Description of Presentation for Conference Program

Description of presentation for conference program

Presenter:

Heinz Günter Holtappels
Center for Research on Education and School Development,TU Dortmund University

Paper title:

How effective are German All-Day Schools? Impacts of Extracurricular Activities onAchievements in Primary Schools

The studyin German all-day schoolsfocuses on three research questions:

1)How far can students participation in extracurricular domain-specific activities affect learning development?

2)Do students with disadvantaged social backgrounds benefit by participating in extracurricular activities?

3)Which school and classroom factors make a difference?

The methodological design includes panel data from 67 primary schools based on standardized questionnaires of teachers (n=667) and students (n=2.149)and test data students competencies (reading literacy, natural sciences) from year 3 to year 4.Results show: Primary schools with all-day program do support children from diverse social backgrounds with similar effects but without closing the gap. Student’s participation in extracurricular courses over a period of two or three half years has no measurable impacts on development of reading and science competencies over one school year and no general impact on learning attitudes of students. Relationships between the quality of domain-specific extracurricular arrangements and students’ achievements are low. Students with disadvantaged social backgrounds develop better concerning social behavior and self-concept over time. School development strategies focusing on more effective learning are closely related to leadership patterns with focus on learning and collaboration of the staff with focus on evaluation and student learning.

General Paper

Asystemwide implementation program in Germany has raised the quota of all-day-schools since 2002from 15 to 63 percent.The main aims of the program are: 1) School improvement byenrichingthe learning culture, 2) support for learning especially for social disadvantaged students to close the gap of educational chances (Holtappels, 2014). The paper is linked to conference strand “Growing Innovative School Culture for School Change”.

All-Day Schools in Germany provide complementary learning arrangements and have to create subject-specific, remedial teaching, projects or work groups to foster students’ learning. The program is ambitious and could initiatean innovative learning culture with impacts on development of achievements.

Previous empirical studies in primary schools have showed that students participating in (any kind of) extracurricular activities in their school reach the same or lower achievement levels in all test competence domains than half-day studentsand the gap between students from diverse social backgrounds could not be closed, reported by National studies in PIRLS2006 (Holtappels et al., 2010) andPIRLS/TIMSS 2011 (Strietholt et al., 2015).

The theoretical framework of our study is related to CIPO school quality model (Scheerens 1990), adapted to the all-day school context through a special quality model (Holtappels 2009). The analyses are embedded in the nationwide “Study on development of all-day schools” (StEG; Fischer et al., 2011) and focused on three research questions:

4)How far can students participation in extracurricular domain-specific learning activities affectlearning development?

5)Do students with disadvantaged social backgroundsbenefit by participating in extracurricular activities?

6)What kind of school and classroom factors make a difference?

The methodological design includes panel data from 67 primary schools based on standardized questionnaires of teachers (n=667),additional educational staff (n=672), parents(n=1.718) and students (n=2.149)over three measure points and data concerning students attitudes and test competencies in reading literacy and natural sciencesfrom year 3 to year 4.Reliable scales for measuring learning environment and school factors were composed. Test instruments from PIRLS and TIMSS were used and data were processed by longitudinal test-score-scaling to get added values. Learning attitudes (self-concept, motivation) and social behaviorare based on questionnaires. Data analyses comprise mean comparison tests, correlations, path analyses and multiple regressions.

Main results show (Lossen et al., 2016): Primary schools with all-day program do support children from diverse social backgrounds with similar effects, the gap doesn’t increase but it hasn’t closed. Student’s participation in extracurricular courses over a period of two or three half years hasno measurable impacts on development of reading and science competencies over one school year and no general impact on learning attitudes of students. And relationships between the quality ofdomain-specificextracurricular arrangements and students’ achievements are low. Students with disadvantaged social backgroundsdevelop better concerning social behavior and self-conceptover time.Beyond these school level factors show that school development strategiesfocusing on more effective learning are closely related to leadership patterns with focus on learning and professional collaboration of the staff with focus on evaluation and student learning.

References:

Fischer, N., Holtappels, H. G., Klieme, E., Rauschenbach, T., Stecher, L. & Züchner, I. (Hrsg.) (2011). Ganztagsschule: Entwicklung, Qualität, Wirkungen. Weinheim: Juventa.

Holtappels, H. G. (2009). Qualitätsmodelle – Theorie und Konzeptionen. In. I. Kamski, H. G. Holtappels & T. Schnetzer (Hrsg.), Qualität von Ganztagsschule. Konzepte und Orientierungen für die Praxis. (S. 11–25). Münster: Waxmann.

Holtappels, H. G. (2014).Entwicklung und Qualität von Ganztagsschulen. Eine vorläufige Bilanz des größten Reformprogramms in Deutschland. In H. G. Holtappels, A. S. Willems, M. Pfeifer, W. Bos, & N. McElvany, N. (Hrsg.),Jahrbuch der Schulentwicklung, Band 18. Daten, Beispiele und Perspektiven (S. 9-61), Weinheim: BeltzJuventa.

Holtappels, H. G., Radisch,, F., Rollett, W. Kowoll, M. E. (2010). Bildungsangebot und Schülerkompetenzen in Ganztagsgrundschulen. In W. Bos, S. Hornberg, K.-H. Arnold, G. Faust, L. Fried, E.-M. Lankes, K. Schwippert, I. Tarelli, & R. Valtin (Hrsg.), IGLU 2006 – die Grundschule auf dem Prüfstand. Vertiefende Analysen zu Rahmenbedingungen schulischen Lernens (S. 165-198). Münster: Waxmann.

Lossen, K., Tillmann, K., Holtappels, H. G., Hannemann, J. & Rollett, W. (2016).Entwicklung der naturwissenschaftlichen Kompetenzen und des sachunterrichtsbezogenen Selbstkonzepts bei Schüler/innen in Ganztagsgrundschulen – Ergebnisse der Längsschnittstudie StEG-P zu Effekten der Schülerteilnahme und der Angebotsqualität. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 6, 760-779.

Scheerens, J. (1990). School effectiveness and the development of process indicators of school functioning. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 1, 61-80.

Strietholt, R., Manitius, V., Berkemeyer, N., & Bos, W. (2015).Bildung und Bildungsungleichheit an Halb- und Ganztagsschulen. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, 4, 737 – 761.

Key Words:All-day school, achievement development, extracurricular learning, leadership for learning, professional teacher collaboration