Changing teachers’ instruction through informal competence measures: The role of teachers’ diagnostic prerequisites

Description

Over the past few years, disappointing results in international achievement tests have often been associated with deficiencies in teachers’ diagnostic skills. As a result, European-wide school reforms introduced diagnostic tools in order to improve, respectively, teachers’ diagnostic skills, their teaching style (competence orientation) and their ability to use differentiated instruction. The present study aims to investigate the extent to which the newly introduced diagnostic tool in German-speaking countries (IKM – Informelle Kompetenzmessung) contributes to these goals. Therefore, N = 318 teachers in Austrian secondary schools filled in online-questionnaires regarding their diagnostic skills, diagnostic self-concept, the time they invested in diagnostics, their attitude and motivation in relation to it and their perceived changes in their own instruction. Initial results indicate, contrary to the intentions of the reform, that teachers perceive only slight improvements in their diagnostic skills, competence orientation and differentiated instruction capabilities. These changes were indirectly related to the introduction of this new diagnostic tool in that teachers’ diagnostic self-concept and their perception of the changes in their instruction mediated in turn their perception of their own diagnostic skills. The results will be discussed in terms of their relationship to governmental educational reforms, and the possibilities and limits of improving diagnostic skills in teachers.

Period	13 Jul 2017
Event title	European Congress of Psychology
Event type	Conference
Location	NetherlandsShow on map