teaching and learning.pdf

7/30/2019 teaching and learning.pdf

1/32

Creating EffectiveTeaching and LearningEnvironments:First Results from TALIS

ExECuTIvE SummARy

T e a c h i n g A n d L e a r n i n g I n t e r n a t i o n a l S u r v e y


2/32


3/32

Creating Eective Teaching and Learning Environments: First Results rom TALIS Executive Summary OECD 2009

Table of Contents

Introduction 3

Conditions or eective learning 5

Preparing and supporting a high-quality teaching orce 9

How common is proessional development in the teaching orce? 9

How well are teachers proessional development needs being met? 10

How to meet unsatisfed demand or proessional development? 11

Improving teaching practice 13

How do teaching belies and practices dier across countries? 13

How do teachers use their teaching time and how successul do they consider

themselves in their work?

14

Supporting eective teaching through appraisal and eedback 17

How do teachers view appraisal and eedback on their work? 17

How do education systems reward eective teaching? 18

Shaping the development o teachers through eective school leadership 20

How do leadership styles vary? 20

How does school leadership relate to the development o teachers? 20

A profle o lower secondary teachers and their schools 23

Conclusions 25

This document summarises results rom the main report which can be ound at www.oecd.org/edu/TALIS


4/32


5/32


Introduction

the OeCD tALIS Survey

OECDs Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) provides the frst

internationally comparative perspective on the conditions o teaching and learning,

providing groundbreaking insights into some o the actors that lie behind the

dierences in learning outcomes that OECDs Programme or International Student

Assessment (PISA) has revealed. It aims to help countries review and develop policiesto make the teaching proession more attractive and more eective.

With a ocus on lower secondary education in both the public and private sectors,

TALIS examines important aspects o proessional development; teacher belies,

attitudes and practices; teacher appraisal and eedback; and school leadership in the

23 participating countries.

TALIS is the frstteacher survey...

to cover key issuesaecting teachers o lowersecondary education andtheir work.

OECD countries Partner countries

Australia Brazil

Austria Bulgaria

Belgium (Flemish Community) Estonia

Denmark Lithuania

Hungary Malaysia

Iceland Malta

Ireland Slovenia

Italy

Note: TALIS was also conducted in the Netherlands

but as the required sampling standards were

not achieved, their data are not included in the

international comparisons.

Korea

Mexico

Norway

Poland

Portugal

Slovak Republic

Spain

Turkey


6/32

IntrODuCtIOn


TALIS looks at these actors through the eyes o teachers and school principals. This

innovative approach was chosen in order to examine how the intended school and

teacher policies o education systems are actually perceived and implemented in

schools and classrooms, recognising that the best intentions will only yield results i

eectively and consistently implemented in the rontline. Future surveys will build on

this to monitor how the proession will evolve in response to new challenges.

Three eatures o the survey need to be taken into account when interpreting the

results. First, responses rom teachers and principals oer important insights, but they

are subjective reports. Great care was taken in the design and instrumentation o the

survey to ensure that the data are reliable and valid across countries and cultures.

However, they need to be interpreted in the context o the perspectives o other

stakeholders. Second, TALIS identies associations between various characteristics

o teachers and schools, but cannot establish cause and eect. Third, cross-country

comparisons must always take account o cultural infuences on the meaning o

responses. The TALIS results are discussed with these considerations in mind.

To establish a robust statistical picture, around 200 schools were randomly selected

in each country to participate in the survey. In each school, one questionnaire was

lled in by the school principal and another by 20 randomly selected teachers. The

questionnaires each took about 45 minutes to complete and could be lled in on

paper or on-line. In total, TALIS sampled around 90 000 teachers representing more

than 2 million teachers in the participating countries.

TALIS is the product o a collaborative eort between the countries participating

in TALIS, the experts and institutions that worked within the ramework o aninternational project consortium, and the OECD. Collaboration and support rom the

European Commission has helped TALIS address important inormation needs o the

Commission. Education International has acilitated consultations with educational

unions throughout the development, implementation and analysis o the results.

TALIS has emerged rom the OECDs international educational indicators programme,

INES. It also draws on the OECDs 2005 review o teacher policy, which identied

important gaps in international data.

schools andteachers were

randomly selected totake part.

The development and

implementation ofTALIS was guided by

governments.

In each ofthe 23 countries


7/32

ExEcutivE summary


Conditions or eeCtive learning

TALIS looks at a range of features that shape teaching and learning.But how strongly do these characteristics affect learning itself?

While TALIS does not directly measure student learning and learningoutcomes, it looks at important features that shape effective

learning. Special emphasis was given i) to how successful teachers feel

in addressing the educational challenges they face (self-efficacy)and ii) to what extent classrooms are orderly and conducive to

learning (classroom disciplinary climate).

Reports o sel-ecacy have been shown to be linked to productivity and infuencepeoples actions in the workplace. When teachers envisage eective teaching as a skill

that can be acquired, this eeling o sel-ecacy can help them better analyse and

solve problems. Conversely, those teachers conronting a low eeling o sel-ecacy

can experience sel-doubt and become preoccupied with evaluative concerns i

eorts proved unsuccessul.

Classroom climate not only has been shown to aect student outcomes and attainment

but is a prominent policy issue in a number o countries and regions. The actions

o students within classrooms and the creation o a sae and productive learning

environment are important or many schools and can be a challenging dimension o

teachers work. For example, TALIS nds that one teacher in our in most countriesloses at least 30% o lesson time to disruptive student behaviour or administrative

tasks, and some teachers lose more than hal (Figure 4.10 in the main report).

Furthermore, across countries, 60% o teachers are in schools whose school principal

reports that classroom disturbances hinder learning (Table 2.8a in the main report). In

all countries this is a problem in a relatively high proportion o schools and poses a

signicant challenge or eective teaching.

TALIS looked at howwell teachers eelprepared to addressthe challengesthey ace

as well as thequality o classroomclimate, one in ourteachers losing at least

30% o learning timebecause o disruptivestudent behaviour oradministrative tasks.

