here - TIMSS and PIRLS Home - Boston College

274 chapter 7: school contexts
As shown in Exhibit 7.13, the majority of teachers had a positive
view of the teaching profession and their career as a teacher. On average
internationally, almost two thirds (64%) of students were at the high level
of the index (i.e., taught by teachers who agreed with the five statements)
and one third at the medium level (34%). Only 2 percent were at the low
level. Highest levels of teacher career satisfaction were reported in Norway,
Georgia, Kuwait, Macedonia, Israel, and the Canadian provinces of Nova
Scotia and Ontario, where 80 percent or more of students were at the high
level of the Teacher Career Satisfaction index. Less than half of the students in
Chinese Taipei (44%), Bulgaria (42%), Morocco (36%), and Hong Kong SAR
(32%) were at the high level. In a few countries, notably Macedonia, Israel,
and England, average achievement of students taught by the most satisfied
teachers was higher than that for other students. However, on average across
all countries, the difference was negligible and in some countries, students
at the medium level had higher achievement.
PIRLS 2006 also asked parents about their child’s school. The Index of
Parents’ Perceptions of School Environment summarizes parents’ agreement
with four statements about their child’s school:
▶
▶
▶
▶
My child’s school includes me in my child’s education.
My child’s school should make a greater effort to include me in my
child’s education. (reverse coded)
My child’s school cares about my child’s progress in school.
My child’s school does a good job in helping my child become better
in reading.
Parents’ responses were averaged on the following 4-point scale: disagree
a lot = 1, disagree a little = 2, agree a little = 3, and agree a lot = 4. Students
with parents averaging greater than 3 (i.e., they agreed either a little or a lot
with all four statements) were assigned to the high level of the index, students
whose parents averaged 2 or more but less than 3 were at the medium level,
and students whose parents averaged less than 2 were assigned to the low
level of the index.