Entwicklung und Prüfung eines Modells zur Erklärung von Schülerleistung

Schülerleistungen rücken zunehmend in den Fokus nationaler und internationaler Studien (z.B. Bildungsstandards, PISA). Diese sogenannten Monitoring-Studien stellen die Deskription der Schülerleistungen in das Zentrum der Aufmerksamkeit. Die Erklärung von Schülerleistungen hingegen ist Ziel umfassender theoretischer Rahmenmodelle, die sich jedoch aufgrund ihrer Komplexität einer empirischen Prüfung in ihrer Gesamtheit entziehen. Analysiert werden daher häufig spezifische Theorien zu einzelnen Bedingungsfaktoren, wie beispielsweise zu Motivation oder zu sozialer Interaktion. Ziel der vorliegenden kumulativen Dissertation ist es, ein theoretisch fundiertes Modell des Zusammenwirkens mehrerer individueller Bedingungsfaktoren zu entwickeln und zu prüfen. Dabei soll die Relevanz, die die Bedingungsfaktoren für die Schülerleistung gemeinsam haben, untersucht werden. Drei bildungspsychologisch relevante Bedingungsfaktoren werden dafür herangezogen: die Wahrnehmung der Unterrichtsqualität, der Peer-Beziehungen sowie der Lernmotivation aus Perspektive der Schülerinnen und Schüler. Im Rahmen regulärer Unterrichtsstunden wurden Daten mehrerer tausend österreichischen Schülerinnen/Schüler der Sekundarstufe mittels Fragebogen erhoben. Die Daten wurden mittels Varianzanalysen und Strukturgleichungsmodellen (Cross-lagged-panel- und Mediationsanalysen) sowie Konfigurationsfrequenzanalysen analysiert. Die Befunde zeigen, dass eine höhere Unterrichtsqualität sowohl mit besseren Peer-Beziehungen als auch mit höherer Lernmotivation einhergeht. Zudem wirkt die Unterrichtsqualität indirekt über die Lernmotivation auf die Schülerleistungen: je höher die Einschätzung der Unter-richtsqualität, desto höher die Lernmotivation und desto höher wiederum die Schülerleistung. Ein unerwartetes Ergebnis war, dass die Qualität der Peer-Beziehungen nicht mit Schülerleistung in Verbindung steht. Die Ergebnisse werden vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Literatur diskutiert und der Beitrag der vorliegenden Dissertation zur aktuellen Forschung expliziert. Die Diskussion schließt mit dem Ausblick auf zukünftige Forschung sowie mit der Ableitung von Implikationen für die schulpsychologische Praxis.Student achievement is increasing becoming a focus of national and international research. Monitoring studies (e.g. PISA) focus on describing student achievement. In contrast, explanations of student achievement are the focus of comprehensive theoretical frameworks. However, those frameworks usually are too complex to be tested empirically. Hence, analyses usually are based on specific theories about single determinants of student achievement. This dissertation seeks to develop a theoretically well-founded model of the interrelation be-tween several individual determinants, and to subject it to empirical tests. In doing so, the relevance of individual determinants of student achievement will be analysed. Three individual determinants of student achievement are drawn on: student perception of teaching quality, learning motivation, and peer relationships. Several thousand secondary schools students filled out self-report-questionnaires in a regular class period. After missing data imputation was conducted, data were analysed by using variance analysis, structural equation modeling (cross-lagged-panel-analyses and mediation-analyses considering the multilevel-structure), and configural-frequency-analyses. The results show that higher-quality teaching corresponds to better peer relationships as well as higher learning motivation. Furthermore, teaching quality is indirectly associated with student achievement: the higher the teaching quality, the higher the learning motivation, and in turn the higher the student achievement. The quality of peer relationships was not associated with student achievement, which is an unexpected result. The findings will be discussed based on the recent literature. Furthermore, this dissertation’s contribution to the current research will be expatiated. Finally, recommendations for future research as well as implications for the practice of school psychology are given

