Werner Helsper/Eckhard Klieme
Quantitative and Qualitative Research on Teaching – An exploration
Introduction
Sabine Reh/Kerstin Rabenstein
The Social Constitution of Teaching in Pedagogical Practices and the Potentials of Qualitative Teaching Research
Reconstructions of showing and addressing
The study aims at revealing points of contact between qualitative research on teaching and certain approaches to quantitative teaching research from the perspective of qualitative teaching research. Step by step, the authors develop and substantiate the thesis that it is no coincidence that such a point of contact could be constituted by the complex interplay of different dimensions of pedagogical practices within the social processes taking place in the classroom: the relation between subject-related mediation, technical teaching or presenting, on the one hand, and the development and formation of a personality, the constitution of the subjects, the development of a relationship of the subject with him/herself, on the other, – a relation labeled differently depending on the theoretical background. With regard to this relation, it is shown that a certain method of quantitative teaching research focusing on the process of teaching and the situatedness of classroom events, i.e. rating as a form of holistic interpretation, does not necessarily grasp the complexity of pedagogical situations because the relationality and sequentiality of the events is not systematically taken into account.
Kurt Reusser/Christine Pauli
Recording Comprehension Orientation in Math Lessons
Results of a methodologically integrative approach
The potential of a methodologically integrative approach in research on teaching is discussed and illustrated by looking at the recording of comprehension orientation – a crucial quality feature of general education. Following an introductory chapter, the authors base their investigation on three selected analyses from two video studies dealing with the quality of Math instruction in lower secondary education in German and Swiss schools: the video study “Quality of instruction, learning behavior and mathematical understanding” (Klieme, Pauli & Reusser, 2009) – in the following referred to as “Pythagoras Study” – and its follow-up study “Instructional dialogues and learning outcomes in problem-oriented mathematics teaching” (“DidKom”).
Georg Breidenstein/Sandra Rademacher
On the Use of Time
Observations and analyses on individualized teaching
Based on the analysis of the inherent logics of school-related structures of time in individualized elementary-school instruction, the authors enquire into the issue of the constitution of teaching. The empirical material is used to discuss different variants of time management in schooling within the framework of three contrastive fields of research. The degree of individualization can be ascertained by considering in how far the organization of teaching has parted with the concept of separate lessons and schedules. Beyond these three contrastive variants of individualized teaching, however, the indifference of time standards set by the school towards educational contents, especially within the framework of teaching concepts that have given up the idea of the synchronicity of learning processes, constitutes a fundamental structural characteristic of schooling.
Miriam Lotz/Katrin Gabriel/Frank Lipowsky
Lowly and Highly Inferential Procedures of Classroom Observation
Analyses on their reciprocal validation
Often, highly inferential estimation procedures for the assessment of the quality of teaching are used in the systematic observation of lessons. The validity of these procedures, however, is frequently questioned since they require a high degree of inferences on the part of the observer. The aim of the present study thus is to examine exemplarily the quality of highly inferential systems of observation within the framework of the PERLE-study by analyzing coherences with lowly inferential observation data. Based on the examples of “the use of praise” and “no disturbances”, it can be shown that, basically, coherences do exist between data collected through different procedures. However, in the case of highly inferential ratings, the allocation to individual rating levels is not always unequivocal. Furthermore, it appears that the degree of coherence between lowly and highly inferential observation data also depends on how the characteristics collected through highly inferential procedures have been defined.
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Klaus Zierer/Hubert Ertl/David Phillips/Rudolf Tippelt
The Quantity and Focus of Publications in the Zeitschrift für Pädagogik within the Framework of a German-British Comparison
The authors present initial and selected results of a project sponsored by the German Research Association (DFG) in which leading journals of educational science in both England and Germany are analyzed, among them the Zeitschrift für Pädagogik. With a view to topics, methodological procedures, and the composition of authorships, about 2.000 articles published between 2001 and 2009 were analyzed. It appears that the manner and amount of publications allows to draw conclusions as to trends and deficits in the educational debate from a culture-specific and internationally comparative perspective and that, in this respect, the Zeitschrift für Pädagogik reveals its very own and distinct profile.
Sebastian Wurster/Holger Gärtner
How Do Schools Deal with School Inspection and Its Results?
The study examines whether school inspection initiates similar processes of perception and processing at different schools or whether, instead, differential effects can be observed and plausibly explained by different types of schools. To this end, schools in Berlin and Brandenburg that had undergone inspection (N = 391) were given a questionnaire on differential effects of school inspection based on the model of Ehren & Visscher (2006). This questionnaire comprises the following topics: internal reflection and reception of the inspection results, activities initiated before and after the inspection, external support, as well as perception and acceptance of the inspection procedures. Results of a latent class analysis allow for a differentiated description of five separate types (active, reactive, (self)-satisfied, active dissatisfied and passive dissatisfied schools). They also provide explanations as to why, so far, no general effects of school inspection on school development have been accounted for. Furthermore, these results provide indications for a differentiated approach by the support systems.
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