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The concept of teacher-student rapport is a relatively new concept that pertains to one of the factors in the classroom setting that promotes learning. It enhances the classroom atmosphere and promotes the well-being of students. The objective of our study was to examine the predictive value of teacher-student rapport in higher education on students' active participation in class. The study included a total of 1,682 students who were enrolled in classes taught by 50 instructors across three Slovene public universities. Self-reported measurements to assess teacher-student rapport (Instructor-Student Rapport Scale; Bardorfer & Kavcic, 2020), teachers' effectiveness (Student Evaluation of Educational Quality Scale; Marsh, 1982), autonomously regulated behaviour of students (The Self-Regulation Questionnaire-Academic; Ryan & Connell, 1989) measured by the index of relative autonomy (RAI), and participation levels (Participation Scale; Fassinger, 1995b) were used in the study. The findings from the hierarchical linear modelling analysis revealed that teacher-student rapport significantly predicted students' active participation in class. Establishing rapport between teachers and students therefore presents an effective way of promoting active student participation. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the study on strategies that teachers might employ to foster rapport with students.

This study aims to develop a valid and reliable scale for determining the self-efficacy of teachers toward context-based science education. This study employed a survey design. The sample has formed 433 science teachers working in Kayseri province in the 2020-2021 spring semester. Firstly, an item pool of 85 items was developed by reviewing the literature. Secondly, a five-point Likert-type draft scale consisting of 67 items was developed. Required arrangements have been performed according to expert opinions to provide content validity. Explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses have been run to provide construct validity. As a result of explanatory factor analysis, a structure with four factors as "Learning/Teaching Process", "Self-efficacy Resources", "Academic Self-efficacy" and "Planning Instruction" consisting of 47 items has been reached. Factors have been confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Cronbach Alpha internal consistency coefficient has been calculated as 0.98. To provide criterion validity, the Pearson correlation coefficient has been found as 0.86 between the draft and criteria scales. Based on the findings, researchers have determined that the scale was valid and reliable, and they recommended that this scale should be used to determine self-efficacy beliefs towards context-based learning of science teachers.

During attempts to prevent and control the COVID-19 pandemic in China, higher education programs shifted their traditional educational models to online models. This paper aimed to explore how Chinese universities organized online teaching and learning during the pandemic. It investigated the factors affecting the implementation of online teaching and provided policy recommendations for improving the quality of education in the post-pandemic period. The primary data for this study came from in-depth interviews with nine students and five teaching and administrative staff at eight major universities in mainland China. Literature was obtained in both English and Chinese from January 2020 to September 2021. Peer-reviewed journals, policy reports, and university documents regarding online education in Chinese universities were reviewed, and their challenges and countermeasures were investigated. The paper found that the implementation of online education was affected by various sources, including technologies, teachers' teaching skills, network information literacy, and students' learning motivations and self-directed learning skills. Based on the insiders' views, the paper suggested that to promote the quality of online education in the post-COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutes and programs could develop their infrastructure construction, improve teachers' quality of teaching, and focus on students' learning motivations.

The study aims to investigate the influence of the online professional development (PD) program focused on precollege engineering education on science teachers' teaching engineering self-efficacy. A nested mixed research design was employed to conduct the study, in which the basic qualitative design was integrated into a weak experimental design and data collection was interrelated. The quantitative dimension of the study utilized the engineering teaching self-efficacy scale, while the qualitative dimension utilized the teachers' reflections as a data collection instrument. Fourteen science educators were selected through purposive random sampling in a province in the Black Sea region of Türkiye. The study's results suggested that the self-efficacy of science teachers in teaching engineering was significantly enhanced by the PD program, which focused on engineering education. The qualitative results were consistent with the quantitative results. Considering the study's results, practitioners and researchers were provided with suggestions for future research in the field of teacher education or PD programs.

Higher education institutions continually increase the demands on college instructors. Yet, all too often, many college instructors have had little to no preparation for teaching in higher education. What is needed is a comprehensive and clear list of characteristics expected of effective college teachers, both in-person and online, comprised by those who are focused on studying the subject matter deeply. To assess the characteristics deemed essential for college instructors to possess, a nationwide, modified Delphi technique was employed, eliciting opinions from an established panel of experts. At the conclusion of a three-round Delphi study, 46 of the 55 original items submitted by the panelists reached consensus of agreement. The 46 items were then categorized to establish six overarching themes associated with effective college teaching. The categorized themes and characteristics determined in the study of effective college teachers should be used as a comprehensive and clear list to provide college faculty with expectations of effective teaching. Additional research is needed to convert the items found in this study into an effective college teaching instrument. Such an instrument should be validated for use across academia as a starting point for the development, training, and support of future and current college teachers.

