Search

Among 4th-6th-grade students (165 girls, 150 boys) in the Netherlands, the author examined ethnic differences in two aspects of teacher-oriented academic motivation: working in order to please the teacher and dependence on the teacher for academic help. Given higher levels of power distance in Turkish and Moroccan versus Dutch culture, both measures and their correlates were compared for 132 Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch students, and 183 ethnic Dutch students. Analyses showed that Turkish- and Moroccan-Dutch students scored higher on pleasing the teacher and dependence on the teacher. For them, but not for the ethnic Dutch students, teacher-oriented motivation was positively related to intrinsic motivation and perceived academic competence. Also, students from all groups reported more dependence on the teacher and more intrinsic motivation the more they appreciated their teachers. Results support the notion that teacher-oriented extrinsic motivation is autonomous, rather than controlled for students from power-distant cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the author's experience of teaching American popular culture at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It explores the impact of American popular culture abroad and examines the role of American media and culture in Dutch students' lives. The author reflects on insider and outsider cultural perspectives, fakeness in culture, and the impact of the U.S. September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on her field. French cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard and Dutch artist Chris Keulemans are also discussed.

Abstract: The better than average (BTA) effect refers to the tendency for the majority of people to rate themselves as being higher on positive attributes and lower on negative attributes than other people. The present study examined the occurrence of the BTA effect on five important characteristics among 15,806 first-year secondary school Dutch students. In addition, it explored the influence of students'' gender, cultural background, and ability level on their evaluations of characteristics relative to their classmates. Results yielded small BTA effects, with the exception of the item “being eager to get high grades,” on which the effect was much larger. In addition, larger BTA effects were found among boys than girls, but this difference could not be attributed to actual differences in performance. Likewise, larger BTA effects were found among ethnic minority students from Turkish and Moroccan backgrounds than ethnic majority students, but this difference also could not be attributed to actual differences in performance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This qualitative study examines how 11 Dutch students aged 14-15 develop an interest in specific types of interactive media practices and how they perceive these practices in relation to others. The methods included semi-structured interviewing, autodriving visual elicitation and photo elicitation using moodboards. Our results show the importance of peers for the emergence of interest to learn about specific applications. We found that the learning process of our respondents consists of searching and trying out by themselves, or asking peers in real life or via MSN. Furthermore, although our respondents did not strongly typify their own interactive media practices, they gave distinctive descriptions of tools, identities and practices for other kinds of interactive media users. Although some respondents think positively of interactive media in an educational context, all students want these media combined with projects and explanation by teachers. Building on earlier research on diversity in interactive media practices among contemporary youth, this article provides a contextualised understanding of both the emergence of these practices and possible implications for education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not always easy for pastoral counsellors to help people change. Often people have become stuck in their ways. Recent developments in the field of brain research help explain why change is difficult. This article discusses Past Reality Integration Therapy (PRI), a psychotherapeutic method that integrates recent findings of brain research and offers an important addition to the work of (pastoral) counsellors and psychotherapists. The use of this approach with Dutch students in their pastoral training is presented. Furthermore the importance of this new method for counsellors themselves, their clients and their work is discussed and some overall conclusions about the method and its practical application are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study shows that power relations in classrooms between Dutch and immigrant students radically shift when students move from academic talk to more open, free talk. Whereas in their interactions with immigrant students, Dutch students are able to represent the more powerful role in the official, academic discourse, they lose this position in the unofficial, nonacademic discourse. These shifts show that ethnic relationships are played out differently in different discursive domains. They also show that academic identities do not exist as such but are specific to certain minority-majority relationships. This study builds upon a tradition of studies that have argued that ethnic minorities construct academic identities depending on the social setting. However, this study shows the instability of these constructions while demonstrating their dependency on specific ethnic interactions and discursive modes. The study is based on the analysis of interaction patterns in multiethnic classrooms in the Netherlands focussing on (a)symmetries in knowledge sharing. An ethnographic approach is combined with quantitative analyses to test group differences. The results are interpreted and discussed in the light of a poststructuralist view on how ethnic minority groups construct academic identities and how these are related to minority-majority relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable research has shown that there are clear links among satisfaction with schooling, overall life satisfaction, and physical and psychological well-being. In this investigation, we expand on that line of research by identifying the predictors of overall satisfaction with schooling of 331 