An often-cited educational utopia is Finland, but even there, a new study finds, only 58.6% of teachers said they felt properly appreciated.
The new study is from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and is entitled the “Teaching and Learning International Survey”. It questioned more than 100,000 lower secondary school teachers and about 6,500 head teachers from 34 countries. This is the second such survey, with the last coming in 2008.
Despite the low numbers in terms of teachers feeling properly appreciated, which also included only 4.9% of teachers in France saying that society valued their work and 5% in Sweden, other figures were more encouraging.
Overall job satisfaction was high with 9 out of 10 teachers positive about their work and 8 out of 10 saying they would choose teaching again, if starting anew.
Another area that the survey addressed was that of where experienced teachers are likely to teach. Results showed that teachers with at least 5 years of teaching experience tend not to be in economically challenged schools.
This international survey, which did include the US, is consistent with similar surveys conducted just in the United States in that figures show teachers feel underappreciated. In the U.S., the figure is about a third feeling properly appreciated. The overall concern with these figures is that it will be a disincentive for highly qualified prospective teachers to join the teaching force.
For more information, please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/world/europe/many-teachers-feel-undervalued-survey-finds.html
and
http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/talis-2013-results.htm