Secondary School Students’ LLL Competencies, and Their Relation with Classroom Structure and Achievement

There is a strong urge to foster lifelong learning (LLL) competencies with its key components - motivation and self-regulated learning - from early on in the education system. School in general is presently not considered to be successful in systematically imparting motivation and self-regulated learning strategies. There is strong evidence that decisive motivational determinants decrease the longer students stay in school. At present, the central sources of information about the situation in Austria are international monitoring studies, which only examine selected aspects of specific target groups, and their interpretability concerning mean values is constricted due to cultural differences. Thus, it is important to conduct additional and more differentiated national surveys of the actual state. This is why this study aimed at answering the following questions: (1) how well are Austrian students equipped for the future, in terms of their lifelong learning competencies, (2) can perceived classroom structure predict students’ LLL, and (3) is there a correlation of students’ LLL with their achievement in the school subjects math and German language. 5366 students (52.1% female) from Thirty-six Austrian schools took part in the online-questionnaire (mean age 15.35 years, SD=2.45), which measured their perceived LLL competencies in the subjects math and German language, their perceived classroom structure and their achievement. Results showed that the great majority of Austrian students – independent from domain and sex - know and are able to apply cognitive as well as metacognitive learning strategies. With regard to motivation the picture is less satisfactory: whilst students’ self-efficacy is not the problem, there is a lack of interest in the school subjects and they often report to follow performance approach goals. Classroom structure positively predicted students’ goals, interest, self-efficacy and learning strategies. Self-efficacy, performance approach goals, meta-cognitive and deep learning strategies in turn predicted achievement positively, and performance avoidance goals negatively

Fostering pupils’ lifelong learning competencies in the classroom : evaluation of a training programme using a multivariate multilevel growth curve approach

Evidence-based interventions to promote lifelong learning are needed not only in continuing education but also in schools, which lay important cornerstones for lifelong learning. The present article reports evaluation results about the effectiveness of one such training programme (TALK). TALK aims to systematically implement the enhancement of lifelong learning in secondary schools by optimizing teaching in terms of developing pupils’ competencies for lifelong learning. TALK is conducted within the framework of a three-semester course of studies for secondary school teachers. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of TALK, a questionnaire study with 1144 pupils was conducted in the form of a pretest–posttest–posttest design for both training and control groups. Multivariate multilevel growth curve analyses showed the benefit of TALK in terms of both pupils’ perceptions of classroom instructions and their individual motivation. Finally, TALK’s contribution to promote lifelong learning in schools is discussed and implications are given

Fostering pupils’ lifelong learning competencies in the classroom: evaluation of a training programme using a multivariate multilevel growth curve approach

Evidence-based interventions to promote lifelong learning are needed not only in continuing education but also in schools, which lay important cornerstones for lifelong learning. The present article reports evaluation results about the effectiveness of one such training programme (TALK). TALK aims to systematically implement the enhancement of lifelong learning in secondary schools by optimizing teaching in terms of developing pupils’ competencies for lifelong learning. TALK is conducted within the framework of a three-semester course of studies for secondary school teachers. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of TALK, a questionnaire study with 1144 pupils was conducted in the form of a pretest–posttest–posttest design for both training and control groups. Multivariate multilevel growth curve analyses showed the benefit of TALK in terms of both pupils’ perceptions of classroom instructions and their individual motivation. Finally, TALK’s contribution to promote lifelong learning in schools is discussed and implications are given

PTT: Progress Test Tiermedizin

Studierende der Tiermedizin fokussieren sich im Studium oft auf den bloßen Wissenserwerb und nehmen dabei weniger wahr, was sie bereits erreicht haben. Mit dem Progress Test Tiermedizin (PTT) kann der Lernfortschritt von Studienanfang bis zum Erreichen des Berufsabschlusses als Tierärztin/Tierarzt dargestellt werden. Das Konzept des PTT soll in diesem Artikel erläutert werde