Dutch and Finnish pupils aged 6–13. Similar to previous research, student age, student gender, and teacher likeability were strong predictors of students’ overall satisfaction with schooling. New findings from this investigation were that teacher gender and class size were significant predictors of overall satisfaction with schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Several barriers are hampering the provision of adequate education to students with special educational needs in mainstream primary schools. It is not clear how many and which students in the Netherlands are considered children with special educational needs. The problems that make teachers consider children to have special educational needs and the effect of different types of problems on the school career have not often been addressed in research studies. Furthermore, contextual factors, like teachers' attitudes on inclusion and the number of students with special needs in the class may influence the school career of children with special educational needs. Purpose: This study aimed to examine the proportion of Dutch students in mainstream primary schools with special educational needs, their literacy and numeracy attainment levels, the likelihood of referral to special education and effects of teachers' attitudes towards inclusion and of the percentage of students with special needs in class. Sample: We use data on 8237 students with special educational needs in mainstream primary education from two consecutive measurements of a large cohort study in the Netherlands called PRIMA. Results: We found that, according to the teachers, on average 26% of the students in their classes had special educational needs. Cognitive problems had a much stronger effect on the school career than social-emotional and physical problems. As expected, teachers with a positive attitude towards the inclusion of students with special educational needs referred fewer children to special education than teachers with less positive attitudes towards inclusion. Furthermore, the likelihood of a student being referred to a special school was reduced as the number of students with special needs in the class increased. Conclusions: Depending on factors in the learning context, special educational needs of a child may or may not be recognised. Consequently, children's special educational needs may not always be sufficiently catered for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2007, the Dutch Department of Defence announced a new 'Gender and Diversity' policy. A keystone in the policy is an accent on the recruitment of ethnic cultural minorities (ECM). To recruit ECM personnel it is important to know whether they are interested in a job in the Dutch armed forces. This article describes the results of an exploratory survey (N = 431) of interest or non-interest of young Dutch high school pupils in a job in the Dutch army) and the factors that affect this (non-)interest. Survey participants were drawn from the four big cities in the Netherlands: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taylor (1995) constructed a comprehensive framework of stress and adaptation, which considers internal and external resources/impediments as moderators, based on previous studies and models. However, most past research used correlation designs and has not taken into account all of the framework's components within one study. This study tested the effects of the event (minor, major), primary appraisal (benign, severe), coping (problem-focused coping (PFC) versus emotion-focused coping), external resources (with/without social support), and internal impediments (hostility), on estimated distress (dependent variable) in written imagined stressful daily scenarios. All components except hostility were experimentally manipulated within subjects in the scenarios. The scenarios were rated by 281 Dutch students. The variables event, appraisal, and social support significantly and independently affected estimated distress. Event and appraisal synergistically interacted in relation to estimated distress. Finally, appraisal interacted with coping such that the distress-reducing effects of PFC occurred only in benign events, while coping did not affect estimated distress in severely appraised events. This study experimentally tested most components of Taylor's framework, and showed that events, appraisal, and social resources were independent determinants of estimated distress, and that appraisal interacts in a complex manner with the event and with coping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined what worldviews are present among Dutch students and teachers and how the students cope with scientific knowledge acquired in the biology classroom. Furthermore, we investigated what learning and teaching strategies teachers adopt when they teach about evolution and worldviews. For this survey, 10 schools for higher general secondary education or pre-university level were selected. The data showed that most teachers did not have an articulated learning and teaching strategy. Controversial topics and discussions with students about their own worldviews were ignored in the classroom. Furthermore, the data revealed that students and teachers have a large variety of different worldviews. Some students acknowledged having difficulties coping with the knowledge gained from the classroom, because it contradicted their own worldviews. These results support our hypothesis that there is need for an explicit learning and teaching strategy that supports both teachers and students to teach and learn about evolution in multiple contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the possibility of omitting relativizer in certain syntactic situations. It looks at the use of English zero relativizer that occurs in identical rules in most languages of North Germanic origin such as Swedish or the Romance language or Germanic. It explores the hypothesis that zero relativizer is frequently used in English texts that are produced by Dutch learners than in texts from Swedish learners. Parts of the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) were used for the research in which English argumentative texts produced by Dutch and Swedish learners were examined for relative constructions and shows that the hypothesis was wrong. It also notes that zero construction in English is less formal than those with an explicit relative marker.

