TY - JOUR

T1 - Early childhood teachers' mathematics-specific professional competence and its relation to the quality of learning support

AU - Lindmeier, Anke

AU - Seemann, Selma

AU - Wullschleger, Andrea

AU - Meier-Wyder, Anuschka

AU - Leuchter, Miriam

AU - Vogt, Franziska

AU - Moser Opitz, Elisabeth

AU - Heinze, Aiso

PY - 2021/6/8

Y1 - 2021/6/8

N2 - Research on teacher knowledge has been criticised for taking too narrow a view on expertise. Therefore, teacher competence frameworks have been developed that are closely related to professional demands. Their practice-oriented conceptualisations have led to innovative measures with situative demands. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on whether these frameworks are actually suited to map teacher growth. This study investigated whether two components of teacher competence, Action-related (AC) and Reflective Competence (RC), can be differentially fostered through specific interventions in early childhood mathematics education. We designed two professional development programmes with a focus on AC and RC and implemented them in a randomised controlled experiment with 170 teachers. Overall, we found that AC, RC, and professional knowledge were sensitive to interventions with different change profiles. Although our hypotheses were only partially supported, the results can be seen as evidence regarding the distinctness of competence and knowledge components.

AB - Research on teacher knowledge has been criticised for taking too narrow a view on expertise. Therefore, teacher competence frameworks have been developed that are closely related to professional demands. Their practice-oriented conceptualisations have led to innovative measures with situative demands. However, there is still a lack of knowledge on whether these frameworks are actually suited to map teacher growth. This study investigated whether two components of teacher competence, Action-related (AC) and Reflective Competence (RC), can be differentially fostered through specific interventions in early childhood mathematics education. We designed two professional development programmes with a focus on AC and RC and implemented them in a randomised controlled experiment with 170 teachers. Overall, we found that AC, RC, and professional knowledge were sensitive to interventions with different change profiles. Although our hypotheses were only partially supported, the results can be seen as evidence regarding the distinctness of competence and knowledge components.

KW - Professional competencies of pre-school and school teachers

KW - teacher competence

KW - Adaptive teaching

KW - Validation study

KW - Situated assessment

U2 - 10.20396/zet.v29i00.8661896

DO - 10.20396/zet.v29i00.8661896

M3 - Journal article

VL - 29

JO - Zetetiké

JF - Zetetiké

SN - 0104-4877

M1 - e021002

ER -