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Understanding continuing professional development of vocational teachers
No full textVocational teachers are expected to keep their professional knowledge and skills up to date. In order to support their professional development effectively, we need to understand how vocational teachers learn, what they learn, and why they learn. This study characterises vocational teachers’ continuing professional development. Teachers’ perceptions of their professional development were gathered during a two-and-a-half-year longitudinal study. Through learner reports and semi-structured interviews, 12 experienced teachers described their learning activities, their realised professional development over time, and the factors that contributed to their professional growth. Within the gathered data, three different professional development profiles were identified: professional development (1) focusing on the primary process of teaching students, (2) focusing on executing tasks and roles in school, and (3) focusing on oneself in relation to the wider context of vocational education. These profiles contribute to organising customised support of professional development trajectories
Cognitive bias modification as a web-based intervention for problem drinkers:A randomized controlled trial with a factorial design
No full textObjective: Previous studies have shown that Cognitive Bias Modification (CBM) can decrease cognitive biases implicated in the maintenance of problem drinking. However, it is still unclear what the individual and combined effects of multiple CBM interventions are when delivered as an e-health intervention. The current study therefore investigated the effects of web-based modification of attention bias, selective inhibition, and approach bias in a 2 (attentional bias modification: intervention/placebo) x 2 (selective inhibition training: intervention/placebo) x 2 (approach bias modification: intervention/placebo) double-blind, randomized controlled trial in self-identified problem drinkers. Method: Self-identified problem drinkers were randomly assigned to one of the eight CBM conditions. All participants first completed a personalized feedback intervention before completing 12 CBM sessions over six weeks. Cognitive biases were assessed with trained and untrained tasks at pre- and post-test and alcohol use was additionally measured three and six months later. Results: 427 self-identified problem drinkers (Mage = 51.2 years, SDage = 8.69) were included. Results showed that alcohol use decreased over time, but the reductions in drinking did not differ between CBM conditions. There was little evidence that CBM changed cognitive biases. It should however be noted that some bias measures showed inadequate reliability. Conclusions: The results indicate that in problem drinkers, web-based CBM does not add to the effects of a brief motivational intervention to reduce alcohol use over time. Findings may be due to unsuccessful bias modification. Future studies need to delineate moderators of effectiveness and investigate new and promising inference-based CBM-variations.</p
Dynamic Processes in Emotion Regulation Differ Between Cancer Survivor Couples with Relationship Difficulties and Healthy Couples:Emotional Needs and Partner Responsiveness
No full textAlthough emotion regulation within romantic couples is considered an important causal factor in keeping the relationship healthy, this topic has not been extensively researched. In this study we investigated the perception and expression of attachment-related emotional needs and the responsiveness of partners to each other’s emotional needs as central elements of emotion regulation in romantic couples. An intensive longitudinal research design with high-frequent measurements was used to study these dynamic processes in romantic relationships. Clinical couples (N = 16) reporting clinically relevant relationship difficulties after cancer treatment were compared with healthy couples (N = 12). At ten times per day during seven consecutive days both partners completed a brief questionnaire about their stress perception, attachment-related emotional needs, and perceived partner responsiveness. When both variables were measured simultaneously, expressed emotional needs were positively related to partners’ responsiveness in the full sample, although more so in clinical couples than in healthy couples. However, greater expressed emotional needs predicted greater partner responsiveness at the next measurement point only in clinical couples, whereas this effect was absent in healthy couples. Furthermore, higher expressed emotional needs predicted lower partner responsiveness in participants with higher level of anxious attachment orientation, whereas this association was absent at mean and low levels. The findings in this study supported several predictions based on the theoretical premises. The unexpected moderation effects of clinical status (clinical vs. healthy couples) on the association of expressed emotional needs and perceived partner responsiveness are discussed.</p
Exploring the concept of a responsive curriculum in teacher education from the perspective of students and teacher educators
