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Goals and values in school: A model developed for describing, evaluating and changing the social climate of learning environments

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Abstract

This paper defines a broad model of the psychosocial climate in educational settings. The model was developed from a general theory of learning environments, on a theory of human values and on empirical studies of children’s evaluations of their schools. The contents of the model are creativity, stimulation, achievement, self-efficacy, creativity, safety, control, helpfulness, participation, responsibility and influence; they are hypothesised to be structured in a circular model. The contents are defined and related to existing theories and research in education, special education, educational psychology and sociology, on the basis of reviews of literature. The model underlies the Goals, Attitudes and Values in School questionnaire, developed to assess the characteristics of educational settings. The model can be a practical tool in understanding and appreciating differences between learning environments in research and assessment and it could represent a guideline for interventions aimed to analyse and improve the social climate of learning environments. KeywordsLearning environments-Classroom climate-Educational goals-Students’ evaluations

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... Aunque en este diagnóstico no se presenta en detalle la frecuencia de estas manifestaciones de violencia escolar, los hallazgos son preocupantes, ya que se esperaría de la escuela, un lugar más seguro y tolerante donde los agentes que allí intervienen lo hagan en condiciones de armonía, solidaridad y respeto. A propósito de lo anterior, Allodi (2010), sostiene que, en ambientes educativos donde se presenten manifestaciones de violencia, es posible que se generen sentimientos persistentes de miedo e inseguridad e incluso reacciones agresivas, lo cual puede causar heridas indirectas en los afectados. ...
... De otro lado, Allodi (2010) en "Goals and values in school: a model developed for describing, evaluating and changing the social climate of learning environments", analiza la relación entre el clima social que se vive en ambientes educativos, y los resultados positivos en la educación de los estudiantes, indicando que existen efectos a mediano y largo plazo. Se realiza una descripción de un modelo teórico que sugiere que un ambiente social percibido por los estudiantes como de gran calidad, ofrece oportunidades de experimentar aspectos como la creatividad, la estimulación, orientación al logro, la eficacia, la seguridad, el control, la ayuda, la participación, la responsabilidad e influencia. ...
... También se ha hecho énfasis en la necesidad de atender tempranamente manifestaciones y conductas agresivas para evitar afectar a gran escala la convivencia escolar, como lo mencionan González y otros (2009), esto porque pueden afectar el clima social de las instituciones, lo cual es uno de los factores que pueden incidir en los resultados positivos en la educación de los estudiantes, tal como lo manifiesta Allodi (2010). ...
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Al hablar de violencia escolar, muchos estudios centran su atención en las manifestaciones de violencia física, en la frecuencia de éstas y en los actores que intervienen; sin embargo, existen manifestaciones de violencia desde otros ámbitos de acción, entre ellos el lenguaje, que en ocasiones pasan desapercibidos o son naturalizados, por lo que no se les presta una atención y manejo oportuno. Para este trabajo, se toma el lenguaje desde la corriente que le otorga poder constituyente más allá de la representación. Esto es, el lenguaje es acción, porque cuando lo usamos, hacemos que las cosas sucedan al intervenir en el curso de los acontecimientos (Pérez, 2001). En la escuela, la intervención mencionada, hace referencia a que lo que se exprese desde el rol que se ejerce (docente, estudiante, directivo, entre otros), puede influir positiva o negativamente en las relaciones interpersonales y académicas, al predisponer y generar rechazo o empatía; es decir, posibilita establecer puentes de comunicación o derribarlos.
... Yhteistyössä opettajan kanssa luokka voi esimerkiksi tehdä päätöksiä luokan säännöistä tai luokkahuoneen seinien koristelusta tai kantaa vastuuta laajempaan ympäristöön liittyvistä asioista, kuten koulun pihan viihtyvyydestä tai yhteisten kasvien hoitamisesta. (Allodi 2010.) Osallisuus ja mahdollisuus pohjustavat kasvamista yhteiskunnan aktiiviseksi jäseneksi, mikä on yksi peruskoulun tehtävistä. ...
... Luokka voi esimerkiksi rutiinien avulla siirtyä aina opetuksen kuuntelemisesta ryhmätöiden tekemiseen ja sitten läksyjen kirjaamiseen. (Allodi 2010;Emmer & Strough 2001.) Sattumanvaraisuus ja mahdollinen sekavuus päivän kulussa ja luokkaympäristössä vaikuttavat kielteisesti lasten oppimiseen ja koulumotivaatioon. ...
... Parhaiten luokan luottamusta omiin taitoihin tukee se, että opettaja viestittää korkeita odotuksia luokan kyvystä oppia, mutta huomioi samalla lasten yksilölliset tuen tarpeet. (Allodi 2010;Rutter, Magham, Mortimore & Ouston 1979.) ...
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... Delaktighet handlar om att varje åsikt och ståndpunkt respekteras och att alla vågar ge uttryck för sina erfarenheter och åsikter. I en miljö med låg delaktighet finns risk för exkludering och diskriminering (Westling Allodi, 2009). Skolan kan bli en uteslutande miljö där de nyanlända eleverna känner sig isolerade (Nilsson & Axelsson, 2013). ...
... Det sociala klimatet är en del av den psykosociala miljön i skolkontexten. Aspekter som påverkar inkludering i skolkontexten är interpersonella relationer, olika grupprocesser, hur styrningen av klassrummet ser ut, samt lärarnas kommunikationsförmåga (Westling Allodi, 2009). ...
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Flera forskare har betonat vikten av att lärarutbildningen behandlar ämnen som mångkultur och interkulturalitet, eftersom den spelar en betydande roll i att forma framtida medborgare (Banks, 2021). Inom ramen för utbildningen men också i sin kommande yrkesutövning möter lärarstudenter och lärare elever med olika språkbakgrunder och många elever läser på svenska som ett andraspråk. I detta kapitel fokuseras därför läsutveckling på såväl ett första- som ett andraspråk. Elever som läser ämnet svenska som andraspråk har ökat de senaste åren. Internationella undersökningar visar att elever som läser svenska som andraspråk har sämre läsförståelse på svenska än elever som läser svenska efter de inledande åren i grundskolan. Vi ville studera detta närmare och har genomfört en tvärsnittsstudie med över 46 000 elever där vi kan konstatera att elever som läser ämnet svenska som andraspråk, som grupp betraktat, har sämre förmåga att avkoda ord och förstå text, än elever som läser ämnet svenska redan i årskurs 1–3. Studien visade också att många elever som läser ämnet svenska som andraspråk behöver stöd för att utveckla god läsförmåga. Behovet av att skolan stödjer dessa elever med utgångspunkten att alla elever ska ges möjlighet att utveckla fungerade läsförmåga diskuteras. Vi beskriver också en studie där vi genomfört en satsning med läsning under sommarlovet i en kommun med stor andel elever som har svenska som andraspråk. Teoretiskt bygger vårt kapitel på modellen ”The Simple View of Reading” som visar att läsförståelse på såväl ett förstaspråk som på ett andraspråk är produkten av att kunna avkoda ord och att förstå dem.
... Delaktighet handlar om att varje åsikt och ståndpunkt respekteras och att alla vågar ge uttryck för sina erfarenheter och åsikter. I en miljö med låg delaktighet finns risk för exkludering och diskriminering (Westling Allodi, 2009). Skolan kan bli en uteslutande miljö där de nyanlända eleverna känner sig isolerade (Nilsson & Axelsson, 2013). ...
... Det sociala klimatet är en del av den psykosociala miljön i skolkontexten. Aspekter som påverkar inkludering i skolkontexten är interpersonella relationer, olika grupprocesser, hur styrningen av klassrummet ser ut, samt lärarnas kommunikationsförmåga (Westling Allodi, 2009). ...
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För att barn ska kunna följa med i undervisningen i förskola och senare i skola behöver de behärska det svenska skolspråket. I dagens förskolor med stor mångfald finns det grupper av barn som av olika skäl inte är motiverade att lära sig svenska som andraspråk (SvA), utan i stället visar hög motivation för att lära sig engelska. Den låga motivationen för SvA gör det svårt för förskolans personal att säkerställa att barnen får de förutsättningar de behöver för att senare kunna lära sig på svenska i skolan. I detta kapitel ger vi en kort bakgrund om motivation och språkinlärning, och presenterar därefter resultaten från ett digitalt frågeformulär med fokus på SvA och motivation. Målet med kapitlet är att väcka lärarstuderandes intresse för olika aspekter av och motivationen till svenska som andraspråk.
... Delaktighet handlar om att varje åsikt och ståndpunkt respekteras och att alla vågar ge uttryck för sina erfarenheter och åsikter. I en miljö med låg delaktighet finns risk för exkludering och diskriminering (Westling Allodi, 2009). Skolan kan bli en uteslutande miljö där de nyanlända eleverna känner sig isolerade (Nilsson & Axelsson, 2013). ...
... Det sociala klimatet är en del av den psykosociala miljön i skolkontexten. Aspekter som påverkar inkludering i skolkontexten är interpersonella relationer, olika grupprocesser, hur styrningen av klassrummet ser ut, samt lärarnas kommunikationsförmåga (Westling Allodi, 2009). ...
