Geert Devos | Ghent University (original) (raw)

Papers by Geert Devos

VERHOEVEN, J. C. & G. DEVOS (2005) "School assessment policy and practice in Belgian secondary education with specific reference to vocational education and training " Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice , 12 (3) pp. 255-274 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09695940500337231, 2005

Based on a survey among 1274 secondary school teachers in Flanders (Belgium), this paper describ... more Based on a survey among 1274 secondary school teachers in Flanders (Belgium), this paper
describes the relationship between the assessment practices and forms of assessment policy (testing
culture or assessment culture) and between forms of general school policy (student-oriented or
achievement-oriented) and forms of assessment policy that teachers experience. Reviewing teachers’
attitudes towards assessment policy, it is clear that teachers are not convinced that most schools
have a clear concept of an assessment policy. This is the case even though about 82% of the teachers
claim to know what the vision of the school on assessment is. The main characteristics of the assessment
process lead us to conclude that teachers still live in the testing culture. Although the testing
culture exerts a very strong influence over schools, the school policy shows an opening towards an
assessment culture. Indeed, a student-oriented policy is more present than an achievement-oriented
policy. This distinction is important because a student-oriented policy might bring teachers closer
to an assessment culture. Our data show that teachers have a different opinion about this depending
on the education sector in which they work and the subject they teach.

This study builds on the idea that school characteristics affect educational change, such as ICT ... more This study builds on the idea that school characteristics affect educational change, such as ICT integration. The goal of this inquiry is to explore both structural school characteristics (i.e. infrastructure and support) and cultural school characteristics (i.e. leadership and innovativeness) and how they contribute to ICT integration in the classroom. A survey of 527 teachers in 68 primary schools in Flanders (Belgium) was conducted that focused on teacher perceptions about structural and cultural school characteristics and their use of ICT in the classroom. In order to study the variables at school level, teacher responses were aggregated. The next step was to delineate school profiles originating from structural and cultural school characteristics by using a cluster analysis. Finally, the relationship between these school profiles and ICT integration was studied. The results suggest that (1) structural and cultural school characteristics fit together and (2) are relevant catalysts for ICT integration in the classroom.

Educational Administration Quarterly, 2011

Purpose: In this study the relationship between school leadership and teachers’ organizational co... more Purpose: In this study the relationship between school leadership and teachers’ organizational commitment is examined by taking into account a distributed leadership perspective. The relation between teachers’ organizational commitment and contextual variables of teachers’ perceptions of the quality and the source of the supportive and supervisory leadership function, participative decision making, and cooperation within the leadership team are examined. Research

School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 2012

This study explores the relationship between self-awareness of school leaders and variables relat... more This study explores the relationship between self-awareness of school leaders and variables related to school culture and change. We used the self-other rating agreement model of Atwater and Yammarino (1997) as an indication of school leader self-awareness. Based on the difference between their own leadership rating and the teachers’ rating, school leaders were grouped in 4 categories: over-estimators, under-estimators, in-agreement/good

Major organizational changes yield limited success. Failure of change is frequently due to a lack... more Major organizational changes yield limited success. Failure of change is frequently due to a lack of commitment and motivation of the employees who have to implement the change. In this paper a framework is developed in which employees' emotional involvement and their commitment to change is explained by change process variables and internal context variables. The process variables refer to

Plant Physiology, 2007

Plants from the Casuarinaceae family enter symbiosis with the actinomycete Frankia leading to the... more Plants from the Casuarinaceae family enter symbiosis with the actinomycete Frankia leading to the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. We observed that application of the auxin influx inhibitor 1-naphtoxyacetic acid perturbs actinorhizal nodule formation. This suggests a potential role for auxin influx carriers in the infection process. We therefore isolated and characterized homologs of the auxin influx carrier (AUX1-LAX) genes in Casuarina glauca. Two members of this family were found to share high levels of deduced protein sequence identity with Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) AUX-LAX proteins. Complementation of the Arabidopsis aux1 mutant revealed that one of them is functionally equivalent to AUX1 and was named CgAUX1. The spatial and temporal expression pattern of CgAUX1 promoter:b-glucuronidase reporter was analyzed in Casuarinaceae. We observed that CgAUX1 was expressed in plant cells infected by Frankia throughout the course of actinorhizal nodule formation. Our data suggest that auxin plays an important role during plant cell infection in actinorhizal symbioses.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2010

