Effects of formative assessment programmes on teachers’ knowledge about supporting students’ reflection

Objective: In the past decade, several authors have advocated that formative assessment programmes have an impact on teachers’ knowledge. Consequently, various requirements have been proposed in the literature for the design of these programmes. Only few studies, however, have focused on a direct comparison between programmes with respect to differences observed in their effect on teachers’ knowledge. Therefore in this study we explored the impact of three formative assessment programmes on teachers’ knowledge about supporting students’ reflection. Methods: Our study was carried out in the domain of vocational nursing education. Teachers were assigned to an expertise-based assessment programme, a self-assessment combined with collegial feedback programme, or a negotiated assessment programme. We scored the verbal transcriptions of teachers’ responses to video vignette interviews in order to measure their knowledge in a pre- and post-test. Multilevel regression analyses were performed to investigate differences in teachers’ knowledge between the three programmes on the post-test; potential moderating effects of pre-test scores, contextual and individual factors were controlled for. Findings: The knowledge of teachers participating in the expertise-based assessment programme was significantly higher than that of teachers participating in the self-assessment combined with collegial feedback programme. Furthermore, the findings indicate that for professional learning, not only the approach to formative assessment is an important variable, but also the extent to which (a) teachers are intrinsically motivated and (b) they experience a high degree of collegiality at their school.Teaching and Teacher Learning (ICLON

Fostering students’ reflection: examining relations between elements of teachers’ knowledge

This study investigates the knowledge that experienced teachers draw on when fostering students’ reflections. Reflective skills are crucial for advancing students’ learning. In order to promote students’ reflection productively, extensive support and scaffolding from teachers is indispensible. However, teachers are in need of more guidance in this area. To inspire pedagogies for teacher training, this study provides insight into the knowledge that teachers employ when they are engaged with promoting their students to reflect. Video vignette interviews were administered to 36 teachers in secondary vocational education for nursing to elicit their knowledge. Interview transcripts were coded using categories for assessing teachers’ curricular, pedagogical and instructional knowledge. To investigate relations between the elements of teachers’ knowledge, we performed a lag-sequential analysis that enables statistical testing of observed sequences of categorised events. Four salient relations between elements of teacher knowledge emerged: (1) instructional knowledge as instrumental to construing pedagogical knowledge; (2) instructional knowledge contingent on pedagogical knowledge; (3) instructional knowledge and curricular knowledge related to fostering critical reflection; and (4) instructional knowledge and curricular knowledge related to fostering planning. Implications for teacher training are discussed.Teaching and Teacher Learning (ICLON

De toegevoegde waarde van traditioneel vernieuwingsonderwijs: een studie naar de verschillen in cognitieve en niet-cognitieve opbrengsten tussen daltonscholen en traditionele scholen voor primair onderwijs.

Met bijna achthonderd scholen maakt het traditioneel vernieuwingsonderwijs substantieel deel uit van het Nederlandse basisonderwijs: zo’n tien procent van het totaal aantal basisscholen is een traditionele vernieuwingsschool. Ongeveer de helft van de vernieuwingsscholen in ons land is een erkende daltonschool. Gezien de omvang en populariteit van daltononderwijs is het opmerkelijk dat er nauwelijks onderzoek naar de effectiviteit van dit type onderwijs is gedaan. Doel van deze studie is het vergelijken van de cognitieve en niet-cognitieve prestaties en burgerschapscompetenties van leerlingen op daltonbasisscholen met die van leerlingen op traditioneel ingerichte basisscholen. De scores van leerlingen in groepen 2, 5 en 8 op de gebieden taal, lezen, rekenen (cognitieve prestaties), welbevinden, cognitief zelfvertrouwen, taakmotivatie (niet-cognitieve prestaties) en burgerschapscompetenties zijn vergeleken, op basis van gegevens die verzameld zijn in het kader van het Cohortonderzoek onderwijsloopbanen (COOL5-18). Aan de hand van meerniveau-analyses is nagegaan in hoeverre er verschillen zijn tussen daltonscholen en traditionele scholen met betrekking tot deze opbrengsten. De resultaten laten zien dat er amper verschillen in opbrengsten zijn tussen daltonscholen en traditionele scholen voor wat betreft de taal-, lees- en rekenprestaties, de scores van leerlingen op de vragenlijsten over welbevinden, cognitief zelfvertrouwen en taakmotivatie en de scores van leerlingen op de vragenlijst over burgerschapscompetenties