Maaike Dorine Endedijk

The nature of student teachers’ regulation of learning in teacher education

BACKGROUNDnSelf-regulated learning (SRL) has mainly been conceptualized to involve student learning within academic settings. In teacher education, where learning from theory and practice is combined, student teachers also need to regulate their learning. Hence, there is an urgent need to extend SRL theories to the domain of teacher learning and to obtain scientific knowledge on the nature of student teachers SRL to enable support of these processes in teacher education.nnnAIMSnThis study was aimed at exploring the nature of student teachers regulation of learning across various theoretical and practical contexts in teacher education.nnnSAMPLEnTwenty-eight students from a post-graduate academic teacher education institute participated in this study.nnnMETHODnFor the measurement of student teachers regulation activities, an open question log, called Learning Report, was developed. Content analysis and multiple correspondence analyses of 133 Learning Reports were used to identify qualitative differences in regulation activities and the underlying structure in the data.nnnRESULTSnThe analyses resulted in the identification and description of the variety and frequency of student teachers regulation activities. The relations among the regulation activities were described by an underlying structure of two dimensions: passive versus active regulation of learning and prospective versus retrospective regulation of learning. Active regulation dominated in practice schools, passive regulation at the university.nnnCONCLUSIONSnIt is argued that for learning to teach, a different conceptualization of SRL is needed, focusing less on setting initial learning goals and more on retrospective aspects of SRL. Building blocks for such a conceptualization are offered.

Critically reflective dialogues in learning communities of professionals

Communities in which professionals share and create knowledge potentially support their continued learning. To realise this potential more fully, members are required to reflect critically. For learning at work such behaviour has been described as critically reflective work behaviour, consisting of six aspects: challenging groupthink, critical opinion sharing, an openness about mistakes, asking for and giving feedback, experimentation and research utilisation. We studied whether and how these aspects can be distinguished in dialogues of seven different communities of veterinary professionals (critically reflective dialogues). Our exploration of the nature of critically reflective dialogues resulted in an analytical framework. Within each aspect four different modes of communication were identified: interactive, on an individual basis, non-reflective and restricted. We assume that professionals use learning opportunities most in the interactive mode of communication. The framework was employed to study the extent to which dialogues showed these modes of critically reflective dialogues. The results demonstrate that in these communities the modes of communication within aspects were largely non-interactive (i.e., individual, non-reflective). The developed framework discriminates between communities in terms of their critically reflective dialogues. Interventions to improve the effectiveness of learning communities should focus on enhancement of members addressing each others reasons and reflections.

Students' development in self-regulated learning in postgraduate professional education: a longitudinal study

One of the tasks of postgraduate education is to develop students conceptions and skills necessary for lifelong learning in their profession. Therefore, this study aimed at identifying students development in self-regulated learning throughout a postgraduate teacher education programme. A longitudinal design with three measurement occasions was adopted. Student teachers learning orientations were measured with a questionnaire and their regulation activities by means of multiple structured question logs. Longitudinal multilevel analyses showed that student teachers became more passive in their regulation throughout the programme. Furthermore, only one third of the student teachers changed in the direction of independent meaning-oriented learning. This study found little evidence that student teachers became more self-regulating throughout the postgraduate professional programme. This shows that opportunities for directing ones own learning might be a necessary but not a sufficient condition to increase students conceptions and skills to become self-regulated lifelong learners.

Critically reflective work behavior of health care professionals

Introduction: Better understanding of critically reflective work behavior (CRWB), an approach for work‐related informal learning, is important in order to gain more profound insight in the continuing development of health care professionals. Methods: A survey, developed to measure CRWB and its predictors, was distributed to veterinary professionals. The authors specified a model relating CRWB to a Perceived Need for Lifelong Learning, Perceived Workload, and Opportunities for Feedback. Furthermore, research utilization was added to the concept of CRWB. The model was tested against the data, using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The model was well represented by the data. Four factors that reflect aspects of CRWB were distinguished: (1) individual CRWB; (2) being critical in interactions with others; (3) cross‐checking of information; and (4) openness to new findings. The latter 2 originated from the factor research utilization in CRWB. The Perceived Need for Lifelong Learning predicts CRWB. Neither Perceived Workload nor Opportunities for Feedback of other practitioners was related to CRWB. Discussion: The results suggest that research utilization, such as cross‐checking information and openness to new findings, is essential for CRWB. Furthermore, perceptions of the need for lifelong learning are more relevant for CRWB of health care professionals than qualities of the workplace.

