Presentation by Linda Darling Hammond at the Seattle Symposium of the Global Cities Education Network in January 2013.

1. Developing High-Quality Teaching:
Policy Strategies in Melbourne,
Singapore, and Toronto
Linda Darling-Hammond
Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education
(SCOPE)

2. The Three Cities
• Melbourne / Victoria – 850,000 students
64% government; 23% Catholic; 13% independent
> 100 languages; 48% of city residents born overseas
• Singapore – 510,000 students
~80% public (government schools)
Chinese, Malay, Tamil + dozens of other languages
• Toronto / Ontario – 260,000 students in TDSB
Of 1.3 million Ontario students, ½ are in Catholic schools
French and English public and Catholic school sectors
> 80 languages spoken by 53% of TDSB students

3. Common Themes
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4. A Systemic Approach

5. Educator Career Continuum
Testing and Selection Ongoing Leadership
Recruitment Preparation Induction Roles
Licensure And Hiring PD
Compensation
Evaluation
Career Development
• Elevate teaching as a profession •Ensure effective instructional leaders
• Recruit high potential candidates •Identify best practices & build
capacity
•
Prepare them well
• Support, sustain, retain, & reward
effective educators
• Sharelearning communities within andteachers, schools, the profession
• Build knowledge and expertise across across schools
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6. Respect
“Our teachers are simply the most important asset we
have. Their commitment to excellence, their caring
eye and the passion they put into nurturing their
students are what allow us to provide the best
possible education to every young Singaporean.”
Minister for Education,
Mr Tharman
Shammugaratnam, 2007

7. A Turn-Around in Ontario
• In 2004, Ontario changed the province’s approach from teacher
bashing to a “policy of respect and recognition for teachers as
professionals.”
• Teacher development – self-directed, relevant, sustained, and job-
embedded – was posited as the single most important factor in the
improvement of teacher quality and student achievement and
became the focus of investments.
• Leadership development has been a related focus.
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8. A Framework for Teacher Development
Professional Learning Supports for Ontario Teachers
• A coherent framework of
teacher development
programs and resources
implemented to support
teachers in improving
student achievement.
• All programs respect
principles of self-directed
learning and are modeled
on best instructional
practices.
• Programs also reflect
various stages, roles,
profiles that teachers move
through during their
professional career. 8

9. Professional Standards to Organize Development

10. Proactive Recruitment
Highly competitive supply in Singapore
Large surpluses in Toronto
General balance in Victoria, with some shortages
• Teacher labor market planning differs
• Teacher attrition rates differ
<3% in Singapore
<2% in Toronto for beginners; 4.5% in Ontario
overall (including veterans)
>5% in Victoria, excluding contract hires

11. Recruitment and Retention Factors
• Design of the Profession
-- “Positive culture with a strong sense of mission
-- Good compensation and rewards
-- Opportunities for professional growth & learning”
• Competitive and Equitable Salaries
-- Relative wages especially high in Singapore
• Teacher Education Funded for Candidates
-- Completely in Singapore; mostly in other 2 cities
-- New service scholarships in Victoria
• Induction Supports

12. Increasingly Intensive Preparation
• Move toward more graduate level training
-- 2/3 of teachers at NIE / Singapore
-- Virtually all in Ontario
-- Various institutions in Melbourne
• Moves toward more intensive, collaborative
clinical training in ‘teaching schools’
-- Major shifts at U Toronto & U Melbourne to 2 year
programs associated with much greater preparedness
-- Ambitious initiatives in Victoria: School Centers for Teaching
Excellence (6 universities & 50 schools) and Charles La Trobe
Teaching School will spread the residency approach

13. Purposeful Induction
• Mentoring for beginners expected:
-- 1+ year in Victoria (75% report receiving mentoring)
-- 2 years in Singapore, with reduced load & classes
-- Up to 4 years in Toronto, with additional PD
• Mentor training / support offered
-- Through VIT and Victoria Department (voluntary)
-- Through NIE and Singapore Ministry (master teachers
on career ladder)
-- Through Ontario Ministry plus support from TDSB

14. Toronto’s highly successful induction
program includes:
• Ontario’s New Teacher Induction Program
supports: orientation, mentoring, and PD in key
areas, e.g. classroom management, parent
outreach, assessment, special needs students
• Job-embedded learning initiative (1st & 2nd year)
• Job-associated mentoring (3rd and 4th year)
• Demonstration Classroom Learning: observations,
debriefing, action planning, co-teaching
• Professional learning for mentors

15. Inquiry-Based Professional Learning
• Collaborative inquiry through professional
learning communities, networks, action research
-- Singapore’s Academy for Teachers, MOE and NIE
-- Ontario’s Teacher Learning and Leadership Program
-- Australia Quality Teacher Program; Bastow Institute
• Time for Collaborative Learning
-- Singapore: 15-20 hours per week + 100 hours per year
-- Ontario: 6 professional learning days per year

16. Evaluation focused on
professional learning
Toronto’s Annual Learning Plans
-- Goal setting and reflection informed by
professional, parent, and student input
Victoria’s Performance & Development Framework
-- Individual and collective (team and school)
analysis and goal setting/ how learning is applied
Singapore’s Performance Management System
-- Analysis of teaching and collegial contributions;
guide for coaching and talent development

17. The Ontario Leadership Framework (OLF)
• Identifies practices
and competencies
that describe effective
leadership
–Setting goals
–Aligning resources
with priorities
–Promoting
collaborative
learning cultures
–Using data
–Engaging in
courageous
conversations
• Guides Principal
Training Program and
2 years of mentoring
for principals and vice-
principals
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18. 18

19. NIE Office of Academic Quality
Management

20. Developing Teaching Quality
COMMON ELEMENTS
1. Creating an attractive, respected profession
2. Setting professional teaching standards
3. Recruiting proactively
4. Offering intensive clinical preparation
5. Ensuring quality mentoring
6. Supporting collaborative inquiry
7. Connecting evaluation to professional learning
8. Developing leadership
9. Investing in collective capacity
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