Professional competence of teachers: Effects on instructional quality and student development.
Abstract
This study investigates teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, professional beliefs, work-related motivation, and self-regulation as aspects of their professional competence. Specifically, it examines how these aspects impact instruction and, in turn, student outcomes. In a nationally representative sample of 194 German secondary school mathematics classes, multiple measures were used to assess teacher competence, instructional quality, and students’ achievement and motivation. The effect of teachers’ professional competence on student outcomes was estimated in a 1-year repeated-measures design. Two-level structural equation models revealed positive effects of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, enthusiasm for teaching, and self-regulatory skills on instructional quality, which in turn affected student outcomes. In contrast, teachers’ general academic ability did not affect their instruction. The multidimensional model of teachers’ professional competence introduced in this article seems suited to stimulate further research on the personal indicators of teacher quality.
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Play supports learners' skills, such as spatial reasoning, pattern recognition and logical sequencing, all fundamental to mathematical understanding.
“Researchers indicate that play supports learners' skills, such as spatial reasoning, pattern recognition and logical sequencing, all fundamental to mathematical understanding. 25”
From Integrating Play-Based Learning with Coding for Early Childhood Mathematics Education in Under-Resourced Schools (2025) · cites this paper as [25]
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Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge, Cognitive Activation in the Classroom, and Student Progress
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Fauth, B., Decristan, J., Decker, A.-T., Büttner, G., Hardy, I., Klieme, E., & Kunter, M. (2019) · Teaching and Teacher Education · doi:10.1016/j.tate.2019.102882 · Cited by 484 · see citing works
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Self-citationTeachers' well-being and job satisfaction: the important role of positive emotions in the workplace
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Self-citationLongitudinal relations between teaching-related motivations and student-reported teaching quality
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Wartenberg, G., Aldrup, K., Grund, S., & Klusmann, U. (2026) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543261455273 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Kunter, M., Klusmann, U., Baumert, J., Richter, D., Voss, T., & Hachfeld, A.
- Affiliations
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education (DE)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (DE)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
- Freie Universität Berlin (DE)
- Venue
- Journal of Educational Psychology
- Published
- 2013-08
- Volume
- 105
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 805-820
- ISSN
- 0022-0663 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-2176
- OpenAlex
- W1976072050
- Cited by
- 1,553
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 115 · 2025: 154 · 2024: 161 · 2023: 188 · 2022: 188 · 2021: 183 · 2020: 157 · 2019: 113 · 2018: 85 · 2017: 89 · 2016: 56 · 2015: 46 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 2
- FWCI
- 191.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Educational Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- German Research Foundation (BA1461/2-1; BA1461/2-2)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques
- Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Keywords
- teacher competence, pedagogical content knowledge, teacher beliefs, teacher motivation, self-regulation, teaching quality, academic performance, student motivation, mathematics education, secondary school teachers
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