Around the World: The Evolution of Teaching as a Profession  proposes that to lift students’ academic achievement, New Zealand needs to take heed of how countries with high performing education systems have turned teaching into a profession.

The report came out just one week after the results of the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) were released, which showed New Zealand had dropped from 7th in the world in reading to 13th, 13th to 23rd in mathematics, and 7th to 18th in science since 2009.

The report found several commonalities among the countries that had chosen to pursue a professional path for teachers

• Recruiting the best teachers

•  Teaching how to teach

•  Career progression

•  Develop teacher capacity