Problems of Education in the 21st Century

9-14

Authors: Iveta Balode

Introduction. The article deals with the issue of the organization of hospitality management studies in the critical constructivism environment from the viewpoint of student learning and development of professional competences. Goal. By comparing the study environment, to offer a conception of critical constructivism, which brings into the centre of educational development a personality who is motivated to obtain life-long education. Methodology of Research. In the article, analysis of pedagogic literature is used, a pedagogic research including questioning of students has been carried out in the Information Systems Management Institute, as well as comparison and observation of the pedagogic process has been provided. Results of Research. The methodological foundations of the critical constructivism study process have been outlined, and suggestions for the improvement of the hospitality management study environment have been provided. Conclusions. It is necessary to improve the study environment, paying more attention to the organization of studies oriented to an individual in the context of life-long learning.

31-38

Authors: Mona Holmqvist, Jane Mattisson

This chapter argues that the decisive factor in the learning process is the object focused upon in the learning situation and not, as is commonly believed, the teaching method. We demonstrate how teaching and learning can be facilitated with the aid of a theory. The theory chosen is variation theory, which allows one to explain what it takes to learn a certain learning object. Both pupils’ and teachers’ learning are focused upon, as learning takes place in the interaction between the two. It is in the meeting of pupils’ and teachers’ knowledge that understanding of a specific learning object takes place. The three integral components of variation theory – discernment, simultaneity and variation – are described. By studying a specific learning object in three different classroom situations we demonstrate how it is possible to illuminate the different ways in which a learning object can be presented. These ways are described and analysed in terms of their implications for pupils’ learning. Our paper elucidates how variation theory can be employed to describe, plan and analyse the learning process. In a research project, it is the selection of what is to be focused upon which is the most critical factor, as it determines both the choice of theoretical perspective and method. Both theory and method are important tools for providing answers to research questions. It is only when the lesson content is specified and the pupils’ knowledge before and after a lesson is both ascertained and related to how the specific learning object has been presented in the classroom that one can determine what pupils have learned, and why they have learned it. Variation theory is an ideal theoretical perspective for such a study.

48-57

Authors: Merle Kaldjärv

Education is the system of human knowledge, skills, abilities, values and behavioural norms that enables one to develop, cope and fulfil himself as an individual and member of society. Argumentative skills have a crucial role in civil education and thus also critical thinking comes to be emphasised within mother tongue education. The present article focuses on the quality of argumentation in the only compulsory state examination in the Estonian educational system – the composition. The article concentrates on the given topic based on the national compositions written in 2006, the sample included 500 compositions. The article is laid by the socio-cognitive approach to critical discourse analysis, and also explains the applied methodology. The relations between language and language users are described from the point of view of geographical and social variation. The current article presents the results of the textual grammar and syntax. The coherence of argumentation and sentences are studied according to macrostructures set by T.A van Dijk and superstructures set by M.Hoey. The discussion explains the specific features of argumentative composition from the point of view of ideology, and also the possibilities for improving the pupils’ argumentative skills in mother tongue education. Critical and creative thinking are essential to the quality of education.

71-80

Authors: Tiiu Kuurme

The main question of this article below is: what happens to education at school? What society thinks of education, at school it gets a real existing concreteness. Taking the holistic character of education as a ground we assume that emotions, experiences, state of minds wishes and others, that happens by living the school-reality, becomes a part of young peoples’ world-view. At first we concentrate on the ideals, that are bonded, usually with the traditional notion of Education (Bildung). After that we stop at litigious side of Bildung - what kind of emotional attitude is expected when becoming educated and bonding it with the notion of intentionality from phenomenology. We handle education as a relative concept, noting the fact that the specific way of being in relationship of educational processes goes with searching, aspiring, self-changing me. The everyday school experiences of Estonian students are researched empirically where the interpretation of researcher are spontaneous school-oriented sayings. These meanings which are given to school on the level of experiences and associations are analysed with phenomenological methods and connected to an ideal which belongs to educational idea-content and has an education-allowing cognitive attitude. The result of research says that the associations of Estonian students in everyday life of school reality develop next signs: the knowledge of learning is experienced as an external dictated recession, it is their discipline and engrosses time. The school everyday life way of intentions mainly goes with what concerns students subsistence of school control mechanisms and self-esteem. It is more like self-defence than the aspiration for new knowledge. Created and repeated intentions in school reality can (according to Hussler) become as a creator of impulses for the next attunement for the reality.

