Professional Development

Teaching is such a complex craft that one lifetime is not enough to master

it, but by rigorously focusing on their classroom practice, teachers can

continue to improve throughout their career. Therefore, we need a

commitment from teachers, not one to attend a certain number of hours of

professional development per year but a career-long commitment to the

continuous improvement of classroom practice, as well as an agreement

to develop their practice in ways that are likely to improve outcomes for

students. (William, 2011)

The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of
its teachers. (Barber & Mourshed, 2007).
GLOBAL
TEACHER
STATUS GLOBAL TEACHER STATUS INDEX 2018
INDEX 2018

University of Sussex, National Institute of Economic and Social Research

and Varkey Foundation
This Global Teacher Status Index survey in 2018 (GTSI 2018) went to 35
countries and administered an online questionnaire to over 1,000
members of the teachers, students, parents and the public in each
country.

Specifically, we went to 14 new countries (Taiwan, Hungary, Ghana,

Uganda, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Panama, India, Russia, Malaysia,
Indonesia and Canada).

These countries were chosen on their performance in Programme for

International Student Assessment (PISA), and the publication of the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD)
Annual Education at a glance.
Teaching as an Occupation

The study finds that the average respect ranking for a teacher across the 35
countries was 7th out of 14 professions, indicative of a mid-way respect
ranking for the profession.

Head teachers are more highly ranked than secondary teachers who are
more highly ranked than primary teachers
China, 80%, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia respect their teachers
more than all other European countries and Brazil and Israel were featured
at the lower end of the Teacher Status Index.

In Malaysia, Russia and China, teachers are compared to doctors, seen

as the highest status profession in our sample.
In all 35 countries, around 50% of people think teachers ought to be paid
according to the performance of their pupils. In Egypt, 78%, which is
highest among 35 countries. While in Israel, China, Brazil and New Zealand
the figure was less than 60%.

There is a clear positive relationship between teacher status and PISA

scores. Countries in which teacher status is high, such as China, Taiwan,
and Singapore have better student outcomes, as measured by PISA than
countries in which teacher status is low, such as Brazil and Israel.

In many countries where teacher status is high, including China, Malaysia,

India, and Indonesia, teacher pay nevertheless remains relatively low.
Similarly, in many countries where teacher status is relatively low, such as
Spain and Germany, teacher pay is relatively high.
The report prepared by Thompson (2021), an Associate Professor of
Education Research at the Queensland University of Technology) and
conducted by Education International in 2020 on the status of teachers is
a unique opportunity to strengthen insight into the status of teachers around
the globe.

Education International is the Global Union Federation that brings together

organisations of teachers from across the world. (384 member
organisations, more than 32 million teachers and education support
personnel in 178 countries and territories).
The survey consisted of 69 questions which included a mix of open-
ended, short answer, and Likert scale responses. The survey was hosted
on SurveyMonkey. The average time it took to complete the survey was
approximately 90 minutes.

The survey was made available via a weblink to the 384 members of
Education International in 2020. Overall, there were 184 responses to the
survey, although six of these responses contained no information, so that left
178 usable responses (128 unions and 94 different countries).
The report outlines the factors affecting the status of teachers worldwide,
such as pay and working conditions. Some of the main findings include:

Teacher pay is too low, conditions are deteriorating, and infrastructure

to support teaching and learning is not a priority for government investment.
Over 42 per cent of respondents stated that there had been a
deterioration in teachers’ working conditions over the last three years.
84 per cent indicated that salaries had decreased during the COVID-19
pandemic.
Workload has intensified. Over 55 per cent of respondents stated that
workloads were unmanageable. 49.6 per cent of responses concerned at
the impact of excessive lesson planning requirements.

Teacher attrition. Primary education (33.1 per cent) the highest and
higher education (17.3 per cent) the lowest. 48 per cent of respondents think
the teaching profession is not an attractive profession for young people.
Precarious employment is growing. Almost 60 per cent of respondents
pointed to the use of casual and short-term contracts to employ
teachers in Africa and South-West Asia, many contract teachers
described receiving less pay than permanent teachers, inadequate
professional support, and poor working conditions.

