Swiss Primary Schools Research Articles

Metacognitive Awareness in Second Language Learning: Displaced Primary School Students’ Experiences of Learning German Upon Transition to the Target Language Environment

Drawing on international pedagogical discourse on the inclusion of ethnically diverse refugee groups in the educational systems of OECD countries as well as our previous research on the Ukrainian refugee perspectives on primary school in Switzerland, the author examines experiences of second language acquisition by displaced Ukrainian children in Swiss primary schools. The two-year research period allowed for the exploration of dynamics of German language acquisition by displaced children in conditions of full immersion in the target language environment and identification of the factors influencing their second language (German) learning and performance. The involvement of a Ukrainian researcher in the research project ensured accessibility of the target group and effective researcher-respondent communication in the course of longitudinal study carried out within the framework of a qualitative methodology with data collection through narrative inquiry and participant observations as research tools. The study identifies the effects of the two groups of factors: learner-internal (motivation, metacognitive skills, prior knowledge, and learning strategies) and learner-external ones (second language learning context, type of second language instruction available upon displacement, etc.). Metacognitive skills proved to be instrumental in second language learning in the context of the learners’ unexpected transition to a new educational setting and full immersion in the target language environment. Effects of metacognitive skills on second language learning of the studied group of displaced children vary considerably depending on the student’s age, prior knowledge and language learning experiences, and second language instruction available upon the displacement. The multidisciplinary character of the second language acquisition research undertaken by the author allows for diverse practical applications of its results in second language pedagogy, psychology of education, as well as in refugee and primary education.

“Collaboration with parents isn’t a burden. It’s just a natural part of my work.” - Parental Involvement in Switzerland – An Analysis of Attitudes and Practices of Swiss Primary School Teachers

The subject of home-school relationship is normatively charged and has increasingly become the focal point of pedagogical discourse in the past years. The article reports results of the project “Home-School Cooperation”, which was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. This qualitative study examines, how teachers shape their interaction with parents. The main research question is, which habitualised background convictions guide the interaction of teachers with parents. The data was collected in 10 Swiss primary schools. 39 interviews with teachers and headmasters were transcribed for case reconstructions. They were analysed using sequence analysis according to the method of objective hermeneutics (Oevermann, 2000, 2002a) and interpreted in the tradition of the “Deutungsmusteranalyse” (analyses of patterns of interpretation) (Dewe, 1984). We refer to Oevermann’s theory of professionalisation (Oevermann, 1996, 2002b). Main results are: Teacher–parent cooperation differs as follows: active vs. passive focus on action; dominant client focus; the way the school’s interests is enforced on parents. Teachers show three different interpretations on school–family relationship. “Schools and families as unconnected agents of socialization”; “schools and families as disparate actors of socialization” and “cooperation as a partnership in a professionalised work alliance”. Moreover, seven super-individually interaction patterns can be reconstructed.

Parent Involvement – the practice of principals in lower primary schools in Switzerland

In a project of qualitative social research we analyse the interviews with eight principals of Swiss primary schools. We analyse the attitudes and the practice of parent involvement in these schools, which depend on the socioeconomic status of the community, the professional experience and the actual management style of the school director. We found a great variety of practices that are based on different attitudes on how to interact with parents. We can see a dichotomy of strategies: one is the way how the principals deal with parents who relate to the school to enforce their individual interests in their own child or its success at school. The other one concerns parents who obviously do not cooperate with the school. Patterns of best practice are analysed and will be used as a material to train student teachers. The practice of the principal is not only determined by the parents and the social context of the school. The biographical and the professional experience of the principal, the management style, which means the formation of the school culture and networking in the community, represent an important part of the practice of a principal.

