Problems of Education in the 21st Century

3-4

Authors: Editorial Board

Contents, Vol. 58, PEC, 2014

13-26

Authors: Predrag Bejaković

Employability and labour force competitiveness are important parts of an economy’s overall competitiveness. The key role of knowledge as a structural part of the competence in stimulating economic growth has been widely recognised by economists and other scientists. In modern societies, the acceptance and development of knowledge, skills and ideas have a crucial role in the creation of wealth. The key determinant of a knowledge-based economy is human capital, or more precisely its knowledge, competence and ability. In many modern employment strategies there has been great emphasis on worker employability. The general idea of employability is not new, although only in recent times efforts have been made to define it clearly as policy has shifted emphatically towards supply side issues. Employability can be defined as the extent to which employees have skills, which the market and employers regard as attractive and is of increasing importance for the economic sector. The aim of this research is to provide an overview of the relationship between education, employability and labour force competitiveness in Croatia.

39-52

Authors: Deborah A. Chetcuti, Michael A. Buhagiar

The research study reported in this paper explores the issues and challenges faced by teacher educators when assessing student-teachers during their field placement. The key research question is: What are the issues and challenges faced by teacher educators and university administrators in relation to the formative and summative assessment of student-teachers during their field placement in Initial Teacher Education? The research tries to address this question by drawing on qualitative data from interviews with key academics and administrators at the University of Malta. The data from the interviews suggests that finding a balance within a university setting between the formative and summative aspects of assessment can create a potential conflict. This results in teacher educators focusing more on administrative demands for accountability and standards through summative assessment (also known as ‘assessment of learning’) rather than on the learning process through formative assessment (also known as ‘assessment for learning’). The authors challenge this current view and, using examples from good practice, construct a model of assessment for the field placement that tries to improve the balance between formative and summative assessment.

67-81

Authors: Bisera Jevtić

The methodology of pedagogical actions within the process of moral education of personality is a part of basic, theoretical and empirical researches in pedagogy. When it is referred to moral training, it is primarily referred to the moral aspect of pedagogical actions affecting the development of personality - the formation of moral awareness as a characteristic of a certain individual’s values. Moral education of personality refers to the moral behaviour and action, the formation of attitudes and the development of moral reasonable interests, the introduction to the moral norms and demands, as well as the process of development of a personality’s moral traits. Moral capacity is expressed through the evaluation of moral acts and through moral action while being in accordance with intellectual capability and developmental logic. The educational role of school can be discussed in general or in a more specific way, depending on the extent up to which the school can contribute to the process of moralisation of individuals and the accomplishment of tasks of moral education. Primary and secondary schools in Serbia do not have moral education as a separate subject, but the curriculum sets certain specific tasks which should be accomplished through classes and all extracurricular activities. In accordance with that, this paper focuses on the problematisation of analysing the role of a teacher in moral education and personality development, as well as the analysis of the attitudes of teachers about the necessity of a separate subject or, at least, a “hidden curriculum” in schools which would refer to moral education. The factorisation of measurement variables shows that the awareness of teachers about techniques and methods of moral education and learning should be heightened, which provides a good direction towards a new research. The obtained results have helped us clarify the general problematisation of moral education, and it is believed that they will contribute to overcoming and advancing the existing situation of the school system in Serbia.

99-107

Authors: Sabina Kołodziej, Katarzyna Lato, Magdalena Szymańska

Knowledge and understanding of basic economic concepts is crucial for the future orientation of children in a world of economy and influences taken in this sphere behaviors. Therefore, the aim of formal and informal economic education is to prepare young people to make independent and smart decisions regarding his or her financial resources. Nowadays, children earlier and earlier begin activity on the market, thus the economic knowledge role increases. Article presents two studies analyzing the relation between parents behaviors and children economic knowledge, understanding of market mechanisms and their decisions regarding money. Study 1 focused on parents informal education activities in the sphere of economics. The research covered a group of 100 respondents (50 pairs – parent and a child) and used questionnaires (separately for children and parents) on parents activity in the sphere of economic socialization. As a second part of the study children solved the Basic Economic Test (Walstad & Robson, 1990) designed to measure the level of economic knowledge among school-aged children. The study 2 analyzed the relations between parents activity connected with economic socialization and children economic knowledge as well as behaviors related to saving, borrowing, lending and repayment of one’s debt. In this study a group of 52 children took part and filled in a questionnaire on their economic knowledge and behaviors as well as their parents activities concerning economic socialization. Study 1 showed a positive correlation between parents informal education activity in the field of economics and the economic knowledge level of children. Study 2 showed higher levels of economic knowledge and more frequent attempts to earn money among children who receive pocket money. Results of both studies showed that the level of economic knowledge among children whose parents give them pocket money, explain economic issues and talk with children about planning household budget is significantly higher that among children who are not animated by parents. Moreover, parents activity in this field plays a vital role in shaping children’s first economic activities.

118-126

Authors: Robert Podstawski, Dariusz Choszcz

The aim of the study was to determine the influence of the current scope of P.E. classes organized at the University of Warmia & Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland) during a period of one semester on the level of 1st year students’ motor abilities. A total of 337 full-time students aged 19-20 participated in the research. In order to calculate the students’ BMI, basic anthropometric parameters such as their body mass and height were measured. The students’ motor abilities were examined at the beginning as well as at the end of the summer semester of the academic year 2009/2010 using the following 13 motor tests: the standing long jump [cm], the 4x10 m shuttle run [s], the skipping with clapping of hands – 8 s [number of claps], sit-ups – 30 s [number of sit-ups], the medicine ball (4 kg) forward throw [cm], the medicine ball (4 kg) backward throw [cm], the bent-arm hang on bar [s], the downward bend from standing position [cm], the sit and reach [cm], Burpee test – 1 and 3 min. [number of cycles], and the forward-backward arm rotation over head holding a bar [cm]. The data were subjected to statistical analysis using the Statistica PL v. 10 software package. In the majority of motor trials (eight out of eleven) the students performed significantly worse after completing the semester-long P.E. course. In the other five trials the differences were found to be insignificant. Moreover, the study revealed that the participants’ average BMI increased over the course of the experiment. Based on the above it can be concluded that the current university P.E. program seems to be ineffective as it failed to result in noticeable positive physical changes, although the possible influence of the P.E. classes on the students’ attitudes toward physical education and their future lifestyles should not be ignored. If it is to lead to the desired physical changes in university youth, the amount of time devoted to physical education at the university must be increased, the classes distributed differently and their form rethought.

144-151

Authors: Michelle Soares, Laêda Machado

This research aimed to understand the treatment given by digital media for violence against teachers. It was observed how violence manifests itself, where it comes from, how it happens and the reasons for its occurrence, from news that addressed the violence suffered by teachers. The theoretical referential that guided the work was the Social Representation Theory proposed by Moscovici (1978). This research examined 96 articles, published in mainstream news sites in Brazil, whose main content were cases of violence against teachers. For these analyses, the content analysis from Bardin (2009) was used. The results showed that the discourse that circulates in digital media on violence against teachers refers to any form of physical or moral violence performed by students or their parents in the school environment, causing physical and moral damages to teacher’s integrity. The violent acts are triggered by situations that alter the dynamics of the classroom, such as assigning low marks or making complaints. It’s emphasized that this characterization is important to the development of possible actions for combating violence against teachers, which proved as an element that is part of the pedagogical dynamic of teachers.