Development of critically reflective dialogues in communities of health professionals

Critically reflective dialogues (CRD) are important for knowledge sharing and creating meaning in communities. CRD includes different aspects: being open about mistakes, critical opinion sharing, asking for and giving feedback, experimentation, challenging groupthink and research utilisation. In this article we explore whether CRD aspects change over time, through a study of two dialogues each from six different communities of veterinary health professionals. Change was studied from the perspective of observations, through analysing transcripts of dialogues, and from the perspective of community members’ perceptions, through an evaluative discussion with members. The results showed that some communities became more open about mistakes, a finding that is related to an increase in trust. Other observed aspects of CRD seemed to be fairly stable over time. Community members perceived research utilisation and asking for and giving feedback to have been increased. From an analysis of perceptions of the community members it emerged that limited interaction could be associated with the epistemological conceptions of community members.

Measuring students’ self-regulated learning in professional education: bridging the gap between event and aptitude measurements

Self-regulated learning has benefits for students’ academic performance in school, but also for expertise development during their professional career. This study examined the validity of an instrument to measure student teachers’ regulation of their learning to teach across multiple and different kinds of learning events in the context of a postgraduate professional teacher education programme. Based on an analysis of the literature, we developed a log with structured questions that could be used as a multiple-event instrument to determine the quality of student teachers’ regulation of learning by combining data from multiple learning experiences. The findings showed that this structured version of the instrument measured student teachers’ regulation of their learning in a valid and reliable way. Furthermore, with the aid of the Structured Learning Report individual differences in student teachers’ regulation of learning could be discerned. Together the findings indicate that a multiple-event instrument can be used to measure regulation of learning in multiple contexts for various learning experiences at the same time, without the necessity of relying on students’ ability to rate themselves across all these different experiences. In this way, this instrument can make an important contribution to bridging the gap between two dominant approaches to measure SRL, the traditional aptitude and event measurement approach.

Self-regulated learning in the clinical context: a systematic review

Research has suggested beneficial effects of self‐regulated learning (SRL) for medical students and residents workplace‐based learning. Ideally, learners go through a cyclic process of setting learning goals, choosing learning strategies and assessing progress towards goals. A clear overview of medical students and residents successful key strategies, influential factors and effective interventions to stimulate SRL in the workplace is missing. This systematic review aims to provide an overview of and a theoretical base for effective SRL strategies of medical students and residents for their learning in the clinical context.

Professional Learning Among School Leaders in Secondary Education: The Impact of Personal and Work Context Factors:

Purpose: School leadership is fundamental in efforts to successfully implement school reform and improve student and teacher learning. Although there is an abundant amount of research on school leaders’ formal training, assessment, and practice, little is known about their informal professional learning. In other words, how do school leaders learn at the workplace? To answer this question, we took an interactionist approach and argued that school leadership learning is based on the interplay between the school environment and the person. Specifically, we investigated the effect of school context (learning climate, social support), task (task variation), and the personal factor self-efficacy on both individual (reflection and career awareness) and social (asking for feedback and challenging groupthink) learning activities. Method: A questionnaire was administered among 1,150 school leaders in Dutch secondary education. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships between our model variables. Findings: Self-efficacy positively predicted all four learning activities. Task variation positively predicted asking for feedback and reflection. Learning climate positively predicted asking for feedback, reflection, and career awareness. Interestingly, the effect of social support was twofold: It positively predicted social learning, but it negatively predicted individual learning. Finally, self-efficacy was an important mediator in the relationship between school context and professional learning. Conclusions: This study demonstrates how personal, task, and school context factors affect school leaders’ professional learning. These insights help develop tools and conditions for leaders to reflect and discuss on their practice, and to set an example for lifelong learning in schools.

Differential effects of a long teacher training internship on students’ learning-to-teach patterns

To become a lifelong learner as a teacher, student teachers already have to learn how to direct their own learning during initial teacher education programmes. Previous empirical research has shown that student teachers differ in their patterns of learning-to-teach, but few is known about the changeability of these learning patterns throughout teacher education and the role of teacher training internships in this. In this study, the changes in student teachers’ patterns of learning-to-teach amongst pre-service teachers were investigated using a longitudinal design. 253 student teachers were asked to complete the ‘Inventory Learning To Teach Process’ questionnaire at two points during the last semester of a three-year teaching programme: immediately prior to and immediately following a long teacher training internship. The results of this study demonstrate that learning-to-teach patterns are subject to a relative degree of change. In particular, survival-oriented student teachers appear to have undergone a greater degree of change after the long teacher training internship.