As such TALIS offers a unique opportunity for teachers and school principals to give their input into education analysis and policy development in some key policy areas. Cross-country analysis from TALIS allows countries to identify other countries facing similar challenges and to learn from other policy approaches. The first survey results were published in 2009 and proved to be immensely influential in fostering the debate on teachers’ policy at international level – in particular providing background information for International Summits on Teaching Profession (ISTP) organised annually by OECD, Education International and a host government.
Education International, while remaining critical, was thoroughly involved in the development of TALIS survey through teacher representative bodies, in particular the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) at the OECD. Because TALIS provides very rich data base which, however, is open for interpretation, EI Research Institute in 2014 decided to commission a special independent study on TALIS 2013 findings to Linda Darling-Hammond, well known academic from University of Stanford, US to analyse the findings from teaching profession perspective. The Executive Summary of this study is offered here alongside the article by Kirsten Wetherby from OECD.