Abstracts - Earli

Above all, scholars in the field of school improvement emphasize the gap between performancefeedback from external tests and the internal processing of the feedback information. A crucialprecondition to bridge this gap is the teachers’ acceptance of state-wide testing as a usefulinstrument for improving schools. In order to assess this view on the pedagogical relevance ofperformance feedback information, we addressed 256 secondary schools. A representative sampleof 307 teachers with classes in grade 6 completed the anonymous questionnaire. The analysis ofthe quantitative data revealed that teachers in secondary general schools ("Hauptschule") are ratheropen-minded about state-wide tests than their colleagues in intermediate ("Realschule") orgrammar schools ("Gymnasium"). The teachers’ perspective on the curricular alignment of the testalso depends on school subjects. Only a part of the teachers in secondary general schoolsacknowledge the utilisation of performance feedback information for improving diagnosis andteaching strategies. The overall results suggest that, at this point in time, state mandated testing inBaden-Wýrttemberg can hardly initiate or support school improvement activities.M 1331 August 2007 14:35 - 15:55Room: 0.99Paper SessionStudent learning in higher educationChair:Cees Terlouw, Universiteit Twente, NetherlandsPolytechnic students’ conceptions of learning and knowledge: how do they relate to the aims ofeducation?Kirsti Lonka, Helsinki University, FinlandAva Numminen, Haaga Institute Polytechnic, FinlandPekka Rantanen, Haaga Institute Polytechnic, FinlandKai Hakkarainen, Helsinki University, FinlandSystems of higher education in Finland and other European countries have to cope with increasingnumbers of students. From working life, undergoing rapid transformation emerge new challengesin training professional skills and competences. In order to meet these challenges, polytechnicsneed to focus on improving the quality of learning and instruction as well as providing anauthentic and rich environment of learning. Although Finnish university students’ study strategiesand conceptions of learning have been intensively examined, there are fewer studies regardingpolytechnic students’ strategies and conceptions of learning. The purpose of the present study wasto compare polytechnic students’ (N=606) conceptions of learning and knowledge with those ofuniversity students (N=913). The study was based on an assessment instrument developed byKirsti Lonka and her colleagues at the University of Helsinki. The self-report questionnaire usedincluded 24 Likert-type items. The results of the study confirmed the existence of the same 8-factor structure among the polytechnic students as had earlier been identified in the case of theuniversity students. Eight sum variables were constructed on the basis of the factor analysis. Theanalysis revealed that polytechnic students differed significantly from university students acrossall eight variables. The students of polytechnics differed mostly from students of humanisticsciences and least from law students. The former showed more practical study orientation andgreater emphasis on the certainty of knowledge than university students. The latter indicated a– 709 –