Teachers Matter provides a comprehensive, international analysis of trends and developments in the teacher workforce in 25 countries around the world including research on attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers.

This report, building on data from the Indicators of Education Systems (INES) programme, the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

In Teachers Matter, education researcher Marcus A. Winters, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, argues that our failure to identify and reward high-quality teachers has been devastating for public school students. The question is how do we sort out the good teachers form the bad? Sure to be controversial, Winters's plan will be of interest to the education community, policy makers, and parents concerned about the future of education in America.

Good teachers are the backbone of any education system. That’s why governments are constantly seeking teacher policies that will help them recruit and retain the best. Most countries are concerned with an ageing teaching workforce and attracting new recruits, coupled with the demands of more diverse student populations, higher expectations and new responsibilities. To be effective, teacher policy must address these issues. Teachers Matter provides a comprehensive, international analysis of: trends and developments in the teacher workforce in 25 countries around the world; research on attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers; innovative and successful policies and practices that countries have implemented; and teacher policy options for countries to consider. While documenting many areas of concern about teachers and teaching, the report also provides positive examples of where policies are making a difference. It spotlights countries where teachers’ social standing is high, and where there are more qualified applicants than vacant posts. Even in countries where shortages have been a concern, there are recent signs of increased interest in teaching, and policy initiatives appear to be taking effect.

Global processes are transforming educational policy around the world in complex ways, with different implications for different local arenas. Over the last two decades, a global neoliberal policy paradigm has emerged, placing the teacher at its centre. Two well-known examples are the OECD report on education and training policy, ‘Teachers Matter’, and the McKinsey & Company report entitled ‘How the World’s Best-Performing School Systems Come Out on Top’. It now seems more important than ever to highlight some alternatives that might contribute to a broader understanding of the meaning of being a teacher. In a time of standardised performance and accountability, this special issue raises critical questions about the space for teachers’ agency and teachers as curriculum agents. The different articles from some of our most distinguished researchers in the field provide essential perspectives on the question of where, when and how teachers matter. Our interest is not primarily to understand the scope of teachers’ agency but rather to understand what becomes important for teachers in their everyday activities, such as teaching students, handling educational norms and rules, working in a local as well as a global society etc. A common theme throughout the articles is that teachers matter in spaces where they can act as moral subjects in their profession in the present, drawing on collective and individual experiences of the past whilst imagining a desired future. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Curriculum Studies.

Teacher quality is the single most important school-related factor influencing student success. The author examines the body of research on the subject of teacher quality to draw conclusions about which attributes makes teachers most effective, (experience, preparation programs and degrees, type of certification, specific coursework taken in preparation for the profession, and teachers' own test scores), with a focus on aspects of teacher quality that can be translated into policy recommendations and incorporated into teaching practice.

Based on a DfES funded study of 300 teachers in 100 primary and secondary schools in England, the authors identify different patterns of influence and effect between groups of teachers, which provide powerful evidence of the complexities of teachers' work, lives, identity and commitment, in relation to their sense of agency, well-being, resilience and pupil attitudes and attainment. This, in turn, provides a clear message for teachers, teachers' associations, school leaders and policy makers internationally, in understanding and supporting the need to build and sustain school and classroom effectiveness.