TALIS looked at how ar actors such as aspects o proessional development

or varying teaching practices were associated with sel-ecacy and classroom

disciplinary climate. It then adjusted this eect by accounting or background

actors such as the socio-economic characteristics o schools. Finally, or

each actor or which signicant eects had been ound, additional estimates

accounted or actors in other categories where the eects were signicant. The

associations that remain ater these adjustments, measured in a nal model,

are noted below and discussed in detail in Chapter 7 o the ull report.


8/32

ExEcutivE summary


Only in Australia was the number o days that teachers spent on proessional development

signicantly associated with classroom disciplinary climate, once all other actors had

been taken into account (Table 7.5 in the main report). On the other hand, in around

hal o the countries (Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Malaysia,

Malta, Mexico, Portugal and Slovenia), teachers who had received more proessional

development reported signicantly higher levels o sel-ecacy (Table 7.5a in the main

report). TALIS also suggests that teachers participation in proessional development goes

hand in hand with their mastery o a wider array o methods to use in the classroom,

even i it is not clear to what extent proessional development triggers or responds to the

adoption o new techniques (Table 4.7 in the main report).

TALIS identies close associations between actors such as a positive school climate,

teaching belies, co-operation between teachers, teacher job satisaction, proessional

development, and the adoption o dierent teaching techniques (Table 4.12, Table7.5a and Table 7.6a in the main report). For all o these actors, much o the variation

identied was in dierences among individual teachers rather than among schools

or countries (e.g. Figure 4.3 in the main report). The implication is that by addressing

teachers attitudes, belies and practices as a whole, there is scope or considerable

improvement in teaching and learning, but that this may require individualised

support or teachers rather than just whole-school or system-wide interventions.

In a number o countries, the appraisal and eedback which teachers receive is

mirrored in the belies in their own teaching abilities, in other words, when they

receive eedback on their work, the more they trust in their abilities to address

teaching challenges (Table 7.7a in the main report). However, this relationship is notalways visible when other actors are accounted or, suggesting that third actors are

at play too. In some countries, teachers reported higher levels o sel-ecacy when

they had received public recognition as a result o the appraisal (Austria, Belgium

(Fl.), Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Lithuania, Malta, Norway and Spain) and

also when innovative practices were part o appraisal and eedback (Brazil, Iceland

and Portugal) (Table 7.7a in the main report).

School evaluation and teacher appraisal show little relationship with classroom

climate, in particular once other actors have been taken into account (Table 7.7

in the main report). School evaluation was also not markedly associated with teacher

ecacy (Table 7.7a in the main report).

Two alternative views o teaching emphasise, on the one hand, the teachers role

in transmitting knowledge and providing correct solutions, and on the other, the

teachers role as a acilitator o active learning by students who seek out solutions

or themselves. Comparing teacher belies with classroom disciplinary climate, the

analysis found that in Hungary, Italy, Korea, Poland and Slovenia, teachers with

constructivist beliefs that regard students as active participants in the process

of acquiring knowledge are more likely to report positive classroom disciplinary

climate. In contrast, teachers who favour the direct transmission of knowledge

are more likely to report a negative classroom disciplinary climate in the seven

countries where there is a detectable net effect (Belgium (Fl.), Korea, Norway,Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain). The choice o competing teacher belies is

but proessionaldevelopment and

intervention needto be targeted atindividual teachers.

Teacher appraisaland eedback can be

important instruments

to raise sel-efcacy,and public recognitioncan reinorce this

relationship.

Teachers holdingdierent belies

have contrastingexperiences o

classroom climate...

Teachers who haveundertaken more

proessional developmenttend to eel better equippedto deal with teaching

challenges


9/32

ExEcutivE summary


a particularly signicant issue or Korea, Poland, and Slovenia, where both o the

above eects were observed (Table 7.6 in the main report).

In virtually all TALIS countries, there is a relation between teachers belies and theirclassroom practices. In particular, teachers who employ student-oriented practices are

more likely to be those who take a constructivist view o teaching; that is, teachers

who believe that students should be more active participants in the learning process

tend to ollow this through in practice. On the other hand, there is no consistent

pattern to the association between teachers belies and more structured lessons and

teaching (Table 4.9 in the main report).

On the other hand, both constructivist and direct transmission belies were

positively associated with sel-ecacy in most TALIS countries (Table 7.6a in the main

report). Even though these are competing views o teaching, this result indicates that

holding any strong view about technique tends to be associated with condence inones own eectiveness.

It is noteworthy that emale teachers report using structuring and student-oriented

practices more oten than their male counterparts and are also more likely to say that

they engage in co-operation with colleagues (Table 4.3 in the main report).

Structured teaching practices were associated with a good classroom disciplinary

climate in around hal o the countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium (Fl.), Bulgaria,

Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal and Spain), and in some cases this

eect was strong (Table 7.6 in the main report). These practices were also associated

with greater teacher sel-ecacy in around the same number o countries, manythe same ones (Australia, Austria, Belgium (Fl.), Iceland, Ireland, Korea, Malaysia,

Mexico, Norway, Portugal and Spain). Similar results were ound or teachers who

adopted student-oriented teaching practices but the number o countries where such

positive associations were evident was smaller (Table 7.6a in the main report).

Teacher co-operation tended not to be strongly associated with classroom disciplinary

climate, but in just under hal o the countries teachers who engaged in more progressive

orms o collaboration such as team teaching were more likely to eel more eective

(Austria, Belgium (Fl.), Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Korea, Poland, Portugal

and Spain) (Table 7.6a in the main report).

Those teachers who said that they involved students in enhanced activities such as

project work were more likely in some countries to experience a worse classroom

disciplinary climate (Austria, Belgium (Fl.), Lithuania and Malaysia), and had mixed

reports o their sel-ecacy (positive relationship in Ireland, Italy and Poland but

a negative relationship in Austria) (Tables 7.6 and 7.6a in the main report). It is, o

course, dicult to discern what is cause and eect as teachers may, or example,

employ project work in particularly dicult classroom conditions.

...but tend to haveconfdence intheir own teaching

whichever belies theyhold strongly.

Some teaching practices aremore closely associated withclassroom climate and sel-efcacy than others.


10/32

ExEcutivE summary


11. Dng he l 18 onh, dd o ppe n n o he ollowng knd o poeonl deelopen e,

nd wh w he p o hee e on o deelopen ehe?

For each question below, please mark one choice in part (A). If you answer Yes in part (A) then please mark onechoice in part (B) to indicate how much impact it had upon your development as a teacher.

(A)Participation

(B)Impact

Yes NoNo

impactA smallimpact

Amoderateimpact

A largeimpact

a) Courses/workshops (e.g. on subject matter ormethods and/or other education-related topics)

o1 o2 o1 o2 o3 o4

b) Education conerences or seminars (where teachersand/or researchers present their research results and

discuss educational problems)

o1 o2 o1 o2 o3 o4

c) Qualication programme (e.g. a degreeprogramme)

o1 o2 o1 o2 o3 o4

d) Observation visits to other schools o1 o2 o1 o2 o3 o4

e) Participation in a network o teachers ormedspecically or the proessional development oteachers

o1 o2 o1 o2 o3 o4

) Individual or collaborative research on a topic ointerest to you proessionally

o1 o2 o1 o2 o3

g) Mentoring and/or peer observation and coaching,as part o a ormal school arrangement

o1 o2 o1 o2 o3

Illustrative TALIS question 1


11/32

ExEcutivE summary


PreParing and suPPorting a high-quality teaChing

forCe

Education systems seek to provide teachers with opportunities for

on-going professional development to fully prepare them for their

work and to retain a high-quality teacher workforce. TALIS examined

the take-up of professional development, the degree of unsatisfied

demand for development and the factors that support or hinder

meeting development needs.

Several fndings rom TALIS underline the need or a better preparation o teachers.

More than one teacher in three is in a school whose principal thinks that the school

suers rom a shortage o qualifed teachers (Table 2.5 in the main report). This

ranges rom 12% in Poland to the great majority in Estonia, Mexico and Turkey. The

actors hindering instruction that are most requently cited are a lack o equipment

and a lack o instructional support personnel. TALIS makes it possible to analyse

various relations between dierent resource shortages. For example, there is a strong

relationship between schools in which a shortage o instructional support sta and o

other support sta hinders instruction, an indication that a squeeze on non-teacher

resources can aect these two problems together. On the other hand there seems to

be no correspondence between a shortage o qualifed teachers and average class

size. TALIS also ound that in some countries, negative aspects o teacher behavioursuch as absenteeism or lack o pedagogical preparation oten hinder instruction. In

Italy and Mexico or example, the majority o teachers are in schools whose principals

thought that unprepared teachers hindered instruction (Table 2.8 in the main report).

hw cmm p vpm c c?

Nearly nine teachers in ten reported taking part in a structured proessional

development activity during the 18 months preceding the survey. This is generally a

high participation rate, but there is considerable variation in:

The proportion o teachers participating in dierent countries: in Denmark, theSlovak Republic and Turkey, one in our reported no proessional development.Given the broad defnition o proessional development used in the survey, this

may be a concern (Table 3.1 in the main report).

The intensity o participation: in some countries teachers average participation is ahandul o days a year, while in Mexico and Korea it is 30 days or more (Table 3.1

in the main report).

Equity issues raised by the participation o various groups within countries:older teachers or example are under-represented and within-country variation

is greatest in Italy, Korea, Mexico, Poland and Spain (Table 3.1a and Table 3.1d

in the main report).

The type o proessional development activities (Table 3.2 in the main report).

The great majority ofteachers participate inprofessional development...


12/32

ExEcutivE summary

10


h c p p ?

Although the great majority o teachers received some proessional development

over the previous 18 months, 55% on average reported that they would have liked

more. However, teachers views on this varied widely: In Belgium (Fl.) and Slovenia,

two-thirds o teachers elt that they had received enough proessional development,

while in Brazil, Malaysia and Mexico, over 80% did not. While some degree ounmet need can be expected, its extent in some o the countries will need closer

examination (Table 3.3 in the main report).

Teachers demand or more proessional development appears concentrated in

certain areas. In particular, one teacher in three reports a high level o need or

teaching students with special learning needs. This indicates a serious issue in terms

o teachers capacity to deal with heterogeneous learning groups. Teachers also

requently mentioned ICT teaching skills and student behaviour as areas in which

they required more development (Table 3.4 in the main report). It is noteworthy in

this context that one teacher in our in most countries reports losing at least 30%

o learning time because o disruptive student behaviour or administrative tasks.Since the greatest amount o variation in loss o teaching time is among dierent

Figure 1

Comparison of the level and intensity of participation in professional development

(2007-08)

Bulgaria

Percentage of teachers undertaking professional development

Average days of professional development undertaken

Source: OECD, TALIS Database.

Turkey

Mexico

Italy

Brazil

Slovenia

Poland

Hungary

Malta

Slovak Republic

Lithuania

Korea

Belgium (Fl.)Australia

Iceland Estonia

Denmark

Spain

Portugal

Ireland

Norway

Malaysia

TALISa

verage

TALISa

verage

Austria

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

070 75 80 85 90 95 100

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/607807256201

...but hal do notthink this meets

their needs

with unmet demandconcentrated in areas

relating to dealingwith heterogeneouslearning groups, ICT

and student behaviour.


13/32

ExEcutivE summary

11


teachers within schools, policy attention will need to ocus on addressing the skills

and dispositions o individual teachers, rather than improving overall school climate

and discipline.

On average in TALIS countries, two-thirds o teachers paid nothing or the proessional

development they participated in, and a similar proportion received time rom

their employers to undertake it. This indicates a signicant investment in teachers

proessional development on the part o schools and public authorities (Table 3.5 in

the main report).

However, where teachers paid or their own development, they tended to do more.

Those who paid the ull cost undertook over twice as much training as those who

received it ree (Table 3.5a in the main report). This partly refects the act that courses

that are paid or tend to lead to proessional qualications and are more time-

consuming. Teachers paying or their proessional development are also more likelyto eel that they need more than they get. This suggests that ree provision is not

necessarily the only way o stimulating participation.

h f p p?

