Problems of Education in the 21st Century

307-308

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 78, No. 3, 2020, PEC

314-327

Authors: Mohamad Ariffin Abu Bakar, Norulhuda Ismail

21st-century learning is integral to the transformation of the curriculum in Malaysia with the transition from School Integrated Curriculum (SIC) to School Standard Curriculum (SSC) introduced around 2014. During this time, the implementation of 21st-century learning was acceptable and very rewarding. However, the impact of implementation on students' skills, abilities, potentials and achievements should be looked at to ensure that the new curriculum is stable and practical to continue. There is a need to discuss the level of metacognitive regulation skills and students’ achievement in line with the introduction and implementation of 21st-century learning in the context of the Malaysian curriculum. Therefore, this research was conducted to examine whether the implementation of 21st-century learning has an impact on metacognitive regulation skills and student achievement. This quantitative survey was conducted by 201 Form 2 students from four secondary schools in Pasir Gudang District, Johor, Malaysia. The results show that the level of students' metacognitive regulation skills and the level of achievement in mathematics is moderate. Correlation analysis also showed there was a significant correlation between metacognitive regulation skills and student achievement. The implications from this research suggest that stakeholders including ministries, curriculum developers, education departments and teachers need to take initiatives to strengthen and improve the reputation of curriculum transformation in line with the 21st-century learning era in producing quality education.

342-358

Authors: Ayse Ceren Atmaca, Seyit Ahmet Kiray, Mustafa Hilmi Colakoglu

Sustainable development is an interdisciplinary structure that includes the dimensions of environment, economy and society. The aim of this research was to determine the sustainable development awareness of science, social studies and primary school teachers. The research designed with the survey approach was carried out with 2982 teachers working in different regions of Turkey in 2019. In the research, Sustainable Development Awareness Scale consisting of 3 sub-dimensions and 36 items developed by Atmaca, Kiray and Pehlivan (2019) was used. Significance level was taken as .05 in the analyses that examined the signification between the groups. As a result of the research, no significant difference was found between the teachers’ sustainable development awareness and their branches and years of service, while a significant difference was found between the teachers’ ages and gender and their sustainable development awareness scores.

371-393

Authors: Ijeoma Chidinma Ogbonnaya, Andile Mji, Oliva Neo Mafa-Theledi, Beatrice Ngulube

The poor learners’ understanding of specific topic ‘Market Dynamics’ (MD) is a concern in South Africa secondary schools and so it is globally. Many researchers and education stakeholders in South Africa point to the need to use TS-PCK to improve learners’ understanding of MD. This research aimed to examine economics teachers’ teaching of Market Dynamics (MD) in order to understand how the teaching and learning of MD could be improved using topic Specific PCK. Using Mavhunga’s TS-PCK as the theoretical framework. Two TS-PCK components were examined in the research namely, content knowledge (What is that makes a topic difficult to teach?) and representations were used to gain an in–depth understanding of teachers’ use of TS-PCK in teaching MD. It was a descriptive case study design. Purposeful samples of three economics teachers of 10th, 11th and 12th grade were selected. A semi-structured interview consisting of 18 items was used to generate data for the research while a qualitative data analysis technique, namely thematic analysis was used to analyze the data generated. The results showed that the three economics teachers sampled for the research were able to use their TS-Content Knowledge adequately in different Content Knowledge domains to understand what makes a topic difficult to teach or learn. The result also showed that the participating teachers identified difficult areas that are challenging to teach in the topic of MD but were unable to explain and give cogent reasons why those areas were challenging for learners to understand. Further results on teachers’ use of TS-PCK based on ‘representations’ revealed that the teachers effectively used analogies and examples in teaching market dynamics but struggled to find activities to illustrate some of the concepts of market dynamics. The research recommends that economics teachers should be provided with more structured opportunities to help develop their topic specific pedagogical content knowledge of the school level content as part of their professional development.

410-422

Authors: Silvia Rogošić, Ana Maskalan, Tomislav Krznar

In line with the theory of planned behaviour, different factors influencing the formation of attitudes and beliefs indirectly affect the intentions that determine an individual’s behaviour. Hence, it is important to examine the factors affecting the attitudes of preschool teachers towards children’s gender roles considering that their own understanding of gender roles influences their behaviour towards children in kindergarten (which can be in agreement with the egalitarian or stereotypical attitudes of preschool teachers). Therefore, a quantitative research was conducted in Zagreb (Croatia) on a sample of 481 preschool teachers. The research was aimed at determining the effects of socio-demographic characteristics, religious (non)affiliation and personal experiences of gender discrimination during childhood on the attitudes of preschool teachers towards children’s gender roles and on the frequency of noticing unequal treatment of boys and girls in kindergarten by other preschool teachers. The findings revealed that preschool teachers who have identified themselves as non-religious or religiously non-affiliated who were brought up in larger cities, with a personal experience of gender discrimination in childhood, more frequently notice unequal treatment of boys and girls in kindergarten (by other preschool teachers). Among the mentioned variables, the strongest effect on noticing unequal treatment of boys and girls in kindergarten has the variable experience of gender discrimination during childhood which confirms greater awareness of gender discrimination among persons who experienced such discrimination.

449-464

Authors: Ngoc Hai Tran, Thang Dinh Truong, Hong-Van Thi Dinh, Le-Hang Thi Do, Tu-Anh Thi Tran, Mai-Huong Thi Phan

Teacher professional development (TPD) plays a vital role in enhancing student achievement and the education quality improvement at general education schools. Vietnam is carrying out the general education reforms including the curriculum, teaching methodology and textbook replacement. In order to make those reforms succeed, a lot of things have been done so far in which TPD is considered a key measure. This qualitative case-study research aimed to find out the perceptions of principals and the teachers in three selected K12 schools on TPD in response to the education reforms implementation in Vietnam using the data from the open-ended interviews with the principals, the questionnaires from teachers, and the school policy-related documents. The importance of TPD related closely to the general education reforms implementation at three schools was highly perceived and highly appreciated by the principals and teachers in similar vein. These made a strong link between their beliefs and TPD practices at their schools for promoting the education reforms.