Teaching Practices, Teachers’ Beliefs and Attitudes

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CHAPTER 4

Teaching Practices, Teachers' Beliefs and Attitudes

88 Highlights 89 Introduction 89 Theoretical background and analytical framework 92 Beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning 97 Classroom teaching practice 101 Teachers' professional activities: co-operation among staff 103 Classroom environment 108 School-level environment: school climate 111 Job-related attitudes: self-efficacy and job satisfaction 113 Understanding teachers' professionalism: first steps in linking

the school context and teachers' beliefs and practices to teachers' perceived efficacy and the quality of the learning environment 120 Conclusions and implications for policy and practice

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Highlights

? Teachers are more inclined to regard students as active participants in the process of acquiring knowledge than to see the teacher's main role as the transmission of information and demonstration of "correct solutions". This is most true in northwest Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and Korea and least true in southern Europe, Brazil and Malaysia where teachers fall between the two views.

? In the classroom, teachers in all countries put greater emphasis on ensuring that learning is well structured than on student-oriented activities which give them more autonomy. Both of these teaching practices are emphasised more than enhanced learning activities such as project work. This pattern is true in every country.

? Co-operation by teachers in all countries more commonly takes the form of exchanging and co-ordinating ideas and information than direct professional collaboration such as team teaching.

? At least half of teachers in most countries spend over 80% of their lesson time on teaching and learning. However, one in four teachers in most countries lose at least 30% of their lesson time, and some lose more than half, through disruptions and administrative tasks. This is closely associated with the classroom disciplinary climate. Country and school differences in this respect are less important than differences among teachers within schools.

? Almost all Norwegian teachers report better than average relationships between teachers and students. In other countries, teacher-student relationships vary considerably. Only part of this variation is related to differences among schools. Even though teacher-student relations are often seen as a feature of schools as a whole, different teachers within schools perceive them differently.

? The average levels of job satisfaction and of teachers' belief in their own effectiveness are fairly similar across countries, although Norwegian teachers again stand out as well above average in both respects. Most differences in these job-related attitudes entail differences among teachers within countries and within schools.

? Female teachers are less likely than male teachers to see teaching as the direct transmission of knowledge and are more likely to adopt structuring and student oriented practices as well as to co-operate more with colleagues.

? Teachers who undertake professional development undertake a wider array of teaching practices and are more likely to co-operate with other teachers.

? OECD 2009 Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments: First Results from TALIS ? ISBN 978-92-64-05605-3

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INTRODUCTION Teachers' beliefs, practices and attitudes are important for understanding and improving educational processes. They are closely linked to teachers' strategies for coping with challenges in their daily professional life and to their general well-being, and they shape students' learning environment and influence student motivation and achievement. Furthermore they can be expected to mediate the effects of job-related policies ? such as changes in curricula for teachers' initial education or professional development ? on student learning. TALIS examines a variety of beliefs, practices and attitudes which previous research has shown to be relevant to the improvement and effectiveness of schools. Using representative data from 23 countries, this chapter presents a cross-cultural comparative analysis of profiles, variations and interrelationships of these aspects as they shape teachers' working environment.

The first part of the chapter describes teachers' beliefs, practices and attitudes and shows that in all participating countries certain beliefs and practices are more prominent than others. It also highlights cross-cultural differences regarding beliefs and practices, the quality of the learning environment, the strength of teachers' beliefs in their own efficacy ("self-efficacy"), and their job satisfaction. The second part of the chapter focuses on the relations between teachers' views of learning and instruction and the school as their place of work. Some findings are remarkably consistent across countries.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK TALIS examines teachers' beliefs, attitudes and practices and compares teachers, schools and countries. Although TALIS does not seek to explain student achievement or changes in achievement, student motivation or changes in motivation, it highlights factors which have been shown to be related to student outcomes.

