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

2. 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

3. 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

4. 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

5. 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). copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

6. 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). copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

7. 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) copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

8. 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 –message Positive I -message Avoiding Road blocks E.g. judging, praising or mockery. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

9. Training methods Lectures Demonstrations Group discussions Exercises Homework Reflection exercises copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

10. 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? copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

11. Participants SchoolTET n Waiting list/ No TET n Total Class teachers 200 Subject- matter teachers 232649 Total 432669 copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

12. 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

13. 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). copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

14. 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

15. 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, copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

16. 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

17. 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

18. 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

19. 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

20. Contrast of groups for Pre-TET Test and Post-TET Test Comparison groupIntervention group Subject-matter teachers Class teachers Scalest (df)Cohen's dt (df)Cohen's dt (df)Cohen's d Knowledge-2.37(25)*-0.3610.46(22)***2.238.22(19)***-2.19 Dealing with Challenging interaction (DCI) Listening-1.00(25)-0.243.76(22)**0.895.66(19)***1.83 Positive I-Mess. -0.33(25)-0.003.07(22)**0.810.78(19)0.22 Confront I-Mess. -0.76(25)-0.193.89(22)**0.9510.35(19)***2.38 Other I –Mess. 0.12(25)0.181.44(22)0.291.88(19)0.62 Supporting autonomy0.44(25)0.003.19(22)**0.782.34(19)*0.62 Road blocks-0.57(25)-0.151.53(22)0.42-4.75(19)***-1.40 Global rating-0.55(25)-0.143.73(22)**1.1713.27(19)***3.58 Social relations-0.20(24)-0.590.67(22)-0.101.41(15)-0.53 Relationships with p.-0.46(24)-0.10-3.49(21)**-0.621.48(15)-0.38 Self-fulfillment0.95(24)0.16-0.30(21)0.002.22(15)*-0.40 Lack of ill-being sym-0.89 (24)-0.02-0.51(21)-0.08-1.35(15)-0.39

21. Results Reactions: generally pleased with the course. Knowledge: significant improvement during TET Behaviour: 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

22. M(SD) N of the post- TET test Measurement scale Number of items α Comparison group Subject- matter teachers Class teachers Sig.1234567 1 DCI 5(10) a.810.09 (0.07) 260.27 (0.16) 230.47 (0.12) 20***1 2 Knowledge test 8.760.48 (0.39) 261.22 (0.39) 231.26 (0.43) 21***.66***1 3 Course feedback 10.83-4.06 (0.33) 234.20 (0.42) 21ns.16.281 4 Social relations 15.683.80 (0.49) 253.81(0.45) 233.71 (0.32) 16ns-.07.08-.091 5 Relationships with parents 5.663.32 (0.41) 253.19 (0.35) 223.81 (0.46) 16***.22.07.47**-.041 6 Self-fulfillm 21.893.88 (0.35) 253.72 (0.39) 224.19 (0.49) 16**-.01-.00.28.32*.46***1 7 Lack of ill- being symptoms 13.883.92 (0.56) 253.51 (0.81) 223.96 (0.44) 16*.01.03.20.33**.21.51***1 Psychometric Properties of the Measuring Scales and Intercorrelations (Pearson Correlation) among Them

23. 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 copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

24. 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. copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

25. 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 - copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

26. Further studies  Interaction in classroom video tape analyses  Academic achievement of students  Qualitative study of teachers’ new skills copyright: Markus Talvio, www.markustalvio.com

27. 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

28. 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 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