The relationship between teachers’ beliefs, classroom practices and learning outcomes: how effective are teachers in Flemish priority policy schools. A focus on diversity

Author(s):

Lia Blaton

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

07 SES 05B, Schools Outcome

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-11

08:30-10:00

Room:

B1 113

Chair:

Yvonne Leeman

Contribution

The Flemish Centre for Equal Educational Opportunities set up a research project on “the relationship between teachers’ beliefs, classroom practices and learning outcomes: how effective are teachers in Flemish priority policy schools”. The Flemish Centre for Equal Educational Opportunities (CEEO) consists of three units: the Centre for Language and Education (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), the Centre for Experiential Education (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) and the Centre for Diversity & Learning (Ghent University/Universiteit Gent) (1). The Centre supports the Educational Priority Policy of the Flemish government through the development of teaching materials, the training of teachers in compulsory and higher education and through research. In 2006, the CEEO set up an in-depth research project that aims at examining education in heterogenous and underpriviledged classes in primary education. The researchers intend to work out the effectiveness of different school- and classvariables. More specific the research focuses on the relation between perceptions of teachers and their classroom practices and learning outcomes (Dutch language proficiency, school results & social competencies, well-being and involvement). The general research questions are “How does the way teachers perceive and deal with heterogenous (and underpriviledged) groups in the classroom make a difference?” and “What is the relation between teachers’ beliefs, classroom practice and learning outcomes?” Within this research, four different researchers focus on different topics: language proficiency (writing skills and knowledge construction), well-being, involvement and competencies of the pupils, and diversity (on the level of teachers and students). The different researches are closely knit: (separate) data are collected in the same classes, the same (10 focus-) pupils are selected and part of the research data overlap (interviews, school documents, questionaries for parents, ….). The research was set up as different studies indicate that the teacher is crucial in combating social inequity (Duru-Bellat, 2004, Nicaise, 2001, Solomon & Battistich, 1996, Van Houtte, 2003) in education, but the studies (usually quantitative) cannot reveal the crucial underlying variables (De Mayer et al., 2003). This research tries to discover how teachers (and schools) can make the difference in their day-to-day work. The research that forms the basis of this paper focuses on diversity (1). The main research question for this topic reads: “What is the impact of teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices (of teachers in the 4th (age 10) and 6th year (age 12) of primary schools) with respect to dealing wit diversity (intercultural education) on students (learning outcomes, competencies (dealing with diversity)”. In this research we aim at discovering what the differences are between teachers in dealing with the diversity of their pupils, what their own view of diversity (and the multicultural world) is, what they say about it and how they communicate it in their classes. We aim at discovering what the effect is on pupil behavior: how deal children with the diversity in their class, how do they work together (if they get the chance) and are there indications of effect on learning outcomes. (1) The Centre for Diversity & Learning was formerly called the Centre for Intercultural Learning. In 2007 we changed our name as the concept of ‘Intercultural Learning” as a term lead to many misconceptions as for many people it only refers to ethnic diversity. The centre developed a new frame of reference (Sierens, 2007), building on our developed expertise, and using the term “diversity”.

Method

Qualitative and quantitave research data were collected in the schoolyear 2006-2007 in 21 classes of 8 primary schools. - Selection of schools: The schools were selected (Van Gorp, 2007, Bertrands, et al. (2006,2007)) according to three criterial: (1) Schools are Educational Priority Schools that have invested in creating equal opportunities for all pupils, (2) the schools’ pupil population predominantly consists of low SES children and children for whom Dutch is their second language (two groups of schools are discerned: 40% to 70% and 70% to 100% priority pupils). (3) Last of all, the schools selected use for three years the same language monitoring system (VLOT, Colpin et al. 1997). - Classroom observations: In each class (2 classes/school) in three schools one week ethnographic observations (Hammerley, 1990, Soenen, 1999, 2002; Delrue, 2003; Jaspers, 2005; Angrosino, 2007) in the first semester and second semester were carried out. - Video data (Jacobs, et al., 1999; Banks, 2007) were collected : In every class groups of children were taped on video (during math, Dutch classes, world studies and – if possible- while children are working on different tasks (hoekenwerk) in the class. The teachers were asked to do (at least) one activity of cooperative learning in multicultural groups and groupwork. - Teachers, headteachers and teachers in charge of equality of education were interviewed about their thinking about diversity (f.e. how do they think about diversity, what are their practices, what is according to them the best way of dealing with the diverse classroom and how can you prepare children to live in a multicultural world). Children were interviews (selected group) and sociometric data of all children (2 times in the school year) were collected. - School policy documents were collected (documents with the equality of education policy of the school, school regulations and general school policy documents) and are going to be analyzed to paint a picture of the school policy on paper and to compare this with the school policy (on diversity) in practice.