The number of contact hours, one of the important institutional context factors, was examined and compared between Dutch and Vietnamese higher education at institute and student levels in Psychology and Business and/or Economics specializations. The quantity of contact hours per credit point given by institutions was investigated in a number of Dutch and Vietnamese universities. Additionally, 104 students in Groningen, the Netherlands, and 140 students in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, participated in the survey with a self-reported and self-assessed questionnaire on their study time allocation. Beside contact hours, other learning process related factors such as study activities, motivation, quality of instruction, and generic skills were examined to provide a better insight into these two systems. Results showed that Vietnamese students had significantly higher number of contact hours than Dutch students while their generic skills, motivation and time spent on independent study were a lot lower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies found a negative relation between self-concealment and subjective well-being. the goal of this study is to investigate if this relation is, at least partly, mediated by mood regulation, that is, a preoccupation with one's mood states (mood monitoring), and the inability to label these mood states adequately (mood labeling). using a dutch student sample of 588 participants, we replicated the negative association between self-concealment and subjective well-being, and indeed found that this relation was partly mediated by mood monitoring and labeling. We conclude that self-concealment is associated with maladaptive mood regulation, which is characterized by scrutinizing one's negative moods without being able to label these and adequately act upon them. implications for clinical practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on students' perceptions of the teacher-student interpersonal relationship in multi-ethnic classes is scarce in Europe. This study compares students' perceptions in multi-ethnic classes in The Netherlands with those in mainstream Dutch classes and investigates differences in perceptions between students with various ethnic backgrounds. Perceptions were mapped in terms of 2 dimensions: influence (the degree of teacher control) and proximity (the degree of cooperation between teacher and students). Data were collected from students in 114 multi-ethnic classes in Dutch secondary education. Results showed that teachers in multi-ethnic classes were perceived higher on influence and proximity compared to teachers in mainstream classes. Moreover, Moroccan students perceived their teachers as more dominant than students from other countries. Students with a Surinamese background perceived their teachers relatively high on the proximity dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Goal preferences indicate intentions to achieve or avoid particular states. We examined whether Curacaoan and Dutch students differ in goal preferences related to school and whether goal preferences are associated with students’ evaluation of the classroom climate. Measurement invariance of the instruments was also tested between samples. Participants attended vocational high schools in Curacao ( N= 276) or in the Netherlands ( N= 283). Both the classroom climate and goal preferences differed between the samples. In the Netherlands the preference for individuality, belongingness, and recognition was stronger, whereas in Curacao mastery, satisfaction, self-determination, and material gain were more frequently endorsed. The two variables were modestly correlated. Schools do have a globalizing effect on students’ school experiences and hardly adapt to goal preferences. The latter seem to be affected by non-school related cultural factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on recent findings showing electrophysiological changes in adult language learners after relatively short periods of training, we hypothesized that adult Dutch learners of German would show responses to German gender and adjective declension violations after brief instruction. Adjective declension in German differs from previously studied morphosyntactic regularities in that the required suffixes depend not only on the syntactic case, gender, and number features to be expressed, but also on whether or not these features are already expressed on linearly preceding elements in the noun phrase. Violation phrases and matched controls were presented over three test phases (pretest and training on the first day, and a posttest one week later). During the pretest, no electrophysiological differences were observed between violation and control conditions, and participants' classification performance was near chance. During the training and posttest phases, classification improved, and there was a P600-like violation response to declension but not gender violations. An error-related response during training was associated with improvement in grammatical discrimination from pretest to posttest. The results show that rapid changes in neuronal responses can be observed in adult learners of a complex morphosyntactic rule, and also that error-related electrophysiological responses may relate to grammar acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses teacher attitudes towards students, the curriculum, their school setting, and their identification with the school in publicly funded versus privately funded vocational schools in the Netherlands. It finds that source of funding had no significant effect on teachers' attitudes towards their students, but that teachers in privately funded schools had greater identification with their school, a more curriculum-oriented attitude and a better estimation of their school's climate. Limitations of the study include a differing response rate between public and privately funded schools.

