1,721,037 research outputs found
Prädiktoren, Wechselwirkungen und individuelle Unterschiede
No full textLehrerstress und Lehrermangel rücken zunehmend in den Fokus der Öffentlichkeit und der Wissenschaft (Brenninkmeijer, Van Yperen, & Buunk, 2001). International spiegelt sich dies in einer hohen Abbruchquote junger Lehrer wider (Ingersoll, 2012), während in Deutschland insbesondere die Anzahl der Frühpensionierungen besonders hoch ist (Bauer et al., 2007). Da in der Deutschland ein ohnehin hoher Mangel an Lehrkräften vorliegt, ist es umso wichtiger, zu hohe Lehrerbeanspruchung frühzeitig zu verhindern (Eurydice Network, 2012).
Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit der Entwicklung von Beanspruchungen und Ressourcen deutscher Lehramtsanwärter/ innen (LAA).
In einer ersten Studie wird dafür die Entwicklung von emotionaler Erschöpfung und Lehrer Selbstwirksamkeit von LAA während des ersten Jahres des Referendariats modelliert. Zudem wird untersucht, ob das im Studium erworbene bildungswissenschaftliche Wissen eventuelle Veränderungen von emotionaler Erschöpfung und Lehrer Selbstwirksamkeit vorhersagen kann. Es zeigt sich, dass die emotionale Erschöpfung ansteigt, während Lehrer Selbstwirksamkeit nur einen leichten Anstieg verzeichnet. Desweiteren lässt sich in dem Modell nur die Veränderung von emotionaler Erschöpfung durch professionelles Wissen vorhersagen. Dabei gilt, je höher das im Studium erworbene Wissen, desto geringer der Anstieg der emotionalen Erschöpfung.
In Studie II und III der vorliegenden Arbeit greifen diese Ergebnisse auf, fokussieren dabei jedoch auf individuelle Unterschiede der Entwicklung von emotionaler Erschöpfung. Dazu wird eine moderierte Mediation (Preacher, Rucker, & Hayes, 2007) untersucht, in der Selbstwirksamkeit in Bezug auf Klassenmanagement emotionale Erschöpfung via Unterrichtstörungen vorhersagt (Mediation). Die Stärke dieser Mediation hängt dabei wiederum von der Höhe der Selbstwirksamkeit in Bezug auf Klassenmanagement ab (Moderation). Es zeigt sich eine gute Passung des vorgeschlagenen Models auf die Daten. Die Mediation ist dabei für diejenigen LAA stärker, welche ein geringeres Niveau der Selbstwirksamkeit in Bezug auf Klassenführung aufweisen. Nachdem das Model in Studie II anhand einer großen Stichprobe (im Querschnitt) mit Hilfe von latenten Variablen überprüft werden konnte, wurde es in Studie III mit längsschnittlichen Daten validiert. In diesem sequentiellen Modell können die Ergebnisse von Studie II repliziert werden. Wieder zeigt sich, dass die Mediation dabei für diejenigen LAA stärker ist, welche eingangs ein geringeres Niveau der Selbstwirksamkeit in Bezug auf Klassenführung aufweisen.
In einer vierten Studie wird auf der Basis der Ergebnisse von Studie I-III davon ausgegangen, dass es möglich sein sollte die Ressourcen von LAA so zu manipulieren (erhöhen), dass der Anstieg von Variablen, welche mit negativem Empfinden und Beanspruchung assoziiert sind, reduziert werden kann. Dazu wurde ein Klassenmanagement-Training für LAA entwickelt, um kurz- und längerfristige (pre/post/follow-up) Trainingseffekte zu identifizieren. Ziel ist es, Aussagen über die Bedeutung der Kenntnisse im Klassenmanagement und im Umgang mit Belastungen treffen zu können. Dabei wurden die Teilnehmer jeweils einer von drei Interventionsgruppen (KlassenmanagementTraining, allgemeines Stress-Training, Wartekontrollgruppe) zugeteilt. Die Auswertungen zeigen, dass beide Trainingsgruppen im Vergleich zur Kontrollgruppe sowohl höhere Klassenmanagement -Fähigkeiten (z.B. in der Selbstwirksamkeit in Bezug auf Klassenmanagement) als auch ein höheres Wohlbefinden angaben. Langfristige Effekte bezüglich der Klassenmanagement-Fähigkeiten zeigen sich jedoch nur zugunsten der Klassenmanagement-Trainingsgruppe. Zudem scheint diese Gruppe tendenziell im Wohlbefinden auch gegenüber der Stress-Trainingsgruppe besser abzuschneiden. Es zeigt sich, dass es möglich ist, spezifisches Wissen bezüglich der Herausforderungen des Klassenmanagement zu vermitteln, welches überdies vermittelnde Effekte auf das Wohlbefinden hat.
