While policy debate is often focused on the whole teaching profession, primary and secondary teachers differ in more ways than one. While all countries require teachers to have at least a bachelor degree to enter the profession in primary or lower secondary education, the structure and content of the programmes vary and are less geared towards…

Reports a re-analysis of mathematics achievement data on 28,274 elementary students in twelve countries. Results corroborate recent studies of productive factors in academic learning. Among directly alterable variables, the amount and quality of instruction, including homework, most strongly influence achievement. (Author/JDH)