This section provides a final reflection on the value of taking space to think about the future of teaching; and the evolving nature of professionalism within the teaching profession.
Co‑constructing Visions for the Future of Teaching
Abstract
The New Professionalism and the Future of Teaching project started from a simple premise: teachers and policymakers need shared spaces to anticipate change, articulate collective purpose and shape coherent responses. There is a need to look beyond short-term fixes and imagine how teaching can evolve into a profession that is sustainable and meaningful both for those who teach and those who learn.
To provide such a space and support a constructive, evidence-based, and structured discussion on the future of teaching, the project developed a methodology and had the opportunity to apply it in Austria, Flanders (Belgium), Wales (UK) and Malta. These discussions revealed shared passions, points of pride and concrete ingredients for a strong and sustainable profession that are already present in many schools in each system – reminding us that the future is already here; it just isn’t spread evenly.
This future-oriented perspective matters because discussions about teaching are too often dominated by accounts of pressure and constraint. Yes, classrooms are getting more diverse. Yes, societal expectations of schools have expanded. And yes, teachers are navigating new forms of complexity, including mental health needs, digitalisation, and rapid social change. Creating space to think about what professionals and others would like to see for the future of teaching and drawing on evidence and ideas for next practice helps to turn this narrative around: All of these trends also mean that we find ourselves in a moment where schools around the world are undergoing remarkable positive transformations.
Increasingly, schools are becoming centres for community life, places where learning, care and belonging intersect (OECD, 2025[1]). Well-being and inclusion are gaining visibility alongside academic achievement (OECD, 2023[2]). Many education systems are beginning to treat social-emotional growth, mental health and equity not as secondary concerns but as integral to quality education (OECD, 2024[3]).
Technology, of course, is also opening new possibilities and bringing new challenges for teaching. Emerging evidence on generative AI suggests that improved task performance does not automatically translate into learning: when students offload cognitive work to general-purpose chatbots, gains often disappear once access is removed, which raises concerns about disengagement and “metacognitive laziness” (OECD, 2026[4]). When co-designed with educators and used with clear pedagogical intent however, generative AI can meaningfully support learning by opening new possibilities of how students engage with tasks and how teachers respond to their needs (OECD, 2023[5]; Linsenmayer, 2025[6]; OECD, 2026[4]).
New forms of professional collaboration – within and across schools, and between sectors – are emerging, creating opportunities for teachers to learn from one another and to innovate collectively (OECD, 2025[7]). And as curricula evolve towards critical thinking, creativity and democratic citizenship, education systems have an opportunity to prepare learners for futures that are more uncertain but also more open (Borhan, 2025[8]; Vincent-Lancrin et al., 2019[9]).
These changes point to a broader shift in what societies expect from education. Schools have never been only places of instruction; and now more than ever they are envisioned as drivers of social connection, innovation and resilience. This also means that the role of teachers is expanding. What systematic connections and supports do teachers need to help fulfil these expectations? Creating the space to explore this question with teachers and other professionals with a stake in education can surface many solutions and concrete steps.
This project encouraged participants to dream big and look far ahead without losing sight of what is within reach. It asked two questions: Where would we like to be? And how do we get there?
Where would we like to be?
Through the Future of Teaching studies, teachers and other education partners co-constructed preferred scenarios for the profession 10–20 years from now. Despite different systems and starting points, the visions that emerged were strikingly consistent. From the scenarios that participants created, we could identify three red threads that they wished for:
Career fulfilment. Teaching is seen as meaningful work, but still needs room to grow – both more room and new kinds of room. Participants imagined careers that are flexible across time, that recognise different strengths and identities, and that allow teachers to develop without leaving the classroom. This challenges a one-path-fits-all view of careers and calls for more diverse, personalised professional trajectories.
Teacher well-being. Well-being is foundational to a sustainable profession. This includes fair workload and pay, but also trust, professional autonomy, and working cultures where teachers feel respected, supported, and able to balance their personal and professional lives.
Innovation for the future. Participants called for the freedom to rethink practice – not innovation imposed from the outside, but innovation that grows from professional judgement and real needs in classrooms. This includes interdisciplinary work, shared inquiry across schools, new uses of technology and new roles for teachers in designing learning, supporting student well-being, and shaping their institutions.
