JAD-MTQ; Model for Teaching Quality Based On The Joint Action Framework in Didactics

• In Event: Breaking Out of Silos: Using Classroom Videos for Cross-Disciplinary and Cross-Methodological Examinations of Teaching

Abstract

Objectives
Classroom research has great potential for improving the quality of teaching towards a more equitable sharing of “powerful knowledge” (Young & Muller, 2013) in society and thus equity in education. European research on subject didactics (Hudson & Meyer, 2011; Sensevy, 2014) has developed comprehensive approaches to capture the conditions of students’ access to knowledge in classrooms. However, this stream of research tends to produce results that are contextualized and fragmented according to the different school subjects. This paper presents a dual generic /specific qualitative model (JAD-MTQ; Model for Teaching Quality based on the Joint Action framework in Didactics) for analyzing teaching quality across different subjects. This model aims to contribute to international debates on the conceptualization of content-specific features of teaching quality (Praetorius & Charalambous, 2018) as a key aspect of an equity and fair education.

Theoretical framework
In French-speaking research, the Joint Action framework in Didactics (JAD; Sensevy, 2014) typically investigates what knowledge contents are developed in learning situations and how. Based on JAD, the JAD-MTQ systematizes classroom observations according to three dimensions: i) selection of knowledge content and tasks, ii) structuring of learning situations and iii) organization teacher- student interactions (Authors, Year).

Methods
Each dimension is explored at a specific level of analysis (Tiberghien and Sensevy, 2012), featured by a grain size and a timescale of a teaching unit. The dimensions are decomposed into a set of nine criteria. Dimension i) Alignments with learning goals; Relation to subject epistemology; Dimensions ii) Continuities in the milieu, continuities in purposes; overall structuration of knowledge content, division of responsibilities and Dimension iii) Teacher’s management of students’ space of action, teacher’s management of knowledge content development, and teacher’s uptake of students meaning-making.

Data sources
The key aspects of JAD-MTQ are presented through the comparative analysis of teaching quality of two consecutive Norwegian lower secondary lessons in Mathematics and in Language Arts (LA). Both classrooms were videotaped using a two-camera solution backed up with feasible audios. Informed consents were collected from all participating teachers and students.
Results and/or substantiated conclusions
JAD-MTQ reveals significant contrasts in teaching quality between the Mathematics and LA classes. In Mathematics, the content and task selection, the organization of learning situations, and the structure of teacher-student interactions are all found to be of high quality. In LA, while content and task selection are found to be of medium quality, the organization of learning situations is low, and the structure of teacher-student interactions is very low.

Significance
By providing a content-based analysis of teaching quality with a set of dimensions and criteria that are not subject-specific, the JAD-MTQ breaks out the persistent dichotomy between generic and subject-specific frameworks. By considering the quality of teaching in terms of possible and/or actual content learning opportunities, the JAD-MTQ also paves the way for making reconstructive lesson designs that can remedy the lack of consistency in knowledge content development and thus improve access to powerful knowledge in classrooms and conditions for just education renewal.

Authors

• Florence Ligozat, University of Geneva

• Yoann Buyck, University of Geneva