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News media reporting on immigrant communities are often blamed for being biased or prejudiced. News organizations – especially tabloids and alternative right-wing news media – have been criticized for their insensitivity while covering immigrants, and for failing to adapt their reporting style to accommodate the new, globalized, multicultural immigrant societies. Instead, they tend to focus on stereotypical negative aspects of immigrant communities, often portraying them in a disproportionate or unfavorable light as “the other.” This chapter presents an overview of a selection of previous studies on the media representation of immigrants in the West. It further explores various approaches to reporting on immigrants and examines how each approach contributes to a specific narrative construction. The chapter concludes by advocating for a more “constructive approach” in journalism to effectively represent a multicultural society, as well as discussing the relevance of such an approach for educators.
... Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has played an important role in promoting the term psychosocial in education, often including it in its commitment to promoting health and well-being in schools (WHO, 2003). Existing research also highlights the strong relationship between the psychosocial environment in schools and pupils' well-being, learning and mental health (Allodi, 2010;Bowe, 2015;Green et al., 2016;Haapasalo et al., 2010). This is evident in Aldridge et al.'s (2018) definition of the psychosocial school climate which encompasses all "the attitudes, norms, beliefs, values and expectations that underpin school life and affect the extent to which members of the school community feel safe" (p. ...
... Teachers are seen as key actors whose (caring) actions have a crucial impact on the psychosocial well-being of pupils (Aldridge et al., 2018;Green et al., 2016;Smith, 2013). For example, a healthy psychosocial environment is often considered to be based on good pupil-teacher relationships (Allodi, 2010;Bouchard & Smith, 2017;Haapasalo et al., 2010;Sabol & Pianta, 2012). To facilitate learning, teachers are expected to act as psychosocial caregivers and health promoters. ...
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In this article we examine how therapeutic culture disseminates into and affects teacher education in Norway. This is done through a close examination of knowledge practices revolving around the term psychosocial. Based on fieldwork data and drawing on Karin Knorr Cetina’s concept of epistemic objects, we analyse how the psychosocial is practised, taught, and interpreted in a Norwegian primary and secondary teacher education institution. We identify three key epistemic characteristics of the psychosocial: ubiquity, emotional orientation, and self-centeredness. Due to its oscillation between compatibility and friction, the psychosocial is both nurturing and disruptive, intuitive, and demanding, meaningful and alienating. More broadly, the application of the psychosocial in teacher education can be understood in light of the interplay between intellectualisation and emotionalisation processes in modern societies. By providing insight into a previously unexplored area, the article contributes to new understandings of the changing cultural conditions of the teaching profession.
... One of the few scales is Ivens' School Children's Happiness Inventory (SCHI) (Ivens, 2007), which has already gained an international reputation. The findings from other research obtained that regarding the reliability and validity of the inventory were consistent with the results obtained in the original sample where the scale was developed (Telef, 2014, Uusitalo-Malmivaara, 2012, Navarro, Ruiz-Oliva, Larrañaga, and Yubero, 2013, Allodi, 2010. ...
... This result is consistent with the findings from other research with SCHI (Telef, 2014, Uusitalo-Malmivaara, 2012, Navarro et al,, 2013, Allodi, 2010. Furthermore it is also shown that the self-rating measure of SWB is valid and reliable in children over 8 years of age (Ivens, 2007). ...
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Subjective well-being (SWB) has been studied among adults using a variety of selfreported methods. However, there are relatively few tests of SWB available for children. Measuring SWB is also important in the school environment, but there is no valid and reliable Hungarian test for elementary schoolchildren. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to adapt the School Children’s Happiness Inventory (Ivens, 2007) to Hungarian and to construct a shorter version of the test. A multistep test reduction yielded a 12 items version that had excellent fit measures in confirmative factor analysis and high level Cronbach’s alphas in all grade groups. The validity of the new test was confirmed by means of a mental health test also developed for children. Concordant validity was confirmed by the significant correlations between the subscales of the new test and the Flow item of the mental health test. An interesting additional result is that SWB is in a negative relationship with age among schoolchildren.
... Literature review The existing body of research that applies the term psychosocial in education largely corresponds with the definitions promoted by HPS, indicating a strong relationship between psychosocial school environments and pupils' emotional well-being, mental health and learning outcomes (e.g. Allodi, 2010;Bowe, 2015;Charalampous & Kokkinos, 2017;Dorman, 2009;Green et al., 2016;Haapasalo et al., 2010). In line with WHO's expanded notion of health, Aldridge, McChesney and Afari's (2018) concept of the psychosocial school climate encompasses all of 'the attitudes, norms, beliefs, values and expectations that underpin school life and affect the extent to which members of the school community feel safe'. ...
... In order to live up to the encompassing responsibilities following from the psychosocial and to prevent its negative outcomes, specific methods and areas of focus are proposed. While Allodi (2010) emphasizes the importance of teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil relationships, Berkhout et al. (2010) identify the development of social competencies and emotional regulation as crucial for enabling individuals to cope with their psychosocial environments. What can be said in general about the epistemic content of the term psychosocial is that its acknowledgement of the individual within the context of social settings has given visibility to the importance of subjective states related to emotion and affect, identity and vulnerability. ...
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In this article, I explore the central characteristics of thepsychosocial as a field of knowledge in Norwegian education policy and the ways in which these characteristics are conditioned by their constituting social structures and historical contexts. This is achieved through a policy document analysis. Even though the psychosocial is habitually employed in educational discourses in Norway, its content often remains unclear. In the analysis, I derive three key dimensions of ambivalence from the documents. First, the psychosocial is ambivalent in its scope, as it oscillates between the entirety of the pupil’s emotional and relational life and the specific phenomenon of bullying. Second, it appears ambivalent in relation to aspects of accountability, as it simultaneously demands responsibility from society as a whole and from specific groups of professionals. Lastly, the psychosocial is ambivalent in the way it asserts its relative and subjective dimension, while also claiming objective and rigid frameworks of control and measurement. Viewed from a broader perspective, I demonstrate that the ambivalences surrounding the psychosocial correspond with the binary concepts of the liquid modernity and the new solidity, as conceived by Per Bjørn Foros and Arne Johan Vetlesen.
... Influence: The student's opportunity to be listened to and to express opinions. Influence must be continuous, and all voices must be given space (Allodi, 2010). ...
... Det sociala klimatet är en del av den psykosociala miljön i skolkontexten. Aspekter som påverkar inkludering i skolkontexten är interpersonella relationer, olika grupprocesser, hur styrningen av klassrummet ser ut, samt lärarnas kommunikationsförmåga (Westling Allodi, 2009). ...
Chapter
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Kesak, Hennie and Basic, Goran (2024) Möjligheter och hinder med studiehandledning på modersmål för nyanlända (Opportunities and obstacles with native language study guidance for new arrivals). I Bergnehr, Disa; Nilsson, Henrik; Trulsson, Åsa och Silander, Charlotte (Ed.). Mångfaldens möten: Interkulturalitet, utbildning och lärande (Meetings of diversity: Interculturality, education and learning), (pp. 213-233). Växjö: Linnaeus University Press, Linnaeus University. ---------------------------------Abstract: Students in Swedish primary and secondary school must be given study guidance in their mother tongue if they need it. The study guidance is intended to provide support and adjustments to newly arrived students who do not yet have sufficient command of the Swedish language to be able to benefit from the teaching. The present chapter analyzes the obstacles and opportunities of mother-tongue study guidance in primary and secondary schools, based on study supervisors' accounts of the conditions for conducting study guidance for new arrivals in their mother tongue. The analysis shows that study supervisors' competence is rarely utilized in the teams and that they can be described as a group of teachers in a vulnerable professional position. Study supervisors are not seen as equal peers by the teachers, which makes the practical work of supporting newly arrived students' learning difficult.
... More specifically, the findings suggest the relevance of promoting the preference for self-transcendence values (over self-enhancement values) in early childhood as a means to foster more prosocial and fewer antisocial behaviors among young children (see also Elizarov et al., 2023). This approach also holds promise for improving the overall social climate within classrooms (Allodi, 2010;Barth et al., 2004). Prior research similarly highlights that striving for self-transcendence values-oriented goals, including prosocial and social responsibility goals, correlates with increased prosocial behavior in the classroom (e.g., Collie 2022;Wentzel et al., 2018). ...
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Values, defined by Schwartz (1994) as basic motivational cognitive structures, guide life goals, transcend contexts, and affect individuals’ courses of action differently depending on their preferred values. With young children, an important question that emerges is what factors underlie the linkages between their preferred motivations (i.e., preferred values) and their behavior tendencies in key social contexts. This study proposed one potential socio-cognitive mechanism that may explain how children’s values are linked to their prosocial and antisocial behaviors in kindergarten via their values-oriented social information processing patterns (SIP) and their attitudes toward their kindergarten. The sample included 121 children (59 girls; M age = 67.45 months). Children’s values, values-oriented SIP patterns, and attitudes toward kindergarten class were examined in one-on-one interviews. Teachers reported on the children’s social behaviors. Results showed children’s preferences for self-transcendence values were linked to their more prosocial behaviors and less antisocial behaviors in class via their self-transcendence values-oriented SIP patterns and their positive attitudes toward kindergarten. The findings offer important insights into the socio-cognitive elements that drive values-behavior relationships, as well as the links between various facets of young children’s social cognition and their social behavior in kindergarten.
