ABSTRACT
“In a world where education matters more than it ever has before, parents and policymakers alike are asking how to find extraordinary teachers who can help all children acquire the increasingly complex knowledge and skills they need” (Darling-Hammond, 2006a: 4). Teaching quality is a priority in many educational systems around the world (Hardman, 2011; Rink, 2013). Research over the last several decades confirmed the critical role of the teacher in student learning and acknowledged that one of the most significant ways to improve student learning is the quality of teaching (Rink, 2013; Seidel & Shavelson, 2007; Siedentop, 2009). Many scholars have suggested that a key issue to achieving this is to enhance teacher education programs so as to educate high-quality teachers for schools (Ball & Forzani, 2009; Cochran-Smith & Villegas, 2014; Lampert, 2010; Rink, 2007; Siedentop, 2009; Zeichner, 2007). Society expects teachers to be sufficiently knowledgeable in the subjects they teach and proficient in pedagogy. It is therefore vital that teacher education programs are of high quality in order to prepare skilful teachers. As several scholars have emphasized, the primary goal of teacher education should be to ensure that future teachers are capable of producing high-quality learning outcomes for all of their students (Cochran-Smith et al., 2015; Gore, 2001; Rink, 2013; Siedentop, 2009; Zeichner, 2009).
