Art teachers in a comparative perspectivePreliminary results fromthe Talis 2013 Database

Dr . Henk Vinkenhvinken@gmail.com

Dr . Teunis IJdensteunisijdens@lkca.nl

TalisThe OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey

• Surveys teachers and principals• In primary and lower secondary education (compulsory education)• “Who they are, where they teach and how they feel about their work”• Strong emphasis on professional development activities, including informal learning• 32 countries/regions in Database 2013• N cases varies from 14291 (Brazil) to 1773 (Alberta)

http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/new-insights-from-talis-2013-9789264226319-en.htm

Talis 2013Some results using the IEA IDB Analyzer

• First descriptives @ item level(Analyzer does not allow making constructs)• Selected 10 ‘similar’ countries • Comparing teachers in art subjects vs other teachers • In lower secondary education• Main issues:

– Personal and work characteristics (Who are they?)– Prepared for the job? (Need for professionalization?)– Professional development activities (What do they do?)

Data: http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=talis_2013%20IEA IDB Analyzer: http://www.iea.nl/eula.html

International Association for the

Evaluation of Educational

Achievement

Who are they?

Countries % TeachingArts subjects

% Female

Average age Working >90% fulltime hourse

Australia 16 67 (59) 41 78 (84)

Denmark 15 64 45 89Finland 17 75 43 92France 11 69 42 82Netherlands 10 78 (55) 43 20 (43)

Norway 22 62 45 80

Sweden 19 65 48 75

USA 16 63 43 93England (UK) 14 73 (63) 39 83Flanders (B) 11 67 39 73

Mean 15 68 (63) 43 76 (81)

Red if <5%-points below mean, green if >5%-points above(between brackets all other teachers if <>5%-points difference from arts teachers)

Who they are, summarized

• About 15% teachers in lower 2nd education teach arts subjects(less so in NL, more so in Norway)

• About 2/3 of (art)teachers is female(more so in NL)(in Australia, UK and NL more than other teachers are)

• Average age of (art) teachers is 43 years(In Sweden art teachers are older: 48 years on average)

• Large shares of (art) teachers work almost fulltime(far less so in NL, more so in Denmark, Finland, France, USA, UK)(In Australia and NL less than other teachers do)

Feel well trained? Preparation1

Countries Content of the subject(s) I teach

Pedagogy of the subject(s) I teach

Classroom practice in subject(s) I teach

Australia 63 63 73

Denmark 58 61 52Finland 74 74 68

France 84 67 75Netherlands 79 (85) 80 (87) 83Norway 52 53 51Sweden 79 72 71

USA 84 (78) 78 77England (UK) 70 71 (76) 78Flanders (B) 74 74 (80) 72

Mean 72 69 70

Were the following elements included in your formal education or training:% yes

Prepartion1, summarized

• Majority has formal training in content of teaching arts(less so in Australia, Denmark, Norway, more so in France, NL, USA)(in NL less so for arts than other subject teacher, in USA more for arts teachers)

• Majority has formal training in pedagogy of teaching arts(less so in Australia, Denmark, Norway, more so in Finland, NL, USA)(in NL less so for arts teachers, in UK and Flanders more so)

• Majority has formal training in classroom practice of teaching arts(less so in Denmark, Norway, more so in France, NL, USA, UK)(no differences between arts and other subject teachers)

Feel prepared? Preparation2

Countries Content of the subject(s) I teach

Pedagogy of the subject(s) I teach

Classroom practice in subject(s) I teach

Australia 64 54 62Denmark 51 42 (34) 52 (45)

Finland 26 15 22

France 37 (44) 11 12Netherlands 51 (45) 32 40 (34)

Norway 36 25 32Sweden 70 (64) 47 58USA 80 (72) 60 (54) 64England (UK) 65 50 60Flanders (B) 57 36 40

Mean 54 37 44

In your teaching, to what extent do you feel prepared for the elements below:% yes

Prepartion2, summarized

• Small majority feels prepared in content of teaching arts(less so in Finland, France, Norway; more in Australia, Sweden, USA, UK)(in France arts teachers feel less prepared; in NL, Sweden , USA more than other teachers)

• 1/3 feels prepared in pedagogy of teaching arts(less so in Finland, France, NL, Norway; more in Australia, Denmark, Sweden, USA, UK)(in Denmark and USA arts teacher feel more prepared than other teachers)

• 4/10 feels prepared in classroom practice of teaching arts(less so in Norway, more so in Australia, Denmark, France, Sweden, USA, UK)(In Denmark and NL arts teachers feel more prepared than other subject teachers)

Professional development activities (selection: 4/9 activities)Countries Courses/

workshopsIn-service

trainingPD Network of

teachersMentoring/peer

observation

Australia 84 27 56 (51) 45Denmark 71 7 40 20Finland 61 12 21 6France 55 4 21 18 (13)

Netherlands 72 (78) 27 34 32Norway 64 4 36 31

Sweden 52 (58) 7 47 (42) 19USA 84 19 54 (47) 31

England (UK) 77 22 34 53Flanders (B) 79 12 33 (23) 12

Mean 70 14 38 27

During the laast 12 months, did you particpate in any of the following professional development activities: % yes

Professional development, summarized

• Majority participates in courses/workshops(less so in Finland, France, Norway, Sweden, more so in Australia, USA, UK, Flanders)(In NL arts teachers participate less, in Sweden more than other subject teachers)

• 1/8 participates in in-service training(less so in Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden, more so in Australia, NL, USA, UK)(no differences between arts and other subject teachers)

• 4/10 participates in PD Network of teachers(less so in Finland, France; more so in Australia, Sweden, USA)(In Australia, Sweden, USA and Flanders art teachers participate more than colleagues teaching other subjects)

• 3/10 particpates in mentoring/peer observation(less so in Denamrk, Finland, France, Sweden, Flanders, more so in Australia, NL, UK) (In France art teacher particpate more than other teachers do)

Overall summary: arts teachers…

Countries Feel well-trained Feel well-prepared

Participate in formal PD activities

Participate in informal PD activities

Australia -- +++ ++ ++Denmark --- ++ - -Finland + -- - --France ++ --+ -- --Netherlands ++ - + +Norway -- --- -- +-Sweden +++ -- +USA +++ +++ ++ +England (UK) + +++ ++ +Flanders (B) + + -

Red if <5%-points below mean, green if >5%-points above

Conclusive remarks

• Talis is a rich dataset• Making key comparisons possible• Delivering basic questions for MONEAS project• • Few differences arts teachers and teachers in other subjects• Lots of country differences: (arts) teachers are not a global unified group• In itself a reason to do international comparisons among (arts) teachers

• Future analyses: linking items, scales and levels (country, classroom ,teacher)• Focus on explaining international variations