Abstract
The questions of who becomes a teacher and whether the transition to teacher education is associated with a negative selection process have been discussed in both national and international studies on teacher quality (Denzler and Wolter. Cambridge Journal of Education 39(4): 423–441, 2009; Klusmann et al. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie 23(3–4): 265–278, 2009; Hanushek and Pace. Economics of Education Review 14(2): 101–117, 1995). This chapter examines the background to these questions and presents empirical findings on the characteristics of teacher candidates in Germany. First, data on the cognitive and motivational characteristics of prospective mathematics teachers were obtained from the COACTIV-R study of teachers in the induction phase of teacher education. The results revealed considerable differences in the motivational and cognitive characteristics of teacher candidates preparing to teach in the academic track versus other school types. Second, the cognitive and psychosocial attributes of prospective teachers were compared with those of other students, based on data from the Transformation of Secondary School Systems and Academic Careers study (Köller et al. Wege zur Hochschulreife in Baden-Württemberg: TOSCA – Eine Untersuchung an allgemeinbildenden und beruflichen Gymnasien [Educational pathways to college in Baden-Württemberg. TOSCA: a study of traditional and vocational Gymnasium schools]. Leske + Budrich, Opladen, 2004). Again, teacher candidates preparing to teach in the academic versus nonacademic tracks showed considerable differences in cognitive and personal characteristics, but the data did not support the widespread idea that the teacher candidates are a negatively selected group in terms of cognitive and motivational characteristics.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ackerman PL (1996) A theory of adult intellectual development: process, personality, interests, knowledge. Intelligence 22:227–257
Barrick MR, Mount MK (1991) The big five personality dimensions and job performance: a meta-analysis. Pers Psychol 44(1):1–26. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb00688.x
Borkenau P, Ostendorf F (1993) NEO-Fünf-Faktoren-Inventar (NEO-FFI) nach Costa und McCrae: Handanweisung [German version of the NEO five-factor inventory (NEO-FFI): manual]. Hogrefe, Göttingen
Cohen J (1988) Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences, 2nd edn. Erlbaum, Hillsdale
Costa PT, McCrae RR (1992) Revised NEO personality inventory (NEO PI-R) and NOE five factor inventory (NEO-FFI): professional manual. Psychological Assessment Resources, Odessa
Darling-Hammond L (2006) Powerful teacher education. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Denzler S, Wolter SC (2009) Sorting into teacher education: how the institutional setting matters. Camb J Educ 39(4):423–441. doi:10.1080/03057640903352440
Giesen H, Gold A (1993) Leistungsvoraussetzungen und Studienbedingungen bei Studierenden verschiedener Lehrämter. Psychologie Erziehung Unterricht 40:111–124
Hanushek EA, Pace RR (1995) Who chooses to teach (and why)? Econ Educ Rev 14(2):101–117. doi:10.1016/0272-7757(95)90392-L
Heller KA, Perleth C (2000) Kognitiver Fähigkeitstest f 4–12. Klassen (KFT 4–12 + R) [Cognitive abilities test for grades 4–12 (KFT 4–12 + R)]. Hogrefe, Göttingen
Hurtz GM, Donovan JJ (2000) Personality and job performance: the big five revisited. J Appl Psychol 85(6):869–879
Kennedy MM, Ahn S, Choi J (2008) The value added by teacher education. In: Cochran-Smith M, Feiman-Nemser S, McIntyre DJ, Demers KE (eds) Handbook of research on teacher education, 3rd edn. Routledge, New York, pp 1249–1273
Klusmann U, Kunter M, Trautwein U, Lüdtke O, Baumert J (2008) Teachers’ occupational well-being and the quality of instruction: the important role of self-regulatory patterns. J Educ Psychol 100:702–715. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.100.3.702
Klusmann U, Trautwein U, Lüdtke O, Kunter M, Baumert J (2009) Eingangsvoraussetzungen beim Studienbeginn. Werden die Lehramtskandidaten unterschätzt? [Cognitive and psychosocial characteristics upon entry into teacher training: are teacher candidates underestimated?]. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie 23(3–4):265–278
KMK – Secretariat of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany (ed) (2006) Abiturnoten an allgemeinbildenden Gymnasien und integrierten Gesamtschulen: Schuljahr 2004/2005 [Abitur grades at traditional academic-track schools and integrated comprehensive schools: academic year 2004/2005]. KMK, Bonn
Köller O, Watermann R, Trautwein U, Lüdtke O (eds) (2004) Wege zur Hochschulreife in Baden-Württemberg: TOSCA – Eine Untersuchung an allgemeinbildenden und beruflichen Gymnasien [Educational pathways to college in Baden-Württemberg. TOSCA: a study of traditional and vocational Gymnasium schools]. Leske + Budrich, Opladen
Kuncel NR, Hezlett SA, Ones DS (2004) Academic performance, career potential, creativity, and job performance: can one construct predict them all? J Pers Soc Psychol 86(1):148–161. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.148
Kunter M (2011) Forschung zur Lehrermotivation [Research on teacher motivation]. In: Terhart E, Bennewitz H, Rothland M (eds) Handbuch der Forschung zum Lehrerberuf. Waxmann, Münster
Maslach C, Schaufeli WB, Leiter MP (2001) Job burnout. Annu Rev Psychol 52:397–422. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.52.1.397
Nagy G, Trautwein U, Lüdtke O (2010) The structure of vocational interests in Germany: different methodologies, different conclusions. J Vocat Behav 76(2):153–169
Podgursky M, Monroe R, Watson D (2004) The academic quality of public school teachers: an analysis of entry and exit behavior. Econ Educ Rev 23(5):507–518. doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2004.01.005
Pohlmann B, Möller J (2010) Fragebogen zur Erfassung der Motivation für die Wahl des Lehramtsstudiums (FEMOLA) [Motivation for choosing teacher education questionnaire]. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie 24(1):73–84. doi:10.1024/1010-0652/a000005
Poropat AE (2009) A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychol Bull 135(2):322–338. doi:10.1037/a0014996
Ryan RM, Deci EL (2000) Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: classic definitions and new directions. Contemp Educ Psychol 25(1):54–67. doi:10.1006/ceps.1999.1020
Spinath B, van Ophuysen S, Heise E (2005) Individuelle Voraussetzungen von Studierenden zu Studienbeginn: Sind Lehramtsstudierende so schlecht wie ihr Ruf? [University students’ learning- and achievement-related characteristics: are teacher students as bad as their reputation?]. Psychologie Erziehung Unterricht 3:186–197
Thorndike RL, Hagen E (1971) Cognitive abilities test (CAT). Houghton-Mifflin, Boston
Trapmann S, Hell B, Weigand S, Schuler H (2007) Die Validität von Schulnoten zur Vorhersage des Studienerfolgs – eine Metaanalyse [The validity of high-school grades for academic achievement: a meta-analysis]. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Psychologie 21(1):11–27. doi:10.1024/1010-0652.21.1.11
Yeh SS (2009) The cost-effectiveness of raising teacher quality. Educ Res Rev 4(3):220–232. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2008.06.002
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Busine0ss Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Klusmann, U. (2013). Individual Characteristics of Prospective Teachers. In: Kunter, M., Baumert, J., Blum, W., Klusmann, U., Krauss, S., Neubrand, M. (eds) Cognitive Activation in the Mathematics Classroom and Professional Competence of Teachers. Mathematics Teacher Education, vol 8. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5149-5_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5149-5_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5148-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5149-5
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawEducation (R0)