Die Ergebnisse dieser vier Studien werden hinsichtlich empirischer und praktischer Implikationen diskutiert
Using video in teacher education and professional development activities to stimulate teaching for active learning in Cambodia
No full text
Effects of a self-assessment procedure on VET teachers' competencies in coaching students' reflection skills
Get PDFIdeally, teachers are professionals who take responsibility for their work and choices made. Teachers are supposed to respond to new developments by experimenting with new forms of education and educational contents and to reflect on these. It is important that teachers continuously develop themselves and demonstrate a professional attitude towards their work. Self-assessment as a tool for learning fits really well into the conception of the teacher as a professional. Self-assessment makes teachers responsible for their own learning and is regarded as an essential feature of professional practice. In the literature, self-assessment is frequently described as a promising method for teacher learning. Self-assessment is defined in this dissertation as an activity in which teachers apply criteria and standards to their own work and make judgments with respect to the extent to which they have met these criteria and standards. Self-assessment not necessarily needs to be an isolated or individual activity; frequently peers are used to give feedback or are other measures undertaken to enhance learning through self-assessment. It is argued that self-assessment can lead to new insights or raise awareness of aspects of practice that need to be improved, stimulate the monitoring capacities of teachers, and enhance their understanding of what constitutes good practice. Despite the popularity and potential benefits of self-assessment, the theoretical and empirical bases supporting these claims are as yet rather underdeveloped. To better understand the possibilities, merits and shortcomings of teachers’ self-assessment as a tool for learning, there is an urgent need for research into its effects. Aim of the different studies in this dissertation was to gain insight in the effects of a developed self-assessment procedure used by teachers working in the two higher streams of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the sector Health. This procedure was meant to foster teachers’ competence development in coaching students’ reflection skills. Reflection is an important skill for VET students, particularly for students in the Health sector. Teachers, however, experience coaching students’ reflection as an important but difficult competence. It is supposed that focusing the self-assessment procedure on improving teachers’ competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills fulfils a need. The central problem of this dissertation was the following: what are the effects of self-assessment on teachers’ competencies in coaching Vocational Education and Training students’ reflection skills? To address this problem, the following research questions were answered in this dissertation: 1. How can a useful self-assessment procedure be developed for VET teachers for coaching students’ reflection skills? 2. How do VET teachers use a self-assessment procedure that has been developed for coaching students´ reflection skills? 3. How are VET teachers’ competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills rated by themselves, their colleagues and which trends in scoring are visible over time? 4. What and how do VET teachers learn and intend to learn from (repeatedly) being engaged in a self-assessment procedure used to develop their competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills? 5. How do VET teachers value the different aspects of the self-assessment procedure which they used to develop their competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills? These research questions were answered in five different studies. The first question pertained to the development of a self-assessment procedure, the other questions to determining the effects of the developed self-assessment procedure. In the second chapter, the first research question pertaining to the development of a self-assessment procedure for fostering teachers’ competencies to coach Vocational Education and Training (VET) students’ reflection skills was answered. Through formulating design principles derived from the literature on quality criteria for teacher assessment and conditions for teacher learning a useful self-assessment procedure was developed consisting of the following elements: 1. a tool based on criteria and standards to be used by teachers to assess their own coaching competencies of students’ reflection skills; 2. feedback from peers on observed lessons by using the same tool; 3. a report written by the teachers in which they reflect on their competencies, feedback from their colleagues, set goals for future action and describe the effort needed for this; 4. feedback from colleagues on this reflective report and, if necessary, the possibility to make adjustments. Criteria and standards for self-assessment were iteratively formulated through consulting both teachers (N=40) and literature. Theoretical perspectives provided the starting point for developing the criteria and standards reflecting the what and when of coaching of reflection skills by students. Practical perspectives derived from the teachers yielded additional criteria and directions for improving with regard to the how of coaching. The result of this development process was a set of 23 criteria. Standards were formulated on a four point scale, indicating the extent to which a particular coaching behavior was realized. Through founding criteria (and standards) not only on theory but also on teachers’ own practice, it was attempted to contextualize the self-assessment procedure and to realize teachers’ feelings of ownership over the criteria. By including feedback from a colleague and writing a reflection report into the procedure for self-assessment and organizing this procedure repeatedly, it was attempted to encourage learning through self-assessment. Before starting the procedure for the first time, the teachers were trained how to undertake the self-assessment procedure. Based on this first study it could be concluded that it was possible to design an adequate and useful self-assessment procedure for fostering teachers’ learning. A first impression of teachers’ use of the self-assessment procedure