KuL: Competence acquisition and learning preconditions
The project "Competence acquisition and learning preconditions" (in German: "Kompetenzerwerb und Lernvoraussetzungen", KuL) deals with what takes place during lessons in primary schools. Which preconditions connected with learning do children bring with them when they start primary school? How do teachers arrange lessons in diverse classrooms? Which conditions support beneficial relationships and are important for a fruitful contact? Which kinds of pupil-teacher-interactions support learning processes and the acquisition of competencies?
To answer these questions, we will consider school-related as well as non-school-related factors. Among those factors not related to the schools are various individual preconditions, such as the resources within families. We assume that they vary across different social or ethnic backgrounds. With regard to school-related factors we focus on the interaction between children and teachers. Here, aspects such as classroom management, teaching structure, classroom climate and teachers’ expectations and judgements are important dimensions.
In order to identify the processes underlying the acquisition of competencies during lessons we have planned longitudinal inquiries in 30 primary schools in Essen, a middle-size city in the west of Germany. The sample will contain about 800 children from about 60 classes. Seven steps of data acquisition will take place during the first year of school.
Survey Phases
In the first phase – at the beginning of the school term – the parents will be interviewed via telephone in order to detect the learning preconditions at home. In addition we plan to test the cognitive abilities of the children and their subject-specific competencies in linguistic and mathematic fields. Furthermore the teachers will be interviewed in written form about their expectations and estimations of the pupils.
In the second phase, which also takes place during the first school year, selected lessons will be filmed. In that way information will be gathered about the pupils’ behavior and their interaction with the teachers within everyday school surroundings. In addition to the videography the children will be interviewed. Among other things data will be collected of the pupils’ motivation for academic learning, of their self-perspective in terms of abilities as well as of their perception of the interaction with their teachers.
Finally we will, at the end of the school term, test the pupils’ state of knowledge again and inquire the teachers’ estimations and expectations. In this way we seek to gain information about changes over a period of time.
In the long term it is planned to follow the progress of ability development up to the choice of secondary school at the end of primary school. Therefore repeated competence tests and another interview of the parents are planned. This part of the study, which focuses on the fourth grade, is not part of this current period of approval by the BMBF.
Funding Agency
BMBF (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung)
Publications
Gentrup, S., Lorenz, G., Kristen, C. & Kogan, I. (2020): Self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom: Teacher expectations, teacher feedback and student achievement. Learning and Instruction 66:1-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2019.101296
Gentrup, S., Rjosk, C., Stanat, P. & Lorenz, G. (2018): Einschätzungen der schulischen Motivation durch Grundschullehrkräfte und deren Bedeutung für Verzerrungen in Leistungserwartungen. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 21(4): 867-891. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11618-018-0806-2
Lorenz, G. (2018): Selbsterfüllende Prophezeiungen in der Schule: Leistungserwartungen von Lehrkräften und Kompetenzen von Kindern mit Zuwanderungshintergrund. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-19881-7
Gentrup, S. & Rjosk, C. (2018): Pygmalion and the gender gap: Do teacher expectations contribute to differences in achievement between boys and girls at the beginning of schooling? Educational Research and Evaluation 24(3-5): 295-323. https://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2018.1550840
Lorenz, G. & Gentrup, S. (2017): Lehrererwartungen und der Bildungserfolg von Schülerinnen und Schülern mit Migrationshintergrund. In: Vielfalt im Klassenzimmer. Wie Lehrkräfte gute Leistung fördern können. Berliner Institut für empirische Integrations- und Migrationsforschung (BIM) & Forschungsbereich beim Sachverständigenrat deutscher Stiftungen für Integration und Migration (SVR-Forschungsbereich), Berlin. https://www.svr-migration.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/SVR_FB_Vielfalt_im_Klassenzimmer.pdf
Lorenz, G., Gentrup, S., Kristen, C., Stanat, P. & Kogan, I. (2016): Stereotype bei Lehrkräften? Eine Untersuchung systematisch verzerrter Lehrererwartungen. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie 68(1): 89-111. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11577-015-0352-3
Data
Kristen, C., Stanat, P., Kogan, I., Lorenz, G., Gentrup, S. & Rahmann, S. (2018): Kompetenzerwerb und Lernvoraussetzungen (KuL). Version: 1. IQB – Institut zur Qualitätsentwicklung im Bildungswesen. Datensatz – Befragungs- und Testdaten. http://doi.org/10.5159/IQB_KuL_v1
Kristen, C., Stanat, P., Kogan, I., Lorenz, G., Gentrup, S. & Rahmann, S. (2018): Kompetenzerwerb und Lernvoraussetzungen (KuL). Forschungsdatenzentrum Bildung am DIPF | Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation. Datensatz - Videodaten. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.7477/287:1:28