Shared Sense-making in Curriculum Reform: Orchestrating the Local Curriculum Work

This study aims to gain a better understanding of the Finnish national curriculum reform by examining how the educational practitioners, at the district level, orchestrate the shared sense-making concerning the reform work in their school districts. Qualitative focus group data was collected from 12 groups, throughout Finland, that were responsible for orchestrating curriculum reform work at the district level. Results showed that curriculum reform steering groups recognized the importance of orchestrating shared sense-making. They strived to develop functional, context sensitive, and shared strategies for reform implementation across their districts. They employed a range of strategies for managing, navigating, and regulating the shared sense-making of the local curriculum work.     

What Makes a Student Group Successful? Student-Student and Student-Teacher Interaction in a Problem-Based Learning Environment

This study investigated student-student and teacher-student interaction in a problem-based course and looked at study success in relation to group dynamics and approaches to studying. Data for this study were provided by 31 law students who were enrolled in a course in legal history at the University of Helsinki in February 2001. The students were divided into three small groups that were tutored by one teacher. Both the students and the teacher were interviewed. The interaction between the students and their teacher, and the group dynamics of each subgroup, were observed during the tutor sessions. The results showed that the student groups were very different from each other in terms of study success, group dynamics and communication between the group members. One group achieved significantly higher grades than the other two groups. There was only one clear difference between the three groups. The interviews and observations showed that the students in the best group participated more evenly and actively in the discussions than students in the other two groups.     

Reducing disruptive behaviours and improving classroom behavioural climate with class‐wide positive behaviour support in middle schools

Disruptive behaviour in classrooms is a significant challenge for learning in schools and a risk factor for students’ academic achievement and a significant source of teachers’ work‐related stress. Earlier research shows that clear behavioural expectations, monitoring students’ adherence to them and behaviour‐specific praise are effective practices to reduce disruptive behaviour. Although behaviour problems are common in middle schools, most of the interventions have been developed and studied in elementary schools. This randomised study evaluated the effects of a class‐wide intervention on classroom behavioural climate and disruptive behaviour, on teacher‐experienced stress and on the time needed for behaviour management in middle school. The classes were selected for intervention by their teachers on the basis of poor behavioural climate. The intervention was based on teachers’ cooperation; they collectively agreed on clear behavioural expectations, used positive feedback and, if needed, applied consequences in response to high rates of disruptive behaviour. The results indicated medium to large effects on classroom behavioural climate according to teachers’ evaluations, and somewhat more inconsistent effects on classroom behavioural climate according to student evaluations and in the time needed for behaviour management. The behavioural climate of the classes remained at a constant level during the follow‐up. The intervention was well accepted by teachers and students. The results suggest that an easily applicable intervention may produce significant improvements in classroom behavioural climate in middle schools.     

Auf der Suche nach (einem Begriff) der Jugend

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Teacher-perceived temperament and educational competence as predictors of school grades

Associations between teacher-perceived temperament, educational competence (EC), and school grades in mother language (ML) and mathematics (Math) were assessed in 3212 students (1619 girls) in Secondary School (aged 13–19) taken from a nationally representative Finnish sample. Temperament was assessed with scales from the TABC-R and DOTS-R batteries. EC consists of cognitive ability, motivation, and maturity. Activity, persistence, distractibility, inhibition, and negative emotionality were significantly associated with both ML and Math grades. EC turned out to mediate the relationship between temperament and school performance and moderated the relationship of activity to Math. The findings show a high association between teacher-rated temperament and school performance and indicate a strong “halo effect” between temperament, EC, and school grades.     

Stichwort: Transfer und Transferforschung im Bildungsbereich

“Transfer of innovation” is understood in education science as concerned with the dissemination of scientifically based innovations in educational systems. This contribution will begin with a more precise definition of the term transfer, an overview of the current state of research and on which factors influence the successful dissemination of innovations in educational systems. In the second part, four strategies will be presented which enable the dissemination of scientific evidence into practical settings. Here we will compare strategies which have been used within the context of pilot programmes in Germany with internationally established approaches. These international approaches are more output-orientated and, therefore, look to the effects of innovations on pupils—especially with respect to performance development. The comparison contrasts classic top-down with evidence-based strategies and participative strategies with design-research approaches. Finally, we discuss the role given to educational research within these strategies.     

Erstsprachförderung bei Migrantenkindern in Kindergärten

This contribution reports on an investigation into the importance of supporting first language for the command of first and second language skills using a quasi-experimental longitudinal study of migrant children in kindergarten. For two years the development of both first and second language skills was coordinated through the treatment of the same topics and stories during lessons. Furthermore, parents were asked to read their children a story or play an audio book in the first language three times a week. This extensive intervention neither had statistically significant effects on the development of language competency in the first nor the second language, German. The transfer effects between first and second language expected by the interdependency hypothesis of Cummins were only in evidence to a very limited extent.     

Promoting children’s participation: the role of teachers in preschool and primary school learning sessions

The aim of this study is to provide insights into the social construction of participation in joint activities in Finnish preschool and primary school classrooms. The article deals with two issues: How do teachers promote participation in a preschool classroom as compared with a primary school classroom? What similarities and differences are found? It also considers the question of how the similarities contribute to the continuity from preschool to primary school in terms of participation. Based on observation data insights are provided into the interactions between teachers and children by using extracts from teacher‐led learning sessions. The teachers used a diversity of strategies to promote participation in both contexts. In the preschool the focus was on participation and interaction as such, whereas in the primary school the emphasis was more clearly on academic learning. The findings suggest that teacher support of active participation and friendly relationships, together with creative and playful activities in the preschool, enrich children’s curiosity, and nourish children’s motivation for and interests in academic learning.     

Performance‐approach goals,task‐avoidant behaviour and conceptual knowledge as predictors of first graders’ school performance

The present paper aims to examine the relationship between first grade children’s performance‐approach goal orientation, task‐avoidant behaviours, conceptual knowledge and their achievement in maths and literacy. The sample consisted of 174 first grade children and their class teachers. Children’s self reports of their performance‐approach goals and avoidant behaviours as well as teacher‐reports of children’s avoidant behaviours were used. Our results indicate that performance‐approach goal orientation positively predicts children’s self‐reported task‐avoidant behaviours which in turn have a negative effect on children’s achievement outcomes. The negative effect of teacher‐rated avoidant behaviours on children’s achievement outcomes was even greater than the positive influence of children’s conceptual knowledge. These results suggest that the relationships between goal‐orientations, achievement behaviours and achievement outcomes start to form early in children’s school career (or even before that) and that children’s self‐report of their achievement goals and behaviours provide a valuable knowledge already in this early age.     

Factorial and convergent validity of the Exercise Identity Scale in a German adult sample

The purpose of the present study was to examine the factorial and convergent validity of the German translation of the Exercise Identity Scale (EIS; Anderson & Cychosz, 1994). We introduce a bifactor model as a possible alternative to the previously discussed one- and two-factor models. Using an online study with 530 participants, our results suggest that the EIS should be considered a unidimensional measure. For this one-factor model, temporal invariance (time interval: 2 weeks) and invariance between men and women could be established. Relations to similar constructs were in the expected directions. We provide a psychometrically sound German version of the EIS, which demonstrated factorial and convergent validity in this study. The use of the scale in German samples is likely to advance research on exercise adoption and maintenance by integrating the exercise identity construct.