Measuring Quality in Initial Teacher Education in Scotland: A Context-Specific Endeavour

Abstract

This chapter outlines how measures of quality were devised to suit the national context of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) in Scotland, where influences include an ITE system led by universities, a distinct policy context, and a national vision for teaching as a profession. Developing a quality framework therefore involved engaging with context to ‘Scotify’ commonly held measures of ITE quality, balancing a desire for international comparisons and the need for meaningful, localised insight. We share two examples of such adapted measures. First is a language proficiency self-evaluation question suited to Scotland’s identity as European while still being a mostly monolingual English-speaking country. Second is a career intention measure as an alternative to retention figures which responds to the changing contemporary education profession in Scotland. The chapter ends by highlighting how the work to add national nuance to international measures has benefited the policy and educational research landscape in Scotland, informing new directions for debate and building capacity for new research collaborations.