Entwicklungen im Kindergarten und in der Grundschule

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag berichtet über einige übergreifende gesellschaftliche Rahmenentwicklungen im Bereich von Kindergarten und Grundschule (Schülerzahlen, mütterliche Erwerbst?tigkeit, Alleinerziehende. Gestaltungsautonomie) und diskutiert die m?glichen Auswirkungen dieser Entwicklungen auf zukünftige Ver?nderungen im Bereich von Kindergarten und Grundschule sowie die Verzahnung dieser beiden Bereiche.

---

Summary Development in Kindergarten and Primary School The article considers some general societal structural developments in the areas of kindergarten and primary school (number of students in the classroom, maternal employment, single parenting, school autonomy). It also discusses the possible effects of these developments on future changes in the areas of kindergarten and primary school, as well as the integration of these two sectors.

     

TEACHER DISTRESS AND THE ROLE OF EXPERIENTIAL AVOIDANCE

Teachers’ psychological well‐being is important for teachers and students, but teaching is highly stressful, particularly in special education. We examined the role of experiential avoidance (EA) in the well‐being of 529 middle and elementary school teachers. EA involves the tendency to avoid thoughts, feelings, and other internal experiences, even when doing so causes long‐range consequences. Using a teacher‐specific measure, we investigated EA's relationship to stress associated with student misbehavior and limited social support. We also assessed EA's relationship to burnout and depression, finding EA significantly and moderately correlated with depression and all scales of Maslach's Burnout Inventory. Mediation analyses showed EA mediated the relationship between stress associated with student behavior and measures of well‐being. We found 26.8% of teachers to be mildly, 8.9% moderately, and 2.8% moderately severely or severely depressed. This evidence concurs with studies showing the value of mindfulness‐based interventions and points to the utility of implementing interventions aimed at decreasing EA in teachers.     

Recommendations for the application and follow-up of quality controls in medical laboratories

This is a translation of the paper “Recommendations for the application and follow-up of quality controls in medical biology laboratories” published in French in the journal Annales de Biologie Clinique (Recommandations pour la mise en place et le suivi des contrôles de qualité dans les laboratoires de biologie médicale. Ann Biol Clin (Paris). 2019;77:577-97.). The recommendations proposed in this document are the result of work conducted jointly by the Network of Accredited Medical Laboratories (LABAC), the French Society of Medical Biology (SFBC) and the Federation of Associations for External Quality Assessment (FAEEQ). The different steps of the implementation of quality controls, based on a risk analysis, are described. The changes of reagent or internal quality control (IQC) materials batches, the action to be taken in case of non-conform IQC results, the choice of external quality assessment (EQA) scheme and interpretation of their results as well as the new issue of analyses performed on several automatic systems available in the same laboratory are discussed. Finally, the concept of measurement uncertainty, the robustness of the methods as well as the specificities of near-patient testing and rapid tests are described. These recommendations cannot apply for all cases we can find in medical laboratories. The implementation of an objective alternative strategy, supported with documented evidence, might be equally considered.     

A stigma power perspective on digital government service avoidance

The digital-by-default policy for government services implemented in many European countries can pose challenges to marginalized citizens, such as people with disabilities. Prior research on electronic inclusion and the digital divide has mainly considered technology-related concerns, such as Internet anxiety, preventing people with disabilities from using digital government services. Yet, these concerns may insufficiently account for the fact that people with disabilities may suspect that governments provide new services only to reduce costs and forgo the need for more meaningful social change. Therefore, we draw from stigma power theory to understand how perceptions of stereotyping and discrimination contribute to the avoidance of digital government services among people with disabilities. Our results indicate that overcoming underutilization of digital government services among people with disabilities requires a holistic approach by addressing technology-related as well as stigma-related concerns.     

Using video analysis to support prospective K-8 teachers’ noticing of students’ multiple mathematical knowledge bases

As part of a larger research project aimed at transforming preK-8 mathematics teacher preparation, the purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which prospective teachers notice children’s competencies related to children’s mathematical thinking, and children’s community, cultural, and linguistic funds of knowledge or what we refer to as children’s multiple mathematical knowledge bases. Teachers’ noticing supports students’ learning in deep and meaningful ways. Researchers designed and enacted a video analysis activity with prospective teachers in their mathematics methods course. The activity served as a decomposition of practice in order to support prospective teachers in engaging in an approximation of the practice of noticing. Our findings showed that prospective teachers evidenced noticing of mathematics teaching and learning as early as the mathematics methods course. We also found that the prompts and structure of the activity supported prospective teachers by increasing their depth of noticing and their foci in noticing, moving from attending primarily to teacher moves (and merely describing what they saw) to becoming aware of significant interactions (and interpreting effects of these interactions on learning). Implications for teacher educators interested in designing and enacting activities to support noticing are discussed.     

Herkunft und Bildungserfolg beim Übergang vom Kindergarten in die Grundschule

In Germany, age and readiness for school are still the main criteria for school entry decisions. As a result some children start school earlier or later than scheduled. Since the 1970s it is well known that school entries not according to the cut-off date are coupled with the social and ethnic family background of these children and result in differential school careers. Thus an early or delayed school entry may be seen as the starting point of cumulative educational inequalities. New results from three series of interviews with parents, Kindergarten teachers, and school headmasters being part of the longitudinal study BiKS (“Bildungsprozesse, Kompetenzentwicklung und Selektionsentscheidungen im Vor- und Grundschulalter”, educational processes, competence development and selection decisions in pre- and primary school age) now reveal how these decisions develop. One of these qualitative studies is dedicated to school entry decisions in families with Turkish migration background. It is concluded that especially two measures can reduce these early inequalities: (1) better information for the parents and (2) early preventive support for all children making delayed school entries no more necessary.     

The impact of cultural,ethnic, and national variables on attitudes towards the disabled in Israel: A review

Studies in Israel relating to attitudes of various ethnic, cultural and religious groups towards the disabled were reviewed. The results indicate that although there were differences in attitudes towards the disabled, these differences appear to be a function of interaction effects between many other variables and not necessarily only related to ethnic, cultural, and religious affiliation.     

Editorial

This case study evaluates the efficacy of Intensive Interaction in developing the social and communication ability of a young boy with severe learning difficulties. The Intensive Interaction approach is based on the model of caregiver–infant interaction and underpinned by theoretical foundations of psychological literature of early development. A multiple‐method approach was adopted mixing quantitative and qualitative data. An intricate system of behaviour coding was devised so that progress could be measured via video‐recorded observation. Findings showed that substantial progress was made in sociability and communication, with some new behaviours such as eye contact emerging. Stereotypy was also observed to reduce substantially.     

Zur Erklärung der Teilnahme an hochschuldidaktischer Weiterbildung

In recent years, the need for didactic training in the field of higher education has become a focus of education policy. According to empirical evidence, however, only some of the university teaching staff participate in training opportunities. So far, only little empirical research has been undertaken to investigate the determinants of training intention in the area of university didactics. This article applies Ajzen’s theory of planned behavior (TPB), for the first time, to this specific context and highlights the importance of perceived behavioral control and attitude in explaining training intention. For subjective norm, however, no direct effect could be found. In addition to the TPB predictors, direct and indirect effects of previous training participation on intention as well as the effect of training context on perceived behavioral control were assessed. Adding past behavior to the model resulted in a direct effect on intention and an increase of explained variance. With regard to the question of the sufficiency of the TPB, possible explanations are discussed.