This report presents the findings of the review of the evidence base on comparative practices of teacher selection and recruitment, specifically on the different mechanisms countries use to assess teacher readiness to take up teaching posts, with particular emphasis on testing or examinations. It is intended that the report will be helpful to…

Israeli junior high-school science teachers usually have a background in biology, and their knowledge of physics is limited. We show that by improving teachers' "qualitative understanding" it is possible to increase their confidence and willingness to teach physics. We conducted three-day workshops for teachers (n = 92), which were…

Aspiring middle school teachers in the United States take fewer math courses and are less knowledgeable in the subject than their counterparts in South Korea, Taiwan, and other countries. That gap in teacher preparation, coupled with curricular differences, could help explain achievement disparities between American students and their peers in…

The authors examined the confidence of teachers from Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, and the United States (N = 1,375) to address civic topics with their students. The authors also used differential item functioning models to examine responses to items from the Teacher Confidence Scale of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational…

Earlier reports have shown that prospective teachers' conceptions about teaching science to a high degree are resistant and do not change substantially during the teacher-training programme. In our investigation we elucidate the prospective teachers' initial conceptions about pupils' understanding of science and mathematics. We applied "The…

It is easier to collect data on teachers' qualifications, experience, or training than to get a precise idea of their command of subject matter or their classroom behaviour. However, research consistently shows that "class effect" (the impact on a student of being in one class rather than another) on pupil performance is relatively high,…

Analysis of the university careers of students who are training to become primary school teachers has shown that a certain number have real difficulty in passing examinations in the scientific and methodological fields. This paper uses both objective and subjective data to analyse the levels of competence in this cultural field, and the propensity…

Students with fine motor problems can benefit from occupational therapy. Yet not all students receive the services because of a lack of teacher awareness about the problems and the services. This study aims to evaluate a workshop designed to improve teacher awareness about fine motor problems and occupational therapy. The study involved three…

The study investigates the relationship between ICT competence and attitude as well as attitudinal constructs of teachers. Four hundred and sixty seven teachers randomly selected from 10 institutions (5 universities and 5 colleges of education) participated in the study. Information bordering on ICT competence and attitude of the teachers were…

This article examines the intersection of age and ICT (information and communication technology) competency and critiques the "digital natives versus digital immigrants" argument proposed by Prensky (2001a, 2001b). Quantitative analysis was applied to a statistical data set collected in the context of a study with over 2,000 pre-service…

The purpose of this research was to determine the pre-service primary mathematics teachers' competency of pedagogical content knowledge in mathematics. The data were collected by means of four open ended problems from the participation of 45 primary mathematics teacher candidates. Teacher candidates' responses were analyzed based on pre-determined…

Certification tests for elementary teachers in Ontario were introduced in 1871 and in 2002. Although the provincial government's stated goals for the testing programs were similar, the 2002 program was opposed by the initial teacher education programs and the teachers' associations, but the 1871 program was not. The authors argue that much of this…

Understanding the relationship between teacher test scores and student achievement is important in an accountability environment that favors using quantitative measures of teaching quality, as is the case with Mexico's national "Carrera Magisterial" (CM) teacher incentive program. The results of this paper suggest that teacher test…

Used modified Delphi approach to examine whether a consensus could be reached between Taiwanese professors and teachers about desired competencies for kindergarten teachers that could be examined during a simulated teaching performance test. Found that the 2 groups agreed on 17 of 22 competencies and all agreed the 22 competencies could be…

This research examined concerns that primary teachers had in challenging gifted pupils in a normal classroom setting. Research findings in England indicated that children with high ability do not always attain highly, and within the context of primary science education underachievement was often linked to lack of appropriate challenge. The…