Cognitive Style and Socialisation: An exploration of learned sources of style in Finland,Poland and the UK

Many educators are faced with the problem of how to handle the different ways in which students from different cultures approach learning content and processes. In management education, study has mostly considered the socio-economic, structural and organisational aspects of national differences and the external, explicit aspects of cultural differences such as managerial attitudes and values. There has, however, been less study of the differences between national groups in managerial cognition - the way managers think. If managers from one cultural group perceive, process, interpret and structure information differently from those from another, assumptions about the design and content of educational interventions based in one culture could be challenged in another. This paper reports on an exploratory study of 200 managers in Finland, Poland and the UK to investigate, firstly, whether there are national-cultural differences in cognitive style and, secondly, whether these differences are related to individual, occupational and cultural aspects of socialisation. In the latter case, the relationship between early schooling and the way people think is explored. Respondents' cognitive styles as measured by the Allinson and Hayes (1996) Cognitive Style Index (CSI) were compared with responses to two qualitative instruments assessing attitudes to early schooling and personal confidence and against predictions about national cultural differences derived from Hofstede (1984). The results, to be followed up by more extensive study, show significant differences between national groups in cognitive approaches and some aspects of socialisation. They also suggest that the constructs being measured by the CSI reveal individual characteristics that are not fixed and innate, but instead learned through processes of personal and cultural socialisation.     

Finnish students’ enjoyment and anxiety levels during fitness testing classes

ABSTRACT

Background: Fitness testing is a commonly applied learning and teaching practice implemented in both secondary and elementary school physical education (PE). Many teachers believe that by using a variety of different tests, they are able to provide students with feedback regarding their fitness status, and furthermore, increase students’ willingness to be physically active later in their lives. However, empirical evidence concerning students’ affective responses during fitness testing classes is limited.

Purpose: The primary aim of the study was to investigate whether students’ perceptions of enjoyment and anxiety differed between two different types of fitness testing classes and PE in general. In addition, the measurement invariances over time and between Grade 5 (aged 11–12) and Grade 8 (aged 14–15) groups were determined.

Method: A total sample of 645 Finnish Grade 5 (N?=?328, 50% boys, mean age?=?11.2, SD?=?0.36) and Grade 8 students (N?=?317, 47% boys, mean age?=?14.2, SD?=?0.35) participated in the study. Series of multi-group confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to test the level of measurement invariance between general PE and fitness testing classes, and between age groups. Strict factorial invariance was supported for both enjoyment and anxiety scales allowing for latent mean comparisons. Latent mean differences were studied using z-tests.

Results: Grade 5 students perceived significantly lower levels of enjoyment and cognitive processes and a higher level of somatic anxiety in fitness testing classes compared to general PE. Additionally, for Grade 8 students, levels of enjoyment and cognitive processes were significantly lower and somatic anxiety and worry higher in fitness testing classes than in general PE. Furthermore, enjoyment was significantly higher, and cognitive processes, somatic anxiety and worry lower among Grade 5 students compared with Grade 8 students in both contextual PE and during fitness testing class.

Conclusion: Results of this study indicate that students’ perceptions of enjoyment were lower in fitness testing classes compared to PE in general. Additionally, students perceived lower levels of cognitive anxiety and higher levels of somatic anxiety in fitness testing classes than in general PE. It is noteworthy that students might not significantly dislike fitness testing per se but instead have significantly more positive affects towards PE in general. Generally, practitioners conducting fitness testing lessons are encouraged to embrace different strategies such as fostering basic psychological needs or promoting mastery climate to facilitate enjoyment and diminish anxiety.     

