Learn to Lead: Mapping Workplace Learning of School Leaders

In recent years policy makers’ interest in the professional development of school leaders has grown considerably. Although we know some aspect of formal educational programs for school leaders, little is known about school leaders’ incidental and non-formal learning in the workplace. This study aims to grasp what workplace learning activities school leaders value most, what work-related questions incite them to learn, what outcomes they achieve through workplace learning and what conditions support workplace learning of school leaders. In order to generate answers to the research questions, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 Dutch school leaders in secondary education, which also served as a form of reflection for the respondents. Results show that school leaders mostly value workplace learning through working on improvement and innovation and through reflection. In addition to outcomes for the school leader, working on improvement and innovation also leads to learning outcomes for teachers, and seems to provide opportunities for teachers to influence changes in the school. On the other hand, teachers take little or no part in reflection. Here, school leaders find peace and stability to reflect with fellow school leaders. If adjusted to a specific context, the methods used in this study might be transferred to other contexts, to study workplace learning of all kinds of leaders.     

Gender Context of the Elementary School: sex differences in affective outcomes

This paper examines single‐ and mixed‐sex elementary schooling in its effects upon the well‐being of girls and boys. Well‐being is defined in terms of adaptation to school life as reflected by affective characteristics such as self‐esteem, sense of mastery, stress, fear of failure, sense of belonging in school, study‐ and school commitment. Use was made of data concerning 2095 sixth‐grade pupils‐‐1130 boys and 965 girls‐‐in 60 private elementary schools. The results indicate that it is not the gender composition of the pupil population in se that exerts an influence but the gender composition of the teaching staff. Particularly, it is found that primary school boys are negatively affected by a school environment characterised by a preponderance of female teachers. Girls do not seem to be affected by the gender organisation of the school.     

Higher Education

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Higher Education     

Gender‐role identity and perceived peer group acceptance among early adolescents in Belgian mixed and single‐sex schools

Drawing on survey data, this paper explores the association between early adolescents’ gender‐role identity and sense of peer group acceptance, and how this association may vary as a function of the gender context of the school. Two indicators of gender‐role identity were included in the analysis: in one measure the items reflect features of masculine and feminine stereotypes, while the other measures assertiveness in classroom situations. Support for the context framework was provided for boys only and then solely with regard to the first indicator; that is, boys highly endorsing feminine‐typed behaviours were found to experience lower levels of acceptance from peers in single‐sex schools but not in coeducational schools. As for assertiveness, it was found that highly assertive girls as well as boys report higher levels of peer acceptance, regardless of the gender context of the school.     

Can engineering education in South Africa afford to avoid problem-based learning as a didactic approach?

In this article, the authors support problem-based learning (PBL) based on its high level of alignment in addition to providing learners in engineering with an additional opportunity in learning process competencies, as contained within the South African National Critical Cross-field and Developmental Outcomes (COs). Constructive alignment describes a process in which the learning outcomes (LOs) become the objective for designing a curriculum that enables LOs to be achieved through appropriate activities and an assessment process that enables these LOs to be demonstrated. PBL applies problem-solving as a vehicle in achieving LOs. The degree to which a learner manages to achieve a given LO still serves as the authentic criteria for assessment. In addition, PBL provides learners an opportunity in acquiring non-subject-related skills, also referred to as process competencies, soft-skills, transferable skills, or graduate attributes. These skills are required especially for the management of human capital and are considered as crucial for successful practice in the engineering profession. It is therefore questioned why a PBL approach is not implemented by engineering faculties at South African Higher Education Institutions. The successful implementation of PBL, however, depends on a number of non-didactic issues that are highlighted in this paper. It is concluded that very few didactic methods can achieve the quality of learning we provide to engineering learners when using PBL, and therefore, it is proposed that South African Higher Education Institutions should also provide their academic staff with training opportunities in this regard.     

Creativity in Artistic Education: Introducing Artists into Primary Schools

Despite a more prominent role of arts education in the school curriculum, artistic creativity does not occur to a great extent in primary school practice. More opportunities for teachers to strengthen their know‐how in the field of artistic creativity can therefore be considered important. Arts education projects focus on pupils' development of creativity by means of introducing artists with their divergent working methods into primary schools. Beside fostering pupils' creative openness and skills, arts education organisations aim to transfer artistic enthusiasm to teachers in each project. Collaboration with artists can encourage teachers' artistic creative work. New working methods, techniques or ways of experimenting are more likely to be adopted in daily teaching practice when the project duration consists of several years. However, most projects are short‐lived and the means for a long‐term project policy are limited. Consequently, results in the area of sustainable outcomes concerning artistic creative work with teachers are limited. To create a long‐term view, the availability of financial resources is an important condition in order to realise a mentality change towards artistic creativity in education. Finally, continuing debate with several participants about making artistic creative work sustainable remains necessary.     

Student learning experience as indicator of teaching quality

The purpose of the study was to develop an improved teaching evaluation questionnaire based on students’ learning experiences and selected teacher characteristics identified as indicators of teaching quality. Teaching evaluation questionnaires are commonly designed either based on agreed indicators of teaching excellence, students’ suggestions of characteristics of excellence, or dimensions identified from interviews conducted with excellent teachers. In this study, however, students’ evaluation of their own learning experiences in learner centered classes and a hypothesized framework derived from the literature were used to develop the items for the questionnaire. Students attended to courses designed in a learner centered paradigm and evaluated their learning experiences. Based on the hypothesized framework and students’ reflections of their experiences, items were designed and validated at various levels. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 24-item Student Evaluation of Learning and Teaching Questionnaire (SELTQ) that comprises four factors: assessment and feedback; course organization and presentation; student self evaluation; and students’ level of engagement. As opposed to the questionnaire widely used in higher education institutions in Ethiopia that focuses on the evaluation of selected teacher characteristics, the new measure enables students to evaluate teaching in terms of their own learning progress.     

The Split-Ballot Multitrait-Multimethod Approach: Implementation and Problems

Saris, Satorra, and Coenders (2004) proposed a new approach to estimate the quality of survey questions, combining the advantages of 2 existing approaches: the multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) and the split-ballot (SB) ones. Implemented in practice, this new approach led to frequent problems of nonconvergence and improper solutions. This article uses Monte Carlo simulations to understand why the SB-MTMM is working well in some cases but not in others. The number of SB groups is a crucial element: The 3-group design is performing better. However, the 2-group design can also perform well: The analyses suggest that the interaction between the absolute values of the correlations between the traits and the relative values of the different correlations between traits plays an important role.     

Teacher research and the aims of education

We report on the development of a course for experienced teachers in the Netherlands, intended to enhance their professionalism by engaging them in doing research based on reflection on the aims of their educational efforts. The course was accompanied by design-based research. The research question was whether and how the course stimulated teachers to connect doing research and taking a reflective stance; the results were used to improve the course, thus creating a cyclical design. Although the course was positively evaluated by the participants, reflection on its results made clear to us that our approach in the combination of learning to do research and reflecting on aims is not enough to make teachers into critical research-minded professionals. A more context-aware view of their learning process is necessary: the institution school limits their possibilities. The implication is that both our course and our research effort have to be critically revised. Instead of looking for causal effects, one should be aware of traces of development that may or may not be caused by the intervention.