Using the "Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, Dec 2010

For some time in Australia, the Schools Council of the National Board of Employment, Education. and Training has been concerned with issues concerning the quality of teaching as evidenced through its reports on Teacher Quality: An Issues Paper (1989) and Australia's Teachers: An Agenda for the Next Decade (1990). These reports and others highlight the need for teachers to examine continually what they do in their classrooms. Most recently, teacher quality and the need for continued professional development of teachers has been the subject of a ministerial statement (Beazley, 1993). This report notes how the impact of, and responsibility for, effective implementation of change in curriculum and teaching practice falls mainly on teachers. This article assists teachers because it focuses on a technique which teachers can use for examining what is occurring in their own classrooms.

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Using the "Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction

J. (1995). Using the "Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction" in the Professional Development of Teachers.. Australian Journal of Teacher Education Australian Journal of Teacher Education 0 Darrell Fisher Curtin University of Technology 1 John Cresswell Curtin University of Technology 2 Barry Fraser Curtin University of Technology 3 Carol A. Christensen The University of Queensland Part of the Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons Recommended Citation - Article 2 Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte USING THE QUESTIONNAIRE ON TEACHER INTERACTION IN THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS Darrell Fisher Barry Fraser John Cresswell Curtin University of Technology For some time in Australia, the Schools Council of the National Board of Employment, Education. and Training has been concerned with issues con­ cerning the quality of teaching as evidenced through its reports on Teacher Quality: An Issues Paper (1989) and Australia's Teachers: An Agenda for the Next Decade (1990). These reports and oth­ ers highlight the need for teachers to examine continually what they do in their classrooms. Most recently, teacher quality and the need for continued professional development of teachers has been the subject of a ministerial statement (Beazley, 1993). This report notes how the impact of, and responsibility for, effective implementa­ tion of change in curriculum and teaching prac­ tice falls mainly on teachers. This article assists teachers because it focuses on a technique which teachers can use for examining what is occurring in their own classrooms. ASSESSING INTERPERSONAL BEHAVIOUR OF TEACHERS IN THE CLASSROOM International research efforts involving the con­ ceptualisation, assessment and investigation of perceptions of psychosocial aspects of the class­ room environment have firmly established class­ room environment as a thriving field of study (Fraser, 1994; Fraser & Walberg, 1991) . For exam­ ple, recent classroom environment research has focus sed on science laboratory classroom envi­ ronments (McRobbie & Fraser, 1993) , construc­ tivist classroom environments (Taylor, Fraser & White, 1994) and computer-assisted instruction classrooms (Teh & Fraser, in press). Recently, a team of researchers .in The Netherlands extended this research by focusing specifically on the interpersonal relationships between teachers and their students as assessed by the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) (Brekelmans, Wubbels & Creton, 1990; Wubbels, Brekelmans & Hooymayers, 1991; Wubbels, Creton & Hooymayers, 1992; Wubbels & Levy, 1993) . This article describes this instrument, reports its cross-validation with an Australian sample, and describes case studies of its use as a basis for teachers' reflection on their teaching. The Dutch researchers (Wubbels, Creton and Holvast, 1988) investigated teacher behaviour in classrooms from a systems perspective, adapting a theory on communication processes developed by Watzlawick, Beavin and Jackson (1967). Within the systems perspective on communica­ tion, it is assumed that the behaviours of partici­ pants influence each other mutually. The behav­ iour of the teacher is influenced by the behaviour of the students and in turn influences student behaviour. Circular communication processes develop which not only consist of behaviour, but determine behaviour as well. With the systems perspective in mind, Wubbels, Creton and Hooymayers (1985) developed a model to map interpersonal teacher behaviour extrapolated from the work of Leary (1957) . In the adaptation of the Leary model, teacher behav­ iour is mapped with a Proximity dimension (Cooperation, C - Opposition, 0) and an influ­ ence dimension (Dominance, 0, - Submission, S) to form eight sectors, each describing different behaviour aspects: Leadership, Helpful/Friendly, Understanding, Student Responsibility and Freedom, Uncertain, Dissatisfied, Admonishing and Strict behaviour. Figure 1 displays typical behaviours for each sector; for a more detailed explanation of the model, the reader is referred to Wubbels, Brekelmans and Hooymayers (1991). The Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) is based on this model. When the QTI is administered to both teachers and their students, information is provided about the perceptions of teachers and the perceptions of students of the interpersonal behaviour of the teacher. The information obtained by means of the questionnaire includes perceptions of the behaviour of the teacher towards the students as a class, and reflects relatively stable patterns of behaviour over a considerable period. The original 77-item version of the QTI has been shown to be a valid and reliable instrument when used in The Netherlands (Wubbels, Brekelmans & Hooymayers, 1991) . Its cross-cultural validity and usefulness has been confirmed for the USA (Wubbels & Levy, 1991, 1993) . Table 1 indicates alpha reliabilities for samples of students and tea (...truncated)


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Darrell Fisher, Barry Fraser, John Cresswell. Using the "Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2010, Volume 20, Issue 1,