Digital training has significantly transformed the landscape of teacher professional development, introducing various uncertainties. In this context, adaptability can play a crucial role in helping teachers cope with stress and effectively navigate new and changing scenarios. However, existing research on adaptability has not adequately addressed the specific challenges and opportunities presented by digital training, nor has it thoroughly explored the interplay between external factors and individual characteristics. Therefore, this study is based on job demands-resources (JD-R) theory to explore the school-level (school support) and individual-level (perceived value) predictors that influence teachers' digital training adaptability (DTA) and their mechanisms of action through hierarchical linear model. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to 552 teachers from 55 schools who had participated in digital training. The results of multilevel regression analyses show that (1) emotional support and cognitive support have a significant positive effect on teachers' DTA; (2) perceived value plays a mediating role in the relationship among emotional support, cognitive support, and teachers' DTA; and (3) emotional support weakens the relationship between perceived value and teachers' DTA, but cognitive support enhances this relationship. The study discusses these results further to propose feasible recommendations for building a community that improves the support system and adopts evidence-based policy-making to enhance the effectiveness and relevance of training, thereby improving teachers' DTA.

There is continued concern over the inequitable distribution of highly experienced and effective teachers among historically marginalized student populations. Using longitudinal data from Tennessee, this study assesses whether students of racially/ethnically minoritized and economically disadvantaged backgrounds have unequal exposure to teachers based on alternate definitions of teaching quality. We find minoritized and economically disadvantaged students are 5 to 15 percentage points less likely to be exposed to high-quality teachers. These teacher quality gaps tend to be the largest in urban school contexts. Moreover, school-level exposure gaps tend to be associated with several school, district, and neighborhood factors.

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to investigate U.S. preschool teachers' math pedagogical content knowledge in number comparison. Seventy-four in- and pre-service teachers completed a set of scenario-based questions from a researcher-designed questionnaire that is composed of learning scenarios. Through a mixed-method approach, the study revealed the following findings: a considerable portion of participants (89%) successfully identified the concept of number comparison embedded in a learning scenario, showcasing their specialized content knowledge. However, when it came to knowledge of content and students, only 24 participants (32%) were able to pinpoint both a child's mathematical strength and area of need. In terms of knowledge of content and teaching, more than half of the participants (51%) recommended the utilization of hands-on materials and/or visual aids as part of their remediation techniques, while 49% did not reference these educational tools. Notably, no significant differences were observed between the pedagogical content knowledge of pre-and in-service teachers concerning number comparison. Practice or Policy: The findings indicate that teacher education and professional development should focus on helping teachers understand children's learning trajectories on number comparison and include instructions on using concept specific developmentally appropriate strategies, and indicate that teaching experience cannot replace professional training.

Since the Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action in 1994, many countries have been advancing their education systems towards inclusive education. Zimbabwe, being one of the signatories to this framework, is one of the countries that have embraced the concept of inclusive education and has since been making strides towards its advancement albeit rather slowly. The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to examine the self-efficacy levels of Zimbabwean primary, secondary and high school teachers with inclusive education, as well as their attitudes towards the practice. To do this, 100 primary, secondary and high school teachers working in inclusive school settings in the Masvingo province were surveyed using a modified version of the Inclusion Competencies of Sri Lankan Teachers, (ICSLT) instrument. Findings of this study indicated that most of the participating teachers were in support of inclusive education despite not having the requisite preparation to implement it. Based on the findings, specific recommendations are provided for improving preservice teacher preparation and professional development for in-service teachers in support of inclusive education.

This systematic review presents the first synthesis of the scientific literature on estimating school and teacher/class effects on student academic performance using random-effects (RE) models with three or more levels. The review delves into the theoretical framework underpinning the estimation of educational effects, the associated statistical methods, and the empirical findings from multilevel analyses to date. It includes 94 analyses in 32 papers from diverse geographical regions, focusing on both primary and secondary education levels. The findings reveal a broad spectrum of Variance Partition Coefficients (VPCs) from RE models, highlighting the variability in the impact of school and teacher/class levels on student outcomes. The review emphasizes the necessity for comprehensive and diverse datasets, particularly the inclusion of detailed teacher-level data in African studies and the utilization of robust official educational databases in Chinese research. It also acknowledges the contributions of Latin American countries in advancing multilevel modeling and the holistic approach to educational analysis demonstrated in Cyprus. The conclusions underscore the importance of contextualizing educational policies and practices based on the multifaceted influences on student performance. The review calls for future research to expand data collection efforts, adopt standardized reporting practices, and explore advanced statistical techniques to address methodological challenges and approximate causal relationships more accurately.

