PHILIPPINE PROFESSIO NAL

STANDARDS FOR TEACHE RS

(PPST)

NATIONAL ADOPTION AND

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PHILIPPINE
PROFESSIONAL STANDAR DS FOR
TEACHERS
ndersecretaries
Assistant Secretaries
Bureau and Service Directors
Regional Directors
Schools Division Superintendents
Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Schools Heads
All Others Concerned

1. In line with the new professional standards for teachers, the Department of
Education (DepEd), through the Teacher Education Council (TEC), issues this
DepEd Order entitled National Adoption and Implementation of the Philippine
Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST).

2. The DepEd recognizes the importance of professional standards in the

continuing professional development and advancement of teachers based on the
principle of lifelong learning. It is committed to supporting teachers, and taking
cognizance of unequivocal evidence that good teachers are vital to raising
student achievement. Quality learning is contingent upon quality teaching. Hence,
enhancing teacher quality becomes of utmost importance for long term and
sustainable nation building.

3. The changes brought about by various national and global frameworks such as
the K to 12 Reform, ASEAN Integration, globalization, and the changing character
of the 21st century learners necessitate the improvements and call for the
rethinking of the National Competency-Based Teacher Standards (NCBTS);
hence, the development of the PPST.
4. The PPST aims to:

a. set out clear expectations of teachers along well-defined career stages of

professional development from beginning to distinguished practice;

b. engage teachers to actively embrace a continuing effort in attaining proficiency;

and

c. apply a uniform measure to assess teacher performance, identify needs, a nd

provide support for professional development.

5. The PPST shall be used as a basis for all learning and development programs
for teachers to ensure that teachers are properly equipped to effectively
implement the K to 12 Program. It can also be used for the selection and
promotion of teachers. All performance appraisals for teachers shall be based on
this set of standards.

6. The regional offices shall be supported by their training and development

personnel to organize and orient all the schools divisions within their jurisdiction
for the PPST. In addition, it shall take charge of the monitoring and evaluation at
the division level implementation. The schools division office shall have the same
functions and responsibilities in the school districts and secondary schools.

7. Reporting of the orientation and related activities shall be done by the regional
office to the Office of the Secretary through the Teacher Education Council.

8. Immediate dissemination of and strict compliance with this Order is direc ted.

LEONOR MAGTOLIS BRIONES

Secretary
 INTRODUCTION

ROLE OF TEACHERS
Teachers play a crucial role in nation building. Through quality teachers, the
Philippines can develop holistic learners who are steeped in values, equipped
with 21st century skills, and able to propel the country to development and
progress. This is in consonance with the Department of Education vision of
producing: “Filipinos who passionately love their country and whose values and
competencies enable them to realize their full potential and contribute
meaningfully to building the nation” (DepED Order No. 36, s. 2013).

Evidences show unequivocally that good teachers are vital to raising student
achievement, i.e., quality learning is contingent upon quality teaching. Hence,
enhancing teacher quality becomes of utmost importance for long-term and
sustainable nation building.

The changes brought about by various national and global frameworks such as
the K to 12 Reform and the ASEAN integration, globalization, and the changing
character of the 21st century learners necessitate improvement and adaptability
of education, and a call for the rethinking of the current teacher standards.

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS

The Philippine Government has consistently pursued teacher quality reform s
through a number of initiatives. As a framework of teacher quality, the National
Competency-Based Teacher Standards (NCBTS) was institutionalized through
CHED Memorandum Order No. 52, s. 2007 and DepED Order No. 32, s. 2009. It
emerged as part of the implementation of the Basic Education Sector Reform
Agenda (BESRA), and was facilitated by drawing on the learning considerations
of programs, such as the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM), the
Strengthening Implementation of Visayas Education (STRIVE) project and the
Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP).

The K to 12 Reform (R.A. 10533) in 2013 has changed the landscape of teacher
quality requirements in the Philippines. The reform process warrants an
equivalent supportive focus on teacher quality – high quality teachers who are
properly equipped and prepared to assume the roles and functions of a K to 12
teacher.
The Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers, which is built on NCBTS,
complements the reform initiatives on teacher quality from pre-service education
to in-service training. It articulates what constitutes teacher quality in the K to 12
Reform through well-defined domains, strands, and indicators that provide
measures of professional learning, competent practice, and effective
engagement. This set of standards makes explicit what teachers should know, be
able to do and value to achieve competence, improved student learning
outcomes, and eventually quality education. It is founded on teaching
philosophies of learner-centeredness, lifelong learning, and
inclusivity/inclusiveness, among others. The professional standards, therefore,
become a public statement of professional accountability that can help teachers
reflect on and assess their own practices as they aspire for personal g rowth and
professional development.

TEACHER QUALITY IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers defines teacher quality in the
Philippines. The standards describe the expectations of teachers’ increasing
levels of knowledge, practice and professional engagement. At the same time, the
standards allow for teachers’ growing understanding, applied with increasing
sophistication across a broader and more complex range of teaching/learning
situations.

The following describes the breadth of 7 Domains that are required by teachers to
be effective in the 21st Century in the Philippines. Quality teachers in the
Philippines need to possess the following characteristics:

 recognize the importance of mastery of content knowledge and its

interconnectedness within and across curriculum areas, coupled with a sound and
critical understanding of the application of theories and principles of teaching and
learning. They apply developmentally appropriate and meaningful pedagogy
grounded on content knowledge and current research. They display proficiency in
Mother Tongue, Filipino and English to facilitate the teaching and learning process,
as well as exhibit the needed skills in the use of communication strategies,
teaching strategies and technologies to promote high-quality learning outcomes.

 provide learning environments that are safe, secure, fair and supportive in order to
promote learner responsibility and achievement. They create an environment that is
learning-focused and they efficiently manage learner behavior in a physical and
virtual space. They utilize a range of resources and provide intellectually
challenging and stimulating activities to encourage constructive classroom
interactions geared towards the attainment of high standards of learning.
 establish learning environments that are responsive to learner diversity. They
respect learners’ diverse characteristics and experiences as inputs to the planning
and design of learning opportunities. They encourage the celebration of diversity in
the classroom and the need for teaching practices that are differentiated to
encourage all learners to be successful citizens in a changing local and global
environment.

 interact with the national and local curriculum requirements. They translate
curriculum content into learning activities that are relevant to learners and based on
the principles of effective teaching and learning. They apply their professional
knowledge to plan and design, individually or in collaboration with colleagues, well -
structured and sequenced lessons that are contextually relevant, responsive to
learners’ needs and incorporate a range of teaching and learning resources. They
communicate learning goals to support learner participation, understanding and
achievement.

 apply a variety of assessment tools and strategies in monitoring, evaluating,

documenting and reporting learners’ needs, progress and achievement. They use
assessment data in a variety of ways to inform and enhance the teaching and
learning process and programs. They provide learners with the necessary feedback
about learning outcomes that informs the reporting cycle and enables teachers to
select, organize and use sound assessment processes.

 establish school-community partnerships aimed at enriching the learning

environment, as well as the community’s engagement in the educative process.
They identify and respond to opportunities that link teaching and learning in the
classroom to the experiences, interests and aspirations of the wider school
community and other key stakeholders. They understand and fulfill their obligations
in upholding professional ethics, accountability and transparency to promote
professional and harmonious relationships with learners, parents, schools and the
wider community.

 value personal growth and professional development and exhibit high personal
regard for the profession by maintaining qualities that uphold the dignity of teaching
such as caring attitude, respect and integrity. They value personal and professional
reflection and learning to improve their practice. They assume responsibility for
personal growth and professional development for lifelong learning.
 THE 7 DOMAINS COLLECTIVELY
COMPRISE 37 STRANDS THAT REFER TO
MORE SPECIFIC DIMENSIONS OF
TEACHER PRACTICES.

DOMAIN 1, CONTENT KNOWLEDGE AND

PEDAGOGY, IS COMPOSE D OF SEVEN
STRANDS:
1. Content knowledge and its application within and across curriculum areas

2. Research-based knowledge and principles of teaching and learning

3. Positive use of ICT

4. Strategies for promoting literacy and numeracy

5. Strategies for developing critical and creative thinking, as well as other higher -order
thinking skills

6. Mother Tongue, Filipino and English in teaching and learning

7. Classroom communication strategies

DOMAIN 2, LEARNING ENVIRONMENT,

CONSISTS OF SIX STRANDS:
1. Learner safety and security

2. Fair learning environment

3. Management of classroom structure and activities

4. Support for learner participation

5. Promotion of purposive learning

6. Management of learner behavior

DOMAIN 3, DIVERSITY OF LEARNERS,
CONSISTS OF FIVE STRANDS:
1. Learners’ gender, needs, strengths, interests and experiences

2. Learners’ linguistic, cultural, socio-economic and religious backgrounds

3. Learners with disabilities, giftedness and talents

4. Learners in difficult circumstances

5. Learners from indigenous groups

DOMAIN 4, CURRICULUM AND PLANNING,

INCLUDES FIVE STRANDS:
1. Planning and management of teaching and learning process

2. Learning outcomes aligned with learning competencies

3. Relevance and responsiveness of learning programs

4. Professional collaboration to enrich teaching practice

5. Teaching and learning resources including ICT

DOMAIN 5, ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING, IS

COMPOSED OF FIVE STRANDS:
1. Design, selection, organization and utilization of assessment strategies

2. Monitoring and evaluation of learner progress and achievement

3. Feedback to improve learning

4. Communication of learner needs, progress and achievement to key stakeholders

5. Use of assessment data to enhance teaching and learning practices and programs
DOMAIN 6, COMMUNITY LINKAGES AND
PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT, CONSISTS OF
FOUR STRANDS:
1. Establishment of learning environments that are responsive to community contexts

2. Engagement of parents and the wider school community in the educative process

3. Professional ethics

4. School policies and procedures

DOMAIN 7, PERSONAL GROWTH AND

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, CONTAINS
FIVE STRANDS:
1. Philosophy of teaching

2. Dignity of teaching as a profession

3. Professional links with colleagues

4. Professional reflection and learning to improve practice

5. Professional development goals

CAREER STAGES
Teacher professional development happens in a continuum from beginning to
exemplary practice. Anchored on the principle of lifelong learning, the set of
professional standards for teachers recognizes the significance of a standards
framework that articulates developmental progression as teachers develop, refine
their practice and respond to the complexities of educational reforms.

The following statements, which define the work of teachers at different career
stages, make explicit the elements of high-quality teaching for the 21st century.
They comprise descriptors that have been informed by teachers’ understandings
of what is required at each of the four Career Stages. The descriptors represent a
continuum of development within the profession by providing a basis for
attracting, preparing, developing and supporting teachers.
Career Stage 1 or Beginning Teachers have gained the qualifications
recognized for entry into the teaching profession. They have a strong
understanding of the subjects/areas in which they are trained in terms of content
knowledge and pedagogy. They possess the requisite knowledge, skills and
values that support the teaching and learning process. They manage learning
programs and have strategies that promote learning based on the learning needs
of their students. They seek advice from experienced colleagues to consolidate
their teaching practice.

Career Stage 2 or Proficient Teachers are professionally independent in the

application of skills vital to the teaching and learning process. They provide
focused teaching programs that meet curriculum and assessment requirements.
They display skills in planning, implementing, and managing learning programs.
They actively engage in collaborative learning with the professional community
and other stakeholders for mutual growth and advancement. They are reflective
practitioners who continually consolidate the knowledge, skills and practices of
Career Stage 1 teachers.

Career Stage 3 or Highly Proficient Teachers consistently display a high level

of performance in their teaching practice. They manifest an in -depth and
sophisticated understanding of the teaching and learning process. They have high
education-focused situation cognition, are more adept in problem solving and
optimize opportunities gained from experience. Career Stage 3 Teachers work
collaboratively with colleagues and provide them support and mentoring to
enhance their learning and practice. They continually seek to develop their
professional knowledge and practice by reflecting on their own needs, and those
of their colleagues and students.

Career Stage 4 or Distinguished Teachers embody the highest standard for

teaching grounded in global best practices. They exhibit exceptional capacity to
improve their own teaching practice and that of others. They are recognized as
leaders in education, contributors to the profession and initiators of collaborations
and partnerships. They create lifelong impact in the lives of colleagues, students
and others. They consistently seek professional advancement and relevance in
pursuit of teaching quality and excellence. They exhibit commitment to inspire the
education community and stakeholders for the improvement of education
provision in the Philippines.
 DOMAINS/ STRANDS/ INDICATORS FOR
DIFFERENT CAREER STAGES

DOMAIN 1. CONTENT KNOWLEDGE AND

PEDAGOGY
Domain 1 recognizes the importance of teachers’ mastery of content knowledge
and its interconnectedness within and across curriculum areas, coupled with a
sound and critical understanding of the application of theories and principles of
teaching and learning. This Domain encompasses teachers’ ability to apply
developmentally appropriate and meaningful pedagogy grounded on content
knowledge and current research. It takes into account teachers’ proficiency in
Mother Tongue, Filipino and English in the teaching and learning process, as well
as needed skills in the use of communication strategies, teaching strategies, and
technologies to promote high-quality learning outcomes.

Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teachers
Teachers

Strand 1.1 1.1.1 Demonstrate 1.1.2 Apply 1.1.3 Model effective 1.1.4 Model exemplary
Content content knowledge knowledge of applications of practice to improve the
knowledge and its and its application content within and content knowledge applications of content
application within within and/or across across curriculum within and across knowledge within and
and across curriculum teaching teaching areas. curriculum teaching across curriculum
curriculum areas areas. areas. teaching areas.

Strand 1.2 1.2.1 Demonstrate an 1.2.2 Use research- 1.2.3 Collaborate with 1.2.4 Lead colleagues in
Research-based understanding of based knowledge colleagues in the the advancement of the
knowledge and research-based and principles of conduct and art and science of
principles of knowledge and teaching and application of teaching based on their
teaching and principles of teaching learning to enhance research to enrich comprehensive
learning and learning. professional knowledge of content knowledge of research
practice. and pedagogy. and pedagogy.

