Information and communication technology, ICT, permits various new modes of parent-teacher collaboration. In Finland, online ICT-based platforms are used in most municipalities for giving feedback to ...pupils and parents. Despite the importance of parent-teacher collaboration and its emphasis in the Finnish Core Curriculum, there are substantial obstacles for successful collaboration. Indeed, there is some variation in how ICT-based platforms are used, and concerns have been expressed in regarding the potential harmful effects of cumulative negative feedback some pupils seem to receive. However, no systematic analyses have been conducted regarding the nature and the accumulation of feedback using any of the available platforms in Finland. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore how technology-enhanced feedback is utilised in Finnish schools and to determine what kind of feedback pupils and parents receive from their teachers using such ICT-based platforms. To arrive at the conclusions, the entire set of online communication registered in the most common feedback platform in one middle-sized municipality during one school year was analysed. Altogether, 704 teachers provided feedback for 7811 pupils in 211,003 separate actions during school year 2014–2015. The results show that first, both positive and negative feedback is given using the tool; second, boys receive more negative feedback than girls; and third, feedback is distributed unevenly among students so that negative feedback is concentrated to a relatively small number of pupils. Whereas the first two results confirm earlier knowledge, the third finding provides new insights into negative feedback accumulation. The results indicate that more specific guidelines for technology-enhanced feedback is needed to avoid unequal treatment of pupils and to prevent harmful effects of constant negative feedback from emerging.
•Technology-enhanced feedback from teachers to pupils is distributed unevenly.•Technology-enhanced feedback is mostly about forgotten matters or positive feedback.•Both positive and negative feedback via ICT cumulates to a small number of pupils.•Boys get more negative technology-enhanced feedback than girls.•Guidelines are needed for equally supportive feedback practices via ICT.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
Studies have shown a relationship between students' health and their academic achievements, but whether health of classmates and schoolmates impacts individual students' school ...achievement is less known. We studied these effects on students in lower secondary school in Finland.
METHODS
Students (seventh grade, age 12‐13 years, N = 7779, 123 schools, 565 classes) participated in a classroom survey measuring health (externalizing and internalizing problems, daily health complaints, and long‐term illness) and academic achievement. Academic achievement when leaving school (15‐16 years) was obtained from the Finnish national application register on upper secondary education. Three‐level (student, class, and school) multilevel regression analyses were executed.
RESULTS
All health variables predicted academic achievement at leaving school at the student level and externalizing and internalizing problems at the class level; better health predicted better achievement. Students' health at the school level was not related to academic achievement. The effect of class‐level health on academic achievement was as strong as the effect of student‐level health.
CONCLUSION
Both student and classmates' health at the beginning of lower secondary school contribute to academic achievement when leaving school.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
In Finnish basic education, the majority of teachers give technology-enhanced feedback about learning and behaviour on a daily basis by clicking predefined options in an online platform. In this ...study, we explored 211003 feedback actions given by 704 teachers to 7811 pupils and their parents using latent profile analysis. Information on individual support needs was used to evaluate whether all pupils are equally encouraged by technology-enhanced feedback. We identified six subgroups for girls and five for boys. Highly encouraging feedback was given mostly to pupils who were rarely absent and who more seldom had special education needs. Negative feedback about behaviour problems was given mostly to boys and the majority of pupils were encouraged only weakly. On average, pupils received feedback according to three different profiles in a single teaching group. We concluded that technology-enhanced feedback in its current form is not equally encouraging for all.
