This case study aims to explore the role of pupils in educational design and what it means to have a say in primary school. Although many educational offers use the slogan 'pupil-centred' approach, examples are scarce in which children are seen as partners, let alone co-designers. It is therefore important to investigate to what extent pupils are…

Omer's concept of 'New Authority' wants to avoid both the use of power and the harms of a permissive climate. 'New Authority' fosters good relationships with the child and operates in a network of educators with similar values. In the participative action research described in this article, I focus on the question of whether I could include…

This research investigates the state of student participation in the Eco-Schools programme in two selected secondary schools located in Spain and the Netherlands. The focus is on understanding the levers of student participation and of the factors leading to a whole-school approach. Engeström's Second Generation Activity Systems Model is used as…

How the Bible functions in (Christian) education in the international discourse on religious education, particularly in the Dutch context, has rarely been empirically investigated. The purpose of this article is to gain insight into how the Bible is functioning in the context of Protestant secondary schools in the Netherlands. In addition to…

The aim of this study is to gain empirical knowledge about how the Bible functions in the context of Protestant Christian primary schools in the Netherlands. It presents the results of an empirical explorative and qualitative study on the perceptions of teachers and school administrators (directors and internal supervisors) on the goals of Bible…

Due to technological advancements, robotics is findings its way into the classroom. However, workload for teachers is high, and teachers sometimes lack the knowledge to implement robotics education. A key factor of robotics education is peer learning, and having students (near-)peers teach them robotics could diminish workload. Therefore, this…

Personal and social development constitutes an important goal of physical education (PE) curricula worldwide. Few studies have analysed how PE teachers perceive and operationalise personal and social development goals in their lessons. This study sought to investigate the implemented curriculum of in-service PE teachers, that is, how PE teachers…

School-family partnerships may contribute to students' academic achievement. This is particularly relevant at schools in urban neighborhoods where children are at greater risk of educational disadvantages. Unfortunately, at urban schools (especially at urban secondary schools), barriers between the school and parents often exist. In an explorative…

This study describes the socio-cognitive dynamics of collaborative online knowledge-building discourse among Dutch Master of Education students from the perspective of openness. A socio-cognitive openness framework consisting of four social and four cognitive components was used to analyze contributions to online collective knowledge building…

Although the use of games and game elements other than pure entertainment has been studied in several academic fields, studies on completely gamified courses for foreign language learning in secondary schools are still scarce. This exploratory research paper contributes to a better understanding of the affordances of mobile gamification in Foreign…

Particularly in urban schools, school-family partnerships can contribute to a student's academic achievement and reduce educational disadvantage, regardless of the family's socioeconomic background. Based on the recommendations of a former explorative field study (also published in this issue), conventional school-family partnership procedures…

Political simulations are considered promising tools to instigate democratic learning in schools. This article reports a qualitative inquiry into student involvement in the organization of the 2012 mock elections--the shadow elections that schools can organize in conjunction with the official elections-- in eight high schools in the Netherlands.…

Purpose: Over the past few decades, universities have been recognized as ideal leaders for the development of policies and innovative solutions required to support the transition to sustainable societies. As a major stakeholder group, students play a significant role in moving this agenda forward; however, their actions remain understudied in the…

During the past decades, university teachers from both the East and the West have been increasingly called to involve their students in research, therefore they have to rethink not only their research and teaching practices but re-evaluate the role of research in their ongoing teaching. Thus, a survey was conducted to explore (1) what Chinese and…

Election simulations are considered a viable tool to instigate democratic learning in schools. This paper reports an explorative qualitative inquiry into one type of simulation project: mock-elections (ME). Main objective was to gain an insight into the organization of ME-practices in eight schools in the Netherlands in 2012. Thematic analysis of…