Building teacher quality: What does the research tell us?

MEDIA RELEASE Thursday 16 October 2003 Building teacher quality: What does the research tell us? Some 400 educational researchers, policy makers and practitioners from around Australia and overseas will come together in Melbourne next week to share knowledge and developments in building teacher quality. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is hosting its eighth annual Research Conference at the Carlton Crest hotel, Melbourne from 19-21 October. Research Conference 2003 aims to enhance understanding of the significance of building teacher quality and will identify ways in which efforts to improve teacher quality can best be informed by research. The conference will provide a state-of-the art review of: • research on improving teacher education, teacher quality and recruitment; • evidence of the effects of initial teacher education, induction and teacher professional development on teacher quality; • the major directions in which Australian policy and practice on teacher quality are heading; • how Australian developments compare with major trends overseas; • what research tells us about policy-useful understandings of issues of supply, remuneration and funding; and • what research tells us about the integral role of pedagogy in teacher quality Keynote speakers include Mr Ralph Tabberer of the Teacher Training Agency in England, Professor Lloyd Bond of the Carnegie Foundation and Professor Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor of Teaching and Teacher Education at Stanford University who will give a plenary address by video link up. ACER chief executive Professor Geoff Masters said he expects the papers and discussions will make a major contribution to the international literature and debate on building teacher quality. “One of the key lessons from research on teacher quality is that the issues are too complex and wide-ranging to be tackled by educators working in isolation. We hope that one of the main outcomes of the conference will be the sharing of knowledge about efforts to build teacher quality, and the research required to support work at the school, state and national levels.” ******** ENDS ********