Success Factors That Enhance Quality of Teachers - Literature review Example

Concern about the quality of the teachers can be traced back to the early 20th century (see Gitemor, 2007, pp. 2). And, presently, the concepts of quality teaching and quality teachers are a hot debating topic not only in Australia (Crabbe, 2007) but worldwide (Jasman, 2009). It is borne alongside the recognition that teachers are right at the center of any effort to effect educational improvement and that any benefits that accrue to students as a consequence of educational policies necessitate the enabling action of teachers (Hopkins & Stern, 1996).

But, what really makes quality teachers? Has a formula been determined in mixing together personality traits and professional competence to produce quality educators? Undeniably, much has been said about the topic. However, it is similarly true that there has been rarely any careful analysis of the concepts (Crabbe, 2007). This paper is going to dwell specifically on the elements that make quality primary school teachers. At the outset, let it be said that this paper is going to adopt the framework that Hopkins & Stern (1996) suggest for the constitution of quality teachers – i.e., they are determined by the teachers themselves, the schools where they teach, and the external policy environment pertinent to education.

Description of the empirical context of the study including a rationale for the study At present, there is no doubt about the utter importance of teacher quality in the discipline of education as well as in the very process of pedagogy. However, during the 1980s, in the context of the standards movement, researchers were ambivalent insofar as the significance of schools and teachers viz. the students’ learning gains were concerned. Reviewing the literature on the education production function, Hanushek (1986) found scanty reasons to support the idea that measured teacher characteristics such as educational preparation, experience, or salary had any relation to student achievement.

Greenwald, Hedges & Laine (1996), however, contend that some studies actually suggest positive effects from teacher experience and teacher education. In Australia, the paper presented by Ken Rowe at the 2003 Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) conference was very instructive on this concern. In The Importance of Teacher Quality as a Key Determinant of Students’ Experience and Outcomes of Schooling, Rowe posited that the “quality teachers and teaching, supported by strategic teacher professional development” (pp. 15) is the most important factor in determining the students’ schooling outcomes.

In contrast, Rowe maintained that the socio-economic background of the students, the characteristics of the whole school system, the gender of the teacher, and other factors had very little effect. Similarly, Sanders & Rivers (1996) and Hanushek, Kain & Rivkin (2005) found that teachers’ contribution to student learning is more than the effect of the student’s race, poverty level, parents’ education, or any other external factor that were often thought to dominate the school outcomes.

Richardt, Paone & Badolato (2006) report that teachers are expected to close the student achievement gap. This finding becomes even more relevant and important now as it coincides with the current attempts to quantify or measure the influence that teachers have on student performance (The Teaching Commission, 2004; Crane, 2002; Hanushek, Kain & Rivkin, 1998). Sanders & Rivers (1996), for instance, made a value-added assessment study in Tennessee and found approximately 50 percentile points difference in achievement on standardized tests between students who were taught by high-quality versus those taught by low-quality teachers for three consecutive years.