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Informal workplace learning has become a prominent reality in the knowledge society of today. For this reason, developing appropriate learning conditions in order to enhance workplace learning is dominating organizational agendas. However, research that investigates the relationship between important learning conditions and learning outcomes resulting from informal learning is scarce. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to explore how learning conditions in the workplace are related to these informal learning outcomes of police inspectors in particular. A mixed method study, including a survey among 390 police inspectors and interviews with nine police inspectors, was set up to explore this relation. Overall, the results of the survey study suggest that the learning conditions ‘information’, ‘feedback’, ‘reflection’ and ‘coaching’ are good predictors for the acquisition of ‘generic learning outcomes’ and ‘organizational level learning outcomes’. The learning condition ‘coaching’ is also strongly associated with ‘job-specific learning outcomes’. These results are in accordance with the perception of the interviewed police inspectors.

ispartof: JOURNAL OF POLICY AND PRACTICE IN INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES vol:16 issue:4 pages:296-311 status: published

Background: This article is the second in a two-part series. We focused on the effectiveness of restraint interventions (RIs) for reducing challenging behaviour (CB) among persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) in the first article. In this second article we focus on experiences with RIs for CB among people with ID. Methods: A mixed methods research synthesis involving statistical meta-analysis and qualitative meta-synthesis techniques was applied to synthesize 76 retrieved articles. This second article reports on the qualitative meta-synthesis of 17 articles on experiences with RIs for CB among people with ID. Results: The 17 included articles report on important variables relating to the persons receiving RIs, to the persons giving RIs, and to their interactions and relationship, as well as variables situated at the meso- and macro-level. Conclusions: The developed model can assist in reflecting on and improving of current RI practices among people with ID. ispartof: Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities vol:28 issue:2 pages:61-80 ispartof: location:England status: published

This study aimed to understand how relationships with peers and teachers contribute to the development of internalizing problems via children’s social self-concept. The sample included 570 children aged 7 years 5 months (SD = 4.6 months). Peer nominations of peer rejection, child-reported social self-concept, and teacher-reported internalizing problems were assessed longitudinally in the fall and spring of Grades 2 and 3. Teacher reports of support to the child were assessed in Grade 2. Results showed that peer rejection impeded children’s social self-concept, which in turn affected the development of internalizing problems. Partial support was found for individual (but not classroom-level) teacher support to buffer the adverse effects of peer problems on children’s self-concept, thereby mitigating its indirect effects on internalizing problems. ispartof: Child Development vol:85 issue:3 pages:1248-1256 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Although many studies have focused on the importance of school composition for student achievement, there is still no consensus on whether school composition matters to student achievement, and, if so, why. Therefore, the present study investigates the association between school composition and mathematics achievement at the end of second grade in Flanders. International research points to the initial ability level, SES, ethnicity and sex composition of the school as potential variables in explaining differences in student achievement. Moreover, some researchers suggest that schools ‘react’ to their student body and for that reason we investigated the possible association between school composition and school processes. Data from the SiBO Project have been analyzed using multilevel regression and multilevel mediation analysis. The results showed no direct school composition effects with respect to prior achievement, SES, ethnicity and sex on math achievement. We found two small differential effects, indicating that mean school prior achievement seems to positively affect initially high achievers, and the proportion of minority students in school seems to negatively affect students speaking a non-European language except for Turkish, Arabic or Berber at home. Furthermore, two small indirect effects were found which suggest that schools with a high mean prior achievement or a high mean SES keep in regular contact with their students' parents and this, in turn, appears to enhance students' math achievement. Overall, our results seem to indicate that school composition in the early years of primary education hardly matters.

This paper presents a clusterwise simultaneous component analysis for tracing structural differences and similarities between data of different groups of subjects. This model partitions the groups into a number of clusters according to the covariance structure of the data of each group and performs a simultaneous component analysis with invariant pattern restrictions (SCA-P) for each cluster. These restrictions imply that the model allows for between-group differences in the variances and the correlations of the cluster-specific components. As such, clusterwise SCA-P is more flexible than the earlier proposed clusterwise SCA-ECP model, which imposed equal average cross-products constraints on the component scores of the groups that belong to the same cluster. Using clusterwise SCA-P, a finer-grained, yet parsimonious picture of the group differences and similarities can be obtained. An algorithm for fitting clusterwise SCA-P solutions is presented and its performance is evaluated by means of a simulation study. The value of the model for empirical research is illustrated with data from psychiatric diagnosis research.

