Predictors of reading literacy

Two reading literacy/text comprehension tests with different demands (on-line comprehension vs. memory-based comprehension) were administered to 6,104 15-year-old students from all German states and school types. The combined and specific effects of proximal and distal variables from small-scale psychological research as well as from large-scale educational studies on each text comprehension measure were investigated. Metacognitive knowledge, decoding speed, and the number of books at home (as an indicator for family background) were found to have specific and large effects on on-line comprehension and accounted for 46 percent of the variance with the highest effects for metacognition. Metacognitive knowledge was also highly predictive when the effects of specific prior knowledge and thematic interest on memory-based text comprehension were estimated simultaneously. In addition, students who showed relative strength in building up a coherent representation of specific texts (memory-based text comprehension) were characterised by high amounts of prior knowledge and thematic interest thereby underlining the importance of these student characteristics for learning.     

How to cope with stress in special needs education? Stress-inducing dysfunctional cognitions of teacher students: the perspective of professionalisation

The goal of the present study is to identify prospective special education teachers (SETs) who may have difficulties in coping with occupational stresses and burdens. International comparative studies show that SETs have a higher level of stress than their colleagues who work in the general school system. Compared with teachers in regular schools, SETs leave their profession at a higher rate. For this reason, the study focuses on so-called dysfunctional cognitions, which might increase stress in strenuous occupational situations and which have long-term harmful effects on health. The construct of dysfunctional cognitions is supposed to be a basis for developing supportive measures for teacher students with low stress tolerance. In the framework of the present study located in the German educational system, teacher students (N = 333) from the special needs areas, including learning disability, mental disability, emotional/social disorders and sensory disabilities (hearing impairment, or speech or language disorders), are taken into account. A hierarchical cluster analysis and a discriminant analysis were used to identify four different clusters: Cluster 1 shows the lowest attitude level of equally all dysfunctional cognitions. Clusters 2 and 3 are characterised by higher degrees, especially of ‘dependency’, ‘internalisation of failure’ and ‘personal standards (perfectionism)’. The fourth profile indicates the highest degree of the dysfunctional cognitions. Lower levels of dysfunctional cognitions (with the exception of perfectionism) occur together with a higher expectation of self-efficacy. No cluster applies for all teacher students of one specific special needs area. Prospective teachers in the area of mental disability are overrepresented in cluster 3, with a high level of internalisation of failure and dependency. Teacher students in the area of emotional/social disorders belong, to a considerable degree, to the ‘risk’ cluster. The profiles are used to develop measures for those teacher students who may experience difficulties in stressful occupational situations. Therefore, these student teachers need to be closely supported through additional intensive training elements and balanced career counselling.     

Recent Changes in the Transition from Higher Education to Employment in the Federal Republic of Germany

Much has been written in the industrialized countries, particularly in Germany, about the problems of unemployed and under‐employed higher education graduates. Although in the case of Germany much is known about the rate of general unemployment, and that graduates fare better on the job market than persons not having higher education qualifications, the specific situations of graduates in regard to the job market are not all that clear. The author argues that most studies on graduate employment, unemployment, under‐employment, and mis‐employment have been skewed by the underlying idea that educated talent is scarce and should be used and rewarded accordingly. Thus the continued expansion of higher education is viewed as an indication of the erosion of graduate employment and as leading to an oversupply of talent. However, if on one hand, employment opportunities were such that employees would do work of both very high and very low levels of skill and complexity as parts of the same job, and, on the other hand, the generalization of higher education qualifications was considered a prerequisite for a highly educated society, the scope of research on this subject would change. The massification of higher education might not be automatically viewed in negative terms.     

Which direction for bachelor and master programmes? A stocktaking of the Bologna process

The introduction of a tiered structure of study programmes and degrees is a core aspect of the Bologna Process. Based on recent empirical studies on the implementation of bachelor and master programmes in a number of European countries, an assessment is made of whether the Bologna Process has progressed in this area. However, given the multitude of expectations and different national reform contexts, it is argued that the impacts of measures taken in the framework of the Bologna Process are difficult to assess. Hence, in the conclusion the article points to a number of unsolved problems still existing to achieve the objectives of the Bologna Process.     

Motivation and learning — The role of interest in construction of representation of text and long-term retention: Inter- and intraindividual analyses

The present work examined the influence of topic interest on the strength of différent components of text representation and long-term retention according to the model of text processing by van Dijk and Kintsch (1983). A Series of relevant personality characteristics were assessed to control for alternative explanations of interest effect. A total of 286 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students was assigned to either a high topic interest or a low topic interest group. The participants had to read tow différent texts (two weeks). Immediately afterwards, various process variables were assessed: Finally, participants weren given a recognition and verification tests, designed to assess the strength of the verbatim, propositional, and situational text representation. One Week after reading, students completed a recall rneasure: The interindividual finding with respect to the components of the representation of text revealed that the verbatim and the prepositional representation were not very predictable. The intraindividual analyses were more successful. The results were more consistent and interpretable with respect to the recall of text. It was shown quite clearly that the effects of interest are not only short-term. Most importantly, it could be shown that topic interest is related to text recall independently of other significant predictors.     

