Frequency of Discussion About How to Teach Particular Concepts

From APEC HRDWG Wiki

Teacher quality is an important aspect of any education system and although debate exists as to what exactly constitutes a teacher quality indicator, most observers agree that teacher collaboration is one element that relates to the quality or effectiveness of the teacher. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is administered to 4th and 8th grade students across various APEC economies to test student curriculum-based knowledge. The TIMSS also administers a teacher questionnaire to the teachers of the students surveyed. This questionnaire includes many items related to teacher quality, such as elements related to teacher collaboration. Although not all APEC economies participate in the TIMSS, the data that is available allows for a comparison of various factors across participating APEC economies. The rest of this page contains information on teacher collaboration on teaching methods of those teachers surveyed during the 2007 TIMSS in the selected participating APEC economies.

For other information on teacher quality, please visit the Teacher Quality Portal page.

Summary

The majority of 4th grade Math teachers both internationally and in the selected APEC economies do hold discussions with other teachers about how to teach a particular concept. On average in the selected APEC economies, 40% of the teachers do this 2 to 3 times a month and 40% do so 1 to 3 times per week. Only 14% do so daily or almost daily and 6% never discuss how to teach a particular concept at all. The highest percentage of teachers that reported having these types of discussions daily or almost daily was found in the Russian Federation at 30% and the highest percentage of teachers reporting having these discussions 1 to 3 times per week was found in New Zealand at 50%.

On average, in the selected APEC economies more 8th grade Math teachers than 4th grade math teachers reported never or almost never having discussions on how to teach particular concepts with other teachers. Similarly, more 8th grade than 4th grade teachers reported having these discussions 2 to 3 times per month. On the other hand, less 8th grade than 4th grade Math teachers reported participating in these discussions 1 to 3 times per week or daily or almost daily.

(Not all of the same APEC economies appear on both graphs due to data availability).

Chart 1. Frequency of Discussion About How to Teach Particular Concepts Between 4th Math Grade Teachers

Chart 2. Frequency of Discussion About How to Teach Particular Concepts Between 4th Math Grade Teachers