TEACHING
EXCELLENCE
DATABASE

Classroom leadership is one of the core competences of a teacher (cf. Hattie, 2009; Stough & Montague, 2015). It is not only an essential prerequisite for teaching quality and pupils' learning success, but also important for the well-being and health of all those involved in teaching. At the same time, classroom leadership is the greatest challenge for new entrants to the profession (Chaplain, 2008). In particular, career changers who have completed specialist training without a pedagogical-psychological focus experience classroom leadership as a hurdle for which they feel unprepared. We know from research that targeted training and knowledge help to acquire classroom-leadership skills (Oliver, Webbey & Reschley, 2011), and that video-based training is particularly supportive (Gold et al., 2020). Our project comprises the creation of digital teaching and learning materials for the acquisition of classroom-leadership skills (Lenske & Seethaler, 2024; Seethaler et al., 2021a/b) as well as the design and implementation of a course on classroom leadership for career starters. Siwek-Marcon & Seethaler, in prep.). In our course design, we combine working with teaching and learning materials from the video platform CLIPSS (Classrom Leadership in Primary and Secondary Schools; Lenske & Seethaler, 2024), which we created, with a sound theoretical introduction to classroom leadership (see Siwek-Marcon, 2022) and the use of role plays (Seethaler et al., 2021a/b). In addition, we use feedback tools (Mayr et al., 2019) in the classroom. As part of a case study conducted by the first-year students in one of their classes, the students practise talking to the pupils about their lessons together based on anonymous feedback, analyse their classroom-leadership behaviour in an empirically-based manner and make concrete theory-based deductions. To support this intensive process, there are also individual coaching sessions for the student teachers. The main theoretical base is the Linz Concept of Classroom Leadership (LCC; Lenske & Mayr, 2015) with its 24 action strategies. The aim is for the student teachers already working in the profession to be able to use these action strategies appropriately depending on the situation and to reflect on their classroom-leadership behaviour with the class in a theory-based manner (Mayr et al., 2018). The use of the CLIPSS video platform and the course design will be empirically tested (Seethaler et al., 2024a/b).

Methodology

Based on existing research findings and our own current research projects in the areas of classroom leadership and professionalisation, we have a) created teaching-learning materials (video vignettes on situations relevant to classroom leadership; associated student, parent and teacher interviews; additional material such as observation and analysis sheets) to promote classroom-leadership skills (Lenske & Seethaler, 2024; project ‘CLIPSS - Classroom Leadership in Primary and Secondary Schools, https://clipss.de/index) and b) developed and implemented a course design for career starters (career changers), based on a theory- and evidence-based teaching-learning concept (Seethaler et al, 2021a/b). The theoretical base is the Linz Concept of Classroom Leadership (LCC; Lenske & Mayr, 2015; Lenske & Seethaler, 2024). The LCC comprises three main categories (relationship support, behaviour control, instructional design) with eight action strategies each (see the website https://clipss.de/index for detailed description of the categories and strategies). The video material was designed in such a way that it can be optimally used for teacher training. In other words, in addition to good practice examples in the form of a positive video variant on various classroom-leadership strategies, staged (i.e. script-based) video variants were filmed that depict the same situation in contrast (i.e. with less successful teacher actions and the resulting student behaviour). This makes the videos suitable for the acquisition of both procedural and conditional knowledge. In addition, in-depth video material was developed to delve deeper into individual perspectives (student, teacher and parent perspectives). This change of perspective is essential for professional teaching development, but it must be learnt and practised. The course is designed as an in-service programme and comprises 30 teaching units (2 ECTS). 16 teaching units take place at university on two blocked course days. 2 teaching units are completed online asynchronously with self-study, the remaining 12 units take place online synchronously. This course design (held at off-peak times, blocked attendance, numerous online teaching units, asynchronous elements) takes into account the great heterogeneity of the group of participants and allows compatibility with work and non-work commitments. The course is taught by 2 lecturers. This is also so that individual coaching sessions can take place in parallel and so that the units can be worked on as individually as possible. It depends on the LCC strategy (Lenske & Mayr, 2015) whether the practical or theoretical discussion takes place first. For example, in the case of the video vignette ‘Returning homework’ (https://clipss.de/index), the video is shown first and only then the theoretical background is developed by analysing the associated pupil interviews, considering the LCC action strategies ‘appreciation’, ‘understanding’ and ‘learning status feedback’. On the other hand, in the case of the role play focusing on the LCC strategies ‘clarity of work instructions’ and ‘structuredness’, the theoretical basis is developed first. In a second step, the role play is carried out, in which one of the participants slips into the role of the teacher and the other participants into the roles of the students (cf. Seethaler et al., 2021b). The course design also considers the role of feedback. With the help of the Linz Diagnostic Questionnaire for Classroom Leadership (Mayr et al., 2018) the career starters are able to assess themselves in terms of their classroom leadership. They are also instructed to conduct the questionnaire in one of their classes. The results can be accessed in the free online tool. Based on the results of the assessment, the student teachers enter into a feedback discussion with their pupils, which they analyse and interpret as part of their final written work, the case study, and make theoretically based deductions for their further classroom leadership. By carrying out and implementing the case study, the first-year students take a close look at their own classroom-leadership skills and can reflect on and analyse them. The case study is submitted in writing and extracts from it are presented during the last online appointment.

