The Transmission of Values From Math Teachers to Their Ninth-Grade Students: Different Mechanisms for Different Value Dimensions?

Abstract Teachers can transmit their class-related values to their students and thus affect their students’ academic development in regular classes. This so-called value transmission has mostly been examined with respect to emotional contagion, that is, the transmission of rather affective values (e.g., enjoyment) from teachers to their students through teachers’ enthusiastic behavior during instruction. However, other transmission processes might also be at play, including other value dimensions and mediation through other instructional practices. In this study, we therefore aimed to systematically test the generalizability of such value transmission effects by examining a broad spectrum of (a) teacher values, (b) instructional practices, and (c) student values. Based on longitudinal data from 1,744 students and their 70 math teachers, cross-level mediation analyses revealed that teachers’ teaching enthusiasm, math enthusiasm, as well as math utility value affected their students’ values (i.e., intrinsic and utility values). Teachers’ teaching enthusiasm was transmitted to students’ values through both student-perceived enthusiastic behavior during instruction and through relevance-related instructional practices. Teachers’ subject-related values (i.e., math enthusiasm and utility value) primarily affected students’ utility value, but this transmission could not be explained by the instructional practices under investigation. Overall, our findings reveal auspicious evidence for a broader generalizability of the value transmission concept and yet also show the need to differentiate between different value dimensions and the mechanisms through which they are transmitted from teachers to their students.