Theo Wubbels

"Many Western European countries as well as the USA are facing a growing ethnic and cultural diversity within their populations. The Netherlands increasingly have to cope with problematic situations that seem to be connected to the growing multicultural character of the society. Education is pointed to as a means to strengthen social cohesion in society, to build mutual understanding among citizens and to foster intercultural communication. Often it is said that teachers need specific and additional competence for these new educational tasks: teacher professionalism in multicultural classrooms then would differ from that in less diverse classrooms. In this chapter we will analyse from an interpersonal perspective to what degree teaching in multicultural classrooms asks for specific pedagogical approaches. Teacher professionalism can be approached from various perspectives. There are several reasons to focus on teacher-student interpersonal relationships. Not only are these relationships strongly related to student achievement and motivation, but also it has been shown that healthy teacher-student interpersonal relationships are a prerequisite for engaging students in learning activities and are positively related with teachers’ satisfaction with their profession and with prevention of burn-out. In the context of this chapter it is important that teaching and learning require perception and communication, both of which are culturally influenced. Students and teachers in classes at multicultural schools have to be skilful intercultural communicators. Such skills are important, because according to Hofstede (1986) teacher-student communication is such an archetypical human phenomenon, so deeply rooted in the culture of society, that cross-cultural learning situations are fundamentally problematic for both parties. We analyse in this chapter interpersonal strategies that teachers use in multicultural classrooms both from the teacher’s view (self-reported behaviour) and from an observer’s view. We studied what strategies 16 experienced teachers in multicultural classes demonstrated to realize a safe working atmosphere in class. In every participating class, one lesson was videotaped in order to be analyzed for observable interpersonal strategies. Immediately after this videotaped lesson, a semi-structured interview was conducted with the teacher, in order to obtain information with respect to reported strategies (in a stimulated recall procedure), teacher beliefs and more background information of the class and teacher. Finally, students and teachers completed a questionnaire, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction. With this questionnaire, data was gathered on their perceptions of the interpersonal style of the teacher. We use these data to describe the beliefs, knowledge and attitudes of teachers on teaching in multicultural classes and their interpersonal strategies and actions, and to answer the question to what degree these teachers display interpersonal competence (teaching strategies, knowledge and attitudes) specific for teaching in multicultural classrooms. We do so by comparing these teachers’ competence with generic interpersonal teaching competence. The paper contributes to the debate in the literature about the question to what degree teacher professionalism in multicultural classrooms is different from a more generic approach to good teaching. Is good teaching in multicultural classrooms just good teaching or does it require specific teacher competence? "

In this chapter we present the design (section 4) and results (section 5) of the Dutch study on principal and teacher perceptions of teacher responsibility for school change. As a background for the results, we first present in section 2 some information about the Dutch educational system at the time of data collection, its foundation and structure.

The results show that teachers' ideals of the teacher-student relationship are rather stable during the teaching career; they consistently strive for a high degree of dominance and co-operativeness. The actual teacher-student relationship however changes during the career. On average, there is a significant increase in dominant behaviour of teachers during the first decade of their career: a movement towards the ideal teacher-student relationship Alter lhis period, dominance stabilises. On average, there is no change in co-operative behaviour. ...

In dit onderzoek is nagegaan welk interpersoonlijk gedrag docenten vertonen in multiculturele klassen. Het onderzoek is uitgevoerd bij 15 docenten die lesgeven op 3 scholen. In het onderzoek is gebruik gemaakt van vragenlijsten, video-opnames en stimulated-recall interviews. De resultaten laten zien dat leerlingen docenten percipieerden als leidend en cooperatief. Verder blijken Marokkaanse leerlingen hun docenten strenger en meer corrigerend te vinden. Uit de interviews blijkt dat interpersoonlijke competenties en daaraan gekoppelde gedragingen en cognities passen binnen meer algemene docentcompetenties.

In this paper the focus is on the knowledge component of interpersonal expertise. We define teacher interpersonal knowledge as: knowledge of (healthy) teacher student relationships and knowledge of strategies on how to create and maintain these relationships with different (groups of) students. In this paper we explore a measurement method to investigate the accuracy of teacher interpersonal knowledge. It is assumed that a higher accuracy of teacher interpersonal knowledge represents a higher level of teacher expertise.

ABSTRACT This study builds on two assumptions regarding agency in teachers' workplace learning. (1) While teachers enact school reform in daily school and classroom practice, they actively redefine the reform. (2) In this learning process, in which working and learning are integrated, teachers reinterpret and reinvent the workplace conditions in their school. These workplace conditions function as enabling and/or constraining environments for learning. Teachers' perception of workplace conditions in their schools and their definitions of and attitudes toward reform are regarded as more or less integrated results of and conditions for workplace learning. As such, they are expected to be related. The question in this article is if this relationship can be demonstrated. Data are collected in a comparative case study of 18 secondary school teachers in the context of the reform of students' active and self-directed learning. Results show that schools as learning environments are interpreted by teachers as complex and multidimensional, rather than dual ideal types. Teachers' definitions of and attitudes toward reform are related to their perceptions of workplace conditions in the predicted direction.

