Measuring teaching quality in several European countries

Teaching quality has been observed in large representative samples from Flanders (Belgium), Lower Saxony (Germany), the Slovak Republic, and The Netherlands. This study reveals that measures of “creating a safe and stimulating climate”, “clear and activating instruction”, and “teaching learning strategies” were reliable and fully or at least partially scalar equivalent across these countries. Flemish teachers score higher, on average, on measures related to creating a safe and stimulating learning climate than do teachers in Lower Saxony, the Slovak Republic, or The Netherlands. With regard to the provision of clear and activating instruction, no significant differences arose in average scores across the 4 countries. Dutch teachers scored significantly higher on teaching learning strategies than teachers in Flanders and Lower Saxony but did not differ significantly from teachers in the Slovak Republic. Flemish and Slovak teachers earned higher average scores on teaching learning strategies than teachers in Lower Saxony.     

How do schools affect inequalities in political participation: compensation of social disadvantage or provision of differential access?

Abstract

Both direct and indirect influences have been assumed to impact the transmission of political orientations within families. A lower socioeconomic status is related to lower intended political participation of adolescents. Within this context, schools play a crucial role in political socialisation, as citizenship education is assumed to either equalise or maintain these social disparities. We analyse a sub-dataset of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2016 which includes 14-year-old students in four European countries: Belgium (Flanders), Denmark, Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia) and the Netherlands. Multi-level regression analyses reveal that formal citizenship education compensates the relationship between students’ socioeconomic status and intended electoral participation in Denmark, Germany (NRW) and the Netherlands, but not in Belgium (FL). Further, the composition of school classes is related to the perception of an open classroom climate in each of the four countries and to participation in civic activities at school in three countries.     

Learning dashboards at scale: early warning and overall first year experience

Abstract

In this study, we present a case study involving two self-service dashboards providing feedback on learning and study skills and on academic achievement. These dashboards were offered to first-year university students in several study programmes in Flanders, Belgium. Data for this study were collected using usage tracking (N?=?2875) and a survey taken at the beginning of the second year before (N?=?484) and after (N?=?538) the introduction of the dashboards. We found that early dashboard usage is related to academic achievement later in the academic year and that students’ review of the feedback received in the first year improved. Although these results are modest in comparison to how high the bar is sometimes set for learning analytics applications, we argue that low-cost deployments of self-service dashboards are an interesting approach to start building experience with similar tools and to start paving the way for future developments.     

High quality in primary humanities: insights from the UK’s school inspectorates

ABSTRACT

The school inspectorates of the four jurisdictions of the UK are sources of evidence about the quality of humanities teaching, learning and curriculum in primary schools. The term ‘humanities’ usually refers to the subjects of geography, history and Religious Education, but here they are considered holistically, not separately. Discrete subject and inter-subject humanities inspection reports are used to identify what inspectors report to be high-quality practices in this curriculum area. Six themes are presented, which reveal that: the best humanities curricula are based on subject and cross-subject ideas and connections, with subject learning clearly visible; flexible but rigorous approaches to planning enable progression in children’s learning; strong teacher–child and teacher–humanities relationships reflect teachers’ evident enthusiasm, commitment and expectations; teachers use a diverse range of approaches and resources; active and enquiry-based learning approaches engage children in developing their studies; and strong humanities leadership and explicit emphasis in school development priorities underpin high-quality primary humanities. These features reflect the skills and qualities of expert primary teachers.     

Understanding and enhancing pupils’ learning progress in schools in deprived communities

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on data from the ‘Raising Pupil Attainment in Key Stage 1 in Stoke-on-Trent’ research project. The particular focus is on how teachers, head teachers and teaching assistants (n?=?59) articulate pupils’ learning success in five highly achieving schools in deprived communities. Six key themes are highlighted which are identified by participants as influencing successful pupil learning and progress. These are analysed in relation to Biesta's theory on the parameters of ‘Good Education’ [Biesta, G. J. J. 2010. Good Education in an Age of Measurement. Boulder, CO: Paradigm] and within Bourdieu's understanding of ‘distinction’ [Bourdieu, P. 1998. Practical Reason: On the Theory of Action. Oxford: Polity Press]. The research reveals that issues related to socialisation and subjectivity are presented as critical and foundational for the more formal measures of success in pupil learning.     