Strand 1.3 1.3.1 Show skills in 1.3.2 Ensure the 1.3.3 Promote 1.3.4 Mentor
Positive use of ICT the positive use of positive use of ICT effective strategies in colleagues in the
ICT to facilitate the to facilitate the the positive use of ICT implementation of
 Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teachers
Teachers

teaching and learning teaching and to facilitate the policies to ensure the
process. learning process. teaching and learning positive use of ICT
process. within or beyond the
school.

Strand 1.4 1.4.1 Demonstrate 1.4.2 Use a range of 1.4.3 Evaluate with 1.4.4 Model a
Strategies for knowledge of teaching strategies colleagues the comprehensive
promoting literacy teaching strategies that enhance effectiveness of selection of effective
and numeracy that promote literacy learner teaching strategies teaching strategies that
and numeracy skills. achievement in that promote learner promote learner
literacy and achievement in achievement in literacy
numeracy skills. literacy and and numeracy.
numeracy.

Strand 1.5 1.5.1 Apply teaching 1.5.2 Apply a range 1.5.3 Develop and 1.5.4 Lead colleagues in
Strategies for strategies that of teaching apply effective reviewing, modifying
developing critical develop critical and strategies to teaching strategies to and expanding their
and creative creative thinking, develop critical and promote critical and range of teaching
thinking, as well and/or other higher- creative thinking, as creative thinking, as strategies that promote
as other higher- order thinking skills. well as other higher- well as other higher- critical and creative
order thinking order thinking skills. order thinking skills. thinking, as well as
skills other higher-order
thinking skills.

Strand 1.6 1.6.1 Use Mother 1.6.2 Display 1.6.3 Model and 1.6.4 Show exemplary
Mother Tongue, Tongue, Filipino and proficient use of support colleagues in skills in and advocate
Filipino and English to facilitate Mother Tongue, the proficient use of the use of Mother
English in teaching and Filipino and English Mother Tongue, Tongue, Filipino and
teaching and learning. to facilitate teaching Filipino and English to English in teaching and
learning and learning. improve teaching and learning to facilitate the
learning, as well as to learners' language,
develop the learners' cognitive and academic
pride of their development and to
language, heritage foster pride of their
and culture. language, heritage and
culture.
 Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teachers
Teachers

Strand 1.7 1.7.1 Demonstrate an 1.7.2 Use effective 1.7.3 Display a wide 1.7.4 Exhibit exemplary
Classroom understanding of the verbal and non- range of effective practice in the use of
communication range of verbal and verbal classroom verbal and non-verbal effective verbal and
strategies non-verbal classroom communication classroom non-verbal classroom
communication strategies to communication communication
strategies that support learner strategies to support strategies to support
support learner understanding, learner learner understanding,
understanding, participation, understanding, participation,
participation, engagement and participation, engagement and
engagement and achievement. engagement and achievement in
achievement. achievement. different learning
contexts.

DOMAIN 2. LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Domain 2 highlights the role of teachers to provide learning environments that are
safe, secure, fair and supportive in order to promote learner responsibility and
achievement. This Domain centers on creating an environment that is learning -
focused and in which teachers efficiently manage learner behavior in a physical
and virtual space. It highlights the need for teachers to utilize a range of
resources and provide intellectually challenging and stimulating activities to
encourage constructive classroom interactions geared towards the attainment of
high standards of learning.

Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teachers
Teachers

Strand 2.1 2.1.1 Demonstrate 2.1.2 Establish safe 2.1.3 Exhibit effective 2.1.4 Apply
Learner safety knowledge of and secure learning strategies that ensure comprehensive
and security policies, guidelines environments to safe and secure knowledge of and act as
and procedures that enhance learning learning environments a resource person for,
provide safe and through the to enhance learning policies, guidelines and
consistent through the consistent procedures that relate to
 Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teachers
Teachers

secure learning implementation of implementation of the implementation of

environments. policies, guidelines policies, guidelines and safe and secure learning
and procedures. procedures. environments for
learners.

Strand 2.2 2.2.1 Demonstrate 2.2.2 Maintain 2.2.3 Exhibit effective 2.2.4 Advocate and
Fair learning understanding of learning practices to foster facilitate the use of
environment learning environments that learning environments effective practices to
environments that promote fairness, that promote fairness, foster learning
promote fairness, respect and care to respect and care to environments that
respect and care to encourage learning. encourage learning. promote fairness,
encourage learning. respect and care to
encourage learning.

Strand 2.3 2.3.1 Demonstrate 2.3.2 Manage 2.3.3 Work with 2.3.4 Model exemplary
Management knowledge of classroom structure colleagues to model practices in the
of classroom managing classroom to engage learners, and share effective management of
structure and structure that individually or in techniques in the classroom structure and
activities engages learners, groups, in management of activities, and lead
individually or in meaningful classroom structure to colleagues at the whole-
groups, in exploration, engage learners, school level to review
meaningful discovery and hands- individually or in and evaluate their
exploration, on activities within a groups, in meaningful practices.
discovery and hands- range of physical exploration, discovery
on activities within learning and hands-on activities
the available environments. within a range of
physical learning physical learning
environments. environments.

Strand 2.4 2.4.1 Demonstrate 2.4.2 Maintain 2.4.3 Work with 2.4.4 Facilitate processes
Support for understanding of supportive learning colleagues to share to review the
learner supportive learning environments that successful strategies effectiveness of the
participation environments that nurture and inspire that sustain supportive school's learning
nurture and inspire learners to learning environments environment to nurture
learner participation. participate, that nurture and inspire and inspire learner
cooperate and learners to participate, participation.
cooperate and
 Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teachers
Teachers

collaborate in collaborate in
continued learning. continued learning.

Strand 2.5 2.5.1 Demonstrate 2.5.2 Apply a range 2.5.3 Model successful 2.5.4 Lead and empower
Promotion of knowledge of of successful strategies and support colleagues in promoting
purposive learning strategies that colleagues in promoting learning environments
learning environments that maintain learning learning environments that effectively motivate
motivate learners to environments that that effectively learners to achieve
work productively by motivate learners to motivate learners to quality outcomes by
assuming work productively by work productively by assuming responsibility
responsibility for assuming assuming responsibility for their own learning.
their own learning. responsibility for for their own learning.
their own learning.

Strand 2.6 2.6.1 Demonstrate 2.6.2 Manage learner 2.6.3 Exhibit effective 2.6.4 Provide leadership
Management knowledge of behavior and constructive in applying a wide range
of learner positive and non- constructively by behavior management of strategies in the
behavior violent discipline in applying positive and skills by applying implementation of
the management of non-violent discipline positive and non- positive and non-violent
learner behavior. to ensure learning- violent discipline to discipline
focused ensure learning- policies/procedures to
environments. focused environments. ensure learning-focused
environments.

DOMAIN 3. DIVERSITY OF LEARNERS

Domain 3 emphasizes the central role of teachers in establishing learning
environments that are responsive to learner diversity. This Domain underscores
the importance of teachers’ knowledge and understanding of, as well as respect
for, learners’ diverse characteristics and experiences as inputs to the planning
and design of learning opportunities. It encourages the celebration of diversity in
the classrooms and the need for teaching practices that are differentiated to
encourage all learners to be successful citizens in a changing local and global
environment.
 Highly Proficient Distinguished
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers
Teachers Teachers

Strand 3.1 3.1.1 Demonstrate 3.1.2 Use 3.1.3 Work with 3.1.4 Lead colleagues
knowledge and differentiated, colleagues to share to evaluate
Learners' understanding of developmentally differentiated, differentiated
gender, needs, differentiated appropriate learning developmentally strategies to enrich
strengths, teaching to suit the experiences to address appropriate teaching practices
interests and learners' gender, learners' gender, opportunities to that address learners'
experiences needs, strengths, needs, strengths, address learners' differences in gender,
interests and interests and differences in gender, needs, strengths,
experiences. experiences. needs, strengths, interests and
interests and experiences.
experiences.

Strand 3.2 3.2.1 Implement 3.2.2 Establish a 3.2.3 Exhibit a learner- 3.2.4 Model
teaching strategies learner-centered centered culture that exemplary teaching
Learners' that are responsive culture by using promotes success by practices that
linguistic, to the learners' teaching strategies that using effective teaching recognize and affirm
cultural, socio- linguistic, cultural, respond to their strategies that respond diverse linguistic,
economic and socio-economic and linguistic, cultural, to their linguistic, cultural,
religious religious socio-economic and cultural, socioeconomic socioeconomic and
backgrounds backgrounds. religious backgrounds. and religious religious backgrounds
backgrounds. to promote learner
success.

Strand 3.3 3.3.1 Use strategies 3.3.2 Design, adapt and 3.3.3 Assist colleagues 3.3.4 Lead colleagues
responsive to implement teaching to design, adapt and in designing, adapting
Learners with learners with strategies that are implement teaching and implementing
disabilities, disabilities, responsive to learners strategies that are teaching strategies
giftedness and giftedness and with disabilities, responsive to learners that are responsive to
talents talents. giftedness and talents. with disabilities, learners with
giftedness and talents. disabilities, giftedness
and talents.

Strand 3.4 3.4.1 Demonstrate 3.4.2 Plan and deliver 3.4.3 Evaluate with 3.4.4 Model a range
Learners in understanding of the teaching strategies that colleagues teaching of high level skills
difficult special educational are responsive to the strategies that are responsive to the
circumstances needs of learners in special educational responsive to the special educational
difficult needs of learners in special educational needs of learners in
 Highly Proficient Distinguished
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers
Teachers Teachers

circumstances, difficult circumstances, needs of learners in difficult

including: including: geographic difficult circumstances, circumstances,
geographic isolation; isolation; chronic including: geographic including: geographic
chronic illness; illness; displacement isolation; chronic isolation; chronic
displacement due to due to armed conflict, illness; displacement illness; displacement
armed conflict, urban resettlement or due to armed conflict, due to armed conflict,
urban resettlement disasters; child abuse urban resettlement or urban resettlement or
or disasters; child and child labor disasters; child abuse disasters; child abuse
abuse and child labor practices. and child labor and child labor
practices. practices. practices.

Strand 3.5 3.5.1 Demonstrate 3.5.2 Adapt and use 3.5.3 Develop and apply 3.5.4 Show
Learners from knowledge of culturally appropriate teaching strategies to comprehensive skills
indigenous teaching strategies teaching strategies to address effectively the in delivering culturally
groups that are inclusive of address the needs of needs of learners from appropriate teaching
learners from learners from indigenous groups. strategies to address
indigenous groups. indigenous groups. effectively the needs
of learners from
indigenous groups.

DOMAIN 4. CURRICULUM AND PLANNING

Domain 4 addresses teachers’ knowledge of and interaction with the national and
local curriculum requirements. This Domain encompasses their ability to translate
curriculum content into learning activities that are relevant to learners and based
on the principles of effective teaching and learning. It expects teachers to apply
their professional knowledge to plan and design, individually or in collaboration
with colleagues, well-structured and sequenced lessons. These lesson sequences
and associated learning programs should be contextually relevant, responsive to
learners’ needs and incorporate a range of teaching and learning resources. The
Domain expects teachers to communicate learning goals to support learner
participation, understanding and achievement.
 Highly Proficient Distinguished
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers
Teachers Teachers

Strand 4.1 4.1.1 Prepare 4.1.2 Plan, manage 4.1.3 Develop and 4.1.4 Model exemplary
developmentally and implement apply effective practice and lead
Planning and sequenced teaching developmentally strategies in the colleagues in
management of and learning process sequenced teaching planning and enhancing current
teaching and to meet curriculum and learning process management of practices in the
learning process requirements. to meet curriculum developmentally planning and
requirements and sequenced teaching management of
varied teaching and learning process to developmentally
contexts. meet curriculum sequenced teaching
requirements and and learning process.
varied teaching
contexts.

Strand 4.2 4.2.1 Identify 4.2.2 Set achievable 4.2.3 Model to 4.2.4 Exhibit high-level
Learning learning outcomes and appropriate colleagues the setting skills and lead in
outcomes that are aligned with learning outcomes of achievable and setting achievable and
aligned with learning that are aligned with challenging learning challenging learning
learning competencies. learning outcomes that are outcomes that are
competencies competencies. aligned with learning aligned with learning
competencies to competencies towards
cultivate a culture of the cultivation of a
excellence for all culture of excellence
learners. for all.

Strand 4.3 4.3.1 Demonstrate 4.3.2 Adapt and 4.3.3 Work 4.3.4 Provide advice in
Relevance and knowledge in the implement learning collaboratively with the design and
responsiveness implementation of programs that ensure colleagues to evaluate implementation of
of learning relevant and relevance and the design of learning relevant and
programs responsive learning responsiveness to the programs that develop responsive learning
programs. needs of all learners. the knowledge and programs that develop
skills of learners at the knowledge and
different ability levels. skills of learners at
different ability levels.

Strand 4.4 4.4.1 Seek advice 4.4.2 Participate in 4.4.3 Review with 4.4.4 Lead colleagues
concerning strategies collegial discussions colleagues, teacher and in professional
Professional that use teacher and learner feedback to discussions to plan and
 Highly Proficient Distinguished
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers
Teachers Teachers

collaboration to that can enrich learner feedback to plan, facilitate, and implement strategies
enrich teaching teaching practice. enrich teaching enrich teaching that enrich teaching
practice practice. practice. practice.

Strand 4.5 4.5.1 Show skills in 4.5.2 Select, develop, 4.5.3 Advise and guide 4.5.4 Model exemplary
the selection, organize and use colleagues in the skills and lead
Teaching and development and appropriate teaching selection, organization, colleagues in the
learning use of a variety of and learning development and use development and
resources teaching and resources, including of appropriate teaching evaluation of teaching
including ICT learning resources, ICT, to address and learning resources, and learning resources,
including ICT, to learning goals. including ICT, to including ICT, for use
address learning address specific within and beyond the
goals. learning goals. school.

DOMAIN 5. ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING

Domain 5 relates to processes associated with a variety of assessment tools and
strategies used by teachers in monitoring, evaluating, documenting and reporting
learners’ needs, progress and achievement. This Domain concerns the use of
assessment data in a variety of ways to inform and enhance the teaching and
learning process and programs. It concerns teachers providing learners with the
necessary feedback about learning outcomes. This feedback informs the reporting
cycle and enables teachers to select, organize and use sound assessment
processes.

Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teacher
Teachers

Strand 5.1 5.1.1 Demonstrate 5.1.2 Design, select, 5.1.3 Work 5.1.4 Lead initiatives in
knowledge of the organize and use collaboratively with the evaluation of
Design, selection, design, selection, diagnostic, formative colleagues to review the assessment policies an
organization and organization and and summative design, selection, guidelines that relate t
utilization of use of diagnostic, assessment strategies organization and use of a the design, selection,
 Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teacher
Teachers

assessment formative and consistent with range of effective organization and use o
strategies summative curriculum diagnostic, formative effective diagnostic,
assessment requirements. and summative formative and summa
strategies consistent assessment strategies assessment strategies
with curriculum consistent with consistent with
requirements. curriculum curriculum requiremen
requirements.

Strand 5.2 5.2.1 Demonstrate 5.2.2 Monitor and 5.2.3 Interpret 5.2.4 Provide advice o
knowledge of evaluate learner collaboratively and mentor colleague
Monitoring and monitoring and progress and monitoring and the effective analysis a
evaluation of evaluation of achievement using evaluation strategies of use of learner attainm
learner progress learner progress and learner attainment attainment data to data.
and achievement achievement using data. support learner progress
learner attainment and achievement.
data.

Strand 5.3 5.3.1 Demonstrate 5.3.2 Use strategies 5.3.3 Use effective 5.3.4 Exhibit exemplar
knowledge of for providing timely, strategies for providing skills and lead initiativ
Feedback to providing timely, accurate and timely, accurate and to support colleagues
improve learning accurate and constructive feedback constructive feedback to applying strategies tha
constructive to improve learner encourage learners to effectively provide tim
feedback to improve performance. reflect on and improve accurate and construc
learner their own learning. feedback to learners t
performance. improve learning
achievement.

Strand 5.4 5.4.1 Demonstrate 5.4.2 Communicate 5.4.3 Apply skills in the 5.4.4 Share with
familiarity with a promptly and clearly effective communication colleagues a wide rang
Communication range of strategies the learners' needs, of learner needs, of strategies that ensu
of learner needs, for communicating progress and progress and effective communicati
progress and learner needs, achievement to key achievement to key of learner needs, prog
achievement to progress and stakeholders, stakeholders, including and achievement to ke
key stakeholders achievement. including parents/guardians. stakeholders, including
parents/guardians. parents/guardians.
 Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teacher
Teachers

Strand 5.5 5.5.1 Demonstrate 5.5.2 Utilize 5.5.3 Work 5.5.4 Lead colleagues
an understanding of assessment data to collaboratively with explore, design and
Use of the role of inform the colleagues to analyze implement effective
assessment data assessment data as modification of and utilize assessment practices and program
to enhance feedback in teaching teaching and learning data to modify practices using information deri
teaching and and learning practices and and programs to further from assessment data
learning practices practices and programs. support learner progress
and programs programs. and achievement.

DOMAIN 6. COMMUNITY LINKAGES AND

PROFESSIONAL ENGAGEMENT
Domain 6 affirms the role of teachers in establishing school -community
partnerships aimed at enriching the learning environment, as well as the
community’s engagement in the educative process. This Domain expects
teachers to identify and respond to opportunities that link teaching and learning in
the classroom to the experiences, interests and aspirations of the wider school
community and other key stakeholders. It concerns the importance of teachers’
understanding and fulfilling their obligations in upholding professional ethics,
accountability and transparency to promote professional and harmonio us
relationships with learners, parents, schools and the wider community.

Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teach
Teachers

Strand 6.1 6.1.1 Demonstrate an 6.1.2 Maintain learning 6.1.3 Reflect on and 6.1.4 Model exempl
understanding of environments that are evaluate learning practice and empow
Establishment knowledge of learning responsive to environments that are colleagues to establi
of learning environments that are community contexts. responsive to and maintain effecti
environments responsive to community contexts. learning environmen
that are community contexts. that are responsive
responsive to community contexts
 Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teach
Teachers

community
contexts

Strand 6.2 6.2.1 Seek advice 6.2.2 Build 6.2.3 Guide colleagues 6.2.4 Lead in
concerning strategies relationships with to strengthen consolidating netwo
Engagement of that build relationships parents/guardians and relationships with that strengthen
parents and the with parents/guardians the wider school parents/guardians and relationships with
wider school and the wider community to facilitate the wider school parents/guardians a
community in community. involvement in the community to maximize the wider school
the educative educative process. their involvement in the community to
process educative process. maximize their
involvement in the
educative process.

Strand 6.3 6.3.1 Demonstrate 6.3.2 Review regularly 6.3.3 Discuss with 6.3.4 Lead colleague
Professional awareness of existing personal teaching colleagues teaching and the regular review o
ethics laws and regulations practice using existing learning practices that existing codes, laws
that apply to the laws and regulations apply existing codes, and regulations that
teaching profession, that apply to the laws and regulations apply to the teachin
and become familiar teaching profession and that apply to the profession, and the
with the responsibilities the responsibilities teaching profession, and responsibilities as
specified in the Code of specified in the Code of the responsibilities specified in the Code
Ethics for Professional Ethics for Professional specified in the Code of Ethics for Profession
Teachers. Teachers. Ethics for Professional Teachers.
Teachers.

Strand 6.4 6.4.1 Demonstrate 6.4.2 Comply with and 6.4.3 Exhibit 6.4.4 Evaluate existi
knowledge and implement school commitment to and school policies and
School policies understanding of policies and procedures support teachers in the procedures to make
and procedures school policies and consistently to foster implementation of them more responsi
procedures to foster harmonious school policies and to the needs of the
harmonious relationships with procedures to foster learners, parents an
relationship with the learners, parents, and harmonious other stakeholders.
wider school other stakeholders. relationships with
community. learners, parents and
other stakeholders.
DOMAIN 7. PERSONAL GROWTH AND
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Domain 7 focuses on teachers’ personal growth and professional development. It
accentuates teachers’ proper and high personal regard for the profession by
maintaining qualities that uphold the dignity of teaching such as caring attitude,
respect and integrity. This Domain values personal and professional reflection
and learning to improve practice. It recognizes the importance of teachers’
assuming responsibility for personal growth and professional development for
lifelong learning.

Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teachers
Teachers

Strand 7.1 7.1.1 Articulate a 7.1.2 Apply a 7.1.3 Manifest a 7.1.4 Model a learner-
personal philosophy personal philosophy learner-centered centered teaching
Philosophy of of teaching that is of teaching that is teaching philosophy in philosophy through
teaching learner-centered. learner-centered. various aspects of teaching practices that
practice and support stimulate colleagues to
colleagues in engage in further
enhancing their own professional learning.
learner-centered
teaching philosophy.

Strand 7.2 7.2.1 Demonstrate 7.2.2 Adopt 7.2.3 Identify and 7.2.4 Act as a role
behaviors that uphold practices that utilize personal model and advocate for
Dignity of the dignity of teaching uphold the dignity of professional strengths upholding the dignity of
teaching as a as a profession by teaching as a to uphold the dignity teaching as a profession
profession exhibiting qualities profession by of teaching as a to build a positive
such as caring exhibiting qualities profession to help teaching and learning
attitude, respect and such as caring build a positive culture within and
integrity. attitude, respect and teaching and learning beyond the school.
integrity. culture within the
school.

Strand 7.3 7.3.1 Seek 7.3.2 Participate in 7.3.3 Contribute 7.3.4 Take a leadership
opportunities to professional actively to professional role in supporting
Professional establish professional networks to share networks within and colleagues' engagement
links with colleagues. between schools to with professional
 Highly Proficient
Strands Beginning Teachers Proficient Teachers Distinguished Teachers
Teachers

links with knowledge and to improve knowledge networks within and

colleagues enhance practice. and to enhance across schools to
practice. advance knowledge and
practice in identified
areas of need.

Strand 7.4 7.4.1 Demonstrate an 7.4.2 Develop a 7.4.3 Initiate 7.4.4. Demonstrate
understanding of how personal professional reflections leadership within and
Professional professional reflection professional and promote learning across school contexts
reflection and and improvement plan opportunities with in critically evaluating
learning to based on reflection colleagues to improve practice and setting
improve of one's practice. clearly
practice

Strand 7.5 7.5.1 Demonstrate 7.5.2 Set 7.5.3 Reflect on the 7.5.4 Lead reforms in
motivation to realize professional Philippine Professional enhancing professional
Professional professional development goals Standards for Teachers development programs
development development goals based on the to plan personal based on an in-depth
goals based on the Philippine professional knowledge and
Philippine Professional development goals and understanding of the
Professional Standards for assist colleagues in Philippine Professional
Standards for Teachers. planning and achieving Standards for Teachers.
Teachers. their own goals.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Learner data obtained from diagnostic, formative and/or

Assessment Data
summative assessment practices

Classroom Structure The physical set-up of the learning environment which generally
includes the arrangement of chairs, tables, and other equipment in
the classroom designed to maximize learning
 Learner data obtained from diagnostic, formative and/or
Assessment Data
summative assessment practices

Content Knowledge Competencies that teachers are expected to master for them to
teach efficiently and effectively

Culturally-appropriate teaching Teaching strategies that respect cultural differences between and
strategies among students and teachers

Curriculum Areas Different learning/subject areas taught and learned in the basic
education curriculum

Creative thinking skills Involve exploring ideas, generating possibilities and looking for
many right answers rather than just one.

Critical thinking skills Refer to the many kinds of intellectual skills that (in its most basic
expression) occurs when students are analyzing, evaluating,
interpreting, or synthesizing information and applying creative
thought to form an argument, solve a problem, or reach a
conclusion.

Developmentally Appropriate Teaching and learning activities and tasks suited to the needs,
Learning Experience abilities, skills, and developmental level of learners

Diagnostic assessment Assesses what the learner already knows prior to instruction. It
also analyzes the nature of difficulties and misconceptions that the
learner might have, which, if undiagnosed, might affect their
learning of newer concepts. Based on DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015,
there are only two types of classroom assessment, namely,
formative and summative. Formative assessment already covers
diagnostic assessment.

Differentiated Teaching Teaching-learning processes involving a wide variety of texts,

tasks, processes and products suited to the various learning needs
of diverse students
 Learner data obtained from diagnostic, formative and/or
Assessment Data
summative assessment practices

Domain Broad conceptual sphere of teaching and learning practices

defined by specific strands in the set of professional standards for
teachers

Formative assessment Refers to a wide variety of methods that teachers use to conduct
in-process evaluations of student comprehension, learning needs,
and academic progress during a lesson, unit, or course. Formative
assessments help teachers identify concepts that students are
struggling to understand, skills they are having difficulty acquiring,
or learning standards they have not yet achieved so that
adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques, and
academic support. (Please also refer to DepED Order No. 8, s.
2015, p. 2 on its 3-paragraph definition.)

Higher Order Thinking Skills Complex thinking processes which include logical and critical
analysis, evaluation and synthesis thinking that enable individuals
to reflect, solve problems and create products/solutions

Indicators Concrete, observable and measurable teacher behaviors/practices

covered in every strand in the set of professional standards for
teachers

Indigenous groups People who have, under claims of ownership since time
immemorial, occupied, possessed and utilized ancestral territories,
shared common bonds of language, customs, traditions, and other
unique cultural traits (RA 8371: IPRA)

Learner Attainment Data Evidence of learning, progress or achievement in learner

performance reflected in various assessment results, portfolios,
class records and report cards

Learner interests Pertain to student's personal preferences, likes or dislikes, which

must be considered in the teachinglearning process. The first step
to differentiate for interests is to find out what learners care about
and like to do.
 Learner data obtained from diagnostic, formative and/or
Assessment Data
summative assessment practices

Learner needs Refer to an observable gap between the learner's present

knowledge or competence and the curriculum standards identified
as necessary for the grade level.

Learner strengths Refer to the learner's present knowledge or competence that helps
him/her in meeting the standards identified.

Learning experiences Refer to any interaction, course, program, or other involvement in

which learning takes place, whether it occurs in traditional
academic settings (schools, classrooms) or nontraditional settings
(outside-of-school locations, outdoor environments), or whether it
includes traditional educational interactions (students learning from
teachers and professors) or nontraditional interactions (students
learning through games and interactive software applications).

Learning Focused Instructional and assessment strategies that target meaningful

learning

Learning goals Reflect long-term objectives to learn new skills, master new tasks,
or understand new things. They refer to specific knowledge, skills,
attitudes and values stated as curriculum competencies that
children must develop as a result of the teaching-learning process

Learning Outcomes Products and performance targets through which students

demonstrate the knowledge, skills and attitudes they have learned

Learning Programs Organized and sequenced set of strategies, activities and tasks
that effect learning

Learning/Teaching Contexts Teaching/learning situations and all the circumstances in which

learners learn from instruction

Local curriculum Educational curriculum content that is informed by and responsive

to the "cultural and socioeconomic realities" (UNESCO, 2012; 31)
 Learner data obtained from diagnostic, formative and/or
Assessment Data
summative assessment practices

of local populations in order to engage students in the learning

process

Mother tongue The native language or the first language the learner learns as a
child

National curriculum Subjects or topics taught in schools as prescribed by the

Department of Education

Non-verbal communication Communication that does not involve the use of words, e.g., facial
strategies expressions, gestures, and tone of voice

Non-violent discipline A form of discipline that avoids the use of punishment such as
spanking, verbal abuse and humiliation (see Positive discipline)

Numeracy and literacy skills Reading, writing, and mathematical skills needed to cope with
everyday life

Philosophy of teaching Teachers' views, understandings and conceptualization of teaching

and learning

Physical space/physical Any area conducive to learning which usually includes a safe
learning environment classroom with appropriate devices for teaching and learning

Positive discipline Non-violent, respectful and diplomatic means of disciplining a

learner or managing learner behavior through dialogue and
counseling instead of punishment (see Non-violent discipline)

Positive use of ICT Responsible, ethical or appropriate use of ICT to achieve and
reinforce learning

Professional collaboration Teachers working together with colleagues and other stakeholders
to enrich the teaching-learning practice
 Learner data obtained from diagnostic, formative and/or
Assessment Data
summative assessment practices

Professional learning Something most teachers and educators do every day, as they
reflect on their professional practice, work together and share
ideas, and strive to improve learner outcomes.

