Teacher Responsibility: Its Meaning, Measure, and Educational Implications.

Teachers’ personal sense of responsibility potentially influences their instructional practices, psychological well-being, and ultimately their students’ learning and performance. Furthermore, the assumption that teachers are personally responsible, or that they should assume personal responsibility for their students’ educational outcomes—primarily test performance—is at the core of high-impact educational policies such as the implementation of accountability systems in American schools. Yet, the extant literature on teacher responsibility is plagued by conceptual and operational ambiguity: the term responsibility has been used interchangeably with related constructs such as internal locus of control, measurement instruments have incorporated items originally designed to assess other constructs such as efficacy, and have generally failed to acknowledge the multidimensional nature of teacher responsibility, and the literature lacks a comprehensive and consistent definition of the term. Accordingly, this multiple manuscript dissertation begins with a review of the theoretical status of teacher responsibility in the context of current education policy and a comprehensive definition of the term. The second manuscript is an empirical study focusing on the measurement of teacher responsibility that (a) reviews existing measures of teacher responsibility, (b) introduces a multidimensional assessment of teacher responsibility for critical educational outcomes such as student motivation, student achievement, for having positive relationships with students, and for providing high quality instruction (the Teacher Responsibility Scale), and (c) demonstrates that teacher responsibility and teacher efficacy are conceptually and empirically distinct. The third manuscript examines how teachers conceptualize their professional responsibility and how they perceive its antecedents and consequences. The concluding chapter discusses the current status of teacher responsibility research, and outlines directions for future research.PHDEducation & PsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/99839/1/fanim_1.pd

Different levels of context-specificity of teacher self-efficacy and their relations with teaching quality

On the basis of Bandura’s social cognitive theory, researchers often assume that a teachers’ self-efficacy (TSE) will have a positive effect on teaching quality. However, the available empirical evidence is mixed. Building on previous research into TSE, we examined whether assessing class-/task-specific TSE gives a more accurate indication of the associations between TSE assessments and student-rated teaching quality. The analyses were based on the English sample of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) Video Study. Mathematics teachers (N = 86) rated their self-efficacy beliefs using generalized task-specific TSE items and class-/task-specific TSE items. Their students (N = 1,930) rated the quality of teaching in their math class. Multilevel regression analyses revealed stronger associations between student-rated teaching quality and class-/task-specific TSE than generalized task-specific TSE. We discuss possible reasons for these results and outline the potential benefits of using class-specific assessments for future TSE research

Empirische Arbeit: der Einfluss des Einsatzes von Breakout-Räumen auf das Erleben von sozialer Eingebundenheit und intrinsischer Motivation von Studierenden im Onlineunterricht

Eine besondere Herausforderung im Onlineunterricht stellt die Aufrechterhaltung der intrinsischen Motivation dar, da viele Interaktionsmöglichkeiten unter Studierenden wegfallen. Bislang ist wenig bekannt, wie Lernumgebungen im Onlineunterricht gestaltet werden sollten, um zur Befriedigung des Grundbedürfnisses nach sozialer Eingebundenheit und dadurch zur Förderung der intrinsischen Motivation beizutragen. Diese Studie untersuchte die Wirksamkeit des Einsatzes von Breakout-Räumen bei Gruppendiskussionen auf die soziale Eingebundenheit und das Erleben intrinsischer Motivation. Eine Experimentalstudie mit Bachelorstudierenden (N=108) zeigte, dass der Einsatz von Breakout-Räumen bei Gruppendiskussionen im Vergleich zu Plenumsdiskussionen zu einer höheren Befriedigung des Grundbedürfnisses nach sozialer Eingebundenheit und einer höheren intrinsischen Motivation führte. Erwartungsgemäß wurde der positive Effekt des Einsatzes von Breakout-Räumen auf die intrinsische Motivation durch die Befriedigung des Grundbedürfnisses nach sozialer Eingebundenheit partiell mediiert. Praktische Implikationen sowie Limitationen der Studie werden diskutiert

Different levels of context-specificity of teacher self-efficacy and their relations with teaching quality

On the basis of Bandura’s social cognitive theory, researchers often assume that a teachers' self-efficacy (TSE) will have a positive effect on teaching quality. However, the available empirical evidence is mixed. Building on previous research into TSE, we examined whether assessing class-/task-specific TSE gives a more accurate indication of the associations between TSE assessments and student-rated teaching quality. The analyses were based on the English sample of the TALIS Video Study. Mathematics teachers (N = 86) rated their self-efficacy beliefs using generalized task-specific TSE items and class-/task-specific TSE items. Their students (N = 1930) rated the quality of teaching in their math class. Multilevel regression analyses revealed stronger associations between student-rated teaching quality and class-/task-specific TSE than generalized task-specific TSE. We discuss possible reasons for these results and outline the potential benefits of using class-specific assessments for future TSE research

