ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the attributes of teacher quality and teaching quality. It investigates four intentional practices required for high-quality teacher development: careful selection; high-quality teacher education programs; induction and support in the early years of teaching; and professional learning throughout the teaching career. The chapter explores the concept of teacher self-efficacy and its relationship with student outcomes. It also explores what attributes make a good primary teacher from the perspective of students, and how this impacts learning outcomes. More recently, teaching has grown into a profession that has a high degree of accountability, is informed by evidence-based practice and is subject to professional self-regulation. According to Roser, there are more than 84 million teachers in the world and around one-third of these are primary school teachers. On average, these teachers work with groups of students with a student-to-teacher ratio of 23.75 students to each teacher, although the range can be as high as 100 students to each teacher.
