Introduction

The recruitment, retention and professional development of teachers are abiding concerns for education systems across the globe (Furlong 2005; Barber and Mourshed 2007; Day and Smethem 2009). Rigorous empirical research now leaves little doubt that the single most important factor in measures of students’ achievements is the quality of teaching (see e.g. Rowe and Hill 1998; Muijs and Reynolds 2005; Fallon 2006). The influential McKinsey Report (McKinsey and Company 2010, 5), having examined 10 of the world’s top performing schools, claimed that ‘getting the right people to become teachers and developing them into effective instructors’ are two of the ‘three things that matter most’. Put like this, producing teachers who can make a demonstrable difference to positive outcomes for learners seems a straightforward task – but as successful teaching is one of the most complex of human activities, there is, of course, considerably more to it. In a recent special issue of JET, Donald Gray presented an international picture of perspectives and issues in initial teacher education (Gray 2010), arguing that across six countries in four continents, accountability, linked to increasing professionalism, is a significant factor influencing the early phase of a teacher’s professional development. Mastery and professionalism are the theme of this special issue, which brings together a range of papers from a selection of the world’s foremost educational systems. It examines the concept of ‘masterliness’ in education and discusses issues of training and accreditation at the master’s level of provision in initial and continuing professional development courses for teachers. The set of papers provides a rich comparative background to inform the debate about the level at which teachers’ knowledge bases make them most effective in terms of both pedagogic expertise and, ultimately, pupils’ learning outcomes. Recent initiatives such as the Masters in Teaching and Learning in the UK and the Master of Teaching in Australia have arisen as a response to the argument that teaching should be seen as a master’s-level profession. This special issue examines and illustrates the relationship between master’s-level education and professionalism through the lenses of reflective evaluation, narrative inquiry and critique.