Professional Development: Pedagogy
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 professional development 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 teacher professional development. 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 professional development in Pedagogy 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
Internationally, 48% of 4th grade Mathematics teachers participate in Professional Development in pedagogy or instruction, however, 67% of the 4th grade Math teachers in the selected APEC economies participate in this type of Professional Development. In all of the selected economies at least half of the 4th grade Math teachers participate in pedagogy development and in all of the APEC economies except the United States, more than half of the 4th grade Mathematics teachers participate in this type of Professional Development.
This pattern also holds true for 8th grade Mathematics even at the International Level, where 59% of 8th grade Mathematics teachers do participate in Professional Development in pedagogy. In most of the selected economies, more 8th grade than 4th grade teachers participate in this type of Professional Development and in all of the selected economies except the Republic of Korea, more than half of the 8th grade Math teachers participate in Professional Development in pedagogy.
(Not all of the economies were included in both graphs due to data availablity)
Chart 1. Percentage of 4th Grade Math Teachers Participation in Professional Development in Pedagogy/Instruction
Chart 2. Percentage of 8th Grade Math Teachers Participation in Professional Development in Pedagogy/Instruction
Chart 3. Percentage of 4th Grade Science Teachers Participation in Professional Development in Pedagogy/Instruction
Chart 4. Percentage of 8th Grade Science Teachers Participation in Professional Development in Pedagogy/Instruction
