The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is the first international survey programme to focus on the learning environment and the working conditions of teachers in schools. The overarching aim of TALIS is to provide robust, policy relevant indicators and analysis on teachers and the learning environment for an international audience. It aims to provide an opportunity to examine best practice in education systems around the world, to allow countries to identify other education systems facing similar challenges to their own and to learn from other policy approaches. TALIS provides internationally comparable information in the areas of teacher demographic characteristics, school leadership, teacher professional development, systems of feedback and appraisals for the teaching workforce, school effectiveness, and teacher practices and beliefs. As was the case for the 2008 cycle of TALIS, the Department of Education (formerly DEEWR) again commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to oversee and conduct the implementation of TALIS 2013 in Australia. In Australia, over 2000 teachers and 149 principals in 149 schools comprised the ISCED 2 sample. In the Australian context, ISCED 2 teachers are defined as teachers of students in lower secondary education or, more specifically, teachers of students in Years 7, 8, 9 or 10.