No full textEconomic, social and environmental changes place high demands on teachers and teacher education. Consequently, teacher education is challenged to design curricula that respond to and anticipate changes. Curricula are value-driven and even though part of these values might be constant, the relative importance of values and the values themselves may also be subject to change since society is changing rapidly. In vocational education, responsive curriculum development refers to balancing the needs of students, workplaces and society. Vocational education qualifies students for coping with unpredictable situations and complex problems in occupational practice. As in vocational education, teacher education also prepares students for unpredictability and complexity and thus, we adopt the concept of responsiveness from vocational education to explore teacher education. This study explores the concept of a responsive curriculum for teacher education using a qualitative approach. Interviews were conducted with the key actors, namely students and teacher educators, in the context of Dutch teacher education. An initial framework, consisting of three responsive dimensions and five designable elements, was used to guide the interviews and analyse the data. The data revealed 14 relevant themes to identify how a teacher education curriculum can be responsive to changes in society, to a variety of schools and to student diversity. The developed framework can serve as a conceptual frame to study the enactment of responsive curriculum designs. Also, it can support practitioners when designing responsive curricula.</p
Young learners’ motivation, self-regulation and performance in personalized learning
No full textIntroductionPersonalized learning, a topic that has garnered significant attention in education, is known for its potential to cater to student's unique needs and improve educational outcomes. However, most large-scale longitudinal studies on personalized learning have primarily focused on middle school students and above (age ≥11). This study, in contrast, delves into the uncharted territory of how personalized learning affects younger students (ages 7–12), a domain largely overlooked by large-scale studies.ObjectiveTo understand the effect of PL on young learners’ academic performance, metacognitive awareness, and motivation.MethodMultidisciplinary design teams embedded personalized learning in eight participating elementary schools, resulting in personalized learning interventions tailored to each school in four subjects. The effects were measured over three years among 588 students and 82 teachers and analyzed using a Bayesian Gaussian regression with random intercept models and nested groups.ResultsWe found significant evidence that the personalized learning interventions fostered academic performance in two of the four subjects: math and spelling. Regarding spelling, we found that the schools in which metacognitive skills were explicitly trained improved their students' spelling performance significantly compared to other schools. We found significant evidence suggesting that student ICT skills improved metacognitive awareness, intrinsic motivation, and math performance. We also found significant evidence that teachers' ICT skills support student metacognitive awareness. However, we could not confirm the theorized effect of personalized learning on metacognitive awareness or students’ intrinsic motivation.ConclusionOur study provides evidence-based recommendations for implementing personalized learning interventions in elementary schools, particularly for math and spelling. Finally, improving ICT skills among students and teachers benefits students in math and in their metacognitive skills
The interplay between identity and personality pathology in emerging adults:A 7-year cross-lagged study
No full textPersonality pathology is hypothesized to be an important factor in shaping identity, yet longitudinal evidence linking dimensional measures of identity and personality pathology remains scarce. To address this knowledge gap and shed light on the reciprocal dynamics proposed by the alternative model of personality disorder, we conducted a comprehensive seven-year study involving 372 emerging adults from a community sample ( Mage T1 = 21.98 years, SD T1 = 1.13; 57% females). Pathological personality traits were assessed using the short form of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5 SF) while identity was assessed with the Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS). Cross-lagged analyses in Mplus revealed that personality pathology consistently predicts subsequent different levels of identity seven years later, whereas only one significant pathway from identity to personality pathology was found. Notably, negative affectivity and detachment emerge as the most influential pathological personality trait, whereas no significant effects were found for disinhibition and psychoticism. In summary, our study uncovered compelling longitudinal associations that underscore the pivotal role of pathological personality traits in the development of identity. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed. </p
Fostering sustainable employability in interorganizational networks:which activities and conditions pay off?
