Colloquium addressed profiles of teaching practices in schools classified as low-performing

Academic Rosario Escribano presented the main findings of her research published in School Effectiveness and School Improvement.

In a new date of the cycle of Colloquia in EducationUC the academic Rosario Escribano presented “Profiles of teaching practices in low-performing schools: a latent class analysis using classroom observation.” 

At the meeting organized by the UC Education Research Ecosystem, which aims to share and discuss research findings by the Faculty's academics, the academic presented the main findings of a research recently published in the scientific journal School Effectiveness and School Improvement.

This research collected information from 256 schools classified as low-performing according to the Education Quality Agency, where more than 1.200 classrooms of teachers in the first and second cycle of basic education were observed. The objective of the research was to analyse the quality of various teaching practices described as essential practices for quality teaching according to the literature, and to be able to find teaching profiles that can describe teaching styles rather than just isolated practices. 

“Using a multi-level latent class model, we were able to identify four profiles of teaching practices. The results of the model indicate that 17% of teachers belong to the profile of teaching oriented to the school climate, where practices such as time management and the establishment of clear rules are executed with a good level of professional performance. Likewise, 19% of teachers belong to the profile of teaching oriented to the content, where practices such as clarity of explanations are executed at a good level,” explains the academic.

Another 26% of teachers were found to be in the low performance profile, in which it is not possible to find teaching practices executed at the expected level. Finally, the remaining 40% of teachers belong to the high competence profile, where the 15 teaching practices evaluated show a good performance.

The relevance of this result, explains Escribano, lies in the fact that despite being schools classified as low quality by the Agency, it is still possible to find a high percentage of teachers with high quality execution of teaching practices essential for good teaching. These results can serve as input for ongoing training plans in schools, where interventions can be carried out that involve work between peers that take advantage of the capacities already installed in educational centers. 

You can learn more about this research at this link.