Improving Teacher Development & Educational Quality in China.

This study investigates the nature and extent of teachers’ professional development and learning in China as well as the role of teacher development in enhancing school effectiveness. The relevance and utility of the concept of professional learning communities to evaluate and enhance teacher quality and school effectiveness in rural and urban secondary schools is also examined. The study extends previous models of school effectiveness employing innovative quantitative methodology (multilevel modelling) in two crucial ways – by examining improvement in school effectiveness over four consecutive student cohorts (2009-2012) and by investigating the impact of teacher development factors on student outcomes.

This research benefits from strong collaborative links: (1) between the University of Bristol (UOB), National Institute of Education Sciences (NIES, formerly known as China National Institute for Educational Research, CNIER) and LEA policy makers and practitioners (2) DFID funded EdQual consortium (www.edqual.org) and other key UOB research centres (Multilevel Modelling (www.cmm.bristol.ac.uk); East Asian Studies (www.bristol.ac.uk/ceas/).