Add-on study for longitudinal analysis of undergraduate students of winter semester 2010/2011 (NEPS Starting Cohort 5)

On October 01, 2014, the Panel of Teacher Education Students (Lehramtsstudierendenpanel, LAP) was launched as an additional study accompanying Starting Cohort 5–First-Year Students in Higher Education–of the National Educational Panel Study. It focuses especially on (prospective) teachers.

 

AIM

The project "Panel of Teacher Education Students (Lehramtsstudierendenpanel, LAP)" aims to expand the data on teacher education in order to provide a comprehensive view of the development and professionalization of (prospective) teachers during the teacher training program, the preparatory service, as well as in-service and continuing education.

 

Different questions about all phases of teacher education will be answered, including:

• To what extent do student teachers differ from students in other study programs in terms of their interests, professional orientations, and previous educational biographies?
• How are the course of study and academic success related to the level of domain-specific competencies?
• How does the perceived quality of the preparatory service affect career progression?
• What changes are evident in interests, attitudes, and professional self-concept, especially at transitions in the course of study or the course of the second phase of training?
• What conducive conditions can be identified for participation in teacher training courses?
• Which factors have an influence on teachers' professional competencies, e.g., the form of cooperation within the collegium?

 

BACKGROUND

The Panel of Teacher Education Students is an additional study to the Starting Cohort 5 "Students" of the National Education Panel Study (NEPS), which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and conducted by the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) in cooperation with the German Center for Research on Higher Education and Science (DZHW).

 

As part of the NEPS, a panel study was started in 2010 to follow a cohort of first-year students from the winter semester of 2010/2011 through their studies and into their careers (NEPS Starting Cohort 5). Students in teacher training programs were disproportionately considered in the sampling; approximately 5,500 student teachers participated in the first wave of the survey. The total sample covers all types of higher education institutions and disciplines nationwide, and the teacher trainee sample is also representative of the whole of Germany.

 

In 2014, with the launch of the first project phase of the Panel of Teacher Education Students (LAP I), it became possible to supplement the survey program with constructs that are central to research on teacher education. The continuation of the special sample of student teachers and the addition of teacher education-specific survey content to this study (see Procedure and Methods) make it possible to address the research questions listed above and others.

 

Due to the longitudinal approach, which accompanies student teachers from the beginning of their studies into their professional careers and which also addresses the life course before the beginning of their studies through retrospective data, the project considerably improves the data situation on teacher education. The database obtained is made available to the national and international scientific community by the LIfBi Research Data Center.

 

PROCEDURE AND METHODS

The study of the NEPS starting cohort is designed as a panel study that starts at the beginning of the study and follows former first-year students longitudinally into their careers. In the process, the trajectories in various areas of life - e.g., family and partnership, education, training and studies, and employment - are recorded monthly; the school, training, employment, and family histories before the start of studies are collected retrospectively. In addition, a variety of psychological constructs are addressed and domain-specific basic skills (e.g., reading and mathematics), basic cognitive skills, and meta- and social skills are assessed.

 

LAP I - first project phase

The first project phase (LAP I), designed as an additional study to NEPS starting cohort 5, made it possible to survey the special sample of student teachers in more detail. Thus, for the first time, constructs specifically relevant for research on teacher education, which could not be considered in the previous survey waves, were additionally included in the survey program: In this way, it was possible to retrospectively survey the teacher education-specific motivation to choose a course of study as well as to ask questions about self-assessed facets of professional competence as a teacher and the teacher traineeship as a learning environment.

 

LAP II - second project phase

In the second funding phase (LAP II), the survey program was expanded to include questions about the continuing education and training of teachers as well as their cooperation within the collegium, since the majority of the former student teachers had now transitioned to the teaching profession.

Furthermore, students of selected teachers as well as the teachers themselves were asked to answer questions about their perception of teaching. However, due to pandemic-related school closures during the scheduled survey period at the schools, the school survey could not be completed.

As part of the additional surveys due to the Corona pandemic (NEPS-C), a separate questionnaire was also developed for target persons of the LAP, which particularly focuses on the use of digital media during the school closures and the self-efficacy expectation with regard to teaching with digital media.

 

LAP III - third project phase

LAP's program of questions on the digitization of teaching is to be continued in the third project phase (LAP III) in order to explore not only short-term but also medium-term effects of the pandemic-related school closures on teachers and their teaching actions.

Another focus is on individuals who entered the teaching profession through lateral entry. While their path to the teaching profession can be traced with the data, the group will be asked questions specifically about their motivation for entering the teaching profession late in life.

The third and final phase of the project will conclude with a final conference at which key research findings will be discussed with educational policy and practice, and subsequently made available to the general public.

 

FIRST RESULTS

Until 2021, the following constructs have been collected as part of LAP:

Constructs	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Motivation for choosing a teacher education program	X
Beliefs concerning teaching and learning	X		X		X		X	X	X
Self-concept as a teacher	X		X		X		X	X	X
Learning environment of the preparatory service ("Referendariat")		X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Aspects of professional competencies (self-evaluation)			X		X		X	X	X
Cooperation between colleagues					X		X	X	X
Teacher training and further education					X		X	X	X
Handling digital media							X	X	X
Proactive behavior							X	X	X

 

The data of the starting cohort students SC5 of the NEPS, and thus also the database obtained within the framework of LAP, are regularly made available to the national and international research community by the LIfBi Research Data Center [external link].

 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:

 

Franz, S., Fackler, S., & Paetsch, J. (2022). Profiles of pre-service teachers’ personality traits and cognitive abilities: Relations with graduation and teacher self-efficacy. European Journal of Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2022.2114896

Franz, S., Gäckle, S., & Menge, C. (in press). Übergänge von Lehramtsabsolventinnen und -absolventen. Wer verbleibt im ersten Jahr nach Studienabschluss auf dem Weg zur Lehrkraft? In J. Ordemann, S. Buchholz, & F. Peter (Eds.), Vielfalt von Bildungsverläufen: HERSS – Higher Education Research and Science Studies. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

Schaeper, H., Ortenburger, A., Franz, S., Gäckle, S., Menge, C., & Wolter, I. (under review). The German Panel of Teacher Education Students: Surveying (prospective) teachers from higher education into working life. In S. Bayer, T. Blask, T. Gnambs, M. Jansen, D. Maehler, A. Meyermann, & C. Neuendorf (Eds.), Data for Psychological Research in the Educational Field. Journal of Open Psychological Data.

Costa, J., Franz, S., & Menge, C. (under review). Stays abroad of teacher education students and their relation to teachers' beliefs about cultural diversity in classrooms.

Franz, S., & Paetsch, J. (submitted). Academic and social integration and their relationship to dropping out of teacher education vs. other programmes of study

 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT:

 

• Dr. Andreas Ortenburger, German Center for Research on Higher Education and Science Studies GmbH (DZHW) (from 02/2020).
• Dr. Hildegard Schaeper, German Center for Research on Higher Education and Science Studies GmbH (DZHW) (until 01/2020).
• Prof. Dr. Ilka Wolter, Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) (from 2020)
• Dr. Thomas Bäumer, Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories (LIfBi) (until 2020).

INFORMATION:

 

• Project title: Add-on Study for Longitudinal Analysis of undergraduate Students of Winter Semester 2010/2011 (NEPS Starting Cohort 5)
• Funded by: German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
• Contact: sebastian.franz@lifbi.de

 

• Project duration LAP III: July 2021 - June 2023
• Project duration LAP II: January 2019 - June 2021
• Project duration LAP I: October 2014 - December 2018