indicated that feedback from a colleague appeared to be helpful for assessing oneself and that teachers performed the self-assessment procedure differently, particularly regarding the use of criteria. In the studies presented in the chapters 3 to 6, the effects of the self-assessment procedure were investigated. In these studies 24 teachers from two schools participated. From one school 20 teachers from two teams participated; from the other school 4 teachers. The sample consisted of 9 male and 15 female teachers. Their teaching experience ranged from just having finished teacher education to 28 years. All teachers were also involved in the development of the self-assessment procedure and they all undertook this procedure in three different assessment rounds (moments) with three months in between. The teachers performed these self-assessment rounds in couples. The study presented in Chapter 3 addressed the question how teachers used the different aspects of the self-assessment procedure. To answer this question the focus was on (1) how teachers used criteria and standards, (2) how they gave and received feedback, and (3) how they reflected on their competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills. For this purpose, completed self-assessments forms, video-taped feedback conversations with colleagues and written reflective reports of the 24 teachers, collected during the first assessment round, were analyzed by using category systems for each data source. It was found that teachers’ use of the self-assessment procedure could be characterized by: (1) slightly positive assessments of teachers about their own performance as well as those they received from their colleagues, (2) constructive peer feedback that was generally accepted by the teachers who were assessed, and (3) clear and informative reflective reports by the teachers mainly focusing on their own actions resulting from the self-assessment. Results of this study indicated that when used consequently and systematically, criteria and standards have added value for giving feedback and writing a reflective report. However, the results also indicated that additional measures need to be undertaken to broaden and deepen the self-assessors’ reflections and to make colleagues feedback more critical. In general, this study showed that teachers can benefit from a self-assessment procedure and improve their competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills. In Chapter 4, the third research question was addressed. This question was as follows: How are VET teachers’ competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills rated by themselves, by their colleagues and which trends in scoring are visible over time? To answer this question, 72 self-assessments and 72 colleague assessments from three assessment rounds were analyzed. The reliability and validity of the rating instrument were checked by conducting several analyses. Internal consistency of the scales for the what, when, and how of coaching students’ reflection skills appeared to be satisfactory. It also appeared from correlations between the what, when and how scales that the scales measured distinct, but related aspects of coaching students’ reflection skills. To answer the research questions, first a descriptive analysis was performed on the three scales per moment (means and standard deviations). Next, absolute and relative difference scores for the what, when and how of coaching students’ reflection skills were computed. Then, the scores of the self-assessors, colleagues and the difference scores were analyzed via a repeated-measures ANOVA. Finally, Scheffé’s post-hoc test was used to determine where the differences between the mean scores were significant and effect sizes were calculated. It was found that colleagues perceived the teachers’ coaching competencies slightly more positive than the teachers themselves. It also appeared that teachers considered themselves reasonably competent in how to coach students’ reflection skills and moderately competent in the what and when of coaching students reflection skills. Furthermore, it became clear that large individual differences existed in the perceptions of self-assessors and colleagues of competencies of coaching students’ reflection skills and in the development of these differences over time. Differences between the judgments of self-assessors and their colleagues were found to be small and did not develop over time. Large differences between couples were found though. This study led to the conclusion that a repeated self-assessment did not lead to significant changes over time, but did make meaningful differences visible between teachers in self-assessments and colleague-assessments as well as differences between individual teachers and in changes over time. In Chapter 5, the research question pertaining to what and how teachers learn and intent to learn from self-assessment was addressed. For this purpose, 69 reflective reports of the 24 teachers from the three repeated self-assessment rounds were analysed. To analyze the reflective reports, a category system was developed in an iterative process of moving back and forth between predefined concepts from the literature and data. The final category system consisted of five main categories: "awareness", "new insight/idea", "confirmation of an idea", "intentions for learning", and "planned learning activities". The fifth main category, planned learning activities, was further specified with ‘doing’, ‘experimentation’, ‘reflection’, ‘feedback’, ‘observation’ and ‘studying sources’. The reliability of the system was calculated by assessing the inter-rater reliability. The category systems appeared to be sufficiently reliable. To determine what and how teachers learn and intend to learn, all the 69 reflective reports were analyzed separately by using the category system. Absolute frequencies were calculated for every coding category across the different reflective reports written per self- assessment round. Also, changes in learning outcomes and intended outcomes over time were determined by comparing absolute frequencies of every coding category across the three self-assessment rounds. Findings revealed that being engaged in the self-assessment procedure mainly led to raised awareness of new aspects of coaching students’ reflection skills. To a lesser degree, teachers felt they had learned new theoretical/practical insights concerning coaching students’ reflection skills. Regarding