What goes on in science, Danish and mathematics teaching? A quantitative Q-method-inspired study of teachers’ and students’ experiences of subject specific practices

Despite several decades of large-scale surveys in educational contexts, our understanding of what teachers and students do in classrooms in the process of teaching and learning different school subjects is still limited. In this study, we developed and used a quantitative approach inspired by the Q-method to map how Danish teachers (N = 289) and lower secondary students (grades 5, 6, 7, and 8, N = 3025) experience teaching practices in three school subjects: science, Danish, and mathematics. Based on a Q-method-inspired inter-person correlation factor analysis of the data, we identified different teacher and student profiles for each subject. The results show that it is possible to identify common practices among teachers and among students, but they also indicate important discrepancies between how teachers and students perceive the same practices. We discuss our findings and suggest ideas for further research.