Continuous Professional Development remains insufficient for teachers.

Many perceived it to be of poor quality (12.1 per cent), not directly
relevant to the issues that teachers were facing (33.1 per cent), and
came at personal financial cost without clear career benefits (30 per
cent).
How the Status of Teachers has been
Affected by COVID-19
around the globe
Quotes from Teachers:

“Providing emergency remote teaching has created much higher

workloads for teaching staff and these workloads have continued to
become more onerous as it comes to assessment and demands for longer
term” (New Zealand).

“Teachers have been charged to bear the brunt of an already faulty system.
Poor infrastructure for remote learning” (American Federation of Teachers).

“Teachers have rapidly mobilised to facilitate online learning with tools

they have received little or no support. Despite all these efforts, teachers
did not receive quality professional training or financial compensation”
(Lebanon).
“The situation of teachers in my country is very bad because salaries are
delayed, sometimes for more than 60 days. Salaries have been reduced
with varying proportions. Teachers have been greatly affected in terms of
salaries and psychological well-being” (Iraq).

“The reopening of candidates’ classes in November has seen a high

number of deaths of teachers due to the failure of the government to
meet the COVID-19 health protocols in schools. Teachers are not
provided with personal protective equipment. Teachers with prevailing
health conditions and old age were not exempted from teaching” (Kenya).
‘During the COVID-19 Health Emergency” (in which 15,000 teachers from all
over the country participated) shows that 80% of those surveyed reported a
significant increase in both the number of working hours” (Argentina).

“Teachers faced several challenges, including: lack of technological

equipment (both teachers and students): computers, laptops, mobile
phones with internet; lack of connectivity; costs arising from the use of
technology and connectivity; stress due to uncertainty and longer
working hours; shortages that are worse in marginalised and rural areas;
situations of poverty and extreme poverty” (Mexico)
How the Status of Teachers has been
Affected by COVID-19
in Malaysia
During this challenging time, teachers have been working more hours than
before. Rapid movement to online delivery modes has dramatically
increased workloads for teachers as they work to shift teaching content
and materials into online space and become adequately adept at managing
the software needed.

A study had shown that teachers working from home juggled the rising
demands of their job; 68% of primary teachers and 75% of secondary
teachers report working more hours a week while switching to remote
teaching. Nearly half of all teachers claim they worked almost an entire
extra day during this time, and some working over 20 extra hours per
week
A survey by the Ministry of Education (MOE) has shown that based on a
survey of 670,118 parents of 893,331 students, 36.9 per cent of students
did not possess any devices which allowed them to follow online
lessons Only 5.8 per cent owned a tablet computer, while 46.5 per cent
had to rely on smartphones.

For a well-being family, this issue may not be a problem. Still, they typically
prioritise purchasing food rather than getting a new device or
purchasing access to the internet for the poorer families.
Three waves in leveraging ICT in education. MOE (2013)
Wave 1 (2013-2105)
•Provide assess to the infrastructure for both teacher and student.
•Establishment of the Learning Management System (LMS) with
appropriate bandwidth
•Teachers are ICT literate
•Integrating ICT into curriculum and management

Wave 2 (2016-2020)
•Transforming ICT usage in the classroom E.g. EduWebTV
•Shift the usage of LMS into Google Classroom starting July 1, 2019 (MOE,
2019).

Wave 3 (2021-2025)
•ICT fully embedded in pedagogy and curriculum Intense ICT usage
among students and teachers
The educational television programme slots are conducted with the
collaboration between the MOE and the Ministry of Communication.

Educational TV can be watched starting April 4, 2020, via TV Okey

broadcasted by RTM and the web streaming https://myklik.rtm.gov.my/.
(extension of the EduwebTV programme) Therefore, students who have
limited access to the internet could also watch the educational programme via
their television.