These aspirations are rooted in teachers’ lived realities and reflect clear system risks. For example, across the OECD, on average 20% of teachers under 30 report an intention to leave the profession in the near term, with the highest shares in the Baltic countries (OECD, 2025[7]). If systems want to retain skilled professionals, the profession must be viable.
At the same time, these aspirations are also rooted in strength. Many of the futures described by participants already exist in parts of their systems. Some schools are already organised around shared leadership, structured collaboration, mentoring for new teachers, and strong relationships with families and communities.
This matters for policy. It means that the future of teaching is not an unknown ideal. It is partially observable; it can be named, described and worked towards – with the right support.
How do we get there?
A core contribution of this project is not only to describe aspirations for the future, but to offer a way of working towards them. The system studies bring together two elements: ideas (supported by Actions) for the Future of Teaching, concrete areas of change that systems can begin to act on; and Enablers of Change, the actors and relationships that make progress possible.
Figure 14.1 shows the key findings of the Future of Teaching studies, illustrating how ideas for the Future of Teaching, when supported by the Enablers of Change, can help education systems progress towards the three overarching Aspirations for the Future of Teaching.
Note: Material gathered as part as the OECD study on New Professionalism and the Future of Teaching.
What we can build on: Ideas and Actions for the Future of Teaching
What is already out there? Across the studies, participants identified practical entry points that can move systems toward their aspirations. Some examples from the system studies were:
Creating more flexible career pathways through dedicated Human Resources (HR) strategies. In Austria, a newly developed HR Strategy forms the basis for the strategic control of HR management by the Ministry of Education and the education directorates of the federal states. The HR Strategy serves as the guiding document for all departments responsible for implementation and aims to support and strengthen teachers throughout their careers to ensure the teaching profession remains attractive and sustainable.
Ensuring time and structure for professional collaboration. In Wales, school-to-school partnerships have strengthened teacher growth, improved well-being, and supported pupils and families (ESTYN, 2020[10]).
Strengthening links between schools and research. Leerpunt, an independent knowledge centre established by the Flemish government, encourages evidence-informed innovation in education by providing scientific research on classroom practice together with practical school examples (Leerpunt, 2025[11]). Leerpunt’s strategies are designed to ensure that all schools, regardless of prior engagement with innovation, have access to support, funding, and the opportunity to learn from successful practices.
Beyond the system studies, experts around the world shared their visions for teaching over the next 20 years. They, too, pointed to a profession in movement: One that is stepping away from rigid, industrial schooling models towards more relationship-centred, collaborative, and humane education. Experts imagined schools as small learning communities where every student is known; teachers with the time and trust to shape curricula and decisions; and systems that take well-being as seriously as achievement. They showed how new forms of professionalism are already emerging. Some ideas we gathered included:
Teachers as designers and co-creators of technology. In the Netherlands, the National Education Lab AI brings teachers, scientists, and developers together to co-create and co-implement new AI applications. The project is focused on bridging between the teachers' pedagogical and instruction practices and the functionally of AI. Scientific knowledge on learning and teaching are focal in this development, leading to evidence-based AI solutions. The idea of the project is to enhance the role of teachers, by facilitating teacher complementation and augmentation with AI (Radbound Universiteit, 2025[12]; Molenaar, 2024[13]).
Teachers leading their own professional development and participating in policy design. In Chile, Fundación Escuela Global was created and led by classroom teachers to break away from the isolation often experienced by educators. Through collective support, teachers themselves lead professional development efforts and actively participate in shaping educational policies. Traditionally, teachers in Chile have not been positioned as leaders in professional training or policy design (Escuela Global, 2025[14]).
Many of the directions shared by both study participants and external experts align with findings from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), and were reaffirmed in the 2024 survey: Collaborative professionalism, school climates built on trust and inclusion and distributed leadership are associated with higher teacher self-efficacy, stronger job satisfaction and an overall lower stated intention to leave (OECD, 2025[7]). In other words, the things that the people we exchanged with are asking for are indeed measurable conditions shaping retention and engagement. Teachers across the world tell us there is room for improvement in their current working lives: While most teachers love their job – 90% of teachers report being satisfied in their job and indicate enjoying the work at their school – many teachers still face heavy workloads, administrative pressures and a lack of time for collaboration and reflection (OECD, 2025[7]).
