A Comparison of Teacher Competence Frameworks in the USA and Türkiye

Abstract

Teaching is a complex endeavor that requires deep knowledge of content, pedagogy, and students. Educational stakeholders design teacher competence frameworks to outline the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that teachers need to have to improve their teaching activity. These competence frameworks are guided by research and theory and tend to respond to local contexts and national efforts. In this article, we examine teacher competence frameworks in two national contexts, the United States of America and Türkiye, using Merriam’s (2009) approach to document analysis and Phillips and Schweisfurth’s (2014) framework for comparative inquiry. This analysis reveals much overlap but also distinct differences in educational structures. Our analysis is based upon four categories including overall structures, development, scope, and accountabilities of teacher competence frameworks. Given that the teacher competence frameworks in both countries are dated, we conclude our article with a call for updating such frameworks through participatory efforts, taking into account recent post-COVID pandemic needs in teacher competencies.