Revisiting disposition assessment in teacher education: broadening the focus

Today's teacher education programmes across the world strive to equip future teachers with the high‐quality knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary to teach students. The assessment of teacher dispositions has thus become essential to cultivate those qualities. However, the current approach to disposition assessment in the United States focuses on personal characteristics and character‐related dispositions and is frequently used as a sorting device to identify those who appear to be inadequately disposed to teaching. Expanding on earlier work by the author and colleagues, this paper examines the issue of whether more efforts should be made to incorporate elements to assess competence‐related dispositions in conjunction with the character‐related dispositions across assessment tools and, if so, how this could be accomplished. In addition, this paper will clarify some dispositional concepts and terms used interchangeably that actually differ from one another and can confuse the consistency of disposition assessment. Finally, a framework for assessing technology disposition as an example of competence‐related disposition and for broadening the focus of disposition assessment is suggested.     

Taking Up Opportunities to Learn: Constructing Dispositions in Mathematics Classrooms

This article presents an analysis of how students' dispositions toward learning shift and change over time through their engagement with particular classroom practices and identifies classroom practices that support the development of more productive dispositions. An analysis of 4 purposefully selected students from 2 different classrooms reveals that membership in a classroom activity system does not determine one's emergent disposition toward learning. However, it is likely that similar types of dispositions might emerge within a single classroom activity system. The analysis further seeks to understand the mechanisms that underlie the ways in which dispositions are enacted in moments of interaction, and how aspects of classroom practice impact this enactment. The findings support the argument that social, affective, and motivational factors are not simply influences on learning but are, instead, central to and inseparable from the learning process.     

Parents' views on nursery education: Perceptions in context

The analysis describes the broad consensus which is currently emerging about the nature of the educational changes which are necessary for the creation of a 'learning society' and contrasts this vision with the contemporary reality of an education system which is every day more constrained by formal assessment. The implications of these tightening bonds for the development of universities in the third millennium are explored in terms of research evidence which documents the impact of conventional forms of assessment on student learning. The argument is made that this emphasis on 'categoric' assessment if fundamentally incompatible with aspirations towards the creation of a 'learning society'. This is partly because institutions must necessarily give their attention to obtaining high scores and cannot risk the substantial changes in the reorganisation of teaching and learning that an 'empowering' educational environment would arguably require and partly because of the power of the prevailing assessment discourse to define priorities. The article uses Lyotard's concept of 'performativity' to examine these contemporary tensions in higher education, their origins and potential significance for the creation of a 'learning society'.     

Skills for the Future: I've got a little list

This article offers a critical, constructive evaluation of Margaret Carr's and Guy Claxton's paper on the three learning dispositions thought necessary for lifelong learning. The two authors are to be congratulated for initiating a debate on 'learning to learn'; their proposal has real strengths but also some weaknesses. For example, why have the three dispositions of resilience, playfulness and reciprocity been chosen and why only three dispositions? A case in made for the inclusion of a fourth disposition--the need for all citizens in a democracy to develop and use critical intelligence.     

Intentions and beliefs in students' understanding and acceptance of biological evolution

We examined the intersection of students' understanding and acceptance of evolution and their epistemological beliefs and cognitive dispositions. Based on previous research, we hypothesized there would be a relation between understanding and acceptance. We also hypothesized that students who viewed knowledge as changing and who have a disposition toward open‐minded thinking would be more likely to accept the scientific explanation of human evolution, and that beliefs and dispositions would not be related to acceptance of a topic that is generally perceived as noncontroversial. Ninety‐three undergraduate students enrolled in a nonmajors biology class completed measures of their (a) content knowledge of evolution and photosynthesis and respiration; (b) acceptance of theories of animal evolution, human evolution, and photosynthesis; and (c) epistemological beliefs and cognitive dispositions. Although our findings did reveal a significant relation between knowledge and reported acceptance for photosynthesis, there was no relation between knowledge and acceptance of animal or human evolution. Epistemological beliefs were related to acceptance, but only to the acceptance of human evolution. There was no relation between students' epistemological beliefs and their general acceptance of animal evolution or photosynthesis. Three subscales, Ambiguous Information, Actively Open‐Minded Thinking, and Belief Identification, were significantly correlated with understanding evolutionary theory. We argue these findings underscore the importance of intentional level constructs, such as epistemological beliefs and cognitive dispositions, in the learning of potentially controversial topics. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 510–528, 2003     

