Professionalisierung und Schulentwicklung

In diesem Beitrag wird dargestellt, dass in Schulentwicklungsprozessen Potentiale für eine weitere Professionalisierung des Lehrerberufs liegen. Schulentwicklung generiert einen bestimmten Handlungstyp im Sinne einer Disposition für die kooperative L?sung unvorhersehbare Problem-und Krisenlagen auf der Ebene der einzelnen Schule. Die Autoren beschreiben auf der Grundlage mehrerer von ihnen durchgeführter hermeneutischfallrekonstruktiv vorgehender Begleitforschungsprojekte zur Schulentwicklung, welche Ver?nderungen sich in Schulentwicklungs-als Unterrichtsentwicklungsprozessen für die T?tigkeit der Lehrerinnen und Lehrer ergeben, um zukunftsoffen mit Unsicherheit umgehen zu k?nnen: 1. Es findet mehr Arbeit in sogenannten Praxisgemeinschaften und Entwicklungsgruppen statt. Dieses ist eine Verst?rkung der Kommunikation über Unterricht und Lernprozesse. 2. Die prozessorientierte ziel-und inhaltsbezogene Differenzierung und Variation von Unterrichtsformen wird gesteigert. 3. Schülerrückmeldungen über eigenes Lernen und den Unterricht werden in diesen integriert. Hier bilden sich neue Kompetenzen zur Diagnose heterogener Lernst?nde und zur Differenzierung von Lernformen und Lernwegen heraus, und es kommt dabei zu einer Ausdifferenzierung von Funktionsbereichen in der Lehrert?tigkeit.     

The policy-implementation-results linkage for education development and aid effectiveness in the Education 2030 era

Education 2030, the new global agenda for educational development, emphasises inclusion and learning outcomes. The top-down programme-based approach, a mainstay of international aid, has up to now failed in helping developing countries to meet these objectives because it tends to overlook where the link is broken between policy implementation from the ‘top’ and results ‘on the ground’. Conversely, those on the ground tackling the learning more directly do not seem to have sufficient capacity to use their experiences to inform institutional and systemic reforms, from the bottom up, as it were. The link between policy, its implementation and the results on the ground could be established through strengthened dialogue between these two approaches. Tapping into the existing knowledge and experience on teaching and learning while at the same time addressing institutional and systemic concerns would be instrumental in facilitating interaction between these two facets of international aid.     

The impact of student teaching experience on pre-service teachers’ readiness for technology integration: A mixed methods study with growth curve modeling

Adopting a two-phase explanatory sequential mixed methods research design, the current study examined the impact of student teaching experiences on pre-service teachers’ readiness for technology integration. In phase-1 of quantitative investigation, 2-level growth curve models were fitted using online repeated measures survey data collected from 68 pre-service teachers doing their student teaching. The results revealed significant progress in readiness for technology integration during student teaching and significant variability in individual change trajectories of readiness for technology integration. Two dummy variables, prior-teaching (0 = “having no prior teaching experience”; 1 = “having prior teaching experience”) and grade-level (0 = “elementary level”; 1 = “secondary level”), were identified as significant in predicting the shape of individual change trajectories of readiness for technology integration. In phase-2 of qualitative investigation, follow-up interview data were collected from 11 pre-service teachers among those who participated in the online surveys. The interview data was analyzed both deductively and inductively yielding clues and insights for interpreting and understanding the quantitative results from phase-1. Based on its quantitative and qualitative results, this study made recommendations for future technology integration research and for improving pre-service teachers’ technology use experience during student teaching.     

Uneducating South Africa: The failure to address the 1910–1993 legacy

This paper analyses various data on the South African schooling system since 1910. The data collected for the study cover a wide range of education indicators, from pupil enrolments, pupil teacher ratios, real expenditure (aggregate and per capita), matriculation pass rates, to some indicators of the quality of matriculation passes. The authors provide an indication of both inputs into and outputs of the educational system. In broad terms, the data indicate that from an educational perspective South Africa followed a modernisation trajectory that, although it drew ever larger numbers of pupils into the schooling system, was partial, distorted and fundamentally dysfunctional. The educational process was strongly affected by racial factors. To the extent that education is an important determinant of long run growth performance of economies, this implies that South Africa's educational policies were inimical to its long run growth.     

State formation and the rise of elementary education at the periphery of Europe: the cases of Finland and Turkey 1860–1930

This article addresses the role of the state and state formation in the establishment of national education during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. Through a comparative case analysis of two countries at the European periphery (Finland and Turkey), this article shows how national educational systems, in both instances, were driven by periods of intense state building. In the nineteenth century, military defeats sparked educational reforms, and in the early nineteenth century school laws were enacted due to the establishment of the republics of Finland and Turkey. Nevertheless, these examples also show the limits of a state formation perspective. Despite changes in educational policy, neither state reached high enrolment levels in the nineteenth century, and only in Finland schooling for all was realised in the 1930s. Thus, this work encourages further comparative analyses of the social, economic and political circumstances in which these states acted.     

Paradigms Regained: Toward Integrating Objectivism and Constructivism in Instructional Design and the Learning Sciences

This article proposes a model that integrates the traditionally conflicting objectivist and constructivist approaches to instructional design. I argue that these two approaches are complementary rather than oppositional. I present and analyze two learning programs in order to show how learning events can contain both objectivist and constructivist elements. By plotting the two approaches at right angles to one another, I produce four quadrants which I then discuss and explain. What fallows after that is a discussion of comments that were received from members of a prominent instructional technology mailing list about the feasibility of the model. Finally I present two case studies. The first describes a two-day workshop that was designed to be high on both axes, while the second shows how the model could be used as a decision-making tool. Initial findings suggest that it is both feasible and useful to plot objectivism and constructivism at right angles to one another rather than at opposite ends of a continuum.     

Linkage within teacher education: cooperative learning of teachers and student teachers

The close linkage between different institutions is widely recognized as a method of improving teacher education. This paper introduces an attempt to link university teacher training programmes with further teacher education thereby showing the benefits of the approach and factors influencing its success. To enable teachers and student teachers to participate, a blended learning course programme was designed. The findings presented in this article are based on a course evaluation comprising data from 19 teachers and 88 student teachers. The findings indicate that teachers and student teachers benefit in many ways through cooperative learning. For example, both groups appreciated having multiple perspectives and the opportunity to exchange their experiences and opinions. Communication and interaction between teachers and student teachers is significant to make cooperative learning successful. Adequate communication and interaction, satisfying for both participant groups, are crucial for the success of this approach.     

Is Empathy the Key to Effective Teaching? A Systematic Review of Its Association with Teacher-Student Interactions and Student Outcomes

Educational Psychology Review - Teachers’ social-emotional competence has received increasing attention in educational psychology for about a decade and has been suggested to be an important...     

Handwriting fluency and the quality of primary grade students’ writing

Reading and Writing - Until children can produce letters quickly and accurately, it is assumed that handwriting disrupts and limits the quality of their text. This investigation is the largest...