Longitudinal relations between teaching-related motivations and student-reported teaching quality

Teaching-related motivations are often assumed to influence teaching quality; however, the empirical evidence regarding the directionality of such influences is scarce. The present study thus examined the reciprocal links between teaching-related motivations (self-efficacy and enthusiasm for teaching) and student-reported teaching quality (classroom management, learning support, and cognitive activation). Two-level cross-lagged panel analyses across three time points (with an initial sample of 165 secondary- level mathematics teachers and their 4273 students) revealed no significant cross-lagged effects when teachers' stable inter-individual differences are taken into account. Our findings suggest that teachers' motivations are remarkably stable over time

Ein Mentoring-Ansatz für empirische Projekte im Lehramtsstudium. Möglichkeiten zur Unterstützung bei der Durchführung von empirischen Studien in Praxisphasen des Studiums

Die Verfasser beschreiben in ihrem Artikel die Grundideen, Ziele und Umsetzungsstrategien eines Mentorats, mit denen die Studierenden im Praxissemester bei der Erstellung ihrer Studienprojekte unterstützt werden. Mittels einer Online-Befragung und der Analyse freiwillig eingeschickter Studienprojekte wurde das Mentorat evaluiert. Dabei konnte festgestellt werden, dass die Stärken des beschriebenen Mentorats in der Unterstützung der data literacy, der psychosozialen Begleitung und der Förderung einer positiven Haltung zur Forschung liegen. (DIPF/Orig.

Teachers’ professional competence and wellbeing: Understanding the links between general pedagogical knowledge, self-efficacy and burnout

Teachers' professional competence-their professional knowledge, skills, beliefs and motivation-is a critical predictor of teachers' professional wellbeing and success. In a sample of 119 in-service teachers, the present study examined the associations of two aspects of teachers' professional competence-their general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) and self-efficacy with teachers' likelihood of experiencing burnout, as well as possible differences in these constructs as a function of gender and teaching experience. A path analysis revealed no systematic associations with gender, whereas teaching experience had a curvilinear association with GPK, a negative linear association with self-efficacy, and no significant association with burnout. Mediation analyses suggested that GPK negatively predicted teacher burnout both directly, as well as indirectly via its positive association with teaching self-efficacy. Only teaching specific but not general self-efficacy functioned as a mediator in these analyses; the identified predictive effects are thus specific to teachers' professional competence. Possible implications for the prevention of burnout are discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Academic Identity Formation and Motivation among Ethnic Minority Adolescents: The Role of the Self Between Internal and External Perceptions of Identity

Identity is often studied as a motivational construct within research on adolescent development and education. However, differential dimensions of identity, as a set of internal values versus external perceptions of social belonging, may relate to motivation in distinct ways. Utilizing a sample of 600 African American and Latino adolescents (43% female; mean age = 13.9), the present study examines whether self-regulated learning (SRL) mediates two distinct dimensions of academic identity (i.e., value and belonging) and mastery orientation. This study also examines whether self-efficacy moderates the mediating role of SRL between identity and mastery. Results show evidence for moderated mediation between SRL and academic self-efficacy. Self-regulated learning played its strongest mediating role between belonging and mastery and for low-efficacy students specifically. Child Developmen

Teachers\u2019 sense of responsibility for educational outcomes and its associations with teachers\u2019 instructional approaches and professional wellbeing

Teachers\u2019 formal accountability and duties have been the focus of high-stakes educational reforms, for instance in the context of national accountability systems. Yet, teachers\u2019 sense of personal (rather than formal) responsibility and willingness to assume responsibility for their teaching and students remains an understudied area. The main purpose of this study was to investigate contextual and person-specific predictors of teachers\u2019 sense of personal responsibility, as well as the potential implications of teachers\u2019 personal responsibility for their instructional approaches and wellbeing. A path analysis indicated that high school teachers (n = 287) who felt responsible for their teaching and students reported higher levels of work engagement and job satisfaction than less responsible teachers, and were more likely to endorse mastery-oriented instructional practices that emphasized student effort, task mastery, and individual growth. Teachers\u2019 perceptions of their school\u2019s social climate (teachers\u2019 evaluations of their relationships with students), their sense of teaching self-efficacy, and incremental beliefs of intelligence emerged as positive predictors of teacher responsibility. Teacher responsibility partially mediated the positive effects of these predictors on teachers\u2019 wellbeing and mastery-oriented instructional practices. The results suggest that both contextual (e.g., school climate) and person-specific (e.g., self-efficacy) factors can contribute to teachers\u2019 sense of personal responsibility, and that responsibility, in turn, can have positive implications for teachers\u2019 wellbeing and instructional practices. Directions for future research and practical implications are considered