European Journal of Contemporary Education

695-714

Authors: Ali I. AlHouli, Alanoud M. Alrashidi

The purpose of this study is to identify teacher educators’ trust levels in four cross-national educational systems, namely the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), the Arab world (AW), and the Gulf Countries (GC). In addition to identifying the trust levels, the factors involved in trust building in these systems were also investigated. A two-phase explanatory sequential mixed methods design was developed in which a survey and focus group interviews were utilized to collect the quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data analysis showed that the highest level of trust for most study participants was directed toward the American educational system. The analysis and interpretation of qualitative phase participants inputs yielded 26 factors that affected trust in educational systems. The overall conclusion of this study indicates that teacher educators develop trust in educational systems by being influenced by a number of integrated cognitive and emotional factors.

726-737

Authors: Irina I. Degtyareva, Marina A. Maznichenko, Irina A. Mushkina, Oksana P. Sadilova

This paper captures insights from a recent study about the effect of corrective-developmental work with preschool-age children and their parents on the child’s emotional well-being and anxiety levels and its benefits in terms of an improved emotional microclimate in the family. The authors share the findings from a diagnostic assessment of the emotional state and anxiety levels of six and seven-year-olds attending Coryphaeus, a research-and-education center operating as part of Sochi State University (Sochi, Russia). The paper describes a special program on corrective-developmental work with children and counseling work with their parents that is being carried into effect at the center by students at the university’s Department of Social Pedagogics, which is entitled ‘Preparation for School’. The authors conclude that corrective-developmental work with children conducted by senior students majoring in Pedagogics can help improve children’s emotional well-being and reduce their anxiety levels, which is crucial to their readiness for school.

751-760

Authors: Jana Duchovicova, Elena Kovacikova, Anvar N. Khuziakhmetov, Agzam A. Valeev

The study presents research results in the level of phonemic awareness, particularly phonemic analysis and synthesis at children of preschool age in connection with the level of chosen cognitive functions. The study focuses more on the cognitive function of speech, namely active vocabulary and we identify whether the active vocabulary of a preschooler in Slovakia influences the level of phonemic awareness in the field of phonemic analysis and synthesis. From the results it is clear that there is a statistically significant relation between the level of phonemic awareness in the field of phonemic analysis (r = 0,510; p= <0,001) and also with the phonemic synthesis (r = 0,482; p= <0,001) and active vocabulary of children. The results show that the children, who achieved a higher level of active vocabulary, achieved also the higher level of perceptual analysis and synthesis. Thus, the findings showed that the children who achieved a higher level of active vocabulary, they also achieved a higher level of perceptual analysis and synthesis. Perceptual analysis and synthesis are the key factors of phonemic awareness that are according in a close relation with acquisition of reading and writing skills. That children entering schools with strong linguistic knowledge learn to read and write with an ease and less difficult than their peers who have lower level of vocabulary and language structures. Spoken expression is an important factor in development of a child not only in relation with actual developmental level but as a factor that can predict success of the child in school. The didactic level benefits from the research with the findings that systematic development of vocabulary of preschool children can play a significant role in development of phonemic skills of the children and furthermore, by phonemic awareness development it is possible to contribute towards developing reading and writing skills. Thus, the reading literacy can be supported.

779-789

Authors: Elena V. Frolova, Tatyana M. Ryabova, Olga V. Rogach

The dynamic development of information and communication technologies, the strengthening of the public demand for digitalization of various spheres of life, orient the Moscow education system towards the active introduction of digital technologies and high-tech educational environment development. The purpose of this article is to analyze the advantages and problems of the Moscow Electronic School project implementation, the resources and limitations of digital technology introduction into the learning process of schoolchildren. The main research methods were questionnaires and in-depth interviews with teachers in Moscow schools during the classes teaching electronic skills. The questionnaires were conducted before and after the training process, which made it possible to evaluate its effectiveness, analyze the attitude of teachers to the Moscow Electronic School project, and the readiness to digital technology introduction. The study identified the problems associated with excessive control over the practices of digital technology use in the teacher’s work, which leads to negative consequences: social tension, imitation of activity. The electronic educational environment is perceived as a space with a low level of security, the risks of losing copyright on intellectual activity results. Dysfunctions were revealed in the motivation system, orienting teachers towards the introduction of digital technologies: hard-to-predict performance, distortion of quality assessment criteria, and manipulation possibilities. The advantages of digital technology introduction in the framework of the Moscow Electronic School project include the following: improvement of material and technical support quality for schools, visualization of educational materials, the ability to exchange experiences and gain access to best teaching practices. The key limitations of digital technology introduction are the imperfection of the material and technological base, the dysfunctions in the system of control and motivation of teachers, the low level of educational content moderation, their incomplete compliance with the requirements of teachers, lack of digital trust and legal guarantees.

