Child Temperament and Total Diurnal Cortisol in Out-of-Home Center-Based Child Care and in At-Home Parental Care

The association between child temperament characteristics and total diurnal saliva cortisol in 84 children (M = 2.3 years, SD = 0.6) attending out-of-home, center-based child care and 79 children (M = 2.0 years, SD = 0.5) attending at-home parental care was examined. Saliva samples were collected during two consecutive days, that is, Sunday and Monday, with four samples taken per day. While children higher in surgency had higher total diurnal cortisol production, we did not find evidence that temperament moderated the associations between child-care context and total diurnal cortisol. Negative affectivity and effortful control were not related to cortisol output. Our findings suggest that temperamental surgency may be associated with higher total cortisol production in early childhood across child-care settings.     

Functioning and participation problems of students with ADHD in higher education: which reasonable accommodations are effective?

Abstract

Students with ADHD struggle in higher education as a result of various functioning and participation problems. However, there are remaining gaps in the literature. First, it remains unclear how often and during which teaching and evaluation methods problems arise. Second, we do not yet know which reasonable accommodations are most effective to deal with the functioning. And third, we do not know which accommodations are most effective to address participation problems of students with ADHD in higher education. This study addresses these three gaps in literature. In total, 86 students with ADHD, 42 student counsellors and 86 students without a disability participated in a survey-based study. The results show that students with ADHD most frequently experience problems with sustaining and focusing attention and it is demonstrated that most problems arise during classical teaching or evaluation methods. Finally, the perception of the effectiveness of reasonable accommodations is strongly dependent on which problems students experience in higher education. These findings suggest that it is important to consider both personal and environmental characteristics when selecting and implementing reasonable accommodations.     

Do Parents’ Causal Attributions Predict the Accuracy and Bias in their Children’s Self‐Concept of Maths Ability? A longitudinal study

The present study investigated the extent to which parents’ causal attributions predict the accuracy of, and bias in, their children’s self‐concept of maths ability. Participants were 207 children and their 182 mothers and 167 fathers, who were assessed during the children’s first and second primary school years. The results showed that the more parents thought that their children succeeded because of ability, the more accurate the children’s self‐concept of maths ability became. In contrast, the more the parents attributed their children’s success to effort, the less accurate and more optimistic the children’s self‐concept of ability became.     

Enacting the role of special needs educator – six Swedish case studies

With the increasing focus on inclusion, special needs educators (SNEs) are now expected to share responsibility for pupils with teacher colleagues and to lead school development, but it is a challenge to enact this role in schools. The aim of the study was to explore how professional roles of Swedish SNEs are enacted in local school contexts. From a survey of SNEs in 10 Swedish municipalities, six participants whose work tasks were expected to correspond to the degree ordinances for their university training were chosen. The participants were followed at work, and data were collected through observation of the participants at work, participants’ diaries and interviews with the participants, their teacher colleagues and their school principals. The analysis involved both quantitative and qualitative methods. First, based on the researchers’ observations of the participants at work, categories of SNEs’ tasks were discerned, and the amount of time devoted to those categories of tasks was summarised. Second, case study narratives of the SNEs’ work were constructed to describe how the participants, their teacher colleagues and their school principals view the SNE role and to describe how the work is enacted in various school contexts. The results revealed seven categories of work tasks practised to varying degrees by the six SNEs. The case study narratives exposed large variation in how the SNEs conceptualised their role and how it evolved in relation to local school contexts. The results of the study are discussed with regard to the role of the SNE in relation to policies of inclusion.     

Metacognition, need for cognition and use of explanations during ongoing learning and problem solving

Two studies assessed whether: (1) high levels of task-relevant metacognition would be related to good task performance; (2) some kinds of feedback (e.g., explanations) would improve task-relevant metacognition (and hence, performance) more than other kinds of feedback; and (3) some kinds of people would be more likely to seek out and use this beneficial feedback than others. Results showed that: (1) students were able to better estimate their task performance with increasing experience at the task; (2) students who provided better estimates of their task success were more successful at the task; (3) students high in need for cognition sought out problem explanations more often than students low in need for cognition; but (4) students who scored high in trait metacognition did not seek out problem explanations more often than students who scored low in trait metacognition; (5) students who were high in need for cognition performed better at the task than those who were low in need for cognition, and (6) the receipt of problem explanations was only weakly related to high levels of task performance, if at all. The implications of these results are discussed.     

