Focusing on the research surrounding textbook creation, this book aims to provide both an overview of existing literature and practical guidance for authors and editors. Drawing from over 500 sources and numerous experimental studies, it offers concrete suggestions for crafting effective textbooks, making it a valuable resource for those involved in educational publishing.
Several topics in contemporary educational research in Estonia have been covered in this collection. The professional identities of vocational teachers have been studied in relation to their new professional roles. Important differences in lesson planning have been found between novice and experienced teachers. A longitudinal study of the development of language competence revealed that it is important to provide students with tasks suited to their cognitive level. The metacognitive learning strategy summarizing alone explained 33% of the variation in the reading results of the 2009 PISA study between schools in Estonia. Student argumentation in state exam compositions showed differences on the basis of gender and school type.
The papers in this collection contribute to our understanding of several aspects of lifelong learning. Two papers highlight the characteristics of reflection among teachers including self-evaluation and blogging. Two other papers study cooperation in lifelong learning – one, the impact of communities on professional learning among university lecturers, and the other, teacher-principal-parent partnerships in early childhood education. Universities offer a variety of courses and one paper analyses the impact on students of a course in educational psychology. The experience of dilemmas in history teaching is described in the next paper, and the reading habits of Estonian adolescents according to the PISA study are analysed in the final paper.
The studies in this volume explore a number of issues in education today. One paper reveals what actually motivates teachers to develop their career, another, how to teach primary teachers to talk about visual art. Children’s artworks were explored in one article to see how they relate to their adjustment to school. In another, a case study was successful in developing reasoning in primary school students. The measurement of mathematics achievement revealed no difference between Estonian speaking and Russian speaking schools. Performance-related goals were shown in another article to be associated with the self-concept of the students. The learning disabilities of children were analysed, and the production of narratives by children with language impairment. The analysis of aggressive behaviour in children in Estonia and Finland indicated gender and country differences in their behaviour.
Students valued academic success, politeness, and honesty but not so much health and tolerance. Teenagers gave high ranks to knowledge, friends, and honesty and lower ranks to a high position in society and wealth. The students’ self-evaluations were in good correlation with PISA 2006 results. Positive experiences of upbringing were related to a lower risk of using intoxicants in Estonia, Finland and Russia. Teenagers’ behaviour was assessed as relatively wilder but also more honest than adults’ behaviour. A review of bullying revealed the relationship between educational practice and science. The analysis of early sexual initiation showed some factors of, for example, greater tolerance of commercial sex in society. A study of Estonian teenagers’ time usage indicated differences by gender, grade and region. Students reported positive academic emotions, such as enjoyment, hope, pride, etc. more often in lower grades.
This collection of papers provides a small overview of educational research in Estonia. The papers in the collection treat school reforms since the renewal of independence in 1991, new approaches to teacher training, the implementation of a child-centred approach in school, the achieving of educational aims and other actual topics in education. The results of many surveys have been presented in the papers, for example, parental beliefs about home-school co-operation, novice teacher assessments of their induction year, student evaluations of teacher behaviour in the classroom, etc.