Private television conglomerate, Astro have collaborated with the MOE in

broadcasting their education television programme slot starting May 4,
2020, namely Tutor TV (MOE, 2020). This programme allows teachers and
students to have broad online teaching and learning materials as Tutor TV
and TV Okey are available as resources.
MOE, together with UNICEF Malaysia, has developed online resources and
training to assist teachers in conducting online teaching and learning with
Digital Learning Teachers Community.

Five modules, designed to facilitate teachers in preparing their online

lessons and using Google Education products (MOE, 2020d)
•MoE Digital Learning platform, creating Google Classroom, and lesson
planning.

•Creating materials using Google Docs, Google Slides, and screen

recording

•How technology aids in assessing students by Gradebook.

•Creating a positive digital environment, the rapport between teacher-

student, student-student.
The 2018 Cambridge International
Global Education Census
Cambridge Assessment International Education is the world’s largest
provider of international education programmes and qualifications for 5
to 19-year-olds. They offer Cambridge programmes and qualifications to
over 10,000 schools in more than 160 countries.

They also work with governments in over 30 countries as a trusted

education partner in the design of their national education systems and
curricula (one million students around the world).
The Cambridge International Global Education Census was carried out
as an online self-completion survey between March and May 2018 on
10,209 teachers and 9,397 students across the world.

The Census survey links were promoted and shared via social media
platforms, through Cambridge International’s school networks and
channels, on the Cambridge International website and at international
schools’ events.
Survey responses were collected from more than 100 countries. This report
focuses on 10 in detail, showing how education is delivered in Argentina,
China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa,
Spain and the US.

The report presents findings in 5 key areas of education in the classroom,

outside the classroom, the teacher’s role, measuring success and
supporting students.
In the Classroom
Global percentage of students that use technology in the classroom:
48% desktop, 33% smartboards, 42% smartphones, 73% whiteboards
and 35% blackboards.

Students from China lead the world on tablet use, 50% versus the 20%
global average, India 8% only. US, desktop 75% and smartphones 59%.
Malaysia and Indonesia, whiteboards 90%.

The subjects studied by students are consistent around the world, with
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects
and English Language the most popular subjects globally. Mathematics,
88% is the most commonly studied subject in every one of the ten
countries surveyed, followed by English Language 84%, Chemistry, 65%.
43% teachers say there are between 21 to 30 students in each class at
their school, 25% say they have smaller classes of 11 to 20 students. 8%
have 10 or fewer students in each class. Larger classes of 31 to 40
students are reported by 17% of teachers across the world, in South Africa
28%, Malaysia and India both 26%.

Larger classes are rare: just 7% of teachers report a typical class size of 41
or more. This is more common in India, with 13% of teachers in India
reporting class sizes of 41 to 50 and 10% classes with more than 50
students, compared to 3% globally.
Outside the Classroom
Private tuition outside school is now common across the world: 43% say they
have a private tutor or coach outside of school hours, rising to 57% in
China and India 55% but falling to just 10% in the US.

The most common subject privately tutored is Mathematics, with 66% of

students taking it, followed by Physics 43%.

65% of students do homework on a laptop, 98% say they still use pen
and paper. Students across the world spend an average of 2 hours on
homework every school day.
The Teacher’s Role
What motivates teachers to do their job?
71% teachers globally say teaching is a rewarding career, 67% teachers
say they like working with young people, 36% say working with other
teachers, 34% for professional development 20% good career
progression and 11%, salary is good.

The greatest proportion of teachers responding to our survey 39% are aged
25–34; 32% are aged 35–44; 19% are aged 45–54, 8% are aged 55 or over.
Just 2% are aged under 25.

Teachers spend an average of 5 hours per day teaching lessons, with little
variation between the 10 countries analysed. They typically spend another 3
hours per day on other related tasks such as marking or lesson planning.
 What was the Key Factor that Led to You Becoming a Teacher?

