Anna Mues, Efsun Birtwistle, Astrid Wirth, Tina Schiele, Frank Niklas
{"title":"Supporting children's numeracy competencies and families' HNE: Exploring the role of apps and digital parent information in STEM vs. Non-STEM families.","authors":"Anna Mues, Efsun Birtwistle, Astrid Wirth, Tina Schiele, Frank Niklas","doi":"10.1007/s10212-025-00953-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10212-025-00953-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early numeracy competencies are of great importance for children's competency development. Here, early digital intervention approaches offer the potential to support all children and their families. We investigated whether the provision of specific numeracy learning apps and parent information about children's numeracy development improves both, children's numeracy competencies and the quality of families' home numeracy environment (HNE) while considering the potential impact of parental (STEM) occupation. Children's numeracy competencies were measured twice in two cohorts (<i>N</i> <sub><i>1</i></sub> = 190 children; <i>M</i> <sub>1age</sub> = 63.6 months; <i>SD</i> <sub><i>1</i></sub> = 4.4; <i>N</i> <sub><i>2</i></sub> = 310 children; <i>M</i> <sub>2age</sub> = 59.4 months; <i>SD</i> <sub><i>2</i></sub> = 3.9) with a six-month interval between t1 and t2. Parents were surveyed about the family characteristics and the HNE. Families in the numeracy intervention group (<i>N</i> <sub>total</sub> = 151) received tablet computers with specific numeracy learning apps and parent information. No significant intervention effect on the quality of the HNE was found. However, children from intervention families showed significantly greater numeracy competency gains, even when considering child and family characteristics and independent of parental occupations. Consequently, high-quality learning apps can support the development of children's numeracy competencies already at preschool age. Further ideas on how to reach families and enhance the HNE are discussed.</p><p><strong>Supplementary information: </strong>The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10212-025-00953-7.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"40 2","pages":"53"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11928358/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143694091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jakob Schnell, Katja Saxer, Julia Mori, Tina Hascher
{"title":"Feeling well and doing well. The mediating role of school engagement in the relationship between student well-being and academic achievement.","authors":"Jakob Schnell, Katja Saxer, Julia Mori, Tina Hascher","doi":"10.1007/s10212-025-00947-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10212-025-00947-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Students' well-being has become an important part of education policy in many countries. Research shows that well-being contributes to students' engagement in school, thereby supporting academic achievement. However, prior research has often neglected the interplay and multidimensionality of the constructs. The present study applied a six-dimensional student well-being model and a three-component school engagement model to untangle the differential associations of positive and negative well-being dimensions with the components of school engagement and academic achievement. Longitudinal mediation analyses using a sample of <i>N</i> = 754 Swiss secondary school students and two measurement points (Grade 7 and Grade 8) revealed differential associations of well-being dimensions with engagement components, but no direct effects on academic achievement. Enjoyment in school, as a dimension of student well-being, had an indirect effect on academic achievement, mediated through behavioral engagement. The results imply that fostering students' enjoyment in school may be a promising strategy to enhance their behavioral engagement and, in turn, promote their academic achievement.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"40 1","pages":"48"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11889011/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143587620","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ilona M B Benneker, Fanny de Swart, Nikki C Lee, Nienke M van Atteveldt
{"title":"Social context and daily fluctuations in adolescents' mindset: the role of parental beliefs, appraisal of increasing marks, and feedback.","authors":"Ilona M B Benneker, Fanny de Swart, Nikki C Lee, Nienke M van Atteveldt","doi":"10.1007/s10212-025-01009-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10212-025-01009-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Mindset is generally conceptualized as a stable trait, but recent research suggests that the social context may play a pivotal role in its development and adjustment (de Ruiter & Thomaes, 2023; King, 2020); Lou & Li, 2023). Empirical investigations have primarily focused on the social context of teachers and peers with less attention to the role of parents. This study seeks to explore the relationship between parents and their adolescents' intelligence mindset, by examining the effects of parents' intelligence mindset, failure beliefs, and appraisal of increasing academic marks, as well as the daily feedback they provide, using a combination of cross-sectional and daily diary methods. The results of the cross-sectional study, from a sample of Dutch adolescents (<i>M</i> <sub>age</sub> = 14.47 years) and their parents (<i>M</i> <sub>age</sub> = 47.60 years) revealed that a more growth-oriented intelligence mindset in parents relate to a more growth-oriented intelligence mindset in their adolescents. Furthermore, parents' result-oriented day-to-day feedback was found to be negatively associated with adolescents' intelligence mindset, demonstrating that a focus on school marks may inhibit the development of a growth mindset in adolescents. These findings have useful implications, such as providing new insights into the dynamic interplay between parents' intelligence mindset, the day-to-day feedback they provide, and their adolescents' intelligence mindset, which may be important factors for adolescents' learning attitudes and academic success.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"40 4","pages":"112"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12500801/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145253381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elena Makarova, Anna K Döring, Ella Daniel, Maya Benish-Weisman
