Here is a list of some key and important facts that our team at the Teacher Development Trust has pulled out of today’s report. Do check back for updates. You can read our press release here.
School Leaders in England versus the average for TALIS countries
- School leaders in England who report engaging in instructional leadership report higher job satisfaction
- School leaders in England are much less likely to collaborate with teachers to resolve discipline issues
- School leaders in England same as average for encouraging teacher collaboration to develop new teaching practice, but much more than average for making teachers take responsibility for outcomes, observing lessons,
- School leaders in England much more likely to create a school development plan and school professional development plan than in most countries
- School leaders in England have much more autonomy in all areas of leadership than in most countries
- Male school leaders in England much less likely to use ‘distributed leadership’ than most countries
- School leaders’ training in England tends to be less intensive than average, although more receive training before they take up a post than average.
- School leaders in England have spent longer, on average, in school leadership positions than in other countries, and more years working as a teacher.
- School leaders in England are much more likely to participate in professional development activities than most countries, but spend only a 1/3 of the average time on these activities. The main reason for this is conflicts with other work commitments.
- Across all countries, use performance-related pay/financial incentives were the least likely leadership activities to improve student outcomes. [table 3.16]
Teachers in England compared to TALIS averages
Types of CPD
- more likely to take part in induction programmes
- more likely to have a mentor
- less likely to have to pay for their own professional development
- more likely to have access to some form of professional development (especially state sector, less so independent)
- much less likely to engage in subject knowledge CPD
- much less likely to engage in ICT-skill CPD and much less likely to report it as having impact
- much less likely to engage in career guidance CPD
- less likely to engage in behaviour CPD
- less likely to engage in cross-curricular competencies CPD
- less likely to engage in new technologies in the workplace CPD
- slightly less likely to engage in subject pedagogical knowledge CPD
- slightly less likely to engage in general pedagogical knowledge CPD
- more likely to have engaged in CPD around assessment and evaluation
- more likely to engage in CPD around management and administration (less impact)
- more likely to engage in CPD around individualised learning and SEND
- slightly more likely to have scheduled time for CPD in the school year
CPD needs, barriers
- most critical need for PD for teachers is around teaching for special needs students, with one in five teachers saying they need help in this area, showing they do not feel fully prepared to cope with this challenge in the classroom
- 37% teachers participate in a network formed specifically for the professional development of teachers (such as NTEN)
- generally report much lower levels of need across all areas of training/CPD
- barriers to their CPD (top 3, biggest to smallest): conflicts with my work schedule, too expensive, lack of incentives to participate
Appraisal, performance management
- far more likely to be appraised on the job than in other countries, and by more different members of staff (e.g. head, SLT, other teachers, mentor)
- *far* more likely to have a large range of actions taken as a result of appraisal than teachers in other countries
- far more likely to receive feedback as a result of appraisal, from all types of colleagues
- far more likely to get feedback that is related to observation and focusing on teaching approach, much less likely to include information from other sources (e.g. essays, parental views, student surveys, etc) and focusing on other areas (students, parents, collaboration with colleagues)
- less likely to receive positive outcomes as a result of appraisal (e.g. recognition, responsibilities, pay, career advancement, job satisfaction, improvement in practice, movitation etc)
- having said that, teachers in England are about average in their confidnce in the appraisal process, although they report less likelihood of having a professional development plan created for them than the average
- are much more likely to differentiate work for their classes than in other countries, more likely to give written feedback on written work
- more likely to write written feedback (as well as a grade) on student work than any other country in the survey
Working time, teaching time
- work 8 hours more per week than the average TALIS teacher (46 hrs)
- less likely to believe ‘thinking and reasoning’ are more important than subject content
- spend more time on teaching and learning and less time on admin and behaviour than average
- less likely to report losing time to disruption
Self efficacy, job satisfaction
- have generally stronger sense of self-efficacy than the average teacher
- generally more positive about being a teacher than most countries, although more likely to want to change school
- are the least likely to recommend their schools as good places to work of any country (apart from, surprisingly, Singapore)
- have the lowest rate of reporting job satisfaction of any country in the world, by a large margin
- over time, teachers in England increase their sense of self-efficacy but decrease their sense of job satisfaction
- are more likely to feel better about their jobs if they get to go on more courses/seminars/workshops
- there is the strongest correlation in england between ‘managerial’ performance management and negative job satisfaction of any country
- self efficacy is strongly correlated to collaborative professional development opportunities, in England
- the most likely activity to increase job satisfaction is collaborative professional learning