2010 vol. 20. no. 1 - the new educational review

2010Vol. 20. No. 1

© Copyright by Wydawnictwo Adam MarszałekToruń 2010

ISSN 1732-6729

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CONTENTS

Stanisław JuszczykEditor’s Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

TECHNOLOGY OF EDUCATIO NEwa Ogrodzka-Mazur

Experiencing the Acculturation Stress by Polish Children in German Schools .Between Integration and Marginalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Roxana EnacheForms of Organizational Pathology Among the Teaching Staff in Prahova County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Jana ŘehulkováQuestions about the Infl uence of the Way of Spending Leisure Time on Human Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Jana VašťatkováParticular Aspects of Quality Management in School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Iwona Maria StachanowskaYoung Poles from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region (Polish Emigrants 1999–2007) – Part I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Katarzyna Kowalczewska-Grabowska, Agata Rzymełka-Frąckiewicz”We are Still stuck in a Factory”: Social and Political Resistance to Changes in Educatio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Adrian HatosTh e (Little) Eff ect that Parents’ Labour Emigration has on their Children’s School Performance: a Study of Secondary School Students in Oradea (Romania) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Monika FraniaSelected Aspects of the Family Environment of Creative People as Exemplifi ed by Research Conducted among Academic Youth . . . . . . . . . . . 97

4 Contents

GENERAL DIDACTIC SMária Kožuchová

Creating the socio-cultural model of scientifi c-technical literacy . . . . . . . 109Izabela Krasiejko

Th e Role of Metacognition in Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Violetta Rodek

“Auto-Education” as Understood by Students of Pedagogy and their Individual Auto-Educational Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

PEDEUTOLOG YSedat Yüksel

Perceptions of School Teachers Regarding the Professionalism of the Teaching Profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Lucia Pašková, Marta ValihorováLife Satisfaction of Slovak Teachers Depending on the School Type . . . . . 157

Beata KosováAndragogical Refl ections on Teachers’ Lifelong Education and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Barbara DobrowolskaSchool Culture – Teacher’s Competence – Students’ Creative Attitudes . Refl ection on school pragmatics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

Grażyna Kiliańska-PrzybyłoTeaching ≠ Learning? A longitudinal Study into the Efl Teacher Trainees’ Cognitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Kourosh Fathi Vajargah, Mahbobe Arefi , Ali TaraghijaTeacher’s role in the formation of emergent curriculum inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach (An experience from Iran) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Jana KratochvílováTh e Teacher’s Conception of Project-based Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

TECHNOLOGY OF EDUCATIO NTomá Jablonský

Empirical Application Dimensions of Cooperative Learning Usage at School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

5Contents

Grzegorz Szumski, Anna Firkowska-MankiewiczIs Polish Special Education Eff ective? Academic and Socio-emotional Eff ects of Schooling in Special, Integrated and Regular Schools . . . . . . . . . 248

Zlata VašašováTh e Infl uence of Criterion-Referenced Assessment on Students’ Attitudes towards Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Agnieszka KozerskaTh e Opinions of Extra-Mural Students about the Factors which Hinder the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

Fulya ÖztaşAn Investigation into the Eff ects of Educational Gains of Vocational School of Health Students on their Environmental Attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Mária VargováCreativity in Romany Pupils in Primary Education in the District of Trebišov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Mustafa UlusoyAssessing the Listening Ability Levels of Internet Radio Programs . . . . . . 306

REVIE WBeata Pituła

Book Review: Ján Bajtoš, Vybrané state z didaktiky Vysoke Školy . Učebný text kurzu vysokoškolskej pedagogiky. Košice: Technická Univerzita v Košiciach, 2008, pp. 153 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Beata PitułaBook Review: Edukacja dorosłych by Malcolm S. Knowles, Elwood F. Holton, Richard A. Swanson, trans. by M. Habura, R. Ligus, A. Nizińska, Warszawa: PWN, 2009, pp. 376 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

CONTRIBUTORS

Arefi Mahbobe (PhD.)

