Pedagogiek - Volume 36, Issue 1, 2016

Narrative learning in civic education: A theoretical framework

Whilst research into the theory and practice of narrative learning in adult and religious education has gained popularity in the last decade, this type of research is still scarce in the area of civic education. This article reports the first results of a theoretical social scientific inquiry into key characteristics of narrative learning in democratic citizenship education. The framework for narrative learning in civic education that resulted from this study envisions how students can develop their narratives on three components of democratic citizenship identity (citizenship philosophy; civic self-image and democratic learning experiences) through learning from narratives; through engaging in the process of narrating; and through locating one’s citizenship narratives. By developing the framework this study aims to contribute to the theory and practice of education for personal, civic and professional development.

On the validity of school performance indicators

School performance indicators are generally considered to be important elements in programs for school improvement and external accountability. In this article five indicators are described, of varying origin. Three are in use by the Dutch Inspectorate of Education, while the other two are used mainly for research purposes; four are based on a value-added approach, one on school mean proficiency. The indicators are compared against a frame of six validity criteria, including for instance measurement precision and topicality. It is concluded that all five indicators show shortcomings, be it in varying degree. In the discussion three factors are explored that hamper the measurement of school performance in terms of learning outcomes. Better understanding of school performance indicators requires insight into the process variables that distinguish effective schools from less effective schools. The stronger process variables like teacher qualities and effective learning time are related to school performance indicators, the more valid these indicators are to be considered.

Increasing competence in arithmetics leads to greater confidence, but with improvement in spelling doubt increases

To explore the relation between academic confidence and ability, an arithmetic and a spelling test were administered to 166 students in grades 4 and 5. For each item, students indicated whether they were confident about their answer. The agreement (‘calibration’) between confidence and test performance is limited. Overestimation of performance exceeds underestimation. Confidence is not a general characteristic of a student, but is dependent upon school domain and ability in that domain. Overestimation of arithmetic performance hardly differs between grades, but overestimation of spelling turns into underestimation. Apparently, the increase in ability leads to an increase in confidence in case of arithmetic, but turns into ‘suspicion’ in the spelling domain. Boys are more confident than girls, even if the answer is wrong. Girls excel in the identification of wrong answers.

Underperforming tenured teachers through the eyes of school leaders. An exploratory, qualitative study of their views on underperformance, actions and perceived obstacles

The performance of teachers largely determines the quality of schools. However, research shows that teachers’ underperformance is not always (adequately) addressed by school leaders. The legal protection of tenured teachers is frequently mentioned as an important obstacle. To obtain more insight in how Flemish primary school leaders deal with underperforming tenured teachers, we interviewed 14 school leaders about their views on teacher underperformance, the actions they take with tenured teachers and the obstacles they come across. The results show that school leaders describe underperformance as a prolonged failing towards students, the team and the school. Causes of underperformance are found in teachers’ attitudinal problems, physical and psychological problems, lack of expertise and lacking professional growth. School leaders adopt a phased and differentiated approach. At first, they offer help and support. If necessary, they proceed to confrontation and try to put pressure on the teacher. Underperforming teachers are also being moved to other positions within and outside the school and sometimes their workload is temporarily alleviated. Furthermore, school leaders are prepared to give them negative evaluations. Yet, for underperforming tenured teachers, they do not believe in the possibility of official sanctions and dismissal. Other obstacles in dealing with tenured underperformers include emotional and relational obstacles, time constraints, limited competencies of school leaders, a negative school climate, a lack of clear evaluation criteria and denial by the teacher. We conclude that school leaders need more support and training to adequately deal with underperforming tenured teachers and discuss the implications of our findings for follow-up research and practice.

Critical Media Education: a Commercial Opportunity

The speed of the digital revolution makes it more and more a challenge to exploit its opportunities while avoiding its adverse consequences. Therefore the call for media wisdom (media literacy) increases and the responsibility of education is stressed. The role of the media industry in education is underexposed although it can be seen as an essential part of media education. In this article, we attempt to briefly specify the position of the media industry in society. Then we translate this into potential standards for education. We think it’s important for pupils to understand the complex reality in which the media industry deploys its activities, and the consequences for the quality of media content.