Who we need to bring on board: Enablers of Change
An important insight from the Future of Teaching project is that achieving the Aspirations for the Future of Teaching depends not only on what should change, but on who enables that change and how relationships are structured to support it. Across all three contexts, the scenarios highlighted a shared belief in the need for collective responsibility in shaping the future of the profession.
We refer to these relational and systemic conditions as the Enablers of Change. Identified through a thematic analysis of the preferred scenarios, the enablers represent the structures and partnerships that knit the system together; across schools, communities and policy levels.
Four enablers stand out: Policymakers, cross-sectoral partners, school communities and leadership each play a distinct yet interdependent role in supporting the future of teaching. The analysis of the preferred future scenarios revealed how they can align for bringing each of the aspirations to life. For instance, for innovation to take root, policymakers can create space for experimentation, trust schools as learning organisations, and support networks for shared inquiry. Cross-sector partners can bring new expertise, e.g., from technology and other real-world perspectives into teaching, keeping learning relevant and future-oriented. School communities can act as co-creators, they can tie innovation to local needs and relationships, while leaders anchor these efforts in a culture of collaboration and shared purpose.
Overall, the insights from the Future of Teaching study point to what is wished for, how to work towards it, and who can enable this change. Stepping back from the individual findings, a different image of teaching begins to come into focus – one that is no longer fully captured by the traditional model many education systems are designed around. What does that image look like? What kind of professionalism is required to carry the profession forward?
This synthesis report is the result of four years of exchange between teachers, experts and policymakers, supported by research, data collection and national studies. It set out to shed light on the evolving nature of professionalism and the changing narrative of what a “profession” means in education (Suarez and McGrath, 2022[15]). Often, the point of departure was the archetype of the “1950s doctor”: A professional who held full authority in deciding what was best for their patients – and who derived status and responsibility from that authority. While teachers, in some ways, share a monopoly over pathways to educational advancement, their role has never been defined in such absolute terms. Traditionally, professionalism in teaching was associated with individual expertise and classroom control. What emerges from this work, however, is a different picture, a different professional identity: Teacher professionalism today is increasingly collaborative rather than isolated, relational rather than technical, adaptive rather than fixed, and connected to wider social purposes.
Teacher Professional Identity (TPI) comprises teachers’ views, beliefs, attitudes and motivations about their role. TPI evolves for teachers during their professional lives and is shaped by their experiences and the context within which they work. The Future of Teaching studies placed a strong emphasis on TPI because it can support teachers’ sense of agency and help align “who I am” with “what I do” in daily practice, enabling teachers to respond to change with confidence and flexibility.
Across the Future of Teaching studies in Austria, Flanders and Wales, participants described professional identity as central to whether teaching feels sustainable and meaningful.
At the heart of these discussions was a shared desire to balance autonomy and collective professional culture. Teachers want room to exercise professional judgement and adapt their practice, while also belonging to strong professional communities built on trust, shared standards and mutual learning. Preferred futures describe teachers as curious, reflective and innovative professionals who learn continuously, exchange feedback with colleagues and draw on research to improve practice. Many also emphasised their role in generating knowledge, not only applying it, and in contributing to wider societal goals through education.
Teachers see themselves working within networks of colleagues, leaders, other professionals and communities. Mentoring was repeatedly highlighted as a core practice, not only for early career support but as a way of sustaining care and collaboration across the career. Schools were envisioned as places where professional and personal development are closely linked, and where roles can evolve over time.
Across both the system studies and expert contributions, teachers were also positioned as active shapers of their work and its context. This includes having a meaningful voice in school decision making, opportunities to shape and “craft” roles over the career, and recognition of teachers as designers of learning, leaders of professional learning and co-creators of policy and pedagogy. In digital contexts, this extends to confidence in professional judgement when using AI and involvement in shaping digital tools so that they support pedagogical intent rather than undermine it.
Participants were clear that teacher professional identity evolves and must be supported. Conditions that strengthen it include robust induction and mentoring, time and structures for collaboration, space to experiment, access to and contribution to a shared evidence base, diverse career pathways, connections with other professions and communities, and leadership that prioritises well-being, trust and professional growth.
Connective professionalism: Collaboration as the foundation of professionalism
Both within our research prior to the Future of Teaching studies and throughout them, collaboration consistently emerged as a defining feature of teacher professionalism. Teachers increasingly see themselves as members of professional ecosystems who learn from, and with, others (Nilsson Brodén, 2022[16]).