Studieren an der Berufsakademie oder an der Universität, Fachhochschule oder Pädagogischen Hochschule?

Beim übergang von der Schule auf die Universit?t müssen sich Abiturienten u.a. für einen bestimmten Hochschultypus entscheiden. Der Fokus in diesem Beitrag liegt auf der sogenannten Berufsakademie, die in einigen Bundesl?ndern eine interessante, aber wenig beachtete Alternative zu Universit?t, Fachhochschule und P?dagogischer Hochschule darstellt. Anhand einer gro?en L?ngsschnittstudie, die in Baden-Württemberg durchgeführt wird, werden der Leistungsstand, der famili?re Hintergrund, die beruflichen Interessen und die Studienwahlmotive von (künftigen) Studierenden an den verschiedenen Hochschultypen untersucht. Berufsakademien erwiesen sich insbesondere für Abiturienten mit weniger günstigem famili?ren Hintergrund und dem Wunsch, rasch finanziell unabh?ngig zu sein, sowie für Absolventen beruflicher Gymnasien als attraktive Alternative zur Universit?t. Berücksichtigt man die schulische Herkunft (berufliches vs. allgemeinbildendes Gymnasium), so fanden sich ?hnliche kognitive Eingangsvoraussetzungen bei Studierenden wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher F?cher an Berufsakademie, Fachhochschule und Universit?t.     

System competence modelling: Theoretical foundation and empirical validation of a model involving natural,social and human‐environment systems

Constituting a metacognitive strategy, system competence or systems thinking can only assume its assigned key function as a basic concept for the school subject of geography in Germany after a theoretical and empirical foundation has been established. A measurement instrument is required which is suitable both for supporting students and for the evaluation of methodical‐didactic measures. Such a tool is theoretically anchored in an empirically validated geography‐didactic and cognition‐psychological competence model, providing a differentiated representation of both the internal structure of a competency and the proficiency levels. The starting point of this foundation was the development of a normative‐theoretically derived model of geographic system competence. Its empirical validation was performed in different phases aimed at operationalising the competence model by means of test problems. In order to analyse the factor structure of the theoretical model, various item response models were estimated. The item levels of difficulty expected in the competence model were related to the empirical levels of difficulty and predicted by means of ordinary least squares regression to verify the model for proficiency levels. The two‐dimensional competence model – with the two dimensions ‘system organisation and behaviour’ and ‘system‐adequate intention to act’ – exhibits a better fit in reference to the model fit criteria than the one‐dimensional and three‐dimensional models. The correlations between the expected and empirical item difficulties are positive. Items that should be more difficult according to the competence model are actually shown to be more difficult. These findings suggest the reliability and validity of this new measurement instrument for diagnosing and promoting geographical system competence. It has to be implemented in practice as the next step.     

Temporal Contingency as an Independent Component of Parenting Behavior

Several theoretical conceptions emphasize the importance of prompt responses to infant's signals in providing them with early causal experiences. The present paper examines if a maternal tendency toward prompt responses can be identified by distributional analyses of maternal response latencies and if this response tendency can be shown for different communicative channels (in verbal/vocal, nonverbal, intermodal communication). In addition, the paper focuses on the relation between the temporal contingency of maternal behavior and measures of maternal interactional quality. Interactional sequences of 54 mother and 3-month-old infant dyads were analyzed using microanalytical assessment techniques and ratings of interactional quality. Distributional analyses of maternal expressions during face-to-face encounters revealed that promptness of responses toward infant signals with a short latency is a typical response tendency in maternal behavior. There are, however, individual differences between mothers, indicating that this response tendency is expressed in different communicative channels by individual mothers. This is shown by low correlations between the contingency indices of different communicative channels. The relation between contingency and rated indicators of interactional quality turned out to be rather small, indicating that maternal contingency may be conceptualized to contribute an independent factor to the quality of maternal interactional behavior.     

Teaching high school science using image processing: A case study of implementation of computer technology

An in-depth case study of teachers' use of image processing (a state-of-the-art computer technology used by research scientists) in biology, earth science, and physics classes within one high school science department explored issues surrounding technology implementation. The study, conducted within a districtwide, schoolwide, and classroom context, explored four areas related to the teacher's adoption of image processing: (a) teachers' background with computers outside of instructional use, (b) teachers' attitudes toward educational technology and insights gained from their experience using computers within the science curriculum, (c) training and perceived influence of district and school administrators, and (d) teachers' classroom and computer lab practices. The following factors were deemed critical in teachers' decision to use or not use image processing with their students: (a) time to thoroughly explore and master the technology so they could use it with students to explore science concepts; (b) classroom management skills specific to technology use; (c) perception of the teaching value of the technology; (d) perception of the reasonableness of administrators' expectations for technology use; and (e) understanding of how to implement inquiry-based science teaching, independent of technology issues. These factors have implications for how to help teachers use computer technology to teach high school science. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 297–327, 1998.