In this quasi-experimental study involving 23 fourth grade teachers, we investigated the effect of implementing teacher-child dynamic mathematics interviews to improve mathematics teaching behavior in the classroom. After a baseline period of 13 months, the teachers participated in a professional development program to support the use of dynamic…

This longitudinal study examined bidirectional associations between special education pupils' teacher-child relationship characteristics (quality, satisfaction, and conflict), classroom structure, and behavioral problems (externalizing and attention-hyperactivity). A secondary goal was to investigate the extent to which severity of behavioral…

Data from whole-class discussions in Dutch upper primary school show that teachers occasionally explicitly take downgraded epistemic stances through epistemic disclaimers such as 'ik weet het niet' (English: "I don't know (it)"), which contrasts with their institutionally assigned epistemic authority. In the current study, we have…

The present study examined the psychometric properties of Student-Teacher Relationship Drawings (STRDs) to assess student-teacher relationship quality in a cross-cultural context. A sample of upper elementary school students from both the Netherlands (N = 752) and China (N = 574) was included. Results showed sufficient inter-rater reliabilities of…

Many children who are victimized by their peers do not tell their teachers. Subsequently, teacher intervention and support are not likely to take place. To investigate the role teachers can play to promote disclosure by victimized students, we examined (1) the prevalence of disclosure to teachers, and (2) the extent to which teachers' responses…

This study investigated how teachers' self-efficacy for intervening in social dynamics and teacher-student relationships directly impact students' self-esteem, and indirectly buffer the negative association between both bullying and victimization and students' self-esteem. Teachers play a key role in shaping the peer relations in the classroom,…

For students who perform inconsistently across subjects, teachers face challenges in formulating track recommendations, as their achievement will not point to one secondary school track. This issue may be more prominent for students from diverse backgrounds, given the achievement differences between specific subject domains within these groups.…

This four-wave longitudinal study examined bidirectional associations among pupils' social status (preference and popularity) and teacher-child relationship characteristics (quality, support, satisfaction, and conflict) in special education. Participants included 586 pupils (86% boys) initially attending Grades 4 and 5 (M[subscript age Wave 1] =…

In the Netherlands, the quality of the reading curriculum is currently under debate because of disappointing results on national and international assessments of students' reading skills and motivation. In a mixed-method study, we analyzed the content of Dutch textbooks for reading comprehension instruction (i.e., the implemented curriculum) and…

In this study, the variety in quality of instruction in fraction lessons at Grade 5 in Dutch primary schools was investigated. Twenty-four teachers participated in the study. To examine the quality of instruction of fraction lessons, Hill's mathematical quality of instruction framework and general pedagogical instruction strategies (seen to…

In this study, we investigated which teacher characteristics influence student proficiency development regarding fractions in Grade 5 of Dutch primary education. At least three domains of research (i.e. perspectives) on effective teaching can be distinguished: studies focusing on teachers' background characteristics, on their knowledge and…

Second language proficiency may be related to first language acquisition (Ganschow & Sparks, 1991), but relatively little is known about the relation between first and second language grammatical proficiency in primary school children who are in their first stages of foreign language learning. This study aims to determine whether differences…

This study investigates the extent to which defending victims of bullying depends on liking and disliking and its relation with the classroom bullying norm (descriptive and popularity) in a sample of 1,272 students (50.8% boys) in 48 fifth-grade classrooms. Social network analysis with bivariate exponential random graph modelings showed that…

One of the ways in which schools try to improve students' motivation is through making learning meaningful for students. The concept of meaningful learning, however, has been defined in various ways in the literature. This small-scale in-depth study focused on meaningful learning in mathematics in upper-primary education. We investigated what…

The number of women and underrepresented individuals working in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields does not reflect the diversity of our societies. Even if children have an interest in STEM, they may not consider choosing a study or career in that direction if their perception is that they would not belong in science.…