Expanding Dispositions for Literacy: General Educators as Literacy Gatekeepers

Students with disabilities continue to be denied literacy rich experiences with their non-disabled peers. Throughout this article the authors explore how narrow, ability-focused teacher dispositions can perpetuate low expectations and can preemptively deny students with disabilities access to meaningful literacy experiences. Hence, the development of an inclusive literacy disposition is crucial to providing access to robust learning experiences for students with disabilities. The authors describe a research study that utilizes journal writing and a role-play intervention with pre-service general educators in a graduate literacy methods course. Analysis of post-intervention data suggests it is possible to shift narrow, ability-orientated dispositions to broader and more inclusive conceptualizations that support students with disabilities. Implications for both research and practice are discussed.     

Learning Dispositions: Can we really assess them?

The first third of the article by Carr & Claxton on tracking the development of learning dispositions is in essence a position statement. The balance is an evaluative review of possible methodological approaches for assessing or measuring learning dispositions. This response to their article challenges two claims in the position statement section. The first counter-claim is that dispositions are so functionally dissimilar from capabilities that it is doubtful whether dispositions are stable enough for their assessment to be valid or worthwhile. The second challenge is directed towards the proposition that an effective and legitimate way to place value on some aspect of education or to have value placed on it by others is to formalise its assessment and reporting. This argument is flawed in the case of dispositions, but is also inadequate as an argument in general.     

'Not All Dispositions Are Desirable': Implications for assessment

Carr & Claxton offer guidelines for the assessment of dispositions related to the education of young children. The proposed grid is designed to capture observations of dispositions assumed to contribute to the growth of learning and development during the early years. It is suggested here that not all dispositions are desirable, and it may be worthwhile to include in a grid the observation of dispositions that could be thought to inhibit or otherwise interfere with development and learning.     

THE DETERMINATION OF THE ATTITUDES OF STUDENTS TO THEIR UNDERGRADUATE COURSES

It is shown that it is as necessary to gauge a student's interest in and respect for what he is learning as it is to examine his skills and knowledge. Definitions of beliefs, attitudes, disposition and motivation are given in an attempt to determine what it is that should be measured, and finally two measurement methods are proposed ‐‐ systematic observation and the Consequences Questionnaire. The uses of each are discussed and it is argued that the latter, while not yet a refined instrument, is worthy of further development.     

Re-envisioning Teacher Preparation: Lessons from China

Stereotypes of the 'Chinese learner' have been extensively investigated, leading to the conclusion that knowledge about the social, cultural and pedagogic origins of Chinese students' dispositions to learning should be incorporated into programs preparing teachers for China service. In this paper it is suggested that teacher education initiatives of this type should redress sociological blindness about the particularity of local pedagogic contexts. A case study of the production of 'obedient' students in the Chinese school system during the 1990s is presented, illustrating sociological tools that enable analysis of the origin of students' dispositions to learning in particular conditions. The recommendation is that such tools be incorporated into teacher education for domestic, as well as international contexts, given the critical insight that is required if teachers are to provide equitably for all students in conditions of increasing cultural diversification and re-traditionalisation of education.     

The Development of Subject Knowledge in Secondary Initial Teacher Education: A case study of physical education student teachers and their subject mentors

This article presents a case study of student teachers of secondary school physical education (PE) and their subject mentors in subject knowledge development. Grenfell's (1996) application of Bourdieu's notions of 'field' and 'habitus' in relation to initial teacher education (ITE) is applied to interview data to argue that student teachers show varying dispositions to develop subject knowledge at the field sites of university and school. Furthermore, such dispositions are suggested to be enacted by student teachers through the development and exchange of subject knowledge as 'capital'. Thus a dynamic for subject knowledge development, which is neither specific to field site or difference between field sites is conceptualised. The article concludes that student dispositions to learn, in context, should be considered to assist understanding about the development of PE student teachers' subject knowledge. It calls for a redefinition of nationally prescribed subject knowledge in relation to learning how to teach.     

