Currently, teacher education has become a central issue of educational reforms in many countries (Darling-Hammond, 2009; Schleicher, 2012). In this discourse, it is considered ‘gold standard’ that reforms in teacher education should be grounded in evidence-based concepts effectively fostering teachers´ competencies– for example, the basic competence to analyse, understand and diagnose situations of learning and instruction (Eilam & Poyas, 2006; Sherin et al., 2011). This competence is understood as the ability “to (1) trans­late knowledge into con­cre­te situations, to (2) adopt multiple pers­pec­ti­ves, to (3) depict classroom situ­ations in a dif­fe­ren­tiated way, to (4) use theory and different perspec­ti­ves to draw con­­clu­sions about the case at hand, and to (5) focus on cen­tral aspects of the learning and instruction pro­cesses“ (Goeze et al., 2010, p. 1099). In randomised controlled lab-studies, this competence could be fostered sustainably through a new concept of video case-based learning (Goeze et al., 2010). It is characterized by authentic video cases (10-15 minutes each) from English L2 school lessons which have been integrated into a computer-supported learning environment. These video cases were enriched by instructional support in form of hyperlinks to conceptual knowledge (models and theories of learning and instruction) as well as hyperlinks to multiple perspectives (authentic statements of teachers and students being shown in the respective video).

Having proven the effectiveness in the lab, now the key question is: Under which conditions can this evidence-based concept be implemented successfully into everyday teacher education, i.e. with sustaining effects? A crucial factor of the implementation process was varied systematically in the quasi-experimental field study presented here: the degree of educational autonomy teacher educators had while implementing the concept.

Two contradicting aspects contributed to the choice of this variable: Considering teacher educators who are used to act more or less autonomously in their practice grounded on their own teaching beliefs, attitudes, experiences, and their local contexts (Fitzgerald et al., 2009; Hedges, 2007) and according to Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985), teacher educators’ acceptance of and willingness to get involved (here: to implement a new pedagogical concept) decreases the less autonomy they have while doing it. They may be counteracting new concepts if they feel that their own autonomy is restricted. This assumption is further supported by empirical findings on reactance (Brehm & Brehm, 1981). Similarly, successful implementation also depends on how learners (here: student teachers) themselves are interested and make use of innovative concepts. On the other hand, first experimental implementation studies by Penuel and colleagues (2007) revealed that such an implementation process is most successful if the pedagogical innovation is rea­lised as closely as possible in accordance with the original concept.

Against this backdrop, the research question is: What is the impact of different degrees of educational autonomy (low/middle/high) teacher educators have while implementing the evidence-based concept of video case-based learning (mentioned above) into their regular teacher training courses on (a) its effectiveness in fostering student teachers´ competence to diagnose situations of learning and instruction, and (b) on teacher educators´ acceptance of this new concept?

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