The multi-perspective assessment of pedagogical interaction quality as a tool for teaching development: insights from the INTAKT pilot study

Abstract

Effective pedagogical interactions are an important prerequisite for the cognitive, emotional, and motivational development of students and the health of teachers. Yet the dynamics of pedagogical interactions have not yet been sufficiently conceptualized or adequately researched from multiple perspectives. The INTAKT study addresses these gaps by investigating teachers’ and students’ behaviors and experiences in secondary school classes–from their subjective perspectives (insider view) and by classroom observations (external view). In this paper, we present the INTAKT pilot study, which examined the feasibility of this multi-perspective approach in 16 classes ( n  = 209 students). Descriptive analyses yielded insightful results on the (perceived) quality of 18 interaction features from the distinct perspectives in each participating class, e.g., visualized by radar charts. Effect sizes suggest substantial differences across perspectives, with the largest and most consistent discrepancy observed for cognitive activation ( d ′ > 1.0). We exemplify these results with two contrast groups built on observer ratings (low vs. high quality). A comparison of these two groups indicates that the perspective differences were larger in the low-quality group. In addition, we present how we translated the findings into personalized feedback reports for the participating teachers. As an outlook, we document preliminary psychometric diagnostics. In the discussion, we argue that the INTAKT approach is feasible and yields meaningful findings with high face validity. As for the feedback reports, we discuss their potential to support teachers in reflecting on and developing their instructional practice. Beyond that, we critically reflect on the pilot study's sample quality (small number of classes, convenience sample) and outline the main study's strategy to further analyze the scales’ psychometric properties and the generalizability of the observed effects.