Supporting the development of positive dispositions and learner identities: an action research study into the impact and potential of developing photographic learning stories in the Early Years

This discussion presents the author/classroom teacher's findings during an action research study evaluating the impact of photographic learning stories with young children. This is placed in the context of recent policy documentation that asserts the learner as a unique individual and literature promoting the need to support the development of positive learning dispositions and learner identity. The ethnographic study examines how learning stories can be developed as a tool to promote positive learning dispositions and support the mediation of home and school culture, suggesting that their potential lies in how they create an accessible and mutually constructed document that is accessed by children, parents and the teacher. The discussion supports reservations about the production of a definitive ‘list’ of dispositions and describes tensions between the aim of supporting positive dispositions and the unique learner in an education culture where effectiveness is measured by the statutory assessment of hierarchical goals.     

Metaphor as a methodological tool: identifying teachers’ social justice dispositions across diverse secondary school settings

This article investigates the social justice dispositions of teachers and principals in secondary schools as inferred from their metaphoric expressions. Drawing on a Bourdieuian account of disposition, our focus is the use of metaphor as a methodological tool to identify and reveal these otherwise latent forces within our data. Our analysis shows evidence of redistributive, recognitive and activist conceptions of social justice. We argue that these three social justice dispositions may be insufficient to meaningfully address persisting inequalities in the school system and that a capability-based social justice disposition – absent in our data – is needed. We conclude by highlighting that: social justice dispositions can change; a valid interpretation of metaphors requires ‘contextual stabilization’; and metaphors for social justice are differently constructed in different contexts, influenced by the different social, cultural and material conditions of schools.     

Ethos,Habitus and Situation for Learning: An ecology

It is argued that the concept of ethos connects with Bourdieu's 'habitus' and the notion of situated learning. It can be argued that ethos can be defined as an organisation's habitus. An ecological perspective suggests that habituses external to the school provide dispositions that continuously construct and re-construct school ethos, and the evolving ethos itself provides developing dispositions and contexts for situated co-learning and participation in communities of practice; for example, shared learning about how to learn. Some implications for school improvement and leadership in schools are discussed.     

Explaining students' appraisal of lectures and student-activating teaching: perceived context and student characteristics

During lectures, some students are continuously focused and attentive, whereas others tend to be bored, jittery, or inattentive. The same might happen when students are given student-activating assignments. Some students simply love one type of instruction, whereas others tend to resent it. Moreover, it is not the context itself, but the context as it is perceived by the student that affects learning. This study sets out to discover how students view instruction, based on their experiences with a particular setting, and aims to investigate the effects of “context-by-student” characteristics, such as students' course experiences, and the effects of “student-by-context” features, such as approaches to learning. The research has a quasi-experimental design and compares a lecture-based setting with student-activating teaching methods (i.e. self-discovery learning by means of authentic tasks with the help of a scaffolding approach); followed by one of four assessment methods: a multiple-choice test, a case-based examination, a peer assessment or a portfolio assessment. Data (N = 579) were collected by means of validated questionnaires, comprising the ASSIST and LSQ instruments and the course experience questionnaire. Results demonstrate that students' appraisal of the assessment method, their course experiences and the teaching methods that are dominant in the setting contribute positively to students' appraisal of instruction. Interestingly, this conclusion applies to both the lecture-based and the student-activating groups and to both conventional assessment methods and new modes of assessment. Moreover, deep approaches to learning, monitoring studying and/or organized studying, as well as preferences for courses that support understanding, positively affect students' appraisal of student-activating teaching methods. In short, both student-by-context and context-by-student features prove to be strong predictors of students' appraisal of instruction and, as a consequence, student learning.     

On the cultural validity of science assessments

We propose the concept of cultural validity as a form of test validity in science assessment. The conceptual relevance of cultural validity is supported by evidence that culture and society shape an individual's mind and thinking. To attain cultural validity, the process of assessment development must consider how the sociocultural context in which students live influences the ways in which they make sense of science items and the ways in which they solve them. These sociocultural influences include the values, beliefs, experiences, communication patterns, teaching and learning styles, and epistemologies inherent in the students' cultural backgrounds, as well as the socioeconomic conditions prevailing in their cultural groups. We contend that current approaches to handling student diversity in assessment (e.g., adapting or translating tests, providing assessment accommodations, estimating test cultural bias) are limited and lack sociocultural perspective. We find that attaining cultural validity may conflict with current basic principles and assumptions in testing, such as item independence and standardization. We discuss the ways in which adopting cultural validity as a criterion for test validity makes it necessary to shift assessment paradigms and adopt new procedures for assessment development. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 38: 553–573, 2001     