Relationship between affect and achievement in science and mathematics in Malaysia and Singapore

Background : The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assesses the quality of the teaching and learning of science and mathematics among Grades 4 and 8 students across participating countries.

Purpose : This study explored the relationship between positive affect towards science and mathematics and achievement in science and mathematics among Malaysian and Singaporean Grade 8 students.

Sample : In total, 4466 Malaysia students and 4599 Singaporean students from Grade 8 who participated in TIMSS 2007 were involved in this study.

Design and method : Students’ achievement scores on eight items in the survey instrument that were reported in TIMSS 2007 were used as the dependent variable in the analysis. Students’ scores on four items in the TIMSS 2007 survey instrument pertaining to students’ affect towards science and mathematics together with students’ gender, language spoken at home and parental education were used as the independent variables.

Results : Positive affect towards science and mathematics indicated statistically significant predictive effects on achievement in the two subjects for both Malaysian and Singaporean Grade 8 students. There were statistically significant predictive effects on mathematics achievement for the students’ gender, language spoken at home and parental education for both Malaysian and Singaporean students, with R ² = 0.18 and 0.21, respectively. However, only parental education showed statistically significant predictive effects on science achievement for both countries. For Singapore, language spoken at home also demonstrated statistically significant predictive effects on science achievement, whereas gender did not. For Malaysia, neither gender nor language spoken at home had statistically significant predictive effects on science achievement.

Conclusions : It is important for educators to consider implementing self-concept enhancement intervention programmes by incorporating ‘affect’ components of academic self-concept in order to develop students’ talents and promote academic excellence in science and mathematics.     

An investigation of Taiwanese high school students’ science learning self-efficacy in relation to their conceptions of learning science

Background: Past studies have shown significant associations between students’ conceptions of learning science and their science learning self-efficacy. However, in most of the studies, students’ science learning self-efficacy has often been measured by a singular scale.

Purpose: Extending the findings of these studies, the present study adopted a multi-dimensional instrument to assess Taiwanese high school students’ science learning self-efficacy and investigate the relationships with their conceptions of learning science.

Sample: A total of 488 Taiwanese high school students (265 male and 223 female) were invited to participate in this survey.

Design and method: All the participants responded to the Conceptions of Learning Science (COLS) questionnaire regarding ‘Memorizing’, ‘Testing’, ‘Calculating and practicing’, ‘Increase of knowledge’, ‘Applying’ and ‘Understanding and seeing in a new way’ and the Science Learning Self-Efficacy (SLSE) instrument, including ‘Conceptual understanding’, ‘Higher-Order cognitive skills’, ‘Practical work’, ‘Everyday application’ and ‘Science communication’.

Results: The path analysis results derived from the structural equation modeling method indicated that, of all five SLSE dimensions, the ‘Understanding and seeing in a new way’ COLS displayed as a positive predictor, while the ‘Testing’ COLS was a significant negative predictor. The ‘Applying’ COLS item can only positively contribute to the SLSE dimensions of ‘Higher-Order thinking skills’, ‘Everyday application’ and ‘Science Communication’.

Conclusions: In general, students in strong agreement with learning science as understanding and seeing in a new way or the application of learned scientific knowledge are prone to possess higher confidence in learning science. However, students who consider learning science in terms of preparing for tests and examinations tend to hold lower science learning self-efficacy.     

Measuring differentiated instruction in The Netherlands and South Korea: factor structure equivalence,correlates, and complexity level

Differentiated instruction is considered to be an important teaching quality domain to address the needs of individual students in daily classroom practices. However, little is known about whether differentiated instruction is empirically distinguishable from other teaching quality domains in different national contexts. Additionally, little is known about how the complex skill of differentiated instruction compares with other teaching quality domains across national contexts. To gain empirical insight in differentiated instruction and other related teaching quality domains, cross-cultural comparisons provide valuable insights. In this study, teacher classroom practices of two high-performing educational systems, The Netherlands and South Korea, were observed focusing on differentiated instruction and other related teaching quality domains using an existing observation instrument. Variable-centred and person-centred approaches were applied to analyze the data. The study provides evidence that differentiated instruction can be viewed as a distinct domain of teaching quality in both national contexts, while at the same time being related to other teaching domains. In both countries, differentiated instruction was the most difficult domain of teaching quality. However, differential relationships between teaching quality domains were visible across teacher profiles and across countries.

