In this chapter, we discuss the education of secondary school mathematics teachers in the Netherlands. There are different routes for qualifying as a secondary school mathematics teacher. These routes target different student teacher populations, ranging from those who have just graduated from high school to those who have already pursued a career outside education or working teachers who want to qualify for teaching in higher grades. After discussing the complex structure this leads to, we focus on the aspects that these different routes have in common. We point out typical characteristics of Dutch school mathematics and discuss the aims and challenges in teacher education that result from this. We give examples of different approaches used in Dutch teacher education, which we link to a particular model for designing vocational and professional learning environments.We end the chapter with a reflection on the current situation.
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In the past years teacher education colleges have started to offer more alternative routes to teaching in secondary education. The development is a response to teacher shortages but also to a change in thinking about teaching as a profession, professional learning and the school as site of learning. Three alternative routes were studied. The characteristics of the new students and the way teacher colleges adapt their programmes to these new students are discussed. The alternative teacher education programmes realize characteristics of work-based learning to a certain extent, but not fully yet. Alternative routes are a promising development in teacher education, opening new opportunities to enter teaching, and marking a change in the role of schools as important environment of teachers professional learning.
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In L1 grammar teaching, teachers often struggle with the students’ conceptual understanding of the subject matter. Frequently, students do not acquire an in-depth understanding of grammar, and they seem generally incapable of reasoning about grammatical problems. Some scholars have argued that an in-depth understanding of grammar requires making connections between concepts from traditional grammar and underlying metaconcepts from linguistic theory. In the current study, we evaluate an intervention aiming to do this, following up on a previous study that found a significant effect for such an approach in university students of Dutch Language and Literature (d = 0.62). In the current study, 119 Dutch secondary school students’ grammatical reasonings (N=684) were evaluated by language teachers, teacher educators and linguists pre and post intervention using comparative judgement. Results indicate that the intervention significantly boosted the students’ ability to reason grammatically (d = 0.46), and that many students can reason based on linguistic metaconcepts. The study also shows that reasoning based on explicit underlying linguistic metaconcepts and on explicit concepts from traditional grammar is more favored by teachers and (educational) linguists than reasoning without explicit (meta)concepts. However, some students show signs of incomplete acquisition of the metaconcepts. The paper discusses explanations for this incomplete acquisition.
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This is a protocol for a systematic review that aims to identify and present effective elements in poetry education. These effective elements are categorised based on Biesta’s (2012) educational domains: qualification, socialisation, and subjectification. The study examines reading, writing, discussing, and reciting poetry, as well as listening to poetry, in primary and secondary education. By doing so, this study provides insights into effective poetry education, which is relevant for teachers, curriculum developers, researchers, teacher educators, and pupils. The aim of this systematic review is to map the effective elements of poetry in primary and secondary education. The research question for this review is as follows: What are the effective elements of poetry for pupils in primary and secondary education? Bibliography Biesta, G. (2012). Goed onderwijs en de cultuur van het meten (1e druk). Boom.
