Teaching behaviours under observation: an instrument for assessing teaching quality in Spain

Abstract

Teachers constitute a key point in the educational process. Therefore, having information about their behaviours inside the classroom can give us very useful data when the intention is to improve teaching effectiveness. This study aims to describe teaching behaviours observed in 344 teachers in 56 public and private schools in Asturias (Spain). Descriptive analyses and analysis of variance have been run in order to answer the research questions. A stepwise regression has been performed too, to identify which teaching skill domains are more important in promoting student engagement. Results have shown positive, significant relationships between all the domains and student academic engagement. Activating teaching, efficient classroom management and teaching-learning strategies seem to be the main teaching skills for increasing student engagement. Interesting differences have also been found in student engagement depending on the standard of teachers’ teaching behaviour.