Student and novice teachers’ stories about collaborative learning implementation

Despite the research evidence on the effectiveness of collaborative learning (CL), the implementation of this teaching strategy has not yet found a profound place in teaching practice. As a consequence, several studies have investigated teachers’ motives regarding and experiences with the use of CL. Most of these studies concern however senior teachers, whereas new generations of teachers are important actors in the process of educational innovation. Hence, it is crucial to explore novice teachers’ stories about CL implementation: what motivates them to implement this teaching strategy, what hinders them and how do they handle the challenges they are confronted with? The answers to these questions may provide useful information for improving the teacher education curriculum regarding CL. In this respect, the present study intends to study pre-service and beginning teachers’ experiences with CL in classroom practice, after a formal training pertaining to CL as part of their teacher education programme. The aim is to identify the main challenges student and novice teachers encounter when they want to implement CL in their teaching practice, and how they position themselves in these challenges. A qualitative case study design with in-depth interviews in the Flemish context (Belgium) was used to gain access to the particular experiences of each teacher, and to the processes of interpretation and meaning-making that go with those experiences. Participants were interviewed individually one week before graduation (n?=?15). After at least half a year of experience in the teaching profession, 10 participants were interviewed for a second time. In the present study, we present the results from a cross-case analysis, using the method of constant comparative analysis to identify similarities or differences, and to capture recurring patterns within the data. The findings reveal several dilemmas that illustrate the conflicting options teachers are facing in relation to their colleagues, their pupils, the curriculum and in the classroom context when they intend to implement CL. In particular, the following dilemmas were identified: two dilemmas related to professional autonomy (student teachers: teacher autonomy vs. pre-service performance assessment; novice teachers: teacher autonomy vs. institutional conformity), further dilemmas related to teachers’ beliefs about pupils’ readiness for CL vs. evidence about pupils’ readiness for CL, investing in innovation vs. curriculum and job pressure, and pedagogical intentions vs. contextual constraints. In most conflicting situations, student and novice teachers position themselves in the challenge by opting for non-implementation.     

Communities of practice and participatory action research: the formation of a synergy for the development of museum programmes for early childhood

This study explores the integration of two key ideas and working frameworks: a community of educational practice formed by the synergy between a natural history museum and a university department of pre-school education, which undertook participatory action research aimed at the creation of innovative museum programmes for young children. Data analysis and the evaluation of the research process show that the community was able to bring its situated knowledge into question and interrogate propositional knowledge by means of re-evaluating the learning targets, the nature of children’s activity, the nature of interaction between adults and learners, and the nature of resources used in existing and newly designed programmes offered to young children. Participatory action research enabled the community to monitor the implementation of theory with scientific rigour and formulate a new ‘knowledge strategy’, which in theoretical terms will guide future developments.     

Science Teachers’ Thinking About the Nature of Science: A New Methodological Approach to Its Assessment

This paper describes Spanish science teachers’ thinking about issues concerning the nature of science (NOS) and the relationships connecting science, technology, and society (STS). The sample consisted of 774 in-service and pre-service teachers. The participants responded to a selection of items from the Questionnaire of Opinions on Science, Technology & Society in a multiple response model. These data were processed to generate the invariant indices that are used as the bases for subsequent quantitative and qualitative analyses. The overall results reflect moderately informed conceptions, and a detailed analysis by items, categories, and positions reveals a range of positive and negative conceptions about the topics of NOS dealt with in the questionnaire items. The implications of the findings for teaching and teacher training on the themes of NOS are discussed.     

Sense of belonging or feeling marginalized? Using PISA 2012 to assess the state of academically gifted students within the EU

There are two competing stereotypes of gifted students: harmony theory (gifted students are well adjusted and successful in life) and disharmony theory (giftedness forms a threat to a harmonious development). In this context, the PISA 2012 data were used to explore middle-school students’ experiences in terms of sense of belonging, student–teacher relations and attitudes toward school concerning learning activities/outcomes. Fifteen-year-old students from 13 European countries were selected for this data-set (normative = 79,550, gifted = 1956). Student’s scores on the four scales were tested for significant differences with students from that same country. Tests revealed no significant differences for 55% of the comparisons, 40% of comparisons had positive effect sizes for gifted students, and 4% had negative effect sizes. The evidence presented in this study supports the existence of harmony theory. More specifically, the vast majority of gifted students in this study reported equal or higher level of belonging. Contained within the findings in this study on students’ to the sense of belonging is a lack of evidence of gifted students reporting higher levels of loneliness. These findings strongly reflect the Terman’s assertion almost a century ago stating the lack of gifted children tending to be more socially maladjusted.     

ACADEMIC WOMEN IN SPAIN: AN ELITE SUBJECT TO DISCRIMINATION

The author links the underrepresentation of women in academic careers in Spain to the social and cultural backwardness of the country, which continues to exist despite progress in the socio‐economic domain, as well as to the lack of a true academic community. Women, therefore, have great difficulty in acceding to academic positions, even though they make up more than fifty percent of the enrollments in certain fields and institutions. The current situation is very complex. The remedies to be applied should come as the result of careful study and a clear understanding of what is a very complicated situation.     

One task,divergent solutions: high- versus low-status sources and social comparison guide adaptation in a computer-supported socio-cognitive conflict task

This experimental study extends conflict elaboration theory (1) by revealing social influence dynamics for a knowledge-rich computer-supported socio-cognitive conflict task not investigated in the context of this theory before and (2) by showing the impact of individual differences in social comparison orientation. Students in two conditions (N = 59) compared their self-created task solution with a partly correct solution presented additionally, deviating from their solution. The other solution’s source was introduced either as a low status source (“peer”) or as a high status source (“textbook”) whereas the presented solution was identical. In a baseline condition, this comparison possibility was missing. Students in the textbook condition experienced more socio-cognitive conflict and adapted their solution more often to the correct aspect of the presented solution than students in the peer condition. Students low in social comparison orientation adapted their solution more extensively in the textbook condition than in the peer condition.     

The evolution of educational leadership preparation programmes

ABSTRACT

This article offers a review of extant literature specific to educational leadership preparation programmes. The author explains how leadership development and preparation programmes have evolved over time. Highlighted are: (1) historical contexts of educational leadership, (2) challenges faced when implementing quality graduate programmes in educational leadership, (3) a brief international perspective of educational leadership, and (4) reform efforts aimed at creating a new kind of graduate education in educational leadership. The authors conclude with final reflections.