{"title":"Editorial: Research on value development in the school context: new directions and approaches from an international perspective.","authors":"Elena Makarova, Anna K Döring, Ella Daniel, Maya Benish-Weisman","doi":"10.1007/s10212-025-01003-y","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10212-025-01003-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This special issue advances the study of value formation in educational settings by introducing and applying the <i>Value Transmission in the School Context</i> model, which has been developed on the basis of a conceptual synthesis of Schwartz's Theory of Basic Human Values, Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory, and Fend's New Theory of School. While human values are central to global educational agendas, empirical research on how values develop in school contexts remains limited. The ten original studies in this issue draw on diverse methodologies and data from six countries to examine value development in children and adolescents across micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of schooling. Together, the contributions highlight the dynamic interplay between vertical value transmission (from educational systems to classroom practices and vice versa) and horizontal transmission (between teachers and students, as well as among peers). The findings emphasize that schools are not only institutional settings for value education but also social spaces where values are continuously shaped through interaction and negotiation. This editorial situates the studies within the proposed framework offering a cohesive perspective on the multilevel processes that shape value development in schools. It concludes by identifying key directions for future research that account for systemic structures, developmental dynamics, and contextual factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"40 4","pages":"116"},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12568883/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145410499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Anna K. Döring, Emma Jones, Thomas P. Oeschger, Elena Makarova
{"title":"Giving voice to educators: Primary school teachers explain how they promote values to their pupils","authors":"Anna K. Döring, Emma Jones, Thomas P. Oeschger, Elena Makarova","doi":"10.1007/s10212-024-00885-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00885-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Values are the trans-situational goals guiding human attitudes and behavior (Schwartz, 1992). As early socialization agents, teachers have a responsibility to promote democratic values of citizenship to create an inclusive, fair, and sustainable society, necessary for individual and collective well-being (OECD, 2019). By facilitating social and cognitive development through social interactions, the school setting helps spark curiosity, leading to reflection and adaptation. Across the curriculum, teachers use strategies like imitation, modelling, priming, and discussion to help children make sense of the world (Makarova et al., 2024; Oeschger et al., 2022). Yet little empirical evidence exists to support how teachers achieve this. The present study gives voice to educators through the personal experiences of ten UK primary school teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, lasting between 50 and 90 min. Data was analyzed in two stages: First, a deductive structuring content analysis identified how values of self-transcendence versus self-enhancement and openness to change versus conservation, as defined in Schwartz’s (1992) model, were reflected in the interview data. Second, an inductive thematic analysis yielded the following themes: mechanisms of value transmission; implicit vs explicit instruction of values; values that are most difficult to teach; value transmission through taught lessons; the role of collective worship and cultural days; opportunities for value transmission in the wider school environment; and the role that a school culture and ethos play in the transmission of values. This study supports the view that values are promoted through a variety of methods and across all areas of the school environment.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"67 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142196818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Developing gestures in the infant classroom: from showing and giving to pointing","authors":"Irene Guevara, Cintia Rodríguez, María Núñez","doi":"10.1007/s10212-024-00895-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00895-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Research on gesture development has mostly focused on home environments. Little is known about early communicative development in other relevant contexts, such as early-year-schools. These settings, rich in diverse educative situations, objects, and communicative partners, provide a contrast to parent–child interactions, complementing our understanding of gesture development. This study aims to describe the development of the first gestures in the infant classrooms of early-years-schools, focusing on ostensive gestures of showing and giving—their emergence, communicative functions, and relation to the subsequent emergence of pointing. We conducted a longitudinal, observational investigation analyzing the gestures of 21 children (7–13 months). Over 7 months, we observed and registered children’s daily interactions in the classroom, employing a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach to analyze the types and functions of their gestures. We found a significant increase and diversification of gesture types and functions with age. Gestures followed a proximal–distal developmental course. Ostensive gestures were the earliest and most prevalent gestures observed. There was a correlation between the frequency of these gestures, with ostensive gestures fulfilling communicative functions later observed in pointing. Our qualitative analysis revealed the progressive construction of ostensive gestures into spontaneous, complex, and conventional forms of communication. These results highlight the important role of ostensive gestures in early communicative development, paving the way for distal communication through pointing and relating to the origin of intentional communication. More broadly, these findings have significant implications for early educational practices and show the value of conducting research on developmental processes in early education.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"1087 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142196819","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Valentina Nachtigall, David Williamson Shaffer, Nikol Rummel
