Education reform and the global regulation of teachers’ education, development and work: A cross-cultural analysis

Current trends toward international accountability and standards adoption is strongly influenced by economic globalization forces as nations attempt to become competitive in the global market and try to shape their education systems to provide those skills needed in the growing global economy. As more rigorous research helps to uncover the important role of effective teachers on student learning, global and national policy increasingly points to teachers as a major factor on increasing learning and quality. Throughout the issue we examine the forces internal and global influencing policies directed at teachers in policy contexts lacking systematic and rigorous empirical evidence on the effectiveness of regulatory mechanisms introduced to control the teaching profession such as standard setting, teacher testing, evaluation and accreditation of teacher preparation.