Many studies have described aspects of teaching practice which are related to effective classroom learning and student outcomes (Brophy and Good, 1986; Wang, Haertel and Walberg, 1993). Close monitoring, adequate pacing and classroom management as well as clarity of presentation, well-structured lessons and informative and encouraging feedback ? known as key aspects of "direct instruction"? have generally been shown to have a positive impact on student achievement. This is not enough, however; while the teacher provides learning opportunities, these must be recognised and utilised by the student to be effective. Motivation, goals and outcomes have to be taken into account as well. Therefore, the framework of instructional quality is broader than the direct instruction described above. Based on results from the TIMSS video study, Klieme et al. (2006) proposed three basic (second-order) dimensions of instructional quality: clear and well-structured classroom management (which includes key components of direct instruction), student orientation (including a supportive climate and individualised instruction), and cognitive activation (including the use of deep content, higher order thinking tasks and other demanding activities). These dimensions are to be understood as "latent" factors which are related to, but not identical with specific instructional practices (see Lipowsky et al., 2008, for a theoretical foundation and an empirical test of the model). TALIS uses a domain-general version of this triarchic model, identifying structure, student orientation, and enhanced activities as basic dimensions of teaching practices.

Instructional practices, in turn, depend on what teachers bring to the classroom. Professional competence is believed to be a crucial factor in classroom and school practices (Shulman, 1987, Campbell et al., 2004; Baumert and Kunter, 2006). To study this, a number of authors have used, for example, measures of the effects of constructivist compared with "reception/direct transmission" beliefs on teaching and learning, developed by Peterson et al. (1989). TALIS uses a domain-general version of two teaching and learning-related indices (constructivist and direct transmission) to cover teachers' beliefs and basic understanding of the nature of teaching and learning.

Teachers' professional knowledge and actual practices may differ not only among countries but also among teachers within a country. To gain an understanding of the prevalence of certain beliefs and practices it is

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therefore important to examine how they relate to the characteristics of teachers and classrooms. For example, previous research suggests that the beliefs and practices of female and male teachers may systematically differ (e.g. Singer, 1996), so that TALIS must control for gender. From the perspective of education policy, however, it is even more relevant to look at the impact on teachers' beliefs, practices and attitudes of professional background factors such as type of training, certification and professional development, subject taught, employment status (part-time versus full-time) and length of tenure. It is important to note that any of these relationships can have different causal interpretations. For example, professional development activities may change beliefs and attitudes, but participation in such activities may itself be due to certain beliefs. As a cross-sectional study, TALIS can describe such relationships, but it cannot disentangle causal direction. Some of the analyses TALIS provides on these matters are merely exploratory, because so far there is little research, for example, on beliefs and practices specific to certain subjects.

Good instruction, of course, is not determined just by the teacher's background, beliefs and attitudes; it should also be responsive to students' needs and various student, classroom and school background factors. TALIS looks at whether teaching practices "adapt" to students' social and language background, grade level, achievement level, and class size. For example studies on aptitude-treatment interactions suggest that students with low intellectual abilities profit more from structured, teacher-centred instruction, while students with high intellectual abilities may gain more from less structured and more complex instruction (Snow and Lohman, 1984). TALIS does not allow for examining whether classroom practices are adapted to individual students but instead looks at macro-adaptivity (Cronbach, 1957), i.e. the adaptation of teaching practices to characteristics of the class.

Teachers do not act only in the classroom where they instruct students more or less in isolation from other classes and teachers. A modern view of teaching also includes professional activities on the school level, such as co-operating in teams, building professional learning communities, participating in school development, and evaluating and changing working conditions (Darling-Hammond et al. 2005). These activities shape the learning environment on the school level, i.e. the school climate, ethos and culture, and thus directly and indirectly (via classroom-level processes) affect student learning. TALIS distinguishes between two kinds of co-operation by a school's teaching staff: exchange and co-ordination for teaching (e.g. exchanging instructional material or discussing learning problems of individual students) versus more general and more innovative kinds of professional collaboration (e.g. observing other teachers' classes and giving feedback). It is assumed that both kinds of co-operative activities will be influenced by school-level context variables such as a school's teacher evaluation policies and the school's leadership, which are covered in chapters 5 and 6 respectively of this report.