     

On the Effectiveness of Teaching: Direct Versus Indirect Instruction

ABSTRACT

The literature about the effectiveness of teacher behaviour shows that the teaching style described as ‘direct’ increases academic learning time and therefore learning gain. In the Netherlands, a study was carried out to predict learning gain after the use by teachers of different behaviours. This was done in the elementary school in grade 4, 6 and 8 (students respectively 8, 10 and 12 years of age) for the subjects mathematics and world‐orientation. No significant correlations were found between teacher behaviour and learning gain in world‐orientation. With regard to mathematics, especially in grade 4, correlational analysis showed that learning gain can be well predicted by the behavioural categories ‘giving instruction’, ‘soliciting response’, ‘corrective feedback’, ‘organizing the learning situation’ and ‘monitoring’. These categories describe direct instruction adequately.     

Quality lies in the eyes of the beholder: A mismatch between student evaluation and peer observation of teaching

Abstract

The study described in this article was prompted by the poor performance of students in an ‘at risk subject’ in a science faculty at a university in South Africa. Teacher performance could contribute to poor performance among students, therefore the performance of one of the science teachers whose students were performing poorly was evaluated by his students and through peer observation of his teaching. The article draws on a merger between Bernstein's ideas on framing as well as deep and surface approaches to learning to form a theoretical framework that underpinned the study. Peer observation showed that the teacher employed predominantly teacher-centred, passive approaches to teaching, and the facilitation of active learning was minimal, that is, framing was strong. Students, however, evaluated their teacher positively, indicating that he was an ‘effective’ teacher. Therefore, the perception of what constitutes ‘quality teaching’ is viewed differently by peers and students. This is most likely due to the incompatibility between peers' conception of teaching and students' conception of learning. Therefore, students' feedback on teaching is not necessarily accurate or useful.     

Examining activity-based learning (ABL) practices in public basic schools in the northern region of Ghana

Background: Ghana has been the testing ground for many teaching and learning initiatives over the past 15–20 years. These initiatives, largely funded by donors, have sought to improve learning by introducing and reinforcing valuable teaching skills, materials and approaches, most of them child-friendly, learner-centred and involving activity-based learning (ABL). However, a problem in Ghana, also true of other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, is that whereas efforts over the past few decades have improved access to basic education in both pupil enrolment rates and teacher numbers, educational quality as measured by standardised test scores in key subject areas remains rather low.

Purpose: This article reports on an aspect of a DfID (Ghana) – sponsored research project which examined how the quality of teaching and learning in Ghanaian basic schools could be improved through the utilisation of ABL pedagogy. The current article examines three overarching themes relative to ABL pedagogy, namely how participants conceptualise ABL; ways in which ABL practices reveal themselves in classrooms; and challenges of ABL practices in Ghanaian schools.

Sample: Participants (comprising representatives of Colleges of Education, District Directors and frontline Deputy Directors of Education, headteachers and teachers) were drawn using purposive sampling technique from eight schools from within four districts of the northern region of Ghana.

Design and Methods: A case study approach was adopted for the study. Data collection took the form of semi-structured interviews, focused group discussions and observation of ABL practices and lessons in selected schools. Data analysis was undertaken using a ‘processual analytical approach’ with the view to catching realities of ABL practices in the Ghanaian educational setting.

Results: Our analysis reveals that whereas the literature on ABL emphasises multi-tasking and group work as essential ingredients of ABL pedagogy, the respondents conceptualised this as meaning pupils working on the same activity-related tasks at the same time in groups. Similarly, we found that, ideally, ABL practices reveal themselves through classroom practices such as display of pupils’ work in classrooms, organisation of the seating arrangements of pupils in groups, use of teaching and learning materials, formative assessment and activity-oriented lessons among others. However, in almost all the schools and classrooms we visited, these essential ingredients were missing owing to congestion and lack of furniture and logistics.

