Math and Science Teacher Formal Education Level Completed

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 the education level of the teacher 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 the level of formal education completed by the teacher. 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 the page contains information on the formal education level completed by those teachers surveyed during the 2007 TIMSS in the participating APEC economies.

APEC has investigated promising practices in teacher preparation in a recent project, International Comparative Research to Identify Unique and Promising Practices in Mathematics and Science Teacher Preparation for APEC Economies, to link researchers, educators, and policy makers from economies in the East and West and to facilitate the implementation of the best practices that are identified in current research.

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

Summary 

These graphs describe teacher formal education level completed based on ISCED Standards devised by UNESCO and formally adopted in 1997. The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) allows for an easier comparison of the formal education systems of various nations. It consists of 6 levels from 0 to 5. For the purpose of this TIMSS data set, 6 different levels were used; not completed ISCED 3, completed ISCED 3 (upper secondary), completed ISCED 4 (post-secondary), completed 5B (Associate's Degree), completed 5A, first degree (Bachelor's Degree), and completed 5A, second degree (Master's Degree).

Of the selected APEC economies, the United States has the greatest percentage of 4th grade Math teachers with a Master’s degree at 53% with the next highest being Australia with 42%. Japan has the highest percentage of teachers who have completed the next ISCED level (5A, first degree) equivalent to a Bachelor's Degree with 90% of their 4th grade Math teachers.

Not all of the economies appear on both graphs due to data availability. For all of the selected economies that do appear on both graphs, more 8th grade teachers had finished ISCED 5A, 2nd degree, or the equivalent of a Master's degree, than 4th grade teachers. The greatest difference was found in the Russian Federation, where the percentage of teachers with the equivalent of a Master's degree increased by 43% between 4th and 8th grade teachers. Of the selected economies, the Russian Federation also had the greatest percentage of 8th grade teachers with a Master's Degree at 79%, followed by Australia with 60% and the United States with 56%.

For information on average student scores on the 2007 Mathematics TIMSS section for the APEC economies, please click here.
For related teacher quality indicators, such as teacher certification, please click here.

Chart 1. 4th Math Grade Teacher's Formal Education Level Completed

Chart 2. 8th Math Grade Teacher's Formal Education Level Completed  

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Chart 3. 4th Science Grade Teacher's Formal Education Level Completed

Chart 4. 8th Science Grade Teacher's Formal Education Level Completed