Social Pedagogy | Social Education

12

Authors: Denisa Denglerov

This study concerns possibilities for fair testing of intellectual abilities in the context of different sociocultural environments. It traces the history of testing and misuse of test results to discriminate against various groups. Using examples of specific items from currently used WISC tests, the study shows how the environment influences test results. It then describes four models of the relationship between intelligence and tools to measure it in various sociocultural environments. In the last part of the study we propose a possible development of psychological testing that might make it truly fair and thus widely usable. We mention different paths to culturally appropriate tests with an emphasis on principles of dynamic testing.

19

Authors: Anna Petr Šafránková, Karla Hrbáčková

The teachers’ self-efficacy (TS) is one of the important determinants, which affects teachers’ behavior and also affects the effectivity of educational process. The presented study is based on the concept of Gibson and Dembi, who characterized the teachers’ self-efficacy by two dimensions – Personal Teaching Efficacy (PTE) and General Teaching Efficacy (GTE). Our goal is to present results of the research which was focused on determination of the relation between teachers’ self-efficacy and the factors related with the education of socially disadvantaged pupils. Among the mentioned research tool it was used the semantic differential method. We found out that the teachers from the chosen primary schools are more convinced about their abilities to influence pupils’ learning and behavior (PTE) and less convinced about the overcoming unfavorable effects of environment through the education (GTE). We also discovered that the teachers’ self-efficacy rate from chosen primary schools is not correlated with their experience (with the education of socially disadvantaged pupils) and there is no significant difference between TS and the territory of teachers’ work. The self-efficacy rate is strongly correlated with the evaluation of the concepts related with the education of socially disadvantaged pupils.

10

Authors: Peter Ondrejkovič

The theme of this paper is understanding in the sense of revelation of meaning or sense of social phenomena, events, relationships and processes, situations and the position of a researcher in a certain social context, all of which are becoming key concepts in the humanities. It also includes a small empirical excursion, in which workers in the humanitarian sphere attempt to write in their own words what they mean by understanding, when they consider that they truly understand the social phenomenon, relationship, process, or even themselves. The conclusion indicates the importance of understanding, which is highlighted by adding the social aspect to general EU priorities.

14

Authors: Klaus Kraimer, Lena Altmeyer

The contribution focuses on similarities of social work and social pedagogy in the German-speaking area and with relation or reference to International classic authors such as Mary E. Richmond and Alice Salomon. The similarities that were elaborated point in particular to a concentration on “education to maturity” (Adorno, 1969), which should be indispensable in both theoretical traditions. The article is a short version of the study Case Reconstructive Social work developed elsewhere (Kraimer, 2000, 2014) which includes the social-pedagogical perspective as an integral part.

15

Authors: Andrej Mátel, Andrea Preissová Krejčí

The study in hand aims to identify convergent and divergent aspects of social work and social pedagogy through the means of content analysis and comparison. The research sample consists of scientific and specialised texts written in Slovak, Czech, German, and English with emphasis on defining both disciplines and prioritizing the Slovak and Czech language area. The study identifies convergent and divergent aspects of social work and social pedagogy as two unique disciplines and professions. The authors incline towards the view that social pedagogy is more theoretical and general, while social work is a practical and applied science. However, intensive mutual cooperation is equally important for both disciplines aiming primarily at preventing socially pathological phenomena in society and thus leading to a healthy physical, psychological and social development of the individual.

19

Authors: Jitka Navrátilová, Pavel Navrátil

An expert discussion about the nature of identity in social work has been led in the Czech Republic for more than a quarter century. This debate did not bring a definite shift in the understanding of what social work is, nor did it bring a shared stance on what its domain should be (Chytil, 2007; Navrátil & Navrátilová, 2008; Matulayová & Musil, 2013; Punová & Navrátilová, 2014). However, if there is any consensus on the identity of social work, it refers to the fact that social work is a socially constructed field (Navrátil, 1998, 2013a) and therefore also multiparadigmatic or discursively open. If it is difficult or impossible to capture sectoral identity with a clear and final definition, sectoral identity can be seen in a pluralistic way through discourses. This paper is built on the premise that one of the most important factors influencing a sectoral understanding of sectoral identity is university education, which is one of the key social institutions that influence or even shape social discursive space (Etzkowitz & Dzisah, 2012). In the paper we present the most influential contemporary discourses, which are applied in the education of social workers, and answer the question: What assumptions about the performance of social work and more generally the concept of sectoral identity are implied by the selected discourses of education in social work? Particular among these discourses is a socio-pedagogical perspective we compare these other discourses with and show what values are crucial for each of the different discourses and how they can enrich social work as a discipline. We proceed from the extensive overview of Czech, Slovak and English-language scientific literature, published in regard to the problem o educating social workers in the past twenty years.