Oecd covid survey eag indd

Change in working or teaching time and 
teachers’ practice
In one-half of the countries and economies, some 
adjustments have been made to the school calendar 
and/or in the curriculum during the 2019/20 (or 
2020) school year at pre-primary, primary and 
secondary levels. These adjustments consisted in 
the prioritisation of certain areas of the curriculum 
or certain skills in about one-third of these countries 
(usually reading, writing and literature, mathematics, 
second or other languages, natural sciences, and 
social studies), flexible arrangements at the most local 
level of governance in another one-third, and other 
types of adjustments in the remaining countries and 
economies.
Non-teaching tasks during school closure
Non-teaching tasks are an essential part of a teaching 
job, including communication and co-operation with 

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© OECD 2021 
25
The State of Global Education: 18 Months into the Pandemic
parents and guardians. At the primary and secondary 
levels (general programmes), relevant official 
documents state this task as mandatory for all teachers 
in nearly all countries and economies taking part in 
the survey. In Norway, the task can be mandatory for 
some teachers at the discretion of individual schools 
(Table D4.4, available on line).
During school closures, teachers were encouraged to 
continue some form of interaction with their students 
and/or their parents/guardians outside of the regular 
instruction time in 29-30 countries and economies 
at the primary and secondary levels (general 
programmes). For example, teachers in
the Czech Republic were expected to provide each 
student an individual consultation via email, phone or 
in person, as well as to gather feedback from parents 
through online surveys. In Portugal, teachers, local 
governments and other local entities joined forces 
with security forces and official mail services to create 
a support network during school closures to ensure 
the supply of study materials and a daily contact with 
students, regardless of the material and technical 
conditions students had at home. Seven countries 
(Denmark [for primary and lower secondary levels], 
Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain 
and Sweden) did not have specific national guidelines, 
but schools or the most local level of governance could 
decide to encourage interactions between teachers 
and their students and/or their parents during school 
closures. 
About 40% of countries recruited temporary teachers and/or other 
staff in 2021 to ensure the impact on students’ learning is minimised
An increasing number of countries decided to recruit 
temporary teachers and/or other staff to implement 
measures to support students in need. One-third of 
countries (33%) stated that this kind of temporary 
recruitment had taken place in at least one educational 
level during the 2019/20 school year. This rose to 
nearly half of countries (48%) surveyed about the 
2020/21 school year. While the recruitment of 
temporary staff increased at every educational level 
between both years, the rise was the largest at primary 
and lower secondary (Figure 8). At these levels, the 
proportion of countries hiring temporary staff in schools 
increased by 15 percentage points.
%
Upper secondary, vocational
Upper secondary, general
Lower secondary
Primary
Pre-primary
2020
2021
0
10
20
30
40
50
ESP, ISR, LUX, PRT, SVK
BEL, CZE, ESP, FRA, LTU, PRT, SVN
AUT, CZE, ESP, ISR, JPN, LUX, NZL, PRT, SVK
AUT, BEL, CAN, CZE, ESP, EST, FRA, ISR, JPN, LTU, LUX, PRT, SVN
AUT, CZE, ESP, ISR, JPN, NZL, PRT, SVK
AUT, BEL, CAN, CZE, ESP, EST, FRA, ISR, JPN, LTU, PRT, SVN
AUT, CZE, ESP, ISR, JPN, MEX, NZL, PRT, SVK
BEL, CAN, CZE, ESP, EST, FRA, ISR, JPN, LTU, MEX, PRT, SVN
AUT, CZE, ESP, ISR, JPN, MEX, PRT, SVK
BEL, CAN, CZE, ESP, FRA, ISR, JPN, LTU, MEX, PRT, SVN
Figure 8•
Share of countries reporting the recruitment of temporary teachers and/or other staff to support 
students in need by level of education (2020 and 2021)
Notes: 
In both 2020 and 2021, Chile, Finland, Korea, the Netherlands, and Sweden reported that the decision to recruit
temporary teachers and/or other staff was taken by schools/districts/the most local level of governance at all levels of education 
from pre-primary to upper secondary. This was true in Denmark in 2020, and in Norway in 2021. Decisions were taken locally at 
one or two levels in England (United Kingdom) and Ireland in 2020, Denmark in 2021, and in New Zealand in both years. Data 
for upper secondary vocational education in Japan exclude the College of Technology and regular courses in Grades 1-3. 
Source: 
OECD/UIS/UNESCO/UNICEF/WB (2021
[1]
).

