Problems of Education in the 21st Century

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Authors: Editorial Board

Cover page

123-135

Authors: Daria Becker-Pestka

The problems presented in the text refer to the education of convicts in Poland. It has been based on current Polish legal regulations, statistical data and specialist literature. The problems which refer to the education of convicts in Poland are regulated by the Act of 6th June 1997, the Executive Penal Code, the Act on the Education System and executive acts to the above-mentioned regulations. The current situation in the labour market requires people to acquire education and to improve their qualifications. People without education, who are excluded from the access to professional development and in-service training, find themselves in an extremely difficult situation. The lack of qualification and vocational skills usually leads to exclusion from the labour market. People who serve their sentences in prisons find themselves in a particularly difficult situation, because their lack of education may push them back into crime. A very positive tendency that may be observed in Poland is a growing demand for prison education. Convicts may acquire knowledge and raise their qualifications at various levels and in various fields. They may follow the curricula at the level of a primary or secondary school; they may pass their Matura certificate and, after the consent of relevant authorities, they can continue their education at the university level. Convicts may also learn a new profession, change their professional qualifications or acquire new additional skills during specialist courses. The qualifications acquired in this way shall meet current demand in the labour market, and convicts may find employment after they leave prisons. Education allows them to improve their self-esteem and self-reliance, to catch up with any deficiencies and to work on their self-discipline. At the same time, education offers opportunities to expand knowledge, to return to the society and to the labour market. It is important for convicts to obtain opportunities for education, since such a chance comes as a significant factor of their social re-adaptation. Considering social values, it is important to foster the pursuit for education among convicts. A lot of prisoners still do not want to learn, and this fact may result from their previous school failures, the sense of embarrassment caused by their knowledge deficiencies, the lack of interest and faith in their own potential. The material for the text has been collected on the basis of the method of theoretical analysis, and it includes available statistical data, legal regulations and literature which refers to the discussed problems. The article aims at the presentation of prison education, how it is organised in Poland and what advantages it presents for both: convicts and the society. The text also presents programmes of prison education which are implemented by correctional staff in prisons.

144-156

Authors: James Edomwonyi Edokpolor, Kayode Somorin

The intent of this research is to assess the implementation state of entrepreneurship programme and its influence in developing entrepreneurship key competencies among undergraduate students. The survey design was employed for the research. A total population of 8,101 undergraduate students from University of Benin was used. A sample of 382 undergraduate students was used for the research. A structured questionnaire, validated by two experts was used for the data collection. The Cronbach alpha statistical method was employed to determine the reliability of the instrument, which yielded the coefficient alpha value of 0.87. Twenty items questionnaire was administered to the respondents with the help of two trained research assistants. The data were analyzed using the mean, standard deviation, and t-test statistics. The research revealed that entrepreneurship programme is not properly implemented particularly at the university level. It also revealed that students are not well-equipped with entrepreneurship key competencies such as creative and innovative skills that would have helped them in starting and running their own business. It also revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean responses of Science and Arts/Humanity-based students regarding the implementation state of entrepreneurship programme. It further revealed that there was no significant difference between the mean responses of Science and Arts/Humanity-based students regarding the extent to which entrepreneurship programme has equipped students with creative and innovative skills. Consequently, the authors drew a useful conclusion for the subject matter. Providing sufficient amount of financial resources, involving employers of labour, sourcing for qualified teaching and non-teaching personnel, procuring the state-of-the-art infrastructural facilities, as well as utilizing appropriate instructional methods, that would help in equipping students with creative and innovative skills for starting and operating their own businesses were further recommended.

170-181

Authors: Abolanle O. Lasode, Olanrewaju O. Lawal, Modester C. Ofodile

This research investigated students’ needs, awareness, perception and use of Guidance and Counselling Services (G&CS) in Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB). Simple random sampling technique was used to sample 283 respondents across the ten (10) colleges in the institution. Data were collected with the aid of questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentages, and mean. The questionnaire was subjected to a pilot study that revealed psychometric properties of Cronbach’s Apha 0.86. Result revealed that 91.1% of the respondents were aware of G&CS and 74.6% of the respondents currently using the services indicated that it was very helpful. The rating of the counselling needs of the respondents revealed that academic issues with a mean of 3.62 ranked first, and exam pressure management had a mean of 3.51 ranked second. Furthermore, the rating of the perception of students on the quality and effectiveness of G&CS indicated that organized orientation services for fresh students ranked first (mean = 2.55), while effective counselling on personal, social, academic and vocational challenges ranked second (mean = 2.49). The study concluded that the G&CS needs of the students across the colleges differ due to the dissimilarities in their disciplines across the University. The G&CS was assisting students to attain competencies needed to overcome academic, career and personal concerns. The fresher’s orientation service received the highest perception (mean = 2.55) among respondents on the quality and effectiveness of G&CS in the institution.

194-203

Authors: Nina Raud, Olga Orehhova

In-service training of teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) is as a core instrument of continuous professional development of EFL teachers. Within the context of nowadays education policies, the issue of in-service training has become of topical importance. It requires systematic approach based on the analysis of individual EFL teachers’ needs and receptive practices in developing in-service teacher-training programmes. In view of that, a survey was conducted among EFL teachers in Estonia to discover the areas of in-service training they are interested in. Based on the survey results, a model of an in-service training module to implement in order to meet the needs of EFL teachers in Estonia is proposed, and it is placed against the background of in-service teacher training provided in Estonia. The module could be included into in-service teaching training programmes not only in Estonia, but in a wider European context.