This article describes the results of a study into the utility of the SVI model, a model in which internal and external evaluation are balanced. The model consists of three phases: school self-evaluation, visitation and inspection. Under the guidance of school consultants, 27 Dutch primary schools have built up two years of experience with the SVI model. The results show that the school leaders developed a positive attitude towards school self-evaluation and visitation. They found that both self-evaluation and visitation have improved their insight into the quality of the school. However, a content analysis of the school self-evaluation reports shows that the school self-evaluations are often of low quality. For example, it appeared that most of the self-evaluation reports do not provide answers to questions the schools have formulated at the beginning of the self-evaluation. Moreover, the teams of critical friends and the inspectors concluded that the school self-evaluations do have many shortcomings. Based on these results, we conclude that school self-evaluation is a very difficult task for most schools. It is therefore crucial that schools receive external support and that they build up experience with school self-evaluations over a period of years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates whether L2 instruction on the Spanish aspectual system containing a recognition task of the learners' L1 (Dutch) aspectual system helps the learner to understand and interiorise the L2 system. Second year Dutch university students (N=20) took part in the experiment. In weekly groups of two to four, the students received the experimental instruction and completed three tests with standardised exercises and eight weekly compositions. Results on both the tests and the compositions show that experimental instruction positively affects the performance of the students. Instruction involving a recognition task where Dutch students of Spanish are made aware of how the aspectual system works in their own language allows them to understand the L2 aspectual system better than if the differences and similarities between the two languages are not presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyse the way in which the Holocaust is taught in The Netherlands, with an emphasis on critically examining the content of secondary school textbooks used to teach Dutch students about the history of the Holocaust. We also interview Dutch educators, government officials and academics about the state of Dutch Holocaust education. Our findings indicate that Dutch students are underexposed to the Holocaust and lack basic knowledge and conceptual understanding of it. Fundamental concerns regarding the civic obligations of citizens in a democracy and basic principles of human rights that are raised by the history of the Holocaust in The Netherlands are often ignored or examined superficially, sometimes because of ambivalence about the extent of Dutch involvement in the genocide of Dutch Jewry. Little attention is paid to the complex moral choices that Dutch citizens faced during the Second World War and the life-or-death implications such decisions had for Dutch Jews. Finally, Jewish history and culture and the history of European anti-Semitism are rarely addressed in textbooks and history lessons about the Holocaust, undermining efforts to sensitise students to the implications of the Holocaust for The Netherlands and for Europe as a whole. In our conclusion, we offer some models of Holocaust education that could significantly improve the quality and content of Dutch Holocaust education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper reports findings with regard to learning conceptions and approaches to learning of Flemish and Chinese students. The Conceptions of Learning Inventory (COLI) and the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST) were administered to first-year university students from China (N =362) and Flanders (N =360). The 3-factor model of the ASSIST and a modified 4-factor model of the COLI were fitted across the cultural groups. The results revealed that Chinese students reflected to a greater extent conceptions of learning that stress understanding, personal change and development of social competence as compared to Flemish students. No differences were found with regard to their conception of learning as remembering. Approaches to learning were dependent on the learning context. Correlations between learning conceptions and approaches were identified, with some variations between the two groups. It appears that both cultural and learning contexts need to be considered to understand variables related to student learning. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study demonstrated that the modality principle applies to multimedia learning of regular science lessons in school settings. In the first field experiment, 27 Dutch secondary school students (age 16–17) received a self-paced, web-based multimedia lesson in biology. Students who received lessons containing illustrations and narration performed better on subsequent transfer tests than did students who received lessons containing illustrations and on-screen text. In the second field experiment, 55 Dutch secondary school students (age 16–17) received similar multimedia programs that allowed more self-pacing and required students to record the time to learn. The illustrations-and-narration group outperformed the illustrations-and-text group on subsequent transfer tests for students who required less time to learn but not for students who required more time to learn. The interaction of learning time spent with modality of presentation on post-test