Relying on the social cognitive theory, which postulates that human behaviour is due to social experiences and cognitive interpretation, the current study seeks to investigate the mediating role of collective teacher efficacy (CTE) in the relationship between principals' systems thinking (PST) and school effectiveness in terms of academic emphasis and student academic achievement after accounting for students' socioeconomic backgrounds. A three-source survey design with self-report and non-self-report data was used, from a sample of 423 participants from 71 elementary schools in Israel. The sample included school management team (SMT) members and teachers who were not SMT members. Data were aggregated at the school level of analysis. The results from structural equation modelling and bootstrapping analysis indicated that CTE partially mediates the relationship between PST and academic emphasis, irrespective of the students' socioeconomic backgrounds. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

This study focused on the relationships between teacher characteristics and students' mathematics achievement in EU countries, including Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, Sweden, and Turkey, which are the only EU countries participated in TIMSS 2015 at the eighth-grade level. The data consisted of the sample of 31,969 eighth-grade students and their teachers (n = 1687) in TIMSS 2015. The "Qualities of Effective Teachers" were used as a conceptual framework for variable selection and 24 teacher characteristics were tested across these EU countries through Hierarchical Linear Modeling technique (HLM). As a result, 17 characteristics suggested as effective by previous researchers were found to have significant relationships with students' mathematics achievement in the pooled sample while there were discrepancies when investigating countries individually. The characteristics found to have non-significant, or negatively-significant relationships as well as the discrepancies in the individual countries raised concerns regarding the implementation of these characteristics in the classroom environments, along with the scope of the study.

Given the crucial role of feedback in supporting learning in higher education, understanding the factors influencing feedback effectiveness is imperative. Student feedback literacy, that is, the set of attitudes and abilities to make sense of and utilize feedback is therefore considered a key concept. Rigorous investigations of feedback literacy require psychometrically sound measurement. To this end, the present paper reports on the development and initial validation (N = 221) of a self-report instrument. Grounded in the conceptual literature and building on previous scale validation efforts, an initial overinclusive item pool is generated. Exploratory factor analysis and the Rasch measurement model yield adequate psychometric properties of an initial scale measuring two dimensions: feedback attitudes and feedback practices with a total of 21 items. We further provide evidence for criterion-related validity. Findings are discussed in light of the emerging feedback literacy literature and avenues for further improvement of the scale are reported.

This study investigates the primary factors influencing school achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic from students' perspectives. The pandemic exacerbated educational inequalities, emphasizing the essential role of teacher effectiveness in boosting student achievement and the significant impact of remote learning challenges. Using focus groups with 74 Portuguese students, this study explores how teacher quality, student engagement, and personal effort contribute to academic success. Results reveal that students credit their success to effective teachers but take personal responsibility for poor performance. Despite literature suggesting the importance of educational leadership, students perceived daily interactions with teachers as more influential. The transition to online learning posed significant challenges, including access to materials and technical issues, which affected student engagement and well-being. Students expressed the need for better workload management and varied assessment methods.

This study, which employs a cluster random selection method, investigates the intricate levels and varied dimensions of teaching effectiveness among higher education instructors, with a specific focus on discerning statistical variations based on gender. Questionnaires were administered to 300 students using this method, aiming to capture diverse perspectives on teacher effectiveness within tertiary institutions. Objectives include examining teaching effectiveness levels, exploring gender-based statistical variations, identifying influential sub-indicators, and contributing novel insights to existing knowledge. The research assesses teaching effectiveness across constructs such as subject matter expertise, teaching planning, learning environment, overview, and effective communication. The justification for this study lies in the evolving dynamics of higher education, and its gender-responsive analysis adds a unique dimension. By emphasising subject matter expertise, the research provides practical insights for educators and institutions aiming to enhance teaching effectiveness. This study contributes to current knowledge by offering a detailed examination of multifaceted aspects of teaching effectiveness, thereby enriching our understanding of effective teaching practices in higher education.

