We investigated whether primary-school teachers' beliefs towards early-English education are related to the type of English education they are involved in (early- or later-English schools), their English language skills and whether they teach English. Ninety-nine Dutch teachers filled in a questionnaire with 25 statements about early-English…

Observation scales for measuring teaching skills were developed for both elementary education and kindergarten. Based on 500 observations, we found that both scales meet the requirements of the dichotomous Rasch model. These observation scales can help in finding the zone of proximal development of teachers in elementary education and…

In this study, student teachers explored four data collection methods for data feedback to improve their teaching skills in Science and Technology [S&T]. The aim was to verify whether these methods were suitable for collecting data concerning their teaching skills during S&T activities in their internships. They analysed the collected data…

The relationship among students' reading performance, their behavior (task-focused behavior, emotional stability, and compliant behavior) in the classroom, and the teacher's skills was investigated in 66 third-grade classrooms. Results from this study showed the students' reading performance and their behavior in the classroom are all…

Providing differentiated instruction (DI) is considered an important but complex teaching skill which many teachers have not mastered and feel unprepared for. In order to design professional development activities, a thorough description of DI is required. The international literature on assessing teachers' differentiation qualities describes the…

Research has demonstrated that teachers working in early childhood education and care (ECEC) are proficient in offering emotional support to young children, but markedly weaker when it comes to instructional support. We conducted a controlled experimental study in the Netherlands, to investigate the effects of targeted in-service training on…

The aim of this study was to provide insight into the current practice of writing instruction in Dutch primary education, as a stepping stone for designing and implementing sustainable innovations that could satisfy both practitioners and policymakers. We investigated the extent to which three domain-specific approaches--communicative writing,…

In the project "Learning for Life" we developed a hermeneutical--communicative model for worldview education that answers the European challenges of worldview diversity and worldview illiteracy. We implemented the model in a participatory action research project at nine schools for primary education in the Netherlands and monitored the…

This article reports on results of a study on pupils' perceptions on teacher quality in primary education. Pupils' perceptions of desired characteristics of good teachers in primary education were compared to results of research into teacher quality from different perspectives: (1) perception studies of ideal teaching-and-learning environments;…

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 friendliness/cooperation in the classroom, respectively. An adapted version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction was…

The learning gains in reading of students in 57 classrooms in special primary education doubled as a result of implementing the Reading Impulse in Special Education (RISE) programme. Raising the scheduled reading time with 1.5 hr in all classrooms and implementing standards-based teaching characterised by "monitoring of pupil progress",…