Walberg’s educational productivity model: what is it and what does it propose?

This explanatory model of education views learning as a productive process.

In educational psychology there are many theories that try to explain how students learn. Here we will learn about Walberg's model of educational productivity.which attempts to determine which factors influence the student's academic performance or achievement, and in what way.

According to the model, there are 4 fundamental variables in the learning process that influence a student's final performance. Let's find out what they are and what each one of them consists of.

Walberg's educational productivity model

Walberg's educational productivity model was developed in 1981 and refined in 1984. It is based on the theory of cognitive learning that understands the student learning process as a production process..

It uses as inputs various institutional, academic, demographic and/or economic factors, and as output the student's academic performance, or the passing of a certain subject.

For Walberg, educational productivity is the degree to which learning increases while costs are minimized..

Components of the model

There are 4 central components of Walberg's educational productivity model, which interact with each other to explain student performance. Thus, these 4 core elements combine and influence each other to determine the student's final performance. If the student has favorable aptitudes and an adequate and stimulating environment, learning can be positive in terms of attitudes, behaviors and knowledge.

Student aptitude

Student aptitude is one of the central factors of the model. This attitude is made up of 3 basic components, which are:

1.1. The capacity or "quantity" of aptitude.

It includes cognition and knowledge. It would be the student's previous performance.

1.2. Motivation

It implies wanting to do something. It is also called self-concept, and is defined by personality tests; it would be the student's will to persevere intensely in learning tasks. the student's willingness to persevere intensely in learning tasks..

1.3. The level of development

It consists of the development, age or stage of maturation of the student to incorporate certain learning

On the other hand, within the student's variables, the cognitive ones will be very relevant for previous performance. In this line, Walberg highlights the following from aptitude the student's IQ as a variable closely related to performance..

2. Learning environment

The environment where the student learns will influence learning. We can differentiate different types of environment: the home (closer and more intimate), that of friends, that of the media (e.g. television), that of classmates, that of the classroom climate and that of the school, etc. These last two will be the most important to pay attention to.

Walberg highlights from the environment homework performance (which should be evaluated), classroom atmosphere or morale and home as variables that especially influence performance.

3. Learning

Consists of acquiring new knowledge, and can be of different types: affective, behavioral and cognitive learning..

Learning will be greater with a cooperative and goal-directed environment. In addition, learning will be greater in a cooperative and goal-directed environment, an environment that provides stimulation and a teacher with good teaching techniques will also be variables that will boost learning. will also be variables that will boost learning.

4. Teaching

This will vary in terms of quantity and quality (the greater the quantity and quality, the more likely student performance will be higher).

Quantity is the amount of time students are engaged in learning, and quality is specific to the teaching experience, which includes aspects of method (psychological) and curriculum (content).

Well-planned and organized teaching will promote learning and performance, as will tutoring.The existence of tutoring and feedback from teachers will also be beneficial. On the other hand, it will also be positive that the student dedicates effort and sufficient time to the task.

The influence of each component

According to Walberg's model of educational productivity, in terms of importance, the most important element will be the classroom climate. (within the environment), followed by the student's ability and the quality of teaching.

On the other hand, we should not forget other elements that also play an important role in performance (although less important), such as the home, the amount of teaching and the motivation of the student.

Models subsequent to Walberg's

After the publication of Walberg's educational productivity model, other authors (Fraser, Walberg, Welch and Hattie) in 1987 tried to determine the influence and weight of the different components of the model on the student's final performance.

Thus, Hattie's model of school learning is originated.which includes as some of the determining variables for achievement: social factors, the school, the teacher and the teaching. In turn, in the model these variables are broken down into more specific components.

Bibliographical references:

• Walberg, H.J. A psychological theory of educational productivity. (1981). In: EH. Farley & N. Gordon (Eds.), Psychology and education: the state of the union. Berkeley, Calif.:McCutchan, 4, 81-108.
• Lopez, E. (2009). Assessing the effect of critical variables on schoolchildren's learning. Estudios sobre educación, 16, 55-78.
• Martí, C.P. (2012). Analysis of factors influencing the academic performance of financial accounting students through binary choice models. RBGN - Brazilian journal of business management, 14(45), 379-399.