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This doctoral dissertation aims to address the challenges faced by physical education (PE) teachers in building an inclusive learning environment that promotes a physically active lifestyle among secondary school students. Although existing research offers useful empirical insights into addressing this complexity, successfully implementing these insights in the dynamic PE context remains challenging. It is recommended to develop tools that bridge the gap between theory and practice and provide guidelines for teachers to effectively embrace the diverse needs of students. Advancements in technology have created new opportunities for developing digital tools for CPD. In the field of PE, a variety of technologies (e.g., exergames, wearables) have been developed and are currently used. However, there is a scarcity of studies focusing on technology that primarily supports teachers in enhancing skills, knowledge, and expertise (i.e., CPD) rather than improving student learning. While the potential benefits of technological tools in PE have been recognized, their successful implementation remains complex. Therefore, this doctoral dissertation, grounded in the fields of social psychology, human-computer interaction (HCI), and design research, aims to (i) gain insights into the motivational perceptions and needs of students within secondary school PE, (ii) examine how the teacher can meet these motivational needs and (iii) explore how technology can be better utilized to support teachers in building an optimal motivational PE class climate. Therefore, the following research questions were formulated: 1. What are the differences and similarities in students’ motivational perceptions and needs in secondary school PE? 2. How can PE teachers meet the motivational needs of all students in secondary school PE? 3. What is the affordance of technology in supporting teachers in the PE context? The first study (chapter 2) focused on identifying distinct motivational profiles among secondary school students based on their perceptions of the PE environment. Building upon the first study, the second study (chapter 3) qualitatively examined students preferred motivational teaching strategies in secondary school PE. In our third study (chapter 4) we investigated the impact of potential motivating teaching strategies on students’ motivation in a secondary school PE context. These three studies yielded valuable insights into the motivational perceptions and needs of students in secondary school PE. It was demonstrated that students exhibit varied perceptions of the motivational climate in PE. However, despite these differences, it was discovered that students across different motivational profiles share similar motivational needs. Several teaching strategies within the dimensions of the TARGET framework were identified which are potentially beneficial for all secondary school students’ motivation. Yet, the implementation of these motivating TARGET teaching strategies in PE is challenging for teachers. Therefore, in the last two studies, we explored the affordance of technology in supporting teachers in the PE context. Study four (chapter 5) aimed to examine how the evidence-based theoretical TARGET framework for creating a motivating PE learning climate might be embedded into a digital professional development tool for PE teachers. A multidisciplinary team of researchers, designers, and end-users iteratively went through several phases of need identification, idea generation, designing, development, and testing. By using a participatory approach, the TARGET-tool for PE teachers was developed. In the fifth study (chapter six) we explored the applicability of the completed TARGET-tool in a secondary school PE context. The perceived usability of the tool was examined and we gained insights into the process of teachers’ professional development as a result of using the tool. In the last chapter (chapter 7), the main findings of the dissertation are discussed thematically in light of the overarching research questions and their empirical, methodological, and artefactual contributions. The three research questions are addressed to provide a comprehensive understanding of how to effectively support teachers in optimizing the motivational learning climate in secondary school PE and the potential facilitative role of technology in this process.
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Despite the increase in entrepreneurship initiatives and interventions, there is a poor understanding of entrepreneurship programs’ principles and learning objectives in secondary education. This study provides insight into the current range of entre‑ preneurship programs and their underlying pedagogy in secondary education in the Netherlands. To structure the analysis, we used the 11 design principles of Baggen et al. (Entrep Educ Pedagog 5(3):347–374, 2022). Data were collected from three different sources: the Vecon Business Schools (VBS) application forms, interviews with VBS schools, and additional documents. The findings show that most schools are unfamiliar with the definitions of entrepreneurship education. Many of the prin‑ ciples of broad entrepreneurship education focus on personal growth and the devel‑ opment of an entrepreneurial mindset. These are not always recognizable in sec‑ ondary schools’ current offerings of entrepreneurship education. Furthermore, the pedagogies on which entrepreneurship programs are based are mostly traditional, despite literature showing that (socially) constructivist entrepreneurship programs lend themselves better to developing an entrepreneurial mindset.
