Attracting, Developing and Retaining Effective Teachers - Objectives and Methodology

Objectives

The overall purpose of the Activity is to provide policy makers with information and analysis to assist them in formulating and implementing teacher policies leading to quality teaching and learning at the school level. The Activity has several objectives:

• to synthesise research on issues related to policies concerned with attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining effective teachers;
• to identify innovative and successful policy initiatives and practices;
• to facilitate exchanges of lessons and experiences among countries; and
• to identify policy options.

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This document describes the objectives and organisation of the Activity. It comprises: (i) Purposes; (ii) Context; (iii) Analytical framework; (iv) Key issues and questions being addressed; (v) Methodology; (vi) Timeline; and (vii) Guidelines for preparing Country Background Reports.

Country Participation

 25 countries are participating in the Analytical Review strand. Nine countries are also participating in the Thematic Country Review strand.

Analytical Review

Australia; Austria; Belgium (Flemish community); Belgium (French community); Canada (Quebec); Chile; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Japan; Korea; Mexico; the Netherlands; Norway; the Slovak Republic; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; the United Kingdom; the United States.

Austria; Belgium (Flemish community); Belgium (French community); Germany; Hungary; Italy; Korea; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland.
Each country has appointed a National Coordinator to manage and facilitate the work.

The Activity will produce a range of outputs that will be disseminated through print and electronic means, and workshops and seminars.

• Country Background Reports produced by all participating countries according to a common framework;
• Country Notes prepared by external reviewers for the countries that have a thematic country review;
• Commissioned papers;
• Data analyses and proposals for future data developments;
• A final synthesis report that draws on the material produced by the Country Background Reports, the Country Notes, Commissioned Papers, data analyses and contributions from country experts.

The final synthesis report will be published in early 2005.

• By the end of 2001, the OECD Secretariat completed two background papers for launching the Activity ;
• In April 2002, countries agreed on the framework, scope and process for the Activity and identified the major issues for investigation (see Design and Implementation Plan for the Activity). The Activity was officially launched;
• The 1st workshop of participating countries was organised in Brussels on 27-28 May 2002. It was hosted by the Ministry of Education, Flemish Community;
• In August 2002, participating countries received a Data Request for completion;
• In September 2002, two papers were commissioned for the Activity;
• The 2nd workshop of participating countries was held on 25-26 November 2002, at OECD Headquarters in Paris;
• By February 2003, all completed Data Requests from countries were received;
• In April 2003, the first two commissioned papers were published;
• Country Background Reports by countries have progressively been published on the website;
• The 3rd workshop of participating countries was organised in Athens on 4-5 June 2003. It was hosted by the Education Research Centre of Greece;
• Review visits by experts to countries participating in the Thematic Review strand occurred from November 2002 to September 2003;
• The 4th workshop of participating countries was organised on 29-30 January 2004 at OECD Headquarters in Paris;
• The 5th workshop of participating countries was organised on 10-11 June 2004 in Bordeaux, France. It was hosted by the French Ministry of Education.
  

Updates

Update February 2003
Update December 2003 

• Review teams are preparing Country Notes based on their site visits. These are becoming progressively available on the Country Reviews page.
• The final synthesis report will be completed by late 2004 and published in early 2005. Dissemination activities will then be launched.