Erik Roelofs

Constructivism and authentic pedagogy: State of the art and recent developments in the Dutch national curriculum in secondary education

The recently introduced national curriculum for the ® rst stage of Dutch secondary education requires not only a change in educational content but also a change in educational processes. The knowledge students acquire is expected to be related to everydaylife, and tobe meaningfully embedded insociety. Furthermore, the student is expected to use social and cognitive strategies such as researching, collaborating, andexpressingopinions. The accompanying learningenvironmentnecessitates active and interactive learners as well as teachers who use various strategies to promote `authentic learning’. To what extent do Dutch teachers use teaching strategies to foster authentic learning? From 1993 to 1996, three large Dutch secondary schools (between 1000± 1400students ) were subjectedtoanin-depthinquiry. Theseschoolswereexpectedto implement the state-mandated innovations in the 1993± 1994 core curriculum. The results showthat none of the schools scores highly on the characteristics of authentic pedagogy. Authentic pedagogy demands a major change in the teacher’s role, including a change in the use of curricular materials and the development of new teaching strategies embedded in a supporting school organization. The results are viewed in the context of the recent discussion on information-processing theory versusradical constructivism. Implications forcurriculumandclassroompractice are suggested.

Knowledge management in the HRD office: a comparison of three cases

HRD professionals can be considered to be knowledgeable about knowledge management practices in their own offices. Effectiveness of knowledge management practices of three HRD offices were studied, using a combination of structured questionnaires plus interviews with four HRD professionals per office. Three categories of knowledge management activities were considered, by the members of these organisations, to be effective: activities that expand the individual or collective experiential horizon; activities that are meant to consolidate knowledge; informal and formal communication about work issues. Conditions that facilitate or inhibit these activities are identified. Organisations wishing to improve their knowledge productivity are confronted with some fundamental choices: innovation versus routine, office versus officer, and knowledge sharing versus knowledge shielding.

Improving Instruction and Classroom Management Behaviour in Mixed‐age Classrooms: results of two improvement studies

Summary This article describes the results of a second school improvement study directed at schools with mixed‐age classes, and compares the results of this second study with the first study. The second improvement study examines the effects of a staff development programme which introduced selected findings from teaching effectiveness research into ongoing school settings with mixed‐age classes. In addition to the staff development programme the effects of coaching are also evaluated. In contrast to the first improvement study the staff development programme was implemented by teacher educators and school counsellors in the regular educational support context (in‐service teacher education). A quasi‐experimental, treatment‐control group investigation was designed to test the effects of the staff development programme ‘Dealing with mixed‐age classes’, and the effects of coaching. Based on pre‐ and post‐training classroom observations, the second improvement study‐‐like the first one‐‐revealed a significant...