the what, when and how of coaching these skills, teachers mainly reported learning outcomes pertaining to what of coaching students’ reflection skills and on conditions for coaching these skills (how). Learning outcomes showed a cyclical progression consisting of raised awareness, followed by new ideas/insights and confirmation of these ideas, leading to raised awareness again. Finally, it turned out that the teachers predominantly learned from the self-assessment in a performance-oriented way. Based on this study, it was concluded that repeatedly undertaking the self-assessment procedure was useful for the teachers’ learning, but mainly led to awareness and learning to improve performance. To encourage more meaningful or meaning-oriented learning, additional measures in the self-assessment procedure seem to be necessary. Chapter 6 reported on a study that focused on how teachers valued their experiences of being engaged in the self-assessment procedure and what aspects of this procedure they perceived as useful. For this purpose, an item-based questionnaire was used that covered elements of the self-assessment procedure, its underlying design and its impact on teachers’ learning. The 32 items could be scored on the following five-point scale: 1) totally invaluable, 2) not valuable, 3) neutral, 4) valuable, 5) very valuable, and 6) not applicable (n/a). In this study, the position was taken that something that is perceived as valuable based on experiences is a strong indication for its usefulness as well. An exploratory factor analysis with orthogonal rotation (varimax) was conducted on the 32 items. Based on the scee plot, we decided to distinguish three scales which, together, explained 55% of the variance. The items that clustered on the same component suggested that factor 1 represented ‘impact and organization’, factor 2 ‘assessment and feedback’, and factor 3 ‘autonomy’. The internal consistency of the scales (Cronbach’s alpha) appeared to be high. To investigate discriminant validity, scale correlations were calculated. It appeared that the scales were related, though sufficiently distinctive. It was found that all three scales were scored positive by respondents. In general, teachers positively weighted the self-assessment procedure against their efforts and learning outcomes as a result of assessing themselves. In particular, the assessment and feedback component was valued quite positively. It can be concluded that the development of the self-assessment procedure via design principles, based on conditions for learning and quality criteria of assessment led to positive perceptions of teachers’ usefulness of the self-assessment procedure. In Chapter 7, the most important findings and conclusions from the five studies were presented. The self-assessment procedure as developed and investigated in this dissertation can be characterized as a potentially beneficial and useful tool for fostering teachers’ learning. This overall conclusion is based on the following findings. First, criteria and standards appeared to be beneficial and useful for teachers’ learning in the sense that they directed teachers’ attention, provided them with a vocabulary and with the possibility to structure or guide their thoughts when making these explicit in their reflective reports. However, for future self-assessments, it is important to deal adequately with teachers’ tendencies to use high scores when assessing themselves or their colleagues. Second, teachers valued receiving feedback from their colleagues as very positive for their learning, but additional measures are needed for teachers to promote them to be a critical friend. Third, the added value of writing a reflective report for teachers’ learning was based on the necessity to explicate learning outcomes, intended outcomes and plans to realize them. Fourth, including criteria and standards, feedback, and writing a reflective report, as well as undertaking the self-assessment procedure repeatedly, is not sufficient enough for promoting teachers’ meaning-oriented learning. Additional measures for learning through self-assessment seem necessary to stimulate this kind of learning by teachers and to develop their further understanding of their own competencies of coaching students’ reflection skills. Subsequently, the most important findings and conclusions were discussed. This discussion focused on important assumptions underlying the promising nature of self-assessment. The first assumption was that self-assessment is attractive because it is efficient and easy to apply. Results of this thesis indicate that for effective self-assessment in terms of learning gains, an extensive and time-consuming preparation seems necessary, that it takes time for teachers to get used to their role as self-assessor and critical friend and that the development of a self-assessment procedure in itself is difficult and time-consuming. Finally, arguing about the effectiveness of self-assessment requires a norm. It depends on the norm and related expectations about the norm whether self-assessment can be regarded as an attractive means for fostering teachers’ learning. Setting such norms are personal- and context bound and thus not easy to do. The second assumption underlying the promising nature of self-assessment was that self-assessment motivates teachers to learn because it makes them responsible for and owner of their own learning. Based on the positive appreciations of teachers of self-assessment it seems reasonable to assume that self-assessment motivates teachers to develop their competencies in coaching. However, teachers demonstrated different ways of being responsible for their learning and differed in what and how they learned. Based on these findings, it can be questioned to what extent the emphasis on teachers’ ownership and responsibility is really useful for teachers’ learning or to what extent this has to be nuanced for specific teachers under certain conditions. The third assumption underlying the promising nature of self-assessment was that self-assessment provides teachers with feedback to develop their own competencies to coach students’ reflection. Effective feedback answers three questions: "where are you going?", "how are you going?", and "how do you get there?". Self-assessment provides meaningful answers to where they are going; however, the question remains whether a meaningful answer is the right answer. Are teachers themselves able to determine how they are going and