Improving Teachers’ Reactions to Challenging Interactions: An Intervention Study Markus Talvio¹, Kirsti Lonka¹, Erkki Komulainen¹, and Taru Lintunen² ¹

Improving Teachers’ Reactions to Challenging Interactions: An Intervention Study

Markus Talvio¹, Kirsti Lonka¹, Erkki Komulainen¹, and Taru Lintunen²

¹ University of Helsinki, Finland

² University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Introduction

Theories of educational psychology, especially self-determination theory (Ryan and Deci 2000; Deci and Ryan 2002), emphasize the importance of students’ experience of autonomy, competence and relatedness.

One of the main tasks of the teacher is supporting autonomy in their students (Leroy, Bressoux, Sarrazin, and Trouilloud 2007).

copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

Introduction

With interaction skills, teachers can promote students’ responsibility and the feeling of being included.

Leroy et al. (2007) suggested that by using interaction skills, the intrinsic motivation of the students may also be improved.


According systematic literature review(e.g. Aspegren, 1999; Brown & Bylund, 2008):

Communication skills can be taught and learnt in courses but they are easily forgotten if not maintained in practice

Basic skills can be learnt in a short period of training The teaching method should be experiential, teacher

centerd methods do not give the desired results.


What we do not know is...

Surprisingly little research exists in education...

on how to study, develop and improve social

interaction

what skills are being taught

what is the overarching framework for organizing

communication skills (Cegala & Broz, 2002).


Teacher’ Effectiveness Training

TET is a four-day training which offers the teachers the

communication and conflict resolution skills

Program was developed by Thomas Gordon (1918-2002)

The core components of social and emotional skills

(SEL):

self-awareness, self-management, social awareness,

relationship skills, and responsible decision making

(Elias et al., 1997/ Casel).


Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET)(Gordon, 1974/2003)

The skills taught include

Listening skills

Passive listening (e.g. frowning, nodding, body movements)

Active listening (checking for facts and feelings)


Teacher Effectiveness Training (TET)(Gordon, 1974/2003)

The skills taught include I –Messages (my feeling, description of act of other

person, and tangible effect on me)Confrontation I –messagePositive I -message

Avoiding Road blocksE.g. judging, praising or mockery .


Training methods

Lectures

Demonstrations

Group discussions

Exercises

Homework

Reflection exercises


The research questions were:

In terms of the Gordon’s TET course goals, do teachers in their responses to the DCI cases more often express desired ways of interacting and less often non desired ways of interacting after the TET course?

After the TET training, do teachers more often express autonomy supporting behaviours in their responses?

Do holistic measures indicate teachers’ descriptions overall to be improved in terms of the goals of the TET course?

Do the outcomes of the post test differ from the pre test results in terms of knowledge, behaviour and organizational results?


Participants

School TETn

Waiting list/ No TET

n

Total

Class teachers 20 0 20

Subject-matter teachers

23 26 49

Total 43 26 69


Materials

Pre and post test:

The data were collected in autumn 2007 and again in spring 2008 before and after TET. Also, the data of the comparison group that were on the waiting list but did not participate in the training were collected approximately at the same time.


Measures

Kirkpatrick and Kirkpatrick’s model (2006) stresses the

importance of looking at various levels of the outcomes of

the intervention

reactions of participants (Course feedback)knowledge (Knowledge test) behaviour (DCI) organisational results (School well-being profile).


Reactions

By the Reactions instrument feedback of the TET course was collected, for example the evaluations of the applicability of the course or how it was managed.

It included ten multiple choice questions with a Likert-type

scale with response options ranging from fully disagree to fully agree.

The course fulfilled my expectations and I can apply the studied skills at work were typical statements of the content and the goals of the course.


Knowledge

In the Knowledge instrument, participants were asked to define in their

own words the central concepts of interaction skills studied in the TET.

