Organised by the Interdisciplinary centre for educational research (IZFB), the Educational Research Day took place in February 2023. As part of the NEST team, our evaluators from the University of Duissburg Essen presented the initial results from the NEST project. Please see below the abstract, and download the poster here (in German).
ABSTRACT
The NEST project, is a policy experiment conducted in seven European education systems to implement adaptive training for mentors of novice teachers in disadvantaged schools. In this context, UDE examined the following research questions:
1. Does the NEST training for mentors have a positive effect on their competences?
2. As a result of the adaptive mentoring, are there positive changes on novice teachers in the intervention group?
In the 2021/2022 school year, 228 mentors and 1,155 novices took part in two surveys. These included self-assessment and external assessment questions on skills, practices, needs and job satisfaction, among other things. Descriptive analyzes showed that mentors rated their competencies higher after the training and that this rating was confirmed by novice teachers. With regard to the self-assessed competencies of the novices, the results have so far been ambiguous.
Background context on the NEST evaluation
NEST evaluation approach consists of a panel design measuring outcomes such as mentoring practices or teaching competence at least twice. This allows for the evaluation of participants’ professional development over time (before and after intervention) as well as a comparison between intervention and control groups. For more information on the NEST evaluation methodology, please read our deliverables on evaluation (WP5) on the Resources page.