Conclusions: We conclude against the backdrop of our findings that ABL techniques can be utilised more effectively in Ghanaian schools if its practices are initially promoted in model schools, for lessons to be learned, and then scaled-up as expertise is established in these model schools.     

Instructional practices in reformed undergraduate STEM learning environments: a study of instructor and student behaviors in biology courses

ABSTRACT

Theoretically, organisational culture, instructor training, and learning space design influence how faculty teach STEM courses. Previous studies have used classroom observation protocols to characterise the range of teaching practices in mostly teacher-centered, traditional STEM classrooms. In this study, we examined the classroom behaviour of 13 STEM faculty teaching biology courses in a reformed undergraduate STEM learning environment. Our findings indicate that instructors teaching in this reformed environment guided student learning (58.4?±?1.9%) almost three times more than they presented information (20.0?±?2.2%). Students worked individually or in groups and talked to the whole class (57.1?±?1.8%) 1.5 times more than they received information (35.5?±?1.9%). We found significant positive correlation between ‘instructor presenting’ and ‘students receiving’ information (r?=?0.743, p?=?1.4?×?10^?4) and ‘instructor guiding’ and ‘student working and talking’ in class (r?=?0.605, p?=?7.2?×?10^?5), suggesting that instructors can change their own classroom behaviours and expect concurrent change in their students’ behaviours. Finally, sequencing teaching practices in high active-engagement classrooms showed instructors move and guide student group work and lead whole class discussions before lecturing to students, which could lead to deeper learning of conceptual knowledge. We discuss insights from these findings that have implications for acculturating evidence-based teaching practices in STEM departments.     

Learning environment and students’ mathematics attitude

This study investigated the association between students’ perception of the learning environment and three aspects of their mathematics attitude: ‘mathematics academic self-concept’, ‘enjoyment of mathematics’ and ‘perceived value of mathematics’. The focus was on the association of students’ mathematics attitude with four dimensions in the learning environment: the extent to which the teacher ‘motivates to exert learning effort’, ‘activates towards self-regulated learning’, ‘gives feedback and coaches’, and ‘structures and steers’. Data were obtained from an extended version of the international Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of 2003. Multilevel analysis on a sample of 4354 eighth grade students in 228 classes in 119 schools in Flanders (Belgium) indicated that the learning environment plays a significant role in the enjoyment of mathematics. This while the mathematics academic self-concept and the perceived value of mathematics are insensitive for aspects in the learning environment.     

Folded Files,Unfolding Narratives: Psycho-Pedagogical Observation in the Belgian Juvenile Reformatories, 1912–1945.

ABSTRACT

The establishment of the Central Observation Institute in Mol in 1913 marks the introduction of scientific expertise in Belgium’s youth delinquency policy. The child at risk was subjected to a series of observations, resulting in an observation report (‘waarnemingsverslag’) that contained the psychological, moral and physical characteristics of the delinquent child, and suggested strategies for its re-education. This article focuses foremost on the technologies of observation in the first half of the twentieth century. In contrast to earlier research, the observation report is not used as a ‘key to the past’ but the article aims to historicise the observation report in its own right. Using M’charek’s concept of ‘folded object’, the process of truth being created in the observation report is discussed, paying attention to the various actors at work in the reformatory and examining the dynamic relationships between the observation institution and the juvenile reformatories in the production and use of observation files.     

Refining a learning progression of energy

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a revised learning progression for the energy concept and initial findings on diverse progressions among subgroups of sample students. The revised learning progression describes how students progress towards an understanding of the energy concept along two progress variables identified from previous studies – key ideas about energy and levels of conceptual development. To assess students understanding with respect to the revised learning progression, we created a specific instrument, the Energy Concept Progression Assessment (ECPA) based on previous work on assessing students’ understanding of energy. After iteratively refining the instrument in two pilot studies, the ECPA was administered to a total of 4550 students (Grades 8–12) from schools in two districts in a major city in Mainland China. Rasch analysis was used to examine the validity of the revised learning progression and explore factors explaining different progressions. Our results confirm the validity of the four conceptual development levels. In addition, we found that although following a similar progression pattern, students’ progression rate was significantly influenced by environmental factors such as school type. In the discussion of our findings, we address the non-linear and complex nature of students’ progression in understanding energy. We conclude with illuminating our research's implication for curriculum design and energy teaching.     