There were eight questions altogether;

For example, participants were asked to define what is active listening

and to list the components of a positive I-message and explain what is

so called No-lose method of resolving conflicts method,


Behaviour

Behaviour was measured by using the Dealing with Challenging

Interaction (DCI) instrument. Teachers were asked to describe how they would act in seven central

interaction situations at their work. Each task consisted of a description of a common event at school and a

question where the respondent was asked to describe in a few lines

their possible reactions to that event. For example, in an event that involves Confronting the behaviour of a

student, the teacher was asked to describe what he/she would do or

say to a student who is sending text messages during the lesson,

which is against the rules in that school.


Organizational results

There are questions of four categories: Social relations, Relations with

parents, Self-fulfilment and Lack of ill-being symptoms. Social relations category consists of the questions of teachers’

relationships with their students and colleagues. Questions about the relations with parents assess the quality of the

relationships between teachers and students’ parents. Self-fulfilment category consists of the questions assessing teachers’

possibilities to work according to his or her own capabilities and

abilities. With the questions of Lack of ill-being symptoms the psychosomatic

symptoms are assessed to reflect mental health issues Organisational results were measured by modifying the School Well-

being Profile (Konu 2005)copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

Analyses

Correlations among scales in pre- and post-

measurements were calculated. With one-way Anova the significances of the changes in

the answers of the scales between the Pre TET test and

Post TET test were calculated In both time points the association of the scales and

background variables was examined with one-way Anova. The association between change scores and background

variables was examined in this way.


Between other background variables and measurement scales

Background variables: Gender, Working experience, Years worked in

the same school Permanency,Full-time/Part time

After TET the significant differences were found only between

Knowledge test and Permanency of work. Teachers with no

permanent work scored significantly better in Knowledge test

compared to those with a permanent job.

No other statistical differences were discovered.


Contrast of groups for Pre-TET Test and Post-TET Test

Comparison group Intervention group

Subject-matter teachers Subject-matter teachers Class teachers

Scales t (df) Cohen's d t (df) Cohen's d t (df) Cohen's d

Knowledge -2.37(25)* -0.36 10.46(22)*** 2.23 8.22(19)*** -2.19

Dealing with Challenging interaction (DCI)

Listening -1.00(25) -0.24 3.76(22)** 0.89 5.66(19)*** 1.83

Positive I-Mess. -0.33(25) -0.00 3.07(22)** 0.81 0.78(19) 0.22

Confront I-Mess. -0.76(25) -0.19 3.89(22)** 0.95 10.35(19)*** 2.38

Other I –Mess. 0.12(25) 0.18 1.44(22) 0.29 1.88(19) 0.62

Supporting autonomy 0.44(25) 0.00 3.19(22)** 0.78 2.34(19)* 0.62

Road blocks -0.57(25) -0.15 1.53(22) 0.42 -4.75(19)*** -1.40

Global rating -0.55(25) -0.14 3.73(22)** 1.17 13.27(19)*** 3.58

Social relations -0.20(24) -0.59 0.67(22) -0.10 1.41(15) -0.53

Relationships with p. -0.46(24) -0.10 -3.49(21)** -0.62 1.48(15) -0.38

Self-fulfillment 0.95(24) 0.16 -0.30(21) 0.00 2.22(15)* -0.40

Lack of ill-being sym -0.89 (24) -0.02 -0.51(21) -0.08 -1.35(15) -0.39

Results

Reactions: generally pleased with the course.Knowledge: significant improvement during TETBehaviour: significant improvement during TET in all

desired ways of interacting categories (except in Other I-Message and in Positive I-message among class teachers) including supporting autonomy and Global rating categories

Organisational results: Positive development in Self-fullfillment among class teachers and negative development among subject teachers during TET

Teachers of the comparison group did not show progress in any post test results. In Knowledge, a significant negative development was perceived.