In an era of recurring teacher shortages, Flanders struggles with a considerable proportion of te... more In an era of recurring teacher shortages, Flanders struggles with a considerable proportion of teacher education graduates who do not enter the teaching profession. This study identifies the predictors of teacher education graduates' choice on job entry (teaching profession or not). A prospective research design with two data collection phases is adopted. Student teachers (subsequently graduates) (N = 217) of integrated teacher training for secondary education were surveyed shortly before as well as shortly after graduation. Results of chi-squared and t-tests indicate that gender, initial motivation for teaching, mentor support, teacher education preparation, teacher efficacy, learner-oriented beliefs, performance in teacher education, and employment opportunities show differences (at 1% level) between graduates who entered and those who did not enter the teaching profession. Results of the subsequent logistic regression validate the importance of teacher education (i.e. mentor support)beside initial motivation and labour market factorsto explain graduates' decision on job entry.

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the internationalization process in higher education... more The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the internationalization process in higher education as an organizational level managerial issue. This approach brings a new perspective to internationalization in higher education. This is believed to be a necessary step toward filling a gap in the internationalization of higher education discussions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the study is not to

The Journal of Educational Research, 2009

In the present study we investigate the effects of a cooperative leadership team, distributed lea... more In the present study we investigate the effects of a cooperative leadership team, distributed leadership, participative decision-making, and context variables on teachers' organizational commitment. Multilevel analyses on data from 1522 teachers indicated that 9% of the variance in teachers' organizational commitment is attributable to differences between schools. The analyses revealed that especially the presence of a cooperative leadership team and the amount of leadership support played a significantly positive key role in predicting teachers' organizational commitment. Also, participative decision-making, and distribution of the supportive leadership function had a significant positive impact on teachers' organizational commitment. In contrast, distribution of the supervisory leadership function, and teachers' job experience had a significant negative impact.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2010

The present study explores the relation between distributed leadership and teachers" organization... more The present study explores the relation between distributed leadership and teachers" organizational commitment. Semi-structured interviews with teachers and school leaders of secondary schools were conducted. A comparative analysis of four schools with high and four schools with low committed teachers was carried out. Findings revealed differences in the leadership practices which influenced organizational commitment. The leadership practices include the quality and distribution of leadership functions, social interaction, cooperation of the leadership team, and participative decision-making. Teachers reported being more strongly committed to the school if the leaders were highly accessible, tackled problems efficiently or empowered teachers to participate, and frequently monitored teachers" daily practices.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2009

Teachers' perception of the educational policy is vital to understand the success or failure of t... more Teachers' perception of the educational policy is vital to understand the success or failure of the policy's implementation. In this article, we describe the development and use of the Policy Characteristics Scale to measure teachers' perception of a new teacher evaluation policy. An exploratory factor analysis (n ¼ 347) and a confirmative factor analysis (n ¼ 263) revealed a three-factor structure of teachers' perception of the new educational policy: policy's practicality, need, and clarifying function. Our research results indicated that teachers confirm the policy's need. They perceive the reform as clear but they have questions about the policy's implementation. Implications for policy makers and school leaders are discussed.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2011

Providing effective feedback through teacher evaluation is a complex task for the school leader. ... more Providing effective feedback through teacher evaluation is a complex task for the school leader. Many authors state that teacher evaluation does not contribute to teachers' professional learning. Few studies focus on the specific leadership variables that contribute to effective teacher evaluation. This study explores the importance of transformational and instructional leadership for the feedback utility and teachers' professional learning. The results of regression and path analyses showed that leadership directly influences the feedback utility and indirectly influences teachers' professional learning. This study demonstrates the importance of school leadership for effective teacher evaluation and highlights its usefulness for teachers' professional learning.

School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 2009

This study investigates the relation between distributed leadership, the cohesion of the leadersh... more This study investigates the relation between distributed leadership, the cohesion of the leadership team, participative decision-making, context variables, and the organizational commitment and job satisfaction of teachers and teacher leaders. A questionnaire was administered to teachers and teacher leaders (n=1770) from 46 large secondary schools. Multiple regression analyses and path analyses revealed that the study variables explained significant variance in organizational commitment. The degree of explained variance for job satisfaction was considerably lower compared to organizational commitment. Most striking was that the cohesion of the leadership team and the amount of leadership support was strongly related to organizational commitment, and indirectly to job satisfaction. Decentralization of leadership functions was weakly related to organizational commitment and job satisfaction.

