Time for citizenship in teacher training

Citizenship education is in teacher training in the Netherlands linked to both the pedagogical and didactic tasks of teachers. The task of teachers to stimulate the development of values in students is addressed a lot less often. The idea of democracy and rule of law as a framework for citizenship is not mentioned in most knowledge bases. As a result, some knowledge bases seem to lack direction, as if all opinions and all ways of ‘dealing with diversity’ are desirable. Purpose: With this article we aim to provide insight into how citizenship education receives attention in the formulated national curricula for teacher education in the Netherlands and to what extent the different domains of citizenship and the different tasks of teachers with regard to citizenship education are addressed. Method: For this study the knowledge base for all teacher training curricula at Bachelor and Master level in the Netherlands were analysed. We looked at the extent to which citizenship (education) is addressed in teacher training and the ways in which this takes place. Findings: The results of the study show that several domains of citizenship are mentioned, albeit not often together in one knowledge base. Citizenship education is linked to both the pedagogical and didactic tasks of teachers. The task of teachers to stimulate the development of values in students is addressed a lot less often. The fact that citizenship also involves moral development is only mentioned in some knowledge base. Also, the idea of democracy and rule of law as a framework for citizenship is not mentioned in most knowledge bases. As a result, some knowledge bases seems to lack direction, as if all opinions and all ways of ‘dealing with diversity’ are desirable

Searching for identity and focus:towards an analytical framework for language teachers in bilingual education.

In CLIL contexts, school subjects are taught in an additional language,allowing learners to acquire the target language through meaningfuluse. This places language teachers in an ambiguous position. What istheir role in this context? On the one hand, language teachers areexpected to collaborate with subject teacher colleagues; on the otherhand, they teach separate language lessons. This double role provideslanguage teachers and their educators with specific challenges in termsof identity and focus.To explore and explain the choices language teachers have, this reviewexamines international research from the last 25 years with a primary focuson secondary schools. As recent discussions argue convincingly thatresearch into CLIL, Content Based Instruction and immersion benefitfrom convergence and cross-fertilisation, we used a broad range ofsearch terms to identify primary and secondary research.Selected articles were organised into four inquiry areas and analysedthematically: (1) language focus, (2) content focus of learning, (3)language teachers’ pedagogical practices, and (4) their collaborationwith subject teachers. Based on these themes, we developed aframework for language teachers and their educators in bilingualeducation designed to help them explore, explain and develop theirown identity and focus

Maladaptive behavior in relation to the basic psychological needs of students in secondary education

Much research has been done into the relationship between students’ motivation to learn and their basic psychological needs as defined by the self-determination theory (autonomy, competence, relatedness). However, few studies have explored how these psychological needs relate to different types of maladaptive behavior in the classroom. To prevent or remedy such behavior, more insight into its relationships is required. The present study attempted to determine the relationship between maladaptive behavior of secondary school students (grades 8 and 9) and the degree to which both teachers and peers address their needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Results show significant, negative correlations between maladaptive student behavior in the classroom and the extent to which students’ basic psychological needs are met by teachers and fellow students. Both teachers and fellow students play a role in students’ maladaptive behavior toward school and withdrawn behavior. When it comes to unfriendly behavior, the perceived support of teachers appears to be particularly relevant, while the role of peers is an important factor in delinquent behavior

Learning to think critically through Socratic dialogue:Evaluating a series of lessons designed for secondary vocational education

This study reports the evaluation of a lesson series, developed in collaboration with teachers and experts, to generate a research-based solution for teaching critical thinking through Socratic dialogue in secondary vocational education. The lesson series has been evaluated for feasibility and tailoring to different target groups of students by five citizenship education teachers and 85 students. Data consisted of self-report questionnaires by teachers and students, complemented with observations of lessons. Results show that lessons based on Socratic dialogue for teaching critical thinking to students in secondary vocational education are considered a promising educational intervention. Teachers considered the lessons as feasible and well-tailored to their students and were able to implement the lessons in their classrooms. Students were motivated to participate, and their motivation did not decrease significantly during the lesson series. At the same time, students tended to be more motivated when the value of learning to think critically for their future profession was clearly substantiated. Practical implications from the evaluation of the lesson series were that, in addition to participating in Socratic dialogue, students need clear learning objectives and short assignments to remain active.</p