As education systems and schools around the world are being challenged in unprecedented ways, teachers are playing a central role in both supporting young people to navigate these difficult times and prepare them for the world ahead. But the true complexity of teaching is rarely seen and still little understood. What do we really mean by impactful, high-quality teaching? How does it actually drive learning and growth? What does all it mean in the context of COVID-19? Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director of Education and Skills, discusses these issues and presents the findings of the Global Teaching InSights report, which looks at what practices teachers use to manage the classroom, provide social-emotional support, and deliver quality instruction. This new international study is unique in the type of evidence collected, using classroom videos from over 700 teachers across eight different countries and economies to understand the nuances of teaching, along with teaching materials, teachers’ and students’ views, and students tests in a pre-post design, all aimed at providing as detailed and rich a picture of teaching as possible.

1. GLOBAL TEACHING INSIGHTS
A VIDEO STUDY OF TEACHING
November 16, 2020
Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills

2. Classrooms are extraordinary spaces

3. Global Teaching InSights: A Video Study of Teaching
700 teachers
17 500 students
Across eight
countries/economies:
B-M-V (Chile), Colombia,
England (UK), Germany*,
K-S-T (Japan), Madrid
(Spain), Mexico, Shanghai
(China)
A collaborative effort
between participating
countries, the OECD
Secretariat and an
International Consortium
(RAND, ETS, DIPF)

4. B-M-V
(Chile)​
Colombia​
England
(UK)
Germany​
*
K-S-T
(Japan)​
Madrid
(Spain)
Mexico
Shanghai
(China)
Sample size
Number of teachers​ 98​ 83​ 85​ 50​ 89​ 59​ 103​ 85​
Number of students 2 344 2 143 1 862 1 042 2 426 1 176 2 529 2 579
Number of schools​ 98​ 83​ 78​ 38 73​ 55​ 103​ 85​
Deviations
Sample non-representative​ X​ X​ X X​
Sampling in selected regions only X
Sometimes recruited target and replacement
schools simultaneously​
X​ X​
Recruited teachers across two school years​ X​ X​ X​
Sometimes recruited more than one teacher per
school​
X​ X​ X​ X​
Additional sample schools required​ X​
Did not use the list of schools from TALIS 2018​ X​ X​ X​
Did not follow the teacher random sampling plan​ X​ X​ X​ X​
Sample size and deviations
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database

5. A digital platform to watch and discuss
teaching at a global scale
www.globalteachinginsights.org
Survey to
compare
teaching to
the TALIS
Survey and
its 48
countries
Videos of
teaching
organised
by practice
Open
crowdsourcing
ideas and
innovations
from the
teachers
around the
world

6. The rich diversity of teaching captured in authentic
and immersive video examples

7. Global Teaching InSights: A Video Study of Teaching
Classroom
Processes
Institutional
Context
Teacher
Background
Student
Background
PreTest
Questionnaires
PostTest
Questionnaires
Artifacts
Video
Student
Outcomes
(cognitive and
non-cognitive)

8. Measuring teaching through observation and teaching materials
Example of rating for teaching materials
Rated low because students are only asked to apply a standard
routine; they are not asked how or why the method works, or why it is
appropriate.
Rated high because students are asked to describe a procedure they
used (ie how to represent the area of the field), and to provide the
justification for why procedures are effective in a given solution.
1 2 3 4
There is no
student
thinking
present.
There is a small
amount of
student thinking
present.
Questions,
prompts, and
tasks result in
perfunctory
student
contributions
that only concern
answers,
procedures, or
the steps
necessary for
solving a
problem.
There is a
moderate
amount of
student thinking
elicited.
Questions,
prompts, and
tasks result in
detailed
student
contributions
concerning
answers,
procedures, and
the steps
necessary for
solving a
problem.
There is a lot of
student thinking
present.
Questions,
prompts, and tasks
result in a mixture
of student
contributions
concerning
answers,
procedures, the
steps necessary for
solving a problem,
ideas, and
concepts.
Contributions may
be detailed or
perfunctory.
Example of rating for observation
Component: Eliciting student thinking
Questions, prompts, and tasks elicit detailed student
responses (written or oral).
Asking for explanations measures the extent to which students are
asked to explain or justify their thinking about mathematical
procedures and concepts

