A Quasi-Experimental Study on the Effect of a Role Play on General Ped-agogical Knowledge for Inclusive Teaching

Abstract

The present study examines 1) how the acquisition of general pedagogical knowledge for inclusive teaching (GPK-IT) can be supported through a new teaching/learning format addressing challenging situations in inclusive teaching and 2) how effective inclusion-oriented learning opportunities are with respect to the general pedagogical knowledge for inclusive teaching. The study uses a quasi-experimental design with a pre-post-measurement of general pedagogical knowledge for inclusive teaching. In addition to their learning opportunities for inclusion, students were also asked about the scope of the training content covered within the framework of the applied teaching/learning format. The data was collected as part of the project Future Strategy Teacher Training Cologne (n = 89 students). The experimental group (four seminars) participated in a newly devel-oped teaching/learning format: a role play based on problem-oriented teacher train-ing. With a focus on challenging situations in inclusive teaching the role play ena-bles students to recognize, name, and reflect on strategies for action. The control group (two seminars) and the experimental group consisted of student teachers of the Bachelor module Teaching in educational sciences. The improvement in knowledge did not significantly differ between the experimental and control group. However, there was an effect of the teaching/learning format on the perceived scope of inclusive learning opportunities in the seminar. In both groups (EC and KG) there was no positive correlation between the perceived amount of inclusion-oriented learning opportunities in the seminar and the increase in GPK-IT. The overall sample shows a positive correlation between the general extent of inclusive-oriented learning opportunities...