Tools, equipment, technology used

The teaching and learning resources available on the CLIPPS website (https://clipss.de/index; Lenske & Seethaler, 2024) comprise different materials for the acquisition of classroom-leadership competences: a) Video vignettes on situations relevant to classroom leadership focussing on corresponding action strategies from the Linz Concept of Classroom Leadership (Lenske & Mayr, 2015). b) Additional materials, such as student, teacher and/or parent interviews, which serve to deepen the discussion of the theoretical aspects of the action strategies and thus support analysis and reflection. c) Additional materials for the video vignettes such as perception exercises, analysis or observation sheets. Staged video vignettes have the advantage that they focus on the content relevant to the learning process (condensed if necessary) and exclude irrelevant content from the outset (cf. Lenske, et al., 2022). Furthermore, staged video vignettes also offer the opportunity to show debatable or rather critical teaching situations without exposing students or teachers (this also simplifies compliance with data protection and copyright regulations). Our video vignettes generally focus on 1-3 strategies for classroom leadership from the Linz Concept of Classroom Leadership (LCC; Lenske & Mayr, 2015). They each depict the same initial teaching situation with variable teacher behaviour and, as a result, variable student behaviour. This enables CLIPSS to provide a contrasting view of the same initial teaching situation, whereby there are always at least two (sometimes more) variants. Through the less successful variants, the student teachers learn about the possible consequences of inadequate classroom-leadership behaviour. Through the more successful variants, procedures appropriate to the situation (concrete implementation of classroom-leadership strategies) are shown, encouraging model learning. In this respect, there is a focus on application-related professional knowledge, explicitly conditional-procedural classroom-leadership knowledge (cf. Lenske et al., 2015; Voss et al., 2015). For each teaching situation shown in the video vignettes, there is a brief description outlining the focussed classroom-leadership strategy(ies) and relevant contextual information. In addition, further teaching and learning materials are available for all vignettes, such as scripts, transcripts, parent interviews, pupil interviews, ideas for reflection and observation tasks. All materials can be accessed via https://clipss.de/index. Following the video analysis, two role plays are used as part of the course design, which are taken from the theory-based and empirically-tested course design ‘Teaching/learning arrangements for the acquisition of classroom leadership strategies’ (Seethaler et al, 2021b). The case study is based on the procedure described by Mayr et al. (2021) for reviewing and further developing one's own pedagogical actions. The individual coaching sessions offer the opportunity to discuss individual challenges in classroom leadership and in dealing with pupils with an experienced professional and outside the group as a whole, which makes the learning process and its results more personalised and efficiently addresses the heterogeneous needs of the participants.

Outcomes and outputs, main results

The CLIPSS teaching and learning material is evaluated after development. Empirical findings are already available for some of the vignettes, both in terms of learning facilitation and their authenticity (e.g. Lenske, et al., 2022). Initial results, in particular with regard to the newly developed videos on changing perspectives, also illustrate their conduciveness to learning and their added value and were presented publicly at a conference in July 2024 (Seethaler et al., 2024a). All other elements used in this ‘good practice example’ have already been subjected to empirical testing (Seethaler, 2021a/b; Seethaler, 2024b). At the same time, the composition of the elements is new and adjusted to a target group that already teaches at school but has not been prepared for the requirements of classroom leadership. The course is evaluated by the lecturers as well as by the management of the institution. There is no standardised assessment of knowledge acquisition (Seethaler, Lenske & Krammer, 2024), since it has already been verified that the individual elements of the course design enable significant knowledge growth among participants. However, feedback from the student teachers is obtained as part of the LDC feedback, which they carry out in order to start a feedback discussion with their own class. This feedback includes, for example, the following: “The two attendance days in blocked form and the case study, including presentation and group reflection, have helped me a lot.” “Amazing method kit for my lessons. The feedback done with the LDC including debriefing and case study elaboration was also extremely helpful for me and my teaching.” As part of this formative evaluation, it was also particularly emphasised that the participants rated the content as beneficial for them to implement in their work as teachers. They also emphasised that the LCC action strategies helped them a great deal to lead their class more successfully in their own perception. Furthermore, the participants are enthusiastic about how successful feedback discussions with their classes are and what added value they can derive for themselves and their joint work with the class.

