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Project duration: since 01.06.2011

Lehrer-H - Approaches of Student Teachers Working in Heterogeneous Classrooms

The study focuses on the attitudes and motivation of prospective teachers in terms of managing cultural, social, and performance heterogeneity in the classroom. Approaches are divided into cognitive, affective and behavioral components, and are understood as belonging to a teacher’s professional competence.

Funding

Own funds Professor McElvany

Project description

Graublauer Doktorhut mit darunterliegenden Schriftzug des Projektnamens Lehrer-H

The study focuses on the attitudes and motivation of prospective teachers in terms of managing cultural, social, and performance heterogeneity in the classroom. Within research literature it is commonly understood that a teacher’s professional ability to contend with both occupational routine and quality of teaching is crucial.

Aspects such as professional expertise and knowledge, and pedagogical knowledge are acquired during university teacher training. According to Weinertschen competency model other aspects of professional competence are beliefs, attitudes, and motivational capabilities.

Concretely, Teacher-H looks at the attitudes and motivation student teachers have during their university education in terms of teaching in classrooms with cultural, social, and performance heterogeneity. In this effort, the extent to which different attitudes and motivational characteristics can be empirically distinguished within the three heterogeneity constructs, and the extent to which individual attitudes and motivation can be differentiated, are investigated. This is followed by an in-depth analysis of attitudes and motivational characteristics that can predict classroom behavior. Within the framework of theories of attitudes, cognitive attitude components (perceived usefulness and costs of having heterogeneous classrooms) and affective attitude components (negative emotions towards teaching in heterogeneous classrooms) are differentiated, and motivational components (intrinsic motivation to teach heterogeneous classrooms, expected success) are investigated.

Lead researcher at IFS

External project partners

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Location & approach

The most convenient highway exits are on the B 1/A 40 (Dortmund-Barop) (closer to the North Campus) and on the A45 (Dortmund-Eichlinghofen). The university is signposted at both exits. In the local road network you will find signs to Campus Nord, where the Campus Treff is also located. From Emil-Figge-Strasse, entrance no. 18 and from Vogelspothsweg entrance no. 23 lead to parking spaces near the venue.

From Dortmund main station, take the S-Bahn "S1" in the direction of Solingen on track 7 to the stop "Dortmund-Universität" (price level A). The S-Bahn runs every 15 minutes during peak hours on weekdays and takes about 6 minutes. From Düsseldorf, the S-Bahn runs every 30 minutes. Directly at the S-Bahn station you will find the CDI building, which houses the Center for Research on Education and School Development.

One of the university's landmarks is the H-Bahn, which has two terminuses on the North Campus. One is located directly above the S-Bahn station and is easily accessible from it by elevators. The other is located in the center of Campus North at the bridge between the University Library and the Mensa, right next to the Audimax. The H-Bahn runs from here to the South Campus and the Eichlinghofen district.

Dortmund has an airport connected with some destinations in Central Europe. There are regular flights, for example, to Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Katowice, Krakow, Leipzig-Halle, London, Munich, Nuremberg, Paris, Poznan, Stuttgart, Vienna and Zurich. For the approximately 20 kilometers from the Dortmund airport to the campus, you can take the bus to the main train station and from there the S-Bahn. Faster is usually the use of a cab. Far more international flight connections are offered by the Rhine-Ruhr Airport in Düsseldorf, about 60 kilometers away, which can be reached directly by S-Bahn from the university station.