9. • Classroom management
– Routines, disruptions, monitoring, activity structures
• Social-emotional support
– Encouragement and warmth, respect, persistence.
• Instruction
– Classroom talk: questioning, explanations
– Quality of Subject Matter: connections, generalising
– Cognitive Engagement: multiple ways of reasoning
– Assessment: feedback, aligning instruction
Teaching was unpacked into three domains

10. The quality of teaching varies by domain of practice
1
2
3
4
B-M-V (Chile)
Colombia
England (UK)
K-S-T (Japan)
Germany*
Madrid (Spain)
Mexico
Shanghai (China)
Classroom Management
Social-Emotional Support
Instruction
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database

11. Classroom management
Routines, disruptions, monitoring, activity structures

12. Classrooms are well-managed and organised
Distribution of classrooms, by the mean teaching domain score
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.15 and 5.A.16
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
B-M-V (Chile)
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Colombia
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
England (UK)
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Germany*
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
K-S-T (Japan)
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Madrid (Spain)
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Mexico
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Shanghai (China)
CM SE IN
Classroom management
Social-Emotional Instruction

13. Frontal teaching prevails in nearly all classrooms
Mean proportion of the lesson segments using the following activity structures
0
20
40
60
80
100
Shanghai (China) Madrid (Spain) K-S-T (Japan) England (UK) Colombia B-M-V (Chile) Mexico Germany*
%
Individual Whole Group Small Group Pairs
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 3.A.6

14. Teachers effectively managed the class
Mean classroom scores for routines, monitoring and disruptions
1
2
3
4
England (UK) K-S-T (Japan) Germany* Madrid (Spain) Colombia Mexico Shanghai (China) B-M-V (Chile)
Score
Routines Monitoring Disruptions
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 3.A.1

15. Little time was spent on non-mathematics tasks
Percentage of first, middle and last lesson segments that devoted more than 30 seconds to
non-mathematics tasks
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 3.A.6
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
K-S-T (Japan) Mexico Colombia B-M-V (Chile) Germany* Shanghai (China) England (UK) Madrid (Spain)
%
First Segment Middle Segments Last Segment

16. Social-emotional support
Respect, encouragement and warmth,
and persistence

17. Teachers provide some social-emotional support
Distribution of classrooms, by the mean teaching domain score
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.15 and 5.A.16
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
B-M-V (Chile)
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Colombia
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
England (UK)
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Germany*
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
K-S-T (Japan)
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Madrid (Spain)
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Mexico
CM SE IN
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
1 2 3 4
Shanghai (China)
CM SE IN
Social-Emotional
Classroom management
Instruction

18. Classrooms interactions were highly respectful
Percentage of classrooms by mean respect score
0
20
40
60
80
100
Madrid (Spain)
(3.75)
K-S-T (Japan)
(3.68)
England (UK)
(3.56)
Colombia
(3.44)
Germany*
(3.42)
B-M-V (Chile)
(3.34)
Mexico
(3.30)
Shanghai
(China)
(3.12)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.5 Score between 3.5 and 4.0
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 4.A.1 and 4.A.2
Mean
Rarely Frequently

19. Classrooms were neither warm nor cold environments
Percentage of classrooms by mean encouragement and warmth score
0
20
40
60
80
100
Germany*
(2.84)
K-S-T (Japan)
(2.84)
Madrid (Spain)
(2.72)
England (UK)
(2.71)
Mexico
(2.31)
B-M-V (Chile)
(2.27)
Colombia
(2.15)
Shanghai
(China)
(2.13)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.5 Score between 3.5 and 4.0
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 4.A.1 and 4.A.2
Mean
No evidence Frequently

20. Teachers vary in addressing students’ struggles
Percentage of classrooms by mean persistence score, after removing segments for which
there was no opportunity to demonstrate persistence
0
20
40
60
80
100
Germany*
(1.91)
Mexico
(1.90)
B-M-V (Chile)
(1.70)
England (UK)
(1.46)
Colombia
(1.46)
K-S-T (Japan)
(1.45)
Shanghai
(China)
(1.35)
Madrid (Spain)
(1.32)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Scores between 2.5 and 3.0
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 4.A.5 and 4.A.6
Mean
Ignored Addressed in depth

