Neuenschwander has been head of the Center for Learning and Socialization at the Institute for Research and Development at the University of Teacher Education Northwestern Switzerland since 2013. His current research projects include, for example, studies on the organization of distance learning during the Corona epidemic, the FOSSA project to encourage self-regulation among children with challenging behavior in kindergarten and primary school, and the conception of the SCALA continuing education program for teachers to promote educational opportunities in socially heterogeneous school classes.

Under the title "WiSel - Effects of Selection," Neuenschwander directs school-based longitudinal studies that examine educational trajectories in the Swiss school system from the primary level into dual vocational training and into tertiary education, or employment. The current study WiSel III continues the earlier transition studies on the transition from primary to lower and upper secondary education (WiSel I and WiSel II), allowing the analysis of educational trajectories from primary level to five years after leaving lower secondary education.

In his presentation, "Effects of Teacher and Parents' Expectations on Students Educational Pathways: Analyses and Policy Options," he used findings from the WiSel study and the SCALA project to show that expectations of teachers and parents play an important role in shaping students' educational pathways. Among other things, they influence feedback to students and grading. However, teachers' expectations can be distorted by various factors - for example, children's gender or migration background - and thus reinforce educational inequalities. Neuenschwander showed that professional development programs such as SCALA for teachers can change such distorted expectations and that central elements of SCALA can also already be used within teacher training.

The exchange with LIfBi researchers during the guest visit inspires Neuenschwander in the research planning and further development of the Center for Learning and Socialization. For Neuenschwander, current focal points and theoretical questions of the NEPS are of interest here. In the coming years, the Center for Learning and Socialization will continue to focus intensively on researching transitions in the school system and in the transition to work, for example, further specifying partial aspects of the WiSel studies.

More information: https://www.fhnw.ch/de/personen/markus-neuenschwander