Characteristics of Workplace Learning Among Finnish Vocational Students

In Finnish VET, students’ work experience is explicitly defined as workplace learning, instead of the practice of already learnt skills. Therefore, vocational students’ learning periods in the workplace are goal-oriented, guided and assessed. This paper examines the characteristics of students’ workplace learning and compares them with the characteristics of employees’ workplace learning. The data were collected with an Internet questionnaire from final-year vocational students (N = 3106). In total, 1603 students (52 %) answered the questionnaire. The data were analysed using quantitative methods. The results indicate that features typical of employees’ workplace learning can also be found in student learning as well. However, VET-related workplace learning has a number of characteristics that have not been brought to light in research on employees’ workplace learning thus far. We suggest that in developing educational practices it would be useful to draw on some of the features of workplace learning such as the use of collaboration and shared practices; conversely for workplace practices it would be useful to draw on some of the features of educational practices. For example, by utilising the structures of students’ workplace learning system presented in this study, learning at work could be transformed towards more goal-directed, guided and assessed activity.     

Early numeracy in low‐performing young children

The aim of this study was to explore the early numeracy of low‐performing young children. The mean age of the children was six years and four months. The 511 participants belonged to three groups: multi‐language children, children with special educational needs and children with average performance. The results showed that there were significant group differences in early numeracy: the children in the reference group had better relational and counting skills than those with a multi‐language background and those with special educational needs. Some differences were found in counting skills between the children with multi‐language background and those with special educational needs. Finally, (special) educational support for low‐performing children is discussed.     

In search of quality criteria in peer assessment practices

With the increasing popularity of peer assessment as an assessment tool, questions may arise about its measurement quality. Among such questions, the extent peer assessment practices adhere to standards of measurement. It has been claimed that new forms of assessment, require new criteria to judge their validity and reliability, since they aim for specific goals and address different aspects of learning. But although new criteria have been formulated, little is known about how they are deployed and operate in actual peer assessment practices. This study intends to explicate the quality criteria relevant to the context of peer assessment. We conducted a survey in vocational education on peer assessment quality criteria applied in classrooms. Fifty-six teachers using peer assessment rated several quality criteria as relevant to their teaching practice. The findings suggest that peer assessment practices entail many of the quality criteria recognized in measurement and evaluation, although in an embedded way: the generic quality criteria are tuned or adapted to the peer assessment setting. The findings also show that peer assessment is very much in the hands of the teacher, who organizes and orchestrates the appraisal process in which students receive clear guidelines to appraise one another's work. Our results indicate that quality criteria hardly differ from the function peer assessment serves in classrooms, either within a summative or formative evaluation context. By gaining insight on the specific criteria of peer assessment and their precise purposes, we believe it becomes possible to help teachers improve its measurement quality.     

Personality of elite male and female chess players and its relation to chess skill

Whereas a lot of studies examine cognitive processes in chess players, personality profiles of elite chess players are still not described well. The aim of this study was to examine personality of strong chess experts and its influence on chess skill. We tested elite male and female chess players with Freiburg Personality Inventory Revised (FPI-R), which also provides population norms for males and females. Elite male players' personality profile did not significantly differ from the population norms. Female players were more satisfied with life, had less physical complaints and higher achievement motivation in comparison with female population norms. Personality was also related with chess skill but showed different patterns in males and females. Stronger male players were more introverted, while we found the opposite pattern in female players. These results indicate that personality plays an important role in the highest level of complex intellectual activities.     

Teacher-perceived temperament and educational competence as predictors of school grades

Associations between teacher-perceived temperament, educational competence (EC), and school grades in mother language (ML) and mathematics (Math) were assessed in 3212 students (1619 girls) in Secondary School (aged 13–19) taken from a nationally representative Finnish sample. Temperament was assessed with scales from the TABC-R and DOTS-R batteries. EC consists of cognitive ability, motivation, and maturity. Activity, persistence, distractibility, inhibition, and negative emotionality were significantly associated with both ML and Math grades. EC turned out to mediate the relationship between temperament and school performance and moderated the relationship of activity to Math. The findings show a high association between teacher-rated temperament and school performance and indicate a strong “halo effect” between temperament, EC, and school grades.     

Stichwort: Transfer und Transferforschung im Bildungsbereich

“Transfer of innovation” is understood in education science as concerned with the dissemination of scientifically based innovations in educational systems. This contribution will begin with a more precise definition of the term transfer, an overview of the current state of research and on which factors influence the successful dissemination of innovations in educational systems. In the second part, four strategies will be presented which enable the dissemination of scientific evidence into practical settings. Here we will compare strategies which have been used within the context of pilot programmes in Germany with internationally established approaches. These international approaches are more output-orientated and, therefore, look to the effects of innovations on pupils—especially with respect to performance development. The comparison contrasts classic top-down with evidence-based strategies and participative strategies with design-research approaches. Finally, we discuss the role given to educational research within these strategies.     

Erstsprachförderung bei Migrantenkindern in Kindergärten

This contribution reports on an investigation into the importance of supporting first language for the command of first and second language skills using a quasi-experimental longitudinal study of migrant children in kindergarten. For two years the development of both first and second language skills was coordinated through the treatment of the same topics and stories during lessons. Furthermore, parents were asked to read their children a story or play an audio book in the first language three times a week. This extensive intervention neither had statistically significant effects on the development of language competency in the first nor the second language, German. The transfer effects between first and second language expected by the interdependency hypothesis of Cummins were only in evidence to a very limited extent.     

Qualitätssicherung: Unde venis et quo vadis?

Externe Qualit?tssicherung hat sich in den letzten zehn Jahren von einem kaum beachteten Aspekt zu einem Leitmotiv der europ?ischen Hochschulreformen entwickelt. Nicht zuletzt durch die geplante Neuordnung der externen Qualit?tssicherung hat dieses Thema auch in ?sterreich an Bedeutung gewonnen. So wichtig verschiedene europ?ische Initiativen für diese Entwicklungen waren und sind, so existieren doch keine rechtsverbindlichen Normen auf supranationaler Ebene. Die EU kann aufgrund der Subsidiarit?t im Hochschulbereich ihre Positionen nur in Empfehlungen an die Mitgliedstaaten und in Berichten ausdrücken; innerhalb des zwischenstaatlichen Bologna-Prozesses einigten sich die Signatarstaaten freiwillig auf eine Reihe von Prinzipien zur Qualit?tssicherung sowie auf einen Katalog von Standards und Leitlinien (ESG), die die interne Qualit?tssicherung an den Hochschulen, die externe Qualit?tssicherung durch Agenturen sowie die Meta-Qualit?tssicherung der Agenturen betreffen. Der Beitrag schildert die verschiedenen EU- und Bologna-Initiativen und skizziert Fragestellungen, die sich aus den bisherigen Entwicklungen für Qualit?tssicherung auf der europ?ischen und nationalen Ebene ergeben.