ABSTRACT Some researchers suggest that the way a teacher is perceived during the first encounter with a classroom group resembles, and therefore is predictive of, later classroom processes as perceived by students. This study investigated the degree to which interpersonal ratings (i.e., control and affiliation), given by secondary school students to teachers unknown to them, are comparable to ratings given by students who are well acquainted with that teacher, by means of a quasi-experimental design. Ratings concerning a teacher students had not met before, based on a 5 min video vignette, were compared to ratings given by students who had been taught by the same teacher for at least a year (N $\,{=}\,$ 489). Students at no acquaintance perceived a teacher’s interpersonal traits in a similar way as students who were familiar with that teacher. It is concluded that students’ early interpersonal perceptions of a teacher largely resemble perceptions formed by students that know this teacher well.

In recent decades we witnessed ongoing debates about the objectives of history education, with different underlying epistemological perspectives. This qualitative study explored prospective history teachers' beliefs about these objectives of history education. Prospective history teachers of six universities starting a teacher educational programme were invited to answer an open-ended questionnaire about history education. Six objectives were found: (1) memorising; (2) critical/explanatory; (3) constructivist; (4) perspective-taking; (5) moral; and (6) collective-identity objectives. Almost all prospective teachers mentioned several of these objectives. A distinction between two epistemological perspectives on historical knowledge representation (factual or interpretive), was used as a framework for categorising the different objectives. More than half of the respondents mentioned objectives of history education that represent history as factual and objectives that represent his...

'Wat is goed onderwijs? Bijdragen uit de psychologie' is het tweede in een reeks die telkens vanuit een andere discipline worden geschreven. In het eerste deel stond de sociologische invalshoek centraal. In het tweede deel worden vragen en thema’s vanuit een psychologisch perspectief behandeld. Het gaat hierbij om de vraag wat leren nu eigenlijk is. Hoe leren mensen feiten? Hoe leren mensen vaardigheden? De discussie over het bestaan en de relevantie van het begrip leerstijlen blijkt nog steeds niet ten einde. Een ander belangrijk onderwerp is motivatie. Hoe is motivatie te beinvloeden en op welke manier hangt dit samen met zelfsturing? Leren is een sociaal gebeuren, je kunt het niet alleen. Samenwerkend leren blijkt tot betere leerresultaten te kunnen leiden. Het gebruik van computers daarbij kan onder voorwaarden voor extra ondersteuning en intensivering zorgen. Hoe kunnen leraren gebruik maken van de kennis die de laatste jaren ontwikkeld is in de breinwetenschappen? Inzichten vanuit de psychologie worden gekoppeld aan leren van bepaalde schoolvakken en binnen bepaalde contexten. Welke psychologische inzichten zijn relevant voor het beter leren van taal en van rekenen? En op welke manier kan het leren in arbeidsorganisaties verbeterd worden? In een afsluitend hoofdstuk wordt de vraag gesteld wat de gepresenteerde psychologische inzichten betekenen voor de leeractiviteiten van leerlingen en de onderwijsactiviteiten van leraren. Hoe kunnen zij deze kennis gebruiken voor beter onderwijs?

Due to increased external, societal pressure on schools via developments such as accountability and accreditation, there is a growing need of schools for instruments that provide them with information on the quality of the teaching and learning processes they organize. This paper presents an instrument that can be used to diagnose teachers’ interpersonal skills, one element of teaching quality that may be of interest to schools. The instrument is based on the theory of interpersonal communication of Timothy Leary. Apart from a discussion of the theoretical framework behind the instrument, the paper presents information on the instrument itself and procedures for using the instrument with teachers and students. Also, information is provided on possibilities of using the instrument for staff development and other purposes of schools. The instrument appears to be of high quality and is accompanied by a large database of information linking it to other factors in the classroom context.

This paper explores how State Space Grids (SSG), a dynamic systems research method, can be used to map teacher–student interactions from moment-to-moment and thereby to incorporate temporal aspects of interaction. Interactions in two secondary school classrooms are described in terms of level of interpersonal control and affiliation, and of variability and recurrent stable states (called “attractors”) of teacher–student interaction. Undesirable interactions appeared to feature weaker attractors and higher variability than more ...

ABSTRACT This study analyzed children's generalized perceptions of teacher interpersonal behavior in terms of two dimensions, control and affiliation, referring to the degree of teacher leadership/management and teacher friendliness/cooperation in the classroom, respectively. An adapted version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction was developed for children ages 6–9. The association between teacher interpersonal behavior and mathematics achievement was investigated by analyzing data from 828 first and second graders in 40 classes across 24 primary schools in the Netherlands. Results revealed the presence of the two interpersonal dimensions with acceptable reliability. Multilevel regression analyses indicated that teacher control and affiliation were positively associated with mathematics achievement, after controlling for mid-year achievement. Control and affiliation each had a partially unique contribution. A differential role of affiliation, but not of control, was found across classes. Our results provided evidence that child perceptions of teacher's control and affiliation are important predictors of early academic achievement.

This study sought to identify some of the ways in which culture relates to students' perceptions of teachers, and to provide possible interpretations for these perceptions. An underlying concept for this study is the belief that a teacher's interpersonal actions, in which s/he creates and maintains a positive classroom atmosphere, is vitally important to the quality of teaching. In this investigation, interpersonal teacher behavior, or communication style, was analyzed from both the students' and teachers' perspectives, and related to ...

During the last ten years universities in The Netherlands have become less dependent on national policies regarding salary structures, promotion criteria and reward systems. At the same time the government has put increased pressure on universities to take a serious look at the ...

One of the major problems facing a beginning teacher is how to create a favorable working climate in the classroom (Veenman, 1984). The study of this problem involves an analysis of undesirable classroom situations and particularly of the management behavior of the teacher. ...