TALIS asked teachers who wanted more professional development to explain what

prevented them rom undertaking it. The most common reason, cited by nearly hal, is

confict with their work schedule (Table 3.7 in the main report). Almost as many cite the

lack o suitable proessional development, and these teachers tended to engage in less

development activity. Indeed in the three countries where participation in proessional

development is lowest (Denmark, Slovak Republic and Turkey) this was the main

reason, though in Denmark lack o employer support was also a signicant barrier.

Those who cited schedule confict tended to undertake more than average proessional

development, oten in courses leading to qualications with heavy demands on time

which can be dicult to meet.

As shown in Figure 2, the great majority o teachers reported that the proessional

development they take part in, across a range o activities, had a moderate or high

impact. The greatest perceived impact is in teacher research and qualication

programmes (Table 3.8 in the main report).

These are activities in which relatively ew teachers participate, although typically

or more days.

These ndings point to two issues which policy makers and school leaders need to

address. First, teachers who participate in qualication courses commit considerable

time and money to these courses, which they think are eective. Yet relatively ew

participate in this type o activity and those who do oten eel rustrated by the lack o

sucient time to devote to them. This suggests a need to review the amount o time

and money made available to teachers or such courses.

The second issue is the broader phenomenon o high unmet need, which 42% o

teachers associate with a lack o suitable proessional development on oer. This

suggests that a sound assessment o provision and support against development needsshould be a priority in many countries.

Two-thirds o teacherspaid nothing ortheir proessionaldevelopment

but ree participationis not the only way tostimulate participation.

Work pressures and lacko suitable opportunitiesare cited as reasons orinsufcient proessionaldevelopment.

The greatest impact oproessional developmentwas reported in teacherresearch and qualifcationprogrammes, but these were

also the activities with theleast participation.

Policy makers andpractitioners need toensure that incentivesand support orproessional developmentare better aligned withthe types o activitythat are eective inmeeting teachers needs.


14/32

ExEcutivE summary

12


Individual andcollaborative

research

Qualificationprogrammes

Informaldialogue

to improveteaching

Readingprofessional

literature

Coursesand

workshops

Professionaldevelopment

network

Mentoringand peer

observation

Observationvisits to

other schools

Educationconferencesand seminars

Figure 2

Comparison of impact and participation by types of development activity (2007-08)

%

Activities are ranked in descending order of the percentage of teachers reporting a moderate or high impact of the professionaldevelopment they took.


100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Teachers reporting moderate or high level of impact

Teachers participating in professional development

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/607807256201


15/32

ExEcutivE summary

13


imProving teaChing PraCtiCe

Teachers beliefs, practices and attitudes are important forunderstanding and improving educational processes. TALIS examines a

variety of these which previous research has shown to be relevant to

school improvement and effectiveness.

h c pcc c c?

Two alternative views o teaching emphasise, on the one hand, the teachers role

in transmitting knowledge and providing correct solutions, and on the other, the

teachers role as a acilitator o active learning by students who seek out solutions

or themselves. The latter constructivist view o teaching generally has more

support among the teachers surveyed than the ormer direct transmission view

(Figure 4.2 in the main report).

As shown in Figure 3, the constructivist view is most dominant in northwest European

countries, Scandinavia, Australia and Korea. It has less dominance over the direct

transmission view in Brazil, southern Europe and Malaysia. Indeed, in Italy and

Malaysia, teachers preerence or the two views is more equal.

While these results present the two views in competition, teachers who supported one

view o teaching were not necessarily less likely to support the other, suggesting that

many see them as complementary. The exceptions are Austria, Australia and Iceland,

the countries with the strongest support or the constructivist view, and where teachers

who support that view tend not to support the idea o direct transmission (Table 4.1 inthe main report).

In the classroom, teachers in all countries reported using practices aimed at ensuring

learning is well structured (structuring practices) more oten than they used student-

oriented practices, such as adapting teaching to individual needs. Both o these

teaching practices are used more oten than activities such as project work (enhanced

activities), which require more active participation by the student. This pattern is true

in every country (Figure 4.4 in the main report). Since each o these practices can raise

student achievement, there may be scope or countries that make less use o student-

oriented and enhanced activities to improve their results by using them more.

It is notable also that the domination o structuring practices among countries is tosome extent contrary to the general preerence or constructivist belies, which would

be expected to be more closely aligned to student-oriented practices. The actors that

prevent teachers rom putting their belies about teaching into practice require urther

investigation but this may nevertheless be a source o rustration or teachers.

Teachers o mathematics place greater emphasis on structuring. Teachers in the

humanities report that they are relatively more likely to assign project work and other

orms o enhanced activities, and subjects that teach practical skills, to use more

student-oriented practices (Figure 4.5 in the main report). This shows the importance

o maintaining a balanced curriculum to enable students to learn how to take

responsibility or their learning, and suggests that there may be scope or mathematicsteachers to broaden their repertoire.

Teachers tend to be moreinclined to see their role assupporting active learningrather than directlytransmitting inormation

but more so in Northernand Western Europeancountries, Australia andKorea than in SouthernEurope, Brazil or Malaysia.

Structured practices aremore common than student-oriented practices, or projectwork

and variation by teachingsubject illustrates theimportance o a balancedcurriculum.


16/32

ExEcutivE summary

14


h c c cc

c ?

Co-operation by teachers in all countries takes the orm o exchanging and co-

ordinating ideas and inormation more oten than direct proessional collaboration

such as team teaching (Figure 4.7 in the main report). However, there are big dierences

among countries, with proessional collaboration relatively more common in Poland,the Slovak Republic and Turkey, and much less common in Belgium (Fl.), Slovenia

and Spain. There is scope to enhance this orm o co-operation, which research has

shown to raise school eectiveness.

At least hal o teachers in most countries spend over 80% o the lesson time on

teaching and learning. However, in some cases time is lost because students are

disruptive or because teachers have to deal with administrative tasks. One teacher in

our in most countries loses at least 30% o lesson time to these two actors, and some

teachers lose more than hal (Figure 4.10 in the main report). The greatest amount

o variation in lost teaching time is among dierent teachers within schools. This

suggests a need to address the skills and dispositions o individual teachers, not justthe overall school climate and discipline.

Figure 3

Country profiles of beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning (2007-08)

Country mean of ipsative scores

Ipsative means

Iceland

Austria

Australia

Denmark

Estonia

Belgium(

Fl.)