... Microenvironments like home, school, and work are the most influential factors for DT, especially schools when considering students [40]. For example, new pedagogical methods like Montessori and Freinet lead to high er levels of creativity and innovation than traditional educational philosophy and conventional instructional approaches [41,42]. Based on their review article (n = 200), Davies, et al. [43] highlighted that the school environment could either foster or suppress the creative abilities of pupils as well as their capacity to consider many possibilities, explore options, and weigh solutions for problem -solving by ignoring constraints and limitations. ...
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Divergent thinking (DT) is a thought process wherein many original ideas are conceptualized and unique suggestions are proffered to identify the best possible solution to a problem; it is an important component of creativity. The present study endeavors to examine the level of DT in school students and the primary factors influencing DT with the help of assessment tests such as Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), the Emotional Intelligence Scale (E IS test), and Sharma's Divergent Production Abilities Test (DPA). A cross-sectional study is done using quantitative methodology and probability sampling techniques. The participants of the study are [n = 192 (boys = 106, girls = 86)] school students in the age range of 11-14 years, and the study area is Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu. Results indicate that DT and EI are negatively correlated with each other, and there is no relationship between DT and intelligence quotient (IQ). Gender differences in DT are identified, with males scoring higher than females on assessment tests. There is no significant difference between the influences of demographic factors like geographical area, economic status, age, birth order, and hand preference on DT. The study's major conclusion about education is that students at CBSE schools do better than those at private and government-run schools. The performance of government school students is rather poor when compared to CBSE and private schools. This indicates that government school students require proper training, timely assistance, and innovative teaching methods, which lead to the enhancement of DT and creativity.
... Microenvironments like home, school, and work are the most influential factors for DT, especially schools when considering students [40]. For example, new pedagogical methods like Montessori and Freinet lead to high er levels of creativity and innovation than traditional educational philosophy and conventional instructional approaches [41,42]. Based on their review article (n = 200), Davies, et al. [43] highlighted that the school environment could either foster or suppress the creative abilities of pupils as well as their capacity to consider many possibilities, explore options, and weigh solutions for problem -solving by ignoring constraints and limitations. ...
Article
Full-text available
Divergent thinking (DT) is a thought process wherein many original ideas are conceptualized and unique suggestions are proffered to identify the best possible solution to a problem; it is an important component of creativity. The present study endeavors to examine the level of DT in school students and the primary factors influencing DT with the help of assessment tests such as Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), the Emotional Intelligence Scale (E IS test), and Sharma's Divergent Production Abilities Test (DPA). A cross-sectional study is done using quantitative methodology and probability sampling techniques. The participants of the study are [n = 192 (boys = 106, girls = 86)] school students in the age range of 11-14 years, and the study area is Tiruppur district in Tamil Nadu. Results indicate that DT and EI are negatively correlated with each other, and there is no relationship between DT and intelligence quotient (IQ). Gender differences in DT are identified, with males scoring higher than females on assessment tests. There is no significant difference between the influences of demographic factors like geographical area, economic status, age, birth order, and hand preference on DT. The study's major conclusion about education is that students at CBSE schools do better than those at private and government-run schools. The performance of government school students is rather poor when compared to CBSE and private schools. This indicates that government school students require proper training, timely assistance, and innovative teaching methods, which lead to the enhancement of DT and creativity.
... Indeed, the positive effects of the quality of classroom relations on such students in terms of reduced exclusion, improved social adjustment, less deviant peer affiliation and greater sense of belonging within the school (Gazelle, 2006;Avant et al., 2011) have been well documented. Furthermore, their active academic engagement and achievement are also improved (Hamre and Pianta, 2005;Berti et al., 2010;Allodi, 2010a). The third factor of an inclusive classroom climate is the perceived belonging to the classroom (Bossaert et al., 2013). ...
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Education institutional guidelines around the world agree that building more inclusive schools is a priority. The reality of school practice, however, belies this institutional will. To help fill the gap, this theoretical review documents the value that the construct of classroom climate brings to research and practice in terms of inclusive school development. The article firstly points out that the current main challenge is to develop Inclusive Mainstream Teaching (IMT) in diverse classrooms. Indeed, IMT is needed in all classrooms to guarantee the effectiveness of special accomodating measures in schools that are targeted at special education needs students. Intervening at classroom level is both a pragmatic and powerful way of developing inclusive schooling. However, developing IMT in the classroom remains a challenge for both teachers and researchers. Thus this review documents the central role that classroom climate should play in the development of IMT. More precisely, the factors of classroom climate that are associated with inclusive outcomes are identified. We also highlight how these factors and the measurements associated with them are efficient tools to guide IMT development. These measures are proximal, sensitive, complementary, and pragmatic indicators of effective IMT. Such indicators are very useful in helping research empirically document effective IMT, ensure that any small improvement is assessed, monitor teachers’ progress, and assist their professional growth. Theoretically positioned as a mediator between inclusive teaching in mainstream classrooms and inclusive school outcomes, inclusive classroom climate is a tool that appears to be effective in supporting IMT development and, consequently, in the establishment of more inclusive schools.
... It is not natural for children to be in large groups with few adults and sometimes cramped. Education at school requires a peaceful environment to support quality learning processes (Allodi, 2010;Crawford, 2005). The calmness of school students is not easy to achieve in reality. ...
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The aim of this study was to develop Cartoon Art Learning Media (CALM) to improve children’s conflict resolution skill. The research method used was ADDIE (Analysing, Designing, Developing, Implementing and Evaluating) model. The subjects in this study were 27 (first trial) and 43 (second trial) fifth-grade students (with an average age of 11-12 years) at one of the public elementary schools in Karawang, West Java, Indonesia. The data collection instruments were in the form of a questionnaire, an assessment instrument and a conflict resolution ability test for fifth-grade elementary school students. The data analysis used is percentage and paired two-sample t-test for the mean to see the difference in the test results. In the evaluating stage, CALM was valid and effective to use based on experts’ validation and trial results. Thus, it can be concluded that CALM can be used to improve children’s conflict resolution skill. Keywords: ADDIE, cartoon, children, conflict, media
... In light of the present results, it seems that to foster adolescent well-being and limit their risk-taking, it could be beneficial that socialization agents in their environment (e.g., parents, teachers, coaches) promote IV rather than EV. For instance, a social climate in educational settings characterized by helpfulness and cooperation instead of competition conveys different values (Allodi 2010). In addition, simply allocating some time to reflect on one's intrinsic values has been shown to foster greater prioritization of IV over EV (Lekes et al. 2012). ...
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Using structural equation modeling (SEM), this study examines how adolescents’ rated importance (talk) and enactment (walk) of extrinsic values (wealth, beauty, and fame) and intrinsic values (affiliation, self-acceptance, and community) relate to their well-being and risk-taking. An online questionnaire was filled out by 647 adolescents (57.1% girls), aged between 14 and 17 years old (Mage = 15.5 years). Talk intrinsic values were positively associated with well-being, whereas talk extrinsic values were non-significantly related to it. As for the walk measures, we found an interaction between extrinsic and intrinsic values in the prediction of well-being. Extrinsic values enactment and well-being were positively related among adolescents reporting lower intrinsic values enactment, but not among adolescents who reported higher intrinsic values enactment. Finally, using either talk or walk measures, only extrinsic values were associated with higher risk-taking behaviors.
... The school context is regarded as the elements of teaching and learning practices, disciplinary norms, decision-making processes, the sense of community, organisational structures, interpersonal relationships and safety (Allodi, 2010;Anderson, 1982;Battistich et al., 1997). ...
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The intent of this study is to examine the effect of professional development and self-efficacy on job satisfaction of teachers who work at the lower secondary schools in Sweden. The second part of the study is to investigate the internal factors of teachers' characteristics and external factors of school climate effect on job satisfaction. The Swedish data from Teaching and Learning International 2013 Survey (TALIS 2013) are utilised in this study. Input-Process-Outcome (IPO) model as the conceptual frameworks is applied in this study. IPO is a model for contextualising teaching and learning conditions and widely applied in education statistical models, which abridges the theory and methods translational gap and helps to conceptualise the settings that are to understand the variables in individual-level and school-level and also to interpret the results. Two statistic software programmes are utilised in this thesis. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 is used for data management and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) estimation is carried out with the Mplus 7.4. Path analysis is offered to examine each indicator direct or indirectly influences on teachers' job satisfaction. The results showed that professional development and self-efficacy directly and positively influence teachers' job satisfaction. Teachers' constructive beliefs and classroom disciplinary climate show the significant positive indirect teachers' job satisfaction by affecting professional development and self-efficacy respectively. Gender, age, teacher cooperation, teacher-student relationship and participation among stakeholders have a direct and positive effect on job satisfaction. The factors of years working as a teacher in total show a negative direct effect on job satisfaction. Gender indirectly and positively influences job satisfaction by impacting teachers' professional development and through self-efficacy by affecting teachers' professional development separately. Age negatively and indirectly affects job satisfaction both through constructive beliefs and through self-efficacy by impacting on constructive beliefs. Teacher cooperation has a positive and indirect impact on job satisfaction through teacher self-efficacy and professional development respectively. Teacher-student relations indirectly and positively affect job satisfaction through classroom disciplinary climate, through teacher self-efficacy, and through self-efficacy by influencing classroom disciplinary climate. The indirect effects of participation among stakeholders are achieved through classroom disciplinary climate or professional development. By comparing the three models, the school environment has a greater impact than teachers' characteristics of Swedish compulsory teachers' job satisfaction.
