Teaching High-Ability Pupils in Early Primary School

140 Pages·2015·1.63 MB·English

Teaching High-Ability Pupils
in Early Primary School
The research reported here was carried out at the

and at

Instituut voor Toegepaste Sociale Wetenschappen (ITS), Radboud Universiteit
In the context of the research school

Interuniversity Centre for Educational Research
and funded by

ISBN: 978 94 922 3118 5
© Elma Dijkstra, Utrecht, the Netherlands, 2015
Cover design & layout: Janine Cranshof, Open Universiteit
Printed by Datawyse, Maastricht, The Netherlands
All rights reserved
Teaching High-Ability Pupils
in Early Primary School
PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor
aan de Open Universiteit
op gezag van de rector magnificus
prof. mr. A. Oskamp
ten overstaan van een door het
College voor promoties ingestelde commissie
in het openbaar te verdedigen
op vrijdag 13 november 2015 te Heerlen
om 13.30 uur precies
door
Eline Marike Dijkstra
Geboren op 2 mei 1987 te Groningen
Promotores
Prof. dr. P. A. Kirschner, Open Universiteit
Prof. dr. A.J. Mooij, Open Universiteit en Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen
Co-promotor
Dr. A. Walraven, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen
Overige leden beoordelingscommissie
Prof. dr. R. J. Bosker, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Prof. dr. J. van Braak, Universiteit Gent, België
Prof. dr. F. L. J. M. Brand-Gruwel, Open Universiteit
Prof. dr. M. Vermeulen, Open Universiteit
Dr. A. J. M. Hoogeveen, Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen
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Contents
Introduction 7

Chapter 1 Teaching High-Ability Pupils in Dutch Primary Schools: 15
Reflections and New Directions

Chapter 2 Towards Optimal Education Including Self-Regulated 29
Learning in Technology-Enhanced Primary Schools

Chapter 3 Factors Affecting Intervention Fidelity of Differentiated 49
Instruction in Early Primary School

Chapter 4 Improving Teachers’ Differentiation Practices to Better 67
Anticipate Pupil Differences in Early Primary School

Chapter 5 Effects of a Teacher Intervention for Differentiation on 83
Academic Achievement of Early Primary School Pupils