801-809

Authors: Maxim S. Kozyrev, Tatiana V. Bogacheva, Evgeniya E. Jukova, Polina V. Palekhova

The article studies special aspects of management of higher education institutions through the use of correlation analysis. There were twelve universities of Moscow and Moscow region that were included into selection. According to results of the conducted research the authors of article have come to the following conclusions. Universities’ administrations are prone to compensate the defects of management, decrease of students’ number and, as consequence, revenue contractions by laying off the teaching personnel. In this vein, teachers are the most voidable group in a system of higher education management. Meantime, the number of students does not influence the real financial revenue of higher education teaching personnel, which may increase only with the growth of teaching load. The same situation is with publication activity of academic staff. It seems, that universities’ administration either does not use large-scale financial incentives to increase the publication activity of academic teaching personnel in journals from the information-analytical systems of scientific citation Web of Science and Scopus, or these incentives are not comparable with the labor and other costs of publishing scientific articles in these bases, which does not lead to the expected actions on the part of the faculty. In both cases, it is not fair to put the whole responsibility on managerial incompetence of higher institutions. The reasons, which lead to this situation, might be weak managemental independence, relatively lean funds allocated for research, which are most likely concentrated in leading universities.

819-827

Authors: Natalia V. Medvedeva, Ekaterina A. Vetrova, Elena E. Kabanova, Natalia V. Havanova

In modern Russian conditions of the education system modernization, special attention must be paid to the social capital of educational organizations, since it largely determines the quality of educational activity. The article analyzes the personnel management system in the framework of the territorial educational complexes of the Southern Administrative District of Moscow. The relationship was found between the satisfaction of teachers with their work and such factors as the complexity and intensity of work, the ability of management to manage effectively, and communication between the administration and the teaching staff. Based on the study, key barriers were identified that did not allow educational complexes to develop social capital: a high level of tension among the teaching staff of educational institutions; a high level and variety of tasks that teachers need to solve; difficulties with planning activities within the educational complex and related to communication between teaching staff and governing bodies; insufficient level of managerial competence development among the employees of educational complexes. The authors conclude that in order to overcome the identified barriers, it is necessary to carry out comprehensive diagnostics of the educational complex management system state regularly, conduct the monitoring of indicators reflecting the level of employee motivation and the effectiveness of their managerial activities on the basis of educational complexes. It is necessary to maintain the socio-psychological security of the educational environment and apply an integrated approach to interaction system development between all participants of the educational process.

841-854

Authors: Nina Pestereva, Sun Yuhua, Mariya Belyakova, Feng Jgin

The object of this study is to assess the potential for the development of the Russian market for educational services as a component part of the present-day process of internationalization of science and higher education in the countries of Eurasia, above all China and Russia. The paper describes Russia’s and China’s unique unifying and coordinating role in the development of a common educational space, which must result in the creation of a Eurasian research-and-education ecosystem. The authors conducted an analysis of the current structure of the ecosystem. The authors conducted an analysis of the current structure of the education ecosystem. The authors conducted an analysis of the currents structure of the sector of joint Russian-Chinese education institutions. The paper describes the current state of affairs regarding, and prospects for, the development of the government’s digitalization program that is based on the concept of Digital 4.0, a paradigm that is increasingly becoming a natural environment for society to function and develop in. The authors explore some of the key trends and risks inherent in the development of the global market for educational platforms. The paper provides a rationale for the need to create a joint Russian-Chinese educational platform – one can hardly overestimate its role in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative transnational project. The study employed a set of traditional methods of research, including classification, comparative analysis, summarization, juxtaposition, and forecasting. In addition, it incorporates a sociological survey of students at Russia’s leading universities. The authors made use of data from the Ministries of Education of China and Russia and various open-access statistics websites, as well as data from a sociological study of their own. The authors’ assessments of the current potential of and trends exhibited by the Russian market for online education, as well as the fact that Russian students are interested in and prepared for active participation in online projects, helped put together a set of recommendations for boosting the competitiveness and efficiency of the Russian market for educational services and those for developing an international educational platform as part of the Eurasian educational ecosystem.

864-878

Authors: Salvador Sandoval-Bravo, Pedro Luis Celso-Arellano, Victor Gualajara, Semei Coronado

The objective of this study is to analyze the ability of students of the University Center for the Economic Administrative Sciences which forms part of the University of Guadalajara from different economic-administrative undergraduate programs, to solve distinct problems in the area of probability, applying a multiple-choice instrument aligned to the learning objectives via a qualitative-descriptive methodology. The study comprised a sample of 251 students from 14 different undergraduate degree programs who were enrolled in the same statistics course. Multivariate tests were conducted in order to identify any differences in performance related to undergraduate degree program and sex, while a RASCH model was applied to provide validity evidence for the assessment. The results show that the students do not have a good level of ability for solving conditional probability problems, which they confused with the formulation of independent event problems although they did show a satisfactory level of ability for solving other types of problems.

