Teacher support for student learning

6. Conclusions

This policy paper highlights specific school contexts, teacher practices, and student characteristics associated with increased teacher support for students. Despite its decline in many education systems over the past decade, teacher support remains a vital component of effective teaching and learning, as evidenced by its associations with student performance, well-being and engagement with learning.

Reinforcing teacher support requires attention to multiple aspects of the educational system. Positive student-teacher relationships, a well-maintained classroom disciplinary climate, and student persistence are all linked to higher levels of teacher support. Adequate time for professional tasks, a balanced work-life environment, and job satisfaction are also associated with improved classroom interactions and support. Additionally, embedding approaches to individualised learning within teacher education and professional development opportunities contributes to enabling teachers to better address the diverse needs of their students.

By creating conditions that foster supportive teacher practices, education systems can ensure that teachers are better equipped to help all students thrive academically and emotionally.

From data to policy insights

Policymakers and educators aiming to enhance teacher support for student learning may want to prioritise:

1. Promoting positive student-teacher relationships: Foster mutual respect and communication to create a nurturing learning environment. While most teachers believe that students’ well-being is important (OECD, 2019[16]), their sense of responsibility for it might vary within and across education systems. Additionally, aspects such as resource availability and access to professional development opportunities can make it difficult for teachers to balance supporting both students’ well-being and academic learning. Tackling these challenges is crucial for enabling comprehensive teacher support practices.

2. Establishing constructive disciplinary climates: Implement fair rules and disciplinary practices that encourage positive behaviour and focus, optimising effective use of learning time.

3. Using adaptive teaching strategies in classroom settings: Provide teachers with practical tools, resources and opportunities to share best practices, encouraging them to integrate these methods into their teaching routines to address diverse student needs.

4. Fostering student motivation for learning and engagement with school: Identify disengaged students proactively and address their needs through targeted interventions, such as mentoring or tutoring, or offer extracurricular activities to strengthen their connection to the school community.

5. Enhancing teacher well-being: Focus on improving working conditions by providing sufficient time for tasks and promoting work-life balance. Policies aimed at increasing teacher satisfaction should prioritise fostering career motivation, ensuring access to high-quality materials and human resources at school, and encouraging collaboration and self-efficacy among educators (Mostafa and Pál, 2018[17]).

6. Teacher initial education and professional development: Embed adaptive teaching strategies and individualised learning approaches into teacher education programmes and continuous professional development. Supporting teachers in these ways not only enhances their skills but also empowers them to meet the diverse needs of students effectively (Darling-Hammond, Hyler and Gardner, 2017[18]).

7. Addressing resource constraints: Mitigate the impact of staff shortages by ensuring schools are adequately resourced to support teachers in their roles. Analysis in this report reveals that school principals’ perceptions of changes in teacher availability are not well aligned with actual changes in teachers’ availability as measured by student-teacher ratios. Thus, a first step is to better understand what is driving school principals’ concerns about teacher shortages in order to address their concerns.

8. Monitoring teacher support and planning for students’ holistic development: Regularly assess the levels of teacher support, analyse the impact of social issues – such as poverty, mental health challenges or family instability – on students’ learning outcomes and well-being using tools such as surveys, academic performance data or peer learning, and tailor the support offered to effectively address student needs. Develop a comprehensive strategy to support students’ holistic growth that reflects a responsive and forward-thinking approach, ensuring immediate needs are met while laying the groundwork for sustainable improvement. This strategy includes:

a. Professional development: Enhance teachers’ training in areas such as classroom management, inclusivity and mental health, ensuring they are well-equipped to address emerging social challenges.

b. Support systems within schools: Strengthen support networks within schools by providing access to guidance counsellors and social workers, helping teachers manage additional responsibilities arising from social issues.

c. Collaborations beyond schools: Foster a collaborative approach to teaching, where teachers work alongside parents, communities and other professionals (e.g. social workers, psychologists) to support students’ holistic development. Establish a coherent knowledge-sharing system to ensure all stakeholders are aligned and information flows smoothly between them. This will help identify and support students at risk, preventing them from being overlooked or falling through the cracks.

d. Curriculum adaptation: Update the curriculum to reflect and address emerging social challenges, ensuring that students are not only academically prepared but also equipped with the skills to navigate a complex and diverse world.

While PISA data offer correlational insights into aspects associated with teacher support, they do not offer causal evidence for the mentioned interventions. Keeping this limitation in mind, this list of potential interventions can assist education policymakers and administrators in creating supportive learning environments where students thrive academically and emotionally, and where teachers are empowered to succeed.

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