Teachers’ and Principals’ Preparation

Exhibit 8.1 presents teachers’ reports about their highest level of formal education. On average, 26 percent of the fourth grade students had teachers with a postgraduate university degree, 60 percent had teachers with a bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) but not a postgraduate degree, 11 percent had teachers with post-secondary education but not a bachelor’s degree, and 3 percent had teachers with an upper-secondary degree.

Exhibit 8.2 presents the percentages of students whose teacher had various areas of specialization in their formal education. Seventy percent of the students had teachers whose education included an emphasis on language, 64 percent had teachers with an emphasis on pedagogy/teaching reading, and 32 percent had teachers with an emphasis on reading theory. The PIRLS results do not show any relationship between emphasis on these specializations and students’ average reading achievement. This was consistent across the three areas of emphasis (language, pedagogy, and reading theory).