Peter Van Petegem

The environmental worldview of children: a cross‐cultural perspective

The authors’ research investigated young people’s environmental worldviews using the revised ‘New Ecological Paradigm’ scale for children. The scale is a widely used measure of people’s shifting worldviews from a human dominant view to an ecological one, with humans as part of nature. However, the scale has not been used with children. By administering the scale to children aged 13–15 in Belgium and Zimbabwe, the authors found statistical differences between the two subgroups in their perspectives on human–environment interactions. Children in Zimbabwe and Belgium display ecological worldviews but differences occur at the human dominance dimension. Respondents in Belgium believe in human–nature equality, whereas Zimbabwean youngsters feel more dominant over nature and emphasize a utilitarian view of the environment.

Educational Leadership and Pupil Achievement: The Choice of a Valid Conceptual Model to Test Effects in School Effectiveness Research.

School effectiveness research often uses multilevel models in which only direct effects of characteristics of schools on pupil achievement are modelled. Recently, more attention is given to conceptual models that assume indirect and antecedent effects. In this paper, we elaborate on these models and show that the findings from school effectiveness research are influenced by the conceptual model underlying the analyses. We do this by focusing on the effect of “integrated leadership” on 2 outcome measures: mathematics achievement and mother tongue achievement. Four different conceptual models will be tested by means of multilevel structural equation modelling. Therefore we use data from a school effectiveness research in Flanders (850 fourth graders and 847 sixth graders within 47 schools). The results of these analyses show that the conclusion whether integrated leadership has an effect or not on pupil achievement, is dependent on the choice of the conceptual model.

Using school performance feedback: perceptions of primary school principals

The present study focuses on the perception of primary school principals of school performance feedback (SPF) and of the actual use of this information. This study is part of a larger project which aims to develop a new school performance feedback system (SPFS). The study builds on an eclectic framework that integrates the literature on SPFSs. Through in-depth interviews with 16 school principals, 4 clusters of factors influencing school feedback use were identified: context, school and user, SPFS, and support. This study refines the description of feedback use in terms of phases and types of use and effects on school improvement. Although school performance feedback can be seen as an important instrument for school improvement, no systematic use of feedback by school principals was observed. This was partly explained by a lack of skills, time, and support.

Validity and Reliability of Portfolio Assessment in Pre-Service Teacher Education.

This article concentrates on the validity and reliability of portfolio assessment as used in pre‐service teacher education. It is not possible to make general pronouncements about the validity of portfolio assessment in pre‐service teacher education as there are multiple portfolio applications. The validity depends on the purpose, namely the divers competencies which the course organisers wish to assess with it. Therefore, three categories of competencies and consequently three types of portfolios were distinguished in order to determine the validity of portfolio assessment. For the assessment of teaching and partnership competencies, it is argued that the validity is low due to the roundabout nature of the assessment. On the contrary, the validity of portfolio assessment for learning competencies can be high. The execution of a self‐regulated learning process can be accurately assessed using portfolios. The reliability of portfolio assessment is problematic, since it is incapable of fulfilling the classic psychometric requirement of reliability. Nevertheless, provided that the necessary measures are taken, the reliability of portfolio assessment can still be brought to an acceptable level. Five measures are proposed.

The influence of competences and support on school performance feedback use

Information‐rich environments are created to promote data use in schools for the purpose of self‐evaluation and quality assurance. However, providing feedback does not guarantee that schools will actually put it to use. One of the main stumbling blocks relates to the interpretation and diagnosis of the information. This study examines the relationship between data literacy competences, support given in interpreting the information, actual use of the feedback and potential school improvement effect. A randomised field experiment with 188 school principals from primary education was set up and a post‐test was used to investigate the effects of a support initiative. The results revealed that a minority of schools invested significantly in the interpretation and diagnosis of the school performance feedback (SPF), despite the fact that most of the respondents showed an interest in the SPF report. In addition, data competence support and the subsequent use of feedback were found to be limited.