Shahid Behesti University, Teheran, Iran

Dobrowolska Barbara (PhD.)

Institute of Pedagogy, University of Podlasie, Siedlce, Poland

Enache Roxana (PhD.)

Department for Teacher Training, Petro-leum – Gas University Ploiesti, 100680 Ploiesti, Bdul Bucuresti 39, Romania

e-mail:[email protected].

Firkowska-Mankie-wicz Anna (PhD.)

Th e Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, Szczęśliwicka 40, 02-353 Warszawa, Poland


Frania Monika (MA)

Chair of Th eory of Education, Institute of Pedagogy, University of Sielesia, Grażyńskiego 53, 40-126 Katowice, Poland


Hatos Adrian (PhD) Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oradea, str. Universităţi nr 1–5, Oradea 410087, Romania


Jablonský Tomăš (Prof., PaedDr. PhD.)

Department of Pedagogy, Dean of Faculty of Education, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Hrabovská česta 1, 034 01 Ružomberok, Slovak Republic


Kiljanska-Przybyło Grażyna (PhD.)

Institute of English, University of Silesia, Sosnowiec, Poland


Kosová Beata (Prof. PhD.)

Department of Primary and Nursery Pedagogy, Pedagogical Faculty, Rector of Matej Bel University, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Ružová 13, Slovak Republic


Kowalczewska-Grabowska Katarzyna (PhD.)

Department of Social and Welfare Peda-gogy, Institute of Pedagogy, University of Sielesia, Grażyńskiego 53, 40-126 Katowice, Poland

Kozerska Agnieszka (PhD)

Academy of Jan Długosz in Częstochowa, Poland

Kožuchová Mária (Prof. PhDr.CSc.

Chair of Preschool and Elementary Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, Komensky University, Račianska 59, 85106 Bratislava, Slovak Republic


8 Contributors

Kratochvilová Jana (PhD)

Jana Kratochvílová, Faculty of Primary Education, Masary University, Department of Primary Education, Poříčí 31, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic

e-mail:[email protected]

Krasiejko Izabela (PhD.)

Faculty of Education, Jan Długosz Academy , 42-200 Częstochowa, ul. Waszyngtona 4/8, Poland


Ogrodzka-Mazur Ewa (Prof. PhD.)

Institute of Education, Faculty of Ethnology and Education, University of Silesia, ul. Bielska 2, 43-400 Cieszyn, Poland


Öztaş Fulya (PhD.) Vocational High School of Health, Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey


Pašková Lucia (PaedDr. PhD.)

Department of Psychology, Pedagogical Faculty, Matej Bel University, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Ružová 13, Slovak Republic


Pituła Beata (PhD.) Department of Pedeutology, Institute of Pedagogy, University of Silesia in Katowice, Grażyńskiego 53, 40-126 Katowice, Poland


Řehulková Jana (PhD.)

Masaryk University, Faculty of Social Studies Institute for Research on Children, Youth and Family, Joštova 10, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic


Rodek Violetta (PhD.)

Department of General Didactics, Institute of Pedagogy, University of Silesia in Katowice, Grażyńskiego 53, 40-126 Katowice, Poland

Rzymełka-Frąckiewicz Agata (PhD.)

Department of Social and Welfare Peda-gogy, Institute of Pedagogy, University of Sielesia, Grażyńskiego 53, 40-126 Katowice, Poland

Taraghija Ali (MA.) Education Organization of Teheran, IranStachanowska Iwona Maria (PhD.)

Educational Study, Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland

Szumski Grzegorz (Prof. PhD.)

Th e Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, Szczęśliwicka 40, 02-353 Warszawa, Poland


Ulusoy Mustafa (PhD.)

Department of Elementary Education, Gazi Faculty of Education, Gazi University, Besevler-Ankara, Turkey


Vajargah Kouroshi Fathi (PhD.)

