Team Stang-Rabrig

Empirical Educational Research with a focus on Attitudes, Motivation and Well-being

The working group focuses in particular on students and (pre-service) teachers as important actors in the educational context and examines key aspects of multidimensional school and career success, with a special focus on heterogeneity in schools and society. The specific subjects of the research are attitudes, motivation, and well-being. In our work, we consider explanatory factors, developmental trajectories, and the manifold effects of these characteristics.

The research agenda comprises two interlinked, complementary areas of research:

Grundschulkinder und eine Lehrkraft sitzen gemeinsam am Tisch im Klassenraum und legen die Hände zusammen

1. Multidimensional educational goals of students
To prepare today’s students for tomorrow’s challenges, they must not only acquire skills in various domains, but also have positive attitudes, motivation, and well-being. These characteristics contribute significantly to the successful completion of developmental tasks in school and prepare students for a responsible life. At its core, this area of research therefore focuses on identifying key individual, social, and institutional factors that promote or hinder these characteristics. The focus is on different groups of students in relevant developmental stages, with differential effects for these groups also being considered.

2. Professionalization of (pre-service) teachers
Teachers’ professional competence is a key factor in high-quality teaching and learning processes in schools. This area of research therefore focuses on investigating the attitudes, motivation, and well-being of (pre-service) teachers as important dimensions of professional competence. It addresses individual dispositions as well as social, organizational, and institutional influencing factors in order to identify resources and challenges for attitudes, motivation, and well-being. The aim is to gain an understanding of the complex set of conditions under which (pre-service) teachers can develop positive attitudes and maintain motivation and professional well-being as a basis for sustainable professionalization and high-quality educational work.

In order to answer the central research questions in the best possible way, we pursue a multi-method approach in our work, using a variety of research designs, survey methods, and analysis methods. In our work, we draw on educational psychology, sociology, and educational science theories, which are systematically linked and successfully used to answer research questions in established and new subject areas. We primarily conduct application-oriented basic research. The findings of our research enable a deeper understanding of learning and teaching processes and offer starting points for evidence-based support.