TALIS 2013 Results

Questionnaire and background scales
Scale Creation

Two different types of indices can be distinguished:

Simple indices - Constructed through the arithmetical transformation or recoding of one or more items, such as ratios, averages, or binary indicators, for example:

  • Student-teacher ratio
  • Ratio of teachers to number of personnel for pedagogical support
  • Ratio of teachers to number of school administrative or management personnel
  • Average class size

 

Complex scale indices

  • The underlying variables are intended to measure the indices that are unobserved.
  • Indices were operationally defined by observable items and constructed using complex procedures that involved scaling the items.
  • Typically, scale scores for these indices are estimates of latent traits derived through scaling of dichotomous or polytomous (e.g., Likert scale) items using latent trait methodology.
  • Complex scale-item statistics such as item frequencies and item-total correlations were used to initially evaluate the quality of the scale items across all countries.
  • A reliability coefficient alpha (Cronbach’s alpha) was used as the measure of scale reliability.
  • EFA was used to evaluate complex scales.
  • CFA was used to construct the scales.
  • CFA with multiple comparison groups was used to validate the constructed scales.

 

List of background scales
  • School disciplinary climate
    • School delinquency and violence
    • Mutual respect
  • Distributed leadership
  • Instructional leadership
  • Principal job satisfaction
    • Satisfaction with current work environment
    • Satisfaction with profession
  • Teacher self-efficacy
    • Efficacy in classroom management
    • Efficacy in instruction
    • Efficacy in student engagement
  • Teacher job satisfaction
    • Satisfaction with current work environment
    • Satisfaction with profession
  • Participation among stakeholders
  • Teacher-student relations
  • Classroom disciplinary climate
  • Constructivist beliefs
  • Teacher co-operation
    • Exchange and coordination for teaching
    • Professional collaboration
  • Professional development
    • Effective professional development
    • Needs for professional development in subject matter and pedagogy
    • Need for professional development for teaching for diversity
  • Self-efficacy in teaching mathematics
  • School autonomy
    • School autonomy for staffing
    • School autonomy for budgeting
    • School autonomy for instructional policies
  • School resources
    • Lack of pedagogical personnel
    • Lack of material
Overview of key study results