to generate the proper feedback for themselves? What and how teachers learn to coach students’ reflection from self-assessment is influenced by what teachers already know about it. This dissertation showed that it is possible for teachers to determine how to get there when it pertains to basic aspects of coaching students’ reflection skills, such as how to coach and conditions for coaching. For more difficult aspects of coaching it seems difficult to decide how to get there. The fourth assumption underlying the promising nature of self-assessment was that self-assessment provides teachers with the knowledge and skills to start a more systematic process of informal learning. It is argued that realizing such a process of informal learning is not self-evident. Not all teachers feel the will or need to self-regulate their learning, have the opportunity to self-regulate their learning in the school, and develop the capacity to self-regulate their own learning. Finally, it was discussed how accounting for the implementation of self-assessment turns out in practice. It appeared difficult and time-consuming to integrate the self-assessment procedure in the schools’ Human Resources Policy. Finally, hours made available for undertaking the self-assessment procedure were made at the cost of other activities teachers needed to perform. The studies presented in this dissertation aimed at gaining insight in the effects of self-assessment for the professional development of VET teachers regarding their coaching competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills. This dissertation provided knowledge and understanding of what contributes to the usefulness of self-assessment. It also provided schools with a self-assessment procedure to be used by teachers to foster their competencies in coaching students’ reflection skills and made explicit what can be understood as ‘good’ coaching of students’ reflection. Limitations to the study presented in this dissertation pertained to its descriptive and exploratory nature,, the absence of pre- and post-test and/or a control group in the design, and the participation of a limited number of teachers from a specific type of vocational education. Also, teacher learning was only investigated by analyzing reflective reports, being a reflection of teachers’ perceptions, and the analysis of the data was limited to an analysis across cases. Future research might focus on the role of feedback of self-assessment and individual differences between teachers in how they use and what they learn from self-assessment
Integrated curricula: an approach to strengthen science & technology in primary education
No full textVakintegratie via ervaringen van een ontdekkingsreiziger zorgen voor betere bètalessen in het basisonderwij
Students' goal orientations, information processing strategies and knowledge development in competence-based pre-vocational secondary education.
Get PDFVeel scholen in het Nederlandse voorbereidend middelbaar beroepsonderwijs (vmbo) hebben de laatste jaren initiatieven genomen om vormen van competentiegericht onderwijs in te voeren. Drie aspecten van het leren van leerlingen in competentiegericht onderwijs lijken van bijzonder belang te zijn, namelijk doeloriëntaties, informatieverwerkingsstrategieën en leerresultaten. In dit proefschrift worden de relaties beschreven en verkend tussen de leerprocessen van leerlingen - in termen van doeloriëntaties, informatieverwerkingsstrategieën en kennisontwikkeling - en de mate waarin kenmerken van competentiegericht onderwijs geïmplementeerd zijn op vmbo-scholen. De centrale vraagstelling was: Wat zijn de relaties tussen de doeloriëntaties, informatieverwerkingsstrategieën en kennisontwikkeling van leerlingen in competentiegericht vmbo
Researching the teacher-researcher : practice-based research in Dutch professional development schools
Get PDFIn this dissertation, we wanted to provide empirical evidence for the proposition that performing practice-based research in PDSs is a powerful incentive for the professional development of (student) teachers. Therefore, the aims of this dissertation were: 1. Mapping the concepts associated with (student) teachers’ practice-based research in schools in terms of research input, research process, and research outcomes. More specifically the following aspects were investigated: (a) contextual input, or the realization of research environments in schools, (b) personal input, or teachers’ and student teachers’ motives for performing practice-based research, (c) the research process, or the performed practice-based research activities by teachers and student teachers, and (d) research outcomes, or the perceived outcomes regarding research and teaching following practice-based research. 2. Investigating the added-value of PDSs settings compared with non-PDSs settings. More specifically, PDSs and non-PDSs (student) teachers’ perceptions of the aforementioned aspects associated with practice-based research were compared. 3. Testing a hypothetical model that describes the relations between (student) teachers’ perceptions of the input (contextual and personal), process and outcomes of practice-based research, and with that, the relative importance of these different aspects in relation to each other. To meet these aims, four studies were conducted for these purposes using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The following four key questions were addressed: 1. What are participants’ – school leaders’, teachers’ and student teachers’ – perceptions of the actual and preferred situation regarding practice-based research in Dutch PDSs? 2. What features characterize teachers’ practice-based research activities and what is the impact of these activities in terms of quality standards and criteria, and learning outcomes? 3. Do PDSs make a difference in terms of (student) teachers’ perceptions of input (contextual and personal), process and outcomes of in-school practice-based research? 4. What model explains the empirical relations that exist in (student) teachers’ perceptions of factors associated with the input (contextual and personal), process and outcomes of in-school practice-based research
Career conversations in senior secondary vocational education
