Das strukturierte Portfolio zur Dokumentation des orientierenden Praktikums für Lehramtsstudierende

Die Kompetenzorientierung der Lehrerbildung bezieht sich nicht nur auf die universitären Ausbildungsabschnitte des Lehramtsstudiums, sondern auch auf die praktischen Phasen. Daher ist es von Interesse, diese praktischen Phasen genauer zu untersuchen. Bisherige Forschungsarbeiten konzentrierten sich dabei vor allem auf die Kompetenzentwicklung (Bach, 2013; Gröschner & Schmitt, 2012; Schubarth et al., 2012) und auf die Betreuung im Schulpraktikum (Bach, 2013; Hascher, 2012; Schubarth et al., 2011). Die Untersuchung dieser Arbeit stellt die Praktikumsdokumentation in den Fokus, da diese ebenfalls zur Kompetenzförderung im Schulpraktikum beitragen kann. Dazu werden zwei Formen von Praktikumsdokumentationen gegenübergestellt. Dies sind einerseits die Praktikumsaufgaben, die als offene Reflexionsaufgaben formuliert werden und andererseits ein strukturiertes Arbeitsheft mit dem Ziel, die Beobachtungskompetenz der Studierenden anzuleiten und die Dokumentation der Beobachtungen zu strukturieren. Diese beiden Formen der Praktikumsdokumentation werden hinsichtlich der Akzeptanz, der Entwicklung der Kompetenzen, der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung und des pädagogisch-psychologischen Wissens miteinander verglichen. Die Angaben von n = 66 Studierenden, die das Arbeitsheft im Orientierenden Praktikum nutzten, wurden in einem prä-post-follow-up-Design untersucht und zwei Referenzgruppen gegenübergestellt. Die erste Referenzgruppe (n = 64) hatte das Orientierende Schulpraktikum noch nicht absolviert. Die zweite Referenzgruppe (n = 105) hatte dieses beendet und mit den Praktikumsaufgaben gearbeitet. Mit Hilfe von Online-Fragebögen wurden Daten zu Rahmenbedingungen des Schulpraktikums, die selbsteingeschätzte Kompetenz der Studierenden, die Relevanz und Anwendungshäufigkeit der Kompetenzen (adaptierte Skala nach Gröschner, 2009), die allgemeine Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung (Jerusalem & Schwarzer, 1999), das pädagogisch-psychologische Wissen sowie die Akzeptanz erfasst. Die Ergebnisse zeigen keine Unterschiede in der Kompetenz- und Relevanzeinschätzung sowie bei der Selbstwirksamkeitserwartung und dem Wissen zwischen den Gruppen. Signifikant besser schätzten die Studierenden mit dem Arbeitsheft die Anwendungshäufigkeit der Kompetenzen und die Akzeptanz der Praktikumsdokumentation ein. Das neu entwickelte Arbeitsheft und die Praktikumsaufgaben fördern die Kompetenzentwicklung wahrscheinlich in vergleichbarem Maß. Die Studierenden akzeptieren das Arbeitsheft jedoch mehr, was eine wichtige Implementationsbedingung ist. Das Design der Studie sowie die Selbstselektion der Gruppen schränken die Aussagekraft der Studie ein. Zu betonen ist jedoch, dass im Rahmen dieser Studie erstmalig versucht wurde, eine längsschnittliche Interventionsstudie mit Praktikumsdokumentationen umzusetzen sowie die Gelingensbedingungen von Schulpraktika und Kompetenzentwicklung im Lehramtsstudium zu untersuchen.

Vulnerability to risk among small farmers in Tajikistan: results of a 2011 survey