Shahid Behesti University, Teheran, Iran e-mail:[email protected].

9Contributors

Valihorová Marta (Doc. PhDr. CSc.)



Vargová Mária (PhD.)

Chair of Preschool and Elementary Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy, Faculty of Education, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Hrabovská česta 1, 034 01 Ružomberok, Slovak Republic


Vašašova Zlata (PhDr. PhD.)



Vašťáťková Jana, (PhDr. PhD.)

Faculty of Education, Th e Institute of Education and Social Studies, Žižkovo nám. 5, 771 40 Olomouc, Czech Republic


Yüksel Sedat (PhD.) Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education, Uludağ University, Gorukle/Bursa, Turkey


Editor’s Preface

Th e fi rst number of Th e New Educational Review in 2010 is the twentieth issue of our journal since the start of its foundation in 2003. Th is number starts the seventh year of our functioning in the pedagogical space of Middle Europe. In this issue there are mainly papers from: Poland, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, Romania, Turkey, and Iran, because our journal is open for presentation of scientifi c papers from all over the world.

In the present issue the Editor’s Board have proposed the following subject sessions: Social Pedagogy, General Didactics, Pedeutology, and Technology of Education.

Th e subject session “Social Pedagogy” starts with an article by Ewa Ogrodzka-Mazur, who explores the issues of the acculturation stress experienced by the chil-dren living in Gubin (in the Polish-German borderland), whose parents decided to educate and fulfi l their children’s obligatory school duty in the German cultural environment in the neighbouring Guben. Roxana Enache describes the most common phenomena of maladjustment which exist in the organizational media grouped under the denomination of organizational pathology/psychopathology. Th e paper by Jana Řehulková deals with the problems of the relation of leisure time and health. Jana Vašťatková presents certain fi ndings of the study focused on the problems of quality management, particularly school self-evaluation processes and with the help of the contextualization of a chosen school system she consid-ers the essential conditions for its meaningful usage in the Czech environment. People’s migration as a demographic, socio-cultural and historical phenomenon is described by Iwona Maria Stachanowska taking into account the emigration of the young Poles from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region in the period of 1999-2007. Katarzyna Kowalczewska-Grabowska and Agata Rzymełka Frąckiewicz describe social and political resistance to changes in education as a result of the dynamic changes in everyday life. Adrian Hatos attempts at fi nding out if parents’ labour

Stanisław JuszczykEditor in Chief

12 Stanisław Juszczyk

migration has an infl uence on their children’s school performance; the children are secondary school students in Romania. Selected aspects of the family environment of creative people as exemplifi ed by research conducted among academic youth have been characterized by Monika Frania.

In the subject session “General Didactics” Mária Kožuchová discusses the elementary basis of scientifi c and technical literacy, defi nes its structure from the socio-cultural approach and searches for connections between school literacy and scientifi c-technical literacy. Th e role of metacognition in education is described by Izabela Krasiejko, taking into account the characteristics of the process of education based on self-regulation, including the classifi cation of the methods and techniques of the cognitive process and the role played by conscious learning and the learning strategies learned in class, in the self-development of the student. Violetta Rodek determines the way of understanding the notion of “auto-education” by students of pedagogy and recognizing the material content of the formulated auto-educational goals.

In the subject session “Pedeutology” Beata Kosová analyzes the possibility of using the andragogical theory of adult education with respect to the teaching profession and she compares the characteristics of “learning organisation” with the relatively conservative surroundings of school and the classroom. In the paper by Barbara Dobrowolska there is an analysis of the empirical research on the notion of school culture and its impact upon the teacher’s competence in the area of developing the student’s creative attitude. Grażyna Kiliańska-Przybyło focuses on characterizing the trainees’ initial cognition and beliefs about the teaching/learning process. Jana Kratochvilová off ers us an interpretation of the results of the research into project-based teaching at primary schools. Lucia Pašková and Marta Valiborová analyze satisfaction of Slovak teachers with their life as a whole, but also their satisfaction with domains such as work, health, and students. Kourosh Fathi Vajargah, Mahbobe Arefi and Ali Taraghija discuss the results of an ethnographic study which concerns the teacher’s role in the formation of emergent curriculum inspired by the Regio Amilia Approach. Th e aim of the study described by Sedat Yüksel is to determine teachers’ perceptions whether they have all the standards of professional teaching or not.

