Adriaan Hofman

Profiling Teachers' Sense of Professional Identity.

This study shows that professional identity should not be viewed as a composed variable with a uniform structure. Based on the literature and previous research, we view teachers’ job satisfaction, self‐efficacy, occupational commitment and change in the level of motivation as indicators of teachers’ professional identity. Using two‐step cluster analysis, three distinct professional identity profiles have empirically been identified, based on data of 1214 teachers working in secondary education in the Netherlands. These profiles differed significantly regarding the indicators of teachers’ professional identity. Teachers belonging to the found profiles did not significantly differ in their amount of experience.

The effect of the fit between secondary and university education on first‐year student achievement

Central in this study is the role of student variables and the fit between secondary education and university education in the explanation of first‐year student achievement. The fit between two levels of education can be defined in different ways. In this study the focus is on four fit‐aspects: appropriateness of expectations, and the degree to which there is a continuance with respect to teaching approaches, knowledge and workload. The conceptual model, a synthesis of the Model of Student Attrition, the Educational Productivity Model and the Transition Model, is tested with structural equation modelling, based on maximum likelihood estimation. The results indicate that the fit between secondary and university education, in terms of resemblance between the learning environments and experience of some adjustment, as well as social integration, student employment and motivation, affect first‐year achievement indirectly through time investment. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Using clickers to facilitate interactive engagement activities in a lecture room for improved performance by students

What impact can interactive engagement (IE) activities using clickers have on students’ motivation and academic performance during lectures as compared to attending traditional types of lectures? This article positions the research on IE within the comprehensive model of educational effectiveness and Gagné’s instructional events model. For the study on which this article is based, an IE model was designed and explored within a pilot group. This model identified situations that make the model effective in terms of improving students’ motivation and academic performance. Personal response systems (PRS, also referred to as ‘clickers’) were used to promote interaction. A pre-test/post-test control group design was used. Data were collected through a questionnaire and class tests. The results indicated the significance of IE activities amongst students in this research.

The relationship between first-year achievement and the pedagogical-didactical fit between secondary school and university

Central in this study is the degree to which the pedagogical‐didactical approach in undergraduate programmes aligns with the pedagogical‐didactical approach in secondary schools, and how this is related to first‐year achievement. Approaches to teaching at secondary schools and in first‐year university programmes were examined by interviewing school management, school teachers and university lecturers. The teaching approaches found within the schools were contrasted against the academic teaching approaches, resulting in four types of fit. With multiple regression analysis the relationships between these four types of fit, gender, prior achievement and first‐year achievement were examined. The results showed that prior performance is positively related to first‐year achievement, as well as a fit characterised by more student‐centred teaching in the first year compared to the approach to teaching at secondary school.

Early tracking or finally leaving? Determinants of early study success in first-year university students

Abstract Two theoretical approaches underlie this investigation of the determinants of early study success among first-year university students. Specifically, to extend Walberg’s educational productivity model, this study draws on the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation in a contemporary university context. The survey data came from 407 first-year students, and the measure of early study success reflects the weighted grade point average at two moments during their first semester. A path model reveals that the proposed extended educational productivity framework explains early study success well. The operationalised educational productivity factors (age, prior achievement, psychosocial environment, programme satisfaction, study skills) and achievement motivation (expectancy) all relate to early study success, directly or indirectly through expectancy and self-study. The two theoretical approaches jointly provide a thorough understanding of early study success. These results have notable implications for tracking students and for further research.

The influence of curriculum on master’s students’ perceived abilities in four domains of graduateness

Abstract Potentially all university graduates, regardless of the discipline they have studied, are expected to have obtained generic learning outcomes, which we refer to as ‘graduateness’. This study investigates the extent to which learning programmes’ emphasis on graduateness affects students’ perceived abilities in the domains of graduateness. Four domains of graduateness are considered: reflective thinking, scholarship, moral citizenship and lifelong learning. Based on curriculum maps, master’s programmes were clustered according to the emphasis placed on each domain. Unexpectedly, there appeared to be no difference in students’ perceived competence in the four domains of graduateness between master’s programmes that placed little to no emphasis on reflective thinking, moral citizenship or lifelong learning and master’s programmes that placed more emphasis on these domains. Only in the scholarship domain was a difference found in students’ perceived competence; surprisingly, it was in the opposite direction. In conclusion, we can say that the relation between emphasis on the domains of graduateness and students’ perceived abilities in these domains were not found across a large sample of study programmes.

Towards graduateness : Exploring academic intellectual development in university master’s students

ABSTRACT Our research aims to contribute to the body of knowledge on graduateness by proposing a model that explicates the expected level performance of graduates. In this study, the model is elaborated for 3 graduateness domains: reflective thinking, scholarship, and moral citizenship. We used data on students’ perceived abilities in these domains that were collected at both the beginning and end of 1-year master’s programmes in 3 faculties at a research-intensive university. The model appears to be suitable for investigating students’ academic intellectual development. Not all students appeared to achieve the expected level of graduateness by the end of the master’s programme. However, the results revealed an increase in the proportion of students meeting the thresholds for graduateness. The students’ reports reveal growth in reflective thinking and scholarship during the master’s programme.

The effects of prior education and engagement on success in engineering studies: do women and men differ?

Background In Dutch engineering education, female students outperform male students. Using an interactionalist framework, this study explores factors that contribute to this gender-based difference. Purpose This study aims to answer two questions: Do female and male students differ in background characteristics, engagement factors, and academic success? Are differences in the relationships among background characteristics, engagement factors, and academic success gender-specific? Design/method Data on male and female engineering undergraduate students from five Dutch universities were subjected to linear structural modeling to compare potential gender differences in the relationships among the focal variables. Two structural models were considered. Results Female students spent more time on independent study, reported more social integration, completed more credits, and were more likely to stay in engineering than were male students. Academic integration and intention to persist were important for completion of credits for both genders. Social integration was only important for men’s academic success. Females seemed to benefit less from good preparation through active learning during secondary education, and the effect of a high grade point average on math was negative for females but positive for males. Conclusions Interactionalist concepts can explain academic success, but the relationships among concepts vary by gender. Males’ intentions to persist in engineering are an outcome of engagement processes during the first year, whereas females’ intentions to persist in engineering are manifest at the start of the first year.