Teachers Matter: Attracting,
Developing and Retaining Effective
Teachers
Lessons from the OECD Teacher Policy Report
Paulo Santiago
Education and Training Policy Division
Directorate for Education, OECD
Improving Learning Through Formative Assessment
1
International Conference
OECD - CERI
Paris, 2 February 2005
Outline of Presentation
1. The OECD Project Attracting, Developing and Retaining
Effective Teachers
2. The impact of teachers and teaching on student
learning
3. Policy context
4. Teachers’ roles are changing
5. Policy priorities: Developing teachers’ knowledge and
skills
2
6. Other relevant policy priorities
OECD’s Activity “Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers”
Purpose
To provide policy makers with information and analysis to assist
them in formulating and implementing teacher policies leading to
quality teaching and learning at the school level.
Objectives
• to synthesise research on issues related to policies concerned with
attracting, recruiting, retaining and developing effective teachers;
• to identify innovative and successful policy initiatives and practices;
• to facilitate exchanges of lessons and experiences among countries; and
• to identify policy options.
3
 Focus is on teacher policy, not the practice and performance level
of teachers.
 Study did not address teaching/classroom strategies per se.
OECD’s Activity “Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers”
Participating countries
25 countries
Australia, Austria, Belgium (Flemish and French
Comm.), Canada (Quebec), Chile, Denmark, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel,
Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands,
Norway, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
United Kingdom, United States.
10 countries visited by review teams
4
Austria, Belgium (Flemish and French Comm.),
Germany, Hungary, Italy, Korea, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland.
OECD’s Activity “Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers”
Analytical approach
The Activity has drawn on country experience and research to
identify a range of policy directions in five main areas:
5
1.
Making teaching an attractive career choice
2.
Developing teachers’ knowledge and skills
3.
Recruiting, selecting and employing teachers
4.
Retaining effective teachers in schools
5.
Developing and implementing teacher policy
The Impact of Teachers and Teaching on
Student Learning
Three broad conclusions emerge from research on
student learning
1. Largest source of variation in student learning is attributable
to differences in what students bring to school – their abilities
and attitudes, and family and community background.
2. Of those variables which are potentially open to policy
influence, factors to do with teachers and teaching are the
most important influences on student learning.
6
The Impact of Teachers and Teaching on
Student Learning (continued)
Three broad conclusions emerge from research on
student learning (continued)
3. It is difficult to predict who is going to be a good teacher
just by considering the more measurable characteristics of
teachers (e.g. qualifications, teaching experience, and indicators
of academic ability and subject-matter knowledge) .
There are many important aspects of teacher quality that are not captured
by the more measurable characteristics, such as:
• Ability to convey ideas in clear and convincing ways;
• To create effective learning environments for different types of
students;
• to foster productive teacher-student relationships;
7
• to be enthusiastic and creative;
• to work effectively with colleagues and parents.
Policy Context
 About half the countries report serious concerns about maintaining
an adequate supply of good quality teachers, especially in highdemand subject areas
 There are widespread concerns about long-term trends in the
composition of the teaching workforce e.g. fewer “high achievers”,
and fewer males
 There are major concerns about the limited connections between
teacher education, professional development, and school needs
 Some countries experience high rates of teacher attrition,
especially among new teachers
8
 Some countries have a large over-supply of qualified teachers,
which raises its own policy challenges
Policy Context (continued)
 In some countries there are serious concerns about teacher morale
and enthusiasm
 Almost all countries report concerns about “qualitative” shortfalls:
whether enough teachers have the knowledge and skills to meet
school needs
 The ageing of the teaching profession is compounding policy
concerns
9
Teachers’ Roles are changing
Teachers are now expected to have much broader roles
At the individual student level
• Initiating and managing learning processes;
• Responding effectively to the learning needs of individual learners;
• Integrating formative and summative assessment.
At the classroom level
• Teaching in multicultural classrooms;
• New cross-curricular emphases;
• Integrating students with special needs.
10
Teachers’ Roles are changing
Teachers are now expected to have much broader roles
(continued)
At the school level
• Working and planning in teams;
• Evaluation and systematic improvement planning;
• ICT use in teaching and administration;
• Projects between schools, and international cooperation;
• Management and shared leadership.
At the level of parents and the wider community
• Providing professional advice to parents;
• Building community partnerships for learning.
11
Policy priorities: Developing teachers‘ knowledge and skills
Developing teacher profiles
Clear and concise standards of what teachers are
expected to know and be able to do