No Loss, No Gain? COVID-19 school closures and Swiss fifth-graders' competencies and self-concept in mathematics

Abstract: COVID-19-related school closures in spring 2020 interrupted learning routines and posed a great challenge for students' competencies acquisition and self-concepts. Concerns about possible learning losses due to school closures, especially for disadvantaged students, are justified, but the currently available empirical evidence is still scarce, varies greatly with regard to context, and neglects reciprocal effects of competencies and self-concept. To address these shortcomings, this paper first provides insights on the effect that the 8 weeks of school closures had on Swiss primary school students' math competencies. IRT-based math tests were used to cross-sectionally compare data from 1,299 students in Grade 5 in late spring 2020 shortly after the reopening of schools with data from a previous year's cohort ( n = 11,314) using propensity score matching. The results revealed no significant differences in math competencies and no evidence of an increase in inequality when children with not German (vs German) as their first language were studied. Second, changes in math self-concepts in the school year 2019/20, when the pandemic first hit, as well as reciprocal effects of math competencies and math self-concept were assessed longitudinally ( n = 1,299) using random intercept cross-lagged panel models based on three measurement points. Results showed that higher math self-concept and positive change in math self-concept over the time of school closures were related to higher learning gains. Different development trajectories for children with German (vs not German) first language emerged. The study therefore fosters a better understanding of the effect that pandemic-induced school closures had on learning and relativizes the feared negative effects on math competencies caused by short school closures.

Secular change in selected motor performance parameters and BMI in Swiss primary school children from 2014-2021: The Sportcheck+ study

ABSTRACT It is important to monitor secular trends in children’s motor performance, as healthy and physically active children are more likely to become healthy and physically active adults. However, studies with regular and standardized monitoring of motor performance in childhood are scarce. Additionally, the impact of COVID-19 mitigation measures on secular trends is unknown. This study describes secular changes in balancing backwards, jumping sidewards, 20-m sprint, 20-m Shuttle Run Test (SRT) and anthropometric data in 10’953 Swiss first graders from 2014 to 2021. Multilevel mixed-effects models were used to estimate secular trends for boys vs. girls, lean vs. overweight and fit vs. unfit children. The potential influence of COVID-19 was also analysed. Balance performance decreased (2.8% per year), whereas we found improvements for jumping (1.3% per year) and BMI (−0.7% per year). 20-m SRT performance increased by 0.6% per year in unfit children. Children affected by COVID-19 measures had an increased BMI and were more overweight and obese, but motor performance was mostly higher. In our sample, secular changes in motor performance show promising tendencies from 2014 to 2021. The effects of COVID-19 mitigation measures on BMI, overweight and obesity should be monitored in additional birth cohorts and follow-up studies.

The Role of Dyadic Teacher–Student Relationships for Primary School Teachers’ Well-Being

Teacher well-being is not only relevant for the effectiveness of individual teaching and student learning but also for general school quality and societal functioning, because teacher well-being is related to lower burnout risks and lower attrition. Previous research identified social relationships in school as a crucial source of teacher well-being. However, studies investigating the role of teacher-student relationships as a determining factor for teacher well-being are still scarce. This study takes a qualitative approach toward investigating the role of dyadic teacher-student relationships in teacher well-being. We analyzed twenty-six semi-structured interviews with Swiss primary school teachers, using a qualitative content analysis. The results showed that dyadic teacher-student relationships played an important to a very important role in the everyday life of teachers and were a source of both positive and negative emotions, cognitions, and physical sensations. The quality of the dyadic teacher-student relationship was reflected in the social-emotional competence of both teachers and students. Conflicts were not necessarily inhibiting teacher well-being. The findings of this study can be used to inform teacher-training institutions, as well as authorities, on how to support teachers in building relationships with their students and, in turn, foster their well-being.

