QUALITY TEACHERS AND TEACHER QUALITY DEFINED

What really is a quality teacher? Quality teachers are characterized by the different skills needed in the 21" century education. These are 

(1) Global awareness

(2) Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy, 

(3) Civic Literacy and

(4) Health Literacy. Also included are knowledge and values. 

With these themes in mind, the 21" century skills framework are clustered into three. 

• • Learning and Innovation Skills Framework include Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Creativity and Innovation and Communication Collaboration and Technology Skills

  • Information, Media and Technology Skills Framework. 

  • Literacy Life and Career Skills Framework 

Quality teachers are competent teachers. Teachers with global competence are able to demonstrate knowledge, skills, values and dispositions as described below: 

1. understand one's own cultural identity and its influence on personal dispositions and classroom practices; 

2. know and integrate global dimensions in the subject one teaches;

3. engage students in learning; 

4. use real-life local and global examples;

5. value the inputs of culturally and linguistically diverse learners;

6. create environment that encourage positive cross- cultural interactions;

7. model social responsibility in local and global context; and

8. help learners find appropriate actions to improve local and global conditions.

Teacher quality is a bit difficult to define. For some countries like the US, it has shifted its definition of teacher quality from the possession of a credential or certification to what students know and are able to do with what they were taught by their teachers (Teacher Quality, 2013). This is related to the outcomes-based education. On the other hand, some other countries use standards for teacher quality. The OECD has proposed in the discussion table that the core elements of the teacher-quality standards should include:

• Planning and Preparation: including knowledge of content and pedagogy, knowledge of students, coherent instructional plans, and knowledge on how to assess student learning . 

• Classroom environment: including creating a culture for learning and managing student behavior, Instruction: including communicating effectively, using appropriate discussion techniques, engaging students, and providing responsive feedback to learners; and

• Professional responsibilities: including reflecting on teaching, communicating with families, contributing to the school and community and developing professionally. (Teacher Quality, 2013)

There are differences in the context of how teacher quality is defined hence, there is no universal standard of teacher quality. The teaching profession needs to have standards in a way that other professions have to advance its status. These should be developed and owned by the teachers themselves like in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. In other countries, teacher standards for teacher quality are set at the national or state levels but with consideration for local flexibility in the implementation.