Professional network Refers to the connected community of educators, which may also
be an online community like LinkedIn among others. This is a
vibrant, ever-changing group of connections to which teachers go
to share and learn. These groups reflect their values, passions,
and areas of expertise.

Professional reflection Refers to the teacher's capacity to reflect in action (while teaching)
and on action (after teaching), which is an important feature of
professional development program for teachers.

Professional standards for Public document that defines teacher quality through well-defined
teachers domains, strands, and indicators that provide measures of
professional learning, competent practice, and effective
engagement

Purposive learning Knowledge and skills acquisition designed with a clear purpose,
goal or objective in mind

Research-based knowledge Information, knowledge or data acquired through systematic

investigation and logical study

School/learning/community See learning context

context

Strand More specific dimensions of teacher practice under every domain

in the set of professional standards for teachers

Summative assessment Used to evaluate student learning, skill acquisition, and academic
achievement at the conclusion of a defined instructional period—
typically at the end of a project, unit, quarter, semester, program,
 Learner data obtained from diagnostic, formative and/or
Assessment Data
summative assessment practices

or school year. (Please also refer to DepEd Order No. 8, s. 2015,

pp. 2-3 for additional description of summative assessment.)

Teaching and learning Teaching aids and other materials that teachers use not only to
resources enhance teaching and learning but also to assist learners to meet
the expectations for learning as defined by the curriculum.

Verbal communication Oral or spoken means of transmitting information and meaning

strategies

Virtual space The online environment like the social media where people can
interact

Wider school community Refers to both internal and external stakeholders

The Four Domains of

Global Competence
A Course in the Teaching for Global Competence Series

This course introduces the Four Domains of Global Competence: Investigate the World,
Recognize Perspectives, Communicate Ideas, and Take Action. These domains
promote engaged and active inquiry and act as a guide for structuring curriculum,
instruction, and assessment to promote global competence in classrooms and out-of-
school time programs. The Four Domains are a framework for guiding student learning
both within and across disciplines.
The coaching guide helps instructional leaders support educators as they prepare to
implement concepts from the course in their own learning environments.

This course is part of the Teaching for Global Competence program. The cost for an
individual course enrollment is $29 USD. Discounts are available to schools, districts,
and programs if you are purchasing courses in bulk (all courses for a minimum of 25
educators). Please contact the Education Partnerships team
at [email protected] for more information on bulk enrollments.

Learn more or enroll in the course

Designed With the Following Audiences in Mind

Everyone is eligible to enroll in this course. This course is especially suited for the
following audiences.

Classroom Teacher: Delivers educational content in an academic institution.

Out-of-School Time Educator: Delivers educational content in afterschool and

summer programs.
COURSES IN THE TEACHING FOR GLOBAL COMPETENCE SERIES

Introduction to Global Competence

Learn about the global competence movement in education and how it connects to learning in
classrooms and in out-of-school time in this free introduction course.

The Four Domains of Global Competence

What are the four components of global competence, and how can they act as a guide for
structuring curriculum, instruction, and assessment? Come learn how this Framework can guide
student learning both within and across disciplines.
Getting Started with Globally Focused Project-Based Learning
Learn a proven method to develop global competence through project-based learning. Learn
how to engage students in projects that are inquiry-based, student led, problem focused,
authentic, and rooted in real-world global issues.

Teaching Competencies in a Global Context

Learn how a global competence perspective brings context, relevance, and usefulness to your
classroom or program. By the end of this course, you will learn how to empower students to
apply academic knowledge to real-world problems and challenges.
Global Competence Instructional Strategies
Learn instructional strategies aligned to the four domains of global competence—and applicable
across all disciplines— that will help students develop the skills they need in today's global and
digital world.

Exploring Globally Significant Issues

Move your students further up the continuum from global awareness to global understanding by
learning how to identify globally significant issues and connect them to your subject matter and
local context.
Designing Performance Assessments for Global Competence
Learn how to design your own curriculum storyboards based on performance assessments
using the Center for Global Education's premiere curriculum tools.

Utilizing Assessment to Inform Instruction

Learn how to develop, plan, and implement effective, globally focused assessments that
integrate relevant instructional strategies, formative assessments, and an open student-teacher
feedback loop.
STEAM and the Global Connection
Learn how global issues can be integrated throughout STEAM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) education to help guide student inquiry, dialogue, and
critical thinking in tackling complex global problems.

Leadership in Global Competence Education

In this course, designed for school leaders, learn about the Global School Design. This thinking
model can be used for school-wide strategic planning and community-wide innovations to
bolster global competence education.
Teacher Competencies
There currently is an abundant knowledge-base to inform us that in schools teachers play the critical
role in student learning and achievement. Research reveals that how teachers instruct and
these interactions with students is the cornerstone around which to build effective schools.
A summary of the available studies accumulated over the past 40 years on a key education driver,
teacher competencies offers practical strategies, practices, and rules to guide teachers in ways to
improve instruction that improves student performance and the quality of the work experience. Four
groupings of these competencies can help organize and simply for teachers what they need to
master to maximize their performance: classroom management, instructional delivery, formative
assessment, and personal competencies. These four categories also provide the essential core
around which decision makers can construct teacher preparation, teacher hiring, teacher
development, and teacher and school evaluations.

OVERVIEWWING RESOURCESRESEARCHORGANIZATIONS

What are teacher competencies? Competencies are the skills and knowledge that enable a
teacher to be successful. To maximize student learning, teachers must have expertise in a wide-
ranging array of competencies in an especially complex environment where hundreds of critical
decisions are required each day (Jackson, 1990). Few jobs demand the integration of professional
judgment and the proficient use of evidence-based competencies as does teaching.

Why is this important? The transformational power of an effective teacher is something many of us
have experienced. Intuitively, the link between teaching and student academic achievement may
seem obvious, but what is the evidence for it?

Research confirms this common perception of a link and reveals that of all factors under the control
of a school, teachers are the most powerful influence on student success (Babu & Mendro, 2003;
Sanders & Rivers, 1996). What separates effective teachers from ineffective ones, and how can this
information be used to support better teaching? We can now begin to build a profile of exemplary
classroom instruction derived from effectiveness research (Wenglinsky, 2002; Hattie, 2009).

Which competencies make the biggest difference? An examination of the research on education
practices that make a difference shows that four classes of competencies yield the greatest results.

1. Instructional delivery
2. Classroom management
3. Formative assessment
4. Personal competencies (soft skills)

Further, the research indicates that these competencies can be used to organize the numerous
specific skills and knowledge available for building effective teacher development.
Instructional delivery: Research tells us what can be expected from a teacher employing
instructional strategies and practices that are proven to lead to increased mastery of lessons. Better
learning happens in a dynamic setting in which teachers offer explicit active instruction than in
situations in which teachers do not actively guide instruction and instead turn control over content
and pace of instruction to students (Hattie, 2009).

Is there a diverse set of practices that teachers can efficiently and effectively use to increase
mastery of content for a variety of curricula? The structured and systematic approach of explicit
instruction emphasizes mastery of the lesson to ensure that students understand what has been
taught, become fluent in new material, and can generalize what they learn to novel situations they
encounter in the future.

The following are hallmarks of an explicit approach for teachers (Archer & Hughes, 2011; Knight,
2012).

1. Teacher selects the learning area to be taught.

2. Teacher sets criteria for success.
3. Teacher informs students of criteria ahead of the lesson.
4. Teacher demonstrates to the students successful use of the knowledge/skills through
modeling.
5. Teacher evaluates student acquisition.
6. Teacher provides remedial opportunities for acquiring the knowledge/skills, if necessary.
7. Teacher provides closure at the end of the lesson.

A common complaint of an explicit instruction approach is that it does not offer sufficient
opportunities for students to build on acquired knowledge/skills in creative and novel ways that help
them to assimilate the material. The reality is that all effective instruction, regardless of philosophy,
must aid students in generalizing newly taught knowledge/skills in a context that is greater than a
single lesson. An explicit model accomplishes the goal of building toward “big ideas” by first
emphasizing mastery of foundation skills such as reading and mathematics, and then systematically
introducing opportunities to integrate these critical skills in discovery-based lessons to maximize
students’ experience of success.

Effective explicit instruction practices include these features.

1. Well-designed and planned instruction: Instruction that is well planned moves students
from their current level of competency toward explicit criteria for success.

o Instructional design with clear instructional objectives: The teacher should present
these objectives to students for each lesson.
o Scope and sequencing: The teacher should teach the range of related skills and the
order in which they should be learned.

2. Instruction that offers sufficient opportunities for successful acquisition:

o High rates of responding for each student to practice the skill: The teacher should
provide sufficient opportunities for unpunished errors and ample reinforcement for
success.
o Sufficient quantity of instruction: The teacher should allocate enough time to teach a
topic.

3. Teaching to mastery: Students need to learn the knowledge/skills to criteria that are verified
by teachers or students’ peers.

4. Teaching foundation knowledge/skills that become the basis for teaching big
ideas: Current lessons should be built on past knowledge to increase fluency and maintain
mastery of material. The teacher should relate lessons to complex issues and big ideas that
provide deeper meaning and give students better understanding of the content.
View graph detail

Classroom management: Classroom management is one of the most persistent areas of concern
voiced by school administrators, the public, and teachers (Evertson & Weinstein, 2013). Research
consistently places classroom management among the top five issues that affect student
achievement.

To put its in perspective, classroom management was associated with an increase of 20% in student
achievement when classroom rules and procedures were applied systematically (Hattie, 2005).

A good body of research highlights four important areas that classroom teachers should be proficient
in to create a climate that maximizes learning and induces a positive mood and tone.
 1. Rules and procedures: Effective rules and procedures identify expectations and
appropriate behavior for students. To be effective, these practices must be observable and
measurable.

o Schoolwide rules and procedures: Clearly stated rules identify, define, and
operationalize acceptable behavior specific to a school. These rules, applicable to all
students, are designed to build pro-social behavior and reduce problem behavior in a
school. They distinguish appropriate from problem behavior as well as specify
consequences for infractions.
o Classroom rules and procedures: Another set of clearly stated rules establishes
acceptable behavior specific in a classroom. These rules need to be consistent with
schoolwide rules, but may be unique to meet the needs of an individual classroom.

2. Proactive classroom management: These are the practices that teachers and
administrators can employ to teach and build acceptable behavior that is positive and helpful,
promotes social acceptance, and leads to greater success in school. The key to proactive
classroom management is active teacher supervision. The practice elements that constitute
active supervision require staff to observe and interact with students regularly. The goal is to
build a positive teacher-student relationship by providing timely and frequent positive
feedback for appropriate behavior, and to swiftly and consistently respond to inappropriate
behaviors.

3. Effective classroom instruction: The key to maintaining a desirable classroom climate is to

provide students with quality instructional delivery aligned to the skill level of each student.
This enables students to experience success and keeps them attentive.

4. Behavior reduction: These practices, designed to reduce problem and unacceptable

behavior, are employed in the event the first three strategies fail. Behavior reduction
strategies include giving students corrective feedback at the time of an infraction, minimizing
reinforcement of a student’s unacceptable behavior, and guiding students in how to behave
appropriately.

Formative assessment: Effective ongoing assessment, referred to in education literature as

formative assessment and progress monitoring, is indispensable in promoting teacher and student
success. It is frequently listed at the top of interventions for school improvement (Walberg, 1999).

Feedback, a core component of formative assessment, is recognized as an essential tool for

improving performance in sports, business, and education. Hattie (2009) identified feedback as the
single most powerful educational tool available for improving student performance, with a medium to
large effect size ranging from 0.66 to 0.94.

Formative assessment consists of a range of formal and informal diagnostic testing procedures,
conducted by teachers throughout the learning process, for modifying teaching and adapting
activities to improve student attainment. Systemic interventions such as Response to Intervention
(RtI) and Data-Based Decision Making depend heavily on the use of formative assessment (Hattie,
2009; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).

The following are the practice elements of formative assessment (Fuchs & Fuchs, 1986).

1. Assessment: (Effect size 0.26) Assessing a student’s performance throughout a lesson

offers a teacher insight into who is succeeding and who is falling behind. It is important that
teachers collect and maintain data gained through both informal and formal assessments.
2. Data display: (Effect size 0.70) Displaying the data in the form of a graphic has a
surprisingly powerful effect on formative assessment’s usefulness as a tool.
3. Data analysis following defined rules: (Effect size 0.90) Formative assessment is most
valuable when teachers use evidence-based research and their own professional judgment
to develop specific remedial interventions, before it is too late, for those falling behind.

Personable competencies (soft skills): An inspiring teacher can affect students profoundly by
stimulating their interest in learning. It is equally true that most students have encountered teachers
who were uninspiring and for whom they performed poorly. Unfortunately, effective and ineffective
teachers have no readily discernable personality differences. Some of the very best teachers are
affable, but many ineffective instructors can be personable and caring. Conversely, some of the best
teachers appear as stern taskmasters, but whose influence is enormous in motivating students to
accomplish things they never thought possible.

What soft skills do successful teachers have in common? Typically, the finest teachers display
enthusiasm and excitement for the subjects they teach. More than just generating excitement, they
provide a road map for students to reach the goals set before them. The best teachers are proficient
in the technical competencies of teaching: instructional delivery, formative assessment, and
classroom management. Equally significant, they are fluent in a multilayered set of social skills that
students recognize and respond to, which leads to greater learning (Attakorn, Tayut, Pisitthawat, &
Kanokorn, 2014). These skills must be defined as clear behaviors that teachers can master for use
in classrooms.

