Sorting pupils into their next educational track

Authors Kristin Vanlommel, Roos van Gasse, Jan Vanhoof, Peter van Petegem
Published in Studies in Educational Evaluation
Publication date March 2020
Research groups Vocational Education
Type Article

Summary

For many years, teachers’ intuitive evaluations of pupils’ competences was considered to be a solid base for decisions; it is only recently that teachers have been expected more and more to use data. We state that insights on intuitive and data-driven approaches need to be integrated to understand and support informed, professional decisions in education. Starting from an integrated framework we studied teachers’ decision process regarding the transition of 30 pupils during their last year of primary education within a case study design. Results describe different approaches to decision-making. Some teachers greatly rely on intuitive processes when they ultimately make the decision, even if data was collected. Other teachers combine and weigh information deriving from deliberate processes of data use and from intuitive recognition before they decide. Implications for theory and practice are explained.

On this publication contributed

Language English
Published in Studies in Educational Evaluation
Key words data use, intuition, teacher judgment, dual-process approach, expertise, data-based decision making
Digital Object Identifier 10.1016/j.stueduc.2020.100865

Kristin Vanlommel

Picture of Kristin Vanlommel

Kristin Vanlommel

  • Professor
  • Research group: Driving Educational Change