889-919

Authors: Milena Tsvetkova

Object of the study: The broad object of this study is the academic field of the book and the book as an area of interdisciplinary teaching. Purpose: to prove that the 21st-century cross-media and hybrid media ecosystem emancipates Book Science from the rest of the sciences in whose objects it can partake only as a constituent using one of its elements, properties or attributes. Tasks: to identify and summarise the theoretical and methodological differences between conventional Book Studies and the specific Book Science; to update and conceptualise the understanding of the book as a traditional means of communication in the light of the modern perspectives of digital transformation; to offer a framework of an innovativemedia science of the book. Hypothesis: Returning to the matter of the book as a medium, the hypothesis to be tested in this study is: “the book is set to be vindicated as a basic scientific category and be studied by a science of its own as an agent of communication, while the scientific book – as a communicator of “good” science. Methods: analytic and synthetic processing of primary and secondary resources, the selective monographic method, systematisation and summarisation of data from scientific-methodical and normative-legal documents on the issue examined. Results:Based on a working hypothesis, this study provides theoretical knowledge in Book Science and proposes points of support toward future fundamental and applied research in Book Science. Significance of the study: Overall, our findings suggest that 1) the research on the new theoretical views about the book will facilitate an increase in the academic interest in book-related professions, encourage the design and update of university curricula and programmes in Book Science, to support interdisciplinary research of book and digital media culture; 2) it is expected that the present text will provide the factors militating against the introduction of innovations in higher education and doctoral programmes in Book Science insofar as books as products of the publishing industry, and thus subject to market forces, drive back business interest in higher education toward book-related professions; appropriate measures to overcome the challenges outlined have been suggested.

931-942

Authors: Sergey I. Degtyarev, Mariia V. Plotnikova, Lyubov G. Polyakova, Jasmin Gut

This paper represents a brief survey of the public education system in northeastern Ukraine in the period spanning the 18th and the first half of the 19th centuries. During that period, these lands were part of the Russian Empire. The authors explore some of the key national and regional characteristics of the development of the education system in the region. The paper identifies three major periods in the development of the public education system in northeastern Ukraine in said timeframe. The first period runs to the mid-18th century, when the Hetmanate and Sloboda Ukraine had partial autonomy within the Russian state. During that time, the area had in operation a network of primary, secondary, and higher educational institutions attended by members of all social categories. Their operation was regulated by the government, while the content of education they provided was based on the European pedagogical tradition. The second period is associated with a set of administrative transformations implemented in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 18th century. It is in the context of these transformations that the process of creating a new system of education, a common framework for the entire nation, was launched. That being said, the national characteristics of education in the lands of Leftbank Ukraine gradually faded away. The third period (the first half of the 19th century) is characterized by greater government regulation of the activity of educational institutions. The government would finally install an education system uniform for all regions within the Russian Empire. Educational institutions in northeastern Ukraine would be transformed in such a way as to become part of the imperial education system, while some would cease operation altogether.

951-963

Authors: Artyom Yu. Peretyatko

The question of the possible relationship between the level of education of the Cossacks and the degree of their well-being has not been raised by historians to date. Meanwhile, “His Imperial Majesty’s Commission to analyze the causes that damaged the economic life of the Don Host, and to formulate measures to restore its economic well-being” (“N.A. Maslakovets’ Commission”) in 1899 confidently stated that it was the shortcomings of the education system in the Don Host Land that entail the impoverishment of the Cossacks. The author, on the basis of the protocols of the commission and the materials of its activities, preserved in archives (the State Archive of the Rostov Region, the Russian State Military Historical Archive and the Manuscripts Department of the Russian National Library), shows that the commission did not have unity in considering educational issues. Nevertheless, prevailing was P.G. Mordvintsev’s point of view, according to which education in the Cossack regions was to ensure the universal literacy of male Cossacks and their mastery of the special technical knowledge necessary for effective agriculture. Prior to achieving this goal, according to the members of the commission, it was impossible to implement many other measures they proposed aimed at restoring the well-being of the Don farms. However, War Minister A.N. Kuropatkin rejected the commission’s proposals, relying on the opinion of the most conservative part of the Cossacks, who believed that education discouraged Cossacks from hard work.

973-983

Authors: Aleksandr А. Cherkasov, Sergei N. Bratanovskii, Ludmila G. Zimovets

This paper examines the origination and development of the school education system in Vologda Governorate in the period 1725–1917. This part of the set covers the period 1900–1917. The authors drew upon a set of works covering pre-revolutionary pedagogy, as well as a pool of contemporary Russian scholarly literature. In conducting the research reported in this paper, the authors employed both general methods of research, including concretization and summarization, and traditional methods of historical analysis. Use was made of the historical-situational method to explore particular historical facts in the context of the era under study in conjunction with various neighboring events and facts. The authors conclude by noting that from 1900 to 1916 Vologda Governorate enjoyed a period of dynamic development in its public education sector, which had been facilitated by the nationwide process of preparation for the institution of compulsory education. The number of educational institutions in the region had reached as many as 2,000, with significant gains achieved in the quality of the education system as well. In addition to the focus on setting up new educational institutions, considerable attention was devoted to building new schools, ensuring better pay and working conditions for teachers, and preparing the region’s teaching workforce. Despite the complex geographical conditions, namely the region’s large relatively lowly populated land mass, the Ministry of Public Education had sought to institute compulsory primary education throughout Vologda Governorate by 1920. To do it justice, these plans were being systematically put into effect. As early as 1914, nearly 75% of the region’s school-age children attended school. The bulk of the region’s out-of-school children were accounted for by peasant girls whose parents viewed education as being of little use to a female in the countryside.