... (3) Whenever we are active within an educational context, we pursue goals. Some of these goals are educational, that is they address positive dispositions that the person to be educated should acquire (or to avoid negative dispositions, etc.; see Brezinka, 1981) or represent actions to achieve such dispositions: Teachers aim at the students' mastery and performance (e.g., Darnon, et al., 2010;Wolters & Daugherty, 2007), students' social competence and emotional development and other social goals (Allody, 2010), but at the same time they try to keep discipline (Reyna & Weiner, 2001). The educational goals are heterogeneous and often incompatible (for instance a teacher cannot meet the needs of all individual children simultaneously although he or she aims at doing so). ...
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In current pedagogical theories and their diverse applications the explicit decisions concerning settings of teaching and learning processes rule the field. These are e.g. the subjects, schedules, tasks, social settings of learning. Especially in the form of governmental or cybernetic theories the focus on explicit issues, factors and didactic models actually has a great impact on European education, its theories, its practices and its systems. Phenomenologically seen, learning processes are never at hand or evident (Meyer-Drawe 2004). Even though the result of our learning might be obvious, we actually do not know how we learn something. The learning process as such is inevitably hidden. Furthermore, a learning process is not only governed by its tasks and conscious motives, but also by implicit and unspoken attitudes and mindsets. It is stimulated by implicit meanings of spoken and written statements, by tacit expressions of bodily communication and interaction, by aesthetical framings as e.g. iconic activities and objects and by the un-verbalized resources and limitations of commodities, tools and architectural environments etc. Following this argumentation, on the one hand concepts of learning, literacy, competence and attention are discussed. On the other hand, theories on teaching and on teacher education are developed.
... Természetesen a METGy öt skálájának teljes tisztázásához még további vizsgálatokra van szükség, ahogy az IGYBH iskolai hasznosíthatóságát illetően is. Más kultúrákban ilyen jellegű vizsgá-latokról számolt be például Allodi (2009), Navarro, Ruiz-Oliva, Larrañaga és Yubero (2013), illetve Wang és Wang (2015). ...
Article
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Subjective well-being (SWB) and mental health have been studied amongst adults using a variety of self-reported methods. However, there are available relatively few tests of SWB for children. Measuring SWB is also important in the school environment, but there is no valid and reliable Hungarian test for elementary schoolchildren. The aim of the study presented in this paper was to adapt the School Children’s Happiness Inventory (Ivens, 2007) to Hungarian, and to adapt the Mental Health Test developed for adults and based on five pillars (global well-being, savoring, creative-executive effectiveness, self-regulation and resilience) for schoolchildren aged 10 to 14. Above the age of 10 both tests' psychometric properties confirmed the structural reliability and also gave positive results regarding validity. An interesting result is that SWB is in a negative relationship with age among school children.
... The impact of this environment on the development of creativity has been examined in some studies that contrasted traditional school settings with alternative pedagogy settings. For example, in multiple cultures, alternative pedagogies such as Montessori and Freinet lead to higher creative potential in students compared to those exposed to traditional pedagogy (Allodi 2010;Besançon and Lubart 2008;Besançon, Lubart, and Barbot 2013;Heise, Böhme, and Körner 2010). Hence, school environment can affect the development of creativity by encouraging it or discouraging it, either implicitly or explicitly (Mourgues et al. 2014). ...
... Finally, we point out that this work has been based on the perceptions of informant subjects about behaviour in educational organisations and that the construct "innovation capacity" has been proposed as a dependent variable. The importance of the generation of learning environments has been highlighted as a perceived social climate of high quality that offers participants in the generated environment opportunities to experiment and also increases creativity and stimulates achievement and self-efficacy (Allodi, 2010). All these aspects are related to the development of innovation in organisations. ...
Article
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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of leadership on culture and on the structure of learning, and of these two constructs on the innovation capacity. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative study utilising a survey was carried out. By means of an ad hoc questionnaire, educational administrators were asked about some characteristics of their organisations. The authors have proven the model of research through a model of structural equations, that is, by means of the partial least squares technique. Findings The hypothesis is confirmed that leadership affects culture and learning structure, and both impact on the innovation capacity of schools. Practical implications This work addresses the role of three critical aspects in the management of educational organisations—leadership, culture and structure—in the development of innovation that is essential in improving organisational development. Originality/value The role of leadership in the development of favourable conditions for innovation is verified, as is the impact of these conditions on the innovation capacity of educational organisations.
... Schwartz's theory of values has been used in previous narrative analysis of children's values in educational settings (Allodi Westling, 2002) and as a framework for a model of goals and values in school (Allodi Westling, 2010aWestling, , 2010bAllodi Westling, Sundbom, & Yrwing, 2015) that has been applied in school interventions. ...
Article
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Understanding how children experience life in educational settings should be an imperative for educational practitioners, evaluators, and researchers. Listening to children’s points of views would facilitate the development of educational settings that meet the needs of children and contribute to their wellbeing and development so that their experiences are both joyful and meaningful. A total of 56 children between the ages of 5 and 7 in 65 educational settings located in central Sweden were included in the study. Amongst the 56 participating children, 29 were identified as having special educational needs. The children’s views were collected from 2012 to 2015 using drawings and interviews, and these were analysed using a thematic analysis. Nine themes that reflected matters of importance for the children, both those with and without special educational needs, are described. These themes are discussed and linked to previous research, educational evaluation models, and theories of values and needs. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313831.2018.1466360
... Deltagarna lyfter alla fram vikten av sociala relationer för att eleverna ska trivas och vara närvarande i skolan. Detta är i linje med tidigare forskning (Warne 2013, Westling Allodi, 2010a2010b). I resultatet framkommer att det arbete som bedrivs på skolorna framförallt fokuserar på att stärka de sociala relationerna eleverna emellan. ...
Research
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Närvarande elever och positiv skolmiljö för ökat välbefinnande och måluppfyllelse i skolan. Slutrapport från forskarna i projekt Hälsofrämjande skolutveckling inom ramen för Skolverkets anslag för 2016-2017.
... Si bien no se peguntó por la frecuencia de estas manifestaciones, el alto índice de respuestas es preocupante, ya que se esperaría de la escuela, un lugar más seguro y tolerante donde los agentes que allí intervienen, lo hagan en condiciones de armonía, solidaridad y respeto. A propósito de esto, Allodi (2010) ...
Conference Paper
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Resumen La información que motiva las reflexiones de esta ponencia hace parte de una investigación cualitativa que sustenta el Proyecto de Tesis Doctoral de la autora. Se analizan los hallazgos relacionados con las percepciones de violencia escolar de estudiantes de grado sexto de un colegio distrital de Bogotá (Colombia), interesando sus manifestaciones más comunes en la institución, la forma de tramitación de conflictos de los estudiantes, las estrategias que proponen para el manejo de este fenómeno, entre otros aspectos. Se centra el análisis en el uso del lenguaje como instrumento de violencia simbólica, por lo que se propone emplearlo como medio para convivir, partiendo del reconocimiento del otro, esencia del concepto de alteridad.
... Such theories have been successfully applied to health-related outcomes, such as weight loss (Bagozzi & Edwards, 1998), but also to educational settings (e.g. Allodi, 2010). ...
Article
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This study assessed the impact of a positive psychology intervention in a sample of 40 young men (35%) and women (65%) aged 18-30 years. Participants were 1st and 4th year undergraduate University students, postgraduate students and working youths. The study examined the effects of a battery of interventions commonly used in positive psychology interventions, including a video and three exercises (i.e. expressing gratitude, best possible selves, goal setting) on character strengths, hope, gratitude and social relations. Intervention activities were carried out during a session that lasted an hour and a half, while a further half-hour evaluation session took place after a two-week interval. Marked positive changes were revealed with regards to youths’ well-being as a result of the intervention. In particular, elevated levels of hope, perceptions of social support and ability to handle social stress successfully, as well as levels of three out of six key character strengths, i.e. courage, humanity/love and transcendence were observed. Influences of demographic and socio-psychological characteristics of youths on the above variables; constellations of intricate relations between them; as well as certain developmental patterns were also highlighted. The repercussions of the above findings for the advancement of positive psychology knowledge and interventions are discussed.
... The impact of this environment on the development of creativity has been examined in some studies that contrasted traditional school settings with alternative pedagogy settings. For example, in multiple cultures, alternative pedagogies such as Montessori and Freinet lead to higher creative potential in students compared to those exposed to traditional pedagogy (Allodi 2010;Besançon and Lubart 2008;Besançon, Lubart, and Barbot 2013;Heise, Böhme, and Körner 2010). Hence, school environment can affect the development of creativity by encouraging it or discouraging it, either implicitly or explicitly (Mourgues et al. 2014). ...