Although data-based individualization (DBI) has positive effects on learning outcomes for students with learning difficulties, this framework can be difficult for teachers to implement due to its complexity and contextual barriers. The first aim of this synthesis was to investigate the effects of ongoing professional development (PD) support for DBI on teachers' DBI knowledge, skills, beliefs, and fidelity and the achievement of preschool to Grade 12 students with academic difficulties. The second aim was to report on characteristics of this support and explore whether features were associated with effects. We identified 26 studies, 16 and 22 of which examined teacher and student outcomes, respectively. Meta-analyses indicated that the weighted mean effect size for DBI with ongoing support for teachers was g = 0.86 (95% confidence interval [CI] = [0.43, 1.28], p < 0.001, I2 = 83.74%, k = 46) and g = 0.31 for students (95% CI = [0.19, 0.42], p < 0.001, I2 = 61.38%, k = 103). We did not identify moderators of treatment effects. However, subset effects were descriptively larger for ongoing support that targeted data-based instructional changes or included collaborative problem-solving. Researchers may improve future DBI PD by focusing on support for teachers' instructional changes, describing support practices in greater detail, and advancing technological supports.

Within neoliberal regimes of educational performativity, expectations of teachers' work have become increasingly prescriptive, standardised and formulaic. To counter the reductive effects of this 'exteriority' of influence over teachers' work, we draw on three conceptual prompts--"relational pedagogy," "informality," and de Certeau's theorisation of "strategies and tactics"--to examine empirical accounts of teachers who challenge the normative expectations of their work. We contend that teachers who seek to work beyond the restrictions of neoliberal educational managerialism engage in deliberate acts of tactical intervention, which involve the deployment of relational and informal modes of engagement with students and other educators. In doing so, teachers can more fully assert their professionalism and nurture important relational bonds with students in ways that respond to the contingent nature of classrooms in rich and contextually meaningful ways.

Numerous studies have discussed the "ethics of care" and "safe learning environments" in relation to educational experiences. Yet, there is a dearth of literature on such aspects in vocational, non-western higher education contexts. This paper examines how students and teachers view entanglements of the ethics of care and safe learning environments in forming notions of "teaching effectiveness" in Indonesian vocational higher education settings. Utilising interview data from students and teachers in Indonesian higher education vocational institutions, the study draws upon Hofstede et al. Dimensions of National Cultures and Faranda and Clarke's framework of effective teaching. The findings illuminate "balanced power distance," "communicative participation" and "pedagogy of care" as fundamentals of the ethics of care that correspond with notions of safe learning environments to inform effective teaching in the Indonesian higher education vocational space. Illustrating social-educational contestations in the vocational classroom, implications suggest the need to minimise the existing large teacher-student power distance and transform the role of teachers as 'object-givers' and students as 'object-takers' into caring partnerships that promote vocational knowledge and practice. The study holds promise for educators, teacher educators and policymakers seeking to buttress support for ethical caring initiatives to enhance teaching effectiveness in the vocational non-western space.

This autoethnography explored how two third-grade dual language teacher partners (English/Spanish) managed challenges such as lack of leadership support, testing pressures, and English hegemony, to help their students grow personally and academically. Autoethnography was chosen as a method because it enables researchers to write evocatively through vivid images and powerful emotions, thus presenting a rich description of the world and its actors. Data collected in the study included reflections on memories, artifacts (pictures), and interviews. The author used a narrative and recursive process in which data generation and analysis occurred simultaneously throughout the writing process. The most salient and illustrative field notebook entries were selected to include in the final manuscript. Findings showed that teachers' cariño practices allowed them to exercise agency and to build strong teacher-student relationships. Cariño practices counteracted test-centric pressures, creating a safe learning environment that improved students' behavior and academic achievement. Safe classroom environments can be created through cariño practices, teacher agency, and positive teacher-student relationships. Trust and positive teacher-teacher relationships were also important contributors to student achievement. Finally, it was found that teacher agency not only impacted students' academic and behavioral growth but also improved teachers' abilities to deal with pressures and stress.

We designed and implemented an innovative teacher learning activity within the context of a graduate course. Course-takers created and completed a teaching demonstration and their "students" (i.e., fellow course-takers) were each assigned a specific role to play (e.g., disengaged) in order to provide the "teachers" with opportunities to practice their classroom management skills. After completing the demonstrations, the course-takers completed an assessment of their own and their colleagues' teaching effectiveness and their attitudes toward the role-playing activity. Overall, course-takers reported that they learned valuable teaching skills and generally enjoyed the role-playing activity. Such role-playing activities can safely provide developing teachers with opportunities to practice various pedagogical strategies, while simultaneously helping them sharpen their classroom management skills.

