Problems of Education in the 21st Century

3

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 64, PEC, 2015

6-23

Authors: Grzegorz P. Karwasz, Krzysztof Służewski, Anna Kamińska

Teaching Physics, in-between theory and technical applications is nowadays a tedious task. Apparent abundance of web resources makes access to information easy, but its use by pupils is quite unclear. These difficulties, added to less importance held by physics nowadays than in the last decades, inside the national educative system, caused in many countries a fall of interest in studying science and technology. Within several national and international programs, involving mainly Poland and Italy, various recipes for school education at lower and higher secondary level were developed in our group. All these recipes were oriented towards real experiments and constructing the discovery paths with pupils. The school (and extra-scholastic activities for primary-age pupils) included: collections of simple experiments “Physics and Toys”, interactive lectures for children, itinerary exhibitions, innovative textbooks inviting the reader to a heuristic dialog, computer-guided experiments, and collections of problems in physic solved step-by-step. We resume some of these implementations and draw main results. Actions were undertaken with three cultural goals: trigger a wide interest in physics through “Fun in Physics” activities, improve didactical efficiency at schools, induce students’ initiative in an independent discovery of science. In detail, for a lower secondary school simple interactive experiments on electromagnetism were introduced, and a textbook on mechanics. For higher secondary schools – a textbook on modern physics and computer-guided experiments; for children aged 5-10 – interactive lectures on mechanics, electricity, acoustics. Evaluations were performed by qualitative and quantitative measures, in Poland and Italy, in collaboration with several teachers and PhD students. All these, constructivist applications show an improved efficiency and find positive evaluations among teachers and pupils. However, partial and sporadic actions do not lead to significant results. Only conjugated implementations of new experimental tools (real objects) and didactical methods (inquiry-based teaching) shows achievements congruent with the Lisbon EU declaration on Knowledge-based Societies (EU Commission White Paper: Education and Training, 1995).

38-52

Authors: Olubukola Oyediji, Eugenia Okwilagwe

Learner-centred methods of teaching are rarely used in most Nigerian classrooms. Pedagogic practices at the basic level of education encourage teacher-dominated methods that do not allow for students’ active participation and inculcation of behavioural changes that reflect the outcomes of learning Social studies. As a paradigm shift, the main effects of treatments (Self-directed learning, Collaborative task method and a combination of the two methods), gender and achievement motivation on the combined dependent variables of achievement in Social studies and critical thinking were investigated. Three hypotheses stated were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. A pre-test post-test non-randomised control group design was adopted in which treatments were crossed with two levels of achievement motivation and gender respectively. 223 males and 136 female students were randomly selected from 12 junior secondary schools in Oyo State. Three instruments: Academic Achievement Motivation Inventory (α = 0.83), Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (α = 0.87) and Social Studies Achievement Test (r = 0.80) were used to collect data from the participants. Using Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA), Self-directed learning proved to be most significant in improving the learning of Social studies concepts, followed by a combination of Self-directed learning and Collaborative task methods while the Collaborative task method was the least effective. Gender and achievement motivation had significant effects on students’ achievement and not on critical thinking. The findings have implications for the teaching of Social studies in Nigeria. If the rationale of instruction is to enhance the acquisition of cognitive learning outcome with the teacher acting as a facilitator, then the Self-directed learning is most beneficial to students followed by a combination of Self-directed learning and Collaborative task method. When students are actively involved in the teaching-learning process, their academic achievement is more enhanced, especially when a conducive environment is provided.

66-74

Authors: Oleg Popov, Erik Sturesson

The social inclusion of refugee children is an important issue in Sweden and many other European countries. Sweden accepts more than 20% of all unaccompanied immigrant children in the EU. Logically, effective schooling is needed for these children to create the necessary pre-conditions for their successful integration into society. However, political interest and state funding concentrates instead on assuring good quality living conditions and legal support for incoming minors, leaving the responsibility for their education to underfunded municipal schools. Accordingly, a study conducted in a municipal secondary school and a university teacher education in Northern Sweden revealed low preparedness to meet the educational needs of immigrant children. Sociocultural and socio-political theoretical lenses were used in the study to understand the situation. Pedagogical action was taken on the teacher education programme in Umeå to improve the situation and issues concerning the integration of unaccompanied immigrant minors in the Swedish school system were explored in an interdisciplinary course at the end of the students’ teacher training. In group interviews and guided discussions during the course, student teachers recognised existing systemic problems in the education of immigrant children and expressed a feeling of a lack of practical intercultural competence to meet such children.

86-94

Authors: Edwin K. Too, Micah C. Chepchieng, John Ochola

In recent years, there has been an increase of students’ enrollment in private universities in Kenya. In effect, there has been a great need to recruit and retain quality academic staff. Studies reveal that it has been difficult to retain academic staff especially in private universities in specialized areas and required experience. A literature gap exists in Kenya on the effect of academic staff retention on the quality of education in private universities. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of academic staff retention on quality education in private universities in Kenya. A survey design was considered appropriate for this study. A sample of 336 respondents was used to collect data which included the Human resource managers, academic staff, and students of the selected universities. The sample was selected using purposive stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Questionnaires were used to collect the data which was analyzed by use of frequencies and percentages. The study established that academic staff retention affects quality of education in private universities in Kenya. It was concluded that academic staff retention has a significant effect on quality education without which quality would be compromised. The study recommended that private universities should formulate and implement retention policies and allocate adequate resources to curb high academic staff turnover.

108-119

Authors: Sotiria Tzivinikou

A considerable amount of research evidence suggests that collaboration between general and special education teachers is a pillar of the effective teaching for all students, including those with learning difficulties. Adopting the above position the present study aimed to present and discuss fifteen cases regarding co-teaching in the context of “parallel support”, where a special education teacher supports a learning disabled student in a mainstream classroom. Particularly, after an in-service training for promoting effective instructional skills, fifteen pairs of general and special teachers were asked to record the co-teaching procedures in their classrooms. Data collection was carried out through the participants’ self-evaluation rubrics. The quantitative analysis showed that in almost all cases, the collaboration between the pairs of educators was improved, they applied the in-service training knowledge in order to meet the different needs of all students, using the most effective strategies and procedures. The most interesting finding was that in most cases the initially adopted model of co-teaching was replaced by the parallel co-teaching where each teacher provides instruction to different students to the ‘team teaching’, where both teachers are responsible for planning and they share the instruction of all students. Thus, it seems that it is achievable to build an effective co-teaching model for heterogeneous classrooms.