Revising the ISSA Pedagogical Standards - Expanding the Definition of Quality in Education

January 2008

Since 2001, the ISSA Pedagogical Standards have been promoted as a tool for professional development and assessment of teacher performance. Over 250 teachers in ISSA network countries have received ISSA Certificates on Excellence in Teaching, proving that the quality of their performance meets or exceeds the ISSA Pedagogical Standards. For many more teachers, the Standards have served as guidelines for self-assessment and improving everyday practice. Standards have provided a common language for educators, school administrators, government entities, professional organizations, and parents to recognize high quality teaching within national contexts.

In 2007, ISSA began the process of updating its Pedagogical Standards in order to ensure that they reflect the most current research and best knowledge available in early childhood education on the both sides of Atlantic. The revised standards incorporate many new concepts, including recognition of the importance of high quality interactions between the child and the educator, teachers’ competencies and their effect on children’s outcomes, strengthening intentional teaching within multiple interactions, building a democratic learning community with respect for diversity in the classroom, purposeful use of information technologies, and working together with parents and communities. Many prominent scholars, such as Prof. Iram Siraj- Blatchford from the Institute of Education in London, Prof. Chris Pascal at the Centre for Research in Early Childhood in Birmingham, UK, Prof. Ferre Laevers at the Centre for Experiential Education at the University of Leuven, Belgium, Dr. Robert Pianta at the Center for the Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning at the University of Virginia, Dr. Sue Bredekamp,  Director of Research at the Council for Early Childhood Professional Recognition and others, have offered their expertise and provided input into the revisions.  Many excellent ideas have also been contributed by ISSA’s own experts and practitioners participating in the Quality Early Education Program (QEEP). In December 2007, national representatives of the QEEP met and discussed a draft of the revised Standards.  The Standards will be piloted and field-tested in numerous pre-school and primary classrooms in ISSA member countries. 

ISSA plans to complete the revision process by January 2009, when the ISSA Pedagogical Standards and the documents which support them will be in use throughout the network.  Until that time, the current ISSA Pedagogical Standards will remain in place as ISSA’s definition of quality practice in teaching.

For more information contact Aija Tuna, ISSA Program Director at atuna@issa.hu

Previous Page