scores was studied. Implications for testing of the robustness of cognitive theory of multimedia learning are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Investigates words considered to be difficult and easier to understand by Dutch students • Finds better comprehension of words • Concludes that the Campaign is providing the right guidelines for this group of respondents [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern biotechnology will have a large impact on society and requires informed decision-making and critical attitudes toward biotechnology among the public. This study aims to explore these attitudes in secondary education. For this purpose, a questionnaire was constructed according to the general tripartite theory of attitudes. A total of 574 Dutch secondary school students completed the questionnaire. Based on principal component analyses, several distinct and independent cognitive, affective, and behavioural factors were found, demonstrating that attitudes towards biotechnology are a multi-component concept. In a cluster analysis on these factors, we found four interpretable clusters representing different groups of students. The four groups are labelled "confident supporter" (22%), "not sure" (42%), "concerned sceptic" (18%), and "not for me" (17%). These results indicate that there is a diverse appraisal of modern biotechnology among secondary school students. Suggestions for educational interventions are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background New demands are imposed by rapid change in the education system; these, in turn, cause stress. Previous studies have suggested that the degree of stress experienced by students is affected by characteristics of education, teachers and the students themselves. Purpose To identify student and teacher characteristics that determine the stress experienced by students in Dutch secondary education. Sample The sample consisted of 3300 students with an average age of 16 years 5 months (standard deviation of seven months) who entered their first year of secondary education in The Netherlands in 1995. Design and methods Students' cognitive ability levels were assessed by means of a cross-curricular skills test. Their level of fear of failure was assessed by means of an achievement motivation questionnaire. Student stress was categorized as ‘experienced study workload’ and ‘perception of lack of teacher guidance’. Results Data suggested that fear of failure was associated with experienced workload as well as perception of lack of teacher guidance; cognitive ability was associated only with workload. Teaching style, as reported by teachers, was not associated with student stress. Only teachers' age was associated with student stress. The older the teacher, the more students experienced heavy workload and perceived strong lack of teacher guidance. Conclusions Student support should be differentiated depending on student need—some students may need cognitive support and others emotional support. It may be that if those perceiving a lack of teacher guidance were given support at the socio-emotional level, the possibility of their withdrawal from education would be reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integration of ethnic minorities into society is often operationalized as participation in various societal institutions. Examples are cultural, political and labour participation. On the basis of the theoretical concepts of social and cultural capital as proposed by sociologists Bourdieu and Coleman, it is often hypothesized that greater parental participation in society will generally lead to a better educational position for the children of such parents. To test this hypothesis, descriptive and multi-level analyses were conducted using data from the Dutch cohort study Primary Education. The sample included information on nearly 11,000 kindergarten students (6-year-olds) from almost 600 primary schools. In the analyses, ethnic minority parents and their children were compared to native Dutch parents and their children. After controlling for parental socio-economic and ethnic background, the results showed an effect of cultural participation only on language and mathematics skills. No effects on non-cognitive outcomes, such as social position, individual well-being or self-confidence, were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of acquired undescended testis (UDT) in Dutch schoolboys. Design and participants: As a part of routine school medical examinations, during a 2-year period (2001-3), testis position was determined in 6-year, 9-year and 13-year-old schoolboys. Before the examination, a parent questionnaire was sent inquiring both about the position of the testes and whether the child had been admitted earlier to hospital for orchidopexy. In 6-year and 13-year olds, a physical examination was performed by the school medical officer; in 9-year olds, a school nurse interview was held. Each boy for whom there was any doubt of the scrotal position was referred to the hospital for examination of both testes. Setting: Institution for Youth Health Care "Noordkennemerland" and Medical Centre Alkmaar, Alkmaar, the Netherlands. Results: Testis position was determined in 2042 boys aged 6, 1038 aged 9 and 353 aged 13. Of these, 47, 53 and 8 boys, respectively, were referred to the hospital and seen for further evaluation. The diagnosis of acquired UDT was made in 25 boys aged 6, 23 aged 9 and four aged 13. In 33 boys, a congenital UDT was diagnosed; 32 (97%) had already been diagnosed and treated at an early age. Conclusions: The prevalence of acquired UDT for 6-year, 9-year and 13-year olds was, respectively, 1 .2% (25/2042), 