Canada Welcomes the Teaching Profession

by J. Alan McIsaac

Vice-Chair, Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC)

Minister, Education and Early Childhood Development, Prince Edward Island

On March 29 and 30, Canada will play host to Implementing Highly Effective Teacher Policy and Practice – The 2015 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP 2015). The setting will be Banff, Alberta, the jewel of the Canadian Rockies and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The driving ethos of the summit is the centrality of teaching to education and, by extension, to social and economic development. Its aim is to promote the teaching profession worldwide: to improve its techniques, enhance its appeal, and raise its status as a rewarding career and a respected calling.

Canada is proud to further that aim. With hundreds of delegates from top education systems around the world, ISTP 2015 will provide a wealth of opportunities for generating new ideas and promoting new initiatives. That is one of the surest ways of leading the profession to an even brighter future.

Best practices from the best systems 

The delegates to ISTP 2015 come from across the globe. They represent a remarkable variety of languages and cultures. They come from societies of differing degrees of economic development. Yet, they all share one thing in common: they speak for excellence. 

The systems represented are among the highest-performing in the world or are among those that have demonstrated the most rapid improvement — as measured by results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) an OECD flagship assessment programme.

ISTP has always focused on sharing best practices from around the world, and this year’s summit is no different. Education ministers and leaders of teachers’ unions and associations, along with individual teachers, students, and a variety of education stakeholders will have the opportunity to learn from each other’s challenges and successes by engaging in open and frank discussions on the many issues we all have in common. From national standards, to team teaching, to lesson study, the nuts and bolts of teaching will be on the table. 

Three themes: leadership, recognition and self-efficacy, innovation

The answers to those questions will be formulated within the context of three themes. 

The first is developing and promoting effective leadership. Participants will look at those elements that contribute significantly to a strong sense of leadership in school systems, including distributed leadership, opportunities for professional development, and instructional leadership for principals.

The second theme is supporting teacher recognition and strengthening teachers’ sense of effectiveness, or “self-efficacy.” Evidence from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) suggests that the most successful education systems are those in which the value of the teaching profession is widely recognised by society. Teachers need to believe in themselves to be the best they can be. Yet, how do we get teachers to believe in themselves? This challenge touches on many aspects of the teaching profession, from managing a diverse classroom (a universal theme in teaching) to the need for mutual support, interpersonal relationships, and professional collaboration. It is an ongoing challenge, but one that participating jurisdictions are addressing in their own unique ways.      

   

The final theme is encouraging innovation in the 21st-century classroom, which touches on another universal theme in the profession: the challenge of disruptive technology. We are all — no matter what our culture or society — grappling with the changes brought about by information technology. Those changes are driving a need for innovation. 

This does not mean that innovation itself must always take a technological form. Teachers need to develop new ways to collaborate and communicate. Administrators need to implement new structures for feedback and evaluation. Ministries need to articulate new strategies that ensure coherence across systems in the face of considerable change. These all involve the human element of innovation and do not depend on keeping up with the latest advances in smart phones or tablets.

My colleagues from Canada’s 13 provinces and territories and our co-host, The Learning Partnership, are looking forward to welcoming delegates to ISTP 2015. We encourage you to you to bring your best ideas and your most challenging questions.

(And don’t forget a warm jacket! See you in March.)

Links:

The 2015 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP 2015)
ISTP Summit Background report: Schools for 21st-Century Learners: Strong leaders, confident teachers, innovative approaches by Andreas Schleicher, Director, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills

Join a public webinar on 27 March, 17:00 CET with Andreas Schleicher, Director of the OECD Education and Skills Directorate. Password to register OECDEDU.

Follow on Twitter #ISTP2015
Photo credit: Council of Ministers of Education, Canada

Delivering feedback for better teaching

by Katarzyna Kubacka
Analyst, Directorate for Education and Skills


October 5 marks the 20th anniversary of UNESCO’s World Teachers' Day, a day devoted to “appreciating, assessing and improving educators of the world”. This gives us a great opportunity to reflect again on how schools can celebrate and develop great teaching. One way to do that is through critical exchanges – building constructive feedback systems within the schools.

The OECD Teaching and Learning Survey (TALIS) asks teachers about the feedback they receive within their schools. The TALIS definition of feedback includes formal and informal communication, resulting from some form of observation of teachers’ work. For example, feedback can be provided by comments from the principal, at the end of the school year, in regards to teacher’s work, or in the form of an exchange between teachers who jointly taught a class or observed each other’s classes.

The different ways in which feedback can affect teachers’ professional experiences are the topic of the latest Teaching in Focus brief, “Unlocking the potential of teacher feedback”. Indeed, teacher feedback has tremendous potential, with teachers reporting that feedback can have a positive impact on the professional, personal and pedagogical aspects of their work. Two in three teachers, on average, report a boost to their motivation and job satisfaction after receiving feedback.

