In pursuit of quality: the challenges and opportunities for teacher education

In response to the Millenium Development Goal of universal primary education, considerable progress has been made, with a greater proportion of children in school in 2014 than at the turn of the century. However, it has been suggested that too many children are emerging from school without the education that they need (Pritchett, 2013). Being at school does not necessarily ensure that learning takes place; a significant challenge for the future is to make sure that more schooling leads to more learning. This paper will argue that improving the quality of teacher education is fundamental to this endeavour. It will explain why teacher education is important, and will examine the challenges and opportunities facing the profession. The use of ICT, the organisation of practicum and the potential impact of the support at a policy level in many countries for more learner-centred approaches to teaching, will be considered in detail. The paper will draw on examples from educational development projects, run by The Open University, including Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA). It will seek to identify some key principles that underpin the development of effective teacher education programmes and some practical steps that would enable the enactment of these principles