Teachers

  • Age and gender
    • The majority of lower secondary teachers were women in all countries surveyed, except for Japan.
    • In 22 countries, at least two-thirds of teachers were women.
    • While the average age of teachers across countries was 43, several countries may face significant teacher shortages as large numbers of teachers approach retirement age.
  • Time
    • Teachers reported that they work an average of 38 hours per week across countries.
    • On average, half of teachers’ time was spent teaching and half was spent on all other daily tasks required of teachers.
  • Initial education
    • On average, the teachers were well-educated, with the majority reporting that they had completed a university or equivalent education and a program to prepare them for becoming a teacher.
    • Teachers whose formal training included the specific content, pedagogy, and classroom practice of the subjects they teach reported feeling better prepared for teaching.
  • Induction
    • Formal teacher induction programs are shown to be an important activity for teachers, although many teachers did not take advantage of this opportunity.
    • Teacher participation in a formal induction program is an important predictor of their participation in professional development in later years.
    • In 17 countries and economies, teachers who reported having participated in a formal induction program in the past were more likely to report that they currently serve as a mentor for other teachers.
    • Even though most school principals report that induction programs are available, less than half of the teachers, on average, reported that they participated in one during their first regular teaching job.
  • Professional development
    • Most lower secondary teachers reported that they participate in professional development activities.
    • An average of 88% of teachers in lower secondary education reported engaging in professional development in the previous year.
    • The reasons most often cited by teachers for not participating in professional development activities were conflicts with work schedules and the absence of incentives for participation.
    • In general, teachers reported higher participation rates in professional development in countries where they also reported higher levels of financial support.
    • In some cases, even when monetary support was not offered, teachers who were offered non-monetary support such as scheduled time for activities during the school day, reported participating in professional development.
  • Pedagogical practices
    • Collaboration
      • Most teachers reported teaching largely in isolation
      • Over half of all teachers reported very rarely or never team-teaching with colleagues.
      • Two-thirds of teachers reported the same rates for observing their colleagues teach.
    • Time spent on disruptions
      • Teachers reported spending about 80% of their time, on average, on teaching and learning.
      • Approximately one in four teachers in more than half of the participating countries reported losing at least 30% of their time to classroom disruptions and administrative tasks.
    • Active teaching practices
      • Roughly two-thirds of teachers reported a positive classroom climate; these teachers were more likely to use:
        • Active teaching practices, such as small group work, projects requiring more than a week for students to complete, and
        • Information and communication technologies.
      • Teachers who reported participating in professional development activities involving individual and collaborative research, observation visits to other schools, or a network of teachers were also more likely to use these practices.
  • Teacher appraisals and feedback
    • Some 46% of teachers reported never receiving feedback on their teaching from their school leader.
    • Slightly more than half (51%) of teachers reported having never received feedback from other members of the school management.
    • Only slightly more than a third of teachers in TALIS countries reported that the feedback they received on their teaching led to a moderate or large positive change in the likelihood of career advancement.
    • Less than a third of teachers believed that if a teacher is consistently underperforming, he or she would be dismissed.
    • Formal performance appraisal and feedback on practice help teachers improve.
    • Teachers surveyed in TALIS agree that appraisals are helpful.
      • More than six in ten teachers reported that appraisals lead to positive changes in their teaching practices.
      • More than half report that appraisals lead to positive changes in both their use of student assessments and their classroom-management practices.
      • More than eight in ten teachers work in schools where formal appraisals at least sometimes lead to teacher development or training plans.
    • Yet the outcomes or impact of appraisal seem less apparent to the teachers surveyed in TALIS.
      • Almost half of teachers report that appraisal and feedback are undertaken simply to fulfil administrative requirements.
      • Annual increments in teacher pay are awarded regardless of the outcome of formal teacher appraisal in all but about one-fifth of schools.
      • Some 44% of teachers work in schools where the principal reports that a formal teacher appraisal never affects a teacher’s career advancement.
    • TALIS teachers receive formal or informal feedback on their practice in a variety of ways, from a variety of sources.
      • Almost 80% of teachers reported receiving feedback following classroom observation.
      • Nearly two-thirds reported receiving feedback following an analysis of student test scores.
    • Nearly nine in ten teachers reported that student performance, teachers’ pedagogical competency in their subject, and classroom management are strongly emphasized in the feedback they receive.
  • Self-efficacy
    • In most TALIS countries and economies, teachers with more than five years of teaching experience reported a stronger belief in their ability to teach, as did teachers who work with their colleagues.
    • In almost all countries, teachers who reported participating in collaborative professional learning at least five times a year reported notably greater self-efficacy.
  • Job satisfaction
    • In nearly all countries, when teachers perceived that appraisal and feedback led to changes in their teaching practice, they also reported greater job satisfaction.
    • When teachers believed that appraisal and feedback is performed only for administrative purposes, they reported less job satisfaction.
    • Teachers who reported that they participate in decision-making at school also reported greater job satisfaction.
    • Although fewer than a third of teachers believed that teaching is a valued profession in their country, those teachers who reported that they can contribute to school decisions are more likely to report that teaching is valued in their society.
    • In almost all countries, when teachers have more students with behavioral problems, they reported significantly less job satisfaction.

 

School Leaders

  • Gender
    • In contrast to lower secondary school teachers, half of the school leaders in TALIS schools are men.
  • Education
    • Principals are also well-educated, with the majority reporting that they completed tertiary education.
    • At least three quarters of principals reported that their education included programs in school administration, teacher preparation, or instructional leadership.
  • Time
    • Principals reported spending the most time (41%), on average, managing human and material resources, planning, and reporting.
    • Principals increasingly are distributing leadership and decision-making tasks, which can benefit both the teachers and the principals themselves.
    • Principals with heavy workloads who were less inclined to distribute tasks and decision-making also reported lower levels of job satisfaction.
  • Distributed and instructional leadership
    • Distributing leadership also saves principals valuable time for what some consider the most important task: instructional leadership.
    • Principals who reported more instructional leadership tend to spend more time on curriculum and teaching-related tasks and are more likely to observe classroom teaching as part of the formal appraisal of teachers’ work.
    • In some countries, these principals more often reported using the results of student performance and evaluations to develop the school’s educational goals and programs.
Sources - Report(s) of results