Th e subject session “Technology of Education” opens by an article by Tomá Jablonský, which presents co-operative teaching as one of the eff ective teaching forms and points out that it is a myth to consider self-assertion as the only way leading to individual success. Grzegorz Szumski and Anna Firkowska-Mankiewicz describe the results of a study of school achievement and socio-emotional integra-tion in pupils with mild intellectual disability fi nishing Grade 3 of primary school.

13Editor’s Preface

Th e paper by Zlata Vašašová points to the possibility of using criterion-reference assessment at secondary schools; its criteria are known to students and students know that they can improve their performance using their initiative. Th e study described by Fulya Öztaş was carried out in order to investigate the environmental attitudes of the fi nal year students in Vocational School of Health Services, which trains intermediate staff for health institutes.. Agnieszka Kozerska shows fi ndings concerning pedagogy extramural students’ comments about their obstacles in studies. Th e article by Mária Vargová focuses on the creativity of Romany pupils in primary education in the district of Trebišov. Th e main purpose of the study presented by Mustafa Ulusoy is to determine the listening ability levels of Internet Radio programs.

In the subject session “Review” there are Beata Pituła’s reviews of two books: Ján Bajtoš: Vybrané state z didaktiky Vysoke Školy. Učebný text kurzu vysokoškolskej pedagogiky. Technická univerzita v Košicach, Košice 2008, and Edukacja dorosłych by Malcolm S. Knowles, Elwood F. Holton, Richard A. Swanson, trans. by M. Habura, R. Ligus, A. Nizińska, PWN, Warszawa 2009.

We hope that this edition, like the previous ones, will encourage new readers not only from the Middle European countries to participate in an open international discussion. On behalf of the Editors’ Board I would like to invite representatives of diff erent pedagogical sub-disciplines and related sciences to publish their texts in Th e New Educational Review.

Technology of Education

Experiencing the Acculturation Stress by Polish Children in German Schools .

Between Integration and Marginalization

Abstract

Th e article explores the issues of the acculturation stress experienced by the chil-dren living in Gubin (in the Polish-German borderland), whose parents decided to educate and fulfi ll their children’s obligatory school duty in the German cultural environment in the neighbouring Guben. It has been assumed that Polish children’s systematic education (regularly living with their parents in their homeland) in German school: (a) contributes to their applying diff erent acculturation strategies in various areas of life, (b) becomes the source of a constant and/or recurrent acculturation stress, which the child at early school age (with no support from the family and the environment of the admitting culture) is not prepared to manage both in the psycho-physical (individual) and social aspects.

Key words: acculturation stress, integration, marginalization, borderland, multi – and intercultural education.

Introduction

Th e undertaken discussion concerns the issues of the acculturation stress expe-rienced by the children living in Gubin (in the Polish-German borderland), whose parents decided to educate and fulfi ll their children’s obligatory school duty in the German cultural environment in the neighbouring Guben.

My stay in the Polish-German borderland in 2004 due to the studies on axiologi-cal preferences of the 1st – 3rd grade children inhabiting culturally diff erentiated

Ewa Ogrodzka-MazurPoland

18 Ewa Ogrodzka-Mazur

environments (Ogrodzka-Mazur, 2007) and the observation of new phenomena appearing in other investigated areas made me view the issue of acculturation in a broader perspective and repeat the research in 2007–2008 in order to capture the dynamics of this process.

