The relation between teacher self-reported individualization and student-perceived teaching quality in linguistically heterogeneous classes: an exploratory study

Axinja Hachfeld,Rebecca Lazarides

doi:10.1007/s10212-020-00501-5

Axinja Hachfeld, Rebecca Lazarides

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-020-00501-5

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Abstract

Germany historically responded to student diversity by tracking students into different schools beginning with grade 5. In the last decades, sociopolitical changes, such as an increase in “German-as-a-second-language” speaking students (GSL), have increased diversity in all tracks and have forced schools to consider forms of individualization. This has opened up the scientific debate in Germany on merits and limitations of individualization for different student groups within a tracked system and heterogeneous classes. The aim of the present exploratory study was to examine how individualized teaching (i.e., teacher self-reported individualized teaching practices and individual reference norm orientation) is related to student-perceived teaching quality. Additionally, we considered moderation effects of classroom composition in relation to achievement and proportion of GSL students. Longitudinal data came from 35 mathematics classes with 659 9th and 10th grade students. Results showed significant relation between teacher self-reported individualized teaching practices and individual reference norm orientation and monitoring. Regarding the composition effects, the proportion of GSL students in class moderated the relation between teacher self-reported individual reference norm orientation and cognitive activation. Our findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that classroom composition can differentially impact the relation between teachers’ behaviors and students’ perceptions of teaching quality.

Highlights

Germany historically responded to student diversity by tracking students into different schools beginning with grade 5
We examined how teacher self-reported individualized teaching practices and their self-reported individual reference norm orientation are related to student-perceived teaching quality depending on language-related classroom composition
Teacher self-reported individualized teaching practices and individual reference norm orientation positively related to student-perceived monitoring at wave 2

Summary

Introduction

Germany historically responded to student diversity by tracking students into different schools beginning with grade 5. Three major developments have forced the school system to change this approach based on structural differentiation and to focus on individualization within classes: First, after the first PISA study had shown that students in the lower track schools (“Hauptschule”) reached substantially lower competencies than students in other school forms, new school forms were established in which low- and high-achieving students learn together requiring a high level of individualization in class (Baumert et al 2017); second, the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability required the school system to admit students with physical, learning, or socioemotional impairments (Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs 2011); and third, an increase in the percentage of students with non-native German language occured within the last decade (Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung 2016, 2018). Since Germany has been facing an increase in non-native German speaking students, our study focused on language-related classroom composition as a potential moderator

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