Cultures in Dialogue: Perceptions and Experiences of Finnish Teachers of Transnational Dances

This article is based on a phenomenographic study that focuses on identifying the pedagogical conceptions of Finnish teachers of transnational dances. The purpose is to uncover and understand teachers' conceptions concerning the implications of the cultural contexts of their specific dance forms for their pedagogical practices. Through a process of phenomenographic data analysis, the authors have identified three different ways to understand teachers' conceptions and experiences: (1) Dance as a path towards personal expression, (2) Telling a story of being a woman through dance, and (3) Self-approval and the collective nature of dance. The study aims at facilitating discussion about the process of cultural dialogue, especially within dance pedagogy. Understanding the complexity that diverse cultural contexts create is particularly important in countries like Finland, which have only brief histories of multicultural education.     

The emergence of learners’ transformative agency in a Change Laboratory intervention

Changes and transformations in organisations are traditionally initiated by the management. This approach does not, however, encourage the agency of all the members in an organisation to engage in cooperative development of the activity. This paper presents an analysis of the development of participants’ transformative agency in a Change Laboratory (CL) intervention. In a CL, the participants analyse conflicts and disturbances in their local activity and search for ways to transform current work practices. In the analysis, we identified six types of expressions of transformative agency which evolved over the course of the laboratory sessions and across the topical contents of those sessions. Furthermore, we examined to what extent the expressions of agency produced by the participants reflected individual and collective agency. Our key argument based on the research findings is that transformative agency goes beyond the individual and the situational here-and-now actions. It is produced and maintained in collective change efforts and evolves over time.     

Multimodal intervention in children with attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder

ABSTRACT

Children (N = 3) with attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorders were trained by using a multimodal programme, which comprised three types of intervention: children's individual and group‐based cognitive training, parent training and classroom intervention. The study was done using the experimental single‐case design. Baseline and progress were evaluated by classroom observations, questionnaires and rating scales. Results concerning the two children who were able to finish the programme were promising. Progress was seen in both classroom observations and parent and teacher ratings. Results are discussed and considered from the transactional point of view and some ideas about developing this kind of multimodal programme are given.     

Transforming expertise from individual to regional community expertise: a four‐year study of an education intervention

In this paper we present the empirical results of a study showing that individualised expertise can be transformed into regional community expertise by means of an education intervention programme. In view of the ongoing reform of the municipal and service structures in Finland, during which small municipalities are combined into areas with populations in excess of 20,000, the need for community expertise is obvious. The reorganisation of service arrangements aims at efficiency, lower costs, quality service and increased regional competitiveness. Due to the reform, local actors are expected to provide new, collaboration‐oriented strategies, while healthcare professionals in the municipalities are presented with new challenges such as how to organise activities on a regional basis, form networks and work together in teams. An intervention study based on working life and with an emphasis on education was conducted using participatory action research between 1999 and 2003. The prerequisite of regional expertise is that individualised expertise evolves along with community expertise. An education intervention targeting entire work communities enables a change process in individual competence towards activity in communities and regions. Consequently, individualised expertise was highlighted by joint planning, work development and various evaluation skills. The change was supported by joint motivation for development, responsible commitment, adequate autonomy of the community, and by management practices and organisational structures that supported organisational changes. The delaying factors included workers' weak commitment, difficulty of giving up one's own specific expertise, a lack of common language and different subcultures. Our results indicate that work organisations can be developed through education so that workers jointly participate in changing the activities and work practices. This process will improve motivation and readiness for work as well as increase collaboration and efficiency of activity.     

Teacher students’ meaningful learning in widening learning worlds

ABSTRACT

This qualitative metasynthesis investigated students’ meaningful learning experiences amid andragogical teacher education programmes. The programmes catered to the specific learning needs of adult students in the context of university-based teacher education. This study aimed to provide a wider picture of the frames of students’ meaningful learning in andragogical teacher education programmes. The findings revealed three major learning worlds of adult students’ meaningful learning, which formed a common system widening from the professional awakening to the transformative community and agency in society. Based on the findings, this study argues that in andragogical teacher education, which emphasises collaboration and networking in accordance with the current trend in higher education, teacher students may become empowered participants and active agents in society. The findings can be used in planning curricula, and developing programmes of higher education in general and teacher education in particular.