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This discussion essay provides an overview of teacher preparation programs in South Asia, detailing current innovative practices, challenges and trends regarding teacher education in the region. The chapter presents initiatives in several South Asian countries in terms of the design and implementation of in-service teacher trainings, pre-service teacher education programs, and distance education programs in South Asia. The main concept of the essay is to provide a comparative perspective to learn from field-based initiatives with the aim of improving the quality of the programs. It also highlights new trends such as the English education programs and ICT-based teacher training programs. It acknowledges that culture and context form a large part of the success for any education initiative. While doing so, a more holistic approach to improving teacher quality is emphasized. Finally, the essay concludes by sharing some ideas on developing conducive teaching–learning environments in the schools to support teachers. This essay should benefit policy makers and practitioners to: (a) obtain an overview of teacher quality programs in South Asia; and (b) comparatively learn from the experiences of countries in South Asia that have both numerous similarities and some differences.

The Annual Review of Comparative and International Education 2014 provides an opportunity for reflection and debate of current issues in the field. Central among these is how comparative and international education (CIE) is defined by scholars and practitioners, and how these understandings contribute to the field’s sense of professional and academic identity. The work of teachers and teaching in classrooms worldwide comprises much of the CIE field’s technical core and focus of policymaking as well as other relevant activity. As a result, the education of teachers and their professional development are key, and often undervalued, components. Based upon this foundation, the 2014 Annual Review highlights ways that teacher education and professional development impact CIE research and professional activity, and vice versa.

The aim of this project is to modify and test the executive model of professional teacher training of disaster prevention education.

A three‐level teacher‐training program for disaster prevention education and training curricula is designed for campus disaster mitigation. The designed disaster prevention education in schools focus on the awareness of disasters, attitude toward prevention, preparation beforehand, appropriate countermeasures, scheduled drills, establishment of community‐based prevention units, participation, training programs for teachers, safety warning signs for public buildings, and research on disaster prevention.

The accomplishment of the project includes: the design of a systematic license procedure for disaster prevention for the leading‐level, county‐level, and campus‐level; the design of a systematic curricula for teacher training of disaster prevention and training campus‐level teachers; and the evaluation of the efficiency and performance of the teacher‐training program for disaster prevention education.

A three‐level teacher‐training program for disaster prevention education and training curricula is designed. Statistics analysis of training and learning efficiency evaluation by trainee shows that the designed courses are efficient and practical. The project cultured 310 campus‐level disaster prevention teachers and more than 1,000 licensed teachers trained that follow the training program in Taiwan.

In light of expert opinion that health education should be integrated into the school curriculum, rather than taught only as a separate unit, it is desirable that all teachers have adequate knowledge and understanding of the subject. The present research investigated attitudes of a representative sample of Greek Cypriot serving teachers towards health education, together with their views on related matters such as the value of contributions from outside bodies and the availability of finance and resources. Results suggest that teachers are generally very positive towards health education, but regard initial and in‐service training provision as inadequate and causing manifest confusion in their understanding of many key issues. Implications emerge for future teacher training programmes.

Beatrice Avalos, Ph.D., is associate researcher at the Centre for Advanced Research in Education, University of Chile. She has journal and book publications on teacher education, educational policy in developing countries and gender issues focussed particularly on Chile and Latin America. She has worked and taught in universities in Chile, Britain, Canada and Papua New Guinea, and carried out consultancy work in Bangladesh and several Latin American countries on issues related to school improvement, teacher professional development and teacher initial education.

This introductory chapter provides an explanation for and overview of this edited collection, including a brief synopsis of the themes which are developed in its chapters. Themes include the contested site of teacher preparation, whether it should take place mainly at university or in schools and whether the emphasis should be on the academic discipline of education or on the practical elements of teaching. A second theme relates to the impact of education policy on teacher preparation; in particular, the devolution of powers from the UK Parliament and Government to the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Executive (now Scottish Government). In this devolved context a new curriculum framework covering those aged 3–18 years, called Curriculum for Excellence, was introduced in 2010 and recently a Scottish solution to teacher shortages has been to create online and distance learning routes into teaching. A third recurring theme in the book is the review of all forms of teacher education led by the former Chief Inspector of schools, Graham Donaldson. This review resulted in a seminal report, ‘Teaching Scotland's Future’, and its 50 recommendations included many related to teacher preparation and induction. This collection also shines a light on some hitherto neglected areas of teacher preparation, including the Episcopalian Teacher Training College and the preparation for English Language teachers.

Despite serious debates regarding different methods for preparing special education teachers (e.g., alternative routes, distance education, and programs with traditional student teaching), most supporters of teacher education agree on the importance of professional teaching standards as an underlying framework for defining professionalism in teacher preparation programs. For example, in a national survey of special education alternative route teacher preparation programs, Rosenberg, Boyer, Sindelar, and Misra (2007) found that the majority of respondents indicated their programs were designed around professional teaching standards, particularly standards developed by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium, and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. The CEC, the leading professional organization for special educators, disseminates professional standards for beginning and advanced special educators that have been approved by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) (Council for Exceptional Children, 2004). Specific areas addressed by the CEC professional standards include (1) foundations of special education, (2) development and characteristics of learners, (3) individual learning differences, (4) instructional strategies, (5) learning environments and social interactions, (6) communication, (7) instructional planning, (8) assessment, (9) professional and ethical practice, and (10) collaboration. These standards include the core knowledge and skills essential for effective special educators and serve as guiding principles for professional programs and state licensing departments. They ensure that special educators are well prepared to enter the practice of teaching. Teacher preparation programs should be the vehicle through which professional standards are taught, understood, and translated into practice.

The dynamics of teacher education in Africa are complex. To understand their complexities, one has to plow through multiple layers of players that provide funding, policy direction, curricula, teaching methods, and technologies to teacher education systems grounded in divergent philosophies and histories. There is a need to understand how ideas regarding teacher policies and practices are filtered between countries and how those ideas are shaped to fit unique contexts in which they are introduced. Considering the roles played by multinational and bilateral international organizations, national governments, colleges, universities, teacher unions, the private sector, and civil society, it is imperative that data is collected and evaluated to measure impact of reforms and policies that guide teacher training for novices and in-service for professional teachers. As such, the critical role comparative and international teacher education research plays cannot be understated. Comparative and International Education (CIE) relevant research serves to advance understanding of teacher education and professional development by highlighting best practices, issues, inputs, outputs, gaps, and differences, the relationships with student learning outcomes, and standardization and harmonization of teacher education curricula in a very crowded arena. CIE relevant research provides the necessary data for examining policies and initiating reforms that lead to positive student learning outcomes. In addition, the research provides benchmarks in novice teacher training and professional development that contribute to teaching efficacy and teacher effectiveness.