Päivi Atjonen

Childrens' notions of the malleability of their academic ability in the mother tongue and mathematics

The ways boys and girls (N = 119) at different grade levels rated and explained their potential for improvement in mathematics and the mother tongue were compared in order to examine their subject‐specific notions of the malleability of their academic ability. The findings indicate that children perceive their potential to improve their performance to be higher in mathematics than in the mother tongue. In the mother tongue the childrens ratings of their potential for improvement became more pessimistic with advancement in the childs grade level. In mathematics the boys rated their potential for improvement higher than the girls did and trusted exertion as a means of improving their performance more than did the girls. Those children who gave optimistic ratings of their potential backed up their view by referring to the possibilities of practising and to the positive academic recognition they had received, and the role of these explanations grew stronger with advancement in the childs grade level. In contrast, those children who gave pessimistic ratings of their potential backed them up by referring to their poor performance and deficient ability. It was concluded that the optimistic pupils seem to place themselves in the ‘promotional sphere’ of the institution of school, whereas the pessimistic pupils seem to place themselves in the ‘restrictive sphere’ of education.

Key Pedagogical Principles and Their Major Obstacles as Perceived by Comprehensive School Teachers.

The general pedagogical knowledge of teachers is not often investigated in comparison to content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. In this article, a more comprehensive outlook on teachers’ skills and knowledge without regard to subject‐specific nuances is discussed in relation to classroom management strategies, the organization of pupils’ learning, and effective communication techniques and teaching. The aim of this research was to describe what comprehensive school teachers believe to be the main pedagogical principles and what their perceived obstacles seem to be. These principles and their obstacles were examined according to gender, school level, class size, and school subject. A random sample of all Finnish schools was obtained based on the probability proportional to size (PPS)‐sample method. In the second phase of sampling, teachers were selected from the schools, so that they represented primary and secondary levels of comprehensive school. The data was gathered by the questionnaire returned by 362 class teachers (primary level/grade four, response rate 85%) and 1989 subject teachers (secondary level/grades seven to nine, response rate 61%). Descriptions for three open‐ended questions were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively, following a category system which was both data‐based and theory‐based. The means of 10 structured Likert‐scale items were calculated and compared (t‐test, one‐way ANOVA). The key pedagogical principles focused on teaching‐learning arrangements and methods, relationship to pupils and learning environment, general educational principles, and expected skills and attitudes. The first two were among the most often described cases of successful teaching‐learning events. Obstacles toward the implementation of personally important principles into pedagogical practice were related to the learning requirements, to the pupils and groups of pupils, and to the teachers’ and pupils’ backgrounds. The results properly reflected various theoretical conceptualizations of pedagogical principles and indicated the teachers’ rich understanding of good practice. The results increase our understanding of teachers’ pedagogical decision‐making, which can be used in both initial and in‐service teacher education.

Teachers’ views of their assessment practice

The main aim of this research was to analyse teachers’ views of pupil assessment. The theoretical framework was based on existing literature on advances and challenges of pupil assessment in regard to support for learning, fairness, educational partnership, feedback, and favourable methods. The data were gathered by means of a questionnaire designed for teachers of comprehensive schools. Teachers were first asked to describe a good (right/fair) and a bad (wrong/unfair) case of pupil assessment selected from the period of latest three years. Second, two lists of factors were presented, and respondents were asked to indicate which were the most influential in making pupil assessment either difficult or easy. One hundred twenty-six teachers completed and returned the questionnaire. A descriptive, mainly qualitative approach was used to analyse the data. The majority of positive views concerned the use of different assessment methods, an interactive approach, encouraging feedback, and criteria clarification. Negative views dealt with improper assessment methods, level of stringency, badly implemented assessment, and weak grounds for assessment. Three factors made assessment as difficult: interpretation of fairness, pupils with special needs, and pupils’ heterogeneity. On the other hand, versatile assessment methods, curriculum advice, and pupils’ good competencies made teachers’ assessment work easy.

Effective Studies of Pedagogical Ethics with Computers? A Quasi‐experimental Process–Product Study of Two Learning Modes

This investigation focused on the development of a study module called Pedagogical Ethics (PEd) in teacher education at the university level. The main aim was to examine both experiences of the study process and learning results. The quasi‐experimental design was developed by student teachers. The experimental group ( n = 32) attended a web‐based PEd course designed using the WebCT tool, while the control group ( n = 65) studied the same material in the traditional way. The same person was the teacher in both teaching–learning modes. Both groups evaluated the content and the mode as excellent, but the traditional teaching–learning mode was slightly more effective than the web‐based course. The quantity and quality of the technology‐mediated discussions concerning the ethical case studies were uneven. The differences in learning results between the experimental and control groups were not statistically significant.