Prologue

There is a growing desire to improve the quality and the equity of education around the world. Educational improvement requires understanding that the chief actors in the education system - teachers and students - and the educational context in which they operate, are indispensable in this pursuit. This book contributes to understanding educational systems and personal factors that influence teaching behaviour and student learning and engagement. Particularly, the book focuses on the work of teachers - in terms of effective teaching - as key players in education. Effective teaching refers to classroom processes or instructional practices related to student learning (Wagner et al., 2013). This broad definition encompasses various terms used in the literature on teaching to refer to similar constructs and ideas. It is therefore important to note that the scope of this book represents various strands of research on teaching.