A team of secondary school language teachers and a teacher trainer developed a new method for Dutch writing instruction. The principles underlying the method were derived from insights regarding activating instruction and self-directed student learning. The development entailed two phases. In the first phase, the exploration of actual problems in…

As part of a feasibility assessment of the level of education in the Netherlands, oracy skills of 6th-grade students, aged 10 to 12 years, were measured. Oracy tasks were constructed from the answers of teachers, parents, and educational experts to a questionnaire on desirable skills for the age group. The six tasks developed were administered to…

Teachers possess several strategies to fine-tune their purposive interactions to children's needs. Our study investigates which strategies teachers use in their goal oriented interactions with pupils, whether differentiation is perceptible in the way they interact with children whom they define as "children at risk" as compared to the…

The author visited an elementary school in the Netherlands and found that enthusiasm for learning, patience with children's progress, spontaneity in response to children's interest, and the use of drama are recurring patterns in the classrooms of preschoolers. (Author/LHW)

A Dutch study compared two first grade classes with regard to teacher treatment of students and student behavior (dependent variables). One class participated in a national initiative to reduce or eliminate educational inequities. The independent variables included socioeconomic background, sex, scholastic identity attributed by the teacher, and…

Many researchers have begun to investigate possible predictors for the problems that beginning teachers may or may not face early in their career (often many of the problems faced are related to establishing and maintaining 'order' in the classroom). Two broad factors related to this problem were identified: (1) interpersonal aspect of teacher…

Argues that researchers give insufficient concern to choice of research sites. Criticizes researchers who settle for sites based on convenient ready access, time, financial and personal costs and who do not consider theoretical objectives of studies. Illustrates main arguments using comparative research about schools for religious minorities in…

The central question of this study was how gender, ethnicity, and ability influence students' participation in small cooperative groups, especially in relation to leadership. Interaction processes during cooperative group work were recorded in detail on the basis of direct observation and audio-recordings, and transcripts were analyzed by…

Examines teachers' knowledge and understanding of classrooms in terms of interpretation of nonverbal and situational clues. Two sets of videotapes of classroom episodes, one in Hebrew and one in Dutch, were viewed by both Dutch and Israeli teachers in cross-cultural settings. Analysis of responses yielded insights into the two cultures.…

In this paper we propose a theoretical reassessment of the discourse-analytic tools that are used in classroom research and of the data that are addressed. To that end we present in-depth analyses of 1) an IRE structure in a first English (EFL) lesson in a Dutch secondary school; 2) episodes from Dutch as a second language classes in a school for…

Investigated how students and teachers in mixed-age classes spent their learning time during reading, language arts, and mathematics. No significant differences between single- and multi-aged classes was found. Concludes that teachers found working in mixed-age classes very difficult, with most working as if they were teaching two different…