A rich home literacy environment (HLE) fosters students' academic achievement. However, the link between HLE and children's reading comprehension is unclear. This study examined the effects of HLE factors on children's reading comprehension through a meta-analysis of 59 studies conducted between 1998 and 2018. Results of the meta-analysis…

The teacher-student relationship plays an important role in the academic and behavioral development of primary school children with externalizing problem behavior. However, such problem behavior often threatens the quality of the teacher-student relationship. Teacher-focused coaching intervention Key2Teach aims to improve elements of the…

Scientific reasoning refers to the thinking skills involved in conceiving and conducting an investigation. This study examined how proficiency in performing these skills develops during the upper-elementary school years. A sample of 157 children (age 7-10) took a performance-based scientific reasoning test in three consecutive years. Four distinct…

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,…

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…

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 trend towards inclusion has led to the development of a 'To School Together' programme in which students with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) receive tailored care and education during the school day in a special classroom ('To School Together' class) within a mainstream school. Besides shared…

Although cooperative learning is an effective instructional method, it cannot be taken for granted that students will gain new knowledge when engaging in a cooperative activity. Even if cooperative learning is effectively designed, problems might arise regarding cognitive, behavioral and motivational aspects of learning. For students to gain…

Scientific reasoning is an important skill that encompasses hypothesizing, experimenting, inferencing, evaluating data and drawing conclusions. Previous research found consistent inter- and intra-individual differences in children's ability to perform these component skills, which are still largely unaccounted for. This study examined these…

The present study aims to provide a systematic understanding of how perspective-taking ability contributes to primary-school students' cooperative behaviours and learning outcomes. The present study is frontline as we combined person-oriented (e.g., describing patterns of behaviours based on individual characteristics), process-oriented (e.g.,…

In the field of applied linguistics, the use of multiple languages in educational settings has often been studied from a pedagogical perspective, focusing on teacher practices. In order for multilingual teaching pedagogies, such as translanguaging to reach their full potential, pupils should participate actively in classroom interaction and be…

One of the main questions regarding Dutch primary education in our secularised and religiously diverse society--both with regards to public and religiously-affiliated schools--is how to get students acquainted with the symbolic language of religious and worldview-affiliated life narratives. Teaching literacy in symbolic language has become less…

The ability to reason inferentially is increasingly important in today's society. It is hypothesized here that engaging primary school students in informal statistical reasoning (ISI), defined as making generalizations without the use of formal statistical tests, will help them acquire the foundations for inferential and statistical thinking.…

The present study examined how different externalizing child behaviors (i.e., hyperactivity, conduct problems) were uniquely associated with teachers' mental representations of relationships with individual children. Participants were 61 teacher-child dyads from typical Dutch elementary schools. Using a two-wave design, teachers first reported…

High-ability pupils in primary schools often do not achieve up to their full potential and teachers seem to face difficulties to motivate these pupils. In this study 891 primary school pupils (463 high-ability pupils) were asked about their views on desired characteristics of good teachers by means of an open teacher-spider-questionnaire. The…