Teacher Expectations, Gender Stereotypes, and Professional Knowledge (TEG-Know)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Aiso Heinze; Professor Dr. Jan Retelsdorf
• Subject Area: General and Domain-Specific Teaching and Learning
• Term: from 2016 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 289445153

Since the 1960s, teacher expectations have been researched as an important predictor of students' achievement development. In spite of this research tradition, we still do not know much about moderators of this relationship at the teacher level. There has been, however, particular progress in research dealing with relevant teacher characteristics. Among other things, effects of teachers' gender stereotypes have been recorded and reliable and valid measures of teachers' professional knowledge have been developed. The relationships between teachers' expectancies, gender stereotypes and professional knowledge, however, have not been investigated yet. In this research project, we aim to merge these research fields by investigating correlations between teachers' expectancies, gender stereotypes and professional knowledge. Moreover, we will analyze effects of these variables on students' development in mathematics. Thereby, we expect to find interactions between the teacher variables and we presume that professional knowledge attenuates negative effects of teachers' expectancies and gender stereotypes. We plan a one-year longitudinal study with 100 elementary school teachers and their classes in mathematics. The study design will allow us to analyze how the teacher characteristics and interactions between them affect student development. Our results will, above all, provide knowledge about the relationship between teachers' knowledge, expectancies and gender stereotypes, and their effects on student outcomes. Finally, the project may provide important insights for teachers' professional development.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants