TALIS 2024 in the Western Balkans

School principals in Albania do not report widespread teacher shortages, including for teachers with competence in supporting students with special education needs (SEN) or from diverse cultural or linguistic backgrounds. Nevertheless, workforce management is becoming more complex due to a rapidly declining student population, a very high share of teachers on permanent and full-time contracts and relatively few that report intending to leave the profession in the next five years.

Teachers’ motivation, job satisfaction and perceived professional value are very high in Albania. However, experienced teachers are more likely than novices to report that work negatively impacts their well-being. They cite marking and being held responsible for student achievement as key stressors, suggesting a continued emphasis on high-stakes assessment. 

Principals in Albania report low levels of student diversity compared to neighbouring systems, with only 5% indicating that more than 10% of students have SEN. This may be related to differences in identification, reporting or integration despite ongoing inclusive education reforms. Novice teachers are more likely than their experienced colleagues to teach learners with diverse needs and behavioural challenges and less likely to report that their initial teacher education prepared them for teaching in such contexts. 

Large shares of teachers in Albania report frequently adapting instruction to the needs of their learners and using various assessment practices. Many also report using artificial intelligence (AI) for these purposes. Nevertheless, many students in Albania underperform in international assessments suggesting that adaptation and formative assessment are not always effective at identifying and addressing gaps in learning. 

In Albania, three-quarters of teachers report that they took part in induction activities at their current school and this is positively associated with reported fulfilment of lesson aims. Mentoring programmes are also widely available but very few teachers participate: only 8% of teachers report having an assigned mentor.

Nearly all teachers in Albania report having engaged in at least one professional development activity in the 12 months prior to the TALIS 2024 survey, and 96% report that this impacted their teaching. They report particularly high participation in professional development related to the use of digital technologies and their highest reported professional learning need is using AI for teaching.

All teachers work in schools whose principals report that they are formally appraised at least once a year and over three-quarters report that the feedback they receive supports positive changes across a range of instructional practices.