Around the world, researchers, policy-makers, parents and children all agree that teachers matter for student outcomes. However we are only beginning to understand what makes a difference in terms of quality teaching. By directly observing teaching in the classroom, the OECD Global Teaching InSights: A video study of teaching looked into classroom management, social-emotional support and instructional practices in the classroom, as well as students’ opportunities to learn the content specified in the curricula and how all of these aspects of teaching related to student learning and student non-cognitive outcomes.
The Study has a unique methodology. To obtain direct evidence from the classroom, about 700 teachers and 17 500 students from eight countries and economies were videotaped in two lessons from the unit of quadratic equations in secondary school Mathematics. The teaching materials were also collected, and both were coded following common and standardised protocols. Before and after the unit, teachers and students filled out questionnaires on their beliefs, practices and perspectives, and students also took tests to measure their learning gains.
The findings provide an overall picture of teaching quality observed across all participating countries/economies. Within a 1 (low) to 4 (high) observation score, teachers managed the classroom well (mean scores between 3.49 and 3.81), gave students moderate levels of social and emotional support (mean scores between 2.62 and 3.26), and provided them with reasonable instructional quality (mean scores between 1.74 and 2.24).