Providing instructional explanations is a core component of effective instruction and an important teaching skill. Teaching skills are generally regarded as learnable, and teacher education programs aim to improve teachers’ professional competences. In this study, we analyze to what extent explaining skills can be fostered during teacher education at university by means of a specific training module. We designed a training (university module) for prospective economics teachers at vocational schools (candidates in a Master’s teaching program). By means of videotaped simulated interactions at two measurement points, we analyzed the development of teacher candidates’ explaining skills. Teacher candidates were asked to explain the neoclassical supply and demand model (treatment group: n = 48; control group: n = 30) to an actor playing the role of a school student. The quality of the explanations was operationalized in respect of five aspects of successful explanations, which were derived from a literature review: (1) Content, (2) Student-teacher interaction, (3) Process structure, (4) Representation, and (5) Language. The results show that there was a treatment effect on the development of the Process structure aspect, while Student-teacher interaction appeared to develop “naturally” through experience, regardless of participation in the training. The quality aspects Content, Representation, and Language appeared stable over time. Hence, the findings show that some aspects of explaining skills are learnable even in a short training module. Learning effects are attributable partly to the instructional input received and partly to repeated practice. Both imply the importance of further opportunities to practice instructional explanation in teacher education.

提供教学解释是有效教学的核心组成部分，也是一项重要的教学技能。教学技能通常被认为是可学习的，并且教师教育计划旨在提高教师的专业能力。在这项研究中，我们分析了通过特定的培训模块可以在多大程度上在大学的教师教育过程中提高解释技能的能力。我们为职业学校的未来经济学教师（硕士课程的候选人）设计了培训（大学模块）。通过在两个测量点上的模拟互动录像，我们分析了教师应聘者讲解技巧的发展。要求教师候选人解释新古典主义的供需模型（治疗组：n  = 48；对照组：n  = 30）扮演扮演小学生角色的演员。解释的质量在成功解释的五个方面得到了实践，这些方面来自文献综述：（1）内容，（2）师生互动，（3）过程结构，（4）代表和（ 5）语言。结果表明，对过程结构方面的发展有治疗作用，而学生与教师之间的互动似乎是通过经验“自然”发展的，而与参加培训无关。质量方面的内容，表示形式和语言似乎随着时间的推移稳定。因此，研究结果表明，即使在简短的培训模块中，解释技能的某些方面也是可以学习的。学习效果部分归因于收到的指导输入，部分归因于重复练习。两者都暗示着在教师教育中进一步机会进行教学解释的重要性。