Professional developments in inclusive schools under conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic
Final Report Abstract
The present research project was intended to tie in with the assessed information of the GL study and thus enable a systematic comparison of the data obtained before the onset of the pandemic with the situation after the time of temporary school closures of teachers and learners. The central goal of the present study was to examine the extent to which the assessments of headmasters and pedagogical staff regarding aspects of cooperation and individual profession-related experiences, attitudes, and stresses have changed. Moreover, we wanted to examine how learning-relevant assessments of the students had changed. Contrary to our assumption that the experienced uncertainties during distant teaching would prompt higher frequencies of cooperation, teachers in fact cooperated just as often to divide tasks and significantly less often to exchange materials and information or for example develop solutions together. However, we found that co-constructive cooperation was implemented more frequently after the period of temporary school closures if headmasters were expecting their staff to do so at an earlier point in time. Moreover, the perceived positive suggestions for professional development of the headmaster before the temporary school closures had a positive effect on cooperative activities of the teachers that was traceable after the temporary school closures. At the headmaster level, the results indicated that the higher the structural provision for cooperation before the temporary school closures the more favourable the change of cooperation activities in the form of exchange. We also found that the higher the school mean of perceived positive suggestions for professional development the less favourable the change in cooperation activities in form of division of tasks and coconstruction. At the individual teacher level, the higher the perceived change of suggestions for professional development the more favourable the development of all three forms of cooperative activities. That means, if teachers perceived their headmasters to be more encouraging after the temporary school closures (than before), they engaged d in cooperative activities more frequently. This result supports the significant role of headmasters for important professional processes within the school (Bonsen, 2010; Brauckmann & Eder, 2019). With regard to students, it was found that fifth graders in primary schools suffer from temporary school closures and the associated distance learning. However, students in grade ten in comprehensive schools even seem to have benefited partially from distance learning. These findings are in line with those of Tomasik et al. (2021), who found that school closures and the implementation of distance learning had a negative impact on primary school students, while secondary school students remained largely unaffected by school closures. It is assumed that the challenges associated with distance learning made the learning processes more difficult for students (Engzell et al., 2021; Nusser, 2021). However, high teaching competences as well as differentiating methods to support students are considered important prerequisites for a quality design of distance learning (Helm et al., 2021). Moreover, in grade five, we observed that students in the at-risk group differed significantly from their peers without risk characteristics with regard to learning-relevant indicators. Almost all assessments were less favourable for students in the at-risk group. In grade ten, however, there were no significant differences between these two groups after the temporary school closures. The results of the fifth graders are in line with previous study findings, assuming that students with SEN and students from socially disadvantaged family backgrounds were particularly negatively affected by the consequences of distance learning (Goldan et al., 2020; Engzell et al., 2021; Schult et al., 2022). However, it has also been shown that after the extensive return to face-to-face teaching, learning gaps can be closed again if e.g. lowachieving groups of students receive support opportunities in class (e.g., Haelermans et al., 2021). 14 Finally, it was examined whether there were associations between the school level of cooperation and pandemic-related changes in school-related experience and behaviour of teachers and students. Controlling for teacher and headmaster level variables neither the frequencies in cooperative activities before the temporary school closures nor estimated changes in those activities significantly predicted the change in perceived teaching related stress. With regard to students’ learning-assessments no consistent pattern was found for teachers’ cooperative activities before the temporary school closures or estimated changes in those activities. However, positive trends emerged, e.g. in grade 5: the higher the estimated increase in teachers' division of tasks, the less boredom in German lessons, or in grade 10: the higher the estimated increase in teacher exchange among teachers, the more fear about German tests decreased. Overall, it can be stated that teachers’ cooperation activities have become more important during distance learning, but also faced teachers with new challenges. However, the facilitation of cooperation should not be done in isolation, but should be accompanied by a supportive attitude on the part of the headmaster.
Publications
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Schüler:innen aus Risikogruppen im Distanzunterricht: Veränderungen lernbezogener Merkmale [Students from at-risk groups in distance learning: changes in learning-related characteristics]. Präsentation als Teil eines Symposiums auf der 10. Tagung der Gesellschaft für Empirische Bildungsforschung (GEBF), Essen, Germany
Hartmann, A., Ehlert, A., Lenkeit, J., Knigge, M. & Spörer, N.
