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Directorate for Educati on, Education and Training Policy Division Teachers Matter Poin t ers for policy development THE IMPORTANCE OF TE ACHER POLICY  As the most significant and costly resource in schools, teachers are central to school improvement efforts. Improving the efficiency and equity of schooling largely depends on ensuring that as teachers , their teaching is of high quality and all students have access to high quality teaching .  Many countries have an ageing teaching force and find it difficult to attract well qualified new entrants to t eaching, or to , although some have relatively low rates of teacher turnover. T here can be quality concerns even when teacher shortages are not readily apparent.  T eachers themselves have concerns about the future of their profes sion : new teachers hey are sufficiently rewarded and supported in their work. MAIN CONCERNS  Although the information is often pat chy a broad picture of concerns across countries has emerged about:  “qualitative” shortfalls: whether enough teachers have the knowledge and skills to meet school needs  limited connections between teacher education, teachers’ professional development, and school needs  maintaining an adequate supply of good quality teachers, especially in high demand subject areas  t he image and status of teaching -- teachers often feel that their work is undervalued  long term trends in the composition of the teaching workfor ce , e.g. fewer “high achievers” and males  some times high rates of teacher attrition, especially among new teachers  the impact of high workloads, stress and poor working environments on job satisfaction and teaching effectiveness  limited means in most countr ies to reco gnise and reward teachers’ work  in some countries, a large over - supply of qualified teachers, which raises its own policy challenges  inequitable teachers that they need  R improve and perform at high levels, but also that ineffective tea chers do not stay in the profession.  School systems often respond to teacher shortages in the short term in ways that raise concerns about the quality of teaching and learning . They ensur e that classrooms have te acher s by some combination of:  lowering qualification requireme nts for entry to the profession  assigning teachers to teach in subject areas in which they are not fully qualified  increasing the number of classes that teachers are allocated  increasing cl ass sizes POLICY ORIENTATIONS TO MEET KEY POLICY OBJECTIVE S  people into the profession, and provide support and incentives for professional development and on - going high performance . Teachers may not reach  Policy initiatives need to school work environments for the teaching profession as a whole . They also need to particular types of teachers, and attracting teachers to work in particular schools .  Making teaching an attractive career choice by :  i mproving the image and status of teaching ; teaching’s salary competitiveness ; employment conditions ; and c apitalising on an over - supply of teachers  e xpanding the supp ly pool of potential teachers ; m aking reward mechanisms more flexible ; i mproving entrance conditions for new teachers ; and r - - teacher ratio and average teacher salary Directorate for Educati on, Education and Training Policy Division  Developing teachers’ knowledge and skills by :  d eveloping teacher profiles ; v iewing teacher development as a continuum ; m aking teacher education more flexible and responsive ; a ccrediting teacher education programmes ; and i ntegrating professional development throughout the career  i mproving selection int o teacher education ; i mproving practical field experiences ; c ertifying new teachers ; and s trengthening induction programmes  Recruiting, selecting and employing teachers by :  u sing more flexible forms of employment ; giving schools more responsibility for teacher personnel management ; m eeting short term staffing needs ; and i  b roadening criteria for teacher selection ; m aking a probationary period mandatory ; and e ncouraging greater teacher mobility  Retaining effective teachers in schools by :  e valuating and rewarding effective teaching ; p ; i mproving leadership and school climate ; and i mproving working conditions  r esponding to ineffective teachers ; p roviding more support for beginning teachers ; and p roviding more flexible working hours and conditions  Developing and implementing teacher policy by e ngaging teachers in policy development and implementation ; d eveloping profession al learning communities ; and i mproving the knowledge base to support teacher policy .  T ackling one area without enough attention to inter - related aspects will lead to only partial results. But it is difficult to address all areas simultaneously, and resourc e constraints mean that trade - offs are inevitable. COMMON POLICY PRIORITIES  Most teachers are employed in the public sector in either career - based or position - based systems.  In career - based systems, teachers enter when they are young and the entry criteria are usually demanding. T eachers are normally allocated to posts according to internal rules and p romotion is based on a system of grades attached to the individual rather than to a specific position.  Position - based public services select the best candidate for each position, by external recruitment or internal promotion. E ntry from other careers is relatively common . Personnel selection and management is often decentralised to schools or lo cal authority offices.  se public service traditions, they share some common policy priorities :  Emphasising teacher quality over teacher quantity  Developing teacher profiles to align teacher development, performance and school needs  Viewing teacher development as a continuum  Making teacher education more flexible  Transforming teaching into a knowledge - rich profession  Providing schools with more responsibility for teacher personnel management DEVELOPING AND IMPLE MENTING TEACHER POLI CY  T eachers themselves need to be actively involved in policy development and implementation and feel a sense of “ownership” of reform -- otherwise it is unlikely that substantial ch anges will be successfully implemented.  Teaching Councils provide teachers and other stakeholder groups with a forum for policy development and a mechanism for profession - teacher performance and career development , combining professional autonomy and public accountability .  Policy has a key role in helping teachers to develop professional learning communities within and beyond schools with teachers active ly analysing their own practice in the light of professional standards, and their own students’ progress in the light of standards for student learning. FURTHER READIN G These general pointers for policy development are drawn from the Thematic Review o n Teacher Policy and the findings are presented in , published in 2005. Country b ackground reports prepared by 2 5 countries, country reviews of 10 countries and other documents are on the OECD website www.oecd.org/edu/teacherpolicy .