Improving skills and pedagogical sensitivity of teachers in Dutch primary education: A study on the effects of the behavioral intervention for teachers Multi-Method Coaching on teacher and child mental health and educational outcomes.

Ten percent of the Dutch children cope with conduct problems. These children
are at elevated risk for future problems such as school drop-out, social
isolation, criminal behavior, unemployment, depression and addiction.

Relationships with teachers can be considered as the driving force behind a
healthy development of children. Teacher-child relationships that can be
characterized by warmth, an open communication and few conflicts and dependency
of the child on the teacher have a positive influence on the social-emotional
and cognitive development of children. However, the relationships between
teachers and children with conduct problems are often problematic. These
relationships are typically characterized by conflict and elicit hampered
feelings of self-efficacy, and feelings of anger and helplessness in teachers.
Research indicates that teachers are less sensitive and more controlling
towards children with conduct problems. These conflictuous relationships
deteriorate child problem behavior, hamper the child's wellbeing, hamper a
positive and safe class climate, and have a negative impact on the academic
progress and wellbeing of classmates. Moreover, conflictuous relationships with
children with conduct problems appear to be the most important cause of
teacher-reported stress- and burnout symptoms.

Teachers emphasize the need for effective ways to cope with conduct problems
and to improve the relationships with children with conduct problems. The main
objective of the Key2Teach-study is to develop the intervention Multi-Method
Coaching, to test the effects of this intervention, and to study the
experiences of teachers and coaches. Moreover, this study aims to supervise
adaption and implementation of Multi-Method Coaching and corresponding training
in manual guidance for coaches in primary education and teacher training.

The first objective of this study is to test the effects of a classroom-based,
manual-guided intervention Multi-Method Coaching on the skills and the
behavioral sensitivity of Dutch primary education teachers in order to improve
the relationships with children with (sub)clinical levels of conduct problems.
Additionally, the effects of improved skills and improved teacher-child
relationships on levels of children's behavioral problems, academic progress,
learning conditions, social wellbeing will be studied, as well as on mental
health aspects of teachers (symptoms of stress, symptoms of burnout, symptoms
of anxiety/depression). The second objective of this study is to investigate
the association between school- and program factors and child- and teacher
outcomes of Multi-Method Coaching.

In this study, a Randomized Controlled Trial will be conducted to compare
differences between the intervention condition and control condition during
four assessments: before the intervention, during the intervention, one month
after completion of the intervention, and three months after completion of the
intervention (follow-up measure). At every school, two or four dyads will be
included and randomly assigned to one of the two conditions.

The intervention Multi-Method Coaching (MMC) will be implemented during the
course of a schoolyear at the schools assigned to the intervention condition.
MMC is a manual-based school-based intervention that consists of two elements:
(1) The Relationship Focused Reflection Program (RFRP) and (2) Synchronous
Videocoaching (SV) on teacher skills and behavioral sensitivity. MMC will be
implemented as part of the curriculum in the classes of the 72 dyad-teachers
(grades 3, 4 and 5).

The RFRP comprises four individual sessions. Goal of the RFRP is to help the
teacher to reflect (under the supervision of a well-trained Multi-Method Coach)
on the positive and negative emotions that the teacher experiences in daily
interactions with the dyad-child, and to help the teacher to reflect on the
quality of his/her behavioral sensitivity (effective use of rules and routines,
praise, corrections, selective ignoring, opportunities to respond and quality
of feedback). The teacher will be encouraged to reflect on the associations
between quality of aspects of behavioral sensitivity, the quality of the
teacher-child relationship, problem behavior of the child, and wellbeing of the
teacher. Attention will be paid to the improvement of the skills and behavioral
sensitivity of the teacher. In session one, teacher's narratives about the
relationship with the dyad-child will be elicited using in an interview between
coach and teacher. In session two, the coach will help the teacher to associate
the narrated representation to actual interactions with the child using
videorecordings. After that, the coach presents the teacher with a unique
relational profile based on the teacher's narrative with strenghts and
weaknesses regarding different aspects of his/her behavioral sensitivity in
interaction with the dyad-child. This profile serves as a starting point for
in-depth reflection on teacher competencies regarding classroom management
practices and behavior management strategies (session three and four).

Synchronous Videocoaching comprises two phases of nine sessions at the most; 18
sessions in total. During Synchronous Videocoaching, the coach and teacher are
connected wirelessly via a Bluetooth connection. The coach observes the
teacher and whispers short and clear instructions (keywords) directly to the
teacher through an earpiece if the teacher engages in undesirable behavior
during the lesson. Keywords are immediate, short and specific suggestions which
identify the type and the extent of errors, and which provide specific ways to
the teacher to correct them. The advantage of using immediate feedback through
(pre-structured) keywords is that it provides teachers the opportunity to
change target behaviors while practicing a skill. In this way a repetition of
errors, wich leads to internalising the undesirable behavior, will be avoided.
With immediate feedback, the coach is able to stop the teacher from performing
an incorrect technique and use corrective feedback to inform the teacher of
what to do instead. In this way, teachers wil immediately experience the
effects of their own behavior. The coaches film their interventions (keywords)
and the effects of the key words on teacher-child interactions. The coach and
teacher will discuss these video fragments after the lesson through
micro-analysis of the problematic situation and the effects of the keywords on
teacher-child interaction.

In this study, the specific learning goals of the participating teachers will
be determined through the use of data from observations and a micro-analysis of
his/her behavioral sensitivity (effective use of rules and routines, praise,
corrections, selective ignoring, opportunities to respond and quality of
feedback). Teachers will receive Synchronous Videocoaching on behavior patterns
and interactions related to these classroom management practices and behavioral
strategies. The analysis, keywords and techniques are based on the scientific
knowledge base on these behavioral strategies.

Extent of the burden:
In the intervention-year, and in the first three months of the consecutive
schoolyear, teacher-, child-, and parent reports will be collected, and
videorecordings will take place in the classrooms. Completion of the
questionnaires will take approximately thirty minutes for the children (four
times), 2,5 hours for the teacher reports (four times). An interview of 45
minutes about experiences with MMC will be conducted with all teachers during
the study. Teacher reports for the multiple-gate screening procedure will take
approximately 1,5 hours. Also, during the study period, four classroom
observations will be conducted by trained research-assistants.

Risks associated with participation:
No risks are involved in participation in this study.