As stated in the introduction for this symposium, research broadly supports that teacher quality (TQ) and instructional quality (InQua) are positively related with a range of educational outcomes (e.g. Kyriakides, Creemers, & Antoniou, 2013; Seidel & Shavelson, 2007). In this presentation data from the 4th grade sample from the TIMSS 2011 study is used to analyse a structural equation model where the effect of TQ on students’ mathematics achievement is hypothesised to be partly mediated by InQua. Such mediation models have been studied elsewhere, but usually within the context of a single educational system (e.g. Baumert et al., 2010). However, whether or not this structural relationship can be summarized in a universal model across a broader set of educational contexts is an open question. The sample included 205,515 students from 47 countries nested in 10,059 classrooms and teachers with an average classroom size of 20.4 students. A two-level multi-group structural equation model was fitted controlling for gender and SES at the student level. The model fit was entirely satisfactory for the pooled model (RMSEA=.00, CFI=.97, TFI=.97). The fit across countries varied, but given the rather small samples the fit was considered acceptable in most countries. The results clearly supported that both InQua and mathematics achievement were significantly related to several aspects of TQ. Furthermore, cultural patterns emerged in that some characteristics were more relevant for some groups of countries than for others. The pooled model using the data from all countries revealed that participation in professional development activities (PD) and teachers’ sense of preparedness (TP) were the strongest predictors of InQua, and this was replicated to a large extent across countries. TP also had a significant but relatively lower direct effect on achievement. Teachers’ experience was also in the pooled model significantly related to InQua and mathematics achievement, although with more moderate effect sizes and with less consistency across countries. Overall, teachers’ educational level and degree of specialisation in mathematics did not matter for InQua, but had a small direct effect on students’ achievement across countries. Across all countries, mathematics achievement of students at grade 4 was not predicted by InQua and within countries the predictor had a significant effect in only three countries. Correspondingly, the mediation effect of InQua was negligible so that this hypothesis has to be rejected based on the data from TIMSS 2011.

Baumert, J., Kunter, M., Blum, W., Brunner, M., Voss, T., Jordan, A., et al. (2010). Teachers’ mathematical knowledge, cognitive activation in the classroom, and student progress. American Educational Research Journal, 47, 133-180 Creemers, B., Kyriakides, L., & Antoniou, P. (Eds.). (2013). Teacher Professional Development for Improving Quality of Teaching. Dordrecht: Springer. Seidel, T., & Shavelson, R. J. (2007). Teaching Effectiveness Research in the Past Decade: The Role of Theory and Research Design in Disentangling Meta-Analysis Results. Review of Educational Research, 77(4), 454-499.