Empowered Educators In China: How High-Performing Systems Shape Teaching Quality

Part of a series, with a main volume by Linda Darling-Hammond and Dion Burns: EMPOWERED EDUCATORS: HOW HIGH-PERFORMING SYSTEMS SHAPE TEACHING QUALITY AROUND THE WORLD.

This work delves into a number of high-performing educational systems, and describes how they create a coherent set of policies designed to ensure quality teaching in all communities. The authors also closely examine how precisely these policies are translated into practice. The series spans systems across three continents and five countries,

In EMPOWERED EDUCATORS IN CHINA, Dr. Sato describes the geographic and economic context of China, the nation’s policy reforms over time that built the modern Chinese educational system, and the educational practices that are considered typical in China. The primary focus is on the policies and practices that contribute to the preparation, hiring, and ongoing professional support for teachers within the system. These are all based on the assumption that teachers are a key feature of the education system that contributes to student performance and achievement, an assumption which is also explicitly stated within Chinese law.

MISTILINA SATO is an associate professor of teacher development and science education at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She is the inaugural holder of the Carmen Starkson Campbell Chair for Innovation in Teacher Development.