The transition to virtual learning resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic drastically altered the work of many teachers. Despite the expansion of remote instruction, more research is needed to demonstrate what works for classroom management during virtual learning. We report the findings from an online survey related to online classroom management. Nearly 300 educators from 30 states completed the survey. We examined special and general education teachers' perceived knowledge, use, and effectiveness of evidence-based classroom management practices translated for remote instruction and report findings related to self-efficacy when managing classrooms online. Results provide empirical support for the application of established classroom management practices in virtual learning contexts. Differences between special and general educators are explored and implications for special educator training and professional development are discussed.

The aim of the study is to examine the correlation between innate (neuroticism and openness) and environmental (self-esteem and emotional regulation strategies) personality traits and the attitudes' assessment toward active listening (AL) among early childhood educators in Israel. Accordingly, this study presents a multipath analysis model exploring the correlations between all those variables. In this study, AL was evaluated using the active listening attitude scale (ALAS) questionnaire, which measures a person-centered attitude through three key factors: "listening attitude," which identifies values that support active listening; "listening skill," which represents the technical expression of active listening; and "conversation opportunity," which identifies listening situations conducive to AL. AL is perceived as an interpersonal communication skill that encourages listeners to integrate multi-sensory and cognitive processes to produce positive and supportive outcomes. To facilitate AL, listeners should be emotionally stable, well-regulated, and possess high self-esteem. Early educators have a decisive influence on children's behavior, so this study examines personality traits and the educators' perception toward active listening. A survey conducted among 390 early childhood educators, both female and male, indicated that both innate and environmental emotional traits correlate with two major factors of AL: "listening attitude" and "listening skill." The path analysis model supports the perception that an effective and supportive listener must have a stable, open and curious emotional foundation, along with emotional regulation skills and high self-esteem.

Background: Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are used to assess faculty performance, but prior research has identified sources of bias in the completion and interpretation of SETs. Objective: We investigated how SET ratings and comments about quizzes are interpreted by faculty and undergraduates. Method: Participants made judgments about teaching effectiveness after reviewing a fictional professor's SETs. SETs varied in whether the professor was rated lower or higher than the departmental average using quantitative measures, and whether qualitative comments about the professor mentioned daily quizzes. Results: In Experiment 1, more positive evaluations were provided for SETs with higher ratings, whereas comments about quizzing minimally influenced evaluations; this pattern was similar for student and faculty responses. In Experiment 2, qualitative comments were presented in isolation. Student participants provided more positive evaluations for some measures of teaching effectiveness when regular quizzing was mentioned in student comments. Conclusion: Quantitative SET ratings may overshadow qualitative comments about effective teaching practices yet qualitative ratings presented alone reveal some association between quizzing and evaluations of teaching. Teaching Implications: SET interpretation should focus on effective pedagogy such as quizzing, which can aid student learning. We found no evidence that comments about quizzing lowered perceptions of teaching effectiveness.

The construction of a "double qualified-teacher" teacher team in higher education institutions is the key to improving the quality of talent cultivation, and the research on the structure and mechanism of double qualified-teacher quality and ability is of great value to the deepening of theory and practical application. This study empirically explores the connotation structure and influence mechanism of double qualified-teacher quality and competence by adopting the Modified Formal Delphi Method and Structural Equation Modeling. Through expert interviews and SPSS data analysis, a diamond model of the connotative structure of "double qualified-teacher" teacher quality and competence is proposed, including four dimensions of professional knowledge, professional ethics, teaching and practice ability, and educational philosophy, with 32 subdivided items. The structural equation modeling method was used to study the key factors affecting double qualified-teacher quality and competence formation. The principle of interaction between the factors and the results showed that the teacher's "motivation to participate" as an intrinsic factor is important for the effectiveness of training methods and the improvement of double-qualified teacher quality and competence. The results show that teachers' motivation to participate, as an intrinsic factor, has a significant positive effect on both "effectiveness of training methods" and "enhancement of double qualified-teacher competence," while "effectiveness of training methods," as an extrinsic factor, has a significant positive effect on "enhancement of double qualified-teacher competence." From the perspective of explicit variables, improving the teachers' teaching ability and the students' progress have the greatest influence on the motivation to participate, and theory and practice training and professional competition have a more pronounced influence on the training effect.