Effects of degree of segmentation and learner disposition on multimedia learning

The construction of asynchronous learning environments often involves the creation of self‐paced multimedia instructional episodes that provide the learner with control over the pacing of instruction (segmentation); however, does the amount of segmentation impact learning? This study explored the effects of the degree of segmentation on recall and application of new knowledge and the nature of learner dispositions toward segmentation. Undergraduate students (n = 212) were randomly assigned to engage in a 9‐minute multimedia tutorial (ie, instructionally designed video‐based presentation) addressing historical inquiry that was divided into 1, 7, 14 or 28 segments (degree of segmentation) where students had control over when each segment began via a “Continue” button. Students' dispositions toward the segmentation—helped learning, made learning easier, made learning confusing, was annoying or seemed appropriate—were also measured. Results indicated that increased segmentation facilitated recall and application; however, learners perceived a high degree of segmentation (28 segments) more negatively. Overall, these results indicate that increased segmentation within a multimedia instructional environment has a positive influence on recall and application, regardless of the learner's disposition toward the segmentation.     

Exploring children's learning stories as an assessment method for research and practice

The purpose of this study was to apply and explore, in the context of an Icelandic preschool, the methods developed by the New Zealand Te Whaariki curriculum to assess children's well‐being and learning dispositions. This article describes the process of piloting learning stories as a research method, where researchers and preschool teachers cooperate in generating data. Data were generated by means of interviews, observations and documentation, following a research process in which learning stories were documented, reflected upon and analysed by the researchers and teachers, where possible in cooperation with the four‐ to five‐year‐old children. The learning stories were constructed and analysed using the five domains of learning dispositions identified in the Te Whaariki curriculum. The study asks how a collaborative approach to assessing children's well‐being and learning dispositions could be used in preschools both for professional learning and for research purposes. The findings show children as skilful communicators who are capable of finding solutions and reacting to various situations arising from the social context of the preschool. The study demonstrates that documenting children's learning stories enables researchers to focus on children's strengths and capabilities, and adds to preschool teachers' knowledge of individual children and groups.     

Preservice elementary teachers' views of their students' prior knowledge of science

Pre‐service teachers face many challenges as they learn to teach in ways that are different from their own educational experiences. Pre‐service teachers often enter teacher education courses with pre‐conceptions about teaching and learning that may or may not be consistent with contemporary learning theory. To build on preservice teachers' prior knowledge, we need to identify the types of views they have when entering teacher education courses and the views they develop throughout these courses. The study reported here focuses specifically on preservice teachers' views of their own students' prior knowledge and the implications these views have on their understanding of the formative assessment process. Sixty‐one preservice teachers were studied from three sections of a science methods course. Results indicate that preservice teachers exhibited a limited number of views about students' prior knowledge. These views tended to privilege either academic or experience‐based concepts for different aspects of formative assessment, in contrast to contemporary perspectives on teaching for understanding. Rather than considering these views as misconceptions, it is argued that it is more useful to consider them as resources for further development of a more flexible concept of formative assessment. Four common views are discussed in detail and applied to science teacher education. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 497–523, 2008     

‘Émile’ reconsidered

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the concept of learner dispositions empirically and theoretically based on two related studies: one undertaken in the United Kingdom exploring students learning power, identity and their engagement in learning; and one undertaken in Australia, which explored the relationship between learning power and Dweckian self-theories. Three different measures of dispositions are used. Two of these – learning power and self-theories – approach dispositions as malleable but relatively slow to change attributes, while the third considers dispositions as potentially more contextually responsive. The two studies had the measure of learning power in common, enabling a statistical as well as a theoretical comparison between the two studies’ models of learning dispositions and their contribution to the notion of engagement. The implications of these related studies are that, in order to foster deep engagement in learning, pedagogical attention needs to be paid to the formation of learning identity and the development of learning dispositions in the process of knowledge construction. While the different approaches to conceptualising dispositions were broadly compatible, each provided a different insight into this complex concept and suggests different but related pedagogical strategies for building engagement. The paper concludes with an exploration of the implications for dispositional research of autopoetic theory as an integrating conceptual framework.