The links between pedagogical competence, instructional quality, and mathematics achievement in the lower secondary classroom

Johannes König,Frank Musekamp,Caroline Felske Née Nehls,Gabriele Kaiser,Armin Jentsch,Lena Schlesinger,Sigrid Blömeke

doi:10.1007/s10649-020-10021-0

Abstract

It is widely assumed that teachers play a key role in providing high-quality learning opportunities to students and fostering students’ learning. Yet it is still unclear how specific teacher knowledge facets as part of their professional competence contribute to classroom processes and learning outcomes. Focusing on mathematics education at the secondary level, this study investigates the links between teachers’ pedagogical competence (i.e., cognitive pedagogical facets of their professional competence), instructional quality, and students’ mathematics achievement. The sample comprises mathematics teacher and student data from 59 classrooms in Germany. Student mathematics achievement was measured across two time points (grade 7 and 8). Teachers’ pedagogical competence was tested using two tests measuring their general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) and situation-specific classroom management expertise (CME). Instructional quality was measured using observational rating data from in vivo rating in mathematics classrooms. Research questions on the relation of teachers’ competence and students’ mathematics achievement were answered using multilevel models. Results from multilevel regression analyses indicate that both GPK and CME predict instructional quality. Direct statistical effects on students’ mathematical progress were identified, whereas no indirect statistical effects via instructional quality could be identified. Although teachers’ measured pedagogical competence is not subject-specific, it serves as a significant predictor for cognitive activation as an indispensable part of quality-oriented mathematical teaching and learning processes in the lower secondary mathematics classroom, and it contributes to students’ mathematical progress.

Highlights

There is broad agreement that teachers play a key role in providing high-quality learning opportunities to students and fostering students’ learning (e.g., Schleicher, 2016)
content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) have been stressed as significant predictors (Shulman, 1987; Voss, Kunter, & Baumert, 2011; Voss, Kunter, Seiz, Hoehne, & Baumert, 2014), general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) has been considered as an important resource of teacher competence (Guerriero, 2017; König, 2014)
We examine three research questions: 1. Does teachers’ pedagogical competence, indicated by GPK and classroom management expertise (CME), predict the basic dimensions of instructional quality of mathematics lessons?

Summary

Introduction

There is broad agreement that teachers play a key role in providing high-quality learning opportunities to students and fostering students’ learning (e.g., Schleicher, 2016). Studies on indicators of teacher knowledge and student achievement carried out so far have focused on mathematical content knowledge and mathematics pedagogical content knowledge as the subject-specific knowledge domains, focusing on mathematics education (e.g., Baumert et al, 2010; Campbell et al, 2014; Hill & Chin, 2018; Hill, Rowan, & Ball, 2005). According to recent reviews on GPK (König, 2014; Voss, Kunina-Habenicht, Hoehne, & Kunter, 2015), apart from one study for physics education (Lenske et al, 2016), there is no study that goes beyond and analyzes the link between this general component of teacher knowledge and students’ achievement

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