As the student population continues to become more culturally diverse, it is imperative for teachers to cultivate greater self-efficacy in their instructional practices. To gain a clearer picture of the association between teacher education and multicultural self-efficacy, we conducted a multilevel modeling analysis on data from TALIS 2018. Our study revealed a strong correlation between teachers' self-efficacy in general and their multicultural self-efficacy while highlighting significant differences between the two constructs. We also found that teachers who received multicultural education during their initial teacher education and professional development demonstrated higher levels of multicultural self-efficacy. However, the impact of initial teacher education and professional development was relatively modest. The practical implications for teacher training and policymaking as well as for future research are discussed.

Purpose: This study introduces a policy with great strategic significance and far-reaching impact by analyzing the background, measures, and future development trends of teacher evaluation reform in China. Design/Approach/Methods: This study primarily conducts a policy text analysis of the section on teacher evaluation of the "Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of Educational Evaluation in the New Era". Findings: The "Overall Plan for Deepening the Reform of Educational Evaluation in the New Era" was drafted to enhance the quality of Chinese teachers and address many problems in teacher evaluation. It comprised four sections: teachers' professional ethics, teaching effectiveness, evaluation models and methods, and honorary titles. The policy has distinctive features such as the high status and authority of the issuing body, a holistic and systematic nature, and an orientation toward practical issues. This article proposes three major policy foresights: promoting implementation through the force of political trends, giving schools autonomy in teacher evaluations, and implementing progressive reforms. Originality/Value: This study conducted a specialist analysis of the policy in combination with the real scenario and institutional environment of Chinese teacher evaluation, which could encourage international peers to better understand Chinese teacher evaluation policies and promote policy learning and dissemination internationally.

In the modern industrial revolution, this study looks at how education and curriculum development work together. It does this by looking at the Philippine educational system in particular. The project looks into ways to make curricula more flexible and able to change to changing technology and social and economic needs. The study uses a qualitative research method and involves talking to five teachers from a range of school backgrounds. The interviews aim to explore their experiences and perspectives on curriculum modifications, educational gaps, and the incorporation of technology in teaching. The findings emphasized the need for curricular improvements that integrate technological advancements, promote educational equity, and improve teaching effectiveness. The paper introduces a novel educational framework called "Education 6.0" that seeks to synchronize curricular goals with the ever-changing needs of the global environment. This framework prioritized a transition towards a comprehensive and flexible approach to education, facilitating the acquisition of skills that are applicable to forthcoming societal and economic concerns.

School heads or principals have various roles in developing school quality, which can often be stressful. In this study we investigated principals' perceptions of quality schools, the practices performed to improve quality, and the stress and support factors involved. We adopted a qualitative inductive content analysis approach to analyse the transcribed data collected from 14 principals of senior high schools in the Volta region of Ghana. The findings show that principals perceive quality schools as having high academic performance, quality teachers, and adequate resources coordinated in a well-organised system. Furthermore, the results reveal practices that principals perform to improve school quality, such as promoting staff professional development, supporting students' intellectual and skills development, supervising teachers, and providing resources. On the other hand, supervision, non-cooperation of some teachers, inadequate resources, and administrative bureaucracy were revealed as causes of stress in improving school quality. Facing these challenges, the principals relied on their academic qualifications and experiences when engaging in practices to improve school quality. We recommend further research on the possibility of principals using technology to monitor the presence of teachers in classrooms from their offices.

Purpose: This study elucidates the rationale, implementation, values, and challenges of the Synergized Quality Improvement Program in Teacher Education (SQIPTE)--the first policy specifically dedicated to the development of teaching staff since the founding of the People's Republic of China. Design/Approach/Methods: After introducing the primary structure and rationale of the SQIPTE, this study reviews the existing data and research to explain why the program focuses on local normal colleges and determine how it could be implemented more effectively. Findings: In establishing group-based assistance under the principle of "1 + M + N" (M [greater than or equal to] N), the SQIPTE seeks to make normal colleges the primary force in the education of rural teachers and explores a collaborative operating mechanism to this end. Evidence suggests that this innovative program will provide new practical experience for the collaborative development and quality improvement of teachers. Originality/Value: This study reviews the SQIPTE as a new Chinese intervention to improve the quality of rural teachers. There is strong evidence to suggest that this innovative program will inspire the construction of collaborative operating mechanisms incorporating multiple resources for teacher education systems across different areas.