M(SD) N of the post- TET test

Measurement

scale

Number

of itemsα

Comparison

group

Subject-

matter

teachers

Class

teachers

Sig

.1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1 DCI 5(10)a .81 0.09 (0.07) 26 0.27 (0.16) 23 0.47 (0.12) 20 *** 1

2 Knowledge

test8 .76 0.48 (0.39) 26 1.22 (0.39) 23 1.26 (0.43) 21 *** .66*** 1

3 Course

feedback10 .83 - 4.06 (0.33) 23 4.20 (0.42) 21 ns .16 .28 1

4 Social

relations15 .68 3.80 (0.49) 25 3.81(0.45) 23 3.71 (0.32) 16 ns -.07 .08 -.09 1

5 Relationships

with parents5 .66 3.32 (0.41) 25 3.19 (0.35) 22 3.81 (0.46) 16 *** .22 .07 .47** -.04 1

6 Self-fulfillm 21 .89 3.88 (0.35) 25 3.72 (0.39) 22 4.19 (0.49) 16 ** -.01 -.00 .28 .32* .46*** 1

7 Lack of ill-

being symptoms13 .88 3.92 (0.56) 25 3.51 (0.81) 22 3.96 (0.44) 16 * .01 .03 .20 .33** .21 .51*** 1

Psychometric Properties of the Measuring Scales and Intercorrelations (Pearson Correlation) among Them

Results

Teachers with a strong Self-fulfillment experienced that

their Social relations and Relationships with parents were

good. In addition, they reported less Ill-being symptoms Teachers who managed well in the Knowledge test

scored better in the DCI instrument. Teachers who felt the Relationships with parents being

positive gave positive Feedback about the TET course


Reflections

The results of this study matched with the goals of the course. The participants showed progress on all the categories which are in the focus of the TET.

However, also the messages of supporting autonomy increased although it was not included explicitly in the course curriculum

According to the present study TET was an effective program to learn basic social and emotional skills among teachers.

The general aim of TET appears to be increasing constructive ways of communication, participatory, decision making and agency in both students and teachers.


Reflections of limitations

Sample is small

There is no information that teachers’ behavior

really changes in challenging situations

The test right after the course is problematic

The attitude towards studying interaction skills

was positive

-


Further studies

Interaction in classroom video tape analyses

Academic achievement of students

Qualitative study of teachers’ new skills


References

Aspegren, K. (1999). BEME Guide No. 2: Teaching and learning communication skills in

medicine-a review with quality grading of articles Medical Teacher, 21, 563 – 570.

Brown, R. F., & Bylund, C. L. (2008). Communication skills training: Describing a new

conceptual model. Academic Medicine, 83(1), 37-44.

Cegala, D. J., & Broz, S. L. (2002). Physician communication skills training: A review of

theoretical backgrounds, objectives and skills. Medical Education, 36(11), 1004-1016.

Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R. M. (2002). Overview of self-determination theory: an organismic

dialectical perspective. In E.L. Deci and R.M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-

determination research (pp. 3-36). University of Rochester Press

Elias, M. J., Zins, J. E., Weissberg, T. P., Frey, K. S., Greenberg, M. T., Haynes, N.M.,

Kessler, R., , Schwab-Stone, M. E., and Shriver, T. P. (1997). Promoting social and

emotional learning: Guidelines for educators. Alexandria, VA: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development.copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

References

Gordon, T. (2003). Teacher Effectiveness Training. New York: Three Rivers Press.

Kirkpatrick, D. L., & Kirkpatrick, J. D. (2006). Evaluating training programs: The four

levels. (Third ed.). San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Konu, A. (2005). School well-being profile. Retrieved May, 26, 2012, from

http://www10.edu.fi/hyvinvointiprofiili/info-eng.html

Lintunen, T. (2006). Social and emotional learning in the school physical education

context. In F. Boen, B. De Cuyper & J. Opdenacker (Ed.) Current research topics in

exercise and sport psychology in Europe. Leuven: Lannoo Campus, 25-33.

Leroy, N., Bressoux, P., Sarrazin, P., & Trouilloud, D. (2007). Impact of teachers' implicit

theories and perceived pressures on the establishment of an autonomy supportive

climate. European Journal of Psychology of Education 22(4), 529-545.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of

intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist,

55(1), 68. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

http://www10.edu.fi/hyvinvointiprofiili/info-eng.html

Documents

Improving Teachers’ Reactions to Challenging Interactions: An Intervention Study Markus Talvio¹, Kirsti Lonka¹, Erkki Komulainen¹, and Taru Lintunen² ¹