Observing teaching principles in school - Development and Validation of an Observation Protocol (OPTIS)

Abstract

Instructional quality seems to have a considerable impact on students’ achievements. Unpacking instructional quality through observation is an increasingly used method in educational research. Although a great variety of observational measurements for school observation are available, there is a lack of a valid, reliable, and subject-independent observation protocols. Furthermore, observation protocols that do not solely serve evaluation purposes, and are based on a constructivist learning tradition and a comparative literature analysis of existing teaching principles are missing. This study aims to address this lack by developing an observation protocol that helps observers to identify the applied teaching principles during class. The developmental validation process of the observation protocol Observing Principles of Teaching In School (OPTIS) is detailed, and the piloting via video-recorded and real-time teaching is described. Inter- and intra-observer reliability, computed with Gwet’s AC2, for two independent observers achieved an almost perfect agreement. Several expert rounds and theoretical foundations provided evidence for high predictive validity. Overall, test- and piloting results present evidence regarding the psychometric properties of the OPTIS protocol.