quality teaching is the most important within-school factor influencing pupil achievement, especially for less advantaged pupils. An examination of international trends in policy talk and academic discourse reveals a series of recurring dichotomies that illustrate the various ways in which the teacher quality problem has been framed in different countries. Teacher education in England currently operates a pluralistic model that retains features of an enduring ‘professional project’ alongside diversification of providers and routes. The long-term public and personal cost of poorly prepared teachers feature prominently in deliberation on the economics of early career support.