At the same time, TALIS data show that there is still much that can be improved in the way feedback is delivered. Most strikingly, more than half of the teachers across TALIS countries report that feedback in their schools is undertaken largely to perform administrative requirements. Such perceptions of feedback as simply a box-checking exercise not only lower teachers’ job satisfaction but are a wasted opportunity to support the professional improvement of teachers.

To be sure, the success of a feedback system depends on both parties involved. School leaders, along with teachers, can use feedback as a tool to map professional development and training needs, and make sure that these needs are addressed in the school priorities. Teachers can also actively contribute to feedback systems by creating collaborative communities in which colleagues can exchange advice and opinion on teaching practices. If used constructively, teacher feedback can support teachers’ professional development as well as strengthen collaboration within schools.

Links:

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey

A Teacher’s Guide to TALIS 2013

Teaching In Focus No. 6 : Unlocking the potential of teacher feedback by Katarzyna Kubacka

Teaching in Focus No. 6: French version
Blog post: French version
International Summit on the Teaching Profession, Banff, Alberta, on March 29–30, 2015
Photo credit: Group of People Discussing About Feedback/ Shutterstock

What do we really know about teaching?

by Kristen Weatherby

Senior Analyst, Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

I have often heard it said that everyone thinks they are an expert on education simply because they went to school. This is an overstatement, of course, but it does seem today that more and more people have – and express – an opinion about teachers and the quality of their teaching.

But what do we really know about how the majority of teachers are teaching today? Data from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) show that on average across TALIS countries, 13% of teachers did not receive any appraisal or feedback on their teaching. In several countries, this number approaches a quarter or even half of teachers in the country. One can imagine these teachers as completely alone, teaching with the door closed and never receiving feedback on how to improve their practice.

The eighth Education Fast Forward online debate will take place today to discuss in more detail the development of new teaching practices, with the objective of driving deeper learning for every learner. Michael Fullan, the esteemed former Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto will open the debate. Recognised as a worldwide authority on education reform, Michael will first explore the concept of new pedagogies and what they might lead to. He will then look at how teachers might use technology to develop and change the way students learn, and how changes in teaching over the coming decades could be greater than those that occurred over the past 2 000 years.

I will then take a closer look at what the TALIS data tell us about teachers’ practices today and what factors might contribute to how teachers are currently behaving in their teaching. Research shows that high-quality teaching is linked to the use of a variety of classroom teaching practices that include both student-led and teacher-directed approaches. I will look at what the international data say on whether today’s teachers are equipped to teach in this manner and what kind of support they are receiving to develop their practice.

Michael and I will be joined by education experts from all over the world who will contribute their insights and experiences to this global conversation. The debate will be streamed live to Promethean Planet from 12.00 until 14.30 GMT. Join us to get an inside look at what is really happening in classrooms around the world, and how this might change in the future.

Links:
For more information about Education Fast Forward, visit  www.PrometheanPlanet.com/EFF
To learn more about TALIS visit www.oecd.org/talis or follow @Kristen_TALIS on Twitter.

Photo credit: Classroom © Shutterstock

Who are our teachers?

by Kristen Weatherby

Senior Analyst, Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

As we celebrate this year’s UNESCO World Teachers Day, many of us think back to our favourite teacher. Mine was Mr. Monroe, the high school English teacher who instilled in me a love for writing that still exists today.  We all have favourite teachers, those inspirational leaders whom we hope our children or loved ones will encounter at some point during their schooling. But what makes a good teacher? And what do we know about the teachers in our schools today?

When the results of the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey were first released in 2009, we were able to start answering some of these questions. TALIS 2008 was the first and largest international survey of teachers, giving teachers and school leaders in 24 countries a voice to speak about their experiences. Teachers told us about their initial teacher training and the professional development they receive; the feedback they get on their teaching; the climate in their classrooms and schools; their own satisfaction with their jobs; and their feelings about their abilities as teachers.

In the past four years, TALIS findings and cross-country comparisons have informed policy recommendations, been at the heart of ministerial-level discussions at the International Summits on the Teaching Profession, and driven discussions about the future of teaching as a profession. As more countries are now talking about improving teacher quality, TALIS data is more relevant than ever.

The OECD just finished data collection for the current cycle of TALIS, which has expanded to include 33 countries. As with TALIS 2008, all countries surveyed lower-secondary teachers, but several countries also chose to study their primary and upper-secondary school teachers as well. We have a team of analysts and experts looking at the data now, and will reveal the results of TALIS 2013 in June of 2014.

We’re looking forward to getting an updated picture on the state of teaching in our schools, as well as some new information. Watch this space over the coming months to learn more about how you can access the new data.

Until then, take a look at our newly-updated TALIS website, where you can easily find all of our publications, policy briefs, TALIS 2008 data, and the questionnaires we use in the survey.  And take some time to say thank you to your favourite teacher today. Thank you, Mr. Monroe!

