Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning

General objective

The Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning ITEL project is conceived as a future-oriented and innovation-focused contribution to OECD’s work on teachers and teaching. It focuses on the pedagogical knowledge base and competences of teachers and how they should be redefined to be in line with recent developments in understanding effective learning, as for example as hightlighted in publication: The Nature of Learning: Using Research to Inspire Practice.

The overall objective of this project is to provide a deeper understanding of and possibly an identification of the future pedagogical knowledge base of teachers, based on (1) the current state of the learning sciences, (2) a profound understanding of the future needs in knowledge and skills for the 21st century learner, worker and citizen, and (3) an analysis of the institutional environments in which learning will take (including technological resources) and the challenges facing teachers in these environments. The pedagogical knowledge base in turn is supposed to produce (4) a shared set of pedagogical values and beliefs in the profession, defining who is considered to belong to the professional ‘corps’, (5) a action-oriented translation of the knowledge base in terms of a repertoire of possible behavioural interventions in students’ learning, based on an understanding of ‘what works’, and (6) a set of social rules of conduct and conventions to function in schools, among colleagues, with parents and stakeholders and society at large.

Strands and activities

Strand 1. General research on teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and practices:

• Activity 1A: Synthesis of recent research literature on teachers’ pedagogical knowledge.
• Activity 1B: A TALIS 2008 thematic report on innovation and innovative teaching in schools.
• Activity 1.C: Critical review of national and international qualification and competency frameworks for teachers.
• Activity 1.D: Feasibility test for survey items on teachers’ pedagogical knowledge for potential inclusion in future TALIS rounds OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey- www.oecd.org/talis.

Strand 2. In-depth research on effective and innovative teaching and learning in specific subject fields:

• Activity 2.A: Innovative teaching approaches for effective science learning in first and second grade of primary school.
• Activity 2.B: An international research network project on teaching for effective math learning.
• Activity 2.C: Teaching civic values and democratic world-views
  
  

For more information contact:  ceri.contact@oecd.org