Leadership and Policy in Schools, 2009

The Journal of Social Psychology, 2007

The authors examined the contribution of the content, context, and process of organizational tran... more The authors examined the contribution of the content, context, and process of organizational transformation to employees' openness to change. The authors predicted that 5 factors would have a positive effect on openness to change: (a) threatening character of organizational change (content related), (b) trust in executive management (context related), (c) trust in the supervisor (context related), (d) history of change (context related), and (e) participation in the change effort (process related). The authors tested their hypotheses in 2 separate studies (N = 828 and N = 835) using an experimental simulation strategy. The first study crossed 4 variables in a completely randomized 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Results showed significant main effects for content, context, and process but no significant interaction effects. A second study, with a completely randomized 2 × 2 factorial design, crossed two context variables. Results showed a significant main and an interaction effect: Openness to change decreased dramatically only when history of change and trust in executive management were low.

The Journal of Psychology, 2009

On the basis of a step-by-step procedure (see , the authors discuss the design and evaluation of ... more On the basis of a step-by-step procedure (see , the authors discuss the design and evaluation of a self-report battery (Organizational Change Questionnaire-Climate of Change, Processes, and Readiness; OCQ-C, P, R) that researchers can use to gauge the internal context or climate of change, the process factors of change, and readiness for change. The authors describe 4 studies used to develop a psychometrically sound 42-item assessment tool that researchers can administer in organizational settings. More than 3,000 organizational members from public and private sector organizations participated in the validation procedure of the OCQ-C, P, R. The information obtained from the analyses yielded 5 climate-of-change dimensions, 3 process-of-change dimensions, and 3 readiness-for-change dimensions.

The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2012

... [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®] View all references). In our research, we focus on procedural ... more ... [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®] View all references). In our research, we focus on procedural justice because the use of procedurally fair practices influences outcomes such as employees' satisfaction to the system and trust in the system (Pillai et al. 1999b30. Jawahar, IM 2007. ...

Educational Studies, 2010

The understanding of teachers" perception of new educational policy is crucial since this percept... more The understanding of teachers" perception of new educational policy is crucial since this perception shapes the policy"s implementation. However, quantitative research in this area is scarce. This article draws on empirical data to investigate whether the school leader might influence his teachers" policy perception of new teacher evaluation policy. The conceptualization of teachers" perception consists of three policy characteristics: practicality, need and clarifying function. Our results indicate that school leadership influences teachers" perception of new teacher evaluation policy. More specifically, the structure a school leader provides in a school and the amount of trust teachers have in the school leader, have a significant impact on teachers" perception of the practicality of the new teacher evaluation policy.

Educational Studies, 2009

VERHOEVEN, J. C. & G. DEVOS (2005) "School assessment policy and practice in Belgian secondary education with specific reference to vocational education and training " Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice , 12 (3) pp. 255-274 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09695940500337231, 2005

Based on a survey among 1274 secondary school teachers in Flanders (Belgium), this paper describ... more Based on a survey among 1274 secondary school teachers in Flanders (Belgium), this paper
describes the relationship between the assessment practices and forms of assessment policy (testing
culture or assessment culture) and between forms of general school policy (student-oriented or
achievement-oriented) and forms of assessment policy that teachers experience. Reviewing teachers’
attitudes towards assessment policy, it is clear that teachers are not convinced that most schools
have a clear concept of an assessment policy. This is the case even though about 82% of the teachers
claim to know what the vision of the school on assessment is. The main characteristics of the assessment
process lead us to conclude that teachers still live in the testing culture. Although the testing
culture exerts a very strong influence over schools, the school policy shows an opening towards an
assessment culture. Indeed, a student-oriented policy is more present than an achievement-oriented
policy. This distinction is important because a student-oriented policy might bring teachers closer
to an assessment culture. Our data show that teachers have a different opinion about this depending
on the education sector in which they work and the subject they teach.

This study builds on the idea that school characteristics affect educational change, such as ICT ... more This study builds on the idea that school characteristics affect educational change, such as ICT integration. The goal of this inquiry is to explore both structural school characteristics (i.e. infrastructure and support) and cultural school characteristics (i.e. leadership and innovativeness) and how they contribute to ICT integration in the classroom. A survey of 527 teachers in 68 primary schools in Flanders (Belgium) was conducted that focused on teacher perceptions about structural and cultural school characteristics and their use of ICT in the classroom. In order to study the variables at school level, teacher responses were aggregated. The next step was to delineate school profiles originating from structural and cultural school characteristics by using a cluster analysis. Finally, the relationship between these school profiles and ICT integration was studied. The results suggest that (1) structural and cultural school characteristics fit together and (2) are relevant catalysts for ICT integration in the classroom.

