Jaan Mikk - Böcker

The papers in this collection analyse the professionalism of teachers in Estonia and neighbouring countries from several perspectives. Data from the OECD TALIS survey have been used to study the transformation of the teaching profession in recent years. As Estonia is bicultural, one paper deals with the transition to Estonian as the language of instruction in Russian-medium schools. Teacher professionalism is related to communication skills and this is also explored. It is generally accepted that teachers’ beliefs guide them in their daily work, and so three papers deal with the professional self and self-efficacy beliefs among teachers. In addition, an adaptation of the Teacher Efficacy Scale to the Estonian context is presented. The professional experience of young teachers is analysed and a comparison of the school practicum in teacher training in the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland is explored. Finally, the stress that teachers experience has been studied along with the preferred strategies for coping.

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.