Tajikistan is judged to be highly vulnerable to risk, including food insecurity risks and climate change risks. By some vulnerability measures it is the most vulnerable among all 28 countries in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region – ECA (World Bank 2009). The rural population, with its relatively high incidence of poverty, is particularly vulnerable. The Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR) in Tajikistan (2011) provided an opportunity to conduct a farm-level survey with the objective of assessing various dimensions of rural population’s vulnerability to risk and their perception of constraints to farming operations and livelihoods. The survey should be accordingly referred to as the 2011 PPCR survey. The rural population in Tajikistan is highly agrarian, with about 50% of family income deriving from agriculture (see Figure 4.1; also LSMS 2007 – own calculations). Tajikistan’s agriculture basically consists of two groups of producers: small household plots – the successors of Soviet “private agriculture” – and dehkan (or “peasant”) farms – new family farming structures that began to be created under relevant legislation passed after 1992 (Lerman and Sedik, 2008). The household plots manage 20% of arable land and produce 65% of gross agricultural output (GAO). Dehkan farms manage 65% of arable land and produce close to 30% of GAO. The remaining 15% of arable land is held in agricultural enterprises – the rapidly shrinking sector of corporate farms that succeeded the Soviet kolkhozes and sovkhozes and today produces less than 10% of GAO (TajStat 2011) The survey conducted in May 2011 focused on dehkan farms, as budgetary constraints precluded the inclusion of household plots. A total of 142 dehkan farms were surveyed in face-to-face interviews. They were sampled from 17 districts across all four regions – Sughd, Khatlon, RRP, and GBAO. The districts were selected so as to represent different agro-climatic zones, different vulnerability zones (based on the World Bank (2011) vulnerability assessment), and different food-insecurity zones (based on WFP/IPC assessments). Within each district, 3-4 jamoats were chosen at random and 2-3 farms were selected in each jamoat from lists provided by jamoat administration so as to maximize the variability by farm characteristics. The sample design by region/district is presented in Table A, which also shows the agro-climatic zone and the food security phase for each district. The sample districts are superimposed on a map of food security phases based on IPC April 2011.

Land use policies and practices for reducing vulnerability in rural Tajikistan

Tajikistan, with 93% of its surface area taken up by mountains and 65% of its labor force employed in agriculture, is judged to be highly vulnerable to risks, including climate change risks and food insecurity risks. The article examines a set of land use policies and practices that can be used to mitigate the vulnerability of Tajikistan’s large rural population, primarily by increasing family incomes. Empirical evidence from Tajikistan and other CIS countries suggests that families with more land and higher commercialization earn higher incomes and achieve higher well-being. The recommended policy measures that are likely to increase rural family incomes accordingly advocate expansion of smallholder farms, improvement of livestock productivity, increase of farm commercialization through improvement of farm services, and greater diversification of both income sources and the product mix. The analysis relies for supporting evidence on official statistics and recent farm surveys. Examples from local initiatives promoting sustainable land management practices and demonstrating the implementation of the proposed policy measures are presented.

The Effect of Weight on the Perception of Political Candidates

Chris Christie recently visited the famous “Wailing Wall” in Jerusalem, Israel, during his first trip abroad as governor of New Jersey. The New York Post reported on his trip with the headline “The Whale at the Wall” (Campanile 2012). Given headlines like this, it is easy to see anecdotal evidence of the stigmatization that surrounds obesity within contemporary American society. What’s more important is that these social stigmas that Americans are faced with every day are not merely surface level jokes bantered about for a cheap laugh. They are often prejudices that permeate every aspect of human life. Whether it comes to finding a date, looking for a job, or trying to be taken serious by one’s peers, weight is always a topic of concern. In an effort to understand how far entrenched these biases are in society, this thesis studies the ramifications of obesity in politics. In this thesis, I attempt to understand to what extent, if any, obesity matters in regard to candidate appearance, voters' choices, and political behavior.

Toward a Better World: Finnish Utopian Communities since 1972

The utopian communities of Finns are linked to world history and the great ideological foundations behind numerous utopian endeavors. In the paper, Finnish utopian communities will be described, compared, and contrasted by their ideological backgrounds and in a global context. In addition, the reasons for the dissolution of these settlements are analyzed. Even though the Finnish utopian communities are not often mentioned together with More's Utopia, or with Fourier, Owen, Cabet, or Oneida, they have an interesting history reaching back to the 1792 “New Jerusalem” plan in Sierra Leone. While the best-known Finnish utopian ventures are Sointula in Canada (1901-1905) and Colonia Finlandesa (1906-1940) in Argentina there were, however, almost twenty similar Finnish ventures around the world based on nationalism, utopian socialism, cooperative movements, “tropic fevers,” and religious ideas.