Changing Landscapes of Teacher Quality in Initial Teacher Education: Examples from Scotland and Turkey

Abstract

Teacher quality has attracted much attention both conceptually and empirically, especially in tackling some global challenges. Initial teacher education (ITE) has historically been one of the key actors in developing teacher quality and one of the foci in research. The article contributes to these debates by comparing two ITE programmes, from Scotland and Turkey, which have been recently reshaped. Both countries have currently declared new reformative steps and introduced internationally cared new conceptions into teacher quality. This study utilized a comparative approach and document analysis to investigate the evolution of views on teacher quality in different countries. The findings provide insights into the changes that have occurred in each country's perspective over time. ' Drawing from the two contexts, the paper sought evidence in articulated reports for core values and capacities, digital transformation, teacher agency, and innovative and inclusive pedagogies, which are considered important elements of the teaching profession in related literature. Followingly, the study outlines and compares the decisions and intended actions of these two contexts in terms of similarities and discrepancies under the aforementioned four indicators that can be both an example for international ITE programmes and a road map for teacher quality in ITE curricula design. By comparing two examples of ITE programmes with the suggested indicators of teacher quality, we would like to extract insights to reconsider and re-conceptualize teacher quality in much wider literature and future research.

Keywords

• teacher quality
• professional competencies
• initial teacher education
• Scotland
• Turkey

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