2.2% (23/1038) and 1 .1% (4/353). In addition, congenital UDT is treated during the early years of life and, in contrast with popular belief, screening programmes for detecting UDT in the early years are successful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Research suggests that referral practices of teachers in regular education are not only affected by the level of learning difficulties but also by student behaviour and the level of students' parental involvement in education. It was hypothesized that teachers maintain a notion of the 'ideal' student, who has relatively good academic skills, is well behaved and has highly involved parents. Aims. The main question of this study was whether special-education teachers' perceptions regarding remediation possibilities are similarly affected by student behaviour and the level of students' parental involvement. Sample. Nineteen experienced Dutch school teachers in special education each evaluated four students: two with relatively high and two with relatively low academic performance. Methods. Three questionnaires to assess learning difficulties, behavioural problems and the level of parental involvement were developed. Results. Teachers' perceptions of remediation possibilities were related to the severity of the learning difficulties and academic skill. Academic skill, in turn, was strongly related to the perception of the children's behavioural problems and parental involvement, which, in turn, links the perception of remediation possibilities indirectly to children's behavioural problems and parental involvement. Conclusions. Special education teachers may also hold an image of the 'ideal' student. Students with high academic achievement levels are perceived as having fewer behavioural problems and more highly involved parents than students with low academic achievement levels. Whether this is due to justified or unjustified teachers' perceptions is a matter for future research. What is important is that stereotyping of students (justly or not) poses a serious problem for the Dutch reintegration policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Rarámuri Indians in Mexico use 1 word for guilt and shame. In this article, the authors show that the Rarámuri nevertheless differentiate between shame and guilt characteristics, similar to cultural populations that use 2 words for these emotions. Emotion-eliciting situations were collected among the Rarámuri and among rural Javanese and were rated on shame and guilt by Dutch and Indonesian students. These ratings were used to select 18 shame-eliciting and guilt-eliciting situations as stimuli. The Rarámuri (N= 229) and the Javanese (N= 213) rated the situations on 29 emotion characteristics that previously had been found to differentiate shame from guilt in an international student sample. For most characteristics, a pattern of differentiation similar to that found among the students was found for both the Javanese and the Rarámuri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2 experiments, the authors tested the effect of 2 types of reading on the spelling memory of strange or sound-spelling inconsistent words in Dutch students with and without learning disabilities: standard reading and regularized reading. Standard reading refers to reading the word the way it has to be read. Regularized reading refers to reading a sound-spelling inconsistent word as if it is sound-spelling consistent. In Experiment 1, both groups showed a short-term effect. Shortly after training, all students who participated in the regularized-reading condition showed better spelling performance than students who took part in a standard-reading condition. One week after training, spelling knowledge of students without learning disabilities appeared to be more stable than that of students with learning disabilities. In Experiment 2, only students with learning disabilities participated. The results reveal that more training substantially enhanced spelling performance in the long term, and repetition of the regularized word was even more effective. A recurrent network account served as the guiding principle to explain the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dutch children are legally bound to spend 15% of their time in a school setting. The indoor environment in Dutch primary schools is known to be substandard. However, it is unclear to what extent the health of pupils is affected by the indoor school environment. The paper aims to assess the associations between indoor environmental quality in Dutch schools and pupils' health, also taking into account the children's home environment and personal factors. A cross-sectional study was performed in 11 classrooms in 11 different schools in the Netherlands. The study included exposure measurements, building inspections, and a questionnaire survey on pupils' health and domestic exposure. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and non-parametric tests were performed to assess relationships. None of the schools complied with all indoor environmental quality standards. The importance of both the school and the domestic environment to pupils' health is shown in a multivariate analysis. If both the school and the home environment are highly polluted, improving conditions at school alone may not result in improved health of the children. Aux Pays-Bas, la loi oblige les enfants à passer 15% de leur temps dans un environnement scolaire. On sait que l'intérieur des écoles primaires hollandaises est sub-standard. En revanche, on ne sait pas précisément dans quelle mesure la santé des élèves est affectée par leur environnement scolaire intérieur. L'objectif de cet article est d'évaluer les relations qui existent entre la qualité de l'environnement intérieur des écoles hollandaises et la santé des élèves, en tenant compte également de l'environnement du foyer de ces enfants et de facteurs personnels. Une analyse en coupe a été exécutée dans 11 salles de classe de 11 écoles différentes des Pays-Bas. Cette étude englobait les mesures d'exposition, des inspections des bâtiments et un questionnaire sur la santé des élèves et leur exposition aux conditions domestiques. Pour évaluer ces relations, on a procédé à une analyse en composantes principales (ACP) et à des tests non-paramétriques. Aucune de ces écoles ne répondait aux normes de qualité environnementale intérieure. L'importance de l'environnement scolaire et domestique sur la santé des élèves est illustrée dans une analyse à variables multiples. Si l'environnement scolaire et l'environnement à la maison sont tous les deux très pollués, la seule amélioration des conditions dans les écoles risque de ne pas se traduire par une amélioration de la santé des élèves. Mots-clés: caractéristiques des bâtiments, parc bâti, santé, qualité de l'air intérieur, analyse par composantes principales (APC), écoles [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We investigated the influence of literary education models on the book-reading frequency of students later in life, and how this influence can be explained. In total, 85 mother-tongue teachers in secondary education in the Netherlands were retrospectively questioned about their literary instruction in a random year between 1975 and 1998. Almost 700 former students of these teachers, spread over examination years and levels, were tracked down and interviewed about their current reading frequency. Multilevel analyses showed that the more student-centered the model of literary education is, the higher the later book-reading frequency. As the model gets more teacher-centered, the less students tend to read as adults. These effects do not vary over various student cohorts. Neither do changes in literary education over time explain differences in book-reading frequency between cohorts. Implications of these results are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study examined the reliability, factor structure, and convergent validity of the Dutch version of C. S. Carver and T. L. White’s (1994) Behavioral Approach System and Behavioral Inhibition System Scales (BIS/BAS Scales). For this purpose, the BIS/BAS Scales, a shortened version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), and the Dickman Impulsivity Inventory (DII) were administered to 246 undergraduate students in The Netherlands. The internal consistency of the BIS/BAS Scales was sufficient. Further, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Dutch BIS/BAS Scales have a factor structure similar to the English version. Finally, BIS/BAS Scales were found to correlate in a theoretically meaningful way with extraversion, neuroticism, psychoticism, and impulsivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We conducted a pilot study to compare the emotions experienced by Dutch and Chinese students during a face-to-face negotiation role play. Emotions play an important role in negotiations because they influence the behaviour and judgments of negotiators. The Data Printer case developed by Greenhalgh was used to examine the patterns of feelings that emerge during negotiations. One hundred and four participants (62 Chinese and 42 Dutch post graduate students) role-played two different characters who were confronted with a payment dispute regarding the servicing of a defective printer. The results of the MANOVA and of the Factorial Analysis demonstrates that culture as a carrier of social values and norms did influence the emotional reactions of the people socialised in different cultural contexts. The paper concludes that in order to facilitate conflict resolution and interpersonal communication amongst protagonists in mono as well as in inter-cultural negotiation context individuals should learn to manage their emotions constructively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we present an analysis of the relationship between L3 reading comprehension and its constituent skills for bilingual Dutch students for whom English is a third language (L3) compared to monolingual Dutch students for whom English is a second language (L2). An analogous analysis is made for their Dutch reading comprehension, Dutch being their L2 and L1 respectively. Participants are 13/14 year-old secondary school students. The point of departure in the analyses is a regression model in which reading proficiency is decomposed into three types of constituent components: linguistic knowledge (vocabulary and grammar), speed of processing linguistic knowledge (lexical access and sentence comprehension ), and metacognitive knowledge (of text characteristics and strategies for reading and writing). Using structural equation modeling, we determined the contribution of constituent skills to Dutch L2 and L1, and English L3 and L2 reading comprehension. The results showed that, despite differences between the two groups in Dutch and English reading comprehension, no differences between the groups were found in the pattern of regression weights on the three types of constituent skills. Possible implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study that examined differences in well-being and peer acceptance of several groups of low-achieving students in regular and special education classes in the Netherlands. Application of a self-image scale in the study; Analysis of the relationship between self-image and peer acceptance; Results and implications.

