Pierre Gouëdard

Research interests: 

Implementation of education policies, school as learning organisations, shaping of students' aspirations, microeconomics, evaluation of public policies, econometrics.

Latest publications: 

• Research report: "Women in Learning Leadership: Evidence on Women School Leaders from the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics programme (SEA-PLM)"
  This report presents analyses of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) data from 2019 to understand the composition of school leadership in the region and how it influences student outcomes, including investigating differences by gender. Specifically, the report presents findings from six countries in the region: Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Viet Nam. The results highlight the diversity in women’s school leadership in the region, with women being underrepresented in half the participating countries. In terms of learning outcomes, children in women-led schools either perform as well as or better than children in men-led schools. Finally, the report highlights the promising practices of school leaders that may positively influence learning outcomes.

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

Country-related work: 

• Research report: "Teachers for All: Improving equity of teacher allocation in Congo"
  The Republic of Congo must address systemic challenges in its educational sector to ensure all students have equitable access to quality education, in line with the Education 2030 agenda. Current challenges include significant disparities in teacher distribution which undermine the learning conditions in rural and urban settings alike. Investments in teacher recruitment have not yet successfully addressed the high pupil-teacher ratios, reaching as high as 48:1 in public schools. The early grades of primary education are particularly affected, as inadequate support from teachers can hinder academic performance from the outset. This report offers a comprehensive examination of teacher distribution across the Republic of Congo and presents strategic recommendations for enhancing future teacher deployment to better align with the needs of schools.

• Research report: "Women in Learning Leadership (WiLL): What does women's school leadership look like in Chad? "
  Effective school leaders are indispensable for driving school and student learning improvements. Inspired by emerging literature highlighting a positive correlation between female school leaders and learning outcomes and the underrepresentation of women in school leadership, the Women in Learning Leadership project in Chad adopts a gender lens to examine school leadership in the country.  This research highlights the significant underrepresentation of women in the education sector in Chad. Only one out of five teachers (20 per cent) and 1 out of 20 school leaders – a mere 5 per cent – are women. The report (in French, with an English Executive Summary) presents the granular and sub-national distribution of women leaders and the multifaceted reasons for their underrepresentation in the Chadian education ecosystem. It also explores the differential education outcomes in schools led by female and male school leaders. The findings demonstrate that Chad remains a profoundly unequal society, and several barriers at different levels of the education system prevent women from rising into leadership positions. Recommendations targeting the identified barriers are highlighted to enhance female representation at the leadership levels.
  
  

• Research report:  "Teachers for All: Improving equity of teacher allocation in Ivory Coast"
  Equitable distribution of teachers is key for ensuring that every child can develop his or her learning potential to the fullest, regardless of the school or place of residence. In Ivory Coast, significant progress has been made in terms of teacher recruitment to maintain manageable class sizes. However, teacher repartition has to be improved, as pupils-teacher ratios vary widely between and within schools. For this reason, the Ministry of National Education and Literacy (MENA) recently initiated a reform package to improve the transparency and responsiveness of the teacher allocation process. This report describes the teaching landscape in Ivory Coast, as well as the reforms undertaken by the MENA, and suggests ways to improve the mapping of teachers according to school needs in order to promote access to quality education for all children. 
  
  

• Research report:  "Teachers for All: Improving equity of teacher allocation in Madagascar"
  Equitable distribution of teachers is key for ensuring that every child can develop his or her learning potential to the fullest, regardless of the school or place of residence. Today, Madagascar's education system faces a double challenge: there are not enough qualified teachers, and learning conditions vary greatly not only across geographic areas, but also within schools. This report describes the teaching landscape in Madagascar, and proposes ways to improve teacher allocation towards universal access to quality education. 

The role of indicators in education policies: 

• My presentation during an OECD international webinar: Supporting change in education: How countries are using indicators to monitor the progress of reforms 

• Education Spotlight: How to select indicators that support the implementation of education policies 

• Working paper: Developing indicators to support the implementation of education policies
  Across OECD countries, the increasing demand for evidence-based policy making has further led governments to design policies jointly with clear measurable objectives, and to define relevant indicators to monitor their achievement. This paper discusses the importance of such indicators in supporting the implementation of education policies. Building on the OECD education policy implementation framework, the paper reviews the role of indicators along each of the dimensions of the framework, namely smart policy design, inclusive stakeholder engagement, and conducive environment. It draws some lessons to improve the contribution of indicators to the implementation of education policies, while taking into account some of their perennial challenges pertaining to the unintended effects of accountability. This paper aims to provide insights to policy makers and various education stakeholders, to initiate a discussion on the use and misuse of indicators in education, and to guide future actions towards a better contribution of indicators to education policy implementation. 

Datamining PISA to explore the concept of Growth Mindset: 

• My presentation at the AERA:  Can we improve student outcomes? Growth mindset, students, and schools in PISA 

• Report "Sky’s the limit: Growth mindset, students, and schools in PISA"
  The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) included a measure of “growth mindset” in its last 2018 assessment. A concept much discussed in the field of psychology over the last few decades, growth mindset posits that underlying beliefs about intelligence affect learning motivation and students’ performance. This report summarises how growth mindset is associated with students’ characteristics, performance and well-being, teachers’ and schools’ practices, and policies at the system level based on the PISA 2018 data. It relates these findings to current growth mindset literature and practitioners’ experiences, and suggests avenues for future research.

• PISA in Focus  "Can a growth mindset help disadvantaged students close the gap?"
  Why do certain students thrive when facing adversity while others languish? In the mindset theory, growth mindset is opposed to fixed mindset, and could explain why some people fulfil their potential and others do not. With the COVID pandemic dragging on, having a growth mindset may be even more critical. For students who are able to set their own learning goals, elaborate learning strategies, and master their progress, the disruptive experience of school closing may be enriching. For students who are used to being led in their learning and who have little taste for steering their learning on their own, the experience may be devastating. This PISA in Focus analyses how growth mindset is related to the performance and well-being of 15-year-old students, and its potential implications in terms of equity.