• Unlike new U.S. teachers, new Japanese and German teachers receive long-term structured apprenticeships in their profession.

• Japanese teachers have more opportunities to discuss teaching-related issues than do U.S. teachers.

• U.S. teachers have more college education than their colleagues in all but a few TIMSS countries.

• Student diversity and poor discipline are challenges not only for U.S. teachers, but for their German colleagues as well.

Hoping to improve U.S. classroom instruction, many policy makers have recommended improvements in various aspects of the U.S. teacher education system. Experts agree that both the quality of the college preparation prospective teachers receive as well as the quality of the in-service training existing teachers receive are important. However, each year, the percentage of newly-hired teachers is comparatively small in relation to the size of the existing teaching force. Therefore, many experts agree that, in the short run, the quickest way to improve students' learning opportunities is to improve the instruction provided by existing teachers.

To better understand how the characteristics of teachers' daily lives may or may not contribute to high-quality teaching, a team of twelve bilingual researchers each spent three months in German, Japanese, or U.S. schools, observing and interviewing teachers, principals, and students. This activity was carried out as a supplement to the U.S. TIMSS effort. As this chapter will describe, researchers found important differences between U.S. teachers' opportunities for professional learning and improvement of their teaching, and the opportunities of their Japanese and German counterparts.



WHO TEACHES MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE?

U.S. teachers report that they have spent more years in college than teachers in all but a few of the 41 TIMSS countries. Nearly half of the teachers of U.S. eighth-graders had a masters' degree, a proportion which was exceeded by only four other TIMSS countries. In Japan, few teachers had more than a Bachelors' degree with teacher training. In Germany, teachers complete 13 years of primary and secondary school, followed by about six years of study at the university, after which they write a thesis and pass an examination to receive a degree considered equivalent to a U.S. masters' degree.

Spending many years in college, however, does not necessarily result in teachers who are experts in their fields. Many U.S. policy makers consider it important for mathematics and science teachers to have a strong college background in those subjects. TIMSS, however, was unable to collect information on this topic due to the great variety of ways in which university training in mathematics and science is organized in the participating countries.

Japanese and German teachers enjoy the security of the benefits and tenure which come from their status as civil servants. As civil servants, their jobs are highly protected, and they are comparatively free from concerns about labor-force downsizing or termination for incompetence.

The typical teacher of U.S. eighth-grade math and science students was a woman in her forties, with about 15 years of prior teaching experience. Forties was the norm for most of the other TIMSS countries. The typical teacher of German students was a man nearly fifty, who had been teaching for about 19 years; and the typical teacher of Japanese students was a man in his late thirties, who had been teaching for 14 years.



HOW DO TEACHERS SPEND THEIR TIME?

Teachers of the U.S. and German eighth-grade students teach more classes per week than Japanese teachers. Questionnaires asked teachers to report the number of periods they teach each week. Mathematics teachers in the U.S. most commonly reported teaching 26 periods per week. German teachers reported teaching 24, and Japanese teachers reported teaching 16 periods. Science teachers in the U.S. and Germany most often reported teaching 25 periods per week, and Japanese science teachers 18. Most mathematics teachers in all three countries taught few periods outside of their subject, and the same was true of science teachers.

In addition to teaching, U.S. and Japanese teachers are formally scheduled to perform considerable additional duties during the school day. In the U.S., teachers reported that these additional responsibilities are primarily in student supervision and lesson planning. In Japan, the time was roughly balanced between student counseling, administrative duties, and lesson planning. Most German teachers were scheduled for very few hours of non-teaching tasks at school, and they did their lesson planning at home.

Eighth-grade math and science class sizes in the U.S. and Germany were about the same, averaging 24 to 25 students per class. Japanese math and science classes were much larger, averaging 37 students.

The rhythm of U.S. and Japanese teachers' daily school life was more similar than for their German colleagues. Observations of U.S. teachers showed that they usually were at school around eight hours a day. They were expected to be in the building during school hours, although many came earlier, or stayed later. Japanese teachers were usually at school around nine hours a day. They were expected to be at school from the time it started in the morning until about 4:00 or 5:00, when student club activities end. Many worked later on some evenings. Japanese schools also were in session for a half day two Saturdays per month.

German teachers of eighth-grade students spent the shortest amount of time at school. The hours during which they were in the building usually varied from day to day, depending on their teaching schedule. During periods when they were not scheduled to teach, teachers often were not at school and felt free to come and go from the school much as college professors do in the United States. Most returned home when school was over around 1:30, ate their lunch at home, and planned lessons and reviewed student work during the afternoon and evening.

U.S. and German teachers do not have the rich informal opportunities to learn from each other and to share questions about teaching-related issues that are enjoyed by their Japanese colleagues. Japanese schools are designed with one very large teachers' room, in which all teachers have their main desks, and the seating is arranged so that all teachers from a particular grade or subject sit near each other. When they were not actually instructing classes, teachers spent most of their time in this large room with their colleagues, providing many casual opportunities each day to share advice, ideas and teaching materials. Japanese cultural norms expect junior teachers to query their older colleagues for teaching tips and rely on their advice.