•To change lives and make a difference

•A great teacher that I had

•To empower students

•Became a teacher almost by accident

•The desire to work with children

 What are the Most Challenging Aspects of your Job?

•Managing mixed ability classes

•Dealing with bad behaviour

•Administration

•Lack of funding

•Technology not working properly

•Motivating students
Measuring Success
Examinations are also an important metric for teachers. Almost 28%
teachers worldwide say students take multiple mock examinations throughout
the year, followed by one set of full examinations at the end of the year, 25%
say there are several full examinations throughout the year.

Across the world, 71% teachers in our research help students prepare for
exams by showing them how to respond to different kinds of questions.
57% how to structure essays, while 54% show them how to plan time in the
exam. 48% offer extra classes to help their students prepare for exams.

Teachers across the world measure their own professional performance in a

variety of ways. 68% measure their performance on the exam results of their
students, almost 37% students who go into higher education as a key
metric for themselves.
Supporting Students

Careers advice or counselling is the most offered support service, with

more than half of teachers (55%) saying their school offers this. This is
highest in India (72%), Malaysia (70%) and Pakistan (65%), while in
Argentina, just three in ten teachers (30%) say this is something their school
provides.

Healthcare is another common support service offered by schools. A third

of teachers (33%) globally say their school provides healthcare services,
rising to half of teachers (52%) in India and 43% in both Malaysia and
Indonesia, while almost a quarter of teachers globally (23%) say their
school provides mental health care.
Teaching and Learning International Survey 2018
“We need to attract the best and brightest to join the profession. Teachers

are the key in today’s knowledge economy, where a good education is an

essential foundation for every child’s future success. This survey provides

strong evidence that teachers are open to change and keen to learn and

develop throughout their careers. At the same time, they need to take more

initiative to work with colleagues and school leaders, and take advantage of

every opportunity for professional development”

Andreas Schleicher, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and

Development (OECD) Director for Education and Skills
 TALIS 2018 reflects data from more than 260 000 teachers (8 million
teachers) in almost 15 000 schools in 48 countries.

 31 Lower secondary education, 15 Primary education, 11 Upper

secondary education, 9 samples of the OECD Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) schools.
 Teacher professionalism as an overarching framework for TALIS 2018,
the dimension of knowledge and skills in their work

• teachers’ levels of education,

• participation in professional development,

• sense of preparedness,

• self-efficacy,

• perceived needs for professional development,

• job satisfaction.
 The Key Features of TALIS 2018 Survey Design

•International
target population: lower secondary education teachers and
school leaders of mainstream schools.

•Target sample size: 200 schools per country; 20 teachers and 1 school
leader in each school.

•Target response rates for teachers: 75% of the sampled schools, with 75%
sampled teachers in the country. (50% sampled teachers responded). 75%
of the sampled school leaders.
• Questionnaires: Separate questionnaires for teachers and school leaders,
each requiring between 45 and 60 minutes to complete.

• Mode of data collection: questionnaires completed on paper or online.

•Average age for teachers is 44, compared to a principal being 52.

• 68% of teachers are women, compared to  47% of principals are women

• 78% of classroom time on actual teaching and learning, 13% of

classroom time on keeping order in the classroom and 8% on
administrative tasks
• Teaching was the first-choice career for 2 out of 3 teachers in OECD
countries.

• 9 out of 10 teachers cite the opportunity to contribute to society and

make a difference in the lives of children and youngsters as a major
motivation to join the profession.
• On the average across the OECD countries, only 26% of teachers agree
that their profession is valued in society, but this varies from less than
7% in France and Belgium to Vietnam, 92%, Singapore and United Arab
Emirates, 72%.

• Nine out of ten teachers report that, all in all, they are satisfied with their
job, but teachers under 30 and novice teachers report lower levels of
satisfaction with the job and their work environment.
• The Singapore government carefully chooses candidates and offers them
a monthly stipend during initial teacher education. In exchange, these
teachers-in-training must commit to teaching for at least three years.