Get PDFIn the Netherlands, many schools for senior secondary vocational education are implementing competence-based curricula. These curricula start from a constructivist approach and are based on the idea that young people should learn to reflect on their personal ambitions and motives, and to undertake action and initiative to direct their own learning and career development (career competencies). To realise this, many schools are implementing career guidance in which they use instruments such as portfolios and personal development plans as well as activities such as career conversations between teachers and students. Several studies, however, have indicated that schools experience difficulties in creating powerful learning environments for career guidance, especially with regard to career conversations. Most schools and teachers lack the experience in conducting career guidance in general and career conversations in particular. There is considerable research available on guidance and counselling, but this research mainly focuses on career guidance practitioners who are specifically trained to offer career education and guidance. In the Dutch school context, the role of the trained career guidance practitioner is taken over by teachers as part of their everyday work, often without specific training for this purpose. As such, this situation asks for research on its implementation and effects. The general purpose of the studies in this thesis is to contribute to a better understanding of the nature of career guidance and career conversations in Dutch senior secondary vocational education, and to investigate the effects of the guidance of teachers during career conversations. The leading research questions of these studies were the following: 1. How do teachers and students in vocational education perceive integral career guidance and the instruments used in their school? 2. What is the nature of the career conversations taking place in competence-based vocational education in the Netherlands? 3. How do students perceive their teachers’ career guidance during career conversations and what profiles can be identified in these perceptions? 4. What is the relationship between teachers’ career guidance profiles and students’ career competencies: career reflection, career shaping and networking? 5. What are the characteristics of a ‘good’ career guidance practice? These research questions were answered with five different studies, each addressing one of the questions. In Chapter 2, the first research question was answered by means of semi-structured interviews with teachers, counsellor and students of three different schools. Of each school, we interviewed 3 teachers, 1 counsellor and 8 students (on average). Interviews were recorded on audiotape with the consent of the respondents. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded in a qualitative-interpretative way. For each of the coded topics, a summary of the statements was made and illustrated with sample statements from the different interviews of each case. The summaries and primary data were discussed with two experienced researchers. This resulted in a final overview of summaries for each topic, based on consensus. After analyses of the separate cases, a cross-case display was made, in order to detect differences and similarities between the cases. The main findings of the study were that a majority of the teachers and counsellors perceived portfolios and personal development plans as important instruments to collect evidence on student development, stimulate students’ self-responsibility or self-direction, and support students in reflecting on identity issues and future ambitions. The study also revealed that a reflective dialogue between teacher and student was essential for career guidance instruments to be considered valuable and useful. When career guidance instruments such as the portfolio and personal development plan were not used in a context of dialogue, students were likely to perceive these instruments as irrelevant and refrained from using them to reflect on their personal identity or on plans involving their future. The career conversation was found to be an essential element in the career guidance process. At the same time, the results of this study revealed that respondents had little experience with or knowledge about the conduct of these conversations and the actual effect of the conversations on the development of career competencies of students. In Chapter 3, the characteristics of career conversations between teachers and students in Dutch senior secondary vocational education (the second research question) were studied more in-depth. For this purpose, 32 video-taped career conversations between career guidance teachers and students in four different schools were systematically observed. A category system was developed and the conversations were coded and analyzed with regard to the content that was discussed (for example whether teacher and student talked about ‘progress of student’ or ‘future ambitions’), the activities that were performed by the teacher and the student (for example ‘active listening’ or ‘giving feedback’), and the relationship between teacher and student (for example whether the teacher acted dominant or submissive). Two career conversations which encompassed all of the coding categories were coded by a second researcher. Inter-rater reliabilities for the different elements of the career conversations were determined and the Kappa coefficients indicated the categorization system to be reliable. The results of the study showed there were many teachers who still acted as traditional ‘mentors of school success’. They talked a lot about the grades and progress of the student in school, gave many instructions and arrived at agreements about how a student’s behaviour or results could be improved. The study also revealed that teachers often showed ‘traditional, teacher-dominated’ behaviour, such as giving instruction, explaining, and asking for knowledge or information the student had gained. Many teachers behaved in a dominant manner; they controlled the conversation and left little room for students to bring subjects to the agenda or to ask questions. The traditional educational culture, in varying degrees, still dominated the actual behaviour of teachers and students. Finally, the study revealed that teachers spoke very little about career issues with students. The number of fragments that were coded as ‘career issues’ (talking about students’ future ambitions and previous education as well as characteristics of the profession), was very low when compared with the content fragments. In Chapter 4, student perceptions of career conversations with their teachers