•Technology-enhanced feedback is not equally encouraging for all.•211 003 feedback notes for 7811 pupils were analysed using latent profile analysis.•Pupils were identified to be encouraged Highly, Averagely or Weakly.•Pupils with special education needs were more likely to be only Averagely or Weakly encouraged.•Negative feedback about behaviour problems was given mostly to boys.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
The aim of the study was to analyse learning using Augmented Reality (AR) technology and the motivational and cognitive aspects related to it in an informal learning context. The 146 participants ...were 11- to 13-year-old Finnish pupils visiting a science centre exhibition. The data, which consisted of both cognitive tasks and self-report questionnaires, were collected using a pre- post-test design and were analysed by SEM path-analysis. The results showed that AR-technology experience was beneficial for all, but especially for the lowest-achieving group and for the girls. In general, pre-knowledge skills predicted post-knowledge test results. As expected, school achievement had an effect on pre-knowledge results. In addition, motivation turned out to be an alternative key route for learning. Being a boy predicted directly or indirectly all other motivational variables, enjoyment and interest, but girls had a higher relative autonomy experience (RAI). Situation motivation and attitude towards learning in the science exhibition were much more strongly inter-connected among boys than girls, and attitude predicted post-knowledge only for boys. AR seems to be a promising method by which to learn abstract phenomena using a concrete manner.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
The ability to solve complex problems successfully represents a key competence for students’ educational success and beyond. While strategy application and metastrategic knowledge constitute two ...underlying components that drive successful complex problem solving (CPS), little is known about how these two facets develop individually and jointly in students over time. In order to address this critical research gap, the present study employed a longitudinal design investigating how strategy application, with a focus on the vary-one-thing-at-a-time (VOTAT) strategy, and metastrategic knowledge evolve in students from grade 6 (t1; age
M
= 12.22) to grade 9 (t2; age
M
= 15.27). At both measurement occasions,
N
= 918 students completed two computer-based assessments, one for CPS VOTAT application, and the other for metastrategic knowledge, each consisting of six items. While initial analyses yielded statistically significant improvements in VOTAT application and metastrategic knowledge from t1 to t2, students appeared to be far from mastering either at both measurement occasions. Furthermore, results from a cross-lagged panel model showed that the two concepts are closely intertwined and mutually influence each other over time. Implications of this mutual development of VOTAT application and metastrategic knowledge in CPS are illustrated with respect to potential applications in educational contexts. The discussion places particular emphasis on how upcoming CPS training programs in educational settings can be tailored to specifically improve both strategy application and metastrategic knowledge in students.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
How do peer groups influence academic self-concept formation? We evaluate developmental issues in the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE; negative effects of class-average achievement on math ...self-concept MSC) and its generalizability to peer-group-average achievement (1,017 primary-school students tested in Years 4 and 6, 46 classes, 130 peer groups). The effects of peer-group-average and class-average achievement on MSC were both negative when we considered these two contextual effects separately. However, the effect of peer-group-average became nonsignificant in models with both contextual effects; the negative effect of class-average achievement was relatively unaffected. Results for peer-group-average achievement contradict predictions based on local dominance theory (that the BFLPE should be more negative for peer-group-average achievement than the more local frame of reference, a contrast effect) and social comparison choice studies (that peer-group-average achievement effects should be positive, an assimilation effect). Unsurprisingly, we found BFLPEs based on class-average achievement and gender differences favoring boys in both Years 4 and 6. However, consistent with theories of the cognitive development of social comparison and gender socialization/intensification processes, we also found negative effects of class-average and gender differences favoring boys on change in MSC (MSC in Year 6 controlling for MSC in Year 4) over this critical late-childhood period. Our results support the robustness of the BFLPE based on class-average achievement and developmental processes underpinning it, but do not support the posited effects of peer-group-average achievement.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
This longitudinal study explored the role of classmates and self-chosen peers in the formation of students' mathematics self-concepts during primary-school years. Our findings showed that classmates' role in the formation process of mathematics self-concept was more influential than the role of self-chosen peers. Our results confirmed the existence of a widely studied psychological phenomenon, big-fish-little-pond effect. Results showed that studying in a well-achieving class may have detrimental effects on individual students' academic self-concept as students compare themselves to their classmates. In addition, mathematical self-concept was higher for boys than girls, and this gender difference intensified with age.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ, UPUK
This study investigates how the proportion of SEN students in regular classes is related to the student-level and class-level cross-curricular competences. The data (N = 5368) come from a ...large-scale, longitudinal assessment study conducted on students at the beginning and end of lower secondary education in a Finnish metropolitan area. The results of the multilevel regression models showed that students in regular classes with SEN students performed on average lower than students in classes without SEN students, and that the proportion of students with SEN in class weakly predicted negatively the ninth-grade test scores. Furthermore, SEN students seemed to perform at the same level regardless of the proportion of other SEN students in class. However, students without SEN in classes with SEN students performed slightly lower than their peers in classes without SEN students in the ninth-grade assessment even when the initial differences related to placement were taken into account.