An assumption was made (based on theoretical knowledge of the phenomena subjected to pedagogical analyses, the analysis of research results of particular studies discussed in the expert literature, and my own experience in intercultural education) that systematic education of Polish children (regularly living with their parents in their homeland) in German school: (a) contributes to their applying diff erent acculturation strategies in various areas of life, which become particularly visible in their functioning in the public and private spheres and which change with age; (b) becomes the source of a constant and/or recurrent acculturation stress, which the child at early school age (with no support from the family and the environment of the admitting culture) is not prepared to manage both in the psycho-physical (individual) and social aspects.

Theoretical and methodological assumptions

In the pedagogical analysis of experiencing the acculturation stress by Polish children who carry out their education in the German school, theoretical conceptu-

alizations were applied referring to (1) John Berre’s concept of acculturation, which presents models of accommodation to functioning in an environment diff erent from the native culture (Berry, 1994, pp. 253–257). Four strategies distinguished by the author, more or less frequently chosen by people in the process of acculturation, result from taking a stance on two issues: maintaining the identity of the native culture and contacting and participation in the admitting culture (Table 1).

Integration is manifested in a positive attitude and the willingness to maintain one’s own cultural heritage and in the openness to and participation in the admit-

Table1. Acculturation strategies in J.W. Berre’s approach

Is it of great importance to maintain the native cultural identity?

Yes NoIs it of great importance to par-ticipate in the admitting culture?

Yes Integration AssimilationNo Separation Marginalization

19Experiencing the Acculturation Stress by Polish Children in German Schools

ting society’s life. Th is is the most benefi cial strategy for the individual (correlating with minor health problems) and it is diffi cult to achieve as it demands cognitive and emotional eff ort, as well as motivation. Th e individual has to solve confl icts related to values and reconcile the point of view of the native and the new culture. Assimilation, as the consent for participation in the admitting culture and, at the same time, resignation from keeping the former cultural identity, is most frequently related to: limited contact with people coming from the same native cultures, unwillingness towards it, its negative evaluation, abandoning the language, and sometimes conscious denial of one’s origin. What becomes a source of satisfaction and positive emotions are the relations with the members of the admitting culture. In the new surroundings, the individual aims at self-fulfi llment and achieving goals – their behaviour, dressing style, speaking manners increasingly resemble the ones of the peers from the accepting group. In the strategy of separation, based on the reversed relationship, the contact with the admitting group is reduced to the necessary minimum and negative emotions dominate them. Th e admitting culture is perceived from outside, one is an observer rather than a participant. Mutual lack of understanding and of the will to contact is a characteristic feature, withdrawal and unwillingness is its eff ect. Th e last and least favourable strategy, marginaliza-tion, is associated with the strongest acculturation stress – it means cutting off and not participating in the native culture, nor in the mainstream of the admitting one. It is oft en refl ected in dysfunctional behaviour, such as: health problems, addic-tions, functioning in the criminal world (Boski, Jarymowicz, Malewska-Peyre, 1992; Czykwin, Misiejuk, 2002; Nowicka, 1998; Wysocka, 2003).

Th e acculturation process and experiencing the acculturation stress are also related to the individual’s perception of the distance between the native and admit-ting cultures. In order to outline the changes occurring in this respect in the case of Polish children, Paweł Boski’s theoretical standpoint was applied, represented by his (2) concept of cultural distance. It comprises the analysis of cultural distance from the point of view of criteria-related (knowledge of cultural symbols) and cor-relative (behaviour which refl ects normative assumptions and values of a particular culture) identity attributes (Boski, 1992, pp. 86–108). Th e relations are presented in Table 2.

