Heterogeneity in Students’ Perceptions of Teaching Quality: A Marker of Adaptive Teaching?

Background: Students attending the same class can vary greatly in their perceptions of the teaching quality of the same lessons with the same teacher; however, the current understanding of heterogeneity in students’ perceptions of teaching quality, its sources, and implications remains limited. Aims: This study investigated whether heterogeneity in students’ perceptions of teaching quality within classes may indicate that the teacher’s instruction is not equally adaptive for all students. Sample: We used longitudinal data from the TALIS Global Teaching InSights study (N = 19,659 students, N = 679 mathematics teachers, across eight countries). Methods: We ran multigroup latent change score models to examine the effect of increases in student- and teacher-reported adaptive teaching on changes in (a) student-rated teaching quality (clarity of instruction, autonomy support, cognitive engagement, and classroom disruptions) and, importantly, (b) changes in heterogeneity in students’ perceptions of these dimensions.Results: Increases in adaptive teaching were associated with more positive and less heterogenous perceptions of clarity and autonomy support within classes. Increases in adaptive teaching predicted higher levels of cognitive engagement but did not significantly predict heterogeneity in students’ perceptions of cognitive engagement. Increases in adaptive teaching were linked to less classroom disruptions and more heterogeneous perceptions of disruptions within classes. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that adaptive teaching can explain the extent of heterogeneity in students’ perceptions of several teaching quality dimensions. This underscores the substantive value of considering heterogeneity in student perceptions as a meaningful construct.