were reported (the third research question). The ‘Questionnaire on Career Conversations’ was developed to investigate perceptions of students and to determine whether guidance profiles of teachers could be identified. The questionnaire was based on the category system of the observational study, and consisted of three elements (content, activities and relationship). Factor analysis revealed three scales for the content element: planning and instruments (8 items), career issues (6 items) and personal issues (4 items), four scales for teacher activities: questioning (7 items), providing information (5 items), being personal (3 items), and stimulating self-directedness (5 items) and two scales for relationship: influence (8 items) and proximity (9 items). All scales were found to be reliable (above 0.65). Data from 579 students of four different schools were collected and analyzed through cluster analysis. The data demonstrated that students noted differences in teacher behaviour, although several similarities were identified as well. Student ratings on talking about career issues and providing information, for example, were very much alike. The students perceived that they seldom talked with their teachers about career issues. Teachers were also perceived to provide a lot of information. This corresponds to the findings of the observational study, which also showed that career issues were seldom on the agenda and teacher explained a lot. The cluster analysis identified four different styles of guidance, which showed an overall general trend although significant differences were present as well. The main differences existed between having a personal or non-personal approach, and between asking questions and stimulating students’ self-directedness. One profile was labelled as ‘personal teacher balancing directive and non-directive behaviour’. Teachers within this profile were active in discussing students’ personal issues and acted in a very personal manner. These teachers were perceived to be controlling or directive in some way (for example, they had high student ratings on the influence scale and providing information), but were also perceived to show non-directive behaviour (had high ratings on questioning and stimulating self-directedness). Another profile was labelled as ‘non-personal and directive teacher’. Teachers within this profile were rated extremely low by students on talking about personal issues and on being personal. They were also perceived to ask very few questions and seldomly stimulated students’ self-directedness. Teachers within the other two profiles were rated highly moderate and were therefore not easy to ‘label’ in terms of a typical style or pattern. These medium, less extreme profiles were labelled as ‘mainstream teachers’. In Chapter 5 we reported on a study that answered the fourth research question. This study investigated the influence of the different teacher career guidance profiles on students’ career competencies, namely: career reflection (the degree to which students reflect on their motives, talents and ambitions), career shaping (being active in investigating possibilities in relation to their career and are taking actions accordingly), and networking (being interactive in relation to their career, build and retain contacts useful for their future career, etc.). From the same students that participated in the third study (Chapter 4), we also collected data on their career competencies using an adapted version of the questionnaire of Kuijpers, Meijers and Bakker (2006). The ‘Questionnaire on Career Competencies’ is a self-report questionnaire of 34 items and three scales: career reflection, career shaping and networking. All scales were found to be reliable: Cronbach’s alphas were 0.88 for career reflection, 0.83 for career shaping and 0.81 for networking. Besides career competencies of students, several other student variables were investigated as well by means of a short questionnaire, namely career decision-making self-efficacy (6 items, Cronbach’s alpha: 0.81), locus of control (4 items, Cronbach’s alpha: 0.71) and demographic variables (assessing age, gender, ethnicity, educational programme, full or part-time student status, level of education and years they have attended their school). Furthermore, the initial career competency level of students (measured one year before, with the same questionnaire) was used as a control variable. Through multi-level variance analysis the relationship between students’ career competencies, the four teacher profiles and the other student variables was investigated. For career reflection, we found that two of the four teacher profiles affected career reflection, namely: the ‘personal, balancing directive and non-directive’ profile and one of the ‘mainstream’ profiles. Although many differences in career reflection (almost 94%) were related to differences between students and very few (6%) to differences between teachers, the effect sizes of the teacher profiles were higher than those of some other covariates, such as career decision-making self-efficacy. The initial career reflection of students explained most of the variance at the student level. The effect of career decision-making self-efficacy was not strong, but it did have a significant negative relation with regard to students’ career reflection. Being a full-time or part-time student or being a male or female also affected the level of students’ career reflection. Part-time students reflected more on their career than full-time students and female students reflected more than male students. For career shaping, the results showed that almost all differences in career exploration at the end of the year were related to differences between students (over 97%). Two student variables (besides the initial competency) were significantly related to career shaping: locus of control and career decision-making self-efficacy. When students scored higher on either of these variables, they explored more. Finally, none of the teacher profiles were significantly related to the level of students’ career exploration. For networking, almost all differences were related to differences between students: over 99%. Again, none of the teacher profiles affected the competency of student networking. Only students’ career decision-making self-efficacy had an effect, namely when students had more self-efficacy in terms of career decision-making they were more likely to be active in networking for their career. The