Page 227 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 227
how teacher-teacher and teacher-student cooperation link with achievement ...
Link between teacher-teacher cooperation
and student achievement
In this section, we start by shortly discussing general evidence on the link
between teacher-teacher cooperation and student achievement. After that,
we present the results found specifically from the ILSA studies.
Lomos et al. (2011a) explain that empirical evidence on the relation-
ship between teacher-teacher cooperation (more specifically, conceptual-
ised in their study as professional community) and student achievement
is diverse and has produced mixed results, ranging from small to medi-
um impacts. Although relatively small, their meta-analysis shows that the
relationship between professional community and student achievement is
positive and significant. That well-developed professional learning com-
munities have a positive impact on both teaching practice and student
achievement was also confirmed in a review by Vescio, Ross and Adams
(2008). A thorough analysis is reported by Akiba and Liang (2016) in which
they used a longitudinal study design to show that teacher-centred collab-
orative activities to learn about mathematics teaching and learning, name-
ly teacher collaboration and informal communication, are more effective in
improving student mathematics achievement compared to learning activ-
ities that do not necessarily involve such teacher-centred collaborative op-
portunities. Examples include professional development programmes, uni-
versity courses and individual learning activities.
Our literature search on the studies using ILSA data also provided ev-
idence that student achievement is positively associated with teachers and
schools working as professional learning communities. Lomos, Hofman
and Bosker (2011b) applied cluster analysis and hierarchical linear mod-
elling to the TIMSS 2003 data to investigate the relationship between the
aspects of mathematics department units as professional learning com-
munities (as described in the conceptual background) and student achieve-
ment in Dutch secondary schools. The study showed that those depart-
ments which worked as professional learning communities are associated
with successful schools and higher student achievement. After controlling
for background variables at the student and teacher/school levels, an addi-
tional 7% of the variance among schools was explained by the presence of
the above-mentioned dimensions of mathematics departments as profes-
sional communities. However, only the focus on student learning showed
a direct positive effect on achievement in the model which, according to
the authors, indicated that higher expectations of teachers with respect to
227
Link between teacher-teacher cooperation
and student achievement
In this section, we start by shortly discussing general evidence on the link
between teacher-teacher cooperation and student achievement. After that,
we present the results found specifically from the ILSA studies.
Lomos et al. (2011a) explain that empirical evidence on the relation-
ship between teacher-teacher cooperation (more specifically, conceptual-
ised in their study as professional community) and student achievement
is diverse and has produced mixed results, ranging from small to medi-
um impacts. Although relatively small, their meta-analysis shows that the
relationship between professional community and student achievement is
positive and significant. That well-developed professional learning com-
munities have a positive impact on both teaching practice and student
achievement was also confirmed in a review by Vescio, Ross and Adams
(2008). A thorough analysis is reported by Akiba and Liang (2016) in which
they used a longitudinal study design to show that teacher-centred collab-
orative activities to learn about mathematics teaching and learning, name-
ly teacher collaboration and informal communication, are more effective in
improving student mathematics achievement compared to learning activ-
ities that do not necessarily involve such teacher-centred collaborative op-
portunities. Examples include professional development programmes, uni-
versity courses and individual learning activities.
Our literature search on the studies using ILSA data also provided ev-
idence that student achievement is positively associated with teachers and
schools working as professional learning communities. Lomos, Hofman
and Bosker (2011b) applied cluster analysis and hierarchical linear mod-
elling to the TIMSS 2003 data to investigate the relationship between the
aspects of mathematics department units as professional learning com-
munities (as described in the conceptual background) and student achieve-
ment in Dutch secondary schools. The study showed that those depart-
ments which worked as professional learning communities are associated
with successful schools and higher student achievement. After controlling
for background variables at the student and teacher/school levels, an addi-
tional 7% of the variance among schools was explained by the presence of
the above-mentioned dimensions of mathematics departments as profes-
sional communities. However, only the focus on student learning showed
a direct positive effect on achievement in the model which, according to
the authors, indicated that higher expectations of teachers with respect to
227
