Teaching Practices, Quality, and Effectiveness in International Comparison: Results From the 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) Mathematics Assessment

• In Event: 66.018 - Teaching Practices, Quality, and Effectiveness in International Comparison: Results From the 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) Mathematics Assessment

Abstract

Policy makers and professionals often debate philosophies of good teaching, such as constructivist learning vs. direct instruction, or traditional vs. modern, open learning environments. However, rather than following a single normative approach, teachers need to understand and orchestrate different approaches whenever students need them. Professional teaching should be based on a broad, but empirically well founded and theoretically sound concept of teaching quality.



Following latest research on classroom teaching and teaching/teacher effectiveness, good teaching can be described by scope and depth of content covered, plus a variety of proven practices, including student-oriented practices (e.g., individualized instruction or peer learning), formative assessment and feedback, but also some teacher-centered practices (e.g., direct instruction). Rather than content and practices per se, however, the way they are implemented or enacted in the classroom has been shown to explain both cognitive and affective aspects of student learning to a significant degree. Measuring the quality of enactment, classroom observation protocols as well as questionnaire instruments have successfully identified three basic dimensions : (i) classroom organization and structure, (ii) supportive climate, (iii) cognitive activation and challenge.



Nevertheless, this research is mostly limited to Western cultures such as the US, Australia, and Europe. In order to prevent patterns found in specific cultures to be interpreted as universal rules, comparative research on teaching practices, quality, and effectiveness is needed. This holds especially in an era of global policy making, where powerful stakeholders such as the OECD are disseminating concepts of good teaching, and governments are eager to borrow what they believe to be best practice.



The present author intends to use OECD’s Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) as a research instrument to study teaching from a cross-cultural perspective, being open for a variety of practices and quality dimensions. In PISA 2012, all aspects of teaching practices and teaching quality mentioned above were taken up in the Questionnaire Framework (Klieme et al., 2013) and implemented in the Student Questionnaire, with a strong focus on mathematics. Items and, where equivalence of measurement can be established, scales can be used to identify teaching cultures. It can be shown that, e.g., Anglo-American, Scandinavian, or East Asian countries each share certain patterns. More important, the relationship between measures of teaching on one hand, and student outcomes on the other hand varies between cultures. Thus, teaching can be identified as a cultural activity (Stigler & Hiebert), but there is reason to assume that “best practices” from one culture may be less effective in others.   Â

Author

• Eckhard J. Klieme, German Institute for International Educational Research