Abstract
Several studies show that teaching quality is an important predictor of students’ academic achievement. However, less is known about factors that are important for teaching quality. In the present study, it was hypothesized that school population composition [i.e., students’ socioeconomic status (SES) and migration background], workload, and teachers’ utility values toward teaching would be important factors related to their teaching quality. The Dutch Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018 was explored (N = 1,884, secondary school teachers and 116 school leaders) to test our hypotheses. Data gathering followed a two-step procedure. Firstly, 200 schools were randomly selected. Secondly, 20 teachers within each school were randomly selected. Multi-item scales operationalized teaching quality on teachers’ self-reported classroom management, cognitive activation, clarity of instruction, and positive student-teacher relationships. Multilevel analyses showed that teachers’ social utility value was positively associated with all dimensions of teaching quality, whereas personal utility value was only associated with classroom management and clarity of instruction. Teachers working at schools with moderate shares of students from a socioeconomically disadvantaged background reported higher clarity of instruction (β = 0.42), and moderate and high shares report lower cognitive activation (β = –0.40, β = –0.33, respectively) than those working at schools with low shares. Student-teacher relationships were rated more positively by teachers working at schools that reported no students with a migrant background than those working at schools with a small share (β = 0.33). Moreover, teachers working at schools with high shares of students with migration backgrounds (β = –0.17) reported more negative relationships. These results suggest that dealing with low-SES students at schools affects the cognitively-focused elements of teaching quality, while dealing with students with a migration background seems to affect the social teaching qualities of teachers.
Highlights
High-quality education is crucial in our modern society
socioeconomic status (SES) was positively correlated with social utility value, and clarity of instruction, indicating that teachers working at schools with more students from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds reported higher levels of social utility value and spent more time on clarity of instruction
Migration background correlated positively with social and personal utility value and negatively with student-teacher relationships. This finding indicates that teachers working at schools with higher numbers of students with a migration background reported higher levels of social and personal utility value and rated the relationship with their students more negatively
Summary
Often determined by students’ performance attainments at the end of schooling, can be studied using the Context-Input-Process-Outcome (CIPO) model (Scheerens, 1990, 2000). According to this framework, the output of education, such as students’ achievement, cannot be studied in isolation from input and process variables within a particular context. Input variables can consist of student, classroom, or teacher characteristics and financial and material aids in a school (Scheerens, 2000; Klieme, 2013). Because teachers are at the center of the learning materials and the students, they are key figures in promoting students’ motivation and achievement (e.g., Wentzel, 2009). Teaching quality can be considered a critical process variable within the CIPO model (Klieme, 2013)
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