Teachers who work in schools that prioritise collaborative learning cultures report greater job satisfaction, innovation and efficacy (OECD, 2025[7]). Such collaboration also extends beyond school walls: Partnerships with cultural, health and social actors allow teachers to share responsibility for student well-being and to bring new perspectives into their practice. The project’s findings reaffirm that teachers’ capacity to collaborate is a defining marker of quality and a key mechanism for coping with the growing social demands placed on schools (McGrath, 2023[17]).
Relational professionalism: Teachers as leaders of change
Teaching is an inherently relational profession and it draws its authority from relationships, not hierarchy. The everyday legitimacy of the profession is built in classrooms, by building trust with students and families; in teachers’ rooms, by sharing knowledge with colleagues; and in communities, by demonstrating care and responsibility for students’ learning and well-being. This is a different kind of authority than the classical “expert monopoly”. Philosopher Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) was one of the first who identified that power need not be based on control and domination. Rather, real power is born out of intellectual and moral leadership, born out of trust and consent. This project set out with the assumption that teachers are at the forefront of change. They are the holders of the intellectual and moral leadership that is required to reach consent in making decisions about the future of their profession.
Relational professionalism is also collective. Teachers lead change most effectively when they are organised in professional networks and unions that enable social dialogue. The union perspective in this report is clear: The twin aims of “sound learning” and “the welfare of teachers” rise or fall together. Systems that enable teachers to lead changes in curriculum, assessment, workload policy and professional learning are likely to embed improvement more durably. Democratic professionalism follows from this stance. If schools aim to cultivate democratic values in students, should they not also be democratic workplaces with distributive leadership and real voice in decision making – both for teachers and students?
But the project equally recognises that teachers alone are not able to change the future of their profession. Societies will need to play their part and support teachers to make preferred futures a reality. Governments, NGOs, companies and other stakeholders will need to ask themselves what constructive and positive role they can play to help teachers in their work.
Adaptive professionalism: Continuing to anticipate and shape the future
Teaching today requires the capacity to anticipate, reflect and adapt as part of a constantly evolving ecosystem. Professionalism in this sense is not a fixed state but a continuous process of learning and renewal. Teachers who are given space to question established practices, experiment with new approaches and share what they learn with others to help education systems stay responsive to shifting social, technological and environmental realities.
And meaningful change happens when reflection and experimentation are structured and collective. This is no small feat, especially when so many want to be involved, and even more are affected by it. This report shows that educators, policymakers, researchers and communities can indeed come together to imagine and test desirable futures for teaching. While this report – and its vision on the future of teaching – is a snapshot both in time and in scope, its true legacy lies in the methodology developed in the Future of Teaching studies. It shows that structured, participatory futures thinking can bring people together to co-create actionable visions for education. As a reminder, two tools have proved to work well in that endeavour:
Ambition loops
To be able to value and encourage shared decision making towards the future of teaching, the project has developed the Ambition Loops tool. The tool is a strategic framework designed to help education stakeholders co-create preferred future scenarios for teaching by aligning goals across different sectors – schools, education systems and the broader community. It encourages continuous refinement of shared ambitions through dialogue and collaboration between educational stakeholders. The idea is that when different groups pursue interconnected goals, their efforts reinforce one another and create positive change.
Teacher personas
Teacher personas, meanwhile, gave these visions a human face. They reminded participants and policymakers alike that their teacher population is not a monolith, but a mosaic of individual experiences, motivations and challenges. Often this individual aspect can be overlooked when designing policies for the collective. Educational policymaking becomes especially complex when proposed reforms affect teachers directly, making it essential to recognise diverse attitudes to ensure effective, legitimate and sustainable policies. Illustrating this through evidence-informed, context-specific personas can support policy makers in incorporating diverse teacher needs and wishes.
Looking ahead
As education systems continue to evolve, the challenge will be to keep this future-oriented dialogue alive. Foresight methods such as the one presented in this report can help systems anticipate change rather than react to it. Participatory futures thinking can bring people together to co-create actionable visions for education, which are important reference points for policymaking.
But beyond their immediate outcomes, approaches like this one matter because they allow us to pause for a moment and listen to each other. Change feels faster, more complex and more unpredictable than ever. In times like these, we need space to sit down together to (re-)build optimism and ownership, and realise that in many ways, we might be more aligned than we think. The work presented here is one contribution to that shared conversation – and an invitation to continue it.
References
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