Most countries with modern education systems have policies that protect teachers from being dismissed unless they have been given due process — or suitable, nonbiased reasons. Yet calls for education reform also are affecting traditional teacher job protections in other counties as well.
Mexico
Mexico is undergoing a sea change in its complex and periodically acrimonious relationship with teachers. President Enrique Peña Nieto has made teacher quality a vital part of his effort to reform Mexico’s century-old public education system. In November 2015, Mexico began requiring teachers to periodically take standardized tests to assess their knowledge of subject areas in order to keep their jobs. Underperforming teachers have three opportunities to achieve satisfactory scores on the exams before they are dismissed. As part of the reforms introduced in 2013, teachers also must be evaluated by their supervisor, submit a portfolio demonstrating their teaching ability, demonstrate their ability to resolve problems of professional practice, and submit and defend a lesson plan. The reform also aims to end the model in which the national teachers union has virtually controlled the hiring, promotion, and layoffs of teachers in the country. Since 1984, Mexico has required teachers to earn the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
Germany
Since 1872, public school teachers in the West have enjoyed lifetime tenure as civil servants where their jobs are highly protected, and they are comparatively free from concerns about labor-force downsizing or termination for incompetence. After passing a state examination at the end of college, prospective German teachers spend two years in student teaching. During that time, they have a reduced teaching load that begins with classroom observation, progresses to assisted teaching, and finally to unassisted teaching under the close direction of a mentor teacher. They also attend seminars in their subjects once or twice a week, and their seminar instructor joins the mentor in observing and evaluating the prospective teacher. At the end of the second year, candidates take another state examination and apply for jobs. Placement is not guaranteed.
Canada
Teacher tenure in Canada varies from province to province. In most jurisdictions, teachers qualify for certification after earning an education degree. Provincial/territorial organizations grant teaching certificates. These organizations are sometimes governmental (ministries of education) and sometimes nongovernmental (teacher colleges). Teachers typically have a two-year probationary contract with some form of induction program including performance appraisals. Once they’ve completed probation and have earned tenured status, teachers may only be dismissed for just cause or by layoffs — typically with seniority and subject-area qualifications respected.
South Korea
Teachers must complete four years of coursework leading to a bachelor’s degree before they can apply for a teaching certificate. All public school teachers must take and pass an employment test administered by the metropolitan and provincial offices of education to be hired. The exam tests subject-matter knowledge and pedagogy, teaching demonstration, and includes an in-depth interview.
There is no probationary period for new teachers. Teachers are granted guaranteed tenure as soon as they are hired, and most teachers remain in the profession until retirement. Teachers also have in-school, pre-employment training that lasts two weeks and includes case studies, practical tasks, and theory study as well as instruction in student guidance and classroom management. After being hired, teachers have six months of training, which involves instructional guidance and evaluation, classroom supervision, and instruction on clerical work and student guidance.
Australia
Teacher tenure in Australia is largely governed at the provincial level. Only a few features of teacher hiring and induction are governed at the national level; one of these features is the expectation that all teachers maintain documentation of their ability to meet national teaching standards or risk losing their accreditation. All teachers in Australia must hold a bachelor’s degree. Teachers must provide documentation from their first year of teaching to prove that they meet national teaching standards in knowledge, practice, and commitment, and that they have met or are working to meet self-set professional goals. They must go through this procedure every five years to maintain their accreditation. If they fail to do so or have not met the standards, any school that continues to employ them will be fined. Examples of documentation include lesson plans demonstrating use of a variety of teaching strategies applicable to a range of students, lesson observation notes, and professional reading/viewing logs and reflections that demonstrate research into how students learn.
Citation: Editors. (2016). Tenure around the world. Phi Delta Kappan, 97 (6), 32.