Expected Outcomes

In this paper we will mainly elaborate the theoretical outline of this research project and the research design which stems form this framework. We will also present the first results of the qualitative analysis of the video data and observations of student-interaction and classroom teaching in reference to dealing with diversity (intercultural education).

References

Angrosino, M. (2007). Doing Ethnographic and Observational Research. The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit. London: Sage Publications. Banks, M. (2007). Using Visual Data in Qualitative Research. The SAGE Qualitative Research Kit. London: Sage Publications. Bertrands, E., Blaton, L., Van Gorp, K. & Verheyden, L. (2006). Jaarverslag 2006. (Onuitgegeven voortgangsrapport).Leuven/Gent: Steunpunt Gelijke Onderwijskansen. Bertrands, E., Blaton, L., Van Gorp, K. & Verheyden, L. (2007). Stand van zaken 2007. (Onuitgegeven voortgangsrapport). Leuven/Gent: Steunpunt Gelijke Onderwijskansen. Blaton, Lia, Annelies Joos, Mieke Devlieger & Greet Goossens (2004) Evaluatie Voorrangsbeleid Brussel, Eindverslag 2004. Gent & Leuven: Universiteit Gent, Steunpunt ICO & K.U.Leuven, Steunpunt NT2, onuitgegeven onderzoeksrapport Colpin, M., Gysen, S., Jaspaert, K., Timmermans, S. & K. Van den Branden (red.) (1997). VLOT. Volgsysteem Lager Onderwijs: Taalvaardigheid. Deurne: Wolters Plantyn. Delrue, Kaat (2003) Zure druiven, zoete krenten? Een schooletnografisch onderzoek in het secundair onderwijs. Gent: Universiteit Gent, Steunpunt ICO De Maeyer, S., Rymenans, R., Daems, F., Van Petegem, P. & H. van den Bergh (2003). Effectiviteit van tso- en bso-scholen in Vlaanderen. Een onderzoek naar de effecten van schoolkenmerken op de prestaties en het welbevinden op school van tso- en bso-leerlingen. Leuven: Acco. Duru-Bellat, Marie (2004). Social inequality at school and educational policies. Parijs: IIEP- UNESCO. Hammerley, M. (1990). Reading ethnographic research. A critical guide. New York: Longman. Hillewaere, Katrijn (2001) Evaluatieonderzoek van het onderwijsbeleid ten aanzien van etnische minderheden in het lager onderwijs, OBPWO 99.15 Deelrapport: implementatie - Eindrapport -. Promotor: Prof. Dr. L. Lagrou, copromotoren: Prof. Dr. R. Pinxten en Dr. M. Verlot. Gent: Universiteit Gent, Steunpunt ICO, onuitgegeven onderzoeksrapport Jaspers, J. (2005). Tegenwerken, belachelijk doen. Talige sabotage van Marokkaanse jongens op een Antwerpse middelbare school. Brussel: VUBPress. Jacobs, J., et.al. (1999). Integrating Qualitative and quantitative approaches to the analysis of video data on classroom teaching. In: International Journal of Educational Research, 31, 717-724. Nicaise, Ides (2001). Onderwijs en armoedebestrijding: op zoek naar een nieuwe adem. In: Jan Vranken, Dirk Geldof, Gerard Van Menxel & Jeff Van Ouytsel (red.). Armoede en sociale uitsluiting. Jaarboek 2001. Leuven & Leusden: Acco, pp. 223-242. Sierens, Sven (2007). Leren voor diversiteit, leren in diversiteit. Een referentiekader van het Steunpunt Diversiteit & Leren. Gent: Steunpunt Diversiteit & Leren: Universiteit Gent. (http://www.diversiteitenleren.be/main.asp?lan=1&typ=2 ) Soenen, Ruth (1999) Over Galliërs en managers. Bouwstenen voor intercultureel leren. Gent: Universiteit Gent, Steunpunt ICO Soenen, Ruth (2002) Diversity as a tool for ethnography: From a critical child to an ethnographer with little patience. In: Geoffrey Walford (ed.), Debates and developments in ethnographic methodology. Oxford: JAI Press/An imprint of Elsevier Science, pp. 73-94 (Studies in Educational Ethnography, Volume 6). Solomon, Daniel & Battistich, Victor (1996). Teacher beliefs and practices in schools serving communities that differ in socioeconomic level. Journal of Experimental Education, 64 (4): 327-348. Van Gorp, Koen (2007). Presentation: “The relationship between teachers’ beliefs, classroom practices and learning outcomes: how effective are teachers in Flemish multilingual priority policy schools? A mixed methods approach” (The 17th European Second Language Association Conference - http://www.ncl.ac.uk/niassh/eurosla17/ ). Van Houtte, Mieke (2003). Reproductietheorieën getoetst. De link tussen SES-compositie van de school en onderwijscultuur van leerkrchten en directie. Mens en Maatschappij, 78 (2): 119-143.

Author Information

Lia Blaton

Ghent University

Centre for Diversity & Learning

Gent

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