Mara Gerich

TRAINING PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS IN EDUCATIONAL DIAGNOSTICS

In their professional routines, teachers have to perform highly complex and demanding tasks (Brante, 2009; Pransky, 2008). They devise and implement learner-centered instruction, manage their classes, promote students’ academic achievements, and interact with students, parents, and colleagues. As teachers are challenged by having to deal with a heterogeneous array of academic abilities, interests, and motivations and thus to adapt their educational activities to the individual needs of their students (Vogt & Rogalla, 2009), another key aspect of teachers’ professional competences is to be able to accurately diagnose students’ abilities and learning behavior.

Improving Prospective Teachers’ Counseling Competence in Parent-Teacher Talks: Effects of Training and Feedback

ABSTRACT Counseling parents concerning students’ learning processes is considered to be an increasingly important competence area of teachers. However, few educational programs exist specifically focusing on improving this essential teacher competence, particularly in early teacher education. The current study, which took place at a German university, describes the evaluation of a corresponding training program for prospective teachers as well as a process-oriented feedback intervention. We conducted a quasi-experimental study with three treatment groups (training group, training + feedback group, control group) combining pre-, post-, and follow-up test measures with time–series data. By means of multivariate repeated measures MANOVAs and time-series analyses, we were able to demonstrate that prospective teachers’ counseling competence can be successfully fostered by training and individual process-oriented feedback. Our results provide several practical implications concerning the improvement of teachers’ counseling competence within the context of teacher education.

Modeling, Measuring, and Training Teachers’ Counseling and Diagnostic Competencies

In their professional routines, teachers must perform highly complex and demanding tasks that require extensive counseling and diagnostic competence. There is a growing request for programs that foster these important teacher competencies in educational practice (e.g., German Society for Psychology, Psychologie in den Lehramtsstudiengangen: Ein Rahmencurriculum [Psychology in teacher education: A framework curriculum]. Retrieved from http://www.dgps.de/_download/2008/Psychologie_Lehramt_Curriculum.pdf, 2008) as well as a call for the theoretical modeling of competencies and approaches for their assessment in educational research (Koeppen et al., J Psychol 216:61–73, 2008). In the current research project we theoretically conceptualized and empirically validated specific models of teachers’ counseling and diagnostic competence for the domain of student learning behavior, and constructed several instruments for their assessment. Subsequently, we developed specific training programs on counseling and diagnostics for prospective and in-service teachers based on the models, and evaluated them by means of the specified instruments. We describe the results of the research project in this chapter and discuss future prospects for educational research and teacher training.