Teachers’ sense of responsibility for educational outcomes. A study on the measurement properties of the Teacher Responsibility Scale in Italian primary and secondary school teachers

Maria Cristina Matteucci, Carlo Tomasetto

Accepted April 30, 2018

First published April 30, 2018

https://doi.org/10.26387/bpa.281.2

Abstract

The study explored the measurement properties of an Italian translation of the Teacher Responsibility Scale (TRS) in a sample of primary and secondary school teachers (N = 506). The instrument, based on a multidimensional model of teacher’s responsibility, includes four subscales assessing responsibility for student motivation, student achievement, relationships with students, and teaching. Results from a series of Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) support the hypothesized four-factor structure of the back-translated version of the TRS, with adequate reliability for all subscales, and the metric invariance of the TRS for primary and middle school teachers compared to high school teachers. The Italian TRS appears to be a reliable and valid instrument to assess teachers’ personal responsibility for educational outcomes, both in basic and applied research in teacher evaluation, as well as in the internal school evaluation processes.

Teachers’ sense of responsibility for educational outcomes. A study on the measurement properties of the Teacher Responsibility Scale in Italian primary and secondary school teachers

References

  • ALLISON, P.D. (2002). Missing data: Quantitative applications in thesocial sciences. British Journal of Mathematical and StatisticalPsychology, 55, 193-196.

    doi.org/10.1348/000711002159653
  • ANDERSON, J.A. & INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOREDUCATIONAL PLANNING (2005). Accountability ineducation. Paris: International Institute for Educational Planning.

  • ARBUCKLE, J. (2013). AMOS 22. User’s Guide. Chicago, IL:SmallWaters Corporation.

  • BENTLER, P.M. (1990). Comparative fit indexes in structuralmodels. Psychological bulletin, 107, 238-246. doi.org/http://dx.

    doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.2.238BERGER, J.-L., GIRARDET, C. & APREA, C. (2013, August).Motivation, sense of responsibility, and classroom managementself-reported practices in vocational teachers. Paper presentedat the 15th Biennial Conference of the European Associationfor Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI), Munich,Germany, August 27-31.
  • BYRNE, B.M. (2004). Testing for multigroup invariance using AMOSgraphics: A road less traveled. Structural Equation Modeling, 11,272-300.

    doi.org/10.1207/s15328007sem1102_8
  • CHEUNG, G.W. & RENSVOLD, R.B. (2002). Evaluatinggoodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance.Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233-255.

    doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5
  • COLEMAN, J.S. (1968). The concept of equality of educationalopportunity. Harvard Educational Review, 38, 7-22.

  • DANIELS, L.M., RADIL, A. & WAGNER, A.K. (2016). Concordancebetween Preservice Teachers’ Personal Responsibilities andIntended Instructional Practices. The Journal of ExperimentalEducation, 84, 529-553.

    doi.org/10.1080/00220973.2015.1054333
  • EREN, A. (2014). Uncovering the links between prospective teachers’personal responsibility, academic optimism, hope, and emotionsabout teaching: A mediation analysis. Social Psychology ofEducation, 17, 73-104.

    doi.org/10.1007/s11218-013-9243-5
  • EREN, A. (2015). ‘Not only satisfied and responsible, but alsohopeful’: Prospective teachers’ career choice satisfaction, hope,and personal responsibility. Cambridge Journal of Education, 45(2), 149-166.

  • EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2013). Supporting Teacher CompetenceDevelopment for Better Learning Outcomes. Retrived from http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/school/doc/teachercomp_en.pdf

  • EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2014). The Structure of the EuropeanEducation Systems 2014/15: Schematic Diagrams. Resourcedocument European Commission. Retrived from http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/facts_and_figures_en.php#diagrams

  • FINCHAM, F.D. & JASPARS, J.M. (1980). Attribution ofresponsibility: From man as the scientist to man as lawyer. InL. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in Experimental Social Psychology.New York NY: Academic Press.

