Observation of Pedagogical Excellence in Teachers Across Nations: Lessons Learned From a Four-Nation Study

• In Event: Developing Quality Teachers: International Insights From Europe, the United States, and Hong Kong

Abstract

Objectives
Despite the differing sociopolitical, historical, cultural and linguistic contexts of various nations a common problem exists. Increasing numbers of students are attending school in a language of instruction that they are also still learning (students we call “multilingual”) and the schools and teachers may have little preparation or support to advance multilingual student success (Becker-Mrotzek, Hentschel, Hippmann, & Linnemann, 2012, Lucas, 2011; Murphy & Unthia, 2015).

The purpose of the larger study this analysis comes from was to examine quality instructional practices for multilingual students in content classrooms, as operationalized by the Standards for Effective Pedagogy (Teemant & Hausman, 2013), across four different nations: Germany, Finland, the US and the UK. The larger study sought to answer a variety of questions, particularly about the similarities and differences in quality teaching we observed. However, this specific analysis focuses on not just the results of our data collection effort, but the process of it. We seek to share the opportunities, challenges and lessons learned from engaging in a study with implications for quality teacher development across four nations.

Theoretical Framework
Sociocultural theory, as asserted by Vygotsky (1997), assumes that knowledge is cultural understanding and competent participation, that learning is social, teaching is assisting, and performance is situative. These perspectives were applied to understanding our own experiences as collaborative researchers engaging in research across four nations.

Methods
For the larger study, we observed 31 teachers in four countries teaching across multiple content areas (e.g., language arts, social studies/history, mathematics, etc.). Members of our team came from each of the four countries in the study and participated in online as well as in-person trainings regarding the observation protocol in advance of data collection sessions. This study is an autoethnography of our experiences moving through this process of collecting, analyzing and sharing our data with implications for future research and practice regarding quality teacher development.

Results
Through our reflection, discussion and analysis of both our data and the research process, we have identified several lessons learned and insights for international research and quality teacher development. First, by operationalizing teaching through macro-principles grounded in a theory that guides educational decision making across all four national contexts, we were able to do comparative work that was also responsive to and reflective of the varying cultural and linguistic contexts we observed in. Second, by thoughtfully using our local resources we were able to successfully fund and conduct a four-nation study with many research team members participating without a large, single source of funding. Finally, working with researchers from various national contexts to ask a shared question provided us with opportunities to dramatically expand our own expertise regarding approaches, tools, resources, and even kinds of questions that can and should be asked regarding our shared interest in content teacher development for multilingual students.

Scholarly Significance
Creating sustainable, affordable and replicable models of engaging in research that is international in scope, practice and impact is a worthy effort for those studying teacher development to pursue.

Author

• Svenja Hammer, University of Nebraska - Lincoln