Malta

Korea

Slovenia

SlovakRepublic

Norway

Poland

Turkey

Hungary

Mexico

Ireland

Lithuania

Brazil

Portugal

Spain

Bulgaria

Malaysia

Italy

Countries are ranked by the strength of preference among teachers in each country between direct transmission beliefs about teachingand constructivist beliefs about teaching. So, teachers in Iceland show the strongest preference for constructivist beliefs, over directtransmission beliefs.


Direct transmission beliefs

Constructivist beliefs

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0

-0.1

-0.2

-0.3

-0.4

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/607814526732

There is also scope orstrengthening teachers

collaboration, beyond

exchanging ideas.

Most lesson time isspent teaching, but insome cases disruption

and administrationcause signifcant loss

o teaching time.


17/32

ExEcutivE summary

1


Teachers were asked about their relations with students as an indicator o school

climate. Teacher-student relations varied considerably within countries, although

Norway stood out as a country in which over 95% o teachers reported better relations

with students than the international average (Figure 4.13 in the main report). Within

countries, a considerable amount o variation is due to dierences among schools,

but two-thirds o all variation is among teachers regardless o school or country

dierences. This suggests that some teachers need extra support to ensure a climate

in which to teach eectively.

TALIS asked teachers about their job satisaction and about how successul they

eel they are with regard to their students education (sel-ecacy). In both cases

dierences across countries and across schools are generally small, but Norwegian

teachers stand out as well above average on both measures. High scores or job

satisaction were also reported by teachers in Austria and Belgium (Fl.), while the

opposite was true particularly in Hungary. Korean teachers were on average the least

positive about their sel-ecacy compared with other countries (Figure 4.15 in the

main report). Around 90% o overall variation on these measures is among teachers

within schools. This again suggests that interventions may need to ocus on individual

teachers rather than on schools or school systems.

Teacher-student relationsvary across countries, butmost variation is withinschools, suggesting that someteachers need extra supportto establish an eectivelearning environment.

Teachers in the sameschool also vary in termso job satisaction andbelie in their eectiveness.


18/32

ExEcutivE summary

1


29. We wold lke o k bo o peonl bele on ehng nd lenng. Plee nde how h o dgee

o gee wh eh o he ollowng een.

Please mark one choice in each row.

StronglyDisagree Disagree Agree

StronglyAgree

a) Eective/good teachers demonstrate the correct way to solve aproblem.

o1 o2 o3 o4

b) When reerring to a poor perormance, I mean a perormancethat lies below the previous achievement level o the student.

o1 o2 o3 o4

c) It is better when the teacher not the student decides whatactivities are to be done.

o1 o2 o3 o4

d) My role as a teacher is to acilitate students own inquiry. o1 o2 o3 o4

e) Teachers know a lot more than students; they shouldnt letstudents develop answers that may be incorrect when they canjust explain the answers directly.

o1 o2 o3 o4

) Students learn best by nding solutions to problems on theirown.

o1 o2 o3 o4

g) Instruction should be built around problems with clear, correctanswers, and around ideas that most students can grasp quickly.

o1 o2 o3 o4

h) How much students learn depends on how much backgroundknowledge they have that is why teaching acts is so necessary.

o1 o2 o3 o4

i) Students should be allowed to think o solutions to practicalproblems themselves beore the teacher shows them how theyare solved.

o1 o2 o3 o4

j) When reerring to a good perormance, I mean a perormance

that lies above the previous achievement level o the student.

o1 o2 o3 o4

k) A quiet classroom is generally needed or eective learning. o1 o2 o3 o4



19/32

ExEcutivE summary

1


suPPorting eeCtive teaChing through aPPraisal

and eedbaCk

TALIS shows that strong school-level evaluation tends to feed

through to better teacher appraisal and feedback, which in turn can

feed through to improvements in the classroom. This is true not justfor evaluation in general but for specific aspects of teaching, such

as teaching students from diverse backgrounds. These links provide

useful guidance for shaping the framework for evaluating schools tofacilitate and improve the work of teachers.

h c pp c ?

An important nding o TALIS is that teachers generally respond positively to appraisaland eedback (Table 5.7a in the main report). They tend to report that it is air and

helpul or their work and that it increases their job satisaction and to a lesser extent

their job security. In addition, teachers report that it signicantly increases their

development as teachers (Table 5.7 in the main report).

Eight teachers in ten reported that they had received some kind o appraisal or

eedback on their work and most were carried out by managers or other teachers

within their school (Table 5.3 in the main report).

Teachers positive perceptions o appraisal and eedback show that it is possible to

overcome concerns about such practices.

Teachers tend toeel positive abouttheir appraisal andeedback

Figure 4

Teachers who received no appraisal or feedbackand teachers in schools that had no school evaluation in the previous five years (2007-08)

%

Italy

Spain

Portugal

Ireland

Brazil

Iceland

Norway

Austria

Australia

Belgium(

Fl.)

Malta

Turkey

Mexico

Denmark

Poland

Korea

Slovenia

Hungary

Estonia

SlovakRepublic

Lithuania

Malaysia

Bulgaria

Countries are ranked in descending order of the percentage of teachers who have received no appraisal or feedback.


60

50

40

30

20

10

0

No appraisal or feedback

No school evaluation

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/607856444110


20/32

ExEcutivE summary

1


Not only do teachers report that the appraisal and eedback they receive improves

their teaching skills, they also report that it leads to changes in specic aspects o their

teaching. Greater emphasis on an aspect o teachers work in appraisal and eedback is

more likely to lead to changes in that area (Figure 5.8 Figure 5.13 in the main report).

Between 70% and 80% o teachers work in schools whose school principal reported

that school evaluations had an eect on eedback to the school, the appraisal o

management and teachers, and helping teachers improve their teaching skills

(Table 5.2 in the main report). This shows why school-level evaluation can be an

important driver o school improvement.

At the same time, on average across TALIS countries 13% of teachers receive no

appraisal and eedback on their work as teachers in their school as shown in Figure 4.

This was particularly apparent in Ireland and Portugal where over one-quarter of

teachers had no appraisal and eedback and in Italy and Spain where around hal o

teachers had none (Table 5.3 in the main report).