21. Teachers and students had similar views
Country/economy means of social-emotional support indices
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
Score
Teacher perception of Teacher support for learning Student perception of Teacher support for learning
Teacher perception of Teacher-student relationship Student perception of Teacher-student relationship
B-M-V (Chile) Colombia Germany*England (UK)Madrid (Spain)MexicoShanghai (China)K-S-T (Japan)
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database

22. Classroom talk
Questioning
Explanations
Cognitive Engagement
Multiple approaches
Metacognition
Responsiveness
Feedback
Aligning instruction
Quality of Subject Matter
Connections
Patterns and generalisations
Instruction

23. Raising the quality of instruction is a challenge
Distribution of classrooms, by the mean instruction sub-domain scores
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
B-M-V (Chile)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Colombia
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
England (UK)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Germany*
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
K-S-T (Japan)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Madrid (Spain)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Mexico
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Shanghai (China)
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.3 and 5.A.4
Classroom discourseSubject matterCognitive engagement
Response to student thinking

24. Learning activities were clearer and more explicit
than learning goals
Percentage of classrooms observed by mean score
0
20
40
60
80
100
Shanghai
(China)
(2.68)
B-M-V (Chile)
(2.63)
Mexico
(2.39)
England (UK)
(2.30)
K-S-T (Japan)
(2.21)
Germany*
(2.21)
Colombia
(2.19)
Madrid (Spain)
(1.96)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.0
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.5 and 5.A.6
Mean
No goals or activities Activities Learning goals

25. Students had many opportunities to practice…
Percentage of classrooms that had a mean highest repetitive practice score
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.12 and 5.A.13
0
20
40
60
80
100
England (UK)
(2.96)
Shanghai
(China)
(2.69)
B-M-V (Chile)
(2.59)
Germany*
(2.45)
Madrid (Spain)
(2.41)
Mexico
(2.25)
K-S-T (Japan)
(2.05)
Colombia
(1.96)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.0
None At least 4 minutes
Mean

26. ..but occasionally engaged in cognitively demanding work
Percentage of classrooms observed by mean cognitive engagement score
0
20
40
60
80
100
K-S-T (Japan)
(2.52)
England (UK)
(1.96)
Germany*
(1.93)
Mexico
(1.83)
Madrid (Spain)
(1.63)
Shanghai
(China)
(1.63)
Colombia
(1.50)
B-M-V (Chile)
(1.36)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.5 Score between 3.5 and 4.0
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.8 and 5.A.9
Rarely Frequently
Mean

27. Connections were not common and often lacked depth
Percentage of classrooms by mean explicit connections score
0
20
40
60
80
100
England (UK)
(1.93)
K-S-T (Japan)
(1.91)
Germany*
(1.77)
Mexico
(1.76)
Madrid (Spain)
(1.72)
Colombia
(1.57)
B-M-V (Chile)
(1.54)
Shanghai
(China)
(1.52)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.5 Score between 3.5 and 4.0
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.8 and 5.A.9
None Two or more
Mean

28. Few opportunities to notice patterns or make generalisations
Percentage of classrooms observed by mean patterns and generalisations score
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.8 and 5.A.9
0
20
40
60
80
100
Shanghai
(China)
(2.41)
England (UK)
(1.59)
K-S-T (Japan)
(1.49)
Madrid (Spain)
(1.34)
Mexico
(1.29)
Germany*
(1.25)
Colombia
(1.24)
B-M-V (Chile)
(1.18)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.5 Score between 3.5 and 4.0
None Deep and explicit
Mean

29. Students were rarely asked deep questions
Percentage of classrooms by mean questioning score
0
20
40
60
80
100
Germany*
(2.64)
K-S-T (Japan)
(2.62)
England (UK)
(2.51)
Shanghai
(China)
(2.24)
B-M-V (Chile)
(2.19)
Mexico
(2.19)
Madrid (Spain)
(2.16)
Colombia
(1.73)
% Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.5 Score between 3.5 and 4.0
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Tables 5.A.8 and 5.A.9
Superficial Deep
Mean

30. Teachers sometimes used students’ thinking instructionally
Percentage of classrooms by mean alignment score
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Annex 5A
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
England (UK)
(3.25)
Germany* (3.08) K-S-T (Japan)
(2.95)
Shanghai
(China) (2.78)
B-M-V (Chile)
(2.72)
Madrid (Spain)
(2.67)
Mexico (2.64) Colombia (2.38)
Score between 1.0 and 1.5 Score between 1.5 and 2.5 Score between 2.5 and 3.5 Score between 3.5 and 4.0
None
Mean
Frequently

