Teacher Appraisal and Feedback: The Practical Argumentation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, and the European Commission

• In Event: 58.018 - Market-Based Teacher Accountability Policies and Practices: Global Perspectives and Critiques

Abstract

Purpose

The objective of this paper is to provide an explanatory critique of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank, and the European Commission with regard to their policy recommendations concerning teacher appraisal and feedback.

Perspectives

The paper combines the distinctive research agendas of historical institutionalism and critical cultural political economy of education. Together, these are harnessed to identify, explain and discuss the practical reasoning of the political discourses adopted in the OECD, the European Commission and the World Bank with regard to teacher appraisal and feedback.

Data and Methods

The analysis of the three organizations’ political discourses is conducted on the basis of key policy documents issued by the three organizations in the period 2005-2015. Emphasizing the argumentative and practical dimensions of political discourse, the methodological framework enables the formulation of diachronic accounts of OECD, World Bank and European Commission teacher policy discourses during the ten-year period as well as synchronic, ‘snapshot’ direct comparison between the three organizations.

Findings

The paper highlights the shifting and varying practical reasoning concerning teacher appraisal and feedback adopted by the three organizations, including their references to value-added modelling and performance-based incentives. The major conclusion is that while all three organizations strongly advocate the establishment of formal appraisal and feedback systems for teachers, each of them has distinctive objectives and strategies in the area.

The paper puts the analysis into perspective by discussing the various claims for action, goals and underlying values advocated by the OECD, the World Bank, and the European Commission in relation to three issues: i) how do the governance and decision-making structure of the three organizations influence policy recommendations with regard to teacher appraisal and feedback systems?; ii) do the three organizations refer to the same research evidence on teacher appraisal and feedback?; and iii) how do the different emphases in the practical reasoning concerning teacher policy reflect power relations between funding donors and recipients, between the Global North and the Global South?

Significance

The paper complements existing critical academic literature on the implications associated with the thickening of global educational governance over the last 20 years that has been accompanied by unprecedented policy debate on teachers and how the profession might contribute to student learning and economic growth. The OECD, European Commission and the World Bank have launched numerous initiatives on teacher policy over the past decade. By providing highly focused diachronic and synchronic accounts of the political discourses of these three major policy actors in the global educational policy field, this paper adds significantly to our understanding of the mechanisms driving global educational governance.

Author

• Tore Bernt Sørensen, University of Bristol, United Kingdom