Cross-national comparative researches highlight that besides the effect of family background, students’ educational attainment is mainly affected by quality of teachers – good teachers are critical for a high-quality educational system.  While there is a huge literature about complexity of quality and effectiveness of education, majority of the empirical researches measure quality of schools and teachers by students performance or test results. Impact of teachers’ characteristics on students’ achievement are usually measured by more easily detectible factors like age/duration of practice or education level. Only a few studies attempted to examine impact of teaching practice or attitudes which are more complex and difficult to measure.  Previous researches revealed that the effectiveness of beginning teachers is significantly lower however impact of duration of practice is negligible during the time later. Effect of teachers’ qualification seems not to so evident: some studies reveal powerful impact while others show no correlation. Recent comparative studies reveal importance of beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning on student achievement (introducing typology of “direct transmission” or “constructivist” view); that of classroom teaching practice (with typology of “structuring”, “student-oriented” or “enhanced activities”). School climate also seems to be an important determinant of quality of education. The triarchic model of instructional quality suggests specific relations between teaching practices and two climate factors: structure-oriented teaching practices primarily relate to high levels of classroom climate while student-oriented practices are linked with positive social relations. Evidence from the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) also indicates that teachers who received appraisal and feedback generally had positive views of these processes; level and intensity of participation in professional development are also important factors.

Our study aims to analyze effect of teachers features on students achievements, based on the linked data of OECD TALIS 2008 survey and of National Assessment of Basic Competencies, Hungary.  While our analysis is based on data of a single country, our main research questions and results are more universal: what factors of teachers and teaching can effect students’ achievement and so school effectiveness? Specifically:

• Is there any difference between teacher/school level determinants of absolute scores of students’ achievement and that of added value of school?
• Does teachers’ continuous professional development effect on students’ achievement (and quality of teachers)?
• Does evaluation of teachers’ work effect on students’ achievement (and quality of teachers)?
• How do teachers’ attitudes about teaching and learning affect students’ achievement?
• How does teachers’ classroom practice affect students’ achievement?
• How does teachers’ cooperation affect students’ achievement?

According to our theoretical approach, students’ achievement is effected not only by a teacher but the joint school environment of teachers’ community and school board.  Consequently, we focus on the effect of teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about teaching and learning, their classroom practice and professional development, as well as cooperation between teachers and teachers’ appraisal. 

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