12

reflect broad range of competencies.
provide framework to guide and integrate initial
teacher education, certification, induction and
on-going professional development.
should be evidence-based and reflect student learning
objectives.
should be built on active involvement by teaching
profession.
Policy priorities: Developing teachers‘ knowledge and skills
Initial teacher education

Improve selection into teacher education





Provide more flexible forms of initial teacher
education



13
Information and counselling
Assessment
Early school experience
Incentives for high potentials
Modular, part-time, distance education
Alternate routes for mid-career changers
Strengthen partnerships between teacher education
institutions and schools

Overt and deliberate partnerships

Earlier and broader field experience
Policy priorities: Developing teachers‘ knowledge and skills
Strengthening induction programmes

Formalise induction programmes

Qualify mentor teachers


14
Provide sufficient resources for induction
 reduced teaching obligation for mentors and
beginning teachers
Link successful completion of induction to
certification
Policy priorities: Developing teachers‘ knowledge and skills
Integrating professional development
throughout the teaching career
Provide incentives for lifelong learning of all teachers



15
Entitle teachers to release time and/or financial support for
professional development
Create incentives: e.g., link professional development to
teacher appraisal and career advancement
Link individual teacher development with school improvement
needs
Policy priorities: Developing teachers‘ knowledge and skills

Broaden the range of different professional
development opportunities, e.g.




Provide more coherent framework for professional
development, develop teachers’ learning communities



16
peer review and action research
mutual school visits
teacher and school networks
training, practice and feedback
follow-up rather than “one shot events”
teacher portfolios
Other relevant policy priorities
Providing schools with more responsibility for
teacher personnel development
Schools need to have more responsibility – and accountability –
for teacher selection, working conditions, and development.
Pre-requisites:

Developing school leaders’ skills in personnel management;

Providing disadvantaged schools with greater resources;
Monitoring
the outcomes of a more decentralised approach;
Creating independent appeals procedures to ensure fairness
and protect teachers’ rights.

Broadening the criteria for teacher selection
17
The selection criteria for new teachers need to be broadened
to ensure that the applicants with the greatest potential are
identified
Other relevant policy priorities
Evaluating and rewarding effective teaching
There needs to be a stronger emphasis on teacher
evaluation for improvement purposes.
Opportunity for teachers’ work to be recognised and celebrated and help
both teachers and schools to identify developmental needs
Pre-requisites:
Teacher appraisal to occur within a framework provided by
profession-wide agreed statements of standards of professional
performance;

18

Evaluators need to be trained and evaluated themselves;

Evaluation frameworks and tools need to be provided.
Other relevant policy priorities
Providing more opportunities for career diversification
Teaching would benefit from a career ladder based on skills,
responsibilities and performance. There needs to be more
opportunities for career diversity and mobility (between schools,
between roles, and between teaching and other careers)
Teaching needs to become a knowledge-rich profession
19
Teaching needs to become a knowledge-rich profession in which
individuals continually develop, and have the incentives and
opportunities to do so, research is integrated into practice, and
schools become professional learning communities that encourage
and draw on teachers’ development
Other relevant policy priorities
Improving leadership and school climate
A range of initiatives should be taken to strengthen
leadership in schools:



20
Improve training, selection and evaluation processes for
school principals;
Establish leadership teams in schools;
School leaders to be trained and supported in conducting
evaluations and linking them to school planning.
Other relevant policy priorities
Improving working conditions
There needs to be an explicit recognition of the wide variety of
tasks that teaching actually entails
Well trained support and administrative staff can help to
reduce the burden on teachers and free them to concentrate
on the tasks of teaching and learning
Better facilities at school for staff preparation and planning
would help in building collegiality and in programme provision
21
Final Report
Teachers Matter: Attracting, Developing and Retaining
Effective Teachers
To be published as an OECD Publication in early 2005
For further information:
www.oecd.org/edu/teacherpolicy
22