“The system shows us how bad it feels”: special educational needs assessment in North Rhine-Westphalia,Germany

ABSTRACT

In the context of the North Rhine-Westphalian school reform towards an inclusive education system, this article problematises the practice of categorisation. Our research aims to investigate the assessment of special educational needs (SEN) and thereby enrich the discussion of the relation between inclusion and diagnostics. For this study, we interviewed 14 SEN investigators and five decision-makers. We discuss the results on the basis of a qualitative content analysis and against the background of Fleck’s concept of thought styles. We mainly found inertia in special education traditions, expressed in the use of intelligence tests, the dominance of SEN teachers in the assessment process and the lack of participation of parents and pupils. We conclude that it is necessary to reform the SEN assessment rules. At the same time, we see major challenges in transforming existing thought styles into a more flexible and decategorising approach.     

Mathematics teacher quality: its distribution and relationship with student achievement in Turkey

A main purpose of the present study was to investigate the distribution of qualified mathematics teachers in relation to students’ socioeconomic status (SES), as measured by parental education, among Turkish middle schools. Further, relationships between mathematics teacher quality indicators and students’ mathematics achievement were explored. Data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study were used. Relationships between mathematics teacher quality and students’ mathematics achievement were investigated using hierarchical linear modeling. The current study identified SES-related inequities in access to qualified mathematics teachers in Turkey. Low-SES students were more likely to be taught by mathematics teachers who had less than 3 years of experience or who did not hold a degree in mathematics or mathematics education. On the other hand, years of experience and a degree in mathematics or mathematics education were found to be substantially related to Turkish eighth-grade students’ mathematics achievement. Low-SES students’ mathematics teachers were also more likely to report a lack of confidence in their preparation to teach various mathematics contents.     

Teachers' perceptions regarding school principals' coaching skills

The purpose of this study was to find out teachers' perceptions about school principals' coaching skills. The study was carried out within qualitative research methods. The study group included 76 teachers in Elazig and 73 teachers in Kahramanmara? provinces of Turkey. All the data were processed using Nvivo 9 software. The results indicate that teachers' perceptions about their principals' coaching skills do not differ according to the age, marital status, sex and education status variables. The teachers think that their principals are successful at some coaching skills such as being experienced and knowledgeable, being an effective listener and setting achievable targets. Principals fail to show empathy, communicate effectively, praise, give feedback, motivate and have effective inquiry coaching skills. According to teachers' opinions, being a role model, showing empathy, praising, effectively communicating and motivating are important coaching skills that they would show if they were to sit in the principal chair.     

Swedish teachers’ ethical reflections on a study visit to Central America

In this article we argue that culturally variable values and morals have a key role in educational initiatives that address a global dimension. The article suggests that looking at values and morals in relation to a teaching practice is a way of adding knowledge to this field. Our study inquires into how an intercultural experience can evoke ethical reflections on environmental and sustainability issues. The article is based on a qualitative empirical study of teachers’ experiences of a teacher development programme, where we analyse the variety of ethical reflections that emerge during a study visit to a Central American country. We build on a pragmatic analytical approach that takes John Dewey’s ethical thoughts on moral situations as a point of departure and deals with teachers’ ethical reflections in a way that takes the contextual and situated nature of morals into account.     

The Nature and Role of Thought Experiments in Solving Conceptual Physics Problems

This study describes the possible variations of thought experiments in terms of their nature, purpose, and reasoning resources adopted during the solution of conceptual physics problems. A phenomenographic research approach was adopted for this study. Three groups of participants with varying levels of physics knowledge—low, medium, and high level—were selected in order to capture potential variations. Five participants were selected within each level group and the study was conducted with fifteen participants in total. Think aloud and retrospective questioning strategies were used throughout the individually conducted problem solving sessions to capture variations in the participants’ thinking processes. The analysis of the data showed that thought experiments were actively used cognitive tools by participants from all there levels while working on the problems. Four different thought experiment structures were observed and categorized as limiting case, extreme case, simple case, and familiar case. It was also observed that participants conducted thought experiments for different purposes such as prediction, proof, and explanation. The reasoning resources behind the thought experiment processes were classified in terms of observed facts, intuitive principles, and scientific concepts. The results of the analysis suggested that thought experiments used as a creative reasoning tool for scientists can also be a productive tool for students. It was argued that instructional practices enriched with thought experiments and related practices not only reveal hidden elements of students’ reasoning but also provide students opportunities to advance their inquiry skills through thought experimentation processes.