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TALK - A Training Program to Encourage Lifelong Learning in School

Abstract. Lifelong learning (LLL) is a topic of high political relevance. Within the context of continuous social development toward an “information society,” individuals find themselves facing a number of challenges that they will not be able to surmount successfully if they are not willing to commit to learning over the entire course of their lifetimes. The persistent motivation to learn, as well as the correspondent learning skills, appears to be essential if one is to survive in a modern society. Schools, as a collective institution, have the task of laying the cornerstones of these skills. The present article introduces the training program TALK, which aims to provide teachers with the competencies to systematically implement the enhancement of LLL into their regular educational responsibilities. From the perspective of educational psychology, motivation, self-regulation, social skills, and cognitive abilities are developed as core aspects for LLL in a scholastic context. Building on these, the goals...

Promotion of students’ mastery goal orientations: does TARGET work?

Achievement goal orientations are important for students’ ongoing motivation. Students with a mastery goal orientation show the most advantageous achievement and motivational patterns. Much research has been conducted to identify classroom structures which promote students’ mastery goal orientation. The TARGET framework is one example of these efforts and provides six instructional dimensions (task, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation, time), which should form a classroom structure that fosters a mastery goal orientation. The aim of this study was to examine the entire multi-dimensional TARGET framework and its impact on mastery goal orientation in a longitudinal study with 1680 secondary school students. CFAs confirmed the existence of one latent factor TARGET comprising the six proposed dimensions. This study also provides the first empirical evidence, based on longitudinal data, that TARGET has a positive impact on student mastery goal orientations.

Students' Achievement Goals, Learning-Related Emotions and Academic Achievement

In the present research, the recently proposed 3 × 2 model of achievement goals is tested and associations with achievement emotions and their joint influence on academic achievement are investigated. The study was conducted with 388 students using the 3 × 2 Achievement Goal Questionnaire including the six proposed goal constructs (task-approach, task-avoidance, self-approach, self-avoidance, other-approach, other-avoidance) and the enjoyment and boredom scales from the Achievement Emotion Questionnaire. Exam grades were used as an indicator of academic achievement. Findings from CFAs provided strong support for the proposed structure of the 3 × 2 achievement goal model. Self-based goals, other-based goals and task-approach goals predicted enjoyment. Task-approach goals negatively predicted boredom. Task-approach and other-approach predicted achievement. The indirect effects of achievement goals through emotion variables on achievement were assessed using bias-corrected bootstrapping. No mediation effects were found. Implications for educational practice are discussed.

Mathematically gifted students and high achievement: the role of motivation and classroom structure

One of the most intriguing questions for those who study intellectually gifted students is why some of them reach peak performances at school and others don’t. Moderator theories of giftedness assume that domain-specific gifts are transformed into achievement in a process influenced by non-cognitive and environmental variables. Thus, the current study investigates differences in the non-cognitive construct motivation (achievement goals, interest, self-concept, self-efficacy, implicit theories) and perception of classroom environment (classroom structure, class climate) between mathematically gifted high achievers (n = 66) and mathematically gifted students with non-high achievement (n = 144) using a latent variable approach. Gifted high achievers expressed higher levels of motivation than non-high achievers. Furthermore, they perceived a classroom structure that provides more tasks with a focus on learning and more autonomy.

Measuring a Mastery Goal Structure Using the TARGET Framework

In prior research, goal structures have been measured as macroscopic and holistic constructs referring to all activities in the classroom setting associated with learning and performing on a meta-level. A more comprehensive approach for identifying concrete classroom structures that should foster students’ mastery goals is provided by the multidimensional TARGET framework with its six instructional dimensions (Task, Autonomy, Recognition, Grouping, Evaluation, Time). However, measurement instruments assessing students’ perceptions of all TARGET dimensions are largely lacking. The main aim of this study was to develop and validate a new student questionnaire for comprehensive assessment of the perceived TARGET classroom structure (the Goal Structure Questionnaire – GSQ). Scales were constructed using a rational-empirical strategy based on classical conceptions of the TARGET dimensions and prior empirical research. The instrument was tested in a study using a sample of 1,080 secondary school students. Findings indicate that the scales are reliable, internally valid, and externally valid in terms of relationships with students’ achievement goals. More concretely, analyses revealed that the TARGET mastery goal structure positively predicts mastery goals, performance approach goals, and an incremental implicit theory of intelligence. No associations were found with performance avoidance goals.

Teachers’ Relationship Closeness with Students as a Resource for Teacher Wellbeing: A Response Surface Analytical Approach

Teachers’ relationship quality with students has been argued to be an important source of teacher wellbeing. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate to what extent teachers’ relationship closeness toward students, combined with attachment security is a resource protecting against teacher burnout. Eighty-three elementary school teachers reported on their most and least attached student’s relationship closeness, their attachment security and levels of burnout, as measured by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. Response surface analysis (RSA), enabling researchers to investigate the effect of congruence/incongruence of two predictors on an outcome, revealed that teachers’ depersonalization and emotional exhaustion were lowest when they developed homogenous close relationships toward the students within their classroom and when teachers in general made congruent relationship experiences. No RSA model could be specified for personal accomplishment, even though a correlational analysis revealed that increasing closeness with students fostered teachers’ personal accomplishment. Teachers’ secure attachment experiences were not directly related to burnout, but enhanced their capability to establish close relationships toward their students. Findings suggest that teachers’ relationships toward students are a resource for the teacher’s wellbeing, which highlights once again the importance of student–teacher relationships in education.

