Theme: Enhancing Strategies – ongoing research seminar

Teacher Development: Relational Competence in Teaching

DorteAagaard, PhDstudent, Aarhus University, Denmark

Keywords
Teacher development, relational competence, interpersonal skills, person centered, learner centered, classroom management

Abstract
Thetopic of my PhD project is the development of teachers’ personal competences, with particular emphasis on a specific aspect: the development of relational competence.

I am conducting a study of classroom teaching in secondary schools from an interpersonal perspective, focusing on the relationship between teacher and students. The teaching observationswill bevideo-recorded, and at subsequent interviews with teachers and students the videos will be played and commented on usingvideo-stimulated recall.

The project is predominantly inspired by and theoreticallybased onLearner-Centered Instruction or Learner-Centered Teaching, which rests on a humanistic, constructivist foundation emphasizing the learner and the learning process.

This theory will be tested in a Danish context, and on the basis of the findings, I will develop and test intervention for pre-service and in-service teachers.

Thus, the study operates on four levels:

  1. Observable relational competence in teaching
  2. Teachers’ perception and awareness of this competence
  3. Students’ perception and awareness of this competence
  4. Possible approaches to developing teachers’ relational competence

The seminar
At the seminar I will briefly demonstrate the growing importance of teachers’ relational competences. First, I will discuss both the role playedby an increasing heterogeneity in the classroom and the results of an extensive meta-study (Cornelius-White,J: Learner-Centered Teacher-Student Relationships Are Effective: A Meta-Analysis, 2007) on the association between educational innovations and students’ learning outcomes.

Then I will present a small part of the theory and some of the interpersonal parameters that have been chosen for the study. In the last part of the seminar, I will invite the participants to discuss the topic as well as methodological issues.

References
Cornelius-White, J. and A. Harbaugh: Learner-Centered Instruction, 2010, SAGE Publications
Cornelius-White, J: Learner-Centered Teacher-Student Relationships Are Effective: A Meta-Analysis, 2007
Dansk Clearinghouse: Lærerkompetencerogeleverslæringiførskoleogskole, 2007

Evertson, C. and C. Weinstein: Handbook of classroom management: research, practice and contemporary issues, 2006.

Gazda, G., et al.: Human Relations Development. A Manual for educators, 2005

Jensen, Helle & Jesper Juul: Pædagogisk relationskompetence: fra lydighed til ansvarlighed.2ndedition,Copenhagen: Apostrof 2003

Rowe, V.C: ”Using video-stimulated recall as a basis for interviews: some experiences from the field”, in Music Education Research, 11:4, 425-437.