31. 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
B-M-V (Chile) Colombia England (UK) Germany* K-S-T (Japan) Madrid (Spain) Mexico Shanghai
(China)
No Technology Used Communication Only
Communication + Limited Conceptual Understanding Communication + Conceptual Understanding
Little or no use of technology to enhance learning
Percentage of classrooms with highest rating of use of technology for each purpose
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database, Table 5.1
%

32. Different ways of teaching the same topic

33. Opportunities to learn algebraic procedures vary
Proportion of teaching material sets that included the respective method
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database
Subtopic Less than 20% 20 - 40% More than 40%
Finding roots
B-M-V (Chile)
Colombia
K-S-T (Japan)
Madrid (Spain)
Mexico
Shanghai (China)
England (UK)
Germany*
Completing the square
B-M-V (Chile)
Colombia
Madrid (Spain)
Mexico
England (UK)
Germany*
K-S-T (Japan)
Shanghai (China)
Factorising Mexico
B-M-V (Chile)
Germany*
Madrid (Spain)
Colombia
England (UK)
K-S-T (Japan)
Shanghai (China)
Quadratic formula
Colombia
England (UK)
K-S-T (Japan)
Shanghai (China)
B-M-V (Chile)
Germany
Madrid (Spain)
Mexico
More
difficult
Easier

34. Ways of fostering deeper understanding also varied
Proportion of teaching material sets that included any of the respective method
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
B-M-V
(Chile)
Colombia England
(UK)
Germany* K-S-T
(Japan)
Madrid
(Spain)
Mexico Shanghai
(China)
Algebraic Procedures Applications Functions Reasoning

35. Higher quality practices are related to higher achievement
Regression estimates for a one-point increase the respective domain scores,
before adjusting for student and classroom baseline characteristics
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
K-S-T (Japan) England (UK) B-M-V (Chile) Germany* Madrid (Spain) Mexico Shanghai
(China)
Colombia
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
Shanghai
(China)
England (UK) Mexico B-M-V (Chile) Colombia Madrid (Spain) K-S-T (Japan) Germany*
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
B-M-V (Chile) Shanghai
(China)
K-S-T (Japan) England (UK) Colombia Madrid (Spain) Mexico Germany*Source: OECD, Global
Teaching InSights Database
Classroom
management
Social-
Emotional
Support
Instruction

36. Teaching was related to students’ self-efficacy
Regression estimates for a one-point increase the respective domain scores,
adjusting for student and classroom baseline characteristics
-0.5
0
0.5
1
Shanghai
(China)
Madrid
(Spain)
England (UK) Mexico B-M-V (Chile) Colombia Germany* K-S-T (Japan)
-0.5
0
0.5
1
Shanghai
(China)
Madrid
(Spain)
Mexico Colombia Germany* England (UK) B-M-V (Chile) K-S-T (Japan)
-0.5
0
0.5
1
Shanghai
(China)
Mexico Colombia B-M-V (Chile) England (UK) K-S-T (Japan) Madrid
(Spain)
Germany*
Source: OECD, Global Teaching InSights Database
Classroom
management
Social-
Emotional
Support
Instruction

37. A digital platform to watch and discuss
teaching at a global scale
www.globalteachinginsights.org
Survey to
compare
teaching to
the TALIS
Survey and
its 48
countries
Videos of
teaching
organised
by practice
Open
crowdsourcing
ideas and
innovations
from the
teachers
around the
world

38. Search the
videos by key
tags
Beyond just watching, empowering a global dialogue
Choose your
language
Comment on
specific
timestamps of the
video and dialogue
with other
professionals
Look at the
teaching
materials of
this
classroom
Get
viewing
hints for
each video

39. A tool for teachers to support the peer-observation

40. Covid-19 Special focus:
Crowdsourcing innovations in the classroom
 What innovations in your teaching
are you most proud of?
 What new forms of collaboration with
your peers have been most helpful?
 What have you learnt and what will
your teaching look like in the future?
Submit your 2 minute video at
globalteachinginsights.org
An initiative led by:

41. Learn more at
www.globalteachinginsights.org