Comparison Between Primary Teacher Educators’ and Primary School Teachers’ Beliefs of Primary Geography Education Quality

In this study teacher educators’ beliefs concerning primary geography education have been investigated and compared with primary school teachers’ beliefs. In this study 45 teacher educators and 489 primary school teachers completed a questionnaire, and nine teacher educators have been interviewed as well. It has been found that teacher educators are more critical about the quality of primary education than the primary school teachers themselves who are generally positive about the quality of primary geography. Teacher educators think that most primary school teachers are sufficiently competent to organise the more basic and simple geography lessons, but somehow lack the ability to use more creative and innovative approaches. Both teacher educators and primary school teachers believe that assessing learning outcomes and colleague support is of limited importance

Academic motivation of intellectually gifted students and their classmates in regular primary school classes: A multidimensional, longitudinal, person- and variable-centered approach

Most prior studies on academic motivation of intellectually gifted children focused only on intrinsic motivation. To gain insight into the full scope of intellectually gifted students' motivation, differences between clinically diagnosed gifted students and their classmates in multiple motivational dimensions (intrinsic, identified, introjected, and external regulation, and amotivation) were examined across two school years. Using both variable-centered and person-centered techniques, we examined differences in separate motivational dimensions as well as differences in configurations of motivational dimensions (‘profiles’). A sample of 1438 primary school students in Grade 3–5 (5.5% clinically diagnosed as gifted with an IQ > 120) participated. They filled out motivation questionnaires pertaining to their regular class during two waves across two school years. Gifted students reported more favourable motivation at Wave 1 but lost this advantage over time. Specifically, they demonstrated more intrinsic motivation at Wave 1, but a decrease in identified regulation, and a stronger increase in external regulation and amotivation from Wave 1 to Wave 2. Similarly, gifted students were more likely to transition from theoretically more favourable to less favourable profiles. These findings suggest that children who are clinically diagnosed as gifted are at risk for developing unfavourable motivational patterns toward the end of primary school. Educational relevance statement: Motivation for school plays a pivotal role in students' school engagement and achievement. This is also the case for intellectually gifted children. Just like other children, motivation enables them to translate their abilities into achievement. Intellectually gifted students in primary school may particularly be at risk of unfavourable motivational developments because it can be difficult for regular schools to provide an optimally challenging learning environment for them. This study aimed to get a full understanding of the motivational dynamics of intellectually gifted children in regular classes. This would be a step toward developing more targeted interventions that can address motivational problems encountered by gifted students in regular classes. The findings of this study indicated that, clinically diagnosed gifted children initially reported more favourable motivation, but lost this advantage over time. Toward the end of primary education, they were more likely than other children to show a decrease in external motivation and amotivation. These findings are of great practical importance. If teachers can identify students who start to become less motivated for school, it may be easier to intervene and prevent motivational problems and subsequent underachievement later on. To identify students who are at risk of developing an unfavourable motivational pattern, teachers or other educational professionals could regularly assess their students' motivation or engage in talks with their students about their motivation. Additionally, prior research suggests teaching practices and interventions which support students' need for autonomy, structure, and relatedness are likely to foster students' motivation for school, for gifted students as well as other students

(Not) Swimming with the Big Fish: Primary School Students’ Competence Satisfaction and Frustration in High-Ability Pull-Out Classes

According to self-determination theory, one of the basic psychological needs is the need to feel competent. Within this theoretical framework, little attention has been paid to how comparisons with peers may affect students’ need for competence. The aim of this study was therefore to examine how reference group effects are associated with primary school students’ need for competence. Thereto, this study focused on high-ability pull-out classes as these provide the opportunity to compare competence perceptions both between students participating and not participating in high-ability pull-out classes and within high-ability students across their two educational contexts. Competence satisfaction and frustration were assessed twice in 3rd-6th graders (Mage = 9.83, SD = 1.20) with one year in between. Results of multilevel analyses showed that high-ability pull-out students (N = 221) reported higher levels of competence satisfaction and lower levels of competence frustration than their classmates not participating in pull-out classes (N = 1,754), while controlling for individual and class-average achievement. Furthermore, when fewer classmates were selected to participate in the pull-out program (i.e., higher selectivity) both pull-out students and non-participating students reported higher competence satisfaction and lower competence frustration. Pull-out students reported higher levels of competence satisfaction and lower levels of competence frustration in their pull-out class than in their regular class. In all, the findings suggest that assimilation effects outweighed big-fish-little-pond effects, possibly because of the high salience of membership of the high-ability pull-out class. When implementing a high-ability pull-out class in primary school, the consequences for students participating as well as for those not participating should be taken into account

De ontwikkeling van de onderzoekende houding van leerkrachten basisonderwijs binnen leernetwerken

Gezien het belang van sociaal leren en de onderzoekende houding voor de professionele ontwikkeling van leraren volgen we in een tweejarig longitudinaal onderzoek lerarennetwerken bestaande uit basisschoolleerkrachten, pabostudenten, lerarenopleiders en onderzoekers. Onze studie richt zich op de ontwikkeling van de onderzoekende houding van de netwerkdeelnemers en probeert antwoord te geven op de vraag hoe dit samenhangt met de sociale configuratie van de netwerken. De eerste resultaten laten zien dat de onderzoekende houding zich positief ontwikkelt en dat er een positieve relatie is tussen de onderzoekende houding en de sociale configuratie van de netwerken. Belangrijke voorwaarden voor de ontwikkeling van een onderzoekende houding zijn openstaan voor feedback, de beschikbare ruimte voor reflectie op eigen handelen en de uitwisseling van expertise

Parents' perceptions of secondary school students' motivation and well-being before and during the COVID-19 lockdown: The moderating role of student characteristics

During the COVID-19 lockdown of spring 2020, Dutch children were being homeschooled. We examined how parents’ (n = 470) perceptions of secondary school students’ (Mage = 14.23 years) need satisfaction, academic motivation and well-being differed before the lockdown (assessed retrospectively) and during the lockdown. Furthermore, we examined the differential impact of the lockdown for different groups of children based on parental educational level, academic track, gender and special educational needs (SEN). Results indicated that students’ motivation and well-being as perceived by parents decreased during the lockdown and this could be explained by decreases in need satisfaction. Most student characteristics did not moderate the effects of the lockdown, except for SEN. The lockdown effects were less negative for children with SEN, especially gifted children and children with behavioural disabilities, than for children without SEN. Results are discussed with regard to their practical implications after the lockdown and for future lockdowns

Opbrengstgericht werken in het basisonderwijs: implicaties voor de kwaliteit van de leraar

Deze lectorale rede gaat over een recente ontwikkeling die haar intrede heeft gedaan in het basisonderwijs: het opbrengstgericht werken. In de rede wordt eerst gekeken naar de methodiek van opbrengstgericht werken op schoolniveau en op klassenniveau. Als een school opbrengstgericht gaat werken, heeft dat ook gevolgen voor de leraar en de klas. In het tweede deel van de lectorale rede wordt dan ook ingegaan op de kwaliteit van de leraar die nodig is voor het goed opbrengstgericht kunnen werken en wordt een werkmodel gepresenteerd om de kwaliteit van de leraar te bestuderen. Tot slot wordt aandacht besteed aan de wijze waarop het lectoraat Leren en Innoveren een bijdrage levert aan de kwaliteit van leraren in opleiding en leraren die reeds werkzaam zijn in het basisonderwijs