Links
OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey 
World Teachers' Day 2013 celebrations at UNESCO 
Teachers for the 21st Century: Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching
Synergies for Better Learning: An International Perspective on Evaluation and Assessment
Follow TALIS and Kristen Weatherby @Kristen_Talis
Photo credit: Question mark symbol in chalk over complex calculation /@ Shutterstock

A class act: giving teachers feedback

by Kristen Weatherby
Senior Analyst, Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

When I think back on my first experiences as a student teacher of English language and literature to 13- and 14-year-olds, I don’t really remember the successes; I am not sure there were many during my teaching practice. Rather, I am reminded of the more colourful episodes of classroom management and student behaviour that seemed to occur all too frequently. For example, there was the time I looked up from reading to the class to see one student staring back with a green mustache and eyebrows. Another time one student jumped up from his desk and threw another student’s books out the window before I could blink. And then there were the countless times that I had to take away combs, brushes and makeup from both girls and boys in an effort to turn my classroom from a beauty salon into a place of learning. Needless to say, in these moments I didn’t feel like a very effective teacher.

Little did I know it at the time, but I was not alone in feeling a bit like a failure due to a less-than-ideal classroom climate. The newest Teaching in Focus brief, “How can teacher feedback be used to improve the classroom disciplinary climate?” discusses how providing teachers more feedback to improve their classroom’s disciplinary climate can have a positive effect on their sense of mastery of the situation, what is known as self-efficacy. The OECD’s  Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) measures classroom disciplinary climate by the amount of time it takes to ready students for a lesson, the number of student interruptions, and the amount of noise in the classroom, among other factors. TALIS data shows that, on average, 13% of a typical class’s teaching and learning time is lost to keeping order.

TALIS data also shows that most teachers are not receiving the kind of feedback that helps them to improve their classroom disciplinary practice. As a result,  teachers are left feeling much as I did as a new teacher – not very effective. In fact, this is supported by the TALIS data, which indicates a relationship between teacher self-efficacy and classroom disciplinary climate. Teachers’ self-efficacy can have a significant impact on what goes on in the classroom, as it indicates not only aspects of productivity but also how teachers act in class. And teachers who report poor classroom discipline also report lower levels of self-efficacy.

Policymakers, union leaders, and teachers will be meeting next week in Amsterdam for the third International Summit on the Teaching Profession. This year’s topic is teacher evaluation and professional standards. Constructive feedback – as part of formal or informal teacher appraisal – could help teachers to improve their classroom disciplinary climate. TALIS 2008 results suggest that individualised feedback that considers the teachers’ characteristics, competencies, and individual classrooms, would be most helpful in improving classroom disciplinary climate and teacher self-efficacy. It undoubtedly would have helped me to chalk up a few successes during those early days in front of the class.

Watch this space for more blogs related to the Teachers’ Summit. We’ll also be tweeting live from the Summit. Follow the summit on twitter: #ISTP2013

Links:

For more on the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey:www.oecd.org/edu/talis
Teaching in Focus: How can teacher feedback be used to improve the classroom disciplinary climate?
Third annual International Summit on the Teaching Profession, 13-14 March 2013, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Teachers for the 21st Century: Using Evaluation to Improve Teaching
Follow TALIS and Kristen Weatherby @Kristen_Talis
Photo credit: Positive feedback/Shutterstock

Are Teachers Getting the Recognition They Deserve?

by Kristen Weatherby

Senior Analyst, Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

More and more countries are having discussions about how to evaluate the quality of their teaching workforce and, subsequently, how to reward teachers for their work. The OECD’s newest series of briefs, Teaching in Focus, launches this month with a discussion of the appraisal and feedback teachers receive and the impact of both on their teaching.

Teaching is often thought to be an isolating profession, with teachers receiving little or no feedback that enables them to improve their teaching practice. Data from the  Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)  supports this claim in many countries, indicating that more than one in five of all teachers in the 24 countries surveyed report never received a formal appraisal of their teaching practice. Indeed even those teachers who are receiving formal appraisals may not ever learn the results of those appraisals. In several countries, teachers reported never receiving any feedback on their work regardless of whether they had received a formal appraisal.

Yet teachers are eager for information that will help them improve their teaching. The vast majority of teachers (79%) feel that the appraisal and feedback they have received are helpful in the development of their work. Those teachers who do receive appraisal and feedback report changes in their teaching practice as a result of this information, especially in the areas of improving student test scores, student discipline and classroom management. Furthermore, teachers in nearly half of TALIS countries find that being publicly recognised for their work is closely connected to their own feelings of self-efficacy.

The message seems pretty clear: If countries want to improve the quality of their teachers, they need to provide teachers with feedback on their teaching that helps them make changes to their practice.

To learn more about this topic, check out this month’s Teaching in Focus brief. Look for further Teaching in Focus briefs on topics relevant to the experience of teachers in the coming months.

Follow TALIS and Kristen Weatherby @Kristen_Talis
Photo credit: Blue stage with falling stars / Shutterstock