Abstract
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Tanja Webs and Heinz Günter Holtappels
Teacher collaboration is regarded as a central feature of school quality that promotes students’ learning processes, teachers’ professional development, and school improvement…
Abstract
Purpose
Teacher collaboration is regarded as a central feature of school quality that promotes students’ learning processes, teachers’ professional development, and school improvement. Although the phenomenon is complex, studies often use global constructs and measures. To meet the research demands, the purpose of this paper is to take a differentiated perspective on teacher collaboration, its particular school conditions and effects on instructional development.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through a survey of 1,105 teachers at 36 secondary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). Using multivariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling, the occurrence of three different forms of teacher collaboration and their relations to activities of instructional development, structural and cultural working conditions, represented by appropriate scales and indexes, are analyzed.
Findings
The results show that teachers use less resource-intensive forms of collaboration more often and practice more demanding forms of collaboration less frequently. More demanding forms of collaboration not only depend on the working climate but also on individual self-efficacy, institutionalized teams, collaborative and instructional principal leadership and in turn promote the development of interdisciplinary curricula and concepts for individual support.
Originality/value
This study provides evidence for the importance of distinguishing different forms of teacher collaboration. Furthermore, by relating different collaborative activities of teachers to certain school conditions and instructional development, this study makes a contribution to research by emphasizing the relativity of teacher collaboration regarding its desired outcomes as well as its necessary requirements.
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The quality of an education system or a comparative international assessment refers more and more to quantitative parameters, i.e. “educational indicators”. The paper aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
The quality of an education system or a comparative international assessment refers more and more to quantitative parameters, i.e. “educational indicators”. The paper aims to analyse the structure of several educational indicators and indicator systems and answer the question “What can educational indicators achieve?”
Design/methodology/approach
Starting with a general consideration of the term “indicator” the findings are applied to the educational area and the development of educational indicators is analysed critically.
Findings
Indicators allow for the illustration of outcomes and of system processes. Beginning in the 1950s, following the empirical turn in research methods, and the growing significance of approaches from economics of education, indicators are now applied in national and international settings. The findings show that the combination of the quantitative and qualitative approach is more successful as the isolated research.
Research limitations/implications
The research is based on secondary analysis. A combination of quantitative and qualitative research methodology should be undertaken in following the progress of educational systems.
Originality/value
The findings of quantitative research based on educational indicators determine the general public and political discussion and often the discourse in the scientific community. The analysis shows that a critical distance especially when preparing political decisions is a necessary attitude.
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Literature from across design studies and innovation management, as well as food marketing research evidence, is examined to highlight the interdisciplinary and experiential…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature from across design studies and innovation management, as well as food marketing research evidence, is examined to highlight the interdisciplinary and experiential research approaches to food consumption and well-being. This conceptual paper aims to address the need to expand the food industry’s goals by considering its contributions to the consumer’s overall food well-being. Food experience design (FED) seeks to understand how food professionals can design healthy and pleasurable food experiences aimed at enhancing people’s food well-being. FED does so by proposing a holistic and integrative framework.
Design/methodology/approach
This approach examines design thinking by conducting an analysis of the multidisciplinary literature. This paper addresses the gap in the literature by advancing the theoretical and empirical understanding of food design thinking through the lenses of experiential theory and consumer well-being.
Findings
This review paper clarifies the scope of FED scholarship and offers a call for collective efforts to establish a focused body of knowledge that leads food marketing professionals and scholars to adopt an experiential perspective to food consumption and production focused on experiential pleasure of food as a driving force for consumer’s well-being.
Research limitations/implications
The review paper addresses the need to expand the food industry’s goals by considering its contributions to the consumer’s overall food well-being. FED seeks to understand how food professionals can design healthy and pleasurable food experiences aimed at enhancing people’s food well-being. FED does so by proposing a holistic and integrative framework.
Practical implications
This research provides designers with the operative tools to create innovative food experiences and increase the food well-being of consumers. Toward that end, designers need to extend their skills and evolve their language and competencies to create valuable dialogues with other stakeholders involved. Collaboration requires many other premises. This paper contributes to the discussion by identifying and clarifying them.
Originality/value
This research highlights the imperative to take multidisciplinary, transformative and experiential approaches to researching food innovation strategies from a consumer’s well-being perspective.