Joint supervision practices in doctoral education – A student experience

This paper presents a study of students’ experiences of joint supervision practices and supervisors’ professional work in doctoral education in one department of a Finnish university. A qualitative methodology was used to explore students’ experiences of joint supervision practices and an inductive protocol was used to analyse the data gathered through thematic interviews (N=11). The results describe three identified joint supervision practices: the complementary, the substitutive, and the diversified. The results suggest that departments and faculties should develop more official support and guidance for students to identify additional supervisors during their doctoral education.     

Between Printed Past and Digital Future

Peer review – processes of quality control and certification – is well established in most sciences. In this contribution we limit ourselves to peer review in scientific journals. The main idea of peer review – to keep science free from individuals' and groups' interests and impact, and to select and publish only what is the best in a special field of research – is briefly summarized. Though peer review has a significant impact in the sciences, it is obviously hard to realize its objects. Highly publicized cases of fraud, large amounts of time necessary for the review process, the continued power of old boys' networks, and so forth – such factors led to many debates, and while some demanded to abolish peer review completely, others looked for possibilities to revise the review process. The Internet appears to provide tools to improve the organisation of peer review and to afford the transparency of the review process and its results. But even if the use of the Internet leads to significant changes in peer review there is no value-free scientific knowledge and evaluation that are separate from (predominant and/or competing) paradigms and their proponents.     

Anxious girls and laid-back boys: teachers’ and study counsellors’ gendered perceptions of students

ABSTRACT

Efforts to reach gender equality in education in Finland have been extensive. Both teacher education and policy documents for schools have focused on gender equality and gender-neutral treatment of students. The aim of this study is to explore if and how these efforts are manifested in upper secondary school teachers’ and study counsellors’ perceptions of students’ self-belief, academic emotions, study habits and behaviour at school. Twenty-three interviews were conducted and analysed qualitatively through inductive content analysis. The results revealed that teachers and study counsellors perceive that girls’ low self-belief and high achievement expectations affected their academic performance, while boys’ insecurity or need for support was rarely mentioned. The teachers ascribed the students several gender-stereotypical attributes: girls were perceived as diligent and hard-working while boys were perceived as being indifferent towards school and achievements. The implications of these results for students’ self-belief and for teacher education are discussed.     

Leadership in an international collaborative writing groups (ICWG) initiative: implications for academic development

This article presents the results of research examining an innovative initiative designed to build capacity for international, collaborative scholarship of teaching and learning: the development of international collaborative writing groups (ICWG). The study focusses particularly on the role of leadership within the groups as a significant factor in the effectiveness of the initiative. Results from an online survey of 30 former ICWG-participants reaffirm the significance of leadership to the ICWG’s success. In particular, respondents emphasise the value of leadership approaches that foster community and encourage members to take responsibility for tasks. Implications for leadership in related academic development contexts are considered.     

Different Types of Doctoral Study Processes

Becoming a doctor can be viewed as a highly personal and unique experience, which is why many factors influence the completion or non-completion of the doctoral degree. The attention in previous research has been on the students' characteristics, and the university faculty role in promoting degree progress. Therefore, more research is needed on the alternative routes that doctoral students take as part of a flexible doctoral education. The purpose of this study is to increase understanding of the different types of doctoral students in industrial engineering and management, and their different study processes. We explore the study processes of 25 doctoral students using a narrative analysis approach. Doctoral students' processes are categorized into three groups according to the strategies that students take in their progress: the Project Manager, the Wanderer, and the Hobbyist. We report clear differences across the different study processes in the students' working methods, use of supervisory and peer support, problems and risks of delay, and degree success. The results indicate clear opportunities of influence for the faculty in the form of offering clear pre-defined research objectives for students, allocating funds for full-time doctoral studies, developing alternative peer-support strategies, and proactive risk management.