We are writing our first ‘research of the week’ blog for Teacher Development Trust.  We hope to share research and ideas to inspire and raise awareness of our current research.  One of our research projects is exploring an international comparison of teacher continuing professional development.

For an ‘international flavour’, we can truly recommend the video ‘Why Great Teachers are Great Learners’.  This video has been developed by the Innovation Unit working with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership and highlights the timely message of the need for investment in continuing professional development for teachers and school leaders.  Please follow the link to watch the video:

http://www.innovationunit.org/our-services/projects/animation-why-great-teachers-are-great-learners

The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development [OECD] has released an informative Spotlight Report on Spain ‘Equity and Quality in Education: Supporting Disadvantaged Students and Schools’ [2012].  The report notes that ‘schools with higher proportions of disadvantaged students are at greater risk of  low performance, affecting education systems as a whole’. The report acknowledges that ‘low performing disadvantaged schools often lack the internal capacity or support to improve, as school leaders and teachers and the environments of schools, classrooms and neighbourhoods frequently fail to offer a quality learning experience for the most disadvantaged’.

The report refers to five policy recommendations which have shown to be effective in supporting the improvement of low performing disadvantaged schools to help disadvantaged students and schools improve:

  • Strengthen and support school leadership.
  • Stimulate a supportive school climate and environment for learning.
  • Attract, support and retain high quality teachers.
  • Ensure effective classroom learning strategies.
  • Prioritise linking schools with parents and communities.

For a copy of this OECD spotlight report on Spain, please click on the attached link:

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/5/7/49603597.pdf

We hope this blog provides ‘food for thought’ and if you have any contributions to inform our research, we would be delighted to hear from you.