As is known from research on the effectiveness of schools (Scheerens and Bosker, 1997; Hopkins, 2005; Lee and Williams, 2006; Harris and Chrispeels, 2006), the quality of the learning environment is the factor affecting student learning and outcomes that is most readily modified, given that background variables such as cognitive and motivational capacities, socio-economic background, social and cultural capital are mostly beyond the control of teachers and schools. TALIS captures students' background by asking teachers and principals about the social composition and the relative achievement level of the student population they serve. A more important task for TALIS is to assess quality, as perceived by teachers, at the classroom as well as the school level. However, as the environment generally varies between subjects and teachers, it is not easy to identify domain-general indicators. TALIS uses time on task ? i.e. the proportion of lesson time that is actually used for teaching and learning ? as a basic indicator for the quality of the learning environment. Also, classroom climate is used because of its strong impact on cognitive as well as motivational aspects of student learning in different subjects. The method used here is adapted from PISA and focuses on the disciplinary aspect. For example, the statement "When the lesson begins, I have to wait quite a long time for the students to quiet down" indicates a low level of classroom discipline. It has been shown that classroom discipline, aggregated to the school level, is a core element of instructional quality. In PISA, it is positively related to the school's mean student achievement in many participating countries (Klieme

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and Rakoczy, 2003). Also, it has been shown that ? unlike other features of classroom instruction ? there is a high level of agreement about this indicator among teachers, students and observers (Clausen, 2002). In addition to the environment at the classroom level, school climate is used as an indicator for the school environment. Here, school climate is defined as the quality of social relations between students and teachers (including the quality of support teachers give to students), which is known to have a direct influence on motivational factors, such as student commitment to school, learning motivation and student satisfaction, and perhaps a more indirect influence on student achievement (see Cohen, 2006, for a review of related research). The triarchic model of instructional quality mentioned above (Klieme et al., 2006; Lipowsky et al., 2008; Rakoczy et al., 2007) suggests specific relations between teaching practices and the two climate factors: structure-oriented teaching practices should primarily relate to high levels of classroom climate, while student-oriented practices should be linked with positive social relations.

Figure 4.1

Framework for the analysis of teaching practices and beliefs

Professional competence (Knowledge and beliefs)

Content knowledge Pedagogical content knowledge

Related beliefs and attitudes Beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning: ?direct transmission ?constructivist beliefs

Teacher classroom practice Structuring Student orientation Enhanced activties

Teachers' professional activities Co-operation among staff: ?exchange and

co-ordination for teaching ?professional collaboration

Classroom level environment

Time on task* Classroom disciplinary climate

School level environment School climate: Teacher-student relations

Student learning

Student outcomes

Overall job-related attitudes:

Self-efficacy

Job satisfaction*

Teacher background Professional training /

experience

School background and processes (e.g. leadership)

Student background

Note: Constructs that are covered by the survey are highlighted in blue; single item measures are indicated by an asterisk (*). Source: OECD, TALIS Database.

TALIS does not address the ultimate effects of classroom and school-level activities and climate on student learning and outcomes. However, because TALIS studies teachers (as opposed to the effectiveness of education), teachers were asked to evaluate what they themselves do. TALIS assessed teachers' beliefs about their efficacy by adopting a construct and a related measurement that is widely used in educational research (e.g. Schwarzer, Schmitz and Daytner, 1999). As a second indicator, TALIS used a single item for overall job satisfaction. Research has shown that teachers' sense of their efficacy plays a crucial role in sustaining their job satisfaction

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(e.g. Caprara et al., 2006). It has also been found to be associated with constructivist goals and student orientation (Wheatley, 2005) and with successful management of classroom problems and keeping students on task (e.g. Chacon, 2005; Podell and Soodak, 1993). Thus, previous research suggests that there are significant relations between teachers' beliefs, attitudes and practices.