Indispensable soft skills include:

1. Establishing high but achievable expectations

2. Encouraging a love for learning
3. Listening to others
4. Being flexible and capable of adjusting to novel situations
5. Showing empathy
6. Being culturally sensitive
7. Embedding and encouraging higher order thinking along with teaching foundation skills
8. Having a positive regard for students
Standards for Teacher Competence in Educational Assessment of Students

1. Teachers should be skilled in choosing assessment methods appropriate for

instructional decisions.

Skills in choosing appropriate, useful, administratively convenient, technically adequate,

and fair assessment methods are prerequisite to good use of information to support
instructional decisions. Teachers need to be well-acquainted with the kinds of
information provided by a broad range of assessment alternatives and their strengths
and weaknesses. In particular, they should be familiar with criteria for evaluating and
selecting assessment methods in light of instructional plans.

Teachers who meet this standard will have the conceptual and application skills that
follow. They will be able to use the concepts of assessment error and validity when
developing or selecting their approaches to classroom assessment of students. They
will understand how valid assessment data can support instructional activities such as
providing appropriate feedback to students, diagnosing group and individual learning
needs, planning for individualized educational programs, motivating students, and
evaluating instructional procedures. They will understand how invalid information can
affect instructional decisions about students. They will also be able to use and evaluate
assessment options available to them, considering among other things, the cultural,
social, economic, and language backgrounds of students. They will be aware that
different assessment approaches can be incompatible with certain instructional goals
and may impact quite differently on their teaching.

Teachers will know, for each assessment approach they use, its appropriateness for
making decisions about their pupils. Moreover, teachers will know of where to find
information about and/or reviews of various assessment methods. Assessment options
are diverse and include text- and curriculum-embedded questions and tests,
standardized criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests, oral questioning,
spontaneous and structured performance assessments, portfolios, exhibitions,
demonstrations, rating scales, writing samples, paper-and-pencil tests, seatwork and
homework, peer- and self-assessments, student records, observations, questionnaires,
interviews, projects, products, and others' opinions.

2. Teachers should be skilled in developing assessment methods appropriate for

instructional decisions.

While teachers often use published or other external assessment tools, the bulk of the
assessment information they use for decision-making comes from approaches they
create and implement. Indeed, the assessment demands of the classroom go well
beyond readily available instruments.

Teachers who meet this standard will have the conceptual and application skills that
follow. Teachers will be skilled in planning the collection of information that facilitates
the decisions they will make. They will know and follow appropriate principles for
developing and using assessment methods in their teaching, avoiding common pitfalls
in student assessment. Such techniques may include several of the options listed at the
end of the first standard. The teacher will select the techniques which are appropriate to
the intent of the teacher's instruction.

Teachers meeting this standard will also be skilled in using student data to analyze the
quality of each assessment technique they use. Since most teachers do not have
access to assessment specialists, they must be prepared to do these analyses
themselves.

3. The teacher should be skilled in administering, scoring and interpreting the

results of both externally-produced and teacher-produced assessment methods.

It is not enough that teachers are able to select and develop good assessment
methods; they must also be able to apply them properly. Teachers should be skilled in
administering, scoring, and interpreting results from diverse assessment methods.

Teachers who meet this standard will have the conceptual and application skills that
follow. They will be skilled in interpreting informal and formal teacher-produced
assessment results, including pupils' performances in class and on homework
assignments. Teachers will be able to use guides for scoring essay questions and
projects, stencils for scoring response-choice questions, and scales for rating
performance assessments. They will be able to use these in ways that produce
consistent results.

Teachers will be able to administer standardized achievement tests and be able to

interpret the commonly reported scores: percentile ranks, percentile band scores,
standard scores, and grade equivalents. They will have a conceptual understanding of
the summary indexes commonly reported with assessment results: measures of central
tendency, dispersion, relationships, reliability, and errors of measurement.

Teachers will be able to apply these concepts of score and summary indices in ways
that enhance their use of the assessments that they develop. They will be able to
analyze assessment results to identify pupils' strengths and errors. If they get
inconsistent results, they will seek other explanations for the discrepancy or other data
to attempt to resolve the uncertainty before arriving at a decision. They will be able to
use assessment methods in ways that encourage students' educational development
and that do not inappropriately increase students' anxiety levels.

4. Teachers should be skilled in using assessment results when making

decisions about individual students, planning teaching, developing curriculum,
and school improvement.

Assessment results are used to make educational decisions at several levels: in the
classroom about students, in the community about a school and a school district, and in
society, generally, about the purposes and outcomes of the educational enterprise.
Teachers play a vital role when participating in decision-making at each of these levels
and must be able to use assessment results effectively.

Teachers who meet this standard will have the conceptual and application skills that
follow. They will be able to use accumulated assessment information to organize a
sound instructional plan for facilitating students' educational development. When using
assessment results to plan and/or evaluate instruction and curriculum, teachers will
interpret the results correctly and avoid common misinterpretations, such as basing
decisions on scores that lack curriculum validity. They will be informed about the results
of local, regional, state, and national assessments and about their appropriate use for
pupil, classroom, school, district, state, and national educational improvement.

5. Teachers should be skilled in developing valid pupil grading procedures which

use pupil assessments.

Grading students is an important part of professional practice for teachers. Grading is

defined as indicating both a student's level of performance and a teacher's valuing of
that performance. The principles for using assessments to obtain valid grades are
known and teachers should employ them.

Teachers who meet this standard will have the conceptual and application skills that
follow. They will be able to devise, implement, and explain a procedure for developing
grades composed of marks from various assignments, projects, inclass activities,
quizzes, tests, and/or other assessments that they may use. Teachers will understand
and be able to articulate why the grades they assign are rational, justified, and fair,
acknowledging that such grades reflect their preferences and judgments. Teachers will
be able to recognize and to avoid faulty grading procedures such as using grades as
punishment. They will be able to evaluate and to modify their grading procedures in
order to improve the validity of the interpretations made from them about students'
attainments.

6. Teachers should be skilled in communicating assessment results to students,

parents, other lay audiences, and other educators.

Teachers must routinely report assessment results to students and to parents or

guardians. In addition, they are frequently asked to report or to discuss assessment
results with other educators and with diverse lay audiences. If the results are not
communicated effectively, they may be misused or not used. To communicate
effectively with others on matters of student assessment, teachers must be able to use
assessment terminology appropriately and must be able to articulate the meaning,
limitations, and implications of assessment results. Furthermore, teachers will
sometimes be in a position that will require them to defend their own assessment
procedures and their interpretations of them. At other times, teachers may need to help
the public to interpret assessment results appropriately.
Teachers who meet this standard will have the conceptual and application skills that
follow. Teachers will understand and be able to give appropriate explanations of how
the interpretation of student assessments must be moderated by the student's socio-
economic, cultural, language, and other background factors. Teachers will be able to
explain that assessment results do not imply that such background factors limit a
student's ultimate educational development. They will be able to communicate to
students and to their parents or guardians how they may assess the student's
educational progress. Teachers will understand and be able to explain the importance
of taking measurement errors into account when using assessments to make decisions
about individual students. Teachers will be able to explain the limitations of different
informal and formal assessment methods. They will be able to explain printed reports of
the results of pupil assessments at the classroom, school district, state, and national
levels.

7. Teachers should be skilled in recognizing unethical, illegal, and otherwise

inappropriate assessment methods and uses of assessment information.

Fairness, the rights of all concerned, and professional ethical behavior must undergird
all student assessment activities, from the initial planning for and gathering of
information to the interpretation, use, and communication of the results. Teachers must
be well-versed in their own ethical and legal responsibilities in assessment. In addition,
they should also attempt to have the inappropriate assessment practices of others
discontinued whenever they are encountered. Teachers should also participate with the
wider educational community in defining the limits of appropriate professional behavior
in assessment.

Teachers who meet this standard will have the conceptual and application skills that
follow. They will know those laws and case decisions which affect their classroom,
school district, and state assessment practices. Teachers will be aware that various
assessment procedures can be misused or overused resulting in harmful consequences
such as embarrassing students, violating a student's right to confidentiality, and
inappropriately using students' standardized achievement test scores to measure
teaching effectiveness.

Invitation to Users

The associations invite comments from users that may be used for improvement of this
document. Comments may be sent to:

Teacher Standards in Student Assessment

American Federation of Teachers
555 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20001
Teacher Standards in Student Assessment
National Council on Measurement in Education
1230 Seventeenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

Teacher Standards in Student Assessment

Instruction and Professional Development
National Education Association
1201 Sixteenth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