Article
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Although creativity is considered one of the key ‘twenty-first-century skills’, this ability is still often misunderstood. Persistent conceptual and methodological barriers have limited educational implications. This article reviews and discusses the three critical issues of ‘nature’, ‘measure’, and ‘nurture’ of creative potential in educational settings. A current perspective on the nature of creative potential is presented. In contrast to a classic, but inaccurate ‘g-factor view’ of creativity, this perspective emphasises a multidimensional and partly domain-specific view, upon which new assessment tools can be developed. Based on a more comprehensive evaluation of a child's creative potential, educational programmes tailored to a child's strengths and weaknesses can be offered. These perspectives are discussed in light of current findings in the field.
... The social climate at the school was assessed with the survey Goals and values at school (Allodi, 2007(Allodi, , 2010a(Allodi, , 2010b. The survey is developed on the basis of a theory of the social climate of learning environments and can be used to assess and develop their quality. ...
Article
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he principles of new public management — market mechanisms, accountability and standards — have been applied in the education system. These methods are supposed to increase efficiency, but there is also a risk of negativee consequences from the services provided if the measures of performance target a reduced range of goals, ignore relevant variables or are not valid measures. Indicators used to compare schools' performance are aggregate measures, such as the percentage of students who have access to secondary education and the average qualification value. This study reports how accountability policy and procedures may affect the functioning of the education system through the case study of a school serving a diverse student population. The school organisation was influenced by measures of performance, external events and contextual and selection variables. The average qualification value measure seems to be a limited measure of performance at the school level, since it largely reflects school composition and school segregation. Even the available performance measures adjusted for background variables do not take account of relevant variables that may influence the school's need of resources and its results, such as students' language proficiency and special educational needs. Other performances that are not easily measured — such as the prevention of dropout, improvement of school attendance and provision of an equitable education for all students — are disregarded. Schools serving those students with the most needs risk being penalised by an approximate and restricted range of accountability systems because there is a risk that the schools will appear to be failing when they are working with more complex and advanced tasks than average schools. Based on these inaccurate performance measurements, the school may be targeted with wide-ranging, severe and basically unjust interventions.
... Insatser för att främja goda relationer mellan elever i skolan och skolans psykosociala klimat kan också vara viktiga för att förebygga psykisk ohälsa för både flickor och pojkar (Westling Allodi, 2010). Enligt internationella studier, verkar förekomsten av mobbning vara relativt låg i svenska skolor (Danielson, 2003, Danielson & Sundbaum, 2006, WHO, 2008, men det kan finnas utrymme för förbättringar även i detta avseende. ...
Article
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Denna rapport är en litteraturöversikt av forskning som behandlar relationer mellan psykisk hälsa och skola med ett särskilt fokus på frågor om pojkars och flickors erfarenheter i skolans miljö. Litterauröversikten har genomförts på uppdrag av Delegationen för Jäm-ställdhet i skolan under våren och sommaren 2010 av Mara Westling Allodi med medverkan av Siv Fischbein och Jan-Eric Gustafsson. Litteraturöversikten är en fördjupad analys som har genomförts på en databas av artiklar som har upprättats inom ramen för ett projekt med systematiska litteraturöversikter som har genomförts mellan 2008 och 2010 av en arbetsgrupp på uppdrag av Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien (Gustafsson, Allodi, Alin-Åkerman, Eriksson, Eriksson, Fischbein, Granlund, Gustafsson, Ogden, Persson, 2010a). . Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/267717315_Pojkars_och_flickors_psykiska_halsa_i_skolan_en_kunskapsoversikt [accessed Apr 14, 2016].
... Academic confidence, in the face of a challenge, is a positive predictor of school performance (Schunk, Pintrich, and Meece 2008). Confident students believe that they can succeed, so they demonstrate persistence when faced with challenge (Allodi 2010). ...
Article
Data collected from partners in a dyadic instructional setting are, by definition, not statistically independent. As a consequence, conventional parametric statistical analyses of change and influence carry considerable risk of bias. In this article, we illustrate a strategy to overcome this obstacle: the longitudinal actor-partner interdependence model (APIM). Participants included 60 girls and 100 boys enrolled in public middle schools, who ranged in age from 10 to 14 at the outset. Students worked in pairs assigned by teachers. At the beginning and end of the instructional period, students completed surveys rating the degree to which the partner was a friend, confidence in one's own computing skills, and computer programming knowledge. APIM analyses revealed partner influence over the acquisition of computer programming skills among friends but not nonfriends. Students with higher initial levels of confidence in their own computing skills were more apt to be influenced by friends. This association was especially strong when confident partners were paired with friends who knew relatively more about computer programming.
... In general, there is evidence to suggest that a positive school ethos is strongly related to facilitating academic success and positive peer relationships (Allodi 2010;LeBlanc et al. 2007;Smith 2003). Teachers need to foster positive student relations by treating all pupils with respect, by not indulging in discriminatory behavior, and by modeling positive behavior and addressing the students' emotional needs along with their formal education (Bell McKenzie 2009;Pooley et al. 2008;Olweus 1991). ...
Article
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This article addresses the issue of bullying and analyzes a set of accounts that were collected from fourteen focus group interviews with 90 secondary school children. The aim of the research was to map out the ways in which young adolescents talk about their social relations at school in relation to home and the ways they construct bullying as a school-related issue. The findings suggest that young adolescents differ in their ability to participate in the construction of social order depending on the school/home context. Further, bullying is mainly framed as an issue of the school climate on the part of the participants. The student–teacher relationship (as a hidden curriculum), academic competition and pressure of academic achievement contribute significantly to the bullying discourse in the students’ talk.
Article
El presente número de la Revista Educación y Ciudad trabaja la ineludible relación entre educación, escuela y paz, uniéndose así a un interés común que ha cobrado fuerza gracias a los recientes acuerdos de La Habana.
Article
The social climate created in the classroom has been recognized to have important implications for learning. This study was motivated by the explore how design students in the design studio compared to other other architectural courses view their social-academic climate. Despite the role played by social climate in classroom, some have argued that classroom climate has been largely ignored in studies of higher education and most studies on classroom climate explore the perceptions of teachers rather than views of students themselves. The present study focuses on social-academic climate and its significance in architectural studies and its effect on academic satisfaction. A survey was conducted of students of architecture, following an approach developed by Moos (1970), who claimed that behavior is largely affected by environmental and situational factors. The model he constructs presents social climate as a product of bilateral pressure systems - environmental pressures that affect the individual, and pressure that the individual exerts on his or her environment. This study evaluates social-academic climate and academic satisfaction in an academic architectural program, focusing on a comparison of perceptions of students in the design studio and traditional classes, based on the eight dimensions proposed by Moss (1979). Findings shed light on the importance that students attribute to the measures of social-academic climate. These factors (specifically, students' involvement, competence, innovation, and teacher support) were rated higher in the design studio than in the courses. Social-academic climate measures such as involvement, order and organization, teacher's control, and orientation of the learning material were higher in the first year than in more advanced years. Academic satisfaction was higher in the first year design studio. Ratings of order, organization, and teacher support were the major predictors of students' academic satisfaction with the architectural program. Key words: academic satisfaction, architecture, classroom, design studio, learning environment, social-academic climate.
Thesis
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Tesis de grado donde se identifican los imaginarios comunes sobre convivencia escolar de un grupo de docentes y estudiantes de un colegio distrital de la ciudad de Bogotá, que ha sufrido distintas manifestaciones de violencia escolar (esto influyó negativamente en el clima escolar de la institución y en la manera como es percibida por la comunidad). Frente a ello, se desarrolló la propuesta pedagógica de intervención “Tu palabra tiene poder. Mejoremos nuestra convivencia escolar” en ese escenario educativo y se presentan los resultados de su pilotaje. Esta propuesta consiste en el diseño de tres ambientes hipermediales de aprendizaje (ambientes literarios), basados en la lectura y análisis de cuentos de literatura infantil y juvenil, desde una perspectiva transaccional, y donde los personajes experimentan situaciones de violencia en sus ambientes escolares. Los participantes interactúan con recursos y actividades de aprendizaje y elaboran narrativas literarias-digitales sobre convivencia escolar. (Disponible en http://repositorio.pedagogica.edu.co/handle/20.500.12209/11369)
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In a case study, 36 future sloyd teachers, who have taken a leading role in working with pedagogical development, describe their expe- rience of pupils’ unmotivated and disruptive behaviour. It was revea- led that the teachers were distur- bed by pupils whose risk-filled behaviour was aggressive or destructive, as well as by pupils who were reluctant to take risks in their constructive or passive beha- viour. It was also revealed that these types of behaviour occurred periodically or permanently, which in different ways challenged the sloyd lesson as a social system. From an ecological perspective, the teachers employed various strategies in their attempts to maintain a balance, social sustaina- bility in the classroom. They had various strategies for directly hand- ling challenges, such as attempting to keep the pupils in the classroom, and other strategies for indirectly handling challenges outside the classroom. In this way, the teachers hindered, stopped, brought back or removed pupils who were unmotivated or disruptive. It was also revealed that dealing with these challenges was energy- and time-consuming and that it shifted focus from the teachers’ didactic management of sloyd class.
