Tim Mainhard

Teacher Competence as a Basis for Teacher Education: Comparing Views of Teachers and Teacher Educators in Five Western Balkan Countries

Orientation of teacher preparation toward the development of competence has recently been suggested as a worthwhile direction of change in teacher education in the Western Balkan countries. In this study, 2,354 teachers, teacher educators, and student teachers from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia responded to a questionnaire about the importance of four groups of teacher competencies: (1) self-evaluation and professional development; (2) subject knowledge, pedagogy, and curriculum; (3) understanding of the system of education and contribution to its development; and (4) values and child rearing. We compare the responses about the importance of these four groups across the five countries. The results are discussed with regard to their implications for reforms in teacher education policies and programs in contexts of decentralizing education systems.

Critically reflective work behavior of health care professionals

Introduction: Better understanding of critically reflective work behavior (CRWB), an approach for work‐related informal learning, is important in order to gain more profound insight in the continuing development of health care professionals. Methods: A survey, developed to measure CRWB and its predictors, was distributed to veterinary professionals. The authors specified a model relating CRWB to a Perceived Need for Lifelong Learning, Perceived Workload, and Opportunities for Feedback. Furthermore, research utilization was added to the concept of CRWB. The model was tested against the data, using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The model was well represented by the data. Four factors that reflect aspects of CRWB were distinguished: (1) individual CRWB; (2) being critical in interactions with others; (3) cross‐checking of information; and (4) openness to new findings. The latter 2 originated from the factor research utilization in CRWB. The Perceived Need for Lifelong Learning predicts CRWB. Neither Perceived Workload nor Opportunities for Feedback of other practitioners was related to CRWB. Discussion: The results suggest that research utilization, such as cross‐checking information and openness to new findings, is essential for CRWB. Furthermore, perceptions of the need for lifelong learning are more relevant for CRWB of health care professionals than qualities of the workplace.

Evaluating clinical teachers with the Maastricht clinical teaching questionnaire: How much 'teacher' is in student ratings?

Background: Students are a popular source of data to evaluate the performance of clinical teachers. Instruments to obtain student evaluations must have proven validity. One aspect of validity that often remains underexposed is the possibility of effects of between-student differences and teacher and student characteristics not directly related to teaching performance. Aim: The authors examined the occurrence of such effects, using multilevel analysis to analyse data from the Maastricht clinical teaching questionnaire (MCTQ), a validated evaluation instrument, in a veterinary curriculum. Methods: The 15-item MCTQ covers five domains. The authors used multilevel analysis to divide the variance in the domain scores in components related to, respectively, teachers and students. They estimated subsequent models to explore how the MCTQ scores are dependent on teacher and student characteristics. Results: Significant amounts of variance in student ratings were due to between-teacher differences, particularly for learning climate, modelling and coaching. The effects of teacher and student characteristics were mostly non-significant or small. Conclusion: Large portions of variance in MCTQ scores were due to differences between teachers, while the contribution of student and teacher characteristics was negligible. The results support the validity of student ratings obtained with the MCTQ for evaluating teacher performance.

Goal orientations of health profession students throughout the undergraduate program: a multilevel study.

BackgroundThe achievement goal theory defines two major foci of students’ learning goals (1) primarily interested in truly mastering a task (mastery orientation), and (2) striving to show ones competences to others (performance orientation). The present study is undertaken to better understand if and how health profession students’ goal orientations change during the undergraduate program and to what degree gender, academic achievement, and self-efficacy are associated with mastery and performance orientation between students and within students over time.MethodBy means of an online questionnaire, students of medical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary sciences (N = 2402) were asked to rate themselves on mastery orientation, performance orientation, and self-efficacy at the beginning of five consecutive semesters. Data on grades and gender were drawn from university’s files. Multilevel analyses were used for data analysis.ResultsStudents’ goal orientations showed relative stability over time, but substantial fluctuations within individual students were found. These fluctuations were associated with fluctuations in self-efficacy. Students’ gender, high school grades, study grades, and self-efficacy were all associated with differences in mastery or performance orientation between students. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor for mastery orientation and grades for performance orientation.ConclusionsThe relatively strong association between the goal orientations and students’ self-efficacy found in this study emphasizes the potential of enhancing self-efficacy in health profession students. Also, for educators and researchers, fluctuations of both goal orientations within individual students are important to consider.

Liking a Tough Teacher: Interpersonal Characteristics of Teaching and Students' Achievement Goals.

