Development of School Achievement in the Nordic Countries During Half a Century

The aim is to describe the development of achievement in compulsory school in the Nordic countries from the 1960s. The study relies on published results concerning literacy and numeracy from the international large-scale assessments between 1964 and 2012. Among others, the following conclusions are drawn: (1) for most countries, a small but consistent increase in the level of achievement was observed from the mid-1970s to around 1990 for both literacy and numeracy; (2) Finland improved literacy performance dramatically between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, which is hypothesized to be associated with the introduction of part-time special education; (3) for all countries performance declined from the late-1990s/early-2000s, which is hypothesized to be due to different factors in different countries.     

Hochschuldidaktische Forschung zur Lehrqualit?t und Lernwirksamkeit

The following article gives an overview on the research on teaching effectiveness and teaching quality. It starts with a glance back to the early programmatic demands formulated in the 1970s concerning teaching in higher education and sketches the development towards the current research strands. A special focus will be given to theoretical and methodological aspects of researching quality of teaching in higher education. We then will draw upon examples of state-of-the-art research in the respective construct. These examples can be clustered into (a) evaluation of teaching quality and measurement of key competency acquisition, (b) research on the efficacy of inquiry-based vs. lecture-based teaching and (c) action research into teaching and learning in higher education     

Family background, entry selectivity and opportunities to learn: What matters in primary teacher education? An international comparison of fifteen countries

First findings of IEA’s “Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M)” had revealed differences in the demographic background, opportunities to learn (OTL), and outcomes of teacher education between student teachers from different countries. Two hypotheses are examined: OTL and teacher background are significant predictors of mathematics content knowledge (MCK) and mathematics pedagogical content knowledge (MPCK) as outcomes. OTL effects are partly mediated by differential student teacher intake. Data from multi-level models support our hypotheses with respect to gender, high-school achievement, motivation, OTL in mathematics and the mediating effect of student teacher intake. Background affects only MCK but not MPCK.     

Effects of Self‐Concept on Restoring a Positive Motivational State After an Exam‐Like Situation

Exams often trigger avoidance motivation and a tendency to withdraw; instead, an approach‐oriented motivational state would be more desirable, since this encourages an invigorated and persistent approach to tasks. This study investigated the role of academic self‐concept on the activation of relative approach versus avoidance motivation during the course of an exam‐like situation. In 62 university students (50 women), academic self‐concept was assessed using self‐ratings, and activation of approach versus avoidance motivation was assessed by using the electroencephalogram alpha asymmetry response. Academic self‐concept proved to be an important moderator of motivational responses during the challenging situation. A more negative self‐concept was related to sustained decrease in approach motivation, to rumination, and to worsened mood. In contrast, a positive self‐concept was related to more positive mood and activation of approach motivation even beyond task completion. The findings have educational implications, for instance, for the design of exams and performance feedback.     

Getting the fish out of the water: Considering benefits and problems of doing research on teacher education at an international level

Structure and content of teacher education depend on a deeper rationale, which is a result of cultural boundaries. At the same time teaching is a cultural practice that differs across countries. Like the water in the fish's tank, such cultural givens are too often invisible as we debate research designs. In this article, we focus in particular on the understanding of three main components of teacher education: mathematics, mathematics pedagogy and general pedagogy, and on juxtaposing two extreme models: Germany and the US. It turns out that benefits and problems of international comparisons are closely related to each other.     

Science teacher education for sustainable development: a case study of a residential field course in a Norwegian pre-service teacher education programme

In this paper, we explore how a Norwegian teacher education institution promotes education for sustainable development (ESD) through a residential field course. The residential field course was located in a mountain area and data were collected through participant observation. The data included—together with instructional artefacts—evaluation schemes and assignments written by the student teachers, and the analysis was based on categories for science ESD. Through exemplary teaching experiences in an outdoor environment and pupil-active teaching methods, such as inquiry learning and phenomenon-based teaching, the student teachers gained experience in outdoor education and of stepping into the unknown in a safe learning environment. This was further connected to ESD pedagogy.     

Improving curriculum alignment and achieving learning goals by making the curriculum visible

Curriculum alignment is crucial in realizing learning objectives, but in higher education the alignment is often challenged by practical problems. The adverse effect of misalignment is further amplified by the lack of student awareness of their position within the curriculum. We argue for the importance of the visibility of learning trajectories across the curriculum and discuss the implementation of a digital curriculum mapping tool. We use four case studies to discuss how the tool was employed along four themes: curriculum development, visibility, assessment, and learning enhancement. This article discusses the pitfalls and best practices in the process of introducing a new method of enhancing curriculum visibility.