89-98

Authors: Chris Perry, Ian Ball

Within the area of educational research that has its focus on individual differences, the concept of emotional intelligence and its study in relation to the professional lives of teachers has raised considerable interest over the past decade. This article reports on data from a new measure of emotional intelligence specifically related to situations in the teaching environment. The four underlying dimensions that are identified in this study appear to be a more relevant way of characterising emotional intelligence for those in the teaching profession than other conceptualisations of emotional intelligence. The article concludes with an examination of the contention that emotional intelligence is strongly connected to effective teaching practice.

107-118

Authors: Robert Ruprecht

Quality has become a key word. Self-assessments and peer reviews, quality management and student polls have become ubiquitous. With all these bustling activities the main element in education, the personal quality of the teacher somehow got lost. If we want to discuss real quality in education, we must first ask what the teacher’s position is. This paper is going to discuss what conditions the teacher must fulfill in order to be a good teacher: what are his demands on himself, what he must he demand from the students? The society also part of this: What must a teacher expect from society in order to be a good teacher? The answers are, briefly: the teacher must be very exacting towards him/herself; he must constantly improve his personal and scientific qualifications. The teacher must not be soft towards his/her students. Society must provide him freedom, independence and respect. Yet these are only the prerequisites of quality in education.

126-132

Authors: Shorena Sadzaglishvili, Mzia Tsereteli, Thea Berdzenishvili

The concept of learning -to - learn is a key competence for lifelong learning which is one of the most critical demands of the new educational reforms in Georgia. The core of learning to learn is formed through good educational practices. Learning-to-learn is defined as the competence and the willingness to adapt to novel tasks, which activates person’s affective and cognitive processes and leads to learning action (Hautamaki, et al., 2002). National Curriculum and Assessment Center of Georgia, Assessment Unit developed the special measurement instrument for learning to learn (L-t-L) assessment in students. The purpose of the study was to analyse whether students grouped by their self-assessed level of success differ according to their L-t-L components assessed by our L-t-L measurement instrument and in general, to reveal the most influential factors of L-t-L for Georgian context. Our Sample comprised of 1007 students of 38 schools located in the different regions of Georgia. Analyzing results by factor analysis, ANOVA, and non-parametric measures showed that students having better performance on L-t-L components have higher self-assessed academic performance. These results show the highest importance of Learning-to-learn assessment. Its inclusion as a distinct indicator in the educational evaluation system would provide a means to analyse the relative role of the different factors affecting student’s achievement, and help direct schools towards practices and contents that would truly foster lifelong learning.

139-146

Authors: Maura Sellars

Teaching today can, in many respects, be considered as a scientific pursuit, irrespective of the discipline or content. Ironically, many of the challenges of teaching in the twentieth century are the result of scientific endeavour. The increased availability of technology in all aspects of everyday life, the unprecedented rate of change and growth of knowledge are certainly confronting enough for those involved in classroom interactions. Perhaps one of the controversial issues in education today, however, centres around the nature of intelligence itself; how best to develop pedagogies that accommodate the findings of the field of cognitive science and a sound understanding of the nature of intelligence, particularly multiple intelligences. This paper discusses the implementation of differentiated programs of teaching and learning utilising Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory and focussing particularly on developing students’ self knowledge in regards to their relative strengths and limitations as learners. It describes an Action Research project that was implemented to strengthen the learning strategies of students aged 8-10 years in a primary setting. The findings evidence not only increased intrapersonal intelligence and improved success in educational outcomes: but also increased efficiency in students’ motivation and work skills. The opportunity to ‘make meaning’ of their learning and develop their own strategies for problem solving had considerable impact on these students’ perceptions of themselves as learners. Although conducted with a literacy focus, many of the benefits of this project were demonstrated across all subjects that comprise the primary curriculum. It is possible that a similar approach to traditionally structured subjects such as mathematics and science could produce more successful learning outcomes and attitudes for primary students. However, despite the overall success of the project, the intervention raised some serious questions about the traditional role of students and their capacities to engage in projects that require them to make choices. The duration of this intervention project minimised the negative impact of the passive role that students have traditionally adopted, as the students had time to develop new strategies and perspectives of their roles of students in the twenty first century. Had this not been the case, the results could have been much less positive and the importance of students developing sound knowledge of themselves as learners misunderstood. Additionally the importance of students having the skills to make decisions in a formal, educational context may have easily been overlooked.