A new perspective in the search for rules which determine shaping the feeling of identity in the changing borderland conditions was off ered by the outline of (3) the theory of identity behaviours, elaborated by Tadeusz Lewowicki. Th e theory enables both a comprehensive and comparative grasp of the processes and phenomena taking place in borderlands. Th e identity fi elds distinguished by the author become signifi cant determinants of identity behaviour patterns – the fi rst


fi eld comprises historical vicissitudes and identifi cation with a particular territory and social group; the second is marked by the unlikeness of culture, language, transmission of tradition and the knowledge of the spiritual and material output of society; the third – associated with a special kind of historical genealogy and specifi c qualities of the groups and the stereotypes functioning within them; the fourth – concerns the industrial and economic conditions and living standards of the group(s); the fi ft h – associated with the needs, life aims and axiological preferences; and the sixth – taking into account the political, ideological, social and economic context (Lewowicki, 1995, pp. 51–63; Lewowicki, 1995a, pp. 13–26).

In the theoretical assumptions, (4) the theories of cross-group contact and mutual cross-group diversifi cation derived from the hypothesis of contact were also referred to (Stephan, Stephan, 1999, pp. 70–97; Hewstone, 1999, pp. 267–282). Concordantly with their broadened model (Figure 1), it has been assumed that the eff ects (C) of the cross-group contact between the Polish children and their German peers and the teachers are a function (f) of the person (P), situation (S) and social context (SC): C = f (P + S + SC).

Table 2. Cultural distance and its consequences for the processes of identity changesCU

LTU

RAL

DIS

TAN

CE

CLO

SEATTRIBUTES

CRITERIA-RELATED CORRELATIVE• Th e range of common symbols• Diff erent sign of evaluation• Identity confl ict

• Similarity of values, customs and lifestyles

• Easiness of acculturation

FAR

• Strangeness, lack of a range of common symbols

• Neutrality, lack of confl ict

• Discordant, contradictory values and social norms

• Acculturation stress• Identity confl ict

Figure 1. Casual model of the hypothesis of contact (Stephan, Stephan, 1999, p. 80)

Situational determinants

Social determinants

Mediator variables

Eff ects on the individu-

al’s level

Eff ects on the social

levelIndividual

factors


Due to the social and cultural specifi city of the Polish-German borderland, the distinguished constituents of the suggested model are the following:

in the social context: •group structure (children’s age, gender, place of living, parents’ nationality, –religion),social and cultural determinants of the relationship between the groups –in contact,present relations between the groups, –the course of the acculturation and socialization processes in both –groups;

in the situational context: •environment in which the contact takes place, –character of the interaction, –composition of the group, –tasks carried out by the participants; –

individual factors: • demographic variables, –personality traits, –stereotypes, prejudice and other beliefs; –

mediator variables: •cognitive processes, –emotional processes, –behavioural processes; –

eff ects on the individual’s level: •beliefs (stereotypes and prejudice in particular), –emotional reactions, – behaviour patterns; –

eff ects on the social level: •changes of attitudes presented in public (especially in the case of stere- –otyping and prejudice),changes of social norms functioning in groups. –

Th e signifi cance and usefulness of the presented model in the conducted peda-gogical studies can be specifi ed, fi rst of all, in the area of interactions between all the factors with the specifi cation of cause-result relations. Secondly, the model suggests the existence (within each category) of several variables which might aff ect each situation of group contact. Th irdly, the model indicates the factors which can be considered in the attempts to use the contact for improving cross-group relationships (Stephan, Stephan, 1999, pp. 81–83).


Taking into account the applied theoretical assumptions, the methods of col-lecting and analyzing qualitative-quantitative data were used in the research, with particular focus on the specifi city of individual studies on children. Special attention was drawn in the basic methodological assumptions of these studies not only to the researcher’s empathic attitude to the examined subject (the child), but also to the aspects of research ethics, to the knowledge of the child’s refl ective-ness as an interview partner, and to methodological competences of researchers themselves (Köpp, Lippitz, 2001, pp. 158–160). In the analysis of the empirical materials, the reducing and developing way of data transformation was applied and the interpretative approach was followed in the analysis of the meaning of statements in the context of: understanding the examined people’s thoughts, critical reasonable understanding and theoretical understanding (Kvale, 2004, pp. 213–231; Miles, Huberman, 2000). In composing a complete picture of the phenomena, the phenomenological approach was used, which consisted in the transition from individual textural-structural relations of meanings and the nature of the respondents’ experiences to the synthesis in the form of a universal descrip-tion of cultural experiences which represents the group(s) as a whole (Moustakas, 2001, pp. 147–149).

