International insights on initial teacher education quality assurance

This paper provides international perspectives on quality assurance of initial teacher education (ITE) programmes for both accreditation of new programmes and evaluation of existing programmes. The paper first reviews the policies and processes for quality assurance reviews in higher education and ITE specifically, finding that ITE programme evaluation is typically taken up through higher education quality assurance frameworks and practices that vary across different jurisdictions. Four illustrations of ITE quality assurance systems (Singapore, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Finland) demonstrate how the governance of ITE gives shape to programme evaluation policies and practices in each context. The paper concludes with a discussion of how a commitment to the teaching profession and a commitment to the relationship between theory and practice are both present and create tensions in the quality assurance processes.