153-161

Authors: Aristotelis Stamoulas

Ongoing developments in information and communication technologies, coupled with an emphasis put on the value of knowledge-driven societies, have been vehicles of a worldwide dramatic expansion of the social demand for higher education services, including the emergence of new variables of provision, alternative curricular forms and course contents and also changing qualifications. At the same time, budgetary constraints and infrastructure shortages of the public sector lay down fertile ground for the flourishing of internationalized facets of higher education, questioning traditional “free and public” perceptions and transforming education into a tradable service within the context of a million dollar global market. The establishment of local branch campuses or subsidiaries by foreign universities on the ground of other countries, as well as course offerings by domestic private colleges leading to degrees from foreign universities, appears progressively as an alternative type of higher education provision, which has gained considerable ground in many countries the past few years. The present article will report the situation in Greece, where the growing presence of foreign universities through franchise or validated partnerships with local private organizations seems to play an influential and critical role on the future shaping of the domestic higher education system and is further associated with essential aspects of an administrative and academic nature.

169-179

Authors: Airi Kukk, Maia Muldma

After becoming a member of the European Union Estonia has started to become more multicultural and this has brought along the need to teach the Estonian language to children with different native languages. Language immersion is a form of study which is applied as a national program in Estonia with the aim of facilitating acquiring Estonian as a second language. Although early language immersion is popular in Estonia, teachers, parents and educational institutions do not have a clear idea of how language immersion influences a child’s coping in different educational stages and which issues should be considered as primary concerns in guiding the development of a non-Estonian child. In 2007 kindergarten graduates, who had participated in the language immersion program for at least two years, were studied. Data was collected from the teachers of language immersion groups in 9 kindergartens and the parents of the children, who gave their assessments on the readiness of children concerning nine of the most important learning areas (Framework curriculum (1999) of pre-school education). Research results show the effectiveness of the language immersion method. The subject-based (native language, mathematics) skills of the children were especially good. There are some deficiencies concerning the indicators of self-esteem and forming prerequisites for learning.