Background Persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) often show challenging behaviour.We review distinct interventions that are applied to treat these challenging behaviours, and analyse intervention effects and moderating variables. Methods A literature search was conducted using the databases ERIC, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Medline. A random-effects meta-analysis was carried out, supplemented with sensitivity, subgroup, meta- regression and publication bias analyses. Results Eighty potential articles were identified, from which 30 contained sufficient data to enable statistical meta-analysis. From these 30 studies, 18 described a biological, 13 a psychotherapeutic and nine a contextual intervention, either applied alone or combined. The overall standardised mean dif- ference was 0.671 (SD = 0.051). As shown by sen- sitivity analysis, this summary effect size is robust. Assessed through subgroup and meta-regression analysis, all tested moderators showed no statisti- cally significant association with the treatment effects. After applying a funnel plot-, a fail-safe N-, and Duval's and Tweedie's trim and fill- analysis, we conclude that our meta-analysis does not suffer much from publication bias

This study examines whether peer feedback can be a substitute for teacher feedback and which measures can be taken to improve its effectiveness. A pre‐test post‐test control group design examined the long‐term learning effects of individual peer feedback and of collective teacher feedback on writing assignments in secondary education. Moreover, it examined the added value of a priori question forms and a posteriori reply forms aimed at supporting the assessee’s response to peer feedback. The study supports the ‘non‐inferiority’ hypothesis of there being no significant difference in students’ progress after plain substitutional peer feedback or teacher feedback. Both groups (plain peer feedback and teacher feedback), however, improved significantly less than the groups that worked with question or reply forms, confirming the added‐value of these forms. Almost half of the students found the received peer feedback helpful, but less than a quarter considered giving feedback an aid in their own learning process.

A considerable body of previous research has demonstrated that differences between schools and classes have an impact on students' learning and acquisition of skills. It is not yet clear, however, whether the effects persist in the longer term. The present study examines the effect of primary schools and classes on language and mathematics achievement over a period of two years after leaving primary education. Considerable short‐term effects of the primary school and class on achievement levels at the end of primary education were found. Multilevel models with a cross‐classified structure were constructed to estimate the long‐term effects. Differences between secondary schools and classes turned out to be much more important for achievement in secondary education than the long‐term effects of primary schools and classes, which were small and died out fast.

This study addresses the effects of secondary schools and classes on language achievement in Flanders, Belgium. The results of a three-level analysis (students within classes within schools) indicate that the group composition at the class level is very important. In classes with a high average initial cognitive ability or a large proportion of girls, the language achievement is higher. These compositional effects are discussed with reference to type ‘A’ and type ‘B’ effects. The analyses show that group composition is more important than educational practices in accounting for differences in language achievement. With whom one is taught has a larger impact than how one is taught. Indications of differential effectiveness of classes related to prior achievement were found, with greater variations in effectiveness between classes for pupils of low prior achievement.

A single-case design is an experimental design for a study in which one entity is observed repeatedly during a certain period under different levels of at least one independent variable. Single-case designs have a long tradition and growing impact in behavioral science. They are the designs of first choice if demonstration of an effect in a single case is aimed at or if a test of a theory in a single case is sufficient (or the only possibility), and they are most compatible with clinical practice. The systematic and purposive planning of interventions in single-case research represents the main difference with both observational time series research and qualitative case study research. In addition, single-case research can gain internal and statistical-conclusion validity by including randomization in the design. Two types of randomized single-case designs are presented: randomized alternation designs and randomized phase designs. Finally, external validity of single-case results can be demonstrated or tested by simultaneous or sequential replication and the corresponding simultaneous randomization tests and meta-analytic procedures. Keywords: experimental design; time series; case study; random assignment; alternating treatments design; multiple baseline design; reversal and withdrawal design

A meta-analysis combines or compares in a systematic and quantitative way the results from several studies in which a similar research question is investigated. If differences in research outcomes are entirely due to sampling variation, combining the outcomes results in more precise answers to the research questions. In case of systematic inconsistencies in study outcomes, a meta-analysis offers the possibility to look for an explanation for the heterogeneity, by investigating whether study outcomes are related to one or more study characteristics. In this article, the historical and theoretical context of meta-analysis and the successive steps in a meta-analysis are described shortly, and several models, techniques and caveats are discussed. Keywords: meta-analysis; heterogeneity of study outcomes; mixed effects models; random effects models; file drawer problem

There is evidence that antidepressants may have an analgesic effect in chronic pain. To replicate this effect and to throw light on the processes involved, a 12-week cross-over double-blind trial of mianserin versus placebo was carried out in 4 diagnostic groups: A) depressive patients without pain complaints (n = 8), B) depressive patients with chronic organic pain (n = 8), C) patients with somatoform pain disorder and vital signs of depression (n = 11) and D) patients with chronic organic pain without depression (n = 8). Although a mianserin-induced antidepressant effect in group A was evident, no significant pain reduction was accomplished in any group. The reasons for this failure to replicate the antidepressant-induced analgesic effect are discussed.