  • GUGLIELMI, D., BRUNI, I., SIMBULA, S., FRACCAROLI, F.& DEPOLO, M. (2016). What drives teacher engagement: Astudy of different age cohorts. European Journal of Psychology ofEducation, 31, 323-340.

    doi.org/10.1007/s10212-015-0263-8
  • GUSKEY, T.R. (1981). Measurement of the responsibilityteachers assume for academic successes and failures in theclassroom. Journal of Teacher Education, 32 (3), 44-51.

    doi.org/10.1177/002248718103200310
  • GUSKEY, T.R. (1982). Differences in teachers’ perceptions ofpersonal control of positive versus negative student learningoutcomes. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 7 (1), 70-80.

    doi.org/10.1016/0361-476X(82)90009-1
  • GUSKEY, T.R. (1984). The influence of change in instructionaleffectiveness upon the affective characteristics of teachers.American Educational Research Journal, 21 (2), 245-259.

  • GUSKEY, T.R. (1988). Teacher efficacy, self-concept, and attitudestoward the implementation of instructional innovation. Teachingand Teacher education, 4 (1), 63-69.

  • HAGGARD, P. & TSAKIRIS, M. (2009). The experience of agencyfeelings, judgments, and responsibility. Current Directionsin Psychological Science, 18, 242-246.

    doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01644.x
  • HALVORSEN, A.L., LEE, V.E. & ANDRADE, F.H. (2009). A mixed-method study of teachers’ attitudes about teaching in urbanand low-income schools. Urban Education, 44, 181-224.

    doi.org/10.1177/0042085908318696
  • HAMILTON, V.L. (1978). Who is Responsible? Toward aSocial Psychology of Responsibility Attribution. SocialPsychology, 41, 316-328. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3033584

  • HOOPER, D., COUGHLAN, J. & MULLEN, M. (2008). Evaluatingmodel fit: A synthesis of the structural equation modellingliterature. In A. Brown (Ed.), 7th European Conference onresearch methodology for business and management studies. UK:Academic Published Limited Reading.

  • KUMAR, R., KARABENICK, S.A. & BURGOON, J.N. (2015).Teachers’ implicit attitudes, explicit beliefs, and the mediatingrole of respect and cultural responsibility on mastery andperformance-focused instructional practices. Journal ofEducational Psychology, 107, 533-545. doi.org/http://dx.

    doi.org/10.1037/a0037471
  • LAGNADO, D.A. & CHANNON, S. (2008). Judgments of cause andblame: The effects of intentionality and foreseeability. Cognition,108, 754-770.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.06.009
  • LAUERMANN, F. (2014). Teacher responsibility from the teacher’sperspective. International Journal of Educational Research, 65,75-89. doi.org/http://dx.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2013.09.005
  • LAUERMANN, F. & KARABENICK, S.A. (2011). Taking teacherresponsibility into account(ability): Explicating its multiplecomponents and theoretical status. Educational Psychologist, 46,122-140.

    doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2011.558818
  • LAUERMANN, F. & KARABENICK, S.A. (2013). The meaningand measure of teachers’ sense of responsibility for educationaloutcomes. Teaching and Teacher Education, 30, 13-26.

    doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.10.001
  • LEE, V.E. & SMITH, J.B. (1996). Collective responsibility for learningand its effects on gains in achievement for early secondary schoolstudents. American Journal of Education, 104, 103-147. Retrivedfrom http://www.jstor.org/stable/1085702

  • LENK, H. & MARING, M. (2001). Responsibility and technology. InA.E. Auhagen & H.W. Bierhoff (Eds.), Responsibility: The manyfaces of a social phenomenon. London, New York NY: Routledge.

  • LESTER,P.E.(1987).Developmentandfactoranalysisoftheteacherjobsatisfaction questionnaire (TJSQ). Educational and PsychologicalMeasurement, 47, 223-233.

    doi.org/10.1177/0013164487471031
  • MATTEUCCI, M.C. (2007). Teachers facing school failure: Socialrepresentations of intelligence and behavioural feedback. SocialPsychology of Education, 10, 29-53.

    doi.org/10.1007/s11218-006-9011-x
  • MATTEUCCI, M.C. (2008). Transferring corporate socialresponsibility to the school context: Teachers’ perceivedresponsibilityforstudents’failure.InA.R.Timpere(Ed.),CorporateSocial Responsibility. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.

