91̽»¨

Past dissertations

Mari Lindström

Relationships with student achievement 

Date: May 23 
Time: 13:00
Place: Kjell Härnqvistsalen (AK2 155) Hus A, Pedagogen, Västra hamngatan 25
The dissertation is broadcasted via the following . 

Disputation Mari Paloniemi Lindström |University 91̽»¨

Teacher competence is a widely-debated topic in the educational research. While it is acknowledged that the quality of teachers matters for student learning and performance, there is ongoing discussion about which aspects of quality matter most. This thesis explores how various aspects of teachers’ professional competence and working conditions relate to student achievement in the Swedish middle school context (grades 4-6). The thesis comprises three empirical studies and utilizes International large-scale assessment data (TIMSS and PIRLS) as well as register data to explore these relationships. Studies I and II investigate how different teacher qualifications, teachers’ reading specializations, reading comprehension activities, and cognitive activation strategies in grade 4 are associated with student performance in mathematics and reading in grade 4 and across multiple subjects in grade 6. Study III explores the influence of teachers’ working conditions and school climate on teacher job satisfaction and student achievement in grade 4. 

The findings lend support to the importance of formal education level and teachers’ subject-specific specializations for student performance. The findings further suggest that teachers’ reading comprehension activities and their cognitive activation strategies in grade 4 may have positive long-term cross-subject influences. In addition, the thesis highlights the importance of a positive school climate for both teacher job satisfaction and student performance

Opponent: professor, Rolf Vegar Olsen, Oslo University (UiO)
Supervisor: docent Stefan Johansson, University 91̽»¨
Assisting supervisor: Senior researcher Linda Borger, University 91̽»¨

Lena Asp

A student perspective of a mathematics classroom

Date: June 13th 
Time: 09:00
Place: AK2 137, Pedagogen Hus A, Västra hamngatan 25
The dissertation will be broadcasted via Zoom webbinarium. Link will be published shortly before. 

Disputation Lena Asp | Göteborgs universitet

High-quality teaching is assumed to provide students with learning opportunities that may mitigate educational inequities and narrow achievement gaps. However, empirical findings are mixed, while some studies report significant, positive relations between teaching quality and student learning outcomes, others do not. Measuring the multidimensional construct of teaching quality presents conceptual and methodological challenges. In the thesis, teaching quality is operationalised through aggregated student perceptions of mathematics teachers’ practices and instruction, yielding a valid and reliable measure.

This thesis comprises three empirical studies using secondary data from the Trends in International Mathematics and 91̽»¨ Study (TIMSS) 2019 for Grade 4. Study I examines the construct validity of the mixed-worded mathematics confidence scale and the linguistic equivalence across translated questionnaire items. Study II investigates the relationships between aspects of teaching quality and the two outcomes of mathematics confidence and mathematics achievement in Sweden, both at the student and classroom levels. Study III extends the analysis to include a cross-national comparison of four Nordic countries, investigating classroom composition effects while accounting for student background factors.

The findings showed that classroom management related positively to mathematics achievement, while instructional clarity was significantly related to mathematics confidence. There are indications that teaching quality may mitigate the negative influence of low SES on academic achievement. Classroom level composition effects were observed across the Nordic countries, with SES and home language as key factors for classroom-level mathematics achievement.

Opponent: Leonidas Kyriakides, professor, University of Cyprus
Supervisor:  Alli Klapp, docent, University 91̽»¨
Assisting supervisor: Victoria Rolfe, senior researcher, University 91̽»¨

You can read the entire publication in the link below: