Development and validation of the social emotional competence questionnaire (SECQ)

Reliable and valid measures of children’s and adolescents’ social emotional competence (SEC) are necessary to develop in order to assess their social emotional development and provide appropriate intervention in child and adolescent development. A pool of 25 items was created for the Social Emotional Competence Questionnaire (SECQ) that represented five dimensions of SEC: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship management and responsible decision-making. A series of four studies are reported relating to the development and validation of the measure. Confirmatory factor analyses of the responses of 444 fourth-graders showed an acceptable fit of the model. The model was replicated with another 356 secondary school students. Additional studies revealed good internal consistency. The significant correlations among the five SEC components and academic performance provided evidence for the predictive validity of the instrument. With multiple samples, these results showed that the scale holds promise as a reliable, valid measure of SECpeer-reviewe

How might teachers enable self-confidence? A review study

In the context of learner-centred learning and curricular reform, self-confidence is invoked as an important construct. However, there is no easily available research-informed guidance on what self-confidence means for the professional teacher. This study uses the analytic technique of Concept Analysis to review psychology and education literatures to provide a 'take-home' message for teachers. The review identifies conceptual artefacts (ideas, theories, concepts which explain, connect, predict or apply knowledge) that the teacher can appropriate in order to enable learner self-confidence. These conceptual artefacts are classified in three groups: characterising self-confidence; self-judgements of confidence; and factors that influence the development of self-confidence. The review finds self-confidence to be a robust and stable psychological construct, best promoted through teachers' attention to learners' development of knowledge and engagement in socially designed learning activities. It further finds that teachers' attention to activities which involve learners' self-regulation are of importance

The influence of randomly allocated group membership when developing student task work and team work capabilities

This study explores whether randomly assigning group membership enhances the student learning experience. The paper starts with a critical analysis of the approaches to student learning within Higher Education and how these approaches conflict with findings from applied psychology on group behaviour. The study adopts a serendipitous qualitative methodology to explore how changes to assessment requirements can result in a more holistic learning experience. The findings suggest that students perceive the adoption of randomly allocated as an unnecessary risk to their performance within assessment as opposed to an opportunity to enhance their learning. This raises questions regarding the conflict that can exist within education between assessment and learning. The results suggest students operate in a ‘comfort zone’ which can be detrimental to their overall learning experience. Getting students to leave the comfort zone is a particularly stressful situation for both student and educator. Once students leave the comfort zone competencies that have been dormant surface and they are able to utilise and acquire a wider range of skills. Leaving the comfort zone also results in the creation of a critical incidence which can assist the student in developing their reflective capabilities. The results suggest that randomly allocated groups enhance both an individual’s task capabilities and their teamwork capabilities. The paper concludes that the findings have significant implications for those involved in the design of assessment. The paper also provides an interesting commentary on the issues educators face when undertaking education research within a higher educational context

Teacher educators beliefs on EFL pre-service teachers willingness to communicate in the L2

Tesis (Profesor de Inglés para la Enseñanza Básica y Media y al grado académico de Licenciado en Educación)This qualitative study is set up on the perceptions that four English teachers, from a private university in Santiago, have regarding their beliefs on EFL pre-service teachers’ willingness to communicate. In order to discover their beliefs, semi-structured interviews and observations were carried out. The motivation of this study is to contribute with information regarding willingness to communicate in the Chilean context, especially concerning higher education, also add to the reflection of teachers on their practices inside the classroom. Based on that information, the aims of this study were the following. Firstly, to explore teacher educators’ beliefs about their influence in developing EFL pre-service teachers’ willingness to communicate. Secondly, to investigate teacher educators’ beliefs about the factors that influence EFL pre-service teachers’ willingness to communicate. Thirdly, to understand teacher educators’ beliefs about the practices that can best help EFL pre-service teachers to develop willingness to communicate. Lastly, to explore to what extent the beliefs of teacher educators are reflected in their classroom practices. The main results showed that most of the beliefs that teachers mentioned to hold, matched with what they actually do in their lessons.Este estudio cualitativo se basa en las percepciones que tienen cuatro profesores de inglés de una universidad privada en Santiago con respecto a sus creencias sobre la disposición de los estudiantes de la carrera de Pedagogía en inglés para comunicarse en una segunda lengua. Para descubrir sus creencias, se realizaron entrevistas semiestructuradas y observaciones. La motivación de este estudio es contribuir con información sobre la voluntad de comunicarse en el contexto chileno, especialmente en lo que respecta a la educación superior, además de aumentar la reflexión de los profesores sobre sus prácticas dentro del aula. Con base en esa información, los objetivos de este estudio son los siguientes. Primero, explorar las creencias de los educadores de docentes acerca de su influencia en el desarrollo de la disposición de los futuros profesores de inglés para comunicarse en una segunda lengua. En segundo lugar, investigar las creencias de los educadores de docentes sobre los factores que influyen en la disposición de los futuros profesores de inglés a comunicarse. En tercer lugar, para comprender las creencias de los educadores de docentes sobre las prácticas que pueden ayudar mejor a los futuros profesores de inglés a desarrollar la voluntad de comunicarse. Por último, explorar hasta qué punto las creencias de los educadores de docentes se refleja en sus prácticas en el aula. Los principales resultados arrojan que la mayoría de las creencias que los maestros mencionaron que tienen a lo largo de las entrevistas, coinciden con lo que realmente hacen en sus clases

How career variety promotes the adaptability of managers: a theoretical model

This paper presents a theoretical model showing how managerial adaptability develops from career variety over the span of the person’s career. By building on the literature of career theory, adult learning and development, and career adjustment, we oVer a new conceptualization of managerial adaptability by identifying its behavioral, cognitive, and socio-emotional dimensions, discuss how these competencies can develop from the variety of managers’ cumulative career experiences, and propose several individual and career-related factors that moderates the relationship between managerial career variety and adaptability

Metacognition for spelling in higher etudents with dyslexia: is there evidence for the dual burden hypothesis?

We examined whether academic and professional bachelor students with dyslexia are able to compensate for their spelling deficits with metacognitive experience. Previous research suggested that students with dyslexia may suffer from a dual burden. Not only do they perform worse on spelling but in addition they are not as fully aware of their difficulties as their peers without dyslexia. According to some authors, this is the result of a worse feeling of confidence, which can be considered as a form of metacognition (metacognitive experience). We tried to isolate this metacognitive experience by asking 100 students with dyslexia and 100 matched control students to rate their feeling of confidence in a word spelling task and a proofreading task. Next, we used Signal Detection Analysis to disentangle the effects of proficiency and criterion setting. We found that students with dyslexia showed lower proficiencies but not suboptimal response biases. They were as good at deciding when they could be confident or not as their peers without dyslexia. They just had more cases in which their spelling was wrong. We conclude that the feeling of confidence in our students with dyslexia is as good as in their peers without dyslexia. These findings go against the Dual Burden theory (Kruger & Dunning, 1999), which assumes that people with a skills problem suffer twice as a result of insufficiently developed metacognitive competence. As a result, there is no gain to be expected from extra training of this metacognitive experience in higher education students with dyslexia