193-199

Authors: Ivans Janis Mihailovs, Maija Zakrizevska

Qualification practice is an essential and obligatory component of higher education programs of the Republic of Latvia, one of pre-conditions to obtain a professional qualification, as well as professional skills. However, till now, the regulation of qualification praxes and implementation mechanisms are unsatisfactory that usually makes obstacles to reach the target of qualification practice, reduces the efficiency of component of this education, respectively influencing common quality of education and potential possibilities of students in the work market. It must be accentuate that the target of qualification practice is the acquisition of professional skills and basic knowledge in connection with a profession out of the respective higher education institution for targets of practice in a respective environment. An analysis of normative acts regulating scientific literature and education is in the basis of article, as well as control materials of education of Latvia. The target of article is based on investigation performed beforehand and results of control of higher education of the State Inspection of Education of Latvia, to provide analysis on implementation of qualification practice problems at higher education establishments in Latvia. After establishing the independence of the Republic of Latvia in (1990), as a result of reforms of more higher education systems, a qualification practice has become as a compartment of obligatory programs of higher professional education, and its amount fluctuates depending from the level/kind of the program from 6 to 26 credit points (average from 13% to 20% from the amount of study program and respectively from 9 to 39 ECTS). Possibilities of practice are provided also in the framework of some academic programs, however, the implementation of practice in these programs is not obligatory. However, despite of the sufficient time of experience in implementation of qualification practice, a higher education establishment and students studying there face more problems: An imperfect legal regulation of qualification practice. Still discussible content of practice, as well as the attitude of employer to the content of practice and practicant himself. The implementation of practice is usually burdened with the condition that the remarkable part of students are in work relationships with other employer, respectively trying to enter own work experience as a practice. Also the employer is not interested in creation of own potential competitor. Potential managers of practices (mentors) usually perceive the practice as an additionally unpaid duty that bothers everyday duties. In the process of implementation of practice, desires of higher education establishments, studying ones and employers differ essentially; the educational establishment perceives the practice as a compartment of developing professional competency and acquiring study program, the student wants to obtain new skills and experience, but the employer has a practicant with good communication and cooperation skills, as well as a motivation for his job, who is able to join in the work environment and really to operate in the team. 4 parties must be involved actively in the development mechanism of qualification practices at higher education establishments: the employers – participating more actively in the development of standards of profession and making unified demands for organizing and implementation of qualification practices, in such a way warranting the attachment of potential qualified employers, for higher education establishments – improving the system of qualification practices, making and implementing in the life unified evaluation and comparing criteria of qualification practice, more precisely, working out the content of practice itself and controlling the implementation of provisions of practices from the side of employers. In turns, state governing institutions in the area of education management and interested in social partners must activate the work on the improvement of legal regulation of qualification practice, especially taking into consideration the necessity to transfer to framework structure of qualifications, as well as the reform of content and status of provided higher education programs. But the main in the development of the practice system is the responsible attitude of students to the practice as an essential component of studies, acquiring new and valuable experience. Proposals: To include as an obligatory demand the conclusion of qualification practice agreements of three parties between the employer, practicant and the higher education establishment, providing mutual rights of parties, duties, responsibility; Licensing, but later accrediting the study program of higher education, the description of qualification practice, coordinated with the employer must be included as a demand. Before the start of qualification practice, to organize obligatory an introduction seminar for managers (mentors) of qualification practices on the specification of specialty chosen by practicant, tasks, targets, content, evaluation criteria of qualification practice; An active co-participation of professional unions must be obtained in the development of standards and in the implementation mechanism of qualification practice, understanding that practicants are next professionals of the area and their qualification is one of pre-conditions of existence and development of the area.

213-220

Authors: Zhanna Tsaurkubule

In the paper there’re considered general problems of the strategic managing of higher school activity, considering three main models of specialists training. On the base of marketings approach are analysed the basic factors of the external and internal environment, which influence the activity of the Higher School under the conditions of market, and is based on the need to improve the control process of Higher Educational Institution. The brief analysis of the basic models of management of the quality of training the specialists is made on the basis of the analysis of literature data: the estimated method of Higher Educational Institution activity quality management (SWOT – analyze); the concept, based on the principles of universal quality control (TQM); approach, based on the requirements of the international standards of quality ISO 9000:2000. In example of Higher School of Psychology (HSP) activity there’re analyzed problems of introduction of complex system of higher school activity quality managing, using method of assessment (SWOT – analyze) and TQM conception (output of HSP development strategy with exactly defined mission, targets and tasks as well as the general tendencies of HSP development till 2012). On the base of the use of methods SWOT- analysis and process approach are determined basic processes of the activity of educational institution based on the example of the Higher School of Psychology, and also the basic tasks of the strategic administration of the Higher School of Psychology In the article are determined the problems, which hamper creation and effective use of control system by quality of the work of higher school, and also strategic planning of work of educational institution. Are determined basic tasks according to the creation of the integrated system for quality control of higher school activity, and also advantage, which are possible in the introduction of this system in the work of Higher School of Psychology in the conditions of European integration.