Frequency of Visitation of Another Teacher's Classroom

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 the frequency of teacher visitation of others' classrooms of the 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.

1 Summary
- 1.1 Chart 1. Frequency of 4th Grade Math Teacher Visitation of Another Teacher's Classroom
- 1.2 Chart 2. Frequency of 8th Grade Math Teacher Visitation of Another Teacher's Classroom

Summary

Internationally, as well as on average in the selected economies, the majority of 4th grade math teachers reported never or almost never visiting another teacher's classroom. The only economies where this was not the case was in Hong Kong, Japan, and the Russian Federation where at least 49% reporting visitng another teacher's classroom at least 2 to 3 times per month.

This trend only intensified for 8th grade Math teachers, with only teachers in the Russian Federation and Thailand reporting visiting another teacher's classroom. In the Russian Federation 75% of the 8th grade Math teachers reported visitng the classroom of another teacher 2 to 3 times per month and 12% reported visitng other classrooms even more frequently. In Thailand, 79% of the teachers reported visiting another teacher's classroom at least 2 to 3 times per month.