Organisation for Economic cooperation and Development's (OECD) Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the largest and most in-depth international survey about teachers and their working conditions. International comparisons from TALIS will allow participants to identify common challenges and learn from other policy approaches. From only 24 participants in the first cycle in 2008, the number of participants in TALIS 2024 has increased to over 50 across 6 continents.

TALIS began with a focus on teaching and learning in lower secondary schools (ISCED level 2), which corresponds to Grades 7, 8, and 9 in most education systems. In the 2013 and 2018 cycles, participants had the opportunity to join supplementary modules targeting teachers in primary schools (ISCED level 1) and upper secondary schools (ISCED level 3). The Starting Strong Survey module was added in 2018 and focuses on staff and leaders in the early childhood education and care sector. This rich database offers unique opportunities to examine trends within and across the participating education systems over time. Within each participating entity, schools are representatively selected to take part in TALIS and teachers are selected from within those schools. For most participants, roughly 200 schools and 20 teachers within each of those schools will be selected.

An international expert group, in partnership with participating education systems, has developed separate questionnaires for teachers and principals. Each questionnaire takes about 45 minutes to complete and will generally be completed online. The survey responses are entirely confidential and at no time will individual respondents or schools be identified.

TALIS collects information primarily related to five policy issues:

• Teacher recruitment, selection and preparation
• Professional development - what and how much is available, what teachers take part in, and barriers that prevent access
• Teacher practice – what teachers do in the classroom, and the feedback they receive to improve themselves
• How school-level policies and practices shape the learning environment and impact the work of teachers
• Teacher and principal job satisfaction

An international expert group, in partnership with participating education systems, has developed separate questionnaires for teachers and principals. Each questionnaire takes about 45 minutes to complete and will generally be completed online. The survey responses are entirely confidential and at no time will individual respondents or schools be identified.

*Participates through a direct agreement with the IEA without OECD’s involvement