New roles for the teacher in adult education ECER Budapest 11 September 2015 Bjarne Wahlgren, Aarhus University, Denmark Sia Hovmand Sørensen, The Danish Evaluation Institute

Aim of the study In the context of five Adult Education Centres in Denmark, the aim of the study is examine the development of teachers’ relational competences and actions as a result of participating in various teacher training activities and to examine whether such development reduce dropout rates among students.

Background Drop-out rates are close to 30% in the adult educational system in Denmark New target group which is difficult to retain Previous intervention activities (Cooperative Learning) show no effect Factors related to the teachers’ relational competences and the learning environment seem to have some positive effect

Assumptions It is the basic assumption for the study that drop- out is a process caused by a combination of external and internal factors, i.e. –The students’ social and personal background –The educational culture at the school –The teachers competences

Research questions Which competences do teachers develop through participating in the training program? Is the competence converted into (new) relational activities? Does the teachers’ competence development contribute to reducing the dropout rates?

The teachers’ training program The program includes: Knowledge of different types of students’ preconditions Classroom management Communicative competences Knowledge sharing activities among the teachers Supported by a training programme for the head teachers

Research design A precise description of the training program (cause variable) Assessing the development of the teachers (first effect variable) Measuring the drop-out rates over years (second effect variable)

Data collection Electronic questionnaires for teachers to access the development of the teachers’ social competences and activities (baseline + follow-up. app. 200 teachers participated at both times) Interviews with and written logs by teachers to access what they actually do (x 3) Systematic registrations to measure the dropout rates over five years constitute the baseline, constitute the intervention period.

The teacher training programmes have a differentiated effect on core participants and other teachers For the core teachers we find an overall impact of the interventions on both relational competences and relational activities For the other teachers we find that the knowledge sharing activities and a change in school-culture have an overall impact on relational activities Findings from survey

Relational competences Significant developments for core participants: Perceive themselves to be better at coping with conflicts between students (mean dif.= with t(47)=2.99, p<0.05). Perceive themselves to be better at giving students subject-related appreciative feedback (mean dif.= with t(49) =1.96, p<0.10). Perceive themselves to be better at speaking to a student about his/her personal situation outside the classroom (mean dif.= t(49)=2.132, p<0.05).

Relational actions (1) Significant developments for core participants: More often acted upon discovering a student who is not thriving (Mean dif. = with t(50) = , p< 0.05) More often spoke to a student about his/her well-being in college (Mean dif. = with t (50) = , p< 0.05) More often spoke to a student about his/her personal situation outside the classroom (Mean dif.= with t(50) = -2,680, p<0.05)

Relational actions (2) Significant developments for other teachers: More often praised students for active participation (mean dif. = - 0,328 with t(136)=-2,498 p<0.05) More often spoke to a student about his/her well-being in college ( Mean dif. = with t (136) = p<0.05) More often coped with conflicts between students (Mean dif , with t (136) = , p< 0.05)

Findings from interviews The three rounds of interview shows a clear development in the teachers perception of the content of the ‘new role’ The change is speeding up at the end of the project Relation between subject-oriented actions and not subject-oriented actions changes, in favor for the latter Individual change imbedded in change in school-culture The enlargement of the teachers’ new roles seems to be internalized

The expanded teacher role “I think we have many functions. We don’t just teach. You can hardly be a teacher without working with relations. We’ve just never worked with it systematically. I used to think ‘ah, this takes time from my teaching’. But if we are able to establish this relation to the student, we can almost pour knowledge into them; if we don’t have it, there’s hardly any connection at all. Now I know that working with relationships is part of my job.” (Interview at the end of the intervention period).

While absence rates are fairly constant over the years, the drop-out rates have clearly been reduced. This goes for all three levels at the adult edcuation centres –HF2: 32 % to 26 % –Hfe:37 % to 32 % –AVU: 19 % to 16 % Clear difference in comparision between five participating centers and four other centers Findings on dropout rates

In conclusion A training program for teachers have a documented effect on the teachers’ actions and developed ‘a new role’ The development was imbedded in the cultural change at the school-culture The ‘new role’ has a positive effect on the dropout rates whithout lovering the quality of the teaching

Questions for discussion Why do we not find any change in the relational competences in the group of ‘other teachers’? Why do the two groups develop different relational actions? Why do we not find any systematic and significant change in the absence rates?

National Centre of Competence Development: Bjarne Wahlgren: Sia Hovmand Sørensen: Contact