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Twenty-three Swedish student teachers volunteered to try to handle ordinary and difficult challenges of classroom management in a realistic, hypertext-based computer simulation. The point of departure for constructing this simulation was international classroom management research. The simulation offered the students an opportunity to choose from authoritarian, authoritative, democratic, and abdicated leadership styles as approaches to handling six teaching sequences. The results of the test showed that on the one hand, the students shifted between different leadership styles during the test, but on the other hand, that they used either a pathfinder or an explorative approach while doing so. Pathfinders acted as if they were searching for the shortest and fastest way through the simulation; while explorers looked into more or less all the options presented. Also shown was that none of them used the same leadership style to handle ordinary or difficult challenges. Almost all of the students used the authoritative and democratic leadership style, which could be understood as them (a) recognizing the greater validity of these two leadership styles, and therefore eliminating extremes like the authoritarian and abdicated ones, (b) selecting authoritative and democratic choices to reflect what they themselves experienced as pupils in school and as students during their practice teaching and (c) perceiving that these leadership styles are close to an ideal for the way they want to perform as teachers as soon as they start working.
Conference Paper
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Twenty Swedish prospective teachers were interviewed twice, before and after, a teacher training course about classroom management, conflicts and social relations by the use of phenomenographic interviews. As part of the results we found that they had identified five areas of dilemma situations a long a continuum of significant importance for classroom management, especially with a focus on expectation and motivation, relations and classroom climate. We also found that they had less focus on routines and rules and lack of focus on disciplinary interventions points. Such finding indicates that there is a need for continuing effort from teacher educators in order to elaborate prospective teachers’ awareness about situated classroom management.
Book
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Me complace presentar a los lectores interesados en los temas actuales de las ciencias sociales y humanas, esta publicación que, desde el ámbito de la investigación sobre educación, presenta un trabajo interesante y reflexivo, que tiene como fin posicionar el debate y la pertinencia sobre el enfoque de los derechos humanos en las instituciones escolares, sin duda un esfuerzo de sus autores por entregarnos una contextualización del campo escolar, en torno a su legislación, operatividad, políticas públicas, en un abordaje claro y sintético sobre la violencia, la convivencia y la seguridad en las escuelas. Indudablemente, aportará a la reflexión académica y política necesaria hoy, tanto en Colombia como en América Latina. María Luisa Vargas Chaparro Decana (2017).
Presentation
The aim of the study was to test with teachers’ team a self-assessment instrument of the social climate, in order to investigate how the instrument was evaluated by the teachers; whether the joint assessments provide a useful profile of weaknesses and strengths; and if the assessments function as starting point for interventions planned by the teachers that aim to change and improve the social climate in the class. The theoretical framework includes: theory of values (Schwartz, 1992), self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2012) integrated in a model, Goals and Values in School (GAVIS) that takes account of children’s evaluations of their learning environments (Allodi, 2002, 2007, 2010, 2014). According to the model the goals to pursue in order to experience a good social climate have to cover various basic needs: the needs of autonomy, competence, belonging, openness and stability. Mixed method: teacher questionnaires, and recorded conversations in two teams were collected. Based on the GAVIS model a self-assessment instrument for teachers has been developed that contains 50 items covering 10 domains. The teachers were asked to rate the items choosing one option: this is a challenge; this is something we have worked with, but that can improve; this is a strength. The participants were 10 teachers, 6 working in grade 7 and 4 in grade 8. The teachers discussed the results of the assessments and planned possible interventions. The outcomes were followed- up after two weeks. The contents of the instrument were relevant, but some formulations could be improved. The assessments could identify meaningful strengths and weaknesses. The joint assessment in the teams originated discussions and identified targets for interventions. At the follow-up the teachers had introduced changes and improvements, but they expressed that more time was needed. The self-assessment model seems relevant and useful according to the teachers in order to discuss the social climate and plan common interventions. Some item formulations could be improved by mean of classroom observations.
Article
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Las reflexiones de este artículo provienen de un análisis de percepciones realizado por un grupo de docentes y estudiantes sobre las manifestaciones de violencia escolar y tramitación de conflictos en su institución educativa, problemática que sustenta la tesis presentada por la autora en el Doctorado Interinstitucional en Educación de la Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, Colombia; cuyo punto de partida fue la premisa de que para construir una convivencia pacífica en las escuelas se requiere fomentar relaciones de alteridad y respeto, legitimando las diversas miradas de sus actores sobre las situaciones que los afectan.
Chapter
The learning environment in the classroom with its daily interactions involves processes that can be developed and utilised to strengthen educational environments, preventing difficulties and enhancing learning for the students. Yet the classroom environments are imbedded in educational organisations that are influenced by local and national policies and by societal factors as ideologies and values. Based on analyses of reforms introduced in the Swedish Educational system and of their effects, this paper will analyse influences on the educational organisation that may thwart the traditionally agreed upon humanistic values of fairness and equity, and therefore may counteract the efforts to build developmentally healthy and effective learning environments. In planning interventions for more inclusive and successful learning environments in school, it would be opportune to consider the influence of organizational factors at broader levels, if they represent forces and values to combat.
Article
The classroom environment can impact students’ motivation and engagement, and can influence students’ academic learning. In some cases, pre-service teachers’ influence on the classroom environment may not always be conducive for student learning. This exploratory study investigated pre-service teachers’ perceptions of an ideal classroom environment. Specifically, this study focused on the effect of a 16 week initial field experience, and the school level (high school or middle school) of the field experience on secondary pre-service teachers’ perceptual changes of an ideal classroom environment. As a means of collecting data to address the focus of this study, the participants completed the Classroom Environment Scale (Form I) on three different occasions during the initial field experience. Results of the data analysis revealed that the participants’ perceptions of an ideal classroom environment remained consistent but were focused on attributes that contribute to a classroom environment conducive to academic success.
Article
Political trust provides the necessary legitimacy for political institutions and the actions they take on behalf of citizens. Political trust is especially important in democracies not only to sustain and build social cohesion but also to encourage citizens to work together for democratic principles. In this chapter we set out to investigate the role of schools and the contribution they can make to building political trust amongst young people. In addition, we want to focus on the use of multilevel modelling as an analytic technique that has the potential to tap results at different levels of education systems. The sample comprised 23,654 junior secondary students who had recently participated in the 2009 International Civics and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2009). The students were selected from schools in five Asian societies, namely Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The schools were chosen through proportional probability sampling and students within schools came from a single intact class. The mean age of students was 13.5 years at the time of testing within each society. Results show that schools can play a role in the development of political trust in the five societies we have studied. Within societies schools utilizing generally democratic processes and structures for student are more likely to build political trust than those that are not. Nevertheless, there is substantial difference between societies in the mechanisms through which school exerts influence on students' political trust. Further, nuances are observed across societies in gender and parental roles. The findings reported in this chapter have provided important insights for future research in the political socialization of adolescents.
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While schools are increasingly being asked to address issues of violence, certain cultural, organisational and managerial factors can obstruct violence prevention, reinforcing a culture in which violent attitudes impede the development of a safe learning environment. The focus of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention strategy designed to support schools and young people in promoting nonviolence. The longitudinal study (one year) built on the UK-001 CONNECT project funded by the European Union within which Checkpoints was selected for evaluation as part of ongoing work relating to violence in schools. The research design used a test/retest design involving baseline measures and qualitative case study data, including semi-structured interviews, diaries, observations and documentary evidence. Twelve schools were selected to participate based upon their previous involvement with work on anti-bullying. Three of the final seven study schools experienced a significant decrease in overt bullying and aggressive behaviour. These results are discussed in the light of the qualitative findings which highlighted three organisational models that illustrate the process of a school’s readiness to implement an intervention. The models describe the cultural, organisational and managerial factors that can either inhibit or facilitate the promotion of non-violence. At one end of the spectrum is the school that recognizes the negative consequences of not addressing the issues of bullying and violent behaviour and which is committed to the process of change; at the other is the school that is not yet sensitive to the bullying and violent behaviour experienced by their children and young people, and which experiences difficulty in articulating a clear way forward.
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Emphasizing the developmental need for positive peer relationships, in this study the authors tested a social-contextual view of the mechanisms and processes by which early adolescents' achievement and peer relationships may be promoted simultaneously. Meta-analysis was used to review 148 independent studies comparing the relative effectiveness of cooperative, competitive, and individualistic goal structures in promoting early adolescents' achievement and positive peer relationships. These studies represented over 8 decades of research on over 17,000 early adolescents from 11 countries and 4 multinational samples. As predicted by social interdependence theory, results indicate that higher achievement and more positive peer relationships were associated with cooperative rather than competitive or individualistic goal structures. Also as predicted, results show that cooperative goal structures were associated with a positive relation between achievement and positive peer relationships. Implications for theory and application are discussed.