{"title":"The authenticity dilemma: towards a theory on the conditions and effects of authentic learning","authors":"Valentina Nachtigall, David Williamson Shaffer, Nikol Rummel","doi":"10.1007/s10212-024-00892-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00892-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>A highly authentic learning setting is likely to trigger positive motivational and emotional reactions due to its emphasis on promoting the acquisition of knowledge that is connected and transferable to real-world phenomena outside the learning environment. However, a high level of authenticity is usually accompanied by a high level of complexity due to the complexity inherent in the real world. This complexity can be overwhelming for learners and can hamper or even prevent cognitive learning outcomes. Consequently, to help learners cope with this complexity, they need some kind of instructional support. By building a high level of support into the learning setting in order to promote cognitive learning outcomes, the level of authenticity and thereby the effects of authenticity on motivational outcomes may, however, in turn be reduced. In the present conceptual paper, we refer to this tension between authenticity and complexity, on the one hand, and instructional support, on the other hand, as the “authenticity dilemma”. Based on existing empirical evidence from previous studies, we (1) outline this dilemma, (2) discuss ways to reconceptualize it, and (3) derive implications regarding the conditions and effects of authentic learning. Finally, we discuss the findings of the studies included in the special issue “Perspectives on Authentic Learning” through the lens of the authenticity dilemma.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141932252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jan Cieciuch, Maria Kwiatkowska, Martin Kindschi, Eldad Davidov, René Algesheimer
{"title":"Peers and value preferences among adolescents in school classes: a social network and longitudinal approach","authors":"Jan Cieciuch, Maria Kwiatkowska, Martin Kindschi, Eldad Davidov, René Algesheimer","doi":"10.1007/s10212-024-00878-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00878-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The aim of our study was twofold: (1) to explore the role of value preferences on peer relations in school classes (selection effect) and (2) to explore the role of peers’ values on adolescents’ values (influence or socialization effect) in three types of networks (friendship, advice, and trust). To answer these questions, we used a longitudinal social network approach in a study of <i>N</i> = 903 adolescents (57% girls) from 34 secondary school classes in Poland. Pupils began participating in the study when they joined their secondary school and were followed over two and a half years. Panel data were collected at six measurement time points during this period. Values were conceptualized according to the values theory proposed by Schwartz and measured by the Portrait Value Questionnaire. The collection of network data followed a roster design. Pupils were asked to evaluate the strength of their friendships, as well as the frequency with which they approached peers to ask for advice about school or homework or to talk about things that are important to them in the last 2 weeks. We found empirical support for both selection and socialization effects, especially for protection values (Conservation and Self-enhancement). The selection effect was most evident in advice and trust networks and the socialization effect was particularly prevalent in friendship and trust networks.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"192 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141932176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ups and downs of online intergroup contact interventions: popular narratives and secondary transfer effect","authors":"Simona Oľhová, Monika Brachtlová, Marek Urban","doi":"10.1007/s10212-024-00887-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00887-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Narrative texts may represent a specific form of indirect contact, i.e., vicarious contact between the members of different groups. The present study introduces an online reading intervention promoting intergroup trust between children from the majority Czech population and the Vietnamese minority, reducing their perceived social distance and intergroup anxiety, as well as improving their behavioral intentions towards the minority. Forty-three primary school children were either part of a control group or participated in an online study, where stories about intergroup relations were read in three individual sessions. Selected stories represented the daily experiences of a same-aged boy from a Vietnamese minority. The control group only filled in the pre- and post-test questionnaires. The intervention group exhibited improvements in positive attitudes and reduction of negative attitudes with strong effect size. The subsequent goal of the study was to test whether secondary transfer would be manifested towards eight other minorities living in the country, i.e., whether the shift in attitudes would also generalize to minorities about whom the stories were not read. The manifested transfer varied from weak to very strong. The most profound change was exhibited in explicit attitudes towards Muslim and Roma, followed by the Ukrainian minority and homosexuals. The online reading intervention is therefore a promising tool for prejudice reduction in primary school children.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"33 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141887316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The values of schools: an analysis of vision statements","authors":"Ella Daniel, Sharon Arieli, Liat Akerman","doi":"10.1007/s10212-024-00886-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-024-00886-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p>School vision statements articulate an aspired future state for the school, highlighting its ideals, purpose, and unique aspects to direct behavior and promote motivation and commitment among stakeholders. This paper investigates vision statements of schools as artifacts expressing the values emphasized by schools, drawing on organizational literature that shows the role of central organizational artifacts in conveying the values important to the organization. Using a comprehensive sample of elementary schools across all districts in Israel (<i>N</i> = 99), we built on Schwartz’s values theory to identify values and analyze expressed values. We employed a mixed methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze these values. First, we analyzed the content of vision statements to investigate how values were manifested. Then, we investigated the values hierarchy reflected in the vision statements, and compared sectors to identify the impact of the broader social context. Our analysis revealed variation in values expression: as expected, self-direction and benevolence emerged as the most prevalent values in school vision statements; power and hedonism were less salient. Comparison of vision statements from public and public-religious schools, as well as across schools with varying socioeconomic status (SES), revealed differences in universalism values. Public schools and those with higher SES placed greater importance on universalism values compared to public-religious schools. Additionally, tradition values were less prominent in public schools but were the second most significant values in public-religious schools. We discuss the results within the framework of values theory and educational policy.</p>","PeriodicalId":47800,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of Psychology of Education","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141870932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}