A common story of teachers from the Global South portrays them as deficient, unreliable and unprofessional. However, this book uses an innovative Capability Approach/Critical Realist lens to reveal the causal links between teachers' constrained capabilities and their 'criticised' behaviours and offer nuanced, creative strategies for improvements.

Foregrounding the diversity that characterises various educational settings, this book discusses how histories and geographies of oppression, exclusion and marginalisation have impacted on teacher education. Contributors draw on first-hand experiences of living and working in countries including Brazil, China, South Africa, New Zealand and Malawi. Positioned in a geographical and metaphorical ‘Global South’, the book draws critical attention to debates which have been otherwise marginalised in relation to those conducted in the ‘Global North’. Chapters address difference and diversity on both a conceptual and empirical level, acknowledging the significance of various global trends including increased migration and urbanisation; and broadening understandings of race, religion, gender, sexuality and dis/ability. Taken together, these chapters reveal the extent of the work which still remains to be done in the field of teacher education for diversity. The issues discussed are of global significance, making this text key reading for teachers, teacher educators, and those concerned with the advancement of social justice and reduction of inequality through education.

This open access book analyzes the main drivers that are influencing the dramatic evolution of work in Asia and the Pacific and identifies the implications for education and training in the region. It also assesses how education and training philosophies, curricula, and pedagogy can be reshaped to produce workers with the skills required to meet the emerging demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The book’s 40 articles cover a wide range of topics and reflect the diverse perspectives of the eminent policy makers, practitioners, and researchers who authored them. To maximize its potential impact, this Springer-Asian Development Bank co-publication has been made available as open access.

Discussions of quality dominate the field of teacher education. However, definitions of quality can vary enormously and are often vague and imprecise, relying on proxies for quality which make inaccurate assumptions about what matters in the education of teachers. This book explores different ways in which quality can be defined and understood within teacher education, offering a way of categorizing and understanding why some quality indicators miss the mark. The book introduces the idea of a quality conundrum, with illustrative examples from international ITE practice, to show how different conceptions of quality in ITE can have good intentions but be potentially damaging to its overall transformative potential. It also provides examples of where practice has been able to move beyond restrictive definitions of quality to enact a more transformative vision of teacher education. This analysis ties the use of quality indicators to historical developments in teacher education and political shifts in how it is viewed, the role education is perceived to play in society, and considers where the power lies in locating who decides what counts as quality in teacher education (and also who and what gets excluded). Key topics covered include: · the use of standards, accreditation and inspection frameworks; · the range of input, process, output and perspectival indicators used to judge quality in ITE; · the different discourses of teacher quality which influence the pedagogy and structure of teacher education programmes. The author also gives particular attention to how to address different approaches to quality when they start to reach conundrum proportions, and how to redress teacher education towards what matters rather than what counts.

This book offers a practical and approachable overview of central theories in comparative and international education (CIE). The chapters focus in depth on specific theoretical perspectives and seek to elucidate the histories, assumptions, and recent developments of these theories. The chapters also situate the theories within CIE, include specific case studies of theoretical application, and outline suggestions for further reading. Written by leading scholars from around the world, this is must-have reference work for anyone teaching, researching, studying, or working in CIE. The handbook includes chapters on a diverse collection of theories, including but not limited to: Structural-functionalism, Colonialism/Imperialism, Marxism, Human Capital Theory, Dependency/World Systems Theory, Post-Colonialism, Post-Socialism, Post-Foundationalism, Neo-liberalism, Neo-Institutionalism, Neo-Marxism, Policy Borrowing and Lending, Peace Theories, Human Rights, Constructivism, Racism, Gender, Queer Theory, Social Network Theory, Capabilities Theory, and Cultural Political Economy.

This book diagnoses Cambodian teaching quality and presents policy options for reform.