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It has been assumed that individuals with developmental disabilities are a group of individuals at greater risk for exposure to abuse and neglect, although there is no evidence documenting a higher prevalence or incidence of trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among those with developmental disabilities. This article distinguishes those biases about the relative vulnerability of individuals with developmental disabilities from facts. This article reviews the current scientific evidence with regard to the rates of trauma exposure among individuals with developmental disabilities, the probable applicability of PTSD among this group, and the scientific basis of clinical assessment. Using the lens of traumatic stress studies, the authors recommend a research agenda and the creation of a empirically formed social policy that does not reinforce stigma but provides accurate, respectful, and necessary protections.
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The Nordic model of education is defined in this article as an attempt to construct a national education system on the foundation of specific local values and practices, but at the same time subject to international influences. According to the author, equity, participation, and welfare are the major goals and the publicly funded comprehensive school system is the major form of the ideal Nordic model. The actual and nationally varying transformation of the model or pattern from the Golden Years of the welfare state in the 1960s and 1970s until the age of restructuring from the 1990s has been described in more detail. The conditions and prospects of the Nordic model are tentatively discussed.
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Peers serve as reinforcers and models of behavior, and consequently classrooms containing high numbers of students with poor academic skills or behavior problems are likely to promote these behaviors in individual students. This study examined how variations in social and academic classroom composition as well as the larger school context affected behavior in a normative sample of children over a 2-year period. Teachers provided ratings of individual students, which were then aggregated to form teacher-based measures of classroom environment. Concurrent and longitudinal effects of classroom and school environments on individual behaviors were examined for students in 65 classrooms in 17 schools. Poorer classroom environments were associated with poorer levels of student aggression, peer relations, and academic focus. Changes in student behavior over time could be explained by the current classroom environment.
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Inclusiveness of the moral universe refers to the breadth of the community to which people apply moral values and rules of fairness. A preliminary study establishes the values typically viewed as moral. The author indexes moral inclusiveness at the societal level by the number of value items focused on the welfare of non-in-group members that form a distinct region in a multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS), rather than intermixing with moral values that usually relate to the in-group. Three societal characteristics predict inclusiveness of the moral universe across 66 societies: cultural egalitarianism, cultural embeddedness, and level of democratization. Using representative national samples from 21 countries, the author assesses how the societal level of moral inclusiveness influences relations between individuals' universalism values and their perceptions of immigration, opposition to immigrants from different racial or ethnic groups, and participation in activities that benefit the wider society. Findings suggest that, where moral inclusiveness is high, people understand universalism (but not benevolence) values as applying to all members of society.
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Previous studies have indicated significant associations between relatively poor mental health of children and both perceived negative parenting and exposure to peer victimization at school. This paper examines their relative contribution to the mental status of adolescent school children. Questionnaires were administered to Australian school children (n ¼ 1432) aged 12–16 years. These contained reliable selfreport measures of mental health (the GHQ) parental bonding (the PBI) and degree of peer victimization. As predicted, multiple regression analyses indicated that low levels of perceived parental care, high parental control and frequent peer victimization were each significantly and independently associated with relatively poor mental health. Together, they accounted for some 17% and 27% of variance in the mental health status of adolescent boys and girls, respectively. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered. Limitations of the study are also discussed
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Do the strategies that schools adopt in response to "disciplinary problems," including violence, actually perpetuate violence? In this thoughtful article, Pedro Noguera traces the history of institutional disciplinary measures, showing that the underlying philosophical orientation toward social control exacts a heavy toll on students, teachers, and the entire school community by producing prison-like schools that remain unsafe. Noguera maintains that a "get-tough" approach fails to create a safe environment because the use of coercive strategies interrupts learning and ultimately produces an environment of mistrust and resistance. He offers alternative strategies for humanizing school environments, encouraging a sense of community and collective responsibility.
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This article gives an overview of Facet Theory, a systematic approach to facilitating theory construction, research design, and data analysis for complex studies, that is particularly appropriate to the behavioral and social sciences. Facet Theory is based on (1) a definitional framework for a universe of observations in the area of study; (2) empirical structures of observations within this framework; (3) a search for correspondence between the definitional system and aspects of the empirical structure for the observations. The development of Facet Theory and Facet Design is reviewed from early scale analysis and the Guttman Scale, leading to the concepts of "mapping sentence," "universe of content," "common range," "content facets," and nonmetric multidimensional methods of data analysis. In Facet Theory, the definition of the behavioral domain provides a rationale for hypothesizing structural relationships among variables employed in a study. Examples are presented from various areas of research (intelligence, infant development, animal behavior, etc.) to illustrate the methods and results of structural analysis with Smallest Space Analysis (SSA), Multidimensional Scalogram Analysis (MSA), and Partial Order Scalogram Analysis (POSA). The "radex" and "cyl- indrex" of intelligence tests are shown to be outstanding examples of predicted spatial configurations that have demonstrated the ubiquitous emergence of the same empirical structures in different studies. Further examples are given from studies of spatial abilities, infant development, animal behavior, and others. The use of Facet Theory, with careful con- struction of theory and design, is shown to provide new insights into existing data; it allows for the diagnosis and discrimination of behavioral traits and makes the generalizability and replication of findings possible, which in turn makes possible the discovery of lawfulness. Achievements, issues, and future challenges of Facet Theory are discussed.
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Cultural differences between effective secondary schools and average secondary schools were investigated in terms of student participation in school affairs, teamwork, adaptation to school customers' demands, orderliness, continuous school improvement, and emphasis on academic achievement All the schools were populated primarily by disadvantaged students. The sample included 20 secondary schools in development towns in Israel—10 effective secondary schools (5 religious state schools and 5 nonreligious state schools) and 10 average secondary schools (5 religious state schools and 5 nonreligious state schools). The full-time teachers of the 20 schools involved were asked to complete a Perceived School Culture Inventory, and 66% returned questionnaires (N = 724). The results revealed that schools vary in their cultural dimensions, and this variation correlates with differences in student achievement.
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The Circle of Courage is a holistic approach to reclaiming youth, which is grounded in resilience science and in values of deep respect for the dignity of children and youth. This article identifies the core assumptions of the Circle of Courage model and its research foundation in positive youth development. In order to thrive, all children need the opportunity to be reared in schools and communities that cultivate belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity.
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To understand the way children develop, Bronfenbrenner believes that it is necessary to observe their behavior in natural settings, while they are interacting with familiar adults over prolonged periods of time. His book offers an important blueprint for constructing a new and ecologically valid psychology of development.
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School violence has been a recurring theme in the Swedish media over the last decade. Unfortunately research on this subject has been scarce and the media picture has therefore often been accepted uncritically. This article presents an overview of what is known about school violence in Sweden. Using a contextual approach it is also investigated to what extent individual level characteristics and features of the school context account for the risk of victimization. On the whole it is found that in schools where social capital, e.g. family and community resources, is low, violence tends to be higher, especially among students with low self-esteem and weak school involvement.
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Drawing on research from a longitudinal case study of a large urban secondary school, this article examines senior leadership of and in a school struggling to be inclusive. The analysis focuses on the effect of senior leadership on: the ways in which inclusion is conceptualized and practised in this school, in particular by teachers; student intake profiles and diversity; teacher motivation and educational outcomes. The study illustrates how senior leaders are reconciling their commitment to moral values of inclusion and diversity to tackle disadvantage and underachievement, with the dominance of the Standards Agenda and associated pressures of short-term performance targets; the study also offers significant insights into the ways in which leadership conceptualizes and operationalizes contested concepts of inclusion and diversity. The article argues that simplistic distinctions between, for example, moral leadership, curriculum leadership, distributed leadership and other theories of leadership mask the multidimensional nature of leadership.
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For democracy to thrive, students increasingly need to participate in democratic education. During the first half of the twentieth century, two education reformers individually developed, refined, and implemented two different forms of democratic education. In this article, the author describes the purpose of public schooling and how John Dewey and Janusz Korczak implemented social studies within the Laboratory School and the Children's Republic, respectively.
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Teachers' goal orientations were assessed by means of tape-recorded, 3-hour interviews. Content analysis of interview transcription replicated earlier findings indicating that elementary teachers place an inordinately high priority on affective concerns. A cluster analysis revealed three distinct goal orientations on the part of teachers. The largest group was identified as those expressing a predominantly affective orientation. A second group was predominantly cognitive in orientation, and the third group expressed a mixed, affective and cognitive orientation. The discussion focuses on teachers' responses to individual interview items and the consistency of their responses, particularly as it relates to teachers' professed goals and educational practices.
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This article examines the factors which impact upon the creation of a school environment for the effective management of cultural diversity as legislated for in the directive principles of the South African Schools Act of 1996 and the Schools Education Act of 1995. The two Acts determine that every person shall have the right to basic education and to equal access to schools and centres of learning. It is within this framework that this research was undertaken employing a quantitative research method. The research demonstrated that a school environment for the effective management of cultural diversity can be achieved through creative approaches to professional management and school governance, characterized by a collaborative management style. Managing cultural diversity can often be complicated by communication problems and stereotyping due to differences based on moral, ethical, socio-political and economic issues. The previous divisions of schools under the pre-1994 regime according to departments of education and mother tongue were found to be both statistically and substantially significant as independent variables for the management of cultural diversity.