[1] The Committee that developed this statement was appointed by the collaborating
professional associations: James R. Sanders (Western Michigan University) chaired the
Committee and represented NCME along with John R. Hills (Florida State University) and
Anthony J. Nitko (University of Pittsburgh). Jack C. Merwin (University of Minnesota)
represented the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, Carolyn Trice
represented the American Federation of Teachers, and Marcella Dianda and Jeffrey Schneider
represented the National Education Association.
Biesta, G.J.J. (2015). How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom
and virtuosity in teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical
perspectives on the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 1 How does a
competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom, and virtuosity in teaching and
teacher education Gert Biesta Brunel University London The limits of competence-based teacher
education1 The idea that teachers should be competent at what they do, is difficult to contest. Perhaps
this partly explains the popular appeal of competence-based approaches to teaching and teacher
education which, in recent decades, have spread rapidly across many countries around the world (for an
overview and critical analysis see Heilbronn 2008, chapter 2). National frameworks for teacher
education are increasingly being formulated in terms of competences, and even the European
Commission has recently produced a set of Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and
Qualifications,2 meant to stimulate "reflection about actions that can be taken at Member State level
and how the European Union might support these" – as it was formulated in the 2007 document
Improving the Quality of Teacher Education3 . The idea of competence, however, has more than just
rhetorical appeal. Its introduction marks an important shift in focus from what teachers should know to
what they should be able to do, and potentially even to how they should be. In this regard the idea of
competence represents a more practical and more holistic outlook in that it encompasses knowledge,
skills and professional action, rather than seeing such action as either the application of knowledge – an
idea captured in evidence-based approaches to teaching and teacher education (see Biesta 2007; 2010a)
– or the enactment of skills – an approach particularly prominent in those situations where teachers are
supposed to pick up their skills 'on the shop floor,' so to speak, rather than that they are thought to be in
need of any proper professional education. Yet the idea of competence is not without problems, and
also not without risks (see Mulder, Weigel & Collins 2007; Biesta & Priestley 2013). The risks have to do
with the way in which the notion of competence is defined and understood; the problems with how it is
being implemented and enacted. With regard to matters of definition competence can, on the one
hand, be seen as an integrative approach to professional action that highlights the complex combination
of knowledge, skills, understandings, values, and purposes (for such a definition see Deakin Crick 2008,
p.313). In such an interpretation a competence-based approach clearly has the potential to promote the
professional agency of teachers. Yet many commentators have shown that the idea of competence
actually steers the field of teaching and teacher education in the opposite direction through its emphasis
on performance, standards, measurement and control, thus reducing and ultimately undermining the
agency of teachers (see Heilbronn 2008, pp. 21-25; see also Winch 2000; Priestley, Robinson & Biesta
2012). With regard to the practical implementation of the idea of competence, particularly within the
field of teacher education, there are a number of additional problems. One has to do with the fact that
any attempt to describe in full detail everything that teachers should be competent at, runs the risk 1 I
would like to thank the editors of this volume for their helpful feedback and for including me in this
project. 2 http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/2010/doc/principles_en.pdf [Last accessed 2 August
2012] 3 http://ec.europa.eu/education/com392_en.pdf [Last accessed 2 August 2012] Biesta, G.J.J.
(2015). How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity
in teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives
on the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 2 of generating lists that are far
too long and far too detailed. The existence of such lists can result in a situation where teacher
education turns into a tick box exercise focused on establishing whether students have managed to
achieve everything on the list. This not only can lead easily to a disjointed curriculum and an
instrumental approach to the education of teachers, but also runs the risk of turning teacher education
from a collective experience to a plethora of individual learning trajectories where students are just
working towards the achievement of their 'own' competencies, without a need to interact with or be
exposed to fellow students. A second major problem is that competencies are always orientated
towards the past and the present. It is, after all, only possible to describe what a teacher needs to be
competent at in relation to situations that are already known. Yet teaching is in a very fundamental
sense always open towards the future. There is a danger, therefore, that a competence-based
curriculum for teacher education ties students too much to the current situation – or to a particular
interpretation of the current situation – rather than that it prepares them sufficiently for meaningful
action in an unknown future. This, as I will argue in more detail below, is not meant as an argument that
teachers need flexible skills (on this idea, see Biesta, in press), but as an argument for the central role of
judgement in teaching. All this feeds into what is perhaps the most important problem with and
limitation of a competencebased approach to teacher education, which is the fact that good teachers
not simply need to be able to do all kind of things – in this regard it is true that they need to be
competent (and being competent is a better formulation than having competences) – but that they also
need to be able to judge which competences should be utilised in the always concrete situations in
which teachers work. If competences in a sense provide teachers with a repertoire of possibilities, there
is still the challenge to judge which of those possibilities should be actualized in order to realize good
and meaningful teaching. This is why I wish to suggest that while the possession of competences may be
a necessary condition for good teaching, it can never be a sufficient condition. And the reason for this
lies in the fact that good teaching requires judgement about what an educationally desirable course of
action is in this concrete situation with these concrete students at this particular stage in their
educational trajectory. In its shortest formula we might say, therefore, that "good teaching =
competences + judgement". But this raises a number of further questions. One is 'Why do we need
judgement in teaching?' A second is 'What kinds of judgement do we need in teaching?' And the third is
'How might we help teachers to become capable of such judgements? – which is the question of teacher
education. In what follows I aim to provide an answer to these questions. Through this I will articulate a
conception of teacher education that can be seen as an alternative for competence-based approaches.
This conception focuses on the ways in which, through teacher education, teachers can enhance their
ability for making situated judgements about what is educationally desirable, both with regard to the
‘ends’ and the ‘means’ of education. 4 4 As I will try to make clear throughout this chapter, my ambition
is not to specify what an educationally desirable course of action is, but to highlight the fact that in
education the question about what is educationally desirable – both with regard to the aims and ends
(the purpose of education) and with regard to the ways of proceeding (the ‘means’ of education) – is
inevitable. Biesta, G.J.J. (2015). How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement,
wisdom and virtuosity in teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds),
Philosophical perspectives on the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 3 As I
will explain in more detail below, I refer to this approach as a virtue-based approach (see also Biesta
2013a), which is the reason why I will emphasise the need for teachers to develop educational
virtuosity. I will preface my discussion with an exploration of the particular nature of teaching and
education more generally. On the 'nature' of education: Teleology and the three domains of educational
purpose In order to understand why there is a need for judgement in teaching, we need to begin by
looking more closely at the particular nature of educational processes and practices. In recent years it
has become fashionable to do so with the help of the language of learning. Yet, as I have argued
elsewhere in more detail (see particularly Biesta 2004; 2006; 2010b), the language of learning is a very
limited and to a certain degree even inadequate language to capture what education is about. Perhaps
the quickest way to highlight what the problem is, is to say that the point of education is not that
students learn, but that they learn something, that they learn it for particular reasons and that they
learn it from someone. Questions of content, purpose and relationships are precisely what distinguishes
(a general discussion about) learning from (a concrete discussion about) education. Education, to put it
differently, is not designed so that children and young people might learn – which they can anywhere –
but so that they might learn particular things (in the broad sense of the word) within particular
relationships and for particular reasons. The latter dimension – which concerns the question of purpose
– is the most central and most fundamental one, because it is only once we have articulated what we
want our educational arrangements and efforts to bring about, that we can make decisions about
relevant content and about the kind of relationships that are most conducive for this. Without a sense of
purpose, there may be learning but not education. This is why we might adopt the stronger claim that
education is not simply a practice that is characterised by the presence of purposes, but one that is
actually a practice constituted by purpose(s) (see Biesta 2010a,b). In philosophical language education
can therefore be seen as a teleological practice, that is, a practice constituted by a telos. This already
provides us with one important reason why judgement is needed in education, as we need to come to
some kind of understanding of what the purpose of our educational activities should be. (It is useful
here to follow the distinction suggested by Richard Peters between the purpose of an activity, which
refers to the reason for it, and the aims of an activity, which concern the concrete targets one wishes to
achieve; see Peters 1973, p.13.) But here we encounter an additional reason why judgement is needed
in education, which has to do with the fact that in education the question of purpose is a multi-
dimensional question. This means that there is not one single purpose of education but that there are a
number of different domains of educational purpose (on this thesis see particularly Biesta 2009; 2010b).
The idea here is a simple one, but it has some profound implications for understanding the role of
judgements in education. What I seek to do is to highlight the dimensions of this question, but it is up to
educators in concrete situations to engage with the question of what is desirable and formulate and
justify their situated answers, in dialogue with other ‘stakeholders’ in the process. My ambition is to
ensure that such deliberations and justifications play a central role in teaching and hence also have a
central position in the education of teachers. Biesta, G.J.J. (2015). How does a competent teacher
become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity in teaching and teacher education. In R.
Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives on the future of teacher education (pp.3-
22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 4 One way to understand the multi-dimensional nature of educational
purpose is to start from the question how education functions, that is, what our educational actions and
activities effect. One important function of education lies in the domain of qualification. Here education
is concerned with the transmission and acquisition of knowledge, skills, dispositions and understandings
that qualify children and young people for doing certain things. Such doing can either be understood in a
narrow sense, for example becoming qualified to perform a certain task or job. Or it can be understood
in a much wider sense, such as that education qualifies children and young people to live a life in
modern, complex societies. Some would say that this is the only dimension in which education
functions, that is, that education is basically about getting knowledge and skills. Others would highlight
however that education is not just about qualification but also about socialisation, that is, about
initiating children and young people into existing traditions, cultures, ways of doing and ways of being.
Education partly does this deliberately, for example in the form of professional socialisation, or
socialisation into the culture of democracy. The idea of the hidden curriculum (Giroux & Purpel 1983)
suggests, however, that socialisation also happens behind the back of teachers and students, thus
reproducing existing traditions, cultures, ways of doing and being often, though not necessarily, in ways
that benefit some more than others, thus contributing to the reproduction of material and social
inequalities. In addition to qualification and socialisation I wish to argue – and have argued elsewhere
(Biesta 2009; 2010b) – that any educational activity or effort always also impacts on the person, that is,
on the qualities of the person and on personal qualities. Here we can think, for example, of the ways in
which through the acquisition of knowledge and understanding individuals become empowered. Or
how, through adopting particular culture patterns, they become disempowered. This is a domain where
we can find such qualities as autonomy, criticality, empathy or compassion, that all are potential
'effects' of education. I have suggested to refer to this third dimension as subjectification, as it concerns
processes of being/becoming a human subject. (For the particular reason to use the notion of 'subject'
rather than, for example, the notion of ‘person’ or ‘identity’ see particularly Biesta 2010b, chapter 4; see
also Biesta 2006; 2013b.) If it is granted that qualification, socialisation and subjectification are three
domains or dimensions in which education functions – which means nothing more that when we teach
we always have some impact in each of these three domains – then it could be argued that as educators
we also need to take responsibility for the impact of our educational actions in relation to these three
domains. That is why the distinction between qualification, socialisation and subjectification cannot only
be used in an analytical way – that is, to analyse the 'impact' of particular educational arrangements –
but also in a programmatic sense – that is, to articulate what it one wishes to achieve or bring about
through one's educational efforts. That is why they can also been seen as three purposes of education.
Given that within each domain there can actually be significantly different views, for example, about
what knowledge is, what tradition or culture or, or what it means to be a human subject, I prefer to
refer to them as three domains of educational purpose. And the suggestion here is that those who have
a responsibility for education – be they teachers, policy makers, politicians, or students themselves –
need to articulate and justify what they seek to achieve in relation to each of these domains. Biesta,
G.J.J. (2015). How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and
virtuosity in teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical
perspectives on the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 5 Why do we need
judgement in teaching? Purpose, form, balance, trade-offs, and pragmatism Against this background we
are now in a position to answer the question why judgement is needed in education. The answer to this
question is threefold. We first of all need judgement in relation to the question what the purpose of our
educational arrangements and activities is to be – and this question, as mentioned, poses itself as a
multi-dimensional question, so that we need to give an answer to what it is we wish to achieve and what
we wish our students to achieve in relation to each of the three domains of educational purpose – a task
that also requires that we answer the question why it is that we want to achieve this; which is a matter
of justification. The reason that we need judgement here, is because any answer to this question is not a
matter of stating facts, but involves values and hence normative preferences. Science and research can
therefore never provide an answer to the question what education ought to be for in relation to the
three domains of educational purpose. What it can do, at most, is provide information that might be
relevant for understanding what is possible and feasible in each of the domains. Hence already at the
very start of any educational endeavour we find a need for judgement. But it is not that we only need to
come to a judgement about the purpose of our educational endeavours before we engage with them.
The question of what it is we seek to achieve returns again and again as a very concrete question that
needs to be answered in relation to concrete and, in a certain sense, always unique individual students
in concrete and in a certain sense unique situations. It is therefore a question that lies at the heart of
teaching and of what it means to be a teacher. A second 'moment' of judgement has to do with the
ways in which we organise and enact education, that is, with regard to the forms of educational action.
This has to do with another characteristic that makes education different from many other human fields
and practices, namely the fact that in education there is an internal relationship between means and
ends. The means of education – the ways in which we act, the things we say and how we say them, the
ways in which we relate to our students and let them relate to each other – can never be thought of as
mere instruments that should just effectively bring about certain 'outcomes.' The reason for this lies in
the fact that students not only learn from what we say but also, and often more so, from how we say it
and from what we do. This means that our ways of doing in education do not just need to be effective
(and sometimes that is not even a relevant criterion at all; see below). We always also need to judge
whether they are educationally appropriate – which requires that we reflect on what our students might
learn or pick up from the ways in which we do things and the ways in which we organise and arrange
education. This is not to suggest that question about how our educational actions might 'impact' in the
different domains in which education functions are not relevant. On the contrary, there are important
judgements to be made about that as well (I return to this in the next section). But there is always the
additional question whether our means, our ways of being and doing, are educationally appropriate,
that is, whether the messages they convey – implicitly or explicitly – are indeed the messages we seek to
convey (which, ideally, should be a matter of congruency, but practically should at least be a matter
where the means do not contradict or obstruct the ends we seek to achieve). In addition to a technical
judgement about the effectiveness of our actions and arrangements, there is therefore always also a
need for a judgement about the educational desirability of our actions and arrangements. Biesta, G.J.J.
(2015). How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity
in teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives
on the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 6 The third 'moment' of
judgement in education follows directly from the multi-dimensional nature of educational purpose,
because although there are interconnections between the three domains and there are, therefore,
possibilities for synergy – to understand something can, as suggested, contribute to empowerment and
agency – the three domains are not seamlessly connected, so that, in addition to opportunities for
synergy, there is also a real chance for tension and conflict. The three domains of educational pull us as
educators in slightly (and sometimes significantly) different directions. Think, for example, of the
potentially damaging effects in the domain of subjectification of a constant high pressure in the domain
of qualification, that is, a constant high pressure to 'perform' in the sphere of knowledge and skills. That
is why in each educational situation – both at the general level of educational design and programming
and at the concrete level of the encounter with each individual student – there is, on the one hand, a
judgement needed about what an educationally appropriate balance between the three domains might
be and, on the other hand, there is a judgement needed about the inevitable trade offs between what
can be achieved in the three domains. It is, after all, possible to achieve highly in each of the domains,
but this often comes at a cost for what can be achieved in the other domains – think again of the 'price'
of a single emphasis on qualification with regard to both the domain of subjectification and the domain
of socialisation (with regard to the latter it means, for example, that we initiate our students into a
culture of competition rather than one of collaboration). The final point I wish to make is that, given the
teleological character of education, any judgements we make about how to proceed – that is any
judgements about the form and content of education – once we have come to an understanding of what
a desirable and justifiable set of purposes for our educational endeavours is, have to be understood as
entirely pragmatic. I mean pragmatic here in the technical sense of the word, that is, where we judge
the desirability of an educational arrangement or course of action in function of what the arrangement
or course of action is supposed to bring about. Pragmatic judgements are therefore different from
principled judgements, where we judge the desirability of an arrangement or course of action just on
the qualities of the arrangement or course of action itself. While there is some room for principled
judgements about the form and content of education in that we do not want them to be in any way
unethical or immoral, apart from this any decision we make about how to proceed in education always
needs to be taken in light of what it is we have judged to be a desirable set of purposes for our activities.
What I have in mind here is very practical and down-to-earth, but nonetheless very important and often
overlooked in educational discussions, particularly when a new fashion emerges – sometimes from the
field of practice, sometimes from the field of policy, sometimes from the field of theory and research –
and those working in education feel forced or compelled to adopt this fashion without asking what it
might be good for. That our judgements ought to be pragmatic means, therefore, that in education
nothing, that is, no arrangement, no course of action, not even any content or curriculum, is desirable in
itself; it all depends on what we seek to achieve (and of course on how we envisage that a particular
arrangement or course of action might contribute to the purposes set). Concretely, it means that
whether education should, for example, be flexible or inflexible, whether it should be personalised or
general, whether it should be student-led or curriculum-led, whether the aims should be transparent
and visible for the student, or not transparent and invisible, whether education should be easy and nice
or difficult and strict, and perhaps even whether education Biesta, G.J.J. (2015). How does a competent
teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity in teaching and teacher
education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives on the future of teacher
education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 7 should be effective or not, is not something we can
decide in an abstract sense, but only in relation to what it is we seek to achieve. Pragmatic thinking can
help us, on the one hand, to make a sound educational judgement about any new idea or suggestion
that enters the educational domain – and notions such as flexibility, personalisation, transparency and
visibility are currently definitely amongst the more fashionable ones – and can, on the other hand, also
help us to see the value of ways of educational doing that are all too quickly discredited as a result of
certain educational fashions. It can help us, in other words, to develop progressive arguments for what,
from the perspective of fashion and a fetish for the new, might be seen as conservative ideas (for an
attempt to reclaim the idea of teaching for education, see Biesta 2012). What kinds of judgement do we
need in teaching? Practical knowledge and practical wisdom If the previous section has established a
case for why judgement is needed in teaching by indicating those aspects of the practice of teaching
where a judgement is called for, the question I wish to explore in this section is at a slightly higher level
of abstraction and has to do with the kinds of judgement we need in teaching.5 My guide in this section
will be Aristotle (384-322 BC) and the reason for turning to his work is twofold. First of all he provides a
compelling and useful set of concepts for understanding the role of judgement in teaching. Secondly he
provides some interesting and original suggestions for teacher education through his ideas about the
way in which we develop our ability for judgement. I will turn to the latter question in the next section
and will focus here on Aristotle's views about judgement. While in the previous section I have tried to
indicate the different aspects and 'moments' of teaching where judgement is needed, one may still ask
why judgement is actually needed in teaching. Couldn't it be the case, so a critic might suggest, that we
only need judgement as long as there are aspects of teaching where we lack sufficient knowledge but
that, with the advancement of the science of teaching, we will eventually reach a point where we no
longer need judgement but can proceed with certainty? One argument against the idea of the
sufficiency of a science of teaching, that is, of a conception of research that seeks to cover all the
possible aspects of teaching, can be found in the work of William James (1842-1910) who in his Talks to
Teachers made the point in the following way. Psychology is a science, and teaching is an art; and
sciences never generate arts directly out of themselves. An intermediary inventive mind must make the
