How Dutch employees experience freedom of learning for work

This article focuses on the perceived freedom of Dutch employees to embark on workplace learning in terms of whether they feel it is “voluntary” or “compulsory”. The paper is based on the findings of a large international explorative survey carried out by the Workplace Learning (WPL) Research Network (RN2) of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Lifelong Learning (LLL) Research Hub. The comparative study focused on employees’ quest for “freedom of learning for work”. This paper reports on the Dutch part of the research, the quantitative results of which seem to indicate that the freedom of learning for work is not as important to Dutch employees as might be expected. In a second phase, to investigate employees’ experiences of work-related learning in more depth, the Dutch researchers added a follow-up qualitative study, involving one-on-one interviews. In order to triangulate the results of the quantitative and qualitative research phases, the authors then added a mixed-methods sequential explanatory analysis. They assessed the quality of the collected data in both distinct phases by identifying converging results, which are useful for refining our understanding of learning for work. The paper draws both on rich insights into workplace learning based on this research as well as on theoretical literature which refers to concepts like motivation, subjectivity, work identity and agency in connection with the quest for freedom of learning.     

The Challenges and Tensions in Reconstructing Teacher - Parent Relations in the Context of School Reform: A case study

This paper reports on a comparison of two research approaches of the study of the reflective practice in two different modes of tele‐guidance of the school practicum. The results of two studies were contrasted encouraging the dialogue between researchers coming from different research paradigms. Although the researchers in the two studies shared some perspectives on educational practices and student teachers’ reflection, the studies resulted in two different reports on student teachers’ reflection. Ontological, epistemological and methodological beliefs in both studies are related to a rationalistic and a naturalistic paradigm informing the two research sites. Researchers’ voices in both studies have been interacting, changing and developing but the differences in beliefs between the two sites seem to have contributed to the different analyses and results.     

Teacher reflection: the development of a typology

In this article, a contribution is made to the discussion of reflection on the part of teachers. The discussion to date has shown that reflection must be broad and deep. However, just what constitutes broad and deep reflection and the relations between the two remain unclear. After consideration of the characteristics of broad and deep reflection, three domains of broad reflection are distinguished (i.e. the pragmatic, ethical and moral domains). Closed versus open approaches to deep reflection are also then distinguished which produces a typology of six reflection possibilities. Empirical support for this typology was gathered via interviews with 11 experienced secondary school teachers. The content of the interviews addressed actual difficult decision situations which the teachers had experienced, and application of the constant comparative method showed the teachers to indeed use the six reflection possibilities when they reflected upon the difficult decision situations. A clear preference for closed types of pragmatic and ethical reflection over open or moral reflection was shown. The conclusion is that the proposed typology can be used to map teacher reflection. The results further suggest that the breadth and depth of teacher reflection are in need of development and that the relations between teacher reflection and their professional behaviour should be examined in greater detail.     

Diversity in primary teacher education gender differences in student factors and curriculum perception

The teaching of Probability Theory constitutes a new trend in mathematics education internationally. The purpose of this research project was to explore the degree to which preschoolers understand key concepts of probabilistic thinking, such as sample space, the probability of an event and probability comparisons. At the same time, we evaluated an educational programme which aimed to introduce children to the basic principles of Probability Theory. The research sample consisted of 29 preschoolers (with an average age of 5 years and 4 months) from two classes of a Greek public kindergarten. The research was based on a semi-experimental, three-phase plan: the pretest, the teaching intervention and the post-test. The pretest explored the children’s conception of key probabilistic constructs and contributed to the planning of the teaching intervention. Through the post-test, we evaluated the contribution of the teaching intervention. The findings showed that pupils displayed a satisfactory level of comprehension of key probabilistic concepts and that, moreover, teaching this subject can improve their comprehension.     

Preparing university teachers in The Netherlands: Issues and trends

Abstract

During the last ten years universities in The Netherlands have become less dependent on national policies regarding salary structures, promotion criteria and reward systems. At the same time the government has put increased pressure on universities to take a serious look at the quality of education in general, and at the teaching qualities of the staff in particular. The effects of these policies on staff development at Dutch universities is described. The main focus is on recent initiatives by two universities, Utrecht and Maastricht, to improve the preparation of university teachers. For Utrecht a closer look is taken at the career system, in which the importance of teaching competence is upgraded; at the teacher training programme; and at the role of portfolios and assessment in the programme. The implications are discussed.     

Relations Between Teachers' Professional and Religious Orientations and Their Behavior During Morally Critical Incidents

The focus of this study is on how teachers' professional and religious orientations relate to their reaction intentions when confronted with morally critical incidents. The context of the study is the increasing importance of the moral task of teachers which is complex in current secularized and individualized Western society. The main assumption is that both professional and religious orientations constitute a possible source for understanding differences in teachers' behavior during such incidents. The results suggest that both orientations indeed play a role. This result is notable with regard to the religious orientations because of the absence of this variable in current research.     

Competitive pressure and arousing television news: a cross-cultural study

In many scholarly writings about journalism, the idea can be found that competitive pressure urges journalists to make news more arousing. This hypothesis was tested in two cultural settings: the Western European culture and the Chinese-dominated culture. A total of 3028 TV news stories from seven different markets, or 12 different news programs, were analyzed on the presence of arousing news characteristics. High competitive pressure at the market level appeared to contribute to the prevalence of arousing news, but this effect was more pronounced in the Chinese-dominated culture than in the Western European culture. Effects of high competitive pressure at the station level were only observed in the Western European culture.     

Multidimensional performance characteristics and standard of performance in talented youth field hockey players: A longitudinal study

Abstract

To identify performance characteristics that could help predict future elite field hockey players, we measured the anthropometric, physiological, technical, tactical, and psychological characteristics of 30 elite and 35 sub-elite youth players at the end of three consecutive seasons. The mean age of the players at the end of the first season was 14.2 years (s = 1.1). Repeated-measures analyses of covariance, with standard of performance and measurement occasion as factors and age as a covariate, showed that the elite players fared better than the sub-elite players on technical and tactical variables. Female elite youth players also scored better on interval endurance capacity, motivation, and confidence. Future elite players appear to have excellent tactical skills by the age of 14. They also have good specific technical skills and develop these together with interval endurance capacity better than sub-elite youth players in the subsequent 2 years. To verify our conclusions, we will be tracking these players into adulthood.     

Individualization,the new political spectrum and the functions of adult education

The ambivalences of individualization have triggered a new discourse on social policy. The central themes in this discourse are the promotion of social integration and participation. This new political discourse has thwarted the old left‐right continuum and given rise to a new political spectrum. On one side of this new political spectrum are political perspectives that emphasize integration, solidarity, community. The authors call these collectivistic perspectives. On the other side of the spectrum are perspectives that interpret individualization as the triumph of freedom of choice for individuals. The authors call these the individualistic perspectives. They then describe the spectrum between collectivism and individualism in detail and link each perspective to programmes in adult education typical of such a perspective. In conclusion, the authors summarize their own position in respect of the mission of adult education.