International trends in contexts marked by teacher shortages: implications for teacher education, professionalism and the teaching profession

Teacher shortages and strategies to mitigate them, including reform-ing initial teacher education, have been put into place in many con-texts. It is, thus, necessary to look at international trends and to discusshow issues of professionalism and the role of the teacher have been(re)framed. In this article, we examine emerging themes arising fromarticles included in this Special Issue and we discuss what has beenaccomplished and what remains necessary to enhance the teachingprofession and teacher education quality amid a critical global teachershortage. It is argued that there is a need to strengthen the teachingprofession through robust initial teacher education programmes andevidence-based policies that recognise the expertise of teacher educa-tion institutions and of teacher educators. Such efforts call fora research-based teaching profession that positions teachers as activeagents and not merely implementers of top-down policies.