application, by using its originality. 5 The argument I am developing in this chapter focuses on how we
might understand teaching and what such an understanding implies for the role of the teacher. The
understanding I put forward focuses on the role of judgement in teaching, and thus highlights the crucial
importance of teachers’ judgement. My focus is on the implications of this understanding for teacher
education. There is a further question that falls outside of the scope of this chapter, which is the extent
to which teachers are able to exercise the judgements that, in my view, are crucial for any educationally
meaningful teaching. This question partly has to do with the self-understanding teachers have of their
own profession and professional scope for action, but is of course also highly influenced by the concrete
environments in which teachers work – environments that nowadays often only offer little scope for
teacher judgement (see also Priestley, Biesta & Robinson in press). Biesta, G.J.J. (2015). How does a
competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity in teaching and
teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives on the future of
teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 8 The most such sciences can do is to help us to
catch ourselves up and check ourselves, if we start to reason or to behave wrongly; and to criticize
ourselves more articulately after we have made mistakes. To know psychology, therefore, is absolutely
no guarantee that we shall be good teachers. To advance to that result, we must have an additional
endowment altogether, a happy tact and ingenuity to tell us what definite things to say and do when the
pupil is before us. That ingenuity in meeting and pursuing the pupil, that tact for the concrete situation,
though they are the alpha and omega of the teacher's art, are things to which psychology cannot help us
in the least. (James, 1899, pp.14-15) The point James makes here could be characterized as an
epistemological point, as he indicates the gap between the general knowledge the science of psychology
can generate and the specific knowledge the teacher needs in each concrete situation. Looking at it in
this way, we could say that the knowledge science can generate about teaching is never sufficient. Or,
looking at it from the other side, such knowledge can never tell teachers what they should do, but can at
most inform their judgements. Whereas this line of thought leaves open the possibility that a science of
teaching might be possible – and in a sense only makes the point that scientific knowledge and practical
knowledge are of a different category – Aristotle goes one step further by arguing that there is a
fundamental difference between what he refers to as the theoretical life (the 'bios theoretikos') and the
practical life (the 'bios praktikos'). This suggests that his argument is not epistemological but ontological
as it asks what kind of reality teaching is or, to be more precise, in what kind of reality teaching takes
place. Aristotle conceives of the theoretical life as having to do with “the necessary and the eternal”
(Aristotle 1980, p.140), that is, with those parts of reality that do not change. He refers to the knowledge
that is at stake here as 'episteme' which is often translated as 'science' (although the translation is a bit
misleading as it suggests that science is an epistemological category – an idea well refuted by authors
such as Karl Popper, Stephen Toulmin, Thomas Kuhn and Bruno Latour). We can think of episteme as
representational knowledge about an unchanging world 'out there' and the connection Aristotle makes
between episteme and the eternal suggests that it is, in principle, possible to generate knowledge that is
100% certain and true, simply because its object is in the domain of the necessary and the eternal.
Teaching, however, is not something that takes place in this domain. It rather belongs to the practical
life, which Aristotle refers to as the domain of the "variable" (ibid., p. 142), that is, the domain of change
and possibility. It is the world in which we act and in which our actions make a difference. What is
interesting about Aristotle's ideas about our activities in the domain of the variable is that he makes a
distinction between two 'modes' of acting (and hence two forms or kinds of judgement; see below), one
to which he refers as poiesis and one to which he refers as praxis or, in Carr’s (1987) translation, ‘making
action’ and ‘doing action.’ Both modes of action require judgement, but the kind of judgement needed is
radically different, and this is an important insight for the art of education. Biesta, G.J.J. (2015). How
does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity in teaching
and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives on the
future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 9 Poiesis is about the production or
fabrication of things – such as, for example, a saddle or a ship – although I prefer to think of it slightly
more widely, that is, as action that brings something into existence (see below). It is, as Aristotle puts it,
about “how something may come into being which is capable of either being or not being” (which
means that it is about the variable, not about what is eternal and necessary), and about things “whose
origin is in the maker and not in the thing made” (which distinguishes poiesis from biological
phenomena such as growth and development) (Aristotle, 1980, p. 141). Poiesis is, in short, about the
creation of something that did not exist before. The kind of knowledge we need for poiesis is techne
(usually translated as ‘art,’ although this translation is a little misleading and unhelpful as it is actually
about the kind of knowledge and judgement we need in the domain of poiesis). Unlike episteme, which
is knowledge about what is and how it is, techne is “knowledge of how to make things” (ibid, p.141).
Techne thus is about finding the means that will bring about what one seeks to bring about or bring into
existence. It encompasses knowledge about the materials we work with and about the techniques we
can apply to work with those materials. But making something, such as a saddle is never about simply
following a recipe. It involves making judgements about the application of our general knowledge to this
piece of leather, for this horse, and for this person riding the horse. So we make judgements about
application, production and effectiveness in our attempts to bring something into existence. The domain
of the variable is, however, not confined to the world of things, but also includes the social world; the
world of human action and interaction. It is here that a second art is called for – the art of praxis. The
orientation here is not towards the production of things but towards the promotion of human
flourishing (eudamonia). Praxis, Aristotle writes, is “about what sort of things conduce to the good life in
general” (ibid, p.142). We could say that praxis is about good action, but good action is here not to be
understood as a means for bringing about something else – that is the domain of poiesis which "has an
end other than itself" (ibid., p.143). "Good action," on the other hand, “itself is its end” (ibid, p.143). The
kind of judgement we need here is therefore not about how things should be done. We rather need
judgement “about what is to be done” (ibid; emphasis added). Aristotle refers to this kind of judgement
as phronesis, which is usually translated as practical wisdom. Aristotle gives the following, more precise
definition of phronesis as a “reasoned and true state of capacity to act with regard to human goods”
(ibid, p.143). Aristotle's reflections on the domain of the variable and the different modes of action
within it are important for understanding the role of judgement in education in a more precise manner.
The first and perhaps most important point to make in relation to this, is to say that we should never
think of education just in terms of poiesis but always also in terms of praxis. While education is clearly
located in the domain of the variable, it is concerned with the interaction between human beings, not
the interaction between human beings and the material world. Our students are never simply objects,
but are always to be seen and treated as human beings in their own right, that is as subjects. Yet this
does not mean that we should exclude the idea of poiesis from our educational thinking. (I am
responding here to authors in the educational literature who tend to overemphasise phronesis and
underemphasise – or in some cases even reject – techne as being educationally relevant; see, for
example, Heilbronn 2008, chapter 5; Hillier 2012, chapter 1.) After all, we do want our teaching and our
curricula to have effect and be effective and we do want our students to achieve, both in the domain of
qualification and in the domain of socialization. But that should never be the be all Biesta, G.J.J. (2015).
How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity in
teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives on
the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 10 and end all of education, because
we also want our students to flourish as human beings – which is the question of praxis – which is
perhaps an interest first of all located in the domain of subjectification, although we could also say that
this is precisely where the interest in subjectification intersects with both qualification and socialization
(for example in the difference between what we might call subjectivity-reducing and subjectivity-
promoting qualification and subjectivity-reducing and subjectivity-promoting socialization). The second
point that follows from these considerations is that with Aristotle we can now identify the two
difference kinds or modes of judgement that are needed in education. On the one hand judgement
plays a role in the domain of poiesis, the domain concerned with bringing something into existence –
and I have carefully used the phrase 'bringing something into existence' rather than the cruder notion of
production or technology, because I wish to highlight that poiesis is not to be understood in terms of
mechanical or even mechanistic and machine-like production, but rather is to be understood as a
creative act and an act of creation where we do aim to bring 'things' into existence that did not exist
before (see also Biesta 2013, chapter 1). The judgements we need here are judgements about how to do
things and we have to acknowledge that these are indeed judgements, because in the domain of the
variable we are working with unpredictable 'material' which means that the results of our activities here
will always and necessarily have a degree of uncertainty. This is not an uncertainty that at some point in
time can be overcome once we have enough knowledge of all factors and dimensions of education. It is
an uncertainty that stems from the very fact that education, as an interaction between living human
beings, is in a fundamental sense open towards the future (which means that the only way to reduce
this radical openness is by taking the 'human factor' out of education). In addition to judgements about
how to do things, we need judgements about what is to be done as the ultimate orientation of all
education should be to the well-being and flourishing of our students, not in some kind of narrow,
instrumental way – for example orientated towards making our students 'happy' or 'satisfied' – but by
contributing to the possibility of leading a worthy, meaningful human life (on the notion of worthiness
see Gur Ze'ev 2010, pp. 11-28). Both forms of judgement can be called 'practical,' as they both are
concerned with acting in the domain of the variable. Perhaps the first could be called practical
knowledge – as it is knowledge about how to operate effectively in the domain of the variable –
whereas the second can be called practical wisdom (which is the common translation of the word
'phronesis') – as it is about the ability to judge what is to be done in a given situation, which is the
question of educational purpose(s) as discussed above. How can teachers become capable of
educational judgement? In the previous sections I have tried to make clear why we need judgement in
education, where we need judgement in education, and what kinds of judgement we need in education.
I have, following Aristotle, argued that education has both poiesis and praxis dimensions, so that we
both need judgement about how to do things (techne) and judgement about what is to be done
(phronesis). I have also argued that because of the teleological nature of education, that is, the fact that
education is constituted by purposes – and precisely here education is different from learning – all our
educational actions and activities are ultimately 'framed' by our considered views about what education
is for. And this question is not only an abstract question at the level of education policy or curriculum
theory, but is (also) a concrete question that returns again and again in every concrete Biesta, G.J.J.
(2015). How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity
in teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives
on the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 11 moment of teaching. It is one
of the reasons why all our judgements in education ultimately need to be pragmatic – that is connected
to the question what the activity is for. And, given that the purpose of education is multi-dimensional,
always also raises questions about balance, tensions and trade offs between the three domains of
educational purpose. All this means that the ability to judge and to do so in an educational way – which
means to ask with everything we do whether it is educationally desirable – is absolutely central for good
teaching. This is why it also should have a central role in teacher education. But how should we
understand the 'ability' to make educational judgements? And how can we support teachers in
'developing' this 'ability'? It is here that I will turn one more time to Aristotle.6 While practical
knowledge (techne) plays an important role in teaching, all judgements we make in relation to how we
should proceed are ultimately framed by judgements about what is to be done, which is the domain of
practical wisdom (phronesis). While it is important for teachers to develop their ability for judgement
with regard to the question how to act, the underlying need – which precisely marks the difference
between a competent teacher and a good teacher – has to do with the ability to make judgements
about what is educationally desirable. For this teachers need practical wisdom (phronesis). While some
try to suggest that practical wisdom is itself a competence – that is, something a teacher can acquire and
then possess – Aristotle argues, and this is the lead I will follow here, that practical wisdom should be
understood as a quality or excellence of the person. It is therefore in the domain of being not the
domain of having. The question for teacher education, therefore, is not the question how a student can
acquire practical wisdom; it rather is the question how the student can become educationally wise Or in
Aristotle's terms: the question is not how the teacher can acquire phronesis, but how the teacher can
become a phronimos, a practically (and educationally) wise person (on this distinction see also Biesta
2013a). What we are talking about here is what in Greek is called ἀρετή and in English is often translated
as virtue or character. While both words have problematic sides – and particularly the notion of
'character' has, through discussions on character education, been made into an aim for rather strict and
reproductive socialization – what we have with the idea of ἀρετή is not a skill or cognitive faculty, but
rather something that characterises the way of being and acting of a person. It is a quality that
permeates how the person is and acts which means that, in more modern terms, it is a holistic and
embodied quality. So how can student teachers become educationally wise? Aristotle makes two
interesting points in relation to this question. The first is his observation “that a young man of practical
wisdom cannot be found” (Aristotle 1980, p.148), which suggests that practical wisdom comes with age
or, to be more precise, that it comes with experience. The second is that Aristotle does not provide
abstract definitions of what practical wisdom looks like, but rather tries to make this clear through
examples, that is, to referring to those who exemplify phronesis in a particular domain. Taking all this
together I would like to conclude with three 'reference points' for teacher education: a focus on the 6 In
what follows I provide a particular interpretation of Aristotle that I find useful for the point I wish to
make about teacher education. For this I focus on phronesis and the idea of virtue in Aristotle. The
question I leave aside in this discussion is about the status of techne and the extent to which this does
or does not belong to the intellectual virtues. In some places Aristotle does include it, yet in other places
he does not – which raises further questions about (the different interpretations of) the distinction
between episteme and techne in Aristotle's work. For a helpful discussion see Parry 2008. Biesta, G.J.J.
(2015). How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity
in teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives
on the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 12 formation of character or
educational virtuosity; a focus on practising judgement; and a focus engagement with examples of
educational virtuosity. The first point is that teacher education should be understood as a process of the
formation of the person – not, that is, the individual person, but the person as professional. This means
that in terms of the three domains of educational purpose, we should not confine teacher education to
the domain of qualification – to just providing teachers with the knowledge and skills they need – nor to
the domain of socialisation – that is, just initiating them into the (existing) professional culture. While
such paths may bring about teachers who are competent, they may not result in teachers who are good,
precisely because they may lack the embodied ability to place their knowledge, skills and ways of doing
within the wider context of the question what is to be done, the question, as to what is educationally
desirable. To make that question the centre of one's professional action as a teacher requires that this
question – and the ability to engage with it in a meaningful way – permeates everything one does. We
could say, therefore, that teacher education should focus on the formation of educational character.
However, given potentially problematic connotations of that word, I prefer to describe the approach I
have been outlining here as a virtue-based approach, that is, an approach aimed at the formation of
educational virtuous professionals. To play a little with the word 'virtue,' we could rephrase this as a
concern for the education of professionals whose ways of acting exemplify educational virtuosity, that
is, embodied educational wisdom: the embodied ability to make wise educational judgements about
what is to be done, that is, about what is educationally desirable. As I have tried to make clear
throughout this chapter, such a virtue-based approach is significantly different both from a competence-
based approach and an evidence-based approach. When we think of how musicians develop their
virtuosity we can see two other important dimensions of a virtue-based approach, which give us the
other two reference points for teacher education. The second is that we can only develop our virtuosity
for educational wisdom by practising such judgement, that is, by being engaged in the practice of
judgement from the very start of our formation as teachers. The question as to what is educationally
desirable is, to put it differently, not a question that should come at the very end of teacher education,
once all the knowledge, skills and competences have been acquired, but should be there from day one –
perhaps on the simple principle that if you want to learn to play the piano there is no point in starting on
a flute; you have to engage with the piano, its challenges, complexities and difficulties from day one if
you want to become a good piano player. It is perhaps important to emphasise that this is not an
argument for training on the job. It is only an argument for saying that if our ultimate aim is the
formation of educational wisdom, of educationally wise teachers, this needs to permeate the teacher
education curriculum from the very start. The third reference point that follows from my considerations
is the importance of developing educational virtuosity through examples, that is, through studying the
virtuosity of others, precisely because we are not talking about an abstract skill, but an embodied and
situated way of doing, so it requires careful study of those who we might see as good – or for that
matter – bad examples of having become educationally wise. Again, this is not an argument for training
on the shop floor, and also not for fashionable idea of peer learning. It is precisely the difficult task of
studying the Biesta, G.J.J. (2015). How does a competent teacher become a good teacher? On
judgement, wisdom and virtuosity in teaching and teacher education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck
(Eds), Philosophical perspectives on the future of teacher education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
13 virtuosity of experienced educators, trying to see how it functions, how it is embodied, where it is
done explicitly, where it is held back precisely for educational reasons, and so on. Such a trajectory of
study requires careful attention to detail, and thus requires time and a need for deepening, because
what we may be able to see the first time we look may become very different from what we might be
able to see the second time we look, and so on. Concluding comments In this chapter I have tried to
answer the question how a competent teacher might become a good teacher. I have suggested that the
difference between a competent and a good teacher lies in the ability to bring judgement to the task of
teaching. I have, on the one hand, tried to indicate why and where teaching needs judgement and have,
on the other hand, tried to make clear what kinds of judgement teachers need. Against this background
I have made a case for a virtue-based rather than a competence-based or evidence-based conception of
teaching and teacher education and have, in relation to the latter domain, highlighted the importance of
working on educational virtuosity in order for teachers to become educationally wise. Initial teacher
education has an important and unique role to play in this, and I have provided a number of reference
points for such forms of teacher education. Nonetheless I believe that teachers can continue to grow in
their educational wisdom, and in this regard the question what is educationally desirable is one that
should remain central throughout their teaching career. References Aristotle (1980) The Nicomachean
Ethics (Oxford, Oxford University Press). Biesta, G.J.J. (2004) Against Learning: Reclaiming a Language for
Education in an Age of Learning, Nordisk Pedagogik, 23.1, pp. 70-82. Biesta, G.J.J. (2006) Beyond
LearningL Democratic Education for a Human Future (Boulder, CO, Paradigm Publishers). Biesta, G.J.J.
(2007) Why ‘What Works’ Won’t Work: Evidence-Based Practice and the Democratic Deficit of
Educational Research, Educational Theory, 57.1, pp. 1-22. Biesta, G.J.J. (2009) Good Education in an Age
of Measurement: On the Need to Reconnect with the Question of Purpose in Education, Educational
Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21.1, pp. 33-46. Biesta, G.J.J. (2010a) Why ‘What Works’ Still
Won’t Work: From Evidence-Based Education to ValueBased Education, Studies in Philosophy and
Education, 29.5, pp. 491-503. Biesta, G.J.J. (2010b) Good Education in an Age of Measurement: Ethics,
Politics, Democracy (Boulder, CO, Paradigm Publishers). Biesta, G.J.J. (2012) Giving Teaching Back to
Education, Phenomenology and Practice, 6.2, pp. 35-49. Biesta, G.J.J. (2013a) Becoming Educationally
Wise: Towards a Virtue-Based Approach to Teaching and Teacher Education, in A.-L. Østern, K.Smith, T.
Ryghaug, T. Krüger & M.B. Postholm (eds.) Teacher Education Research between National Identity and
Global Trends (Trondheim, Akademika), pp. 29-51. Biesta, G.J.J. (2013b) The Beautiful Risk of Education
(Boulder, CO, Paradigm Publishers). Biesta, G.J.J. (in press) Responsive or Responsible? Education for the
Global Networked Society, Policy Futures in Education. Biesta, G.J.J. (2015). How does a competent
teacher become a good teacher? On judgement, wisdom and virtuosity in teaching and teacher
education. In R. Heilbronn & L. Foreman-Peck (Eds), Philosophical perspectives on the future of teacher
education (pp.3-22). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell. 14 Biesta, G.J.J. & Priestley, M (2013) Capacities and the
Curriculum, in M. Priestley & G.J.J. Biesta (eds), Reinventing the Curriculum: New Trends in Curriculum
Policy and Practice (London, Bloomsbury), pp. 39-50. Carr, W. (1987) What is an Educational Practice?
Journal of Philosophy of Education, 21.2, pp. 163- 175. Deakin Crick, R. (2008) Key Competencies for
Education in a European context, European Educational Research Journal, 7.3, pp. 311-318. Giroux, H. &
Purpel, D. (eds)(1983) The Hidden Curriculum and Moral Education (Berkeley, California, McCutchan
Publishing Company). Gur Ze'ev, I. (2010) Diasporic Philosophy and Counter-Education (Rotterdam,
Sense Publishers). Heilbronn, R. (2008) Teacher Education and the Development of Practical Judgement
(London, Continuum). Hillier, Y. (2012) Reflective Teaching in Further and Adult Education. Third edition
(London, Continuum). James, W. (1899) Talks to Teachers on Psychology: And to Students on Some of
Life's Ideals (New York, Henry Holt and Company). Mulder, M., T. Weigel & K. Collins (2007) The Concept
of Competence in the Development of Vocational Education and Training in Selected EU Member States:
A Critical Analysis, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 59.1, pp. 65-85. Parry, R. (2008)
Episteme and Techne, in E.N. Zalta (ed), The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition)
http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/episteme-techne/ Last accessed 15 July 2013.
Peters, R.S. (1973) The Philosophy of Education (Oxford, Oxford University Press). Priestley, M.,
Robinson, S. & Biesta, G.J.J. (2012) Teacher Agency, Performativity and Curriculum Change: Reinventing
the Teacher in the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence?, in B. Jeffrey & G. Troman (eds), Performativity in
UK Education: Ethnographic Cases of its Effects, Agency and Reconstructions (Painswick, E&E
Publishing0, pp. 87-108. Priestley, M., Biesta, G.J.J. & Robinson, S. (in press). Teacher Agency: An
Ecological Approach (London, Bloomsbury). Winch, C. (2000) Education, Work and Social Capital
(London, Routledge).
Quality teaching and student learning are tightly interconnected. Together
they form two sides of a triangle. The third side of this triangle is often
overlooked, but is also integral to teaching quality and student learning—
quality instruction and preparation for teachers.