Lessons learnt

In our view, the ‘good practice example’ presented here can be adopted very easily and without complications. The video vignettes and the associated additional material are available free of charge on the CLIPSS website (www.clipss.de), and all the material is available in German and English (the English version will be available in the course of 2025/26). The concept behind the video vignettes and how they can be used is described on the website. The feedback form ‘Linz Diagnostic Questionnaire for Classroom Leadership’ is also available free of charge (including an evaluation tool). The LDC website also contains all the necessary information for use and implementation (www.ldk.aau.at). The role plays used in our course design can all be found in the already published article on the course concept LLEKLas (Seethaler et al. 2021a/b) and can be adopted directly, including the reflection sheet. All theoretical principles are described in detail in the article. Even if the aspects relevant to classroom leadership apply to every type of school and level, they are reflected differently in the individual examples. For this reason, individual coaching was also included in this course design. This is also because some challenges require a more thorough analysis, not ‘just’ the basics of classroom leadership. Particularly because teachers have to shape relationships while at the same time demanding rules and implementing structures, it often becomes clear that the type of communication (e.g. being able to give behaviour-related feedback and not person-related feedback) requires ‘new’ thinking and, if necessary, formulation. The translation of professional knowledge into personal competences is greatly encouraged by the implementation of the case study, as all students have reported so far. An information sheet is available for the implementation of the case study, which can be requested from the authors.

Adaptability and sustainability of the best practice (for other institutions)

Our course design fulfils both criteria, adaptability and sustainability, very well in that the CLIPSS platform is a freely accessible (i.e. also from other institutions in Germany and abroad) collection of high-quality, empirically based video sequences on classroom leadership that has not previously existed in this form. Through their theoretical foundation, the diversity of the available examples and their variations in content, the video sequences can be widely used in the training and further education of teachers. The LDC system used for the case study and feedback discussion is also available online in an open-access format and draws on an empirical basis as well as a broad and constantly growing database; the analyses are generated automatically, which makes the tool easy to use even by teachers with less technical and empirical training.

Promotion of best practice

Our course design has been promoted through a series of publications as well presentations in Austria and abroad. All published works and materials can be found on the CLIPSS website (https://clipss.de/index) as well as on the websites of the project members (see 7.2).

Scope and impact

• Course/department level
• Faculty level
• Institutional level
• Cross-institutional level

Acquiring classroom leadership skills is of particular importance, as has been widely researched and proven internationally. Especially for those starting out in the profession, classroom leadership is the greatest challenge. Because there is a shortage of teachers in Central Europe, there are now training programmes that are attended while career starters already teach at school. This means that these new entrants to the profession are in the classroom without any specific pedagogical and psychological professional knowledge. It is essential for them to acquire declarative and practical knowledge of classroom leadership as quickly as possible and, above all, in a practice-orientated manner, and to be able to apply this knowledge in their own work as teachers. Classroom leadership is a competence that is independent of culture and therefore internationally relevant. Being able to lead a class successfully is the basis for the corresponding learning success of the pupils. In addition, successful classroom leadership increases the well-being of all those involved, both the pupils and the teachers.

6.1 Digitalization

• Outstanding, innovative, excellent practices of online / blended / hybrid learning
• Innovative, novel methodology in using digital tools/devices in teaching
• Novel digital solutions (tools, frameworks, devices, tasks to enhance efficiency and motivation)
• Digital scientific sources used in T&L

Reasoning: The CLIPSS platform is a modern, science-based, open access tool for case analyses and the further development of core classroom-leadership skills with digital support. Furthermore, the course design includes the use of a science-based open access tool (LDC) in order to analyse, reflect on and further develop one's own teaching with regard to classroom-leadership skills and relationship design. This analysis and reflection is used as a proof of performance (constructive alignment).

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6.2 Internationalization

• Other:

  The CLIPSS platform and all accompanying materials are available in both German and English, making them accessible to a wide and international audience on an open access basis.

Reasoning: The CLIPSS platform and all accompanying materials are available in both German and English, making them accessible to a wide and international audience on an open access basis.

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6.3 Inclusion and diversity, universal design

• Inclusive course design, universally designed divers activities to meet special students' needs
• Universally designed teaching material - adjustable for special needs
• Innovative teaching methodology for inclusion and meet diverse student needs
• (Innovative) use of devices and tools for inclusion
• Senzitivizing students to consider special needs when practicing their profession
• Course includes hints on how the services/products of the profession could be universally designed/inclusive

Reasoning: The format of the course itself is highly inclusive due to a number of reasons: First of all, the course is delivered in a hybrid manner (there are both self-study sessions as well as lessons at university, and there are synchronous and asynchronous lessons). Through online lessons, the different needs of the learners can be met. Furthermore, the CLIPSS platform and materials are available in different languages and in open access and accommodate different learning speeds and modes (auditory & visual elements). The short video clips facilitate attention. Moreover, alternative examination formats were developed for students who, for example, did not yet teach at school. In sum, the special needs of students were taken into account throughout the course and all individual concerns were resolved immediately and in the interest of the students.

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6.4 Sustainability

• Teaching material contains profession related sustainability aspects

Reasoning: What makes our course design sustainable is the fact that the participants directly transfer their acquired knowledge and competences into the classroom. Moreover, through their communication with teaching colleagues, they contribute to the distribution of classroom-leadership knowledge. Another aspect of sustainability is the CLIPSS platform itself. Through its accessibility and versatility, the website with its videos and materials can be implemented in a wide range of different contexts.

3.3 Public contact datas

Name	Email address	Website
Elisabeth Seethaler	elisabeth.seethaler@phsalzburg.at	https://clipss.de/index