•The effect of share of SEN students in class on cross-curricular competences was tested.•The proportion of SEN students in class predicted weakly negatively the test scores.•The effects were different on SEN students than on non-SEN students.•On students with SEN, the effect was more positive.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
The health selection hypothesis suggests that poor health leads to low educational attainment during the life course. Adolescence is an important period as poor health might prevent students from ...making the best educational choices. We test if health in adolescence is associated with educational aspirations and whether these associations persist over and above sociodemographic background and academic achievement.
Using classroom surveys, a cohort of students (n = 5.614) from the Helsinki Metropolitan Region was followed from the 7th (12-13 years,) up to the 9th grade (15-16 years) when the choice between the academic and the vocational track is made in Finland. Health factors (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), self-rated health, daily health complaints, and long-term illness and medicine prescribed) and sociodemographic background were self-reported by the students. Students' educational aspirations (applying for academic versus vocational track, or both) and their academic achievement were obtained from the Joint Application Registry held by the Finnish National Agency for Education. We conducted multilevel multinomial logistic regression analyses, taking into account that students are clustered within schools.
All studied health factors were associated with adolescents' educational aspirations. For the SDQ, daily health complaints, and self-rated health these associations persisted over and above sociodemographic background and academic achievement. Students with better health in adolescence were more likely to apply for the academic track, and those who were less healthy were more likely to apply for the vocational track. The health in the group of those students who had applied for both educational tracks was in between. Inconsistent results were observed for long-term illness. We also found robust associations between educational aspirations and worsening health from grade 7 to grade 9.
Our findings show that selection by health factors to different educational trajectories takes place at early teenage much before adolescents choose their educational track, thus supporting the health selection hypothesis in the creation of socioeconomic health inequalities. Our findings also show the importance of adolescence in this process. More studies are needed to reveal which measures would be effective in helping students with poor health to achieve their full educational potential.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract
Background
The Finnish government has emphasized the need to expedite educational transitions. We study if a late start of upper secondary education is related to health-related selection, ...namely health-compromising behaviours in adolescence.
Methods
A large cohort of adolescents from the seventh (12–13 years) and ninth (15–16 years) grades answered online classroom surveys (total n = 10 873). They were followed to the start of upper secondary education, obtained from the Joint Application Registry. We compared those who continued studies directly from the ninth grade with later starters. We measured late bedtime, breakfast not every school day, tooth brushing less than twice-a-day, monthly alcohol consumption, weekly smoking, daily energy drinks, physical activity <6 days/week and excessive screen time. Multilevel logistic regressions and latent class analyses were conducted.
Results
In gender and school adjusted models in the seventh grade, all behaviours except physical activity predicted the late start. The strongest predictor was smoking, OR = 2.96 (CI = 2.25–3.89). In the ninth grade, smoking, breakfast, tooth brushing and energy drinks, OR = 1.80, (CI = 1.36–2.39, strongest), were predictive. After controlling for sociodemographic background and academic achievement, associations for alcohol and screen time became non-significant in the seventh grade. In the ninth grade, only screen time remained significant, OR = 1.33 (CI = 1.04–1.71). Health-compromising behaviours formed clusters. Belonging to the unhealthy cluster predicted the late start in both grades, in adjusted models only in the seventh grade.
Conclusions
Students with health-compromising behaviours are less likely to start upper secondary education directly after the compulsory education. This may increase the risk for fragmentary educational trajectories and work careers.
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NUK, OILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
The COVID-19 pandemic enforced countries to close schools and rapidly transfer to distance teaching without preparation. Little is known about how different distance teaching practices influenced ...students' wellbeing. We studied this during the period of school closures in Finland. Wellbeing was measured by health complaints and perceived loneliness, and distance learning was measured in terms of structure and dialogue of teaching, functioning of internet and digital equipment, difficulty of given tasks, and support for studies. All lower secondary schools were invited, and 29,898 students from 340 schools (grades 7-9) participated. A digital survey was distributed through schools just when these were reopened in May 2020. The main results were that the distance learning practices were related to adolescent health complaints and loneliness, so that less structure and dialogue in teaching, more problems with digital devices and internet, more difficult tasks and less support for studies were associated with higher health complaints and loneliness. From the point of view of students' wellbeing, it matters how the distance learning is organised, how digital communication works, and if enough support for studies is available. These results of our research on distance learning practices during the present pandemic may guide schools in future crises and pandemic situations when distance learning is needed.
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