• Swedish National Agency for Education recently combined the

promotion of alternative pathways into teaching with increased government
grants for new teachers, boosting entry into the profession from a wider
pool of candidates.
Teaching is among the most highly selective occupations in Finland, with
highly skilled, well-educated teachers spread throughout the country.

Finland has made teacher education one of the most prestigious

academic programmes. Each year there are typically nine applicants for
every place in Finnish teacher education; those who are not admitted can
still become attorneys or doctors.

In Finland, every teacher finishes his or her initial education with a research
master’s degree thesis.
• More than 80% of teachers feel confident in their capacity to teach and
manage their classroom

• 96% of teachers concur that teachers and students usually get on well
with one another
• 21% of teachers work in schools with more than 10% of students whose
national language is different from the language of instruction
(Singapore, 82%)

• 31% of schools with at least 10% of students with special needs (US,

65%)
• During a typical week, teachers report teaching a higher number of
hours in 2018 than in 2013 

• 90% of teachers and principals having attended at least one professional

development activity in the year prior to the survey.
• 44% of teachers (compared to 63% of school leaders) reported a
master’s degree or equivalent

• 79% of all teachers report that they were trained in all three core
elements, content, pedagogy and classroom practice of some or all
subject(s)
• On average, teachers attended about 4 different types of continuous
professional development activity in the 12 months prior to the survey.

• 82% of teachers report that the most impactful professional development

programmes are those based on strong subject and curriculum content
and involve collaborative approaches to instruction, as well as the
incorporation of active learning.

• Courses or seminars attended in person (76%) and reading professional

literature (72%). Only 44% of teachers participating in training based on
peer/self observation and coaching, learning and networking.
• Singapore’s approach to developing its in-service teachers provides an
interesting model: teachers are entitled to 100 hours of professional
development per year to stay up to date with their field and improve their
practice.

• In Korea for instance, teachers are eligible for 180 hours of professional
development after 3 years of service, to obtain an advanced certificate,
which can lead to a salary increase and eligibility for promotion.

• The Italian government made a large financial investment (EUR 1.5

billion) exclusively for training in areas of system skills (school
autonomy, evaluation and innovative teaching) and 21st century skills.
• In Finland, teachers are encouraged to contribute to research on
effective teaching practices throughout their career.

• In China, schools are often given research grants to pilot new

programmes or policies and to test their scalability in other schools.

• The Japanese tradition of lesson study means that Japanese teachers

work together to improve the quality of the lessons they teach.
90% of teachers saying they have received some kind of feedback,
average. 80% of teachers receive feedback based on classroom
observation, while 70% receive feedback based on students’ results and
external results of students is the basis of feedback for 64% of teachers.

One of the striking findings of TALIS with respect to feedback is that nearly 3
out of 10 teachers did not seem to find feedback useful for improving their
practice and 52% receive feedback through four or more different
methods.
Different methods of feedback include:

observation of the teacher’s classroom teaching,

student survey responses related to the teacher’s teaching,

assessment of the teacher’s content knowledge,

external results of students,

self-assessment of the teacher’s work (a portfolio)

Pearson Global Learner Survey was conducted in May 2019 by The Harris
Poll, a global market research firm based in New York with over 50 years of
history in polling.

A 20-minute online survey was completed by 11,083 people aged between

16 to 70 years old across the globe. The survey uncovered key trends that
learners across the globe characterise the way they seek education in 2019.

•A DIY mindset is reshaping education:

81% of people globally believe learning will become more DIY the older you
get. Learners self-taught using internet resources and cited professional
short courses or online tools.
• In the next decade digital and virtual learning will be the new
normal. 
Globally, 76% of people believe that college students will be taking online
courses, that textbooks will be obsolete in 5 years and believe that
Artificial Intelligence will have a positive impact on education

• The 40-year career is gone, replaced by life-long learning and

diverse career paths.
The traditional, linear career path is a thing of the past. Learners are
molding education into what they need for today’s work world, which
means 'bite-sized' learning across their entire life.
• Soft skills have an advantage over automation: 
78% of people say they need to do more to develop soft skills like critical
thinking, problem-solving and creativity and universities need to
increase their focus on teaching these skills in preparation for the job
market.

