The third presentation focuses on critical factors related to the development of a professional learning community (PLC) in primary schools. A cyclic method was developed to stimulate the development of PLC's and this method has been tested in fifteen schools. In the analysis, critical aspects according to the method as well as according to the organisation process are described.
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Social robots have been introduced in different fields such as retail, health care and education. Primary education in the Netherlands (and elsewhere) recently faced new challenges because of the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and quarantines including students falling behind and teachers burdened with high workloads. Together with two Dutch municipalities and nine primary schools we are exploring the long-term use of social robots to study how social robots might support teachers in primary education, with a focus on mathematics education. This paper presents an explorative study to define requirements for a social robot math tutor. Multiple focus groups were held with the two main stakeholders, namely teachers and students. During the focus groups the aim was 1) to understand the current situation of mathematics education in the upper primary school level, 2) to identify the problems that teachers and students encounter in mathematics education, and 3) to identify opportunities for deploying a social robot math tutor in primary education from the perspective of both the teachers and students. The results inform the development of social robots and opportunities for pedagogical methods used in math teaching, child-robot interaction and potential support for teachers in the classroom
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We are in the process of preparing a teaching experiment on robotics in primary schools. In relation to this, we investigate in this paper whether it is possible to prepare teachers adequately to implement the intended pedagogy with the help of an in-service teacher education course that we developed. In view of the forthcoming teaching experiment, we were especially interested in the content and character of the knowledge, insights and attitudes of the teachers. We therefore capitalized on qualitative measures. We report how teachers developed the required knowledge and skills in three domains, i.e. subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. We examined whether teachers were able to accommodate the content knowledge, concepts and approaches we proposed, whether they developed a personalized version of pedagogical content knowledge, and whether they increased their pedagogic ability with respect to scaffolding pupils' learning of robotics. We draw some conclusions with regard to the professional development of primary school teachers in areas of science and technology with which they in general are unfamiliar.
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Educational innovations often tend to fail, mainly because teachers and school principals do not feel involved or are not allowed to have a say. Angela de Jong's dissertation shows the importance of school principals and teachers leading 'collaborative innovation' together. Collaborative innovation requires a collaborative, distributed approach involving both horizontal and vertical working relationships in a school. Her research shows that teams with more distributed leadership have a more collaborative 'spirit' to improve education. Team members move beyond formal (leadership) roles, and work more collectively on school-wide educational improvement from intrinsic motivation. De Jong further shows that school principals seek a balance in steering and providing space. She distinguished three leadership patterns: Team Player, Key Player, Facilitator. Team players in particular are important for more collaborative innovation in a school. They balance between providing professional space to teachers (who look beyond their own classroom) and steering for strategy, frameworks, boundaries, and vision. This research took place in schools working with the program of Foundation leerKRACHT, a program implemented by more than a thousand schools (primary, secondary, and vocational education). The study recommends, towards school principals and teachers, and also towards trainers, policymakers, and school board members, to reflect more explicitly on their roles in collaborative innovation and talk about those roles.
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Teacher knowledge guides a teacher's behaviour in the classroom. Teacher knowledge for technology education is generally assumed to play an important role in affecting pupils' learning in technology. There are an abundant number of teacher knowledge models that visualise different domains of teacher knowledge, but clear empirical evidence on how these domains interact is lacking. Insights into the interaction of teacher knowledge domains could be useful for teacher training. In this study, the hypothesised relations between different domains of teacher knowledge for technology education in primary schools were empirically investigated. Subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy were measured with tests and questionnaires. Results from a path analysis showed that subject matter knowledge is an important prerequisite for both pedagogical content knowledge and self-efficacy. Subsequently, teachers' self-efficacy was found to have a strong influence on teachers' attitude towards technology. Based on the findings in this study, it is recommended that teacher training should first of all focus on the development of teachers' subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. This knowledge will positively affect teachers' confidence in teaching and, in turn, their attitude towards the subject. More confidence in technology teaching and a more positive attitude are expected to increase the frequency of technology education, which consequently increases teaching experience and thereby stimulates the development of teachers' pedagogical content knowledge. This circle of positive reinforcement will eventually contribute to the quality of technology education in primary schools.