The aim is to describe polydrug use among secondary school students: combinations of substances, number of students per user type and corresponding risk profiles. The method employed was as follows. Data were derived from the 1999 sample of the Dutch National School Survey on Substance Use. The analysis was limited to secondary school students between 12 and 16 years, at which age it is still compulsory to attend school (N = 6236). Studied substances are alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, opiates and cocaine. Of the students, 56.7% used one or more substances. Among the users, 41.8% were polydrug users in the sense that they had used more than one substance during the previous 4 weeks. In the student population concerned of about 1 000 000, 243 000 were polydrug users of whom 146 000 use only alcohol and tobacco, 67 000 combine alcohol or tobacco with cannabis, and 21 000 combine alcohol, tobacco or cannabis with at least one hard drug such as ecstasy, cocaine, amphetamines or heroin. The risk of polydrug use increased with increasing age. Prevalence rates were highest among ethnic Dutch students, very low among Moroccan students and high at the lower educational levels. By comparison with girls, boys had a specific risk of becoming the type of polydrug user using soft or hard drugs. The high prevalence of polydrug use among young students makes this an important topic for research, monitoring and prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanding research on the relative impact of different autonomy-supportive strategies employed by teachers across domains, the present study investigated the variation in 4 lesson-specific autonomy-supportive strategies (providing choices, rationales, accepting frustration, and stimulating interests) and 6 aspects of students' motivation and engagement in 2 domains with a repeated measurement design. For 3 weeks, 202 Dutch students from 8 eighth grade classes and 1 ninth-grade class and 12 teachers completed lesson-specific measures at the end of Math and German lessons. Students' perceptions of teachers' autonomy support and their motivation and engagement varied considerably across lessons within a domain (variance at the within-student level ranged from 19% to 51%). In random intercept-random slope models, we found that all autonomy-supportive strategies showed meaningful associations with aspects of students' motivation and engagement. We did not find substantial domain-dependency in the associations between autonomy support and the outcomes. • Distinct autonomy-supportive strategies predict students' motivation and engagement. • No substantial domain-dependency in the predictions of autonomy support. • Between-student differences in the effects of autonomy support on student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares three critical transitions at the end of primary school and during secondary education of two cohorts of Dutch male pupils: those born around 1953 and those born around 1965. The first cohort participated in an old educational system and the second, in a reformed system. Although significant increases in the survival ratios for these three transitions were found, the effects of parental occupation and education on these increasing survival ratios did not change significantly. This conclusion contradicts the results of earlier Dutch intercohort comparisons that used linear models. The contradiction can be explained by the increased educational participation (reflected by the increasing survival ratios) that decreased the correlations between parental background and educational attainment. The educational reform promoted more equal educational opportunities, not by changes in the selection and allocation of pupils, but by the increased educational participation of pupils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a study which examined the intelligence levels of Indian and Dutch students using the Revisie Amsterdamse Kinder Intelligentie Test (RAKIT) and the Indian Child Intelligence Test (ICIT), respectively. Goal of the study; Methodology; Implication of the results.

Describes the Dutch ninth-grade secondary school students' environmental knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Relation among environmental knowledge, environmental attitude, willingness to make sacrifices and environmentally responsive behavior; Discussion of results; Recommendations.

Outside of the United States, how strong is public support for the severe anti-drug policies that have become the norm among Western nations? A fifty-item questionnaire revealed significantly stronger support among Canadian than among Dutch university students on many individual items and on four of five underlying factors. Notwithstanding the differences, both groups expressed a moderate degree of support for anti-drug policy. There were two indications, however, that the apparent support may be ‘soft’ among these students. First, there was a marked polarization of opinion within both groups. Second, opinions changed markedly among Canadian students who completed a course that exposed them to criticism of current anti-drug policy. These findings raise the possibility that popular support for current anti-drug policy outside of the United States may not reflect a firm public consensus so much as the statistical average of divided populations that normally have little access to critical counterinformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a study examining the attitudes and achievements of Dutch students to German language instruction in secondary education. Link of achievement and attitude; Comparison of student attitudes enrolled in a communicative course with grammatically oriented course; Cognitive characteristics of students.

The article presents the authors' reflection on geography teaching in the Netherlands. Periodical surveys of the educational level in primary education from the Dutch Central Institute of Test Development shows that Dutch pupils have fair knowledge of topography, map reading and other topics including earth and landscapes, population, agriculture and industry. Geography in The Netherlands is an independent subject in almost all primary and secondary schools, Pupils between 10 and 15 years of age receive between one and one and a half hours of geography instruction every week yet, the position of geography in vocational schools is weaker. Various Dutch geographers helped to construct the new curriculum for the higher levels of Dutch secondary education, a completely different framework was used in developing the new curriculum for the lower levels. The geography teachers are pleased with this new direction in geography curriculum development. Geographical and interdisciplinary skills such as research methodology and communication have taken a central position. Students learn to analyse issues concerning unemployment, underdevelopment and environmental problems using a range of geographical skills. New Dutch curriculum for the higher levels of secondary education entitled Regions in Perspective, starting in 2007, sets its focus on modern regional geography. Most instructors are stressing on regional geography which focuses on places and regions.