Furthermore, on average just under one-third o teachers across TALIS countries

worked in schools that had not been subject to an external evaluation in the previous

ve years. An average o one-th worked in schools that had not conducted a sel-

evaluation (Table 5.1 in the main report).

In schools that are not evaluated, teachers are less likely to benet rom appraisal or

eedback. In Korea, or example, a teacher in a school that has not been evaluated is

more than twice as likely not to receive appraisal or eedback as one in a school that

has been evaluated. This suggests that where school evaluation takes place, appraisal

and eedback or individual teachers is encouraged.

h c c c?

As shown in Figure 5, on average across TALIS countries, three-quarters o teachers report

that they would receive no recognition or increasing the quality o their work. A similar

proportion report that they would receive no recognition for being more innovative

in their teaching. In addition, only around one hal o teachers across TALIS countries

reported that their school principal used effective methods to determine teachers

perormance (Table 5.9 in the main report). This says little or a number o countries

eorts to promote schools as centres o learning which oster continual improvement.

Three-quarters o teachers reported that, in their school, the most eective teachers do

not receive the most recognition and that their school principal does not take steps to

alter the monetary rewards o a persistently underperorming teacher (Table 5.9 in themain report). A similar proportion reported that, in their school, teachers would not

be dismissed because o sustained poor perormance.

The ndings suggest that there are substantial opportunities or strengthening in

most cases creating links between teacher appraisal and eedback and the rewards

and recognition teachers receive.

School evaluations and teacher appraisal and eedback have little nancial impact. On

average across TALIS countries, only around 10% o teachers appraisal and eedback is

linked to any kind o monetary reward and or only 16% is it linked to career advancement

(Table 5.5 in the main report). In addition, school evaluations are linked to the remuneration

o only one-quarter o teachers and less than our teachers in ten work in schools whereschool evaluations are linked to the school budget (Table 5.2 in the main report).

and see this ashaving an impact on

their teaching skills

especially whereit is supported with

eective schoolevaluation.

But the ramework orevaluating education

in schools is weak in anumber o areas and

countries...

...and teachersappraisal and eedback

depends on a robustculture o school

evaluation.

Teachers do notreceive recognition or

eective teaching...

most teachers work inschools that do not reward

eective teachers and donot dismiss poor perorming

teachers...

and eedback tends tohave limited impact on

material reward systems orcareer advancement...


21/32

ExEcutivE summary

1


Figure 5

Perception of teachers of appraisal and feedback and its impact in their school (2007-08)

Malaysia

Bulgaria

Poland

Italy

Slovak Republic

Hungary

Mexico

Slovenia

Turkey

Lithuania

TALIS Average

Estonia

Brazil

Portugal

Iceland

Malta

Austria

Korea

Spain

Denmark

Australia

Ireland

Norway

Belgium (Fl.)

Malaysia

Bulgaria

Poland

Italy

Slovak Republic

Hungary

Mexico

Slovenia

Turkey

Lithuania

TALIS Average

Estonia

Brazil

Portugal

Iceland

Malta

Austria

Korea

Spain

Denmark

Australia

Ireland

Norway

Belgium (Fl.)

Countries are ranked in descending order of percentage of teachers reporting to receive increased monetary or non-monetary rewardsfor an improvement in the quality of their teaching.


Teachers who would receive increasedmonetary or non-monetary rewards if theyare more innovative in their teaching

Teachers who would receive increasedmonetary or non-monetary rewards if theyimprove the quality of their teaching

Teachers will be dismissed because of sustainedpoor performance in their school

Teachers whose school principal takes stepsto alter the monetary rewards of a persistently

underperforming teacher

%20406080100 0 20 40 60 80 100%

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/607856444110


22/32

ExEcutivE summary

20


shaPing the develoPment o teaChers through eeCtive

sChool leadershiP

School leadership plays a vital role in teachers working lives and on

their effectiveness. A revolution in the model of school leadership inrecent years has seen a substantial shift from a largely bureaucratic

administration to a paradigm of leadership for learning with the

school principal as instructional leader. TALIS is the first internationalsurvey to address in detail the management behaviour and style of

school principals in secondary schools and to look at the presence of

new trends in school leadership and their impact on teachers.

h p ?

TALIS looked at ve aspects o management behaviour: management o school

goals, actions to improve teachers instruction, direct supervision o teachers,

accountability to internal and external stakeholders, and management o rules and

procedures. For each, the results show variation in practice across countries. The

results are summarised by describing the two styles o leadership: instructional

and administrative. Instructional leadership is characterised by actions to support

or improve teachers instruction and to set the schools goals and curriculum

development. Administrative leadership is characterised by actions to manage the

accountability to stakeholders and setting and managing administrative procedures.These are not mutually exclusive, and elements o both are needed or eective

school leadership (Table 6.3 in the main report).

Instructional leadership is used to very dierent degrees in dierent countries. In

a number o TALIS countries, it is present to a considerable degree (particularly

in Brazil, Poland and Slovenia) although, in the same countries, administrative

leadership is also visible. Countries where administrative leadership is particularly

evident are Bulgaria and Malaysia, whereas the opposite is true most notably in

Denmark. Overall, school principals who are strong instructional leaders are more

likely to be strong administrative leaders as well. This contradicts the notion that these

are alternative styles.

h c p p c?

In around one-third o countries (Belgium (Fl.), Estonia, Hungary, Malaysia, Norway,

Poland, Spain and Turkey), emale school principals were more likely than their

male counterparts to adopt a stronger instructional leadership style (Table 6.12 in the

main report). In some, they are more likely to show administrative leadership when

they hold constructivist belies about instruction. Otherwise, TALIS ound no link

between management styles and the proessional or demographic characteristics o

school principals.

In several countries (Belgium (Fl.), Bulgaria, Estonia, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Portugaland Turkey), school principals tend to be stronger as instructional leaders where

Instructionalleadership oten

goes hand in handwith administrative

leadership.

There are ew consistentpatterns between managementstyles and the proessional and

demographic characteristics oschool principals.


23/32

ExEcutivE summary

21


innovative teaching practices are considered important in school evaluations. But no

general pattern associating characteristics o schools with leadership styles emerges.