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Abstract Many innovations in education are not completed, even if they are well thought out in advance. One of the main causes is the organization's lack of learning ability, combined with a shortage of teachers' and students' ownership with respect to the renewal of ideas and design. In communities of learners, teachers and students collaborate and learn together in order to shape innovations in their daily practice. Their ability to learn collectively is a key factor in developing a learning organization. So far, insights into how processes of collective learning can be designed effectively, and which critical factors play a role, have been based on limited empirical research. This article's goal is to contribute to the development of these insights, using the results of a study based on 48 cases of collective learning in communities of learners in primary schools and teacher education institutes. The results suggest that although collective learning rarely takes place in most cases many outcomes are created that affect all community members. This leads to the conclusion that some participants create outcomes, not only on behalf of themselves, but also on behalf of others.
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Computational thinking is taking an ever increasing role in education. According to the Netherlands institute for curriculum development there currently is little to no education on this topic in Dutch primary schools. Since teachers are the key to high quality education, it is important to know which knowledge primary school teachers should have on this topic. This exploratory research is part of a larger design-based study on how 5-6 year old students can develop CT skills at a basic level and what teachers in primary education need to know about computational thinking to teach it. This poster describes the educational design research consisting of a total of three rounds and the results after the first two rounds.
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Enjoyment in primary physical education (PE) is a key factor in increasing children's physical activity engagement in PE and leisure time. While existing PE research has largely focused on a motivational PE climate and meaningful experiences in PE, research on children's perceptions of enjoyable teaching practices (TPs) in PE is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to explore primary school children's perspectives on TPs that foster PE enjoyment. In addition, we observed to what extent these TPs were applied in daily PE practice. Four focus groups with 10- to 12-year-old children (12 boys, 12 girls) from four primary schools were formed and inductive analysis resulted in 32 child-identified TPs categorized into 10 dimensions. Thirty-one PE lessons taught by 19 different PE teachers (11 generalists, 8 PE specialists) were recorded and coded using the child-identified TPs. Teachers regularly performed a substantial number of these TPs during their PE lessons. However, TPs such as the use of cooperative learning, instructional methods to promote children's (social) learning process, an emphasis on children's individual improvements, and consciously grouping were rarely observed. Moreover, PE specialists showed TPs supporting exploratory learning and children's individual learning processes more frequently than generalists. In addition, PE specialists provided challenging, differentiated tasks with a creative use of equipment more often than generalists. Including children's perspectives contributes to a comprehensive understanding of PE enjoyment and TPs that can promote enjoyable PE experiences. Children's voices need to be heard continuously by PE teachers to ensure enjoyable PE experiences for all children.
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Primary school teachers can enhance their teaching and provide inclusive education by using their students' cultural knowledge. Cultural knowledge, however, is a broad term and is often used as an abstract concept. To make this more concrete, we identified, organized, and categorized the concept of cultural knowledge through a scoping review. A literature search was conducted in five databases, and we included 84 studies. We identified twelve domains related to the students themselves, their families, and their communities. For example, students' ethnic background, families' home characteristics, and cultural identity. By concretizing the domains, schools and teachers can delve into the cultural knowledge of students and enrich their teaching in multicultural settings. Additionally, this research contributes to a conceptual understanding of cultural knowledge, providing a foundation for further research and practical application in educational settings to improve teaching strategies in multicultural settings.
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Processes of collective learning are expected to increase the professionalism of teachers and school leaders. Little is known about the processes of collective learning which take place in schools and about the way in which those processes may be improved. This paper describes a research into processes of collective learning at three primary schools. Processes of collective learning are described which took place in small teams in these schools. It is also pointed out which attempts can be made in order to reinforce these processes in the schools mentioned.
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