Facilitating team learning through transformational leadership

This article investigates when and how teams engage in team learning behaviours (TLB). More specifically, it looks into how different leadership styles facilitate TLB by influencing the social conditions that proceed them. 498 healthcare workers from 28 nursery teams filled out a questionnaire measuring the concepts leadership style, TLB, social cohesion and team psychological safety. Analysis was performed using structural equation modelling. The results of this cross-sectional study show that transformational leadership predicts TLB better then laissez-faire leadership, because transformational leadership is primarily related to team psychological safety and only secondarily to social cohesion while for laissez-faire leadership it works the other way around. Transformational leadership matters because it facilitates psychological safety in the team.     

Learning as renewal: contribution to the present theoretical background of the lifelong learning policy of the European Union

There are a number of EU documents on the term and way of implementation of lifelong learning. However, the characteristics of learning from adult education perspectives are not sufficiently emphasized and are undertheorized in them. Numerous new, theoretical works have been published on adult learning in the related adult education literature since the millennium, which have not yet been integrated into the lifelong learning policy. This article analyses the documents of the European Union on lifelong learning from the aspect of how compatible they are with the most recent adult learning theories assisting the deeper understanding of the characteristics of adult learning. According to the recommendation of the author, the present transformation of Europe experiencing recession should be thought of as a learning process, of which the newest, innovation-oriented adult learning theories say a lot. These are, for example, the process-, biography- and change-oriented theories which contain the elements of transformative learning theory as well, and are also compatible with action-learning theories focusing on solving the tasks and problems of the workplace through learning. Further relevant theories can be the theories of innovation management and the flow theory. It would be worth integrating the relevant elements of these theories into a new, innovation-centred concept which would include the innovation indicators of adult learning/adult education.     

Pushing the boundaries of self-directed learning: research findings from a study of u.lab participants in Scotland

ABSTRACT

This article reports on the research findings from a qualitative study of adult learners in Scotland taking part in a u.lab MOOC. As a new phenomenon in adult learning, u.lab has been extremely popular yet, at present, there exists little empirical data about either the process or outcomes of the learning experience. This study aims to provide a starting point for further study of u.lab and other emergent trends in adult learning. Here, the accounts of 12 women and men participating in u.lab were analysed using a grounded theory framework. The inductive nature of this approach allowed us to build up a picture of participant experience. Of significance in the findings were participants’ relationship to course content, experience of learning in community and engagement in shaping the learning experience. We draw on Illeris’ model of the learning field to deepen our understanding of participant experience and to illustrate how the particular constellation of content, incentive and interaction dimensions of learning in u.lab creates a learning space where the possibility for self-direction and self-organisation is extended beyond existing practice.     

Epistemic beliefs and beliefs about teaching practices for moral learning in the early years of school: relationships and complexities

While investment in young children is recognised as important for the development of moral values for a cohesive society, little is known about early years teaching practices that promote learning of moral values. This paper reports on observations and interviews with 11 Australian teachers, focusing on their epistemic beliefs and beliefs about teaching practices for moral education with children aged 5–8 years. The analysis revealed three main patterns of thinking about moral education: following others, reflecting on points of view, and informing reflection for action. These patterns suggest a relationship between epistemic beliefs and beliefs about teaching practices for moral learning which have implications for teacher professional development concerning experiences in moral education.     

Induction and Mentoring of Beginning Researchers at Academic Colleges of Education in Israel

This study focuses on similarities and differences in expectations of cooperating teachers and student teachers in the initial stage of the mentor relationship in the context of an Israeli practicum program for pre‐service student teachers. These expectations, particularly when they conflict, can serve as major obstacles to the formation of contexts for learning. A focus group technique was used to bring the expectations of the participants concerning the role of the cooperating teacher to awareness and articulation. The theoretical framework of Calderhead and Shorrock (1987) was used to analyze the participants’ expectations into categories of educational orientations. Expectations of a practical and technical nature were found to be prevalent among members of both groups, whereas the student teacher group held more expectations for a personal relationship than the cooperating teacher group. Suggestions are given for bridging the gap in expectations between cooperating teachers and student teachers in the initial stage of the practicum program.     

Scaling Up,Scaling Down: Seven Years of Performance Assessment Development in the Nation's Second Largest School District

To provide an accurate reading of students' and schools' rates of progress, and to provide cues for instruction, assessment at every level should be connected to explicit learning goals and standards. To show how this requirement can be fulfilled, and how research-based assessment can effectively support learning and instruction, this article summarizes a 7-year performance assessment collaboration between assessment researchers and the nation's second largest school district. The project's success in scaling up empirically tested assessment design models and scoring procedures to a district assessment involving more than 300,000 students per year raises the possibility that high-quality learning-centered assessment may again be a practical option for large-scale assessment and accountability.     

The condom works in all situations? Paradoxical messages in mainstream sex education in Sweden

The condom plays a vital part in safe sex, the ideal outcome of mainstream Swedish sex education. As researchers have pointed out, however, the condom is not a neutral object; rather, it plays a part in shaping, in different ways, both sexual practices and the idea of what sex is. This paper focuses on sex education television programmes produced in Sweden from 1998 to 2011, and particularly on the condom's role in maintaining a hierarchy of sexuality that favours heterosexuality and vaginal intercourse. The analysis shows that the condom is presented as self-evident, as always available, and as unique in the protection it provides against sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Through over-simplified messages, such as ‘the condom is appropriate on all occasions’, the coital imperative is sustained and practices that do not include a penis are excluded from concepts of ‘sex’. From a safer sex perspective, this approach leaves unanswered questions about protection during other sexual practices, in particular from STIs such as herpes, for which no prevention strategies are presented. From a wider perspective, the sole focus on condoms, with its specific emphasis on the penis and penetration, runs contrary to the inclusive agenda of contemporary Swedish sex education.     

Multiple Measures: Toward Tiered Systems

This article examines multiple measures of performance in school accountability systems from two perspectives: laterally (different indicators of different domains) and vertically (indicators that are at different levels of depth of the same domain). Organizational responsibility and instructional sensitivity are examined. In particular, alternative procedures are explored for integrating into the multiple measures concept external, uniform top-down measures and responsive, locally adaptive bottom-up measures.     

Conflicts and resistance: potentials for democracy learning in preschool

The study aims to develop knowledge about learning for democracy in ECEC, through investigating acts of resistance in conflicts and examine these as potentials for democracy learning. The study is informed by Mouffe's theoretical ideas about conflicts as a prerequisite for democracy. The research questions are: What kind of conflicts can be identified in everyday interactions in preschool? How do children and teachers express and maintain resistance in conflicts? What potentials for democracy learning are there in such acts? Data consist of video observations of interactions in four Swedish preschools. The analyses of the interactions comprised various readings to identify expressions of conflicts and ways to communicate resistance. Ethical considerations were paramount to ensure that the studies met the ethical requirements. Identified conflicts are described in terms of qualities of space: (a) Space for diversity illustrates openness for different opinions to be articulated and heard: (b) Space for unity illustrates how alliance-building and authority create conditions and restrictions for opinions to be articulated, heard and/or neglected. Playfulness, courage and emotions are important traits for resistance and both agonism and antagonism appear to be at play. The conflicts identified offer both possibilities and obstacles in learning for democracy.