A schools leadership style has no pronounced relation to teachers belies about teaching,

to their teaching practices or to classroom climate (Tables 6.4 and 6.5 in the main report).

However, where positive associations are ound they are more likely to be with the greater

use o instructional leadership. For example, in Hungary, Iceland, Lithuania, Malaysia,

Mexico, Norway and Poland instructional leadership is associated with greater teacher

co-operation (Table 6.6 in the main report) and in Denmark, Hungary, Iceland, Malta,Mexico and Portugal with better teacher-student relations (Table 6.7 in the main report).

Figure 6

School principals according to their management styles (2007-08)

Bulgaria

Score on instructional leadership scale

Score on administrative leadership scale

Countries in gray have a higher than average principal involvement in decision making, while countries in blue have a lower than averageinvolvement.


Lower score in InstructionalLeadership and Higher scorein Administrative Leadership

Higher score in InstructionalLeadership and Higher scorein Administrative Leadership

Lower score in InstructionalLeadership and Lower score inAdministrative Leadership

Higher score in InstructionalLeadership and Lower score in

Administrative Leadership

Turkey

Mexico

Italy

Brazil

Slovenia

Poland

Hungary

Malta

Slovak Republic

Lithuania

KoreaBelgium (Fl.)

Australia

IcelandEstonia

Denmark

Spain

Portugal

Austria

Ireland

Norway

Malaysia

TALISa

verage

TALISa

verage

2.0

1.6

1.2

0.8

0.4

0

-0.4

-0.8

-1.2

-1.6

-2.0

-2.0 -1.6 -1.2 -0.8 -0.4 0 0.4 0.8 1.2 1.6 2.0

1 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/608025205225

Some countries showpositive beneftso instructionalleadership


24/32

ExEcutivE summary

22


In more than hal o the TALIS countries there is a greater chance o teacher appraisal

recognising the participation in proessional development by teachers in schools where

strong instructional leadership is present (Table 6.9 in the main report). In most countries,

school principals in such schools are also more likely to use further professional

development to address teachers weaknesses identied in appraisals. However, there

is no discernible relation between leadership style and the overall amount o teachers

proessional development, nor does it appear to infuence whether teachers think that

they have received an adequate amount o proessional development.

...which oten relates tothe ways in which teachers

are appraised, and thelink between appraisal andproessional development.

15. Below o n fnd een bo o ngeen o h hool. Plee nde he eqen o hee

e nd beho n h hool dng he en hool e.

Please mark one choice in each row.

Never Seldom Quite oten Very oten

a) I make sure that the proessional development activities oteachers are in accordance with the teaching goals o theschool.

o1 o2 o3 o4

b) I ensure that teachers work according to the schoolseducational goals.

o1 o2 o3 o4

c) I observe instruction in classrooms. o1 o2 o3 o4

d) I use student perormance results to develop the schoolseducational goals.

o1 o2 o3 o4

e) I give teachers suggestions as to how they can improve theirteaching. o1 o2 o3 o4

) I monitor students work. o1 o2 o3 o4

g) When a teacher has problems in his/her classroom, I take theinitiative to discuss matters.

o1 o2 o3 o4

h) I inorm teachers about possibilities or updating theirknowledge and skills.

o1 o2 o3 o4

i) I check to see whether classroom activities are in keeping withour educational goals.

o1 o2 o3 o4

j) I take exam results into account in decisions regardingcurriculum development.

o1 o2 o3 o4

k) I ensure that there is clarity concerning the responsibility orcoordinating the curriculum.

o1 o2 o3 o4

l) When a teacher brings up a classroom problem, we solve theproblem together.

o1 o2 o3 o4

m) I pay attention to disruptive behaviour in classrooms. o1 o2

o1 o2 o3



25/32

ExEcutivE summary

23


a Proile o lower seCondary teaChers and their

sChools

TALIS establishes a profile of lower secondary teachers and their schools

in order to contextualise its findings.

In every TALIS country, most teachers are emale: almost 70%, on average, rising

to 80-85% in Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. Two

concerns about this imbalance are the potential lack o role models or disengaged

boys and a possible eect on teaching shortages i men do not consider teaching

careers. Mexico, Spain and Turkey are more balanced, with over 40% o male

teachers (Table 2.1 in the main report).

On the other hand, only 45% o school principals across countries are emale, suggesting a

glass ceiling or promotion possibilities within schools (Table 2.1 in the main report).

The age prole o teachers varies considerably across countries but the workorce is

ageing in many. In most cases, the majority o teachers are over 40. On average across

TALIS countries, the percentage o teachers over 50 is nearly double the percentage

o teachers under 30. On average, 27% are over 50 (and 40% or more in Austria

and Norway and over 50% in Italy) and only 15% are under 30 (but 33% in Malta

and 44% in Turkey) (Table 2.1 in the main report). Many countries will soon need to

replace a large number o retiring teachers.

Teaching is a relatively stable proession with high job security. Across TALIS countries

some 85% o teachers are on permanent contracts. Nearly two-thirds have taught

or more than ten years, and in Austria and Italy the majority have over 20 years o

service (Table 2.3 in the main report).

However, some teachers, particularly those rst entering the proession, ace the

uncertainty and challenge o a xed-term contract usually o a year or less. In

Brazil, Iceland, Ireland and Portugal, at least one teacher in our is on a xed-term

contract (Table 2.3 in the main report). For many, these are requirements that must be

successully ullled beore being granted a permanent contract. Policy makers need

to balance the advantages o supporting an experienced, long-serving teaching orce

against the need or dynamism and new blood.

Three-quarters o teachers are in schools whose principals have little say over their pay.

On the other hand, the great majority teach in schools with wide autonomy in other areas:

around two-thirds teach in schools with considerable responsibility or hiring and ring,

three-quarters in schools which ormulate the school budget, and 95% in schools which

establish their disciplinary procedures (Table 2.7 in the main report). School autonomy is

an important actor in allowing school leaders to address the issues raised in this report,

and devolution o responsibilities can make schools better placed to do so.

TALIS asked school principals about three aspects o teacher stang levels: class sizes,

the ratio o teachers to administrative/managerial sta, and the ratio o teachers to thenumber o pedagogical support personnel. The widest variation was in the last o these.