In summary, TALIS is able to cover core aspects of teachers' beliefs (general pedagogical knowledge), teachers' activities (teaching practices and teachers' co-operation) as well as quality indicators at the classroom level (classroom disciplinary climate, time on task) and at the school level (quality of social relations) and general job-related attitudes. Based on previous research, these aspects are expected to be related. Figure 4.1 illustrates the choice of constructs for this chapter and their supposed interactions.

Chapter outline The following sections of this chapter are organised along the model described in Figure 4.1. Moving from the left (general pedagogical beliefs) to the right (overall job-related attitudes), each group (box) of variables is discussed by describing country profiles and ? where appropriate ? comparing country means. These results are presented in the first six sections of the chapter.

The chapter then explores the associations between background factors (such as kind of training, certification and professional development, subject taught, gender, employment status, and length of tenure) and beliefs, practices and attitudes. For teaching practices, both teacher background and classroom context are taken into account: Are teaching practices "adaptive" with regard to students' social and language background, grade level, achievement level, and class size? This section also contains a first attempt to use TALIS data to understand conditions for successful schooling and teaching within countries. This involves systematic tests of the hypotheses that are implied by the model (see Figure 4.1) and previous research. Working from left to right, the relationships between beliefs, attitudes and practices and activities are tested. Ultimately, multiple regressions and multi-level models are used to attempt to understand how job-related attitudes ("self-efficacy" and job satisfaction as proximal indicators for professional success) and the perceived quality of the learning environment (classroom and school climate) relate to teachers' professional beliefs and activities. The focus is on relations and effects that hold across or in a majority of countries. Single countries or groups of countries with specific patterns are identified when they help to understand certain profiles of beliefs, practices, and attitudes in those countries.

The final section of the chapter summarises the results of the analysis and discusses some policy implications of the findings.

BELIEFS ABOUT THE NATURE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING The beliefs about the nature of teaching and learning which are the focus of TALIS include "direct transmission beliefs about learning and instruction" and "constructivist beliefs about learning and instruction". These dimensions of these beliefs are well established in educational research at least in Western countries and have also received support elsewhere (e.g. Kim, 2005).

The direct transmission view of student learning implies that a teachers' role is to communicate knowledge in a clear and structured way, to explain correct solutions, to give students clear and resolvable problems, and to ensure calm and concentration in the classroom. In contrast, a constructivist view focuses on students not as passive recipients but as active participants in the process of acquiring knowledge. Teachers holding this view emphasise facilitating student inquiry, prefer to give students the chance to develop solutions to problems on their own, and allow students to play active role in instructional activities. Here, the development of thinking and reasoning processes is stressed more than the acquisition of specific knowledge (Staub and Stern, 2002).

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It is important to note the difference between beliefs on the one hand, and practices, on the other. Both practices and beliefs are shaped by pedagogical and cultural traditions. They represent different though related parts of the pedagogical context for student learning.

In TALIS, beliefs about teaching were assessed on a four-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = "strongly disagree" to 4 = "strongly agree". Across countries, the basic dimensions for teacher beliefs about instruction ? the direct transmission view and the constructivist view - were identified from the survey responses. Box 4.1 lists the questionnaire items from which the two indices for teachers' beliefs about teaching were constructed (See Annex A1.1 for full details.)

Box 4.1 Teachers' beliefs about teaching

The two indices for teachers' beliefs about teaching comprise the following questionnaire items: Direct transmission beliefs about teaching ? Effective/good teachers demonstrate the correct way to solve a problem. ? Instruction should be built around problems with clear, correct answers, and around ideas that most

students can grasp quickly. ? How much students learn depends on how much background knowledge they have; that is why

teaching facts is so necessary. ? A quiet classroom is generally needed for effective learning. Constructivist beliefs about teaching ? My role as a teacher is to facilitate students' own inquiry. ? Students learn best by finding solutions to problems on their own. ? Students should be allowed to think of solutions to practical problems themselves before the teacher

shows them how they are solved. ? Thinking and reasoning processes are more important than specific curriculum content.

