TALIS 2013 covers 34 countries. In Estonia, 3129 lower secondary teachers (38%) and 197 school leaders (49%) participated in the survey. The results:
- The typical teacher in lower secondary education in Estonia is a 48 year old woman, who reports having 22 years of teaching experience and who completed a teacher education or training programme.
- On average, principals in Estonia are 52 years old and report having 12 years of experience in their role.
- 93% of lower secondary teachers report having undertaken professional development in the 12 months prior to the survey. The areas in which the highest proportions of teachers report a high need for professional development are developing information and communications technology (ICT) skills for teaching and strategies for using new technologies in the workplace.
- Teachers in Estonia report spending 84% of their lesson time on actual teaching and learning. This means that 14% of their time is reportedly spent on administrative tasks and keeping order in the classroom (5% and 9%, respectively). They also report spending 21 hours per week on average teaching, 7 hours preparing lessons and 4 hours marking student work.
- More than 90% teachers report overall satisfaction with their job. However, only 14% of them believe that teaching is a valued profession in society.