Educational Administration Quarterly, 2011

Purpose: In this study the relationship between school leadership and teachers’ organizational co... more Purpose: In this study the relationship between school leadership and teachers’ organizational commitment is examined by taking into account a distributed leadership perspective. The relation between teachers’ organizational commitment and contextual variables of teachers’ perceptions of the quality and the source of the supportive and supervisory leadership function, participative decision making, and cooperation within the leadership team are examined. Research

School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 2012

This study explores the relationship between self-awareness of school leaders and variables relat... more This study explores the relationship between self-awareness of school leaders and variables related to school culture and change. We used the self-other rating agreement model of Atwater and Yammarino (1997) as an indication of school leader self-awareness. Based on the difference between their own leadership rating and the teachers’ rating, school leaders were grouped in 4 categories: over-estimators, under-estimators, in-agreement/good

Major organizational changes yield limited success. Failure of change is frequently due to a lack... more Major organizational changes yield limited success. Failure of change is frequently due to a lack of commitment and motivation of the employees who have to implement the change. In this paper a framework is developed in which employees' emotional involvement and their commitment to change is explained by change process variables and internal context variables. The process variables refer to

Plant Physiology, 2007

Plants from the Casuarinaceae family enter symbiosis with the actinomycete Frankia leading to the... more Plants from the Casuarinaceae family enter symbiosis with the actinomycete Frankia leading to the formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules. We observed that application of the auxin influx inhibitor 1-naphtoxyacetic acid perturbs actinorhizal nodule formation. This suggests a potential role for auxin influx carriers in the infection process. We therefore isolated and characterized homologs of the auxin influx carrier (AUX1-LAX) genes in Casuarina glauca. Two members of this family were found to share high levels of deduced protein sequence identity with Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) AUX-LAX proteins. Complementation of the Arabidopsis aux1 mutant revealed that one of them is functionally equivalent to AUX1 and was named CgAUX1. The spatial and temporal expression pattern of CgAUX1 promoter:b-glucuronidase reporter was analyzed in Casuarinaceae. We observed that CgAUX1 was expressed in plant cells infected by Frankia throughout the course of actinorhizal nodule formation. Our data suggest that auxin plays an important role during plant cell infection in actinorhizal symbioses.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2010

In an era of recurring teacher shortages, Flanders struggles with a considerable proportion of te... more In an era of recurring teacher shortages, Flanders struggles with a considerable proportion of teacher education graduates who do not enter the teaching profession. This study identifies the predictors of teacher education graduates' choice on job entry (teaching profession or not). A prospective research design with two data collection phases is adopted. Student teachers (subsequently graduates) (N = 217) of integrated teacher training for secondary education were surveyed shortly before as well as shortly after graduation. Results of chi-squared and t-tests indicate that gender, initial motivation for teaching, mentor support, teacher education preparation, teacher efficacy, learner-oriented beliefs, performance in teacher education, and employment opportunities show differences (at 1% level) between graduates who entered and those who did not enter the teaching profession. Results of the subsequent logistic regression validate the importance of teacher education (i.e. mentor support)beside initial motivation and labour market factorsto explain graduates' decision on job entry.

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the internationalization process in higher education... more The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the internationalization process in higher education as an organizational level managerial issue. This approach brings a new perspective to internationalization in higher education. This is believed to be a necessary step toward filling a gap in the internationalization of higher education discussions. Nevertheless, the purpose of the study is not to

The Journal of Educational Research, 2009

In the present study we investigate the effects of a cooperative leadership team, distributed lea... more In the present study we investigate the effects of a cooperative leadership team, distributed leadership, participative decision-making, and context variables on teachers' organizational commitment. Multilevel analyses on data from 1522 teachers indicated that 9% of the variance in teachers' organizational commitment is attributable to differences between schools. The analyses revealed that especially the presence of a cooperative leadership team and the amount of leadership support played a significantly positive key role in predicting teachers' organizational commitment. Also, participative decision-making, and distribution of the supportive leadership function had a significant positive impact on teachers' organizational commitment. In contrast, distribution of the supervisory leadership function, and teachers' job experience had a significant negative impact.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2010

The present study explores the relation between distributed leadership and teachers" organization... more The present study explores the relation between distributed leadership and teachers" organizational commitment. Semi-structured interviews with teachers and school leaders of secondary schools were conducted. A comparative analysis of four schools with high and four schools with low committed teachers was carried out. Findings revealed differences in the leadership practices which influenced organizational commitment. The leadership practices include the quality and distribution of leadership functions, social interaction, cooperation of the leadership team, and participative decision-making. Teachers reported being more strongly committed to the school if the leaders were highly accessible, tackled problems efficiently or empowered teachers to participate, and frequently monitored teachers" daily practices.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2009

Teachers' perception of the educational policy is vital to understand the success or failure of t... more Teachers' perception of the educational policy is vital to understand the success or failure of the policy's implementation. In this article, we describe the development and use of the Policy Characteristics Scale to measure teachers' perception of a new teacher evaluation policy. An exploratory factor analysis (n ¼ 347) and a confirmative factor analysis (n ¼ 263) revealed a three-factor structure of teachers' perception of the new educational policy: policy's practicality, need, and clarifying function. Our research results indicated that teachers confirm the policy's need. They perceive the reform as clear but they have questions about the policy's implementation. Implications for policy makers and school leaders are discussed.

