Four Ways to Improve Teachers’ Quality in Italy

Following the poor performances of Italian students in the last PISA survey (2018), this paper suggests, as a therapy, to focus on the the quality of teaching, or, to put in another way, the quantity of good teachers. Most scholars agree on this point: teachers are the most important school-based resource, the condition sine qua non in determining students’ future academic success and lifetime outcomes. However, the quality of teachers depends on the quality of the policies guiding their selection, recruitment and development. Given the established and worthwhile effect of quality teachers on students’ achievements, this paper aims at offering some proposals in this sense. In particular, considering the Italian context, four possible measures aiming at increasing teachers’ effectiveness are discussed.