• Confidence in educational institutions is wavering.

70% of people agree that colleges and universities care more about their
reputation than educating students.

68% of people globally agree that a degree or certificate from a vocational

college or trade school is more likely to result in a good job with career
prospects than a university degree.
 The Heart of Great Teaching:
Pearson Global Survey of Educator Effectiveness

Pearson surveyed students ages 15 to 19, teachers, principals,

education researchers, education policymakers, and parents of school-
aged children in 23 countries with 13,225 participants

Canada, U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Finland, Germany, Poland,

England, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, U.A.E.,
Iran, India, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, and Australia.

•List a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 15 of what you think are the most
important qualities of an effective teacher
1. Trusting, Compassionate Relationships with Students

The ability to develop trusting, compassionate relationships broadly

includes the teacher’s ability to:
• relate to students,

• value and feel compassion for students as human beings,

• serve as a role model or mentor.

…that crucial part of education that is to do with the classroom interaction of

learner and teacher and with the extraordinary ability of teachers to
generate sparks of learning, even in the most inauspicious of
circumstances.
In essence, trusting relationships reduce the perception of risk and
therefore reduce the cognitive load required for tasks like learning (Coan &
Sbarra, 2015).

The teacher-student relationship impacts every aspect of the educational

experience. When students don’t feel safe, respected, or truly known by
their teacher, they are less likely to invest and engage in their education.

Conversely, when teachers feel distanced from or distrusted by their

students, it’s nearly impossible to muster the enthusiasm to walk into the
classroom each day, let alone instil motivation or investment in our
students. (Lahey, 2014)
2. Patient, Caring, and Kind Personality

Related to the ability to build trusting relationships with students is the

teacher’s personality characteristics associated with being a compassionate
person, particularly with students.

A student in Dubai said it well: “We want a patient teacher because we

require some time to absorb information he or she is providing”
3. Professionalism has to do with workplace practices and responsibility
as a professional.

• Knowledge of rules and regulations governing teaching

• Having a calm demeanour,

• Treating others with respect,

• Responsible,

• Punctual

• Disciplined
11% of principals from participating countries reported that teachers arrive
late to school on at least a weekly basis.

As a parent in India stated, a teacher should “regularly attend the classes,”

echoed by a parent across the world in Mexico, who said an effective
teacher is “disciplined, doesn’t miss class.”
4. Subject Matter/Content Knowledge

This category includes expertise in a given content or subject area as well

as knowledge of the curriculum, learning objectives, and standards in that
content area.

A principal in Brazil says “Not only does the teacher masters the content of
the course, but also knows the best way to apply this content to produce
knowledge and learning.”
5. Knowledge of Learners includes:

•Understanding how students learn at a given developmental level;

•How learning in a specific subject area typically progresses; awareness that

students have individual needs and abilities

•Understanding that instruction should be tailored to meet each student’s

needs.
 Pyramid of Teacher Competencies

Creating a climate where students feel cared for, where they belong, and
where they are free to take risks and make mistakes as they learn new
content and skills is critical for productive learning to occur.
Other Characteristics
• Dedication:
Dedication to teaching and students’ success.

• Teaching Skills:
Ability to use a variety of instructional methods and approaches to help
students learn and master content, especially methods that are
supported by research to enhance student learning.

• Engaging:
Ability to make learning engaging and to motivate and engage students
in their own learning. 73
 Other Characteristics
• Make Ideas and Content Clear:
Ability to make ideas and content clear for students and to make
complex content understandable, includes strong communication skills.

• Classroom Management:
Ability to foster a productive learning environment.

• Non-Cognitive Skills:
A focus on developing students’ non-cognitive skills, including 21st
Century skills, such as learning how to learn, developing
74 persistence
and collaboration.