Changes in Teacher Practices Related to Changes in Student Achievement

Understanding changes in student learning outcomes over time is important for educational policy. In view of the fact that teachers and their teaching are key to student learning, the present chapter investigates whether changes in teacher practices are related to changes in achievement between 2011 and 2019. It focuses on representative samples of students in grades four and five and their teachers in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) data from 2011, 2015, and 2019 were merged, and structural equation modelling with mediation was used to examine whether changes in teacher practices were related to changes in science and mathematics achievements from 2011 to 2019. Findings show that changes in most aspects of teaching quality, especially inquiry practices in science, were related to changes in science achievement. Moreover, the relations between increased limitations to teaching (e.g., students feeling tired or hungry, disruptive or uninterested students) to changes in achievement over time was strong in all countries. Given the context of previous research, the results indicate that these limitations to teaching quality may explain decreased achievements or hinder further increases in achievement over time. This is a notable finding with the most serious implications pointing to a need for further research on why student composition and students’ habits in terms of sleep and hunger at school have changed in the Nordic countries and what consequences this may have. Homework decreased over time in most countries, but there were hardly any statistically significant relations. Contributions to educational policy, practice, and research are also discussed.