Development of teachers’ practices in the field of education for sustainable development (ESD): a discursive community of interdisciplinary practices focusing on the theme of chocolate

The aim of this article is to present a case study in the field of ESD for in-service teachers training conducted in a Swiss primary school . A Discursive Community of Interdisciplinary Practices (DCIP) has been created including researchers, teachers, and a pedagogical advisor in the context of ESD, focusing on the topic of chocolate. In this article, we discuss how the DCIP helped teachers to develop competencies in the field of ESD. Furthermore, we see how teacher training could lead to a transformation of teachers’ practices, moving from a normative education to a more reflexive one. We present the collaborative research and its theoretical context. The analysis of focus group discussions evidenced an evolution of ESD teachers’ points of view. The analysis of the teachers’ comments highlights the potential of the methods implemented to help teachers to enter into the process of conceptualizing knowledge in terms of ESD.

Normen beim kooperativen Schreiben im naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht – eine empirische Rekonstruktion

Abstract Writing in science education is considered to have great potential for language and science learning. However, the ways in which teachers and their students interact as writing communities in science lessons has so far rarely been studied in depth, particularly regarding the norms which guide cooperative writing. The present article remedies this by presenting the results of a study on the writing norms observable in cooperative writing tasks in science lessons in Swiss primary schools (3rd, 4th and 5th grade). A video corpus of appr. 50 hours was analysed using a combination of approaches, namely Qualitative Content Analysis and Conversation Analysis. First, the concept of norms underlying the present study is discussed and then, the methodological procedure, the data and results are presented. The writing norms reconstructed on the basis of the corpus represent six areas: 1. the way writing tasks are dealt with in science lessons, 2. content, 3. wording, 4. accuracy (orthography, morphology, syntax), 5. visual appearance (handwriting, layout) and 6. the procedure of cooperative writing itself. The article provides an overview of the reconstructed norms as well as a more detailed discussion of selected norms illustrated by corpus examples.

“BUT I KNOW THE WORD IN ENGLISH, JUST NOT IN GERMAN!” - THE UNFAIRNESS OF VOCABULARY -TRANSLATION TESTING AND LISTS

Due to convenience and expectations from parents, learners and other levels of schooling, Vocabulary-translation lists and test tests are one of the most frequent teaching and testing formats used in Swiss primary and lower secondary schools. This style of testing in ELT is, however, is fraught with problems ranging from the unfairness to learners who do not speak the local language (here German) at home, to the measures of what constructs are actually being assessed through such tests. Such tests are a frequent topic of discussion and discord in pre and in-service teacher training. In this paper, reasons for not using such tests and suggestions for alternative list forms and test types serving similar purposes are presented.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0951/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Digital citizenship in primary education: A systematic literature review describing how it is implemented

Digital citizenship (DC) has been introduced to the curriculum at Swiss primary schools, a fact that underscores the importance digital skills have for citizens of the future. Already prior to this development, an increasing number of scholarly publications on the concept appeared. In this project, a systematic literature review was conducted to identify how DC has been operationalized in teaching practices to date. The findings reveal that DC is often used as an umbrella term for technology-related learning tasks that nevertheless fail to actively engage students in practicing DC in a critical manner. In addition, older students are often asked to develop DC in project-based learning outside the school setting. While interdisciplinary approaches to DC have been proposed, disciplines such as philosophy or ecology—apparently necessary to work on citizenship—are not considered. Finally, digital tools/environments are never questioned and always imposed; as such, a critical approach to DC is not explicitly developed in the classroom. This literature review discusses the practical implications of the current state of research.

Teachers\u2019 perceived time pressure, emotional exhaustion and the role of social support from the school principal

Many teachers experience high levels of work-related strain due to time pressure, which over time can lead to various health problems, such as emotional exhaustion. However, there is growing evidence that this could be a reciprocal effect. Moreover, it is known that perceived social support can buffer the negative effects of stress, such as time pressure, on health outcomes. Less is known about buffering effects of received social support. Based on longitudinal data of n = 1071 Swiss primary and secondary school teachers over the course of one school year, the present study examined the reciprocal relationship between teachers’ perceived time pressure and emotional exhaustion and whether received social support from the school principal buffers this relationship. Results of a random intercept cross-lagged panel model show a strong relationship between teachers’ perceived time pressure and emotional exhaustion at the between-person level, but no effects at the within-person level. Further, received social support was directly related to less perceived time pressure and less emotional exhaustion. The results showed neither evidence for reciprocal effects between perceived time pressure and emotional exhaustion nor for a buffering effect of received social support from the school principal. Concluding, present findings indicate that the receipt of social support from the school principal is a central job resource that beneficially relates to teachers’ experience of time pressure and emotional exhaustion.

