European Journal of Contemporary Education

14-21

Authors: Elena Bendíková, Beáta Dobay

The study explains the importance and the role of physical and sport education in development of a positive attitude toward physical activity and health in adulthood. The empirical study was aimed at finding the factor that contributed to the transfer of respondents’ physical activity into their adulthood with regard to their health status. The group of respondents comprised 742 middle-aged inhabitants of the districts in Southern Slovakia, including 403 women (age = 37.2 ± 3.04 years, height = 167.9 ± 3.2 cm, weight = 65.3 ± 6.8 kg) and 339 men (age = 36.5 ± 4.54 years, height = 179.6 ± 6.3 cm,weight = 89.1 ± 7.9 kg). Their selection was intentional. We conducted the study in three stages by means of the standardized questionnaire. The results significantly show (χ² = 37.5297, p < 0.01) that the men enjoyed physical and sport education classes more (χ² = 26.9684, p < 0.01) than the women (only 1/3). The men were also more active as far as physical and sport education is concerned (r = 0.8363). Physical and sport education contributed to the transfer of physical activity from school years to adulthood more significantly (χ² = 112.47, p < 0.01) in the men (67.6 %; n = 229) than the women (33.7 %; n = 136). In this regard, the men also evaluated their present health status (r = 0.9139) and physical condition (r = 0.8300) better as compared to the women. The aforementioned findings prove that targeted education of population from childhood along with other effective preventive measures in health policy can approximate Slovakia to the developed European countries. These findings are partially included in the grant VEGA no. 1/0242/17 Physical activity as prevention of functional disorders related to the musculoskeletal system of secondary school students.

39-47

Authors: Alexander Fedorov, Anastasia Levitskaya

Media criticism and media education have a lot in common. For example, both media education and media criticism attach great importance to the development of analytical thinking of the audience. Indeed, one of the most important tasks of media education is precisely to teach the audience not only to analyze media texts of any types, but also to understand the mechanisms of media texts' creation and functioning in society. Actually, the same is emphasized by media criticism, addressing experts, and a wider audience as well. Therefore the synthesis of media criticism and media education is vital. Hence it is very important to debate on the role and functions of the media in society and analysis of media texts of different types and genres in classrooms of schools and universities.

57-63

Authors: Nataliya I. Neskoromnykh, Nataliya V. Chernenko, Anvar M. Mamadaliev, Aleksandra A. Vorozhbitova

This paper brings to light the essence, characteristics, and role of educational-cognitive barriers in the preparation of college-attending future social pedagogues that may arise in the process of their mastering social-pedagogical skills related to the prevention of social dependencies. The authors share the findings of their study of a typology of such obstacles in the educational process. Special attention is devoted to typical educational situations in the preparation of students (e.g., getting engaged in methodological activity related to preventing social dependencies, testing mastered methodological schemes and algorithms in activity related to preventing social dependencies, and discovering methodological knowledge) and specific educational-cognitive barriers dominating these situations.

77-88

Authors: K.G. Krechetnikova, N.M. Pestereva

Theobject of this study is the characteristics of the development of the present-day national education systems in two leading economies of the Asia-Pacific region (APR), Japan and the Republic of Korea (Korea). Its main purpose is a comparative analysis of the aspect of the state’s education policy dealing with enhancing the national markets for educational services by means of internationalization. The study’s methodology is founded on the analysis of the logic behind the development of the national education systems based on an evolutionary approach that is inclusive of history, culture, demographic policy, the market for educational services, and the idea of integration of education systems. The authors employ classification and comparative analysis. They use as source information open data from the official websites of companies specializing in worldwide university rankings and of institutions dealing with education, culture, sports, and technology in Japan and Korea. Results and discussion. Over the last couple of decades, the development of the education system in Korea has been distinguished by a revolutionary and innovative spirit, propelling the nation into leading positions within the education market in the APR. The Korean government is encouraging the nation’s colleges to take on a primary role as regional centers engaged in the production of new knowledge and skills, which may help drive technological and regional growth throughout the APR. Based on the World University Rankings, South Korea is currently ranked 9th and Japan 10th globally in higher education. Conclusion. The findings of the authors’ analysis of the major aspects of the internationalization of the education systems indicate that both in Korea and in Japan the process of education internationalization is increasingly gaining momentum. The reasons here are pretty much the same – globalization and demographic declines. The two systems differ in that in Korea preference is given to the scientific component of universities, while in Japan it is the development of the educational segment. In Korea, international education is entirely regulated by the state, while Japan’s current internationalization model is transitive – there is a shift taking place from government regulation to market freedom. The prospects for the continuation of this research, apparently, lie in expanding the cross-border networked interaction of APR universities.

100-125

Authors: Goran Rajović, Jelisavka Bulatović

In allEuropean Union countrieshaveharmonizedattitudeson the needandimproving the qualitygeographicof educationand hisinnovating. Modernizationof geographiceducationisunthinkable withoutqualityprofessional and personal developmentof teacher’sgeography. Renewal, modernization and supplementprofessionalknowledgeand skills acquiredinframeworkof the initialof geographiceducationit is consideredimperative ofcontemporary education. This paper analyzes thegeographicaleducationresearchon the example ofSerbia, from the perspective ofgeography teachers, and makes an attempt to determine the extent to which teacher’s geography use geography education research in their courses and which possible barriers prevent them use the results of geography education research in Serbian classroom environment. The results showedthat 26 % of teachers reported that theysubscribe toacademic journalsabout geography education research,while62.4 %of themsaid that theyjustfollow thepublications geography education research. More than87.6 % of respondents believe that the use of geography education research improveslearning,students' motivation andquality ofcourses, and almost half of the respondentsdoes not thinkthat it is timeand excessiveclass sizes, a reason not touse geography education research intheir courses.Geographiceducationresearchis a multidimensionalconceptand cannot beeasilyestimateonly on the basisone study, and solutionsshould be soughtin advocating foronemultimodal approach, in which thequalityof geographiceducationresearchdefined throughlarger number of different, relevantdeterminants.

138-148

Authors: Josefina C. Santana, Arturo García-Santillán, Milka Elena Escalera-Chávez

This study explores different variables leading to proficiency in English as a second language. Level of English on a placement exam taken upon entering a private university in Mexico was correlated to several variables. Additionally, participants (N=218) were asked their perception of their own proficiency. A linear regression and a one-factor ANOVA were carried out. Three variables best explain the level obtained on the placement exam. These are: number of instruction hours, type of school, and how frequently the learner reads in English. Findings also show that the participants’ perception of their proficiency corresponds to the results obtained on the placement test.

159-166

Authors: Pavol Tišliar

This paper examines the development of museum studies and museology as a field of scientific inquiry and a university course in Slovakia. First I examine the role of memory institutions in the formation of this field in response to the need for the specialized education of their staff and describe the fundamentals and the development of program and course design and the motivation behind them. I then analyze the current program and course offerings in the field of museology at various institutions in Slovakia and the differences between them, concluding with a number of proposals for improvement and providing a brief forecast for the future development of the field.