The objective of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) in 2018 was to obtain, in each participating country and economy, a representative sample of teachers for each ISCED level in which the country and economy participated. Moreover, a representative sample of teachers teaching students of the appropriate age in schools selected for the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018 was required for each country and economy that opted to participate in the TALIS-PISA link. TALIS 2018 identified policy issues that encompass the classroom, teachers, schools and school management, so the coverage of TALIS 2018 extends to all teachers of each concerned ISCED level and to the principals of the schools where they teach. The international sampling plan prepared for TALIS 2018 used a stratified two-stage probability sampling design. This means that teachers (second stage units, or secondary sampling units) were to be randomly selected from the list of in-scope teachers in each of the randomly selected schools (first stage units, or primary sampling units). A more detailed description of the survey design and its implementation can be found in the TALIS 2018 Technical Report (OECD, 2019[1]).
A teacher of ISCED level 1, 2 or 3 is one who, as part of his or her regular duties in their school, provides instruction in programmes at that ISCED level. Teachers who teach a mixture of programmes at different ISCED levels in the target school are included in the TALIS universe. There is no minimum cut-off for how much teaching these teachers need to be engaged in at any of the three ISCED levels.
The international target population of TALIS 2018 restricts the survey to those teachers who teach regular classes in ordinary schools and to the principals of those schools. Teachers teaching to adults and teachers working in schools exclusively devoted to children with special needs are not part of the international target population and are deemed out of scope. Unlike in TALIS 2008, however, teachers working with special needs students in a regular school setting were considered in scope in TALIS 2013 and 2018. When a school is made up exclusively of these teachers, the school itself is said to be out of scope. Teacher aides, pedagogical support staff (e.g. guidance counsellors and librarians) and health and social support staff (e.g. doctors, nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists, occupational therapists and social workers) were not considered to be teachers and, thus, not part of the TALIS international target population.
For national reasons, participating countries could choose to restrict the coverage of their national implementation of TALIS 2018 to parts of the country. For example, a province or state experiencing civil unrest or in an area struck by a natural disaster could be removed from the international target population to create a national target population that does not include these provinces or states. Participating countries were invited to keep these exclusions to a minimum by keeping the national survey population to at least 95% of the teachers.
TALIS 2018 recognised that attempting to survey teachers in very small schools can be inefficient and difficult. For each ISCED level, surveying teachers in schools with no more than three teachers at a specific ISCED level and those teaching in schools located in geographically remote areas could be a costly, time-consuming and statistically inefficient exercise. Therefore, participating countries were allowed to exclude those teachers for TALIS 2018 data collection, thus creating a national survey population different from the national target population. The national project manager (NPM) for each country was required to document the reasons for exclusion, the size, the location, the clientele, etc., of each excluded school. This documentation was required for each ISCED level in which a country participated. The school exclusions for the TALIS-PISA link were the same as those used in PISA 2018.
Within a selected in-scope school, the following categories of teachers were excluded from the sample:
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teachers teaching in schools exclusively serving special needs students
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teachers who also act as school principals: no teacher data collected, but school principal data collected
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substitute, emergency or occasional teachers
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teachers on long-term leave
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teachers teaching exclusively to adults
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teachers who had taken part in the TALIS 2018 field trial.