Unfortunately, all too often, the children who could benefit most from quality
teaching—children in low-income contexts, in crisis or conflict settings, in
remote or remote geographical environments—have little exposure to quality
teaching.

And unfortunately, all too often, in these same settings, the teachers who
could benefit most from quality professional development (PD) that would
equip them with the skills to help more children learn either receive no PD or
take part in ineffective professional development.

Where It’s Needed Most: Quality Professional Development for All

Teachers, published by the Inter-Agency Network for Education in
Emergencies (INEE) in 2015, draws on research about effective professional
development in fragile contexts.

The guide, and now a just-published condensed executive summary, presents

seven major recommendations from both research and experiential best
practices to improve teacher professional development in fragile contexts.
This post outlines these recommendations.

Recommendation 1: Focus on teachers in low-income and

crisis-affected contexts as professionals, learners and
individuals

As with any vocation, teachers need to develop strong identities as

professionals. In addition to obvious factors such as recruitment,
remuneration, and opportunities for advancement, teacher professionalism is
also impacted by access to quality professional development.
It’s hard to feel like a professional when you don’t feel competent, when you
get no training or support, when you teach children with severe academic and
emotional needs and when you have no idea how to address these needs.

But not simply any PD will do. As the guide notes, teacher professional
development must focus on helping teachers employ “high-yield” instructional
practices—formative assessment, feedback, clarity in explanations—that have
shown direct measurable impacts on student learning (Hattie, 2009).

Recommendation 2: Develop, apply, measure and

institutionalize standards for teacher professional
development

We know from research what constitutes effective professional development.

Despite this knowledge, within donor-funded humanitarian and development
projects, there are no standards defining quality professional development
and too few qualified providers.

Without a shared and codified understanding of “quality” professional

development, teachers are often subjected to mediocre, and in some cases,
malign professional development that doesn’t help them and that in fact
wastes their time and donor money.

The INEE guide proposes that the international

education community define and establish standards
and metrics for “quality” professional development.
We are aware that many in the education community have been averse to the
development and implementation of standards—in part because the
challenges and volatility of many fragile contexts may make attainment of
standards challenging and in part because of what may be perceived as their
excessive rigidity (think non-bendy bananas).

But standards define minimal competencies of providers and benchmark of

quality that promise improved inputs and experiences. They need not result in
 excessive rigidity. Standards— or teacher professional development
curriculum—can be customized or contextualized to adapt to local situations.

Recommendation 3: Create professional development

opportunities that promote teacher collaboration

The research on teacher collaboration—everywhere—is unequivocal.

Collaborating with colleagues—and the culture of trust and knowledge sharing
that collaboration produces— has been linked to increased teacher
effectiveness, improved student test-score gains (Kraft & Papay, 2014), and
teacher willingness to adopt new innovations (Granovetter & Soong, 1983).

But collaboration does not happen ex nihilo—people must have a reason to

collaborate, be oriented on how to be a productive team and collaborative
groups must, at least at first, be facilitated by a “more knowledgeable other.”

To further promote teacher collaboration, the INEE guide proposes three

actions:

1. Design for collaboration, for example by promoting peer-to-peer classroom

visits with time for feedback
2. Strengthen peer-to-peer instruction,
3. Promote and nurture effective and active teacher learning communities.

Recommendation 4: Provide teachers with ongoing

support

Teacher “support” is not monolithic, but rather a multilayered array of different

types of assistance that help teachers successfully transfer learning from a
professional development setting to a classroom setting. It can include
administrative, instructional, resources, peer support, supervisory support and
instructional support from a “more knowledgeable other.”

The research on ongoing teacher support notes that teachers who receive on-
the-job support, guidance and feedback from a supervisors or a trained
 support person apply new skills and strategies more frequently and
appropriately and adopt a more diverse range of instructional practices than
teachers who do not receive such supports (Showers & Joyce, 1996).

Simple support strategies, such as teacher

observation and feedback by a skilled educator, have
been shown to positively influence teacher practice
and motivation (OECD, 2009).
To address this situation the guide proposes four actions:

1. Develop systems for (real, “high touch”) instructional coaching—not just

monitoring or data collection that we misbrand as “coaching”
2. Use appropriate and available technologies to provide ongoing support
3. Shift PD away from workshops to more support-based interventions—
modelling, coaching, observations and feedback
4. Strengthen school leadership so that head teachers and directors can
provide ongoing support.

Recommendation 5: Invest in high-quality teacher

educators

Teacher educators or teacher trainers, in- or pre-service, are often the

weakest link in the teacher education ecosystem. Implementing agencies
eagerly inventory the shortcomings associated with many teacher training
colleges and ministry of Education-run in-service providers.

But implementing agencies deserve their share of blame when it comes to

unqualified teacher trainers. As noted in other posts, many implementing
agencies entrust professional development in critical areas such as literacy or
numeracy to people who have never been teachers —or whose sole
experience teaching may be confined to a year in the Peace Corps.
 Imagine for a moment a person who has never performed surgery “training” a
group of surgeons or someone who’s never flown a plane telling commercial
pilots how to do their job. Therein summarizes one of the great weakness in
donor-funded teacher professional development (See again Recommendation
2).

Teacher educators need the same skills as teachers—among these are deep
content knowledge; different models of instructional strategies and
assessment practices; learning and development of children and adults;
clinical and supervision skills; the ability to model effective instructional and
assessment practices; the ability and disposition to coach and support
teachers and hold planned or informal meetings with teachers; and the ability
to support teachers through observations, feedback, modeling, workshops,
coaching, and/or planned/informal meetings (Cordingley et al., 2007).

To ensure those who are employed to advance teaching are effective in their
work, the guide proposes the following:

1. Recruit professional development providers with extensive teaching

experience
2. Strengthen teacher-professional development provider capacity
3. For areas with no teacher educators offer audio/radio instruction, or didactic
materials, and draw on skilled community members and other teachers to
provide instruction in key areas.

Recommendation 6: Build instructional leadership at all

levels of the educational system

School directors are second only to teachers as the most important school-
level determinant of student achievement (Leithwood et al. 2004). They are
responsible for the quality of teaching and learning in their schools. Yet too
often we see poor instructional school leadership holding back teaching and
learning.

Schools in disadvantaged areas benefit tremendously when their lead

learners, the head teacher and the school director, ensure that teachers are in
their classrooms every day, covering the syllabus at an appropriate pace,
 instructing students in developmentally appropriate and engaging ways, and
attempting to apply to their classes the knowledge and skills gained through
professional development activities.

For this to happen, as the INEE guide notes, the following must happen:

1. Help Ministries of Education establish and implement instructional

competencies for head teachers and school directors
2. Promote collaboration among head teachers and among school directors
3. Ensure practical professional development opportunities for head teachers
and school directors.

Recommendation 7: Use Information and Communication

technology (ICT) to provide access to content,
professional development and professional learning
communities

Technology—radio, mobile phones, TV and the Internet—can offer teachers,

even in low-resource environments, access to content, to curriculum,
colleagues and a variety of learning experiences.

Technology, if part of an overall system focused on

instructional improvement, can help reduce costs,
increase impact, and offer information/skill
development in previously unavailable forms.
To support the wise application of ICT the guide proposes three priority
actions:

1. Offer audio-learning to support teacher development in and with particularly

difficult-to reach areas and populations
2. Promote the use of video for teacher self-study and to share models of
intended practice
3. Provide teachers with access to teaching and learning resources through
open content and help them integrate this content into their instruction.

Conclusion

Poor and ineffective professional development hurts teachers. It hurts their

students. It hurts their community and, since quality education is so highly
correlated with economic growth, it hurts their nation.

While the above broad recommendations do not address all the intricacies of
teacher professional development in fragile contexts, we hope that the INEE
guide can jumpstart serious conversations about promoting the quality
of professional development where it’s needed most—in the poorest and
most fragile contexts of the globe.