Teaching effectiveness in Spain: Towards an evidence-based approach for informing policymakers

Abstract

This chapter uses a three-stage process of documentary analysis to illustrate how teaching effectiveness is assessed and studied in Spain. We begin by presenting the Spanish legal context, giving a historical overview of the most important education legislation. This is important, as there have been several reforms over recent years, and because of the decentralized model in Spain, which means that competencies and responsibilities are split between the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport and the regional administrations in the autonomous communities. The second part focuses on educational innovations and effective teaching behaviors resulting from policy changes and the traditional and dominant paradigms in the Spanish educational landscape. We use the six teaching effectiveness domains from the ICALT project as a reference: safe learning climate, efficient classroom management, clarity of instruction, activating teaching, teaching-learning strategies, and differentiation. The third part describes empirical research undertaken in three autonomous communities in Spain to assess teaching quality. We look at organizational, human, and curricular factors which can help in interpreting teaching standards and their impact on student engagement. Finally, the conclusions from the research are considered and discussed in terms of potential policy recommendations and practical decisions at both regional and national levels about teachers' initial training, continued training, and professional development.