Schools have been – and in many cases still are – systems in which tasks are distributed to individual teachers. HR management in education was therefore primarily focused on individual teacher performance. However, the responsibility for education is more and more a team effort. Think of accreditation of educational programs: in that case whole program teams are involved. Or think of educational innovation, which also necessitates team work ever more, as teachers need to collectively work on those innovations to get them aligned. HR-policies and practices are therefore gradually being redirected to promote teamwork. Large scale research of Machiel Bouwmans et al (N =70 teacher teams and 704 team members), showed positive relationships between team-oriented HR practices (such as recruitment, team development, team evaluation and teamwork facilitation) and team performance indicators innovation and (partly) team efficiency. The relationships between these HR practices and team performance were often partly or even fully mediated by affective team commitment and information processing. These are important findings for HR and innovation professionals in education and teacher teams themselves. Continue reading Machiel Bouwmans et al show positive relationships between team-oriented HR practices and team performance indicators.

In educational practice, much design is going on, such as for lesson plans, lesson series, courses or complete educational programs. Much of this design is based on personal experience or political agreement. This approach does not always pay off, as it lacks a solid foundation in tested design principles. A scientific foundation is needed.

Continue reading Research of Petra Cremers et al published on designing hybrid learning configurations

Team learning is important for effective teamwork. However, it is not unusual that teachers in staff or project meetings are not searching for common ground and maintain their individual, instead of a collective, perspective. Team meetings are therefore often suboptimal, as team learning opportunities are being missed, which can hamper the quality of educational innovation and teaching quality improvement. Research of Hildert Zoethout et al, based on in-depth analysis of video-recorded deliberations of meetings of three teacher teams, has shown that team learning depends on using team member’s reasoning together. Without such transactivity of team reasoning the learning potential of the team is hampered, which may have effects on the quality of educational programs and related teaching and learning.

Continue reading Team learning is important for effective teamwork.

For years many scholars have conceptualized management, innovation and transformation as being team learning processes. Research of Machiel Bouwmans et al reported in this article, which is based on data from 992 teachers in 92 teacher teams, confirms that transformational leadership is associated with team learning. It indicates how transformational leaders can positively influence team learning. Continue reading How can transformational leaders positively influence team learning?

The publication on a Five-Component Future Competence (5CFC) Model is just published. It contains the work done for my farewell speech in October 2016. The full reference is: Mulder, M. (2017). A Five-Component Future Competence (5CFC) Model, The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 23(2), pp. 99-102, DOI: 10.1080/1389224X.2017.1296533. Continue reading Five-Component Future Competence (5CFC) Model just published

The manuscript of Worku Birru et al on International Business Competence and Export Performance is accepted for publication and coming out soon. Continue reading Publication on International Business Competence coming out soon.

Find answers in: Noroozi, O., Kirschner, P.A., Biemans, H.J.A., Mulder, M. (2017). Promoting Argumentation Competence: Extending from First- to Second-Order Scaffolding Through Adaptive Fading. Educational Psychology Review. doi:10.1007/s10648-017-9400-z. Continue reading Can second-order computer-supported argument scaffolding foster the development of argumentation competence?

The EC – Audiovisual Service just published a video with impressions of the first European Vocational Skills Week, which took place on December 5-9, 2016. There were events in Brussels and hundreds of registered activities in Member States, EFTA and EU candidate countries at national, regional and local levels. Europe heavily invests in its Skills development strategy. As you will see I found it remarkable and encouraging that Vocational Education and Training researchers were invited and part or the programme. I hope researchers will be given the opportunity to extend their work into EU vocational educational policy making circles, and that they will provide policy makers research intelligence which is useful and effective. Check the video at: http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player.cfm?ref=I133334&videolang=EN&devurl=http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/video/player/config.cfm

 

Dear website visitor, I noticed that my Farewell Speech Booklet ‘Competence for Life. A Review of Developments and Perspective for the Future’ (2016) was not yet available online, which is a bit strange, as I saw it done in October last year on the edit page. Nevertheless, it was invisible online when I was watching the site today. Therefore I uploaded it again. Download here: Farewell Address Booklet

Finally I have been able to download pictures of the Award Ceremony during the 2016 Agricultural Education and Extension conference in Varanasi, India, on January 27. Better late than never. Thanks Dr Kalyan Ghadai (1st on the left) for organizing this event. It was a great experience. Continue reading Award Ceremony India