Facilitating knowledge mobilisation in the context of intensification of teachers’ work: a commentary from a temporal perspective

Since the 1990s, teachers’ work has intensified significantly. Time has thus become a critical issue for understanding teachers’ work and for improving the practice of teacher education. The OECD 2025 report under discussion offers thoughtful proposals for strengthening the role of initial teacher education institutions (ITEs) and research institutions (RIs) in knowledge mobilisation. However, the report lacks a temporal perspective, which leads to several limitations. First, the mandates and system-level levers it proposes are effective only when sufficient time is available to teachers and institutions. Second, cross-institutional collaboration between RIs and ITEs requires the construction of a “third space/time,” a designated temporal and spatial condition that can enable careful synchronisation between institutions. Third, the new initiative should cultivate nutritional time by stimulating teachers’ intrinsic motivation for knowledge mobilisation and provide them with the blocks of slow time needed to activate the thinking brain for deep learning and growth. Progress and transformation always take time, and time is by no means a unidimensional concept. As a global report, the document should adopt a temporal lens to avoid a cascading tyranny of time over institutions and individuals. Instead, it should deliberately foster temporal coherence across levels.