Formal discussions between teachers were more frequent in Japan, as well. When asked how often they meet to discuss curriculum, 76 percent of the teachers of the Japanese TIMSS students reported "at least once a month," compared to 60 percent of the U.S. and 44 percent of the German teachers.



HOW DO TEACHERS LEARN TO TEACH?

U.S. teachers lack the long and carefully mentored introduction to teaching that Japanese and German teachers receive. In Germany this period of intensive training comes before being hired as a teacher. In Japan, it comes during the first year on the job. In all three countries, prospective teachers first take a mixture of courses in education and in academic subject areas leading to graduation from college. After this, however, their experiences diverge sharply.

In Germany, after passing a state examination at the end of college, prospective teachers spend two years in student teaching in a program resembling a traditional apprenticeship. During the two years, prospective teachers have a reduced teaching load that begins with classroom observation, then progresses to assisted teaching, and finally to unassisted teaching under the close direction of a mentor teacher. They also attend seminars in their subjects once or twice a week, and their seminar instructor joins the mentor in observing and evaluating the prospective teacher. At the end of the second year, candidates take another state examination and apply for jobs. Placement is not guaranteed.

In Japan, after passing the teacher certification and employment selection examinations, successful candidates are hired by various prefectures, which are similar to U.S. states. New teachers then undergo intensive mentoring and training during their first year on the job. New teachers' first year includes at least 60 days of closely mentored teaching and 30 days of further training at resource centers run by the local and prefectural boards of education. Their teaching load is reduced to allow time for these activities. As is typical of Japanese society, mentoring and assistance between junior and senior teachers continues throughout teachers' working lives.

In comparison to the intensive on-the-job training that German and Japanese teachers receive, U.S. teachers' induction is less structured and comprehensive. Prospective U.S. teachers typically spend 12 weeks or less in student teaching near the end of their undergraduate training. After meeting state licensing requirements and being hired by a school district, the nature of the induction program varies by district, and may include some type of in-service training, and some mentoring by a more experienced teacher.



WHAT CHALLENGES DO TEACHERS FACE?

Although teaching students is their job, dealing with students can be teachers' greatest challenge. During interviews, teachers in all three countries frequently described student diversity as a challenge. Diversity takes different forms in each country, however. U.S. teachers referred primarily to differences in American students' social, economic, or ethnic background, or to the challenges of dealing with non-English-speaking students. German teachers referred to differences in ethnic background, language, and national origin between the children of German citizens and their country's foreign workers. Japanese teachers referred to the wide differences in academic ability within each classroom, which arise from their nation's policy of not separating students by ability in any way until high school, and not retaining low-performing students in grade.

What circumstances do teachers in the three countries believe limit their effectiveness? TIMSS questionnaires asked teachers to rate the extent to which various factors limited their ability to teach. Figure 12 shows the results.

Uninterested students and a wide range of academic abilities challenge teachers in all three countries. Over a third of U.S. and German eighth-grade teachers also felt that disruptive students limited their effectiveness as teachers. The Japanese chose not to include any questionnaire items relating to discipline or morale problems in their schools.

Severe discipline problems and threats to student and teacher safety are neither widespread nor unique to the U.S., despite stories in the popular media that sometimes give the impression that these problems do not exist in other countries. An approximately equal and small number of German and U.S. eighth-grade teachers reported feeling that threats to themselves or their students' safety limited their effectiveness as teachers. Most teachers, however, never experience such serious problems. Seventy-six percent of the U.S. and 65 percent of German teachers reported that threats to their own or students' safety did not limit their effectiveness at all. TIMSS researchers who observed and interviewed teachers in their schools reported that, in both countries, the schools with such serious problems were generally in poorer areas of the city.

Science teachers in all three countries reported hindrances similar to those of their mathematics colleagues, except that they added shortages of demonstration and instructional equipment to the circumstances which limit the effectiveness of their teaching.

Students themselves reported somewhat more discipline problems than their teachers, possibly because children often do not report all incidents to school authorities. About 25 percent of the eighth-graders in both Germany and the U.S. reported on the questionniares that, during the past month, they had been afraid that another student might hurt them. About 40 percent in each country said that one of their friends had been hurt by another student. Theft was more common in the U.S. than Germany. Fifty-eight percent of U.S. students but only 32 percent of German students said that one of their friends had something stolen during the past month. Skipping classes was more common in Germany, with 66 percent of German students reporting that one of their friends had skipped class during the past month, compared with 50 percent in the U.S.

Figure 13 shows the percentage of U.S. and German principals who reported that they dealt with various kinds of discipline problems on a daily basis. Principals in both countries responded that their most common discipline problems were classroom disturbances, tardiness, and intimidation or verbal abuse of students by other students. More serious problems such as physical injury of students, teachers, or staff were rare. Use of illegal drugs and possession of weapons was reported as a daily problem by only about 2 percent of the U.S. and German principals. Over 90 percent of principals reported that they and their staff dealt with these problems rarely or never..

Teachers in all three countries found dealing with student diversity to be a challenge to their effectiveness. Many German teachers also experienced problems with student misbehavior. Many teachers in all three countries believed their effectiveness was limited by the range of student abilities represented in their classes, and also by disruptive and disinterested students. The next chapter turns to the questions of how nations deal with student ability differences, as well as the supports and incentives offered to students in their academic endeavors.