TUAC - TRADE UNION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OECD

16/06/2009

TUAC welcomes the release of the findings of OECD’s first Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). The report on “Creating effective teaching and learning environments,” based on a survey of teachers and school leaders in 23 countries, provides new data on conditions affecting teaching in schools. TALIS is an important step towards opening up the “black box” of teaching and to give particular attention to the conditions under which teachers carry out the most important part of their job, namely teaching, either through the transmission of knowledge or through facilitating of active learning. Many of the findings are particularly helpful in order to revise prevailing stereotypes and misconceptions regarding the teaching profession. However, the findings also reveal that much needs to be done in order to facilitate learning by effective teaching and teachers. In this respect they can facilitate the design and implementation of policies necessary to improve and strengthen the status of teachers in order to keep teaching an attractive profession in the 21st century.