Transcript No Slide Title

Teachers Matter: Attracting,
Developing and Retaining Effective
Teachers
Insights from the OECD Policy Review
Phillip McKenzie
Australian Council for Educational Research
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Victorian Institute of Teaching & Monash University-ACER Centre for
the Economics of Education and Training
Joint Seminar, 12 May 2005
Origins of the Review
“We need to explore together strategies to
attract and retain high-quality teachers and
school principals”
(OECD Education Ministers, 2001)
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Participating countries
25 countries prepared background reports and other data
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 of the countries were also visited by review teams
Austria, Belgium (Flemish and French Comm.), Germany,
Hungary, Italy, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
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Policy context
Teachers are the most significant resource in schools:
– 63% of recurrent spending is on teacher salaries (OECD av.)
- teachers vary widely in performance, and lifting teaching
quality is the policy most likely to improve student outcomes
 Many countries have concerns about shortages of well-qualified
applicants, and whether enough teachers have the knowledge and
skills to meet the needs of modern schooling. Attrition from the
teacher workforce is high in some countries. The ageing of the
profession is compounding such concerns (e.g. 25% primary teachers &
30% secondary are aged over 50 years).
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 Teachers express concern about the image and status of teaching,
workload and stress, and the future of their profession
Policy context
(continued)
 And yet, most countries are spending more on schools than
ever before: student-teacher ratios have fallen, and average
teacher salary has risen in real terms (salaries are generally
based on experience, and the workforce has aged)
 However, teaching appears to have lost its competitive edge:
-- many other job possibilities for graduates
-- teacher salaries have fallen relative to GDP per capita
(between 1994 and 2002 in two-thirds of OECD countries)
-- limited prospects for teacher career growth
-- mixed perceptions of the work (“important but difficult”)
-- less attractive to “high achievers” and males
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Policy Context (continued)
 Many countries now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to
shape and benefit from substantial changes in the teacher
workforce:
 Many new teachers will be starting in the next 5-10 years
 A younger workforce implies less budgetary pressure, and
potentially frees resources for renewal and development
 But, if teaching is not perceived as an attractive profession for
able people, and teaching does not change in fundamental ways,
school quality could decline
 Policy frameworks and initiatives do make a difference
 Differences among countries
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 Recent improvements within countries (which suggests the
teacher labour market is cyclical, and not necessarily in long-term
decline)
Analytical approach
 The OECD Activity drew on country experience and research to
identify a range of policy directions in five main areas:
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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
Analytical approach (continued)
 Not all of the findings and policy implications apply equally to all
countries. Countries have different traditions (e.g. between
“career-based” and “position-based” models of public sector
employment) and are at different stages of policy development
 Policy initiatives are necessary at two levels:

The teaching profession as a whole

Targeted strategies for particular types of teachers, and
particular types of schools
 It is difficult to address all areas simultaneously, and resource
constraints mean that trade-offs are necessary
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Common policy directions
 Because the teacher labour market is highly differentiated, more
targeted policies are needed e.g. special incentives for subject
specialists in short supply, and teachers in hard-to-staff schools.
Teacher supply is responsive to relative salary and job prospects
(i.e. “elastic”), especially where teacher salaries are relatively low
 Teacher quality should be emphasised more than teacher
quantity e.g. stronger emphasis on selection into teaching, mandatory
induction and probationary periods, on-going evaluation aimed at
improvement, incentives and support to continue improving, and
processes for responding to ineffective teachers
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Policy directions
(continued)
 Teacher profiles (statements of job competencies and
performance standards) are needed to align teacher development,
performance and schools needs
-- derived from the objectives for student learning
-- profession-wide agreement on what counts as accomplished
teaching
 Teacher development needs to be viewed as a lifelong learning
continuum
-- no increase in the length of initial teacher education
-- more emphasis on induction and on-going professional development
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Policy directions
(continued)
 The positive relationship between school decision-making and
performance suggests that schools should have more responsibility
for teacher selection, working conditions, and development. Schools
will need stronger leadership teams, and disadvantaged schools will
need more resources to compete for quality teachers
 Teacher education needs to offer more flexible pathways into
teaching (e.g. both concurrent and consecutive models, and
programmes for mid-career changers), and to have closer
connections with teacher induction and on-going professional
development
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Policy directions
(continued)
 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 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
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Policy directions
(continued)
 Teachers should be more active in policy development, and take
the lead in defining professional standards e.g. through Teaching
Councils
 The research and data base informing teacher policy is
fragmented, and needs to be strengthened at national and
international levels. The results of the teacher policy project are
being used by to identify priorities for indicators on teachers and
teaching.
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International resources
 Teachers Matter: Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective
Teachers, OECD, Paris, (2005, in press)
 Country reports and research studies from the OECD review:
www.oecd.org/edu/teacherpolicy
 Teachers for Tomorrow’s Schools: Analysis of the World
Education Indicators, UNESCO Institute for Statistics & OECD,
Paris (2001)
 A Statistical Profile of the Teaching Profession, M. Siniscalco,
ILO & UNESCO, Geneva (2002)
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