This paper analyses the impact of two structural context factors on mathematics teacher students. First, the Netherlands is coping with a massive mathematics teacher shortage. Second, the Dutch knowledge-economy feeds the private tutoring sector. The impact on young teacher-students is tremendous; they start working as a teacher too early. Besides successful studying, broader professionalization and quality of mathematics education are in jeopardy. A quick-fix for mathematics education might do more damage than foreseen.
In this article, we describe a study on the impact of an ethics program aimed at strengthening the ethical agency of 15 social workers of three welfare organizations. The goal of the study was to make an inventory of the impact of the program, and to evaluate the relevance of this impact with the help of several stakeholders. The most significant change (MSC) approach was used as a research strategy, though some changes to the approach were made with a view to our research goal. We explain the MSC approach and how we used it in our study design. Further, we describe the research process, answering the question whether our adaptation of the MSC was helpful to inventory the impact of our ethics program and the evaluation of its relevance. The implications of MSC's focus on "most significant" changes and the need for a thorough feedback of the results of the evaluation process in the participating organizations are discussed.
MULTIFILE
This volume, the result of four years of work performed by the combined research groups of Utrecht University (Faculty of Humanities) and the HU Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (Faculty of Education), focuses on the central theme of 'Normative Professionalization'. Drawing on a wide variety of scholars including Hannah Arendt, Gert Biesta, Harry Kunneman, Donald SchOn and Chris Argyris, and engaging with professionalism, ethics, virtue and morality, this book builds the argument that learning to deal with complexity supports not only education but the personal development of teachers and the improvement of society and democracy as well. This volume presents research on a broad range of topics such as worldview education, co-teaching, moral authorship, traditional-reform perspectives on education, the discourse on citizenship, teacher education, and the question how to link religion and education. The research chapters explain the theoretical lenses and methodological approaches which have been employed to get a grip on complexity.
