Exploring teacher quality: international perspectives

This article is a commentary on the seven articles in this special issue of EJTE on teacher quality from international perspectives. In the article, Marilyn Cochran-Smith points to differences as well as common themes and details across the articles in the issue. The article discusses the emergence of teacher quality as a global concern, including analysis of some of the assumptions underlying the issue and shifts in its meaning and valence over time. This commentary analyzes the articles in the issue according to scholarly genre and in terms of the questions addressed about teacher quality and larger professional, policy, and political goals. Cochran-Smith suggests that despite the global nature of teacher quality, what this concept actually means and how reforms are designed and implemented in particular countries vary considerably.