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26
© OECD 2021
The State of Global Education: 18 Months into the Pandemic
In several countries, temporary staff have been hired 
to ensure that education can continue safely and in 
accordance with public health measures. In France,
for example, 5 000 temporary teachers and support 
staff were hired in April 2021 to cover for the 
absences of teachers testing positive for COVID-19. 
In Luxembourg, temporary staff were hired to assist 
teachers with organisational and administrative 
tasks as well as with support to students in remedial 
programmes. These staff also helped during the 
remedial programmes organised during the summer 
(Summer School). Elsewhere, temporary staff have 
also been hired to run remedial programmes outside 
of normal school hours. This has been the case in 
Belgium, France and Israel. In Israel, remedial summer 
study programmes are usually run for pre-primary and 
primary school students only, but temporary staff were 
used to provide similar programmes at all educational 
levels in July 2021.
Measures to encourage existing teachers to change 
their working schedules as part of national policy 
remained uncommon. Only five countries (Belgium, the 
Czech Republic, France, Israel and Poland) stated that 
there were increased incentives for teachers to take on 
remedial classes in 2020/21 which were put in place 
for every educational level from primary to upper 
secondary. This was a small increase from 2019/20, 
when only Belgium, the Czech Republic and Poland 
reported such measures. No country had a national 
level policy to incentivise teachers to delay retirement 
in 2020/21, representing a small decrease from the 
previous year. However, a few countries stated that this 
decision is taken at school/district level. In 2019/20, 
only New Zealand had such incentives, which were 
implemented from primary to upper secondary levels. 
Chile, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden 
reported that decisions were taken about incentives 
at the local level both for taking on remedial classes 
and for delaying retirement at all educational levels in 
2019/20. In 2020/21, both types of incentive could 
be decided at their own discretion on a local basis in 
Chile, Finland, Norway and Sweden at all levels. 
Before the pandemic, less than half of the primary and secondary 
teachers felt “well prepared” or “very well prepared” to use ICT in 
their own teaching
With the widespread adoption of online platforms to 
provide education remotely, it is extremely important 
that teachers are comfortable using relevant ICT tools. 
However, data from the OECD Teaching and Learning 
International Survey (TALIS) suggest that significant 
proportions of teachers do not receive sufficient 
training in using ICT in their initial teacher education 
programmes: 56% of teachers in the OECD stated 
that the use of ICT for teaching had been included 
in their formal education or training on average and 
only 43% reported that they felt “well prepared” or 
“very well prepared” to use ICT in their own teaching. 
Furthermore, ICT skills for teaching was the second 
most commonly selected option by teachers (18%) 
as an area in which there was a high need for 
professional development (OECD, 2019
[17]
).
Only seven countries and economies reported 
comparable data on the share of primary and 
secondary teachers trained in using ICT tools before 
the COVID-19 crisis and after its onset. These all stated 
that the proportion of teachers with this kind of training 
has risen since the pandemic began in 2020, with 
an increase of at least 25 percentage points. For the 
Flemish Community (Belgium), Israel, Finland, Lithuania 
and Luxembourg, this meant that over three-quarters of 
teachers had had training in using ICT tools by 2021. 
In Colombia, Israel and Turkey, the share of teachers 
with ICT training has more than doubled after the onset 
of the pandemic compared to before the crisis.
Some countries were not able to provide data on the 
total share of teachers with training in ICT tools from 
before and after the pandemic started, but they did 
implement widespread measures to support teachers in 
using such tools during the crisis. In Chile, for example, 
the Centre for Improvement, Experimentation and 
Pedagogical Research (CPEIP) and the Innovation 
Centre of the Ministry of Education held a series of free 
online conferences and training sessions on distance 
learning using ICT (as well as on other topics such as 
teacher well being and socioemotional learning in 
the context of the pandemic). These were attended 
by more than 125 000 teaching professionals, 
representing 56% of all the teachers working in 
subsidised schools.

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27
The State of Global Education: 18 Months into the Pandemic
In more than one-third of countries, teachers followed the same 
vaccination schedule as the general population as of 20 May 2021
More than half of the countries and economies 
surveyed (60%) in May 2021 reported that teachers 
had been prioritised as part of their national policy to 
vaccinate the population against COVID-19. Among 
these countries, there were a variety of approaches on 
how to prioritise vaccinations for teaching staff.
In Germany, for example, teachers in pre-primary 
and primary education levels were prioritised ahead 
of secondary teachers. In Portugal, the teachers’ 
vaccination process was also gradual, starting 
with pre-primary and primary (1st cycle) teachers, 
then being extended to teachers of other levels of 
non-tertiary education. Meanwhile, in the French 
Community (Belgium), teachers in special education 
schools were allowed to access doses of the vaccine 
that were in surplus from other priority groups. In 
Canada, some provinces and territories prioritised 
teachers for vaccination, either all teachers or those 
in areas where incidence rates of COVID were high; 
otherwise teachers were vaccinated with their age 
group. In some cases, prioritisation of teachers was 
based on multiple criteria, such as in the
Czech Republic, where teachers were prioritised 
according to their age and whether their classes were 
expected to reopen first.
Countries like Israel noted that there had been no need 
to prioritise teachers because of the speed at which 
the general population was vaccinated. In France, 
since 17 April, all school staff members aged 55 and 
over (teachers, administrators and support staff) have 
had access to vaccination in dedicated vaccination 
centres. The prioritisation of all school staff (including 
those under the age of 55) was implemented on 
24 May, but ended up being rather short-lived, as 
vaccination was opened up to the general population 
of the same age group a week later, on 31 May. In the 
case of Chile, 91% of teachers had been vaccinated 
with at least one dose and 86% had been vaccinated 
with two doses as of 20 May 2021. 
Table2•
Measures for the prioritisation of teachers’ vaccination, pre-primary to upper secondary levels
(as of 20 May 2021)