No full textPurposeCurrently, lifelong learning and sustainable employability are increasingly fostered in the context of interorganizational networks, which provide workers with access to network activities (e.g., training, career counseling). This study aims to investigate the relationship between workers’ participation in network activities and their sustainable employability by considering workers’ experiences with the network activities. This study also examines the role of relational factors, including network trust and leader-member exchange, as conditions that may influence the link between workers’ participation in network activities and their sustainable employability (i.e. workability, perceived employability and vitality).Design/methodology/approachThis study has a mixed methods design. A quantitative approach (cross-sectional, questionnaire) was used to establish associations between variables. This approach was supplemented with qualitative data (semistructured interviews) to explore whether Self-Determination Theory can provide an explanation for the associations and the role of (relational) factors that workers perceive as hindering or facilitating in that process.FindingsThe results suggest that participating in network activities have promising benefits for both workers and organizations by facilitating the work ability and perceived employability components of sustainable employability. For these relationships, workers’ satisfaction of their need for competency and relatedness serves as explanatory mechanisms. Moreover, the actualization of benefits of network activities is influenced by relational factors both within the network (i.e. trust) and within organizations (i.e. leader-member exchange).Originality/valueThis study investigates workers’ experiences with network activities, regarding fostering workers’ sustainable employability, and the role of relational factors. Specifically, it considers Human Resource Management practices from a network-level perspective, which is currently understudied. By doing so, this study adds a unique perspective to the Human Resource Management, sustainable employability and career literature streams
Hannah Arendt (1906-1975)
No full textThe past decades have seen a steady canonisation of the “phenomenological Arendt” even if her work does not fit into the Husserlian phenomenologicalorthodoxy. While Arendt shares several core assumptions with other phenomenologists, she stands out by applying those to political phenomena such as public space, revolution, freedom, violence, power, authority, law, and human rights. Her key concept of plurality—the idea that human beings are both distinct and equal as they appear to each other in a shared world—politicises not only the subject matter but also the method of phenomenology.To show how Arendt draws from and expands phenomenology in a political direction, I first delve into her worldcentered ontology. For Arendt, humans are not defined by essences but by contingent “human conditions” that require enactment within and through a shared, public world. This world, in turn, shapes human (co-)existence. Consisting of both material things and shared meanings, it provides for relative stability and meaningfulness. Humans are “worldly,” both building the artificial world and disclosing it through “words and deeds” in their role as citizens. These words and deeds include interactions, interpretations, disagreements, judgments, prejudices, and narratives—what makes up the political and historical fabric of the world.Secondly, I unpack Arendt’s phenomenological 'method' of political philosophy—what I call “political thinking.” It is characterised by engagement with lived, pre-reflective experience of the plural world of human affairs, consistent with her conception of thinking as a non-theoretical interminable “quest for meaning”. This method involves bracketing theoretical and metaphysical assumptions—a quasi-epoché—to understand political life without preconceived frameworks. I demonstrate how Arendtian political thinking differs from empirical political science and normative political theory. On the one hand, though it engages with real historical events such as totalitarianism and civil disobedience, it is committed to exploring the ontological structures underlying those. On the other hand, Arendt rejects ideal and normative value theories due to her phenomenological “realism”: an unflinching attention to reality as it appears to all, aligning with the classical phenomenological commitment to “the things themselves.” For her, political thought is not about designing more just political systems, nor establishing moral or political justifications. Normative questions of how to act and judge morally or politically are not theoretical issues to be determined by individuals from a third-person perspective (least of all the philosopher), but, instead, practical issues to be enacted by plural actors and spectators themselves when they start to act together or judge
The moderating and mediating role of the placenta in the association between prenatal exposure to air pollutants and birth weight:A twin study
No full textPrenatal exposure to air pollution has been linked to lower birth weight, yet the role of the placenta in this association is often overlooked. This study investigates whether placental characteristics act as moderators or mediators in the association between prenatal exposure to particulate matter (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and birth weight in twins. The study included 3340 twins (born 2002–2013) from the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey. Prenatal exposure was estimated using spatial-temporal interpolation for the whole pregnancy and its trimesters. Moderation (interaction) and mediation (direct, indirect, and total effects) of placental weight and umbilical cord insertion were assessed with analyses stratified a priori based on the presence of one or two placentas. Sensitivity analyses included stratification by prematurity. Placental weight acted as both a moderator and mediator. Moderation analysis: in twins with low placental weight, birth weight decreased with −93.18 g per 10 μg/m3 PM10 (95% CI: −164.17, −22.19) and −69.28 g per 10 μg/m3 NO2 (95% CI: −124.81, −13.76) for the whole pregnancy. Mediation analysis showed positive indirect effects of placental weight indicating an increase of 36.05 g (95% CI: 0.88, 70.61) birth weight per 10 μg/m3 PM10 over the whole pregnancy, particularly in twins born <35 weeks. Direct effects were mainly negative, but not significant. For NO2, significant negative indirect effects were observed in the third trimester. Moderation was most pronounced in the second half of pregnancy, while both moderation and mediation were more evident in twins with separate placentas. Positive indirect effects prevailed in the first half of pregnancy, while negative indirect effects were observed in the second half. Umbilical cord insertion was neither a moderator nor a mediator. To conclude, the placenta acts both as moderator and mediator in the association between air pollution and birth weight, highlighting the need to consider these pathways in future research.</p