Teachers’ Implicit Theories of Professional Abilities in the Domain of School Improvement

Numerous studies show positive effects of students’ malleable implicit theories of their abilities on their self-regulated learning and learning achievements (Yeager and Dweck, 2012;Burnette et al., 2013), especially when domain-specific implicit theories are assessed (Costa and Faria, 2018). Thinking of school improvement as a collective learning process for the teaching staff, it is reasonable to assume that this relationship also exists on the teacher level. Hence, this study aims to provide answers to the following overarching question: What role do teachers’ implicit theories of professional abilities play for school improvement? In a first step, a measurement instrument was developed to assess teachers’ implicit theories of professional abilities in the domain of school improvement. In a second step, we explored the link between these implicit theories and collective teacher learning in the area of further developing the school’s educational practices. In a sample ofN= 1,483 Swiss primary school teachers atN= 59 schools, we analyzed how teachers’ malleable (vs. fixed) implicit theories of professional abilities are related to collective metacognitive and emotional-motivational regulation activities and to the perception that the school is on the right track to improvement. Results show that teachers’ implicit theories of professional abilities can be assessed reliably. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that the more teachers view professional abilities as malleable and developable, the more positive their perceptions of the schools’ improvement were. This relation was mediated by collective emotional-motivational regulation activities. However, no significant effect of a malleable implicit theory on collective metacognitive regulation was found. It can be concluded that teachers have varying beliefs about the malleability of teachers’ professional abilities that are linked to their collective regulation. It therefore acknowledges the domain-specific effects of teachers’ implicit theories in the area of school improvement.

Information and Trust in Parent-Teacher Cooperation – Connections with Educational Inequality

There is an ongoing debate on how parents and the cooperation between parents and teachers contribute to educational inequality. In this study, the assumption that information and trust in parent–teacher cooperation mediate the effects of parent socioeconomic status (SES) on student achievement in mathematics and instruction language (German) was examined. The effects of information and trust on achievement were assumed to be mediated by parent self-efficacy expectation in German. The hypotheses were tested using a sample with 1001 students from 4th to 6th grade and their parents in Swiss primary schools using questionnaires and achievement tests at the beginning and the end of a school year. Results from structural equation models with longitudinal data showed that parent trust and parent self-efficacy expectation fully mediated the effect of SES and student achievement in language instruction but not in mathematics. Information did not correlate with SES nor with student achievement, but with trust. Parental trust in the cooperation with teachers affected achievement in both mathematics and German. The model combines the research on parental involvement with the research on educational inequality in school. Teachers need to establish trust in cooperation with low-SES parents to reduce educational inequality in school.

Analysing formal formative assessment activities in the context of inquiry at primary and upper secondary school in Switzerland

ABSTRACT In this study, 34 trials of formal formative assessment activities in the context of inquiry-based science education (IBSE) from Swiss primary and upper secondary school teachers will be analysed. The aim will be to explore the formal formative assessment activities implemented in IBSE at different school levels. The trials (14 from primary school, 20 from upper secondary school) are documented with teaching plans and teaching materials as well as with transcripts from individual interviews. For the analysis, the trials were coded with a deductively developed coding scheme involving categories specifying the inquiry characteristics of the trials as well as the formative assessment characteristics. Overall, the empirical results suggest that at primary school level, more extensive formative assessment practices are possible, such as the combination of several methods within the context of one inquiry unit. At upper secondary school level, formative assessment practices are more straightforward and closely linked to summative assessment practices. These differences will be used to develop characteristic features of formative assessment practices for the two school levels.