  • MATTEUCCI, M.C. & GOSLING, P. (2004). Italian and Frenchteachers faced with pupil’s academic failure: The norm of effort.European Journal of Psychology of Education, 19, 147-166.

    doi.org/10.1007/BF03173229
  • MATTEUCCI, M.C., GUGLIELMI, D. & LAUERMANN, F. (2017).Teachers’ sense of responsibility for educational outcomes andits associations with teachers’ instructional approaches andprofessional wellbeing. Social Psychology of Education.

    doi.org/10.1007/s11218-017-9369-y
  • MATTEUCCI, M.C. & HELKER, K. (2018). Who is responsible foreducational outcomes? Responsibility ascriptions for educationaloutcomes in a sample of Italian teachers, parents, and students.Learning and Individual Differences, 61, 239-249. https:/

    doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2017.12.009
  • MATTEUCCI, M.C., CARUGATI, F., SELLERI, P., MAZZONI, E. &TOMASETTO, C. (2008). Teachers’ judgment from a Europeanpsychosocial perspective. In F. Columbus (Ed.), Teachers andteaching: Strategies, innovations and problem solving. New YorkNY: Nova Science Publishers.

  • MATTEUCCI, M.C., TOMASETTO C., SELLERI P. & CARUGATIF. (2008). Teacher judgments and pupils’ causal explanations:Social valorization of effort-based explanations in school context.European Journal of Psychology of Education, 23, 421-432.

  • McLACHLAN, G. & KRISHNAN, T. (2007). The EM algorithm andextensions (Vol. 382). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley.

  • MEREDITH, W. & TERESI, J.A. (2006). An essay on measurementand factorial invariance. Medical Care, 44, S69-S77.

    doi.org/10.1097/01.mlr.0000245438.73837.89
  • RICHARDSON, P.W., KARABENICK, S.A. & WATT, H.M. (2014).Teacher motivation: Theory and practice. New York, NY: Routledge.

  • ROSE, J.S. & MEDWAY, F.J. (1981). Measurement of teachers’ beliefsin their control over student outcome. The Journal of EducationalResearch, 74, 185-190.

    doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1981.10885308
  • SCHNEIDER, S.L. (2013). The International Standard Classificationof Education 2011. In G.E. Birkelund (Ed.), Class andstratification analysis (Comparative Social Research, Volume 30).Bingley, UK: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

    doi.org/10.1108/
  • S0195-6310(2013)0000030017

  • SCHREIBER, J.B., NORA, A., STAGE, F.K., BARLOW, E.A. & KING, J.(2006). Reporting structural equation modeling and confirmatoryfactor analysis results: A review. The Journal of EducationalResearch, 99, 323-338.

    doi.org/10.3200/JOER.99.6.323-338
  • SHAVER,K.G.(1985).Theattributionofblame:Causality,responsibility,and blameworthiness. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.

  • TUCKER, L.R. & LEWIS, C. (1973). A reliability coefficient formaximum likelihood factor analysis. Psychometrika, 38, 1-10.

