Ladd Helen F
Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, USA.
Future Child. 2007 Spring;17(1):201-17. doi: 10.1353/foc.2007.0006.
Helen Ladd takes a comparative look at policies that the world's industrialized countries are using to assure a supply of high-quality teachers. Her survey puts U.S. educational policies and practices into international perspective. Ladd begins by examining teacher salaries-an obvious, but costly, policy tool. She finds, perhaps surprisingly, that students in countries with high teacher salaries do not in general perform better on international tests than those in countries with lower salaries. Ladd does find, however, that the share of underqualified teachers in a country is closely related to salary. In high-salary countries like Germany, Japan, and Korea, for example, only 4 percent of teachers are underqualified, as against more than 10 percent in the United States, where teacher salaries, Ladd notes, are low relative to those in other industrialized countries. Teacher shortages also appear to stem from policies that make salaries uniform across academic subject areas and across geographic regions. Shortages are especially common in math and science, in large cities, and in rural areas. Among the policy strategies proposed to deal with such shortages is to pay teachers different salaries according to their subject area. Many countries are also experimenting with financial incentive packages, including bonuses and loans, for teachers in specific subjects or geographic areas. Ladd notes that many developed countries are trying to attract teachers by providing alternative routes into teaching, often through special programs in traditional teacher training institutions and through adult education or distance learning programs. To reduce attrition among new teachers, many developed countries have also been using formal induction or mentoring programs as a way to improve new teachers' chances of success. Ladd highlights the need to look beyond a single policy, such as higher salaries, in favor of broad packages that address teacher preparation and certification, working conditions, the challenges facing new teachers, and the distribution of teachers across geographic areas.
海伦·拉德对世界工业化国家用以确保高质量教师供应的政策进行了比较研究。她的调查将美国的教育政策与实践置于国际视野之中。拉德首先审视了教师薪资——这是一个显而易见却成本高昂的政策工具。她发现，或许令人惊讶的是，教师薪资高的国家的学生在国际测试中的总体表现并不比薪资低的国家的学生更好。然而，拉德确实发现，一个国家中资质不足的教师比例与薪资密切相关。例如，在德国、日本和韩国等高薪资国家，只有4%的教师资质不足，而在美国这一比例超过10%，拉德指出，美国教师的薪资相对于其他工业化国家较低。教师短缺似乎还源于使各学科领域和各地区薪资统一的政策。短缺在数学和科学学科、大城市以及农村地区尤为常见。为应对此类短缺而提出的政策策略之一是根据学科领域向教师支付不同的薪资。许多国家也在针对特定学科或地区的教师试验包括奖金和贷款在内的财政激励方案。拉德指出，许多发达国家正试图通过提供进入教师行业的替代途径来吸引教师，这些途径通常是通过传统教师培训机构的特殊项目以及成人教育或远程学习项目。为减少新教师的流失，许多发达国家还一直在使用正式的入职培训或指导项目，以此提高新教师成功的几率。拉德强调，需要超越单一政策，比如提高薪资，转而支持涵盖教师培养与认证、工作条件、新教师面临的挑战以及教师在各地区分布等方面的综合方案。
