Finnish and Russian teachers supporting the development of social skills

We argue that a key aspect of inclusive pedagogy is the interaction between the learners, their teachers and the environment. For effective interaction, learners need to develop social competence. This study explores how teachers support the development of the key social skills in schools in Finland and in Russia. The data were collected by questionnaires and observations, and analysed by theory-guided content analysis. While all teachers supported the development of social skills, their pedagogical choices reflected their personal interaction style. The teachers who favoured informal interactions engaged in real-life situations with learners, whereas those favouring formal interactions chose separate activities for practising social skills. The study highlights aspects that deserve more attention in developing teacher education programmes for inclusion.     

Stigma Hauptschulabschluss?

Graduates of vocational training with or without an exit qualification from the German lower secondary school called ??Hauptschule?? have an above-average chance of being unemployed at the next level. Using a data set which includes both school exit qualifications and the marks from vocational training, we show that this increased probability of unemployment can be explained by the enduring stigmatization of graduating school with a low qualification level and by weaker performance in the final examination from vocational training. This leads to additive disadvantages at the next stage in a young person??s career. The attainment of a vocational qualification is, therefore, an insufficient basis for successful entry into the labor market. At a stage, when their integration into the labor market appears to have been secured??despite a problematic start?Cthese youths are, in fact, confronted with an increased risk of unemployment and a precarious start in their working career.     

‘Now I am free’—education and human resource development in Eritrea: contradictions in the lives of Eritrean women in higher education

Human resource development as an objective of education policy in developing countries is increasingly narrowed down to its human capital component. In Eritrea, the objective of a highly centralized human resource development strategy is to produce human capital for the advancement of the nation. This instrumentalist view ignores the fact that education is not only related to one's position in a given society, but equally to the development of personal identity and new forms of agency on an individual level—thus potentially encompassing contradictions between the individual and the common good. This paper—based on the personal histories of a sample of female students at Asmara University—discusses these contradictions in terms of these women's acceptance of and resistance to the government's plan for them. It further argues that an education system geared predominantly towards the creation of human capital is bound to do so at the expense of social solidarity.     

Boys’ and girls’ educational choices in secondary education. The role of gender ideology

This study aims to explain why boys and girls in secondary education choose different educational tracks. We argue that adolescents internalise gender expectations as to what is “appropriate” male and female behaviour in their gender ideology. Gender ideology can affect educational choices by influencing (1) how adolescents evaluate their competence in certain subjects (competence beliefs), (2) what they find important in a future occupation (occupational values) and (3) what school subject they prefer right now (subject preferences). Longitudinal data collected among adolescents at age 15 and 16 (N = 1062) are used. Multinomial path models show that gender ideology shapes boys’ occupational values and subject preferences, whereas for girls it shapes their competence beliefs. Only for boys this leads to gender-stereotypical educational choices, however. Our results support the idea that gender expectations are stricter for boys than for girls and may prevent men from entering more feminine career tracks.     

Pathways,intersections and leaky pipelines: the cognitive function of metaphors for research on STEM careers

Cultural Studies of Science Education - With the present forum contribution, I respond to the paper “Discerning contextual complexities in STEM career pathways—Insights from successful...     

Cash incentives and turnover in center-based child care staff

The current study evaluates the Workforce INcentive Project (WIN), a programmatic effort to increase child care workforce stability in center- and home-based child care providers via the provision of bi-annual cash incentives based on educational attainment. Five hundred and thirteen center-based teaching staff (304 WIN and 209 comparison) and 167 center directors (93 WIN and 74 comparison) from 179 state-licensed child care centers (99 WIN and 80 comparison) participated in the study reported. Survival analyses were conducted to compare turnover rates between the WIN group and the comparison group over a 20-month period. All analyses controlled for participant satisfaction with employment, location (i.e., urban, suburban, and rural), and, where appropriate, hourly wages. Although WIN participation was generally associated with lower rates of turnover in center-based staff, when position type, educational attainment, experience in the field, and hourly wages were considered (separately and together), WIN's relationship with turnover varied widely for directors and teaching staff. Findings are discussed in terms of past research and future cash incentive programs.     

Prospects for Expanded Universal Service in Europe: The Cases of Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway

In Europe, universal service developed within a public-service-oriented institutional framework. The historical conflicts that produced these institutional arrangements are still important for national policymaking. Furthermore, the level of technological development and integration in the European Union forms the context in which decisions concerning universal service are made. Our analysis of telecommunications policies in three small European countries - Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway - shows that business actors are well networked and press for a minimal definition of universal services, whereas those actors promoting an extended definition seem to be less coordinated and therefore less successful. Hence it is unlikely that universal services will be defined more extensively in the future.     

A functional look at goal orientations: Their role for self-estimates of intelligence and performance

Building on the notion that motivation energizes and directs resources in achievement situations, we argue that goal orientations affect perceptions of own intelligence and that the effect of goals on performance is partly mediated by self-estimates of intelligence. Studies 1 (n = 89) and 2 (n = 165) investigated the association of goal orientations and self-estimated intelligence in university-student samples. Study 3 (n = 164) tested an integrated model of goal orientations and self-estimated intelligence to predict school performance. Goal orientations explained 7 to 11% of the variance in self-estimated intelligence (controlling for gender, age, and psychometric intelligence). Persons with high performance-approach goals consistently overestimated and persons holding high performance-avoidance goals underestimated their intelligence. Performance goals affected academic performance indirectly via self-estimated intelligence, whereas learning goals were directly related to performance. Findings are discussed regarding their importance for the understanding of the function of motivation and ability self-perceptions for performance.     

The correspondence of public perceptions of graduates’ life chances and university departmental funding

Very little prior research has examined public perceptions of research funding and the life chances associated with various fields of study. In the present task, 315 members of the Austrian general public rated 34 higher-education courses in terms of funding cuts or increases, and the perceived life chances of graduates, respectively. The results showed a high degree of correspondence in the ratings of both questionnaires. Overall, professional and biological stream courses were rated the most favourably, whereas arts and humanities courses were rated the least favourably. Participants’ demographic variables had little influence on their decisions. The implications of these findings for the way higher education is managed and organised are discussed.