Chapter 6 General Discussion 99

Appendix 111

References 113

Summary 125

Samenvatting 129
Dankwoord 135
ICO Dissertation Series 137
5

Introduction
7

Introduction
“Education will be organised in such a way that pupils are able to proceed through an uninter-
rupted developmental process. It will be geared to the progress in the development of pupils”.
This quote is from the Dutch Act for Primary Education (Wet op het primair onderwijs, 1981, art.
8.1) and acknowledges that pupils may have different developmental pathways for which the
teaching practices need to be adapted. Pupils in the same class may differ, for example, in gen-
der, age, cognitive abilities, socioeconomic background, motivation for learning, self-regulatory
capabilities, and so on. All of these differences can be relevant for their learning in school. It is
therefore important that teaching is adapted – as much as possible – to the unique needs and
skills of each pupil in the classroom and school. Only then are pupils able to learn at a pace and
through a type of activity that match their learning needs, which is required for learning new
knowledge and acquiring new skills (Vygotsky, 1978).
Unfortunately, there is often a mismatch between pupils’ needs and the learning activities
offered. In primary schools in the Netherlands, for example, learning activities are mainly or-
ganised in age-based mixed-ability classrooms. In teaching the core curriculum (e.g. reading,
arithmetic), teachers usually divide their pupils in three groups with different instructional
needs: pupils who need either little, regular, or extended instruction. According to the Dutch
Inspectorate of Education (Inspectie van het Onderwijs, 2014), however, this instructional dif-
ferentiation is insufficient to adequately adapt learning activities to the needs of each individual
pupil in the class. As a consequence, the suboptimal learning processes of those pupils who
deviate the most from the mean class development may result in academic underachievement
and other problems (Onderwijsraad, 2007).
While traditionally much research and policy attention is paid to how teaching could be
better differentiated for those pupils who lag behind others, the more advanced or high-ability
pupils in the Netherlands have been neglected for a long time. In the seventies and eighties
of the twentieth century, Dutch differentiation policy was primarily aimed at pupils who were
academically at-risk, due to, for example, learning problems or characteristics of their social
background and/or ethnicity. The main task of education was to bring all pupils, including those
at-risk pupils, to a minimum achievement level. To this end, extracurricular activities were made
available for those pupils who lagged behind their classmates. No attention was paid to those
pupils who were advanced, and most teachers did not feel the urge or need to do something
for this group of pupils, as was reflected in the Dutch mentality of on the one hand ‘don’t stick
out’ and ‘good is good enough’ and on the other hand ‘they’re so good, they’ll manage it them-
selves’. The overall impression at that time was that these pupils did not need extra educational
care and that there was no need to adapt their education (De Boer, Minnaert, & Kamphof, 2013;
Doolaard & Harms, 2013).
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Teaching High-Ability Pupils in Early Primary School
Since about the year 1985, Dutch society has seen a growing discontent among teachers and
parents about gifted pupils being kept home because the situation in school was dissatisfying.
Also, since about 2000, a number of international comparative studies of pupil achievement (for
example the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study and the Trends in International
Mathematics and Science Study) showed that Dutch pupils were disappearing from the top
of those lists. Although Dutch pupils generally scored well, only few pupils excelled according
to international standards. Dutch education seemed to do very well with bringing lower per-
forming pupils to a basic achievement level, but struggled with excelling high-ability pupils
(Meelissen et al., 2012).
The Dutch government realised, thus, that the schools were not successfully dealing with
the needs of pupils who were advanced compared to their class peers. Several small-scale ini-
tiatives to improve school practice were employed for this group of pupils, but the overall re-
sults produced no consistent information about what works for these pupils in schools (Mooij,
Hooge veen, Driessen, Van Hell, & Verhoeven, 2007). When teaching adaptations were availa-
ble, they generally only started halfway through primary education, which was considered by
Mooij et al. (2007a) to be too late to prevent academic, social, and motivational problems of
gifted pupils. Furthermore, the activities that were provided were generally offered on an ad hoc
basis, and, thus, lacked a structural basis in a school-wide curriculum.
The lack of appropriate learning opportunities was also reflected in a study by the Educa-
tional Council concerning the underachievement rates of primary school pupils, that reported
that 10-18% of the pupils underachieved. This rate, however, was much larger for high-ability or
gifted pupils (Onderwijsraad, 2007) where of the pupils with an IQ of 130, 30% underachieved,
which increased to 60% for pupils with an IQ ≥150. According to the Council, the causes could
be found in the lack of an intellectual context in the schools, little flexibility in the regular cur-
riculum, and few opportunities to do extra activities.
In 2008, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science acknowledged that schools,
despite some attempts, still had a problem recognising cognitively advanced pupils, and of-
fering them appropriate learning activities. To counteract this situation, the Ministry launched
new measures for stimulating the learning of these pupils (Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur
en Wetenschap, 2007). According to the Ministry, early identification and offering appropriate
learning activities in regular education are important to fully realise the learning potential and
prevent later problems. To gain more knowledge on how to do this, a number of research initi-
atives were stimulated.
One research initiative to increase evidence-based knowledge for teaching high-ability pu-
pils is the research programme Onderwijs Bewijs (Education Evidence). The programme aimed
to promote the development of evidence-based innovations in education. In two rounds (2009
and 2010), schools and research institutes could form consortiums to apply for funding of a
research project. A total of 37 projects were launched. In addition to topics such as citizenship
education and prevention of bullying, education for gifted or excellent pupils were among the
core themes of the subsequent funding rounds. For this last topic, projects needed to focus
on improving excellent pupils performances, which could be manifested in academics, arts, or
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