Browsing by Subject "trust"

Objectives. According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013 results Finnish elementary school teachers do not receive enough feedback about their performance. The ethical guidelines published by the Finnish Trade Union of Education outline that teachers should aim at understanding each student’s thinking and opinions. The Finnish basic education’s core curriculum (POPS 2014) that takes effect in the fall of 2016 highlights the importance of student involvement. The main objective of this study was to examine the value of students’ feedback in elementary schools. In addition, this study examines the reliability of elementary school students’ feedback. The aim is also to increase the interest towards students’ feedback among Finnish educators. The theoretical framework of this study consists of the personality Rogers’s theory on personality development, Deci and Ryan’s self-determination theory and Erikson’s theory on psychosocial development. Methodology. The study was implemented as a systematic literature review. The scientific material consisted of ten English-language peer-reviewed articles. Two of the articles were published in England, two in Holland, one in Belgium, one in Norway, three in the United States and one in Australia. The research material included also one Swedish-language doctoral dissertation published in Sweden. Results and conclusions. Soliciting feedback from students had a positive effect on both teachers and students. The students appreciated that teachers were interested in their opinions. The teachers received useful information related to the children’s views on school- and teacher-related issues. The answers provided by the children were to a large extent reliable. Doing research on teacher-student relationships and students’ feedback in Finnish elementary schools can provide valuable information to teachers and educators alike. Examining the silent information among students may foster stronger mutual understanding and interaction between teachers and students, increase the teachers’ job motivation and support the students’ learning.