The impact of schools as learning organisations on teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction: a cross-country analysis

ABSTRACT

For 3 decades, policymakers, educators, and scholars have been appealed to the promises of the learning organisation concept. Drawing from the last Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2018), this paper is the first to use a large-scale cross-country survey to assess the robustness of the relationship between schools operating as learning organisations and teachers’ outcomes, a pivotal question for school improvement and effectiveness. Multiple regression analysis highlights that the factors underpinning a school as a learning organisation (namely, culture of inquiry, shared vision, growing leadership, lower professional learning barriers, and teamwork) have a positive impact on teachers’ job satisfaction and self-efficacy. Policymakers, school staff, and other education stakeholders can use these findings as supporting evidence to engage with the learning organisation concept. Indeed, in times of increased strain on teachers across the globe, becoming a learning organisation can prove a vital shield against deteriorating teachers’ wellbeing.

KEYWORDS:

• School as a learning organisation
• teacher job satisfaction
• teacher self-efficacy
• TALIS data
• school improvement
• school management

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on the OECD TALIS database webpage (http://www.oecd.org/education/talis/talis-2018-data.htm).

Notes

1 First stage of tertiary education degree according to the 1997 International Standard Classification of Education (see http://www.unesco.org/education/information/nfsunesco/doc/isced_1997.htm).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pierre Gouëdard

Pierre Gouëdard is an education researcher at the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, where he leads the Teachers for All project in several French-speaking African countries, and contributes to the Women in Learning Leadership initiative in partnership with IIEP Dakar. An economist specialising in economics of education, he has conducted research in the areas of teacher careers, teacher health, affirmative action, and access to higher education, and taught in the field of economics in Sciences Po, La Sorbonne, and Descartes University. Pierre holds several degrees in Economic Sciences, including a PhD from Sciences Po, and two Masters from the Paris School of Economics and the Université de Montréal.

Marco Kools

Marco Kools is an education analyst and project manager at the OECD Directorate for Education and Skills. He currently leads several policy implementation support projects, including in the Flemish Community of Belgium, Ireland, Latvia, Moldova, and New South Wales. He has specialised in various areas of education policy, including effective policy design and implementation, assessment and evaluation, and (schools as) learning organisations. Marco recently returned to the OECD after a 2-year secondment with UNICEF Laos, where he served as Education Manager of the Partnership for Strengthening the Education System of Lao PDR Project. Before that, Marco worked at the OECD with individual countries such as the Netherlands, Latvia, Sweden, and Wales to support their school improvement reforms. Between 2005 and 2012, Marco worked with UNICEF in the Solomon Islands, Laos, and at the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre in Italy. Marco started his career as a secondary school teacher in 1999. He has written and coordinated several publications and academic articles, and he holds several degrees, including a PhD in Public Administration, an MBA, and a BSc in Educational Sciences.

Bert George

Bert George is an associate professor of public strategy and behaviour at the Department of Public and International Affairs in the City University of Hong Kong. He holds a PhD in Applied Economics, as well as a Bachelor and Master in Business Administration (all from Ghent University). His research centres on strategic planning and management in public administration, public sector performance, and behavioural public policy using experimental, observational, and meta-analytical research methods. He is an editor of Public Administration Review and consults for the OECD and the EU on strategic planning and management-related issues.