Many have claimed, but only some have shown, that the social nature of teaching and classrooms is likely to have a direct effect on students’ achievement goals. This study examined the extent to which Dutch secondary school students’ (N = 2892) achievement goals were related to the interpersonal quality of teaching. Students’ goals were examined in terms of individual student perceptions of their teacher and their teacher’s general interpersonal disposition. Multivariate multilevel models were tested, specifying the student and the teacher level and using two achievement approach and two achievement avoidance goals as dependent variables. The most remarkably finding was that students who like a generally tough teacher (Level 2 effect) better than their peers do (i.e. Level 1 effect, students who report relatively high teacher communion) were more likely to report higher levels of approach goals. In particular when considering interpersonally more ‘extreme’ teacher dispositions, effects on students’ goals were considerable. Regarding students’ goals, identifying teachers who generally convey low levels of interpersonal agency and/or communion seems worthwhile for practitioners. Also identifying students with more pronounced, interpersonally negative perceptions of their teachers may be valuable when targeting students’ achievement goals.

Teacher behavior and peer liking and disliking: The teacher as a social referent for peer status.

According to social referencing theory, cues peers take from positive and negative teacher behavior toward a student affect the student’s peer liking and disliking status. The present study was the first to test the hypothesized mediation model connecting teacher behavior with peer liking and disliking status, via peer perceptions of teacher liking and disliking for the student. We used a longitudinal design and controlled for peer perceptions of student behavior. A sample of 1,420 5th-grade students (Mage = 10.60) from 56 classes completed sociometric questionnaires at 3 time points within 1 school year. At the first time point video data was also recorded, and teacher behavior toward specific students was coded. A multilevel path analysis showed that teachers did function as social referents for peer status but only through their negative behavior toward a student. Negative teacher behavior was associated with peer perceptions of the teacher’s disliking for the student 3 months later, which in turn predicted peers’ disliking of the student 6 months later. Findings suggest that teachers play a prominent role in peer relationships, particularly in peer disliking. For practice, this suggests that it may be important for teachers to refrain from openly negative behavior toward students, particularly those at risk of peer rejection.

Veteran teachers’ job satisfaction as a function of personal demands and resources in the relationships with their students

Abstract Many teachers experience their profession as stressful, which can have a negative impact on their job satisfaction, and may result in burnout, absenteeism, and leaving the profession. The relationship with students can have both positive and negative implications for the job satisfaction of teachers, both early and later in their careers. The current study focused on the relationship between veteran teachers’ job satisfaction and their aspirations in teacher-student relationships. Data were gathered among 12 Dutch veteran secondary school teachers, including interviews, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction, and the Questionnaire on Teachers’ Self-Efficacy. Veteran teachers’ job satisfaction appeared to be positively related to the extent to which their aspirations in teacher-student relationships had been realized. Teachers who had failed to realize their aspirations in teacher-student relationships showed relatively low job satisfaction, or avoided feelings of low job satisfaction by reducing the number of tasks that were directly related to teaching students. An implication for coaching veteran teachers is the need to pay more attention to the teacher-student relationship so that they can adhere to the way they would like to teach students.

Analyzing Teacher–Student Interactions with State Space Grids

In this chapter an analysis tool, called State Space Grid (SSG) analysis is described. SSG analysis can be used to study social interaction as it occurs in real-time. A SSG is a visual representation of an interaction trajectory between two (or more) interaction partners (or variables). It is possible to derive several measures from an SSG analysis to study the content (e.g., attractors) and structure (e.g. entropy or variability) of interactions. This chapter summarizes several studies on interpersonal processes in education employing SSGs. First, we explain Interpersonal Theory, which was used to operationalize interpersonal interaction. Second, we explain why classrooms can be seen as complex dynamic systems. Third, we provide an introduction to SSG analysis and describe a selection of the various measures that can be derived with SSGs. Fourth, to illustrate how we have used SSGs to study interpersonal processes in education we provide four illustrations of (published and unpublished) studies we have carried out ourselves. Finally, we elaborate on the possibilities SSG analysis provides for educational research.

The Theory and Practice of Interpersonal Relationships in Education

In 2010 the first International Conference on Interpersonal Relationships (ICIRE) was held in Boulder, Colorado. The best contributions of this conference were afterwards brought together in the book Contemporary research on interpersonal relationships in education, edited by Theo Wubbels and colleagues and published by Sense as part of the Advances in Learning Environments Research book series.

Stimulating autonomous motivation in the classroom: The role of interpersonal teacher agency and communion

Self Determination Theory (SDT) distinguishes the quality of motivation from its quantity or intensity (Vansteenkiste, Sierens, Soetens, Luyckx, & Lens, 2009). A sequence from controlled to autonomous motivation is adopted; autonomous motivation is seen as the best quality type. Being autonomously motivated, as opposed to controlled, has been found to lead to more volitional persistence, better relationships in social groups, more effective performance, greater health and wellbeing (Deci & Ryan, 2002), deep-level cognitive processing (Vansteenkiste et al., 2009), and creativity (Ryan & Deci, 2000a). The extent to which students’ motivation is controlled or autonomous, describes a difference in the quality of motivation.