Michelle Helms-Lorenz

Profiling Teachers' Sense of Professional Identity.

This study shows that professional identity should not be viewed as a composed variable with a uniform structure. Based on the literature and previous research, we view teachers’ job satisfaction, self‐efficacy, occupational commitment and change in the level of motivation as indicators of teachers’ professional identity. Using two‐step cluster analysis, three distinct professional identity profiles have empirically been identified, based on data of 1214 teachers working in secondary education in the Netherlands. These profiles differed significantly regarding the indicators of teachers’ professional identity. Teachers belonging to the found profiles did not significantly differ in their amount of experience.

Development and evaluation of a questionnaire measuring pre-service teachers’ teaching behaviour: A Rasch modelling approach

The present study examines the development of a measure tapping students’ perceptions of (pre-service) teachers’ teaching behaviour to explore the practical value of such a measure in teacher education and teacher professional development programs. From a sample of 1,635 students of 91 pre-service teachers teaching in secondary education in The Netherlands, random subsamples of 809 students of 45 teachers and of 826 students of 46 teachers were used for analyses. Classical test analyses were used as a preliminary approach prior to utilizing Rasch modelling to the data. Additionally, multilevel analyses were used to examine the predictive validity of the measure on student academic engagement as an external criterion. Results revealed that a shortened and representative measure of teachers’ behaviour meets the requirements of the Rasch model sufficiently. In addition, the predictive quality of the shortened measure was confirmed. Implications of findings for research and educational practices were discussed.

Beginning teachers’ self-efficacy and stress and the supposed effects of induction arrangements

Induction arrangements are implemented in schools all over the world to support beginning teachers (BTs) (novices) in gradually growing into their profession. The aim of this study is to gain more insight into two key psychological processes involved in the work of a qualified beginning teacher, namely perceived stress and self-efficacy. This unfolding is necessary to find a path of influence to lead the way to meaningful support interventions. Support in the form of induction arrangements is hypothesised to decrease perceived stress and to increase self-efficacy and, thus, decrease stress outcomes. To test our hypotheses 30 BTs and their school-based educators, working in 13 different schools, were surveyed. The analyses revealed that stress causes and stress outcomes are indeed interrelated and that self-efficacy affects this relationship in a mediating way. However, besides decreasing a beginning teachers’ perceived lack of learning opportunities, no other influences of induction arrangements were obtained. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Longitudinal effects of induction on teaching skills and attrition rates of beginning teachers

The teaching profession faces a shortage as well as a decline of teaching skills. A possible way to mitigate this is to implement evidence-based induction arrangements. Seventy-one schools with 338 beginning secondary education teachers were randomly allocated to an experimental or a control group. The experimental schools used induction arrangements; the authors measured the effects of these arrangements by using repeated lesson observations and by comparing the rates at which beginners in the control and experimental groups left the teaching profession. Three years later, 14% of the control group and 12% of the experimental group had left. Leaving the profession could be explained by a lack of certification and low initial teaching skill levels. The experimental group exhibited greater improvement in teaching skills compared to the control group. Workload reduction influenced the skill level negatively, and coaching and observing had a strong positive influence on the skill level in Year 3.

Influencing the psychological well-being of beginning teachers across three years of teaching: self-efficacy, stress causes, job tension and job discontent

In this study, the path of influence of support programmes for beginning teachers (BTs) is examined. Longitudinal relationships between self-efficacy and stress causes experienced by BTs and their job tension and discontent are investigated. Differential effects are explored in the relationships between the perceived psychological variables for induction and non-induction groups, after a period of three years. A total of 62 secondary schools and 338 BTs, in the Netherlands, were randomly selected to two context conditions. In the experimental condition, an induction arrangement was provided to the BTs. The remaining schools and BTs followed their regular (induction) arrangements. Results show that school and class efficacy are negatively related to job tension and job discontent. Stress causes were positively related to job tension and discontent. The link between classroom self-efficacy and stress outcomes is much stronger in the induction group. For school self-efficacy, however, the link is weaker in the induction groups. Implications of the findings for practice and theory are discussed.

