Malte Jansen

The quest for comparability: Studying the invariance of the teachers' sense of self-efficacy (TSES) measure across countries

Teachers’ self-efficacy is an important motivational construct that is positively related to a variety of outcomes for both the teachers and their students. This study addresses challenges associated with the commonly used ‘Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy (TSES)’ measure across countries and provides a synergism between substantive research on teachers’ self-efficacy and the novel methodological approach of exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). These challenges include adequately representing the conceptual overlap between the facets of self-efficacy in a measurement model (cross-loadings) and comparing means and factor structures across countries (measurement invariance). On the basis of the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013 data set comprising 32 countries (N = 164,687), we investigate the effects of cross-loadings in the TSES measurement model on the results of measurement invariance testing and the estimation of relations to external constructs (i.e., working experience, job satisfaction). To further test the robustness of our results, we replicate the 32-countries analyses for three selected sub-groups of countries (i.e., Nordic, East and South-East Asian, and Anglo-Saxon country clusters). For each of the TALIS 2013 participating countries, we found that the factor structure of the self-efficacy measure is better represented by ESEM than by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models that do not allow for cross-loadings. For both ESEM and CFA, only metric invariance could be achieved. Nevertheless, invariance levels beyond metric invariance are better achieved with ESEM within selected country clusters. Moreover, the existence of cross-loadings did not affect the relations between the dimensions of teachers’ self-efficacy and external constructs. Overall, this study shows that a conceptual overlap between the facets of self-efficacy exists and can be well-represented by ESEM. We further argue for the cross-cultural generalizability of the corresponding measurement model.

A double-edged sword? On the benefit, detriment, and net effect of dimensional comparison on self-concept.

Dimensional comparison theory (DCT; Möller & Marsh, 2013) assumes that students compare their academic achievement intraindividually across domains to form domain-specific self-concepts. Upward dimensional comparisons are believed to lead to lower self-concepts in the worse-off domain, while downward dimensional comparisons should lead to higher self-concepts in the better-off domain. Furthermore, DCT assumes the net effect of upward and downward dimensional comparisons to be beneficial to the self. To test these assumptions, 3 experiments and 2 field studies were conducted investigating the relative effects of upward and downward dimensional comparisons as well as their net effect. In Studies 1 (N = 149), 2 (N = 150) and 3 (N = 300), participants were asked to infer self-concepts of fictitious students after receiving experimentally manipulated information about their achievements in 2 domains, whereas participants in Studies 4 (N = 2,268) and 5 (N = 20,662) assessed their own self-concepts in German and mathematics. In all studies, downward dimensional comparisons resulted in higher self-concepts, whereas upward dimensional comparisons led to lower self-concepts. The net effect of dimensional comparisons was always found to be not statistically different from zero. The findings therefore support the central prediction of DCT on the discreteness of the effects of upward and downward dimensional comparisons, yet do not support the assumed positivity of their net effect. Furthermore, results indicate the effect patterns to be rather universal as they were stable across different samples, domains, achievement situations, research designs, and types of assessment.

Fish Swimming Into the Ocean: How Tracking Relates to Students’ Self-Beliefs and School Disengagement at the End of Schooling.

In this study, we analyzed how secondary school tracking relates to students’ self-beliefs (i.e., their academic self-concepts in different domains and their beliefs regarding their labor market chances) and school disengagement during a time period that has received little attention in educational psychological research on tracking: when students are at the end of schooling and on the verge of entering the labor market. In doing so, we disentangled 2 distinguishing features of tracking: tracks as social contexts (operationalized via track level and the mean achievement of students’ schoolmates) and tracks as pathways to different future opportunities (operationalized via educational certificates). Using questionnaire, achievement, and administrative school data from 2,155 students from 29 low-track schools, 23 intermediate-track schools, and 35 comprehensive schools in Berlin, Germany, we found educational certificates to be the most important factor shaping students’ self-beliefs and school disengagement. Irrespective of their individual achievement, their schoolmates’ achievement, and their track level, students who received the intermediate school-leaving certificate had higher academic self-concepts, believed that their certificate would give them better chances of success in the labor market, and were less disengaged from school than students who received the low school-leaving certificate. In contrast, students’ track level did not serve as a predictor for the outcomes considered. The achievement of students’ schoolmates (i.e., the big-fish-little-pond effect) was only relevant for students’ academic self-concepts and not for students’ self-beliefs regarding labor market entry or their school disengagement.

Der Zusammenhang zwischen Beschulungsart, Klassenkomposition und schulischen Kompetenzen von Kindern mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf

Ein Ziel aktueller Inklusionsbemuhungen ist es, Bildungsbenachteiligungen von Schulerinnen und Schulern mit sonderpadagogischem Forderbedarf (SPF) abzubauen, die mit ihrer Beschulung in Forderschulen und mit ihrem sozio-kulturellen Hintergrund verbunden sind. In der vorliegenden Studie wurde anhand von Daten des IQB-Landervergleichs Primarstufe 2011 gepruft, ob Merkmale der Klassenkomposition zu Unterschieden in den schulischen Kompetenzen (Mathematik, Leseverstandnis) von Kindern mit SPF in Forderschulen (N = 413) und in sonstigen allgemeinbildenden Grundschulen (N = 658) beitragen. Signifikante Zusammenhange zwischen den kognitiven Grundfahigkeiten auf Klassenebene und den schulischen Kompetenzen auf Individualebene nach Kontrolle der Beschulungsart weisen darauf hin, dass Kinder mit SPF in Klassen mit insgesamt hoherem Fahigkeitsniveau bessere schulische Kompetenzen erzielen. Die Ergebnisse geben Hinweise darauf, dass allgemeine Grundschulen im Vergleich zu Forderschulen fur Kinder mit SPF bessere Lern- und Entwicklungsmoglichkeiten bereitstellen konnten.