Teachers for the 21st century: using evaluation to improve teaching

In some countries the concept – not to mention the use – of teacher appraisal sparks discussion whenever it is mentioned. According to what criteria? Who decides? And what should the results of teacher appraisals be used for? But education stakeholders are beginning to find some agreement in the idea that teacher appraisal can be a key lever for focusing more on teaching quality and continuous professional development for teachers, in keeping with the growing recognition that the quality of teaching affects student learning outcomes. Teacher appraisal also provides opportunities to incentivise, recognise and reward teaching competence and high performance, which, in turn, may help to address concerns about the attractiveness of teaching as a career choice and about the image and status of teachers, including teachers' feelings that their work is not sufficiently valued. The third International Summit on the Teaching Profession, hosted by the Netherlands, the OECD and Education International, brings together education ministers, union leaders and other teacher leaders from high-performing and rapidly improving education systems, as measured by the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), to discuss how teacher quality is defined and what standards are set and by whom; what systems are in place for teacher evaluation and how evaluations are conducted; and how teacher evaluation contributes to school improvement and teacher self-efficacy.