Learning to teach: Effects of classroom observation,assignment of appropriate lesson preparation templates and stage focused feedback

This article focuses on improving the instructional quality of student teachers in elementary education. We developed a coaching approach involving classroom observation and appropriate lesson preparation and feedback templates. Using an untreated control group design with pre-test and posttest (n = 198), we answered the question ‘whether student teachers who learned to teach with the new coaching approach achieved a higher level of pedagogical and didactical teaching skills compared to student teachers who did not receive this approach’. The effect variable used was the observation instrument ICALT. We compared the average scores of the control group and the experimental group on the posttest (ANCOVA). The differences found on the posttest, after controlling for the confounding variables, were significant on all ICALT scales. These effect sizes are medium on the scales; ‘Safe climate’, and ‘Clear instruction’, and large on the scales; ‘Classroom management’, ‘Activating pupils’, ‘Adaptive teaching’, and ‘Teaching learning strategies’.     

A longitudinal study on boys’ and girls’ career aspirations and interest in technology

Background: More young people, boys and girls, are needed in technical studies and professions, as the relative number of students in technology-related studies has been decreasing in most industrialised countries. To overcome this decrease several countries implemented mandatory technology classes in the curriculum of secondary education.

Purpose: This study has two goals: exploring the evolution of pupils’ interest during the year(s) they attend the mandatory technology classes and exploring determining characteristics for differences in boys’ and girls’ attitude change over time.

Sample: This study focuses on data gathered in the first and second grade of the first cycle in general secondary education in the North region of Belgium, Flanders. In a first stage we selected a good representation of geographically spread schools (n = 20), from which over 1300 students participated.

Design and methods: A longitudinal study with eight measurement occasions spread over the course of two years is presented in order to capture the evolution of students’ attitudes, making use of a multilevel growth model analysis.

Results: The results show that students’ interest in technology decreases over time, although at the end of each grade interest is increasing again. Boys’ and girls’ interest in technology also evolves a little different in the first cycle of secondary education. For career aspirations we didn’t see any significant difference between boys and girls. Boys’ and girls’ aspirations decrease over time with a little increase by the end of the second grade. Students with a more technological curriculum also have more career aspirations in the field of technology than their peers with other curricula. Although students’ perceptions about technology as a subject for boys and girls are largely stable.

Conclusions: The evolution of students’ attitude is far from linear, this strengthens us in the choice for a more complex analysis model and the choice for more measuring points than only at the beginning and the end when analysing students’ attitudes towards technology. With this research we found that students interest and aspirations in the field of technology are not stable and do change in the first cycle of secondary education. Overall, we can conclude that if the goal of technology education at school maintains to promote ‘a larger number of students in technological oriented studies and professions’, there is still much to do.     

Learning is an ontological process: Jarvis and theories of Christian Religious Education in dialogue

Abstract

Both Jarvis and theories of Christian Religious Education (CRE) emphasise that learning develops the whole person, yet they differ in their understandings of how and why this is the case. Jarvis’s experiential learning theory begins ‘from below’ with experience, whereas many approaches of CRE begin with the end result: individuals themselves. By bringing the two into dialogue this paper offers critical insights into Jarvis’s work through an exploration of three conceptualisations of the whole person: biography, ontic self and wisdom. The discussion provokes and engages with questions focusing around the nature of experiential learning, how the whole person might be conceived and what the relationship is between learning and teaching in human becoming. The role of reflection in ‘forming’ people is then considered, together with its spiritual attributes. As a relational process, it also has a spiritual dimension, something which Jarvis, in his role of colleague, supervisor, mentor and friend, has frequently exhibited.