Teachers in England’s Secondary Schools: Evidence from TALIS 2013. Research Report

The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), led by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), provides new information on the views and practices of lower secondary teachers and their headteachers and on how these vary across countries. England participated in TALIS for the first time in 2013 – the only part of the UK to do so. The survey included over 30 other countries or parts of countries. This national report for England is published simultaneously with the OECD’s first international report on TALIS 2013. It complements the OECD’s report by (i) providing a more focused comparison of England with other countries and (ii) analysing differences within England across school and teacher characteristics. International comparisons of England made in the national report include contrasts with a group of nine countries or parts of countries with high performing educational systems: Japan, Korea, Singapore, Finland, Estonia, The Netherlands, Flanders (Belgium), Alberta (Canada) and Australia. The report reveals that teacher views and practices often vary widely among these high performers. Analysis of differences within England is enhanced by using the answers to additional TALIS questions not asked in other countries and by linking the survey data to contextual information for each school such as its Ofsted rating and the percentage of pupils receiving free school meals. TALIS 2013 in England had response rates of 75% for schools and 83% for teachers, leading to samples of 154 headteachers and 2,496 teachers. These are good response rates by the standards of previous school and teacher surveys in England. The survey includes roughly equal numbers of local authority maintained schools and academies and a small number of independent schools. The modest sized sample of schools means that some findings (especially those concerning headteachers) that relate to the variation between schools need to be treated with caution. The results refer to the Spring of 2013 and should not be taken as necessarily giving a good indication of the situation in the Summer of 2014 when this report is published. The analysis in each chapter uncovers correlations but it does not establish causal relationships.