Box 4.2 Cross-cultural validity of the indices for teachers' beliefs, practices and attitudes

The cross-cultural comparability ? or "invariance" ? of the indices for teaching practices, teachers' beliefs and attitudes, which are the feature of this chapter, was tested by means of confirmatory factor analysis (see Annex A1.1 and the TALIS Technical Report [forthcoming]).

For the indices measuring teaching beliefs, classroom teaching practices and co-operation among teaching staff, the analysis indicated that the country means on these indices are not directly comparable. The analysis of these indices therefore focuses more on the pattern of cross-cultural differences than on specific country-by-country comparisons. Within-country differences are examined through the calculation of ipsative scores (see Box 4.3).

For the indices measuring classroom disciplinary climate, teacher self-efficacy and teacher-student relations ? the variables that best represent outcome variables in TALIS ? although full cross-cultural comparability of the indices was not proven, the results were sufficiently close to allow an examination of the global picture of mean score differences.

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As with the indices in Chapter 6, analysis was conducted to test for cross-cultural consistency of the indices on teaching practices, teachers' beliefs and attitudes (see Annex A1.1 and the TALIS Technical Report [forthcoming]). Box 4.2 summarises the outcomes of that analysis. For the indices on beliefs about teaching, the analysis indicated that countries' mean scores on these indices are not directly comparable. The analysis in this section therefore focuses on profiles within countries and in particular on the extent to which teachers endorse one belief over the other. To do this, teachers' responses are standardised and presented as ipsative scores, which describe the relative endorsement of the two indices (see Box 4.3).

Box 4.3 Computation of ipsative scores

Calculating ipsative scores is an approach to standardising individual responses to express them as preferences between two or more options and thus helps reduce the effects of response bias (Fischer, 2004). For teachers' beliefs about instruction, ipsative scores were computed by subtracting the individual mean across all of the eight items measuring teachers' beliefs from the individual mean across the four items belonging to the index direct transmission beliefs about instruction and also from the four items measuring constructivist beliefs about instruction. Thus, mean scores were calculated for both indices and corrected for the overall tendency to accept any of the belief items. The means across both indices average zero for each teacher, and therefore the country means across both indices also equal zero. The resulting score of an individual teacher is the relative endorsement of this index or the relative position of the individual on one index in relation to the other index. Positive score values indicate that one set of beliefs receives a relatively stronger support than the other.

Country differences in profiles of beliefs about instruction In research and practice there is an ongoing debate about the effects of direct transmission versus constructivist approaches on student achievement, and about the appropriateness of constructivist approaches in nonEuropean countries. TALIS data make it possible to conduct exploratory comparative analysis to learn whether countries differ with regard to profiles of teachers' beliefs. Differences in national cultures and pedagogical traditions suggest the possibility of differences in the pattern and strength of endorsement of the two views among countries.

Figure 4.2 shows that in all countries but Italy the average endorsement of constructivist beliefs is stronger than that of direct transmission beliefs. In most countries, therefore, teachers believe that their task is not simply to present facts and give their students the opportunity to practice, but rather that they should support students in their active construction of knowledge.

Besides this general agreement on beliefs about instruction, countries differ in the strength of teachers' endorsement of each of the two approaches. The preference for a constructivist view is especially pronounced in Austria, Australia, Belgium (Fl.), Denmark, Estonia and Iceland. Differences in the strength of endorsement are small in Brazil, Bulgaria, Italy, Malaysia, Portugal and Spain. Hence teachers in Australia, Korea, northwestern Europe and Scandinavia show a stronger preference for a constructivist view than teachers in Malaysia, South America and southern Europe. Teachers in eastern European countries lie in between.

? OECD 2009 Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments: First Results from TALIS ? ISBN 978-92-64-05605-3

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