Bert Slof

Beginning teachers’ self-efficacy and stress and the supposed effects of induction arrangements

Induction arrangements are implemented in schools all over the world to support beginning teachers (BTs) (novices) in gradually growing into their profession. The aim of this study is to gain more insight into two key psychological processes involved in the work of a qualified beginning teacher, namely perceived stress and self-efficacy. This unfolding is necessary to find a path of influence to lead the way to meaningful support interventions. Support in the form of induction arrangements is hypothesised to decrease perceived stress and to increase self-efficacy and, thus, decrease stress outcomes. To test our hypotheses 30 BTs and their school-based educators, working in 13 different schools, were surveyed. The analyses revealed that stress causes and stress outcomes are indeed interrelated and that self-efficacy affects this relationship in a mediating way. However, besides decreasing a beginning teachers’ perceived lack of learning opportunities, no other influences of induction arrangements were obtained. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The effects of inspecting and constructing part-task-specific visualizations on team and individual learning

This study examined whether inspecting and constructing different part-task-specific visualizations differentially affects learning. To this end, a complex business-economics problem was structured into three phase-related part-tasks: (1) determining core concepts, (2) proposing multiple solutions, and (3) coming to a single solution. Each phase was foreseen with a part-task-specific representational tool facilitating visualization of the domain-content (i.e., a conceptual, causal and simulation tool respectively for the subsequent phases). Whereas all teams of learners (N = 17) were scripted to carry out the part-tasks in the predefined order, teams were instructed to (1) inspect expert visualizations (n = 8) or (2) construct their own domain-specific visualizations (n = 9). Results indicate that constructing visualizations, in comparison to inspecting them, evokes more meaningful discussion of the domain-content beneficially affecting team complex learning-task performance and individual learning gains (i.e., higher post-test score).

Representational scripting effects on group performance

This study investigated the effects of a tool designed for supporting the online collaborative performance of learners carrying out complex learning tasks. Appropriate collaborative cognitive activities may be evoked by structuring the whole learning task into phases and providing congruent external representations for each stage (i.e., representational scripting). It was hypothesized that this combination would lead to increased individual learning and better results for the collaborative task. In groups, 47 secondary education students worked on a complex business-economics problem in four experimental conditions, namely one where groups received task-congruent representations for all stages and three where they received one of the representations for all three phases (task-incongruent). The results indicate that groups that received task-congruent representations in a phased order scored higher on the collaborative task, though this did not result in increased individual learning.