The Relationship between Alienation from Learning and Student Needs in Swiss Primary and Secondary Schools

Abstract. Previous studies have shown that secondary schools are less successful than primary schools in responding to student needs. Simultaneously, students seem to detach themselves during secondary schooling. Based on this, the present study investigated alienation from learning and its relationship with students’ perception of needs support by teachers and peers by analyzing data from 486 primary and 550 secondary school students in Switzerland. Multigroup structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the relevance of each independent variable for alienation from learning within and across the two subsamples. Teacher injustice as an indicator for the teacher-student relationship was significantly associated with alienation from learning for both subsamples, whereas there was a significant effect for competence support only in secondary schools. The findings highlight the importance of just and supportive teachers in preventing students’ alienation from learning in school.

P1557Association of obesity and hypertension with retinal vessel diameters, arterial stiffness and physical fitness in Swiss primary school children

P1557Association of obesity and hypertension with retinal vessel diameters, arterial stiffness and physical fitness in Swiss primary school children

Parental involvement: an issue for Swiss primary school teacher education

This article is the Swiss contribution to the European project ‘Collaboration on Improving Students’ Preparation for Family–School Partnerships’. It presents results from a study investigating how Swiss Schools of Teacher Education prepare primary school students for cooperation with the parents of four- to thirteen-year-old pupils. Nine Schools of Teacher Education in the German-speaking part of Switzerland were surveyed. The study conducted questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews and document analysis on this topic. This article focuses on the results for primary school teacher education. The findings show that Swiss primary school teacher education programmes accord importance to family–school cooperation. All Schools of Teacher Education cover the topic of family–school cooperation either by conducting special courses on this subject or by connecting the subject with other courses. However, the content and extent of the coverage of and linkages to family–school cooperation in the courses largely depends on the individual educator. Moreover, preparing for family–school cooperation is an important issue during in-field training. The results of this study differ from those in other countries and contradict common prejudices in public perception on the issue in Switzerland.

Report on Class Observations in Swiss Primary and Secondary Schools(Practical Reports and Survey Reports,The 45th CELES Conference in Wakayama)

Report on Class Observations in Swiss Primary and Secondary Schools(Practical Reports and Survey Reports,The 45th CELES Conference in Wakayama)

The Interplay of School Readiness and Teacher Readiness for Educational Technology Integration: A Structural Equation Model

ABSTRACTDecades of research have shown that technological change in schools depends on multiple interrelated factors. Structural equation models explaining the interplay of factors often suffer from high complexity and low coherence. To reduce complexity, a more robust structural equation model was built with data from a survey of 349 Swiss primary school teachers. It confirms that educational technology integration is dependent on individual teachers' readiness, which is in turn influenced by school readiness. Teacher readiness to integrate educational technology is based on perceived skills and beliefs. Facets of school readiness include educational technology resources in classrooms, perceived importance of technology integration, goal clarity, head teacher support, as well as formal and informal exchange among teachers.

An apple doesn't fall far from the tree—Or does it? Occupational inheritance and teachers' career patterns

Based on 15years of employment and job mobility data from a sample of Swiss primary school teachers (N=999 in three cohorts), we use optimal matching analysis (OMA) to identify six career patterns between the mid-1960s and the late 1990s. Thereby, we provide a rare historical perspective on career patterns in the last four decades of the 20th century. Results indicate that career patterns have not consistently become less stable between cohorts despite changes in socially constructed career boundaries, such as increasing occupational opportunities for women. Further, we examine whether or not occupational inheritance (i.e., the increased probability for children to follow their parents' profession) affects individual career patterns beyond the first vocational choice. We find that teacher graduates whose mothers also worked as teachers follow a stable teacher career pattern less frequently than graduates whose parents were not teachers. The article concludes with theoretical and methodological directions for future research on career patterns.