In the author’s own research, ethnographic observation was carried out, which comprised four stages:

the fi rst (descriptive observation) aimed at recognizing the area of research •examination, as well as the learners and teachers from the 1st – 3rd and 4th – 6th grades;the second (focused observation) involved the registration (due to the pre- •pared observation guides) of all the children’s behaviour patterns (both verbal and non-verbal) within cultural experience;the third (selective observation) enabled the verifi cation of the formulated •conclusions and the detailed registration of the children’s behaviour patterns which suggest their adaptation to the new life and learning environment in which the norms, values and behaviour models (demanded by the foreign country’s culture) are acquired;the fourth (self-observation) made use of the principle of refl ectiveness, due •to which what was subjected to observation was both the researcher and the process of her own assimilation (the acceptance of the cognitive perspective present in a particular fi eld of study) (Konarzewski, 2000, pp. 113–114).

Th e ethnographic observation was complemented by cultural interviews contain-ing questions which enable to (a) achieve the full picture of the child’s functioning in particular areas of life, (b) specify the feeling of identity (including national one),


(c) diagnose the degree of identifi cation with the groups which the child contacts, (d) specify the degree of acculturation, with regard to the competence sphere, the knowledge and understanding of behaviour patterns, and the emotional sphere, both the personal attitude to diff erent events which the children observe and in which they take part and the evaluation of behaviour (Chodynicka, Więckowska, 2005, pp. 370–394). Th e interviews also comprised questionnaires for parents, which aimed at learning diff erent forms of the children’s non-school activities and at eliciting opinions on the ethnic and cultural specifi city of the borderland and the transmission of cultural heritage which takes place there.

Th e studies in the Polish-German borderland were conducted twice:in 2004 – the examined Polish children and their German peers attended •the 1st – 3rd grades,in 2007–2008 – these learners continued education in the 4 • th – 6th grades.

Altogether in both the 2004 and 2007–2008 research, 100 learners from the Primary School in Guben took part in the studies – 50 children from Poland (26 girls and 24 boys) and 50 from Germany (25 girls and 25 boys). Moreover, 37 Polish parents (31 women and 6 men) participated in the research.

Acculturation process of the Polish learners in the German school – the fi ndings of the author’s studies

Feeling of identityOn the basis of the conducted studies and analyses, three basic levels of the

pupils’ feeling of identity were distinguished in the area of: the I condition, the concept of oneself in the world and the possible contact with the world:

low • (minimized feeling) – characterized by the orientation rather towards the surroundings, real world (things, subjects, phenomena) than towards experiencing oneself and the relations with others;medium • – consisting in perceiving oneself as a subject with the simultaneous feeling of agency (the belief in one’s ability to infl uence the surroundings and other people),high • – comprising the fulfi llment of all the three fi elds of the identity feeling: I, I – the world and I – Others.

In the fi eld of I, the Polish children exhibit a high level of I feeling. Th is is derived from the appreciation of religious (in contrast to the German peers) and lay values, truths, vital and hedonistic values. On the other hand, this high level most frequently refers to individualistic behaviour and peer group preferences.


Placing themselves in the world (I – the world), all the examined children declare the wish to learn it and lead the life of changes and adventures but with no prob-lems. However, at the same time they cannot understand the world in which they live and do not want to undertake actions to change (rebuild) it. All the learners’ medium level of the feeling of identity and agency in this fi eld seems to be related to their experience of various dangers from the world (terrorist attacks, wars, and the abundance of bad politics were indicated among others) and the failure to fulfi ll the important (especially at that age) need for shaping one’s own safety.