    doi.org/10.1007/BF02291170
  • VANDENBERG, R.J. & LANCE, C.E. (2000). A review and synthesisAPPENDIXTeacher Responsibility Scale (TRS) and corresponding Italian versionImagine that the following situations would occur whenyou have classes of your own. To what extent would youfeel PERSONALLY responsible that you should haveprevented each of the following?Immagini che le seguenti situazioni si verificasseronella Sua classe. In che misura si sentirebbePERSONALMENTE responsabile e/o si sentirebbe diaver dovuto impedire ciascuna delle seguenti situazioni?I would feel PERSONALLY responsible if… Mi sentirei PERSONALMENTE responsabile se …..…a student of mine was not interested in the subject Iteach (RSM1)…un mio studente non fosse interessato alla materia cheinsegno (RSM1)…a student of mine did not like the subject I teach(RSM2)…un mio studente non amasse la materia che insegno(RSM2)…a student of mine did not value learning the subject Iteach (RSM3)…un mio studente non considerasse importantel’apprendimento della materia che insegno (RSM3)…a student of mine failed to make excellent progressthroughout the school year (RSA1)…un mio studente non riuscisse a fare eccellentiprogressi durante l’anno scolastico (RSA1)…a student of mine failed to learn the required material(RSA2)…un mio studente non riuscisse ad imparare il materialerichiesto (RSA2)…a student of mine had very low achievement (RSA3) …un mio studente ottenesse risultati molto scarsi (RSA3)…a student of mine thought he/she could not count onme when he/she needed help (RRS1)…un mio studente avesse pensato di non poter contare sudi me quando aveva bisogno di aiuto (RRS1)…a student of mine did not think that he/she could trustme with his/her problems in or outside of school (RRS2)…un mio studente pensasse di non potersi fidare di mese ha dei problemi all’interno o all’esterno della scuola(RRS2)…a student of mine did not believe that I truly caredabout him/her (RRS3)…un mio studente non credesse che io veramente miinteresso a lui / lei (RRS3)…a lesson I taught was not as effective for studentlearning as I could have possibly made it (RTE1)…una lezione che ho svolto non fosse stata, perl’apprendimento degli studenti, così efficace quantoinvece avrei potuto fare (RTE1)…a lesson I taught was not as engaging for students as Icould have possibly made it (RTE2)…una lezione che ho svolto non fosse stata cosìcoinvolgente come invece avrei potuto fare (RTE2)…a lesson I taught failed to reflect my highest ability asa teacher (RTE3)…una mia lezione non riflettesse le mie più alte capacitàcome insegnante (RTE3)Note. All items were rated on a 7 point Likert scale from 0 = Not at all responsible to 6 = Completely responsible.Legenda. RSM = Responsibility for Student Motivation; RSA = Responsibility for Student Achievement; RRS = Responsibility forRelationships with Students; RTE = Responsibility for Teaching.of the measurement invariance literature: Suggestions, practices,andrecommendationsfororganizationalresearch.OrganizationalResearch Methods, 3, 4-70.

    doi.org/10.1177/109442810031002
  • WINTER, P.A., BRENNER, D.B. & PETROSKO, J.M. (2006). Teacherjob satisfaction in a reform State: The influence of teachercharacteristics, job dimensions, and psychological states. Journalof School Leadership, 16, 416-437.

  • WITT, L.A. (2001). Responsibility in work organizations. In A.E.Auhagen & H.W. Bierhoff (Eds.), Responsibility: The many facesof a social phenomenon. New York & London: Routledge.

  • WOSNITZA, M., HELKER, K. & LOHBECK, L. (2014). Teachinggoals of early career university teachers in Germany. InternationalJournal of Educational Research, 65, 90-103.

SHOW ALL REFERENCES (50)HIDE REFERENCES

Related articles

Article info

Issue:

Keywords:

Views:

230

Downloads:

89

Cite the article:

Author Surname Author Initial. Title. Publication Title. Year Published;Volume number(Issue number):Pages Used. doi:DOI Number.


Matteucci Maria Cristina. Tomasetto Carlo. Teachers’ sense of responsibility for educational outcomes. A study on the measurement properties of the Teacher Responsibility Scale in Italian primary and secondary school teachers. BPA Applied Psychology Bulletin. 2018;281(1):15-28. doi:10.26387/bpa.281.1.

Citation tool

How to cite this article

Author Surname Author Initial. Title. Publication Title. Year Published;Volume number(Issue number):Pages Used. doi:DOI Number.


Matteucci Maria Cristina. Tomasetto Carlo. Teachers’ sense of responsibility for educational outcomes. A study on the measurement properties of the Teacher Responsibility Scale in Italian primary and secondary school teachers. BPA Applied Psychology Bulletin. 2018;281(1):15-28. doi:10.26387/bpa.281.1.