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2011

Providing effective feedback through teacher evaluation is a complex task for the school leader. ... more Providing effective feedback through teacher evaluation is a complex task for the school leader. Many authors state that teacher evaluation does not contribute to teachers' professional learning. Few studies focus on the specific leadership variables that contribute to effective teacher evaluation. This study explores the importance of transformational and instructional leadership for the feedback utility and teachers' professional learning. The results of regression and path analyses showed that leadership directly influences the feedback utility and indirectly influences teachers' professional learning. This study demonstrates the importance of school leadership for effective teacher evaluation and highlights its usefulness for teachers' professional learning.

School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 2009

This study investigates the relation between distributed leadership, the cohesion of the leadersh... more This study investigates the relation between distributed leadership, the cohesion of the leadership team, participative decision-making, context variables, and the organizational commitment and job satisfaction of teachers and teacher leaders. A questionnaire was administered to teachers and teacher leaders (n=1770) from 46 large secondary schools. Multiple regression analyses and path analyses revealed that the study variables explained significant variance in organizational commitment. The degree of explained variance for job satisfaction was considerably lower compared to organizational commitment. Most striking was that the cohesion of the leadership team and the amount of leadership support was strongly related to organizational commitment, and indirectly to job satisfaction. Decentralization of leadership functions was weakly related to organizational commitment and job satisfaction.

Leadership and Policy in Schools, 2009

The Journal of Social Psychology, 2007

The authors examined the contribution of the content, context, and process of organizational tran... more The authors examined the contribution of the content, context, and process of organizational transformation to employees' openness to change. The authors predicted that 5 factors would have a positive effect on openness to change: (a) threatening character of organizational change (content related), (b) trust in executive management (context related), (c) trust in the supervisor (context related), (d) history of change (context related), and (e) participation in the change effort (process related). The authors tested their hypotheses in 2 separate studies (N = 828 and N = 835) using an experimental simulation strategy. The first study crossed 4 variables in a completely randomized 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Results showed significant main effects for content, context, and process but no significant interaction effects. A second study, with a completely randomized 2 × 2 factorial design, crossed two context variables. Results showed a significant main and an interaction effect: Openness to change decreased dramatically only when history of change and trust in executive management were low.

The Journal of Psychology, 2009

On the basis of a step-by-step procedure (see , the authors discuss the design and evaluation of ... more On the basis of a step-by-step procedure (see , the authors discuss the design and evaluation of a self-report battery (Organizational Change Questionnaire-Climate of Change, Processes, and Readiness; OCQ-C, P, R) that researchers can use to gauge the internal context or climate of change, the process factors of change, and readiness for change. The authors describe 4 studies used to develop a psychometrically sound 42-item assessment tool that researchers can administer in organizational settings. More than 3,000 organizational members from public and private sector organizations participated in the validation procedure of the OCQ-C, P, R. The information obtained from the analyses yielded 5 climate-of-change dimensions, 3 process-of-change dimensions, and 3 readiness-for-change dimensions.

The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2012

... [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®] View all references). In our research, we focus on procedural ... more ... [CrossRef], [Web of Science ®] View all references). In our research, we focus on procedural justice because the use of procedurally fair practices influences outcomes such as employees' satisfaction to the system and trust in the system (Pillai et al. 1999b30. Jawahar, IM 2007. ...

Educational Studies, 2010

The understanding of teachers" perception of new educational policy is crucial since this percept... more The understanding of teachers" perception of new educational policy is crucial since this perception shapes the policy"s implementation. However, quantitative research in this area is scarce. This article draws on empirical data to investigate whether the school leader might influence his teachers" policy perception of new teacher evaluation policy. The conceptualization of teachers" perception consists of three policy characteristics: practicality, need and clarifying function. Our results indicate that school leadership influences teachers" perception of new teacher evaluation policy. More specifically, the structure a school leader provides in a school and the amount of trust teachers have in the school leader, have a significant impact on teachers" perception of the practicality of the new teacher evaluation policy.

Educational Studies, 2009