Eurydice: Comparison of teaching careers across Europe 2016/2017
Published:
Higher expectations in terms of student outcomes and greater pressures due to a more diverse student population combined with rapid technological innovation are having a profound impact on the teaching profession. The new report of Eurydice entitled Teaching Careers in Europe: Access, Progression and Support illustrates national differences in Europe on how to become a teacher, recruitment and employment conditions, as well as prospects for professional development and support. The report also analyses the roles and functioning of teacher appraisal.
The report focuses on schools at primary and general secondary level. It covers all the countries of the European Union as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Turkey.
Some of the main findings in the report deal with in-service teachers’ appraisal. The most common reason for appraisal/assessment is to provide teachers with feedback on their performance, eg in Belgium, Spain, Austria, the UK (Scotland) and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. In other countries appraisal judges performance and this can be linked to an evaluation for promotion, a reward or a salary increase. There are significant differences how countries use appraisal also for these reasons, for example, evaluating candidates for promotion is the only reason for appraisal in Croatia and Lithuania. In Italy in-service teachers’ appraisal is solely intended to identify which teachers are entitled to receive a reward for their performance.
In five countries (Sweden, the UK, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Bosnia and Herzegovina) teachers’ appraisal enables salary progression and provides feedback. In Poland, Bulgaria and Romania both rewards and promotion are possible on top of feedback. These rewards are usually given to teachers considered to be performing in an outstanding way but who have not applied for a promotion.