Improving initial Teacher Training to improve School Education

The quality of teacher education is gaining a significant role in national and international policy: “The quality of teaching is one key factor in determining whether the European Union can increase its competitiveness in the globalised world. Research shows that teacher quality is significantly and positively correlated with pupil attainment” (European Commission, 2007). It is widely debated how the quality of education systems can be determined by the quality and training of teachers, and by the school organization and financial conditions. At the same time, a great range of monitoring and assessment plans are being developed in the field of the quality of learning and of teacher education system. Some comparative research (McKinsey report How the world's best performing school systems come out on top; OECD-Talis, Teaching and Learning International Survey) have revived the national and international debate regarding teacher education, teacher recruitment process and teacher continuous professional development. This paper aims to present some of the results from these international surveys, to discuss Italian teacher training models, to analyze the importance and at the same time the lack of processes of monitoring in teacher education (system assessment and self-evaluation) and to promote the reflection on pedagogical issues concerning diverse training models.