Teachers in lowersecondary schools aremostly emale...

...and the workorceis ageing.

Most teachers arelong-serving and onpermanent contracts.

Schools haveautonomy over manythings, but generallynot teachers pay.

Patterns o class size

and support rom othersta vary.


26/32

ExEcutivE summary

24


At one end o the spectrum, Iceland has one pedagogical support sta or every six

teachers, while Austria, Belgium (Fl.), Italy and Turkey have ewer than one or every

20 teachers. In certain countries there appears to be some trade-o between dierent

aspects o resources. For example Mexicos high average class sizes are compensated

by relatively more pedagogical support, while the reverse is true in Austria. However,

this is not a general pattern: in a number o countries schools are relatively well or badly

resourced in all these aspects (Table 2.4 in the main report).


27/32

2


Conclusions

The rst internationally comparative perspective on the conditions o teaching and

learning that TALIS provides reveals major challenges or policy makers and or

the teaching proession. More than one teacher in three works in a school whose

principal thinks that the school suers rom a shortage o qualied teachers. The

lack o adequate equipment and instructional support are other barriers hindering

eective instruction. Added to this are, in some countries, negative aspects o teacher

behaviour such as absenteeism or lack o pedagogical preparation. Teachers reports ounmet demand or proessional development, particularly in areas relating to catering

or increasingly heterogeneous learning groups, the eective use o inormation and

communication tools and student behaviour, signal that teachers themselves oten

do not eel suciently prepared to meet the challenges which they ace. That is

underscored by the act that one in our teachers report losing at least 30% o learning

time because o disruptive student behaviour or administrative tasks.

However, TALIS also provides many encouraging insights. Not only do the positive

outcomes in some countries signal or others that the challenges can be successully

addressed, but there are patterns that suggest that teachers are embracing the

challenges and actively seeking to advance their proession.

TALIS highlights better and more targeted proessional development as one avenue

towards improvement. It shows that teachers who participate in qualication courses

commit considerable time and money to these courses, which they think are eective.

At the same time, relatively ew teachers participate in this type o activity and those

who do oten eel rustrated by the lack o sucient time to devote to them. This

suggests a need to review the amount o time and money made available to teachers

or such courses. Another issue is the broader phenomenon o high unmet need, which

42% o teachers associate with a lack o suitable proessional development on oer.

This indicates that a sound assessment o provision and support against development

needs should be a priority in many countries. The act that a sizeable proportion oteachers are underwriting the ull cost or their proessional development is evidence

that many teachers are willing to contribute their share to advancing their career and

proession, though ability to pay needs also to be considered. TALIS also shows that

there is generally much greater scope or teachers to learn rom other teachers, with

teachers reporting relatively inrequent collaboration o the teaching orce within the

school beyond a mere exchange o inormation. Improving this will require adequate

instructional leadership as well as eective human resource development policies in

schools.

The generally positive reception by teachers o the appraisal and eedback on their

work provides another indication o the willingness o the proession to move orward.The act that the more eedback teachers receive on their work, the more they trust in


28/32

COnClusiOns

2


their abilities to address teaching challenges suggests this to be another lever to raise

learning outcomes. TALIS suggests that, in many countries, the onus is now on public

policy to develop a more eective and supportive evaluation culture or schools and to

ensure that the quality o the work o teachers is adequately recognised and rewarded.

The close associations between actors such as a positive school climate, teaching belies,

co-operation between teachers, teacher job satisaction, proessional development,

and the adoption o a range o teaching techniques are other indications that public

policy can actively shape the conditions or eective learning. At the same time, the act

that much o the variation in these relationships lies in dierences among individual

teachers rather than among schools or countries underlines the need or individualised

and targeted interventions or teachers rather than just whole-school or system-wide

interventions that have traditionally dominated education policy.

The challenges or education systems are likely to intensiy. Addressing them willrequire the creation o knowledge-rich evidence-based education systems, in which

school leaders and teachers act as a proessional community and have the authority to

act, the necessary inormation to do so wisely, and access to eective support systems

to assist them in implementing change. However, the results rom TALIS suggest that,

in many countries, education is still ar rom becoming a knowledge industry in the

sense that its own practicesare being transormed by knowledge about the ecacy o

its own practices. In many other elds, people enter their proessional lives expecting

their practice to be transormed by research, but the patterns o participation in

proessional development and in the evaluation o teachers and their practices hint

that this is not yet the case in education. However, the generally positive perceptions

that teachers report about the appraisal and eedback they receive and the evidence

o proessional engagement to seek improvement that can be ound in TALIS, are

encouraging signs that education can become such a knowledge-rich proession.

The OECD will continue to develop instruments like TALIS to monitor how eectively

countries rise to the challenges.


29/32

Ognon o Eono co-opeon nd Deelopen

2, rue Andr-Pascal

75775 Paris Cedex 16

France

Printed in France

Design: fk Tam


30/32


31/32


32/32

Creating Effective Teaching and LearningEnvironments: First Results from TALIS

ExEcutivE summary

th pblon he f epo o he OEcD tehng nd Lenng inenonl se (taLis). i podeqne, pol-elen noon on he ehng nd lenng enonen n hool n 23 onend h o on lowe eond edon.

shool eeene eeh onenl how h he ql o he lenng enonen he opon pol-lleble o o poe den lenng nd den ooe. in eognon o h,taLis eploe ke pole nd pe h hpe he lenng enonen.

the pon ole h hool ledehp n pl n eng eee hool well doened.taLis lle he ole nd non h hool lede dop whn hool oen ng qe deenne nd ene how hee ole ppo ehe n he wok. renng nd deelopng eeeehe po n ll hool e nd taLis ene how ehe wok eogned, pped nd

ewded nd how well he poeonl deelopen need o ehe e beng ddeed.

Pehp he o nnoe pe o taLis he ngh pode on he ehng bele h ehe bngo he loo nd he pedgogl pe h he dop. taLis nno ee whh pe o belee o eee b doe how how hee oe wh oe o he ondon h e pe-eqe oeee hoolng.

teaching and learning.pdf

Documents