Secondary School Students’ LLL Competencies, and Their Relation with Classroom Structure and Achievement

There is a strong urge to foster lifelong learning (LLL) competencies with its key components – motivation and self-regulated learning – from early on in the education system. School in general is presently not considered to be successful in systematically imparting motivation and self-regulated learning strategies. There is strong evidence that decisive motivational determinants decrease the longer students stay in school. At present, the central sources of information about the situation in Austria are international monitoring studies, which only examine selected aspects of specific target groups, and their interpretability concerning mean values is constricted due to cultural differences. Thus, it is important to conduct additional and more differentiated national surveys of the actual state. This is why this study aimed at answering the following questions: (1) how well are Austrian students equipped for the future, in terms of their lifelong learning competencies, (2) can perceived classroom structure predict students’ LLL, and (3) is there a correlation of students’ LLL with their achievement in the school subjects math and German language. 5366 students (52.1% female) from 36 Austrian schools took part in the online-questionnaire (mean age 15.35 years, SD = 2.45), which measured their perceived LLL competencies in the subjects math and German language, their perceived classroom structure and their achievement. Results showed that the great majority of Austrian students – independent from domain and sex – know and are able to apply cognitive as well as metacognitive learning strategies. With regard to motivation the picture is less satisfactory: whilst students’ self-efficacy is not the problem, there is a lack of interest in the school subjects and they often report to follow performance approach goals. Classroom structure positively predicted students’ goals, interest, self-efficacy and learning strategies. Self-efficacy, performance approach goals, meta-cognitive and deep learning strategies in turn predicted achievement positively, and performance avoidance goals negatively.

Conceptual Issues and Assessment of Implicit Theories

We reviewed fundamental conceptual issues and the state of research on the definition and assessment of implicit theories. We grappled with the following controversies related to the construct: (a) Are entity theory and incremental theory opposite ends of the same continuum? (b) How can scholars use more sophisticated methodologies to classify individuals into either the entity or incremental theory? (c) Given shifting conceptions of what intelligence is, how can scholars refine the implicit theory of intelligence construct? Given these conceptual issues, we then addressed practical issues related to the assessment of implicit theories. We point to the need for more sophisticated methods such as implicit association tests and the use of virtual environments as more “stealthy” ways to assess the construct.

Förderung von Lebenslangem Lernen – eine Aufgabe der Schule

Die kontinuierliche Entwicklung zur „Wissens- und Informationsgesellschaft“ hat Lebenslanges Lernen (LLL) zu einem zentralen Thema der europaischen Bildungspolitik gemacht. Die Gesellschaften Europas (und nicht nur diese) stehen vor zahlreichen wirtschaftlichen, sozialen und strukturellen Veranderungen, die in die Lebens- und Arbeitsbereiche jeder einzelnen Person hineinreichen. Rasche berufliche und technische Veranderungsprozesse im individuellen Umfeld erfordern permanente Anpassungsleistungen und fuhren zu immer neuen Qualifikationsanforderungen. Zur erfolgreichen Bewaltigung dieser Herausforderungen sollten moglichst viele Menschen gute Voraussetzungen fur LLL mitbringen: „Politicians at the European level have recognised that education and training are essential to the development and success of todays knowledge society and economy“ (Europaische Kommission 2009a). Zentral dafur sind: (1) kontinuierliches Engagement und Bildungsmotivation sowie (2) die Kompetenz zum Selbstregulierten Lernen (Achtenhagen & Lempert 2000; Artelt, Baumert, Julius-McElvany & Peschar 2003; Weinstein & Hume 1998).

Fostering pupils’ lifelong learning competencies in the classroom: evaluation of a training programme using a multivariate multilevel growth curve approach

Abstract Evidence-based interventions to promote lifelong learning are needed not only in continuing education but also in schools, which lay important cornerstones for lifelong learning. The present article reports evaluation results about the effectiveness of one such training programme (TALK). TALK aims to systematically implement the enhancement of lifelong learning in secondary schools by optimizing teaching in terms of developing pupils’ competencies for lifelong learning. TALK is conducted within the framework of a three-semester course of studies for secondary school teachers. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of TALK, a questionnaire study with 1144 pupils was conducted in the form of a pretest–posttest–posttest design for both training and control groups. Multivariate multilevel growth curve analyses showed the benefit of TALK in terms of both pupils’ perceptions of classroom instructions and their individual motivation. Finally, TALK’s contribution to promote lifelong learning in schools is discussed and implications are given.