To content
Project duration: since 01.01.2021

TRP - Teacher Responsibility Research Program

Teachers' sense of personal responsibility has important implications for what happens in the classroom. In the Teacher Responsibility Research Program, consequences of teachers' responsibility for: (1) their teaching practices, (2) their willingness to make a personal commitment to the learning progress of weaker students in particular, and (3) their well-being (e.g. stress experience).

Project description

Weiß-schwarzer Schriftzug des Projektnamens The Teachers Responsibility Research Program

Teachers' sense of personal responsibility has important implications for what happens in the classroom. For example, it is related to the amount of work, perseverance and commitment teachers give to their students and is a positive predictor of learning goal-oriented instructional principles. Subjective responsibility for their students' learning and for the quality of their teaching is a key source of motivation for teachers.

The project will explore consequences of teacher responsibility for: (1) their teaching practices, (2) their willingness to make a personal commitment to the learning progress of weaker students in particular, and (3) their well-being (e.g. stress experience). In studies already carried out within the framework of the project, active as well as prospective teachers were surveyed with regard to their judgements of responsibility in various teaching situations. Currently, the project is developing ways of experimentally influencing teacher responsibility in order to investigate effects on teachers' affective reactions and pedagogical actions.

Lead researcher at IFS

Project team

External project partners

  • Prof. Dr. S. Karabenick (University of Michigan, USA)

Cafeteria menus

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.