conclusion that could be drawn was that teachers’ guidance styles and behaviour did not seem to have the strong relationship with students’ career competencies that might have been presumed or desired. It seemed likely that when teachers had more experience and developed routines for guiding students in their careers, the effect on students’ career competencies would be greater. Earlier studies on teacher profiles showed that experience leads to ‘better’ profiles and less variation between student ratings of the same teacher. To answer the fifth research question, Chapter 6 reports on a study that investigated the characteristics of a career guidance practice that was labelled ‘successful’ based on our earlier studies. Although the studies described in the previous chapters had few promising outcomes, one particular case was found to be most effective: that of Juridical Service. The study on students’ and teachers’ perceptions of the use and usefulness of career guidance instruments showed that in relation to two other cases, Juridical Service students were the most positive about their career guidance. The observational study indicated that teachers from Juridical Service talked much more about the personal characteristics and personal situation of the students and showed more cooperative behaviour than did teachers from the other schools involved in the study. Remarkable were also the greater extent of stimulating reflection and the lesser extent of explaining and informing behaviour on the part of Juridical Service teachers. Finally, the results of the questionnaire study showed that Juridical Service students scored higher in terms of career competencies than the students in the other three schools. Also, the profile that had the largest effect on career reflection of students was the ‘personal, balancing directive and non-directive’ teacher. Of the seven teachers that belonged to this profile, six were from Juridical Service. The study in Chapter 6 reported on an interview study that was conducted with teachers and students of the Juridical Service case, in order to provide a deeper insight into the context and characteristics of the career guidance practice of this school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four career guidance teachers and nine students of Juridical Service. Examples of interview topics for the teachers were: goals for career guidance, self-perceived expertise and the organisation of the career guidance practice in the school. Examples of interview topics for the students were: opinions on career conversations, the atmosphere during career guidance situations. Interviews were recorded on audio-tape, transcribed verbatim and coded in a qualitative-interpretative way. Statements from the teachers and students were coded by means of an iterative process of using sensitising concepts from the literature and the data itself. After coding, the statements were categorised according to the topics that were leading in the interviews. For each of the topics, a summary of the statements was made and illustrated with sample statements from the different interviews. The results showed that the teachers from Juridical Service had a shared vision as to what constitutes good career guidance, created a career guidance programme together and arranged with the management the necessary aspects for the organisation of this career guidance programme. The teachers also had regular contact with each other to exchange experiences, and created a context for collective learning. Besides that, all teachers argued that the goal of career guidance was to enable students to reflect on themselves and professional practice. They also stated that aspects such as having a personal relationship with the student, creating trust and support and using instruments in combination with a personal approach were important to realize this personal reflection process. The students of this case found the career guidance and career conversations useful because it helped them to attain a sense of personal identity and to determine their individual strengths and weaknesses. They appreciated the fact that teachers showed interest in their personal stories and found it important that the teachers knew how they were doing and feeling at school, and to know what the teachers thought about them. Although this case was found to be most successful among the vocational schools that participated in the studies of this thesis, it also had several aspects that deserved more attention or that needed to be improved upon. Teachers still acted in a relatively dominant fashion and seldomly stimulated students’ self-directedness. The different studies showed schools are very active in realising new career guidance practices performed by teachers. Our studies also revealed that, although career guidance is seen as important, teachers experienced difficulty in realising actual student-centred guidance and in abandoning the teacher-dominated approach. The different studies showed that teachers seldomly stimulated students’ self-directedness and often showed traditional teacher behaviour such as giving instruction, explaining, and asking for knowledge or information the student had gained. Scholars in the field of mentoring or career guidance often argue that a balance between directive and non-directive behaviour is important. However, teachers apparently find it difficult or are not (yet) willing to realise such a balance, and to let go of their directive behaviour. Another outcome of our studies was that career or personal issues were not always part of the agenda during career conversations between teachers and students. Career conversations often focused on school issues (such as student’s progress and course curriculum) rather than career issues (such as future ambitions or characteristics of a profession), and many teachers still acted as the traditional ‘mentors of school success’. Finally, the studies showed that guidance of teachers in career conversations had very little effect on the career competencies of students. Although many schools are active in implementing new career guidance practices, there is, apparently, still a lot of work to be done. A promising outcome, however, is that the ‘personal approach’ (that appeared to be effective) has already been adopted by some schools and teachers and contributing to enthusiastic and competent students who actively think about, reflect on and realize their own career development
- …