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While teaching in a California, charter school in the late 1990s, I had the experience of working one year under the dictates of a highly scripted curricular program and the next year in the absence of an effectively crafted instructional plan. In both cases it proved difficult for teachers to provide quality instruction to students. In an effort to analyze such contemporary experiences, I explore here the ideas and practices of an important educational innovation from our past: the Laboratory School of the University of Chicago, under the direction of John Dewey from 1896 to 1904. I argue that the very practices that promoted teachers' intellectual freedom at the school, such as weekly meetings to discuss teachers' reports of classroom practice, also provided needed guidance. By avoiding the mindless following of dictates, the school community simultaneously worked to prevent the fragmentation and muddiness of purpose that can result from too little direction. Thus, I argue, a solution to both of the problems I encountered can be found in practices that result from a strong commitment to the intellectual freedom of teachers to make important decisions about curriculum and instruction.
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The aim of this study is to investigate the variations of self-concept in pupils attending basic compulsory schools and special units. It also examines self-concept in pupils receiving support according to different models. The study involved 183 pupils aged nine to 13 years, attending basic compulsory schools or special programme units in Sweden. Seventy-seven pupils were receiving support from special educators, who have completed a supplementary programme in special education. A comparison was made between pupils receiving support and pupils receiving no support and between pupils in different organization models of support. Global self-concept at school does not seem to be related to the model of special support. Pupils at compulsory schools who are receiving support differ from pupils who receive no support, in that peer relations appear to be more important for their self-concept at school. This could be interpreted as being a compensatory strategy to maintain a good self-concept in spite of difficulties at school. Some implications for educational strategies are discussed.
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Based on a larger, cross phase study investigating underachieving boys, this article explores pupil's responses to a single interview question inviting pupils to articulate their perceptions of whether teachers treat boys and girls the same. The article records that the predominant perception is that teachers treat boys more negatively than girls, and that this perception increases with age. Pupils speak of teachers' expectations of boys and girls as being different, more being expected of girls both in terms of achievement and behaviour. Unsolicited, the pupils make reference to the gender of the teacher as pertinent, female teachers being perceived as less influenced by gender expectations. The article raises concerns as to the role of education in amplifying society's stereotypes rather than challenging them and aiming for a climate of gender equity in the classroom.
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In this article we suggest that the current popularity of student voice can lead to surface compliance—to a quick response that focuses on ‘how to do it’ rather than a reflective review of ‘why we might want to do it’. We look at the links between student consultation and participation and the legacy of the progressive democratic tradition in our schools and we look also at the difference between teaching about democracy as an investment for the future and enacting democratic principles in the daily life of the school (a commitment to the present). The tension between institutional gains (the school improvement perspective) and personal gains (confidence, a view point and the shaping of identity) is discussed and three of the ‘big issues’ are identified that underlie the credible development of student voice: power relations between teachers and students, the commitment to authenticity, and the principle of inclusiveness. Finally we reflect on some of the organizational implications of developing student voice: finding time and building a whole‐school culture in which student voice has a place.
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The question posed in this article is how differences between the five countries in the organisation of social policy and education are related to the educational opinions of the youth. In short, what we are dealing with here is how and to what extent social structures, ideologies and norms are transmitted to the level of attitudes. The theoretical framework used in the analysis is the welfare state typology by Esping-Andersen. Practically identical data sets were gathered approximately simultaneously in Australia, Finland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, during January and February 2000. The youths were 15-16 years of age, in the last grade of obligatory education. For the piece of research introduced in this article, five variables and three background variables were chosen. The final pooled data file had 3008 cases (Finland 567, Sweden 413, Spain 788, Portugal 605 and Australia 635). Generally the educational opinions of the youth differed quite clearly along the lines of welfare state regime, although not in every case in the way expected. As the representative of the liberal welfare state mode, Australia clearly differed from the rest of the countries, especially concerning the competitiveness of pupils.
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The contents of texts written by Swedish school children is analysed in order to gain a picture of their experiences of school and these experiences are put in relation to the democratic goals of integration and practices of selection and segregation which are emerging in the Swedish school systems with the increase in pupils enrolled in special units. In a project concerning educational organizations and children receiving special support, 185 children living in 10 Swedish municipalities and attending 16 different schools wrote a text about their school situation. Ninety of these children received special support at school because of learning disabilities/difficulties. The 185 texts have been analysed using narrative approaches. The children experienced school as a place where they are protagonists and pointed out those activities that are meaningful to them. Social relations, ethical issues and learning are areas pertaining to school. Problems at school are mainly due to a lack of stimulation, adult control and influence. The children with support at school were not a homogeneous group. Several of these children, however, treat situations concerning personal rights and justice in their narratives, themes that were not common in the texts of the other children. The perspectives of children with different experiences are thus important in understanding the characteristics and the deficits of educational environments.
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The main aim of this study was to explore associations between students' perceptions of learning environment factors and their reports of emotional and behavioural problems (EBP) and to what degree students' coping styles could influence this relation. The study was conducted as a survey among a representative sample of 2006 Norwegian ninth‐graders. Results showed that students' coping styles accounted for some of the covariance between learning environment factors and EBP. This indicates that associations found between learning environment factors and EBP to some degree could be reflections of students' coping styles, in the sense that coping styles affect students' perceptions of the learning environment or the learning environment itself. However, two‐thirds of the covariance between learning environment factors and EBP was not accounted for by individual students' coping styles. The unique effect of learning environment factors on variances in off‐task orientation, externalising problems and emotional problems was 22%, 13% and 4%, respectively.
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A conceptual framework based on prior research was used to study unusually successful compensatory programs in 4 schools (3 elementary schools and 1 middle school). The framework included 4 interrelated constructs: program effectiveness standards, school culture, curriculum, and teaching. Site visits were made to each of the 4 schools. During these visits, written documents were examined, interviews were conducted, and classroom observations were made. All 4 schools were characterized by clear purpose and high performance standards (program effectiveness standards); shared leadership, strong community support, and talented, hardworking teachers (school climate); opportunity to learn and curriculum integration (curriculum); and concern for students and nonacceptance of failure (teaching). Analyzing the data in terms of the framework enabled the researchers to describe the complex nature of success as well as the interplay among the constructs in producing it. It also allowed them to move beneath the surface differences among schools to the deeper level of similarities.
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The present study analyses the experience of parents of children with cognitive disabilities attending compulsory school in regular classes or in special units. It relates this experience to the arguments presented by the staff of special education services in a Swedish municipality, their administrative decisions and the organization of special education services. The parents had different standpoints: some defended the existence of special units and the resources available to them, while some fought to have their children accepted in regular classes, while other parents accepted the special units but were critical of certain aspects of their functioning. The situation presented here seems likely to generate conflicts between parents and educational administrators, and even among parents.
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In response to A. Anastasi's (1958) long-standing challenge, the authors propose an empirically testable theoretical model that (1) goes beyond and qualifies the established behavioral genetics paradigm by allowing for nonadditive synergistic effects, direct measures of the environment, and mechanisms of organism–environment interaction, called proximal processes, through which genotypes are transformed into phenotypes; (2) hypothesizes that estimates of heritability (e.g., h–2) increase markedly with the magnitude of proximal processes; (3) demonstrates that heritability measures the proportion of variation in individual differences attributable only to actualized genetic potential, with the degree of nonactualized potential remaining unknown; and (4) proposes that, by enhancing proximal processes and environments, it is possible to increase the extent of actualized genetic potentials for developmental competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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This field study investigated the effects of a cooperative learning environment and a Jigsaw classroom environment on academic performance, self-esteem, liking of school, liking of peers, and racial prejudice. The subjects were 103 children in Grades 4–6, in two separate schools. The cooperative learning condition was used as a baseline measure of the effects of cooperation, against which the effects of a Jigsaw method, involving both cooperation and interdependence, were compared. The results reveal that Jigsaw produced significant improvements on measures of academic performance, liking of peers, and racial prejudice. In contrast, the effect of the cooperative condition was to exacerbate pre-existing intergroup tensions. The present findings demonstrate that the Jigsaw method can be applied successfully in Australian conditions, and lend support to Allport's contact hypothesis. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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One-minute student managers and classroom constitutions are two elements of Consistency Management and Cooperative Discipline, a program that builds citizenship in the classroom through experience, not just words.
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This study examined the effect of a social—behavioral learning strategy intervention (SODA) on the social interaction skills of 4 elementary school children With Asperger syndrome (AS). More specifically, the study investigated the effect of SODA training on the abilities of 4 children With AS to participate in cooperative learning activities, play organized sport games, and visit With their peers during lunch. A multiple-baseline-across-settings design (TaWney & Gast, 1984) Was used to analyze social behavior Without SODA (baseline) and With SODA (intervention) during fourth- or fifth-grade social studies cooperative learning activities, noon recess, and lunch. Maintenance probes occurred once a month for 5 months folloWing completion of the intervention. The participants benefited from the SODA intervention. They presented increased percentages of time spent learning cooperatively, playing organized sport games, and visiting during lunch When SODA training began. When SODA training discontinued, they maintained high performance across all study conditions, nearly matching those achieved by 4 peers Without disabilities. In addition, the participants presented long-term memory of SODA 1 month after maintenance.