A Cross-Cultural Study of Environmental Values and Their Effect on the Environmental Behavior of Children

Environmental values (EV) are regarded as significant precursors for environmental behavior (EB) by many scholars. The present study addresses the issue of the invariance of EV (tapped by the two-dimensional model of ecological values), and their effect on EB, across cultural contexts. In all, a total of 1,833 ten- to thirteen-year-old children from Flanders, Guatemala, and Vietnam participated. The results show that EV and EB can be measured through a partially invariant model; children from the different groups differ in their EV and EB. Furthermore, the results show that the effect of EV on EB is different across cultural contexts. These results have implications for (among others) environmental education initiatives that aim for behavior change. Such initiatives need to take into account the target group, which—as illustrated by the results—shows different pathways toward reaching EB. Practitioners would therefore benefit from a culture-specific approach to designing environmental education.Environmental values (EV) are regarded as significant precursors for environmental behavior (EB) by many scholars. The present study addresses the issue of the invariance of EV (tapped by the two-dimensional model of ecological values), and their effect on EB, across cultural contexts. In all, a total of 1,833 ten- to thirteen-year-old children from Flanders, Guatemala, and Vietnam participated. The results show that EV and EB can be measured through a partially invariant model; children from the different groups differ in their EV and EB. Furthermore, the results show that the effect of EV on EB is different across cultural contexts. These results have implications for (among others) environmental education initiatives that aim for behavior change. Such initiatives need to take into account the target group, which—as illustrated by the results—shows different pathways toward reaching EB. Practitioners would therefore benefit from a culture-specific approach to designing environmental education.

Longitudinal Measurement Invariance of Likert-Type Learning Strategy Scales: Are We Using the Same Ruler at Each Wave?.

Whether or not learning strategies change during the course of higher education is an important topic in the Student Approaches to Learning field. However, there is a dearth of any empirical evaluations in the literature as to whether or not the instruments in this research domain measure equivalently over time. Therefore, this study details the procedure of longitudinal measurement invariance testing of self-report Likert-type scales, using the case of learning strategies. The sample consists of 245 University College students who filled out the Inventory of Learning Styles—Short Version three times. Using the WLSMV estimator to take into account the ordinal nature of the data, a series of models with progressively more stringent constraints were estimated using Mplus 6.1. The results indicate that longitudinal measurement invariance holds for all but two learning strategy scales. The implications for longitudinal analysis using scales with varying degrees of measurement invariance are discussed.

Implementing Environmental Education in Pre-Service Teacher Training.

Implementing environmental education is a complex, unpredictable and time‐consuming process, which, despite the introduction of cross‐curricular attainment targets, is often ignored in Flemish teacher training curricula. This article reports on implementing environmental education in two teacher training colleges using seven criteria: participant engagement, instructor credibility, intention, functionality, self‐efficacy, school climate and evaluation. One college has a long history of cross‐curricular education, whereas the other college has just started. It was found that the implementation processes in the two teacher training institutions stagnated owing to personal and organizational obstructions. To deal with these constraints, several recommendations are suggested.

Linking the Policymaking Capacities of Schools and the Quality of School Self-evaluations: The View of School Leaders

Schools are increasingly expected to take responsibility for aspects of educational quality assurance. The fact that the Flemish government requires its schools to conduct self-evaluations of their equal opportunities policies is an example of this. This article reports on the findings of a study that investigated the quality of these school self-evaluations and the impact of key factors of policy effectiveness on quality aspects of these self-evaluations. The headteachers of a representative sample of schools (N = 580) that pursue equal opportunities for all pupils were questioned by means of a written survey. The results indicate that most headteachers take the view that their school performed well on the quality aspects of the school self-evaluation. However, there are considerable differences between schools. School scores with regard to the quality indicators of school self-evaluations show a correlation with aspects of schools’ policy-making capacities. On this basis, the concepts of policymaking capacities and policy effectiveness seem to be a promising tool with regard to the description, monitoring and improvement of the quality of school self-evaluations.

Gender Differences in Environmental Values: An Issue of Measurement?

Increasingly, researchers are focusing on the study of environmental values of young people. Indeed, it is today’s youth who will be the decision makers in the future. Attention has turned to explaining individual differences in this construct, and many authors have illustrated gender differences. The current study (N = 1,285, 10- to 12-year-olds) compares results of a classical analytical approach to quantifying such differences (independent samples t tests) with one of measurement and structural invariance across genders. The essential difference between the two is that whereas the latter controls for differential item functioning across gender, the first does not. The results show that whereas gender differences in utilization values occur when applying a classic analytical approach, they do not occur through the invariance approach. These results suggest that other studies that demonstrated gender differences might be explained by differential item functioning rather than reflect genuine differences, and might thus represent methodological artifacts.