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With the increasing presence of new media, life in classrooms all around the world has drastically changed. The critical and conscious use of media messages provided by technological devices has developed into a crucial 21st century skill. Lin et al. (2013) have laid ground for a useful and proven theoretical framework regarding media literacy. Based on the concept of presuming and consuming media in a critical or functional way, the authors suggest ten fine-grained indicators to define new media literacy (Lin et al., 2013). Building onto this framework, recent academic research discusses the concept of new media, media literacy and the importance of implementing adequate courses in curricula (Koc & Barut, 2016; Zhu et al., 2020). However, the development of an apt way to test media literacy is still a great challenge for secondary education. After conducting an extensive search in scientific literature, it turns out that there is no usable, validated tool for a precise measurement of media literacy as a 21st century skill in secondary education. Researchers have been able to construct definitions, frameworks and questionnaires (Zhu et al., 2020), but a validated instrument to test and check the precise development of a specific skillset is still lacking. The aim of this developmental research is therefore to draw up an instrument to measure the mastery of various, specific components of media literacy in secondary education. An adequate tool to be able to formatively test these skills would be a rubric with a five-point scoring scale: it can help teachers to better understand their students' skills and progress in media literacy, and in addition, it gives students insight into specific learning outcomes that have to be achieved. The development of this rubric is conducted through an iterative process in which results are regularly tested through experiments in educational practice. In this process, the targeted audience consists of not only teachers but students, advisors and researchers as well. With this instrument, the use of specific workshops and courses and can be tested on efficiency. By letting teachers (and students) use this rubric as a guideline, it is possible to assess whether students structurally develop better mastery of media literacy after following specific workshops or courses. Through use of this crucial tool, media literacy can therefore be more fully integrated within the curricula of secondary education.
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Among other things, learning to write entails learning how to use complex sentences effectively in discourse. Some research has therefore focused on relating measures of syntactic complexity to text quality. Apart from the fact that the existing research on this topic appears inconclusive, most of it has been conducted in English L1 contexts. This is potentially problematic, since relevant syntactic indices may not be the same across languages. The current study is the first to explore which syntactic features predict text quality in Dutch secondary school students’ argumentative writing. In order to do so, the quality of 125 argumentative essays written by students was rated and the syntactic features of the texts were analyzed. A multilevel regression analysis was then used to investigate which features contribute to text quality. The resulting model (explaining 14.5% of the variance in text quality) shows that the relative number of finite clauses and the ratio between the number of relative clauses and the number of finite clauses positively predict text quality. Discrepancies between our findings and those of previous studies indicate that the relations between syntactic features and text quality may vary based on factors such as language and genre. Additional (cross-linguistic) research is needed to gain a more complete understanding of the relationships between syntactic constructions and text quality and the potential moderating role of language and genre.
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This study focuses on students’ approaches to learning, particularly in innovative learning environments. A person-oriented research perspective was chosen to search for nuances and details that add to existing knowledge on secondary students’ learning. The relation between students’ goal orientations, learning strategies, and different learning environments was investigated via questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaire study revealed four profiles of 673 students’ (meta-)cognitive learning strategies. Differences in student learning were found between students of an innovative school and students of regular schools, indicating that learning strategies are elicited by the learning environments students are confronted with. The interview study with 20 students from the innovative school illustrated their learning in learning environments typical for this school. Results revealed how students from different profiles differed in their goal orientations and learning strategies and that these differences were related to students’ need for teacher support when learning. The results of this study provide qualitative and quantitative insight in (enhancing) secondary students’ learning, doing justice to the learners as persons and individual differences.
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Given the complexity of teaching, continuing teacher professional development (CPD) is essential for maintaining and enhancing teaching effectiveness, and bridging the gap between ever-evolving theory and practice. Technological advancements have opened new opportunities for digital tools to support CPD. However, the successful integration of such digital tools into practice poses challenges. It requires adherence to CPD prerequisites and acknowledgment of the complexity of the professional development process. This study explored the applicability of the developed digital PE teacher professional development TARGET-tool in a secondary school PE context. We examined the perceived usability of this tool and gained insights into the process of teachers’ professional development as a result of using the tool. Ten PE teachers from different schools implemented the TARGET- tool within their PE context for a period of 4 to 6 weeks. Individual semi-structured inter- views and the System Usability Scale provided insights into the perceived usability and the process of teacher professional development. The TARGET-tool demonstrated its potential as an effective tool for supporting teachers’ professional development. Future tool improve- ments were identified to further optimize the perceived usability, such as simplifying com- plex features, providing additional support and resources, and improving (data) presenta- tions. Using the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth as a theoretical basis, it was demonstrated how the use of the TARGET-tool engages teachers as active and reflective participants in their professional development and induces changes within the external domain, the domain of practice, the domain of consequences, and the personal domain.
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