Improving Teacher Quality the EU agenda

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Scot Thornton
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1 Improving Teacher Quality the EU agenda 1

2 Improving Teacher Quality the EU agenda Council Conclusions 2007: Improving the quality of teacher education 2008: Preparing young people for the 21st century: European cooperation on schools 2009: Professional development of teachers and school leaders can be summarised in 10 points 2

3 1 Recruitment and selection review policies on recruitment placement retention mobility promote teaching as attractive career profession attract and retain best candidates Consider for example: media campaigns pathways into teaching status of profession salaries selection criteria career pathways within the profession 3

4 2 Initial Education HE qualification required for teaching raise level of qualifications required to be able to teach qualifications balance research-based studies and teaching practice strong practical component required Same qualification required for pre-primary and for secondary teachers? Masters degree? length of course, or content of course? How much training in real classrooms? Evidence-based? 4

5 3 Induction of new teachers all newly qualified should get sufficient and effective support and guidance in first few years of career professional and personal support No state-wide induction system exists in: BE, BG, CZ, DK, EL, ES, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, PL, RO, SK, FI, SE, IS, LI 5

6 3 Induction of new teachers Personal support from other beginning teachers a safe environment a reduced workload Social support Support from a mentor Collaborative work (co-teaching / project groups) Professional support from experts (e.g. Teacher Education Institutions); Exchange of knowledge, collaborative learning communities 6

7 3 Induction of new teachers A mentoring system to stimulate professional learning through coaching, training, discussion, counselling. A peer system to network within and across schools for social, personal and professional support. An expert system to expand content and teaching through seminars, master-classes, materials, resources, guidelines. A self-reflection system to promote professionalism, develop lifelong learning attitude through portfolios, diaries, observation / feedback, team-teaching... 7

8 4 Teacher Competences teachers need specialist knowledge of subjects and pedagogical skills to teach them e.g. teach transversal competences use ICT teach heterogeneous classes create safe attractive school 8

9 5 Professional values teacher is reflective practitioner autonomous learner engaged in pedagogical research, develops new knowledge innovates takes part in school development collaborates with colleagues, parents etc all teachers continuously to review their work, individually and collectively, and get regular feedback on performance, and get help to identify their professional development needs establish plan to meet these needs 9

10 5 Professional values Learning Mobility substantially increase learning mobility so that learning mobility is the norm for all teachers total number of teachers in EU: /- number of teaching students doing Erasmus: <5 000 number who do Comenius mobility each year: number of years for all teachers to have one Comenius mobility: 625 number of teachers who live to age 625: 0 10

11 6 Continuing Professional Development Professional development is a lifelong task sufficient opportunities provide incentives increase take-up improve supply /variety formal/in /non formal exchanges, placements TALIS, % had taken part in structured professional development but more than half wanted more obstacles to PD: conflict with work schedule, lack of opportunities greatest need for: special learning needs students, ICT, discipline and behaviour 11

12 6 Continuing Professional Development PD to be quality assured firmly rooted in practice relevant tailored to individual needs Research finds that InSeT should: be spread over time include practice, coaching, and follow-up work with groups of teachers use active learning (not lectures) promote reflective practice encourage experimentation respond to teachers needs 12

13 6 Continuing Professional Development greater incentives to encourage and support teachers to acquire new knowledge, skills, competence all teachers to: continuously review work, individually and collectively get regular feedback on performance get help to identify professional development needs have a plan to meet development needs 13

14 Professional Development Areas of greatest development need ( ) International average % of teachers reporting a high level of need % Special learning needs ICT teaching skills Student discipline Teaching practices Subject field 14

15 Professional Development Participation rates by type ( ) International averages Source: TALIS % Informal dialogue Courses / workshops Reading profess. literature Educ. Prof. developt conferences / network seminars Indiv. / collabor. research Mentoring / peer observation Observ. visits other schools Qualification progs. Source: OECD. Table

16 Professional Development Participation v impact, comparison by types of activity ( ) TALIS av. Impact was moderate or high Participation Educ. conferences / seminars Observ. visits other schools Mentoring / peer observation Profess devel network Courses / workshops Read profess. literature Informal dialogue Qualification progs Indiv / collab research Activities are ranked in descending order 0 of the 10percentage 20 of teachers 30 reporting a moderate 60 or high 70impact

17 7 School Leadership management, administration = leadership of student learning and teacher learning recruit and retain the best school leaders provide high quality, career-long prof. development focus on their role in shaping teaching and learning lighten their administrative load distributed leadership share the tasks (all teachers are leaders!) 17

18 Primary School Heads time allocation Source: PIRLS, % 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% BE fr NO DK SE IT SI IS NL SK BE nl UK E AT UK S PL EU27 LV LT HU RO ES DE BG FR Mgt / Admin Developing Curriculum/ Pedagogy Teaching Communications Other 18

19 8 Mentoring all teachers need effective personal and professional support (e.g. mentoring) throughout their career teachers should get enough support to be effective 19

20 9 Teacher Education systems Systems should be: adequately resourced quality assured coordinated, coherent: with a continuum of provision: initial teacher education induction career-long professional development regular reviews of individual development needs 20

21 9 Teacher Education systems TEI courses should innovate respond to evolving needs be evidence-based (based upon research, classroom practice...) TEI/schools partnerships schools as "learning communities" Research shows that CPD most likely to affect teaching positively is: of considerable duration active learning (not lecture) delivered to a team of teachers coherent focused on specific content / strategies (not general) (Snow-Renner & Lauer, McREL, 2005) 21

22 0 Teacher Educators high academic standard solid practical teaching experience good teaching competences Key issues how are they selected? from which background: researcher or teacher? should they be based in university or school, or both? mobility abroad reflective practitioners what professional standards? 22

23 Summary: the EU agenda TE system coherent continuum, quality Recruit and select the best Initial Teacher Education HE qualification, practical Induction for all CPD lifelong high quality opportunities and incentives Learning mobility for all Competences subject and pedagogy Values reflective professional Support Induction Mentoring Review of development needs Teacher Educators School Leaders focus on student learning and teacher learning 23

24 Improving Teacher Quality the EU agenda 24

List of the 19 EU countries and regions in TALIS 2013

List of the 19 EU countries and regions in TALIS 2013 BE (Fl.) BG CZ CY DK EE ES FI FR HR IT LV NL PL PT RO SE SK UK-ENG Belgium (Flanders) Bulgaria Czech Republic Cyprus Denmark Estonia Spain Finland