International Reports on Literacy Research: Teacher Preparation

This article presents the reports from the international research correspondents (IRCs) on the topic of teacher preparation through an informal polling using a questionnaire, consisting of 10 items related to the issue of teacher preparation, in eight countries. The participating IRCs include: (1) Jan Turbill of Australia; (2) Shelley Peterson of Canada; (3) Marta Infante of Chile; (4) Meeli Pandis of Estonia; (5) Anita Poon of Hong Kong; (6) Nasrin Shokrpour of Iran; (7) Chukwu emeka Onukaogu of Nigeria; and (8) Aly Amer of Oman. The first 8 items were rated with a 4-point Likert scale ("not at all, little, much, very much"), whereas the final two questions were open-ended. Here, the authors enumerate the 10 items and present the summaries of the IRCs' results of the 10 questionnaire responses from their constituents together with their own comments. Furthermore, respondents from some countries, such as Estonia and Hong Kong, speak to the challenges of regimentation, while others, notably those from Chile, Iran, and Nigeria, report difficulties in enforcing regulations on a variety of levels. One area in which all regions seem to struggle is supporting the needs of novice teachers. In some countries, such as Australia and Canada, scaffolds in the form of professional development and mentorship are in place, but their use is uneven. From the global interest in this topic and the shifting challenges it engenders, it seems that teacher preparation will remain a key issue internationally.