examinations are a common feature of careerbased teacher employment systems like france japan korea or spain oecd examinations play a vital role in countries where there are concerns about the quality of initial teacher education or an oversupply of teachers both of which are the case in costa rica while examinations cannot fully discriminate all the requirements for effective teaching they can be a valuable tool for ensuring that all teacher candidates have a minimum level of know ledge and skills established teaching standards would help to define the parameters of the exam a minimum level should be established that all candidates should reach independently of the availability of teaching posts