The teacher profile for the future Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ETUCE Conference Europe Needs Teachers Brussels 12 June 2006 Michael Davidson Senior Analyst, Indicators and Analysis Division Directorate for Education

Factors shaping the teacher profile for the future r Teachers’ roles are changing r Factors influencing this include: More autonomy for schools More diverse student population r What do we know now about the impact of these and how well teachers are coping with these challenges? r What do we still need to learn to help prepare teachers to meet these challenges?

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.

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.

Trends affecting these changing roles More school autonomy More diverse student populations

General move towards decentralisation of decisions Percentage of decisions in lower secondary education taken at more centralised/decentralised levels in 2003 than in 1998 %

More and more decisions are taken at the school level Percentage of educational decisions taken at each level of government Lower secondary education (2003) %

Do these trends improve student learning? r In many of the best performing countries Decentralised decision-making is combined with devices to ensure a fair distribution of substantive educational opportunities The provision of standards and curricula at national/sub-national levels is combined with advanced evaluation systems –That are implemented by professional agencies Process-oriented assessments and/or centralised final examinations are complimented with individual reports and feed-back mechanisms on student learning progress

More school autonomy -some implications for teachers r Greater accountability required of schools r Perhaps an emphasis on high stakes student examinations r Greater emphasis on strong school leadership r More need for clear school goals that are understood and supported by the teaching and other staff Teacher cooperation, collaboration and team work r Broader role for teachers E.g. Supporting the leadership and management of the school r Professional development needs

More diverse student populations Students from diverse socio-economic backgrounds Evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Low Performance PISA: High Mathematics performance Low performance Low social equity High performance Low social equity Low performance High social equity High performance High social equity Strong impact of social background on performance Moderate impact of social background on performance

Low Performance High Mathematics performance Low performance Low social equity High performance Low social equity Low performance High social equity High performance High social equity Strong impact of social background on performance Moderate impact of social background on performance Differences in socio-economic background pose major challenges for education systems l Students whose parents have better-paid jobs, are better educated or have more “cultural” possessions in their homes tend to perform better… …But the performance advantage varies –Australia, Canada, Finland, Iceland and Japan provide examples showing that it is possible to combine quality and equity –In contrast, results for Belgium, Germany, Hungary and the Slovak Republic reveal large socio-economic inequalities in the distribution of learning opportunities.

More diverse student populations Performance of immigrant students Evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)

Different histories The traditional settlement countries Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United States Founded on the basis of immigration and continuing to admit significant numbers of newcomers for permanent residence Extensive experience with immigration and its social consequences European countries with post- war labour recruitment Austria, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland Mass immigration after World War II as a result of active recruitment Expectation of temporary residency Nordic countries placing stronger emphasis on humanitarian immigration since 1970s European countries with colonial histories Belgium, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom Similar patterns as in other European countries but less linguistic diversity Where immigrant students succeed – A comparative review of performance and engagement in PISA 2003: Figure 1.1.

r Key findings On average across the 17 countries, 15- year-old first-generation immigrants score in mathematics more than one school year behind their native counterparts The performance disadvantage varies widely across countries from very little to… …more than 90 score points in Belgium and Sweden for first-generation students …more than 90 score points in Belgium and Germany for second-generation students The performance of immigrant students also varies in absolute terms …with second-generation immigrants in Canada outperforming their German counterparts by 111 score points, almost equivalent to three school years

BUT…..Larger immigrant populations do not imply lower overall performance Percentage of immigrant students in the country Mathematics performance

AND..Immigrant students are motivated learners Native students Second- generation immigrant students First- generation immigrant students Making an effort in mathematics is worth it because it will help me in work I want to do later Learning mathematics is worthwhile because it will improve my career prospects Mathematics is an important subject because I need it for what I want to study later on I will learn many things in mathematics that will help me get a job

Policies and practices that help integration r Countries where performance differences are relatively small tend to have well-established language support programmes with relatively clearly defined goals and standards

What are some other features of successful education systems? Insights from earlier PISA analysis

Sympathy doesn’t raise standards – aspiration does r In many of the best performing countries National research teams report a strong “culture of performance” –Which drives students, parents, teachers and the educational administration to high performance standards PISA shows that students perceived a high degree of teacher support –Which should not be simply equated with “achievement press”

Organisation of instruction r In many of the best performing countries Schools and teachers have explicit strategies and approaches for teaching heterogeneous groups of learners –A high degree of individualised learning processes –Disparities related to socio-economic factors and migration are recognised as major challenges Students are offered a variety of extra- curricular activities Schools offer differentiated support structures for students –E.g. school psychologists or career counsellors Institutional differentiation is introduced, if at all, at later stages –Integrated approaches also contributed to reducing the impact of students socio-economic background on outcomes

Support systems and professional teacher development r In the best performing countries Effective support systems are located at individual school level or in specialised support institutions Teacher training schemes are selective The training of pre-school personnel is closely integrated with the professional development of teachers Continuing professional development is a constitutive part of the system Special attention is paid to the professional development of school management personnel

The OECD Survey of Teachers, teaching and learning An opportunity to learn more about how these trends and challenges are affecting teaching and learning in schools But there is still a lot we don’t know………

Policy focus r Three main areas 1. Recognition, feedback, reward and evaluation of teachers 2. School leadership 3. Teaching practices, beliefs, and attitudes And their relationships with –Teachers ’ professional development –School climate

Survey design r Core sample Lower secondary teachers and school principals r Sampling options Primary teachers and school principals Upper secondary teachers and school principals Teachers in PISA 2006 schools r 200 schools, 20 teachers Response rate (75%, 75%) r Teacher and Principal questionnaires (40 Minutes) r Main study school year r Report March 2009

Recognition, feedback, reward and evaluation r Research questions In what way is teachers’ work recognised and appraised and what are teachers’ perceptions of how well this works? In what way are the outcomes of these used in terms of feedback and reward implications; what are the connections with professional development? What is the impact of these processes and practices upon teachers and their teaching ? How do these mechanisms support good teaching?

School leadership r Research questions In an era of accountability and devolution of authority in education, how can a nation ’ s principals, teachers, and other key staff create and sustain effective school leadership? To what degree have recent new trends in school leadership penetrated nations ’ educational systems, aimed chiefly at enhancing leadership through the management of teachers, their practice of teaching, and their beliefs? To what extent has this actually impacted upon teacher practices, beliefs and attitudes?

Teaching practices, beliefs & attitudes r Research questions How do teaching styles and goals differ between and within countries; are they more driven by curriculum or didactics? Do these styles and goals differ between types of schools or by different groups of teachers? How is this associated with the professional development that teachers receive?

Teacher Union consultations r Constructive liaison with OECD Trade Union Advisory Council (TUAC) and Education International (EI) They have attended as observers in OECD meetings of the group of participating countries Briefings provided by Secretariat to TUAC Working Group on Education r Discussions with teacher unions nationally

Countries participating r Australia r Belgium (Fl) r Brazil r Czech Republic r Denmark r Estonia r Hungary r Iceland r Ireland r Korea r Lithuania r Malta r Malaysia r Netherlands r Norway r Poland r Portugal r Spain r Slovak Republic r Slovenia r Turkey Others still considering: France, Belgium (Fr), Germany??…….

The teacher profile for the future r Teachers’ roles are changing – more challenging r Crucial role for teachers’ professional development r Sharing good practice is essential Between teachers, schools, policy makers and shapers International comparisons can play a vital role r Without data you are just someone else with an opinion!

Thank you for listening Comments and questions?