The effects of inspecting and constructing part-task-specific visualizations on team and individual learning

This study examined whether inspecting and constructing different part-task-specific visualizations differentially affects learning. To this end, a complex business-economics problem was structured into three phase-related part-tasks: (1) determining core concepts, (2) proposing multiple solutions, and (3) coming to a single solution. Each phase was foreseen with a part-task-specific representational tool facilitating visualization of the domain-content (i.e., a conceptual, causal and simulation tool respectively for the subsequent phases). Whereas all teams of learners (N = 17) were scripted to carry out the part-tasks in the predefined order, teams were instructed to (1) inspect expert visualizations (n = 8) or (2) construct their own domain-specific visualizations (n = 9). Results indicate that constructing visualizations, in comparison to inspecting them, evokes more meaningful discussion of the domain-content beneficially affecting team complex learning-task performance and individual learning gains (i.e., higher post-test score).

Student teachers’ beliefs about learning and teaching and their participation in career-long learning activities

Career-long teacher learning is essential to the teaching profession because it is strongly connected with teacher quality and practices. Student teachers in the first stage of their career-long learning continuum, however, vary in the extent to which they participate in learning activities. This study explores the relationship between beliefs about learning and teaching and participation in learning activities among student teachers, in a school-based teacher education setting for secondary education in the Netherlands. The results indicate that student teachers vary in their beliefs. Structural equation modelling analysis shows that pupil-oriented beliefs are positively related to self-reported participation in learning activities; no relationship emerges between subject matter-oriented beliefs and learning. A cluster analysis reveals two distinct belief profiles, and the findings confirm the relationship to participation in learning activities. Implications for teacher education programmes intended to enhance the chances that their student teachers will become pupil-oriented, career-long learning professionals are discussed.

Measuring teaching quality and student engagement in South Korea and The Netherlands

ABSTRACT Six observation scales for measuring the skills of teachers and 1 scale for measuring student engagement, assessed in South Korea and The Netherlands, are sufficiently reliable and offer sufficient predictive value for student engagement. A multigroup confirmatory factor analysis shows that the factor loadings and intercepts of the scales are the same, within acceptable boundaries, in both countries. Therefore, we can compare the average scores of teachers in both countries in a reliable and valid way. The 289 Dutch teachers score significantly better on “creating a safe and stimulating learning climate” and “intensive and activating teaching” and almost significantly on “efficient classroom management”. We find no significant differences in “clear and structured instruction”. The 375 South Korean teachers perform significantly better than the Dutch teachers on “teaching learning strategies” and almost significantly on “differentiating instruction”. Furthermore, we find better student engagement in South Korea.

Validating a model of effective teaching behaviour of pre-service teachers

Abstract Although effective teaching behaviour is central for pupil outcomes, the extent to which pre-service teachers behave effectively in the classroom and how their behaviour relates to pupils’ engagement remain unanswered. The present study aims to validate a theoretical model linking effective pre-service teaching behaviour and pupil’s engagement, incorporating the role of context and teacher characteristics. The study included a sample of 264 pre-service teachers from 64 secondary schools throughout the Netherlands. Pre-service teachers were observed using the International Comparative Analysis of Learning and Teaching to measure effective teaching behaviour and pupils’ engagement. We used multilevel modelling to account for the hierarchical structure in the data. Results show that the quality of teaching behaviour of pre-service teachers is below that of experienced teachers. Class size and (partly) teacher gender explain differences in the quality of teaching behaviour. All domains of teaching behaviour are related to pupil engagement, with classroom management and clarity of instruction showing the strongest relationships with academic engagement compared to the other domains. The results make it plausible to approximate minimum standards for the assessment of pre-service teachers based upon a normative criterion based on the impact on pupils’ academic engagement.

Student teachers’ participation in learning activities and effective teaching behaviours

Teacher learning is essential to the teaching profession, because it has been strongly linked to improved teaching practices and teacher quality. The source for teacher learning is initial teacher education, a crucial phase in the learning-to-teach continuum. To gain insight into this influential period for student teachers’ long-term professional lives, this exploratory study investigates student teachers’ participation in learning activities and explores whether it is connected to their own effective teaching behaviours in a school-based teacher education setting for secondary education in the Netherlands. The results indicate that student teachers vary in their self-reported learning and that this learning relates positively to observations of their effective teaching behaviour. These findings have several implications for teacher education programmes that aim to enhance the likelihood that their student teachers will become career-long learning professionals.