Th e children view their abilities in the sphere of social functioning I and Others in a diff erent way, achieving the highest level of the feeling of identity and agency in this fi eld. Th e learners want to experience Others directly, get acquainted with them, and accept the perceived separateness and/or unlikeness. Th e children make a clear-cut distinction I – Others and the dominant form of social bonds is the instrumental relation and undertaking such activities which may bring notable benefi ts for I on the children’s own initiative. In their social functioning, the learners are guided by the opinions of their peers more frequently than of signifi cant adults.

Th e examined children’s level of identity feeling is diff erentiated not only due to its scope (dimension) and cultural conditions, but also due to their age. Younger learners (grades 1–3) are characterized by an average level of identity feeling which increases with age and reaches a high level in higher grades. Owing to self-improvement, the pupils’ integration of cognitive and experience-related func-tions, and their acquisition of a stable level of school maturity, it may be supposed that also in this period re-organization of one’s own person and of the self-image occurs. Th is means well-balanced development of the feeling of identity, the ties with others and self-fulfi llment. Th e children are also able to specify their own identity in the context of criteria-based and correlative attributes and to manifest the feeling of this identity and a social behaviour related to it. In the perception of one’s own person and of others, what becomes signifi cant is particularly positively marked information about oneself, which suggests the advantage of increasing self-esteem over understanding and accepting. Th is also indicates the need for security and positive self-image (Brycz, 2004, pp. 50–69). Th is specifi c bias in perceiving oneself and others seems to be typical of the period of mid-childhood and it also plays a regulating role through the stimulation of activity and development.

National identifi cationTh e undertaken studies also involved an attempt at recognizing and specifying

the pupils’ national identifi cation, which constituted a specifi c “conglomeration of objective (observable from outside) qualities of individuals’ behaviour patterns


and acts of their consciousness, their self-identifi cation as members of a particular cultural community” (Kłoskowska, 1992, p. 7). It was simultaneously assumed that the children could present various intensity of national identity, which refl ects: a weak sense of national identity (Polish identity is weaker than German or the opposite), well-balanced mixed feeling (no dominant identity – I feel equally Polish and German), strong feeling (the dominance of the homogeneous Polish or German identity). Moreover, diff erentiated intensity of the sense of national identifi cation refl ects identity – alienation behaviour patterns.

Th e contact nature of the Polish-German borderland determines explicitly national identifi cations of the children in Guben and contributes to the change of national identity of their non-German peers. In the case of the children from Poland, the homogeneous German identity prevails, which means strong identifi cation with national culture of the majority group (Figure 2). Only 20% (2004) and 6% (2008) of the pupils declare the category of well-balanced mixed identity (I feel equally Polish and German) and 2–3% of the children identify Poland as their homeland.

Individual interviews with the learners also confi rm a frequent occurrence of the lack of identifi cation, both with one’s own ethnic minority and with the dominant German national culture. However despite the feeling of alienation, the fi nal dec-larations are German-oriented – the Polish children treat themselves as German and they declare their German national identity. Th is seems to be enhanced by the school system (these children learn and familiarize with the German language and culture, take part in non-school activities of German educational and cultural insti-tutions) and a high economic status of the majority group. Th e observed behaviour

3

20

77

2 6

92

0 4

96

06

94

0102030405060708090

100

Polish mixed German Polish mixed German2004 2007–2008

Children from Poland Children from Germany

Figure 2. Examined children’s declarations of national identifi cation


of the children indicates that they do not want to stand out in their school and peer environment due to their ethnic origin. Th at is why they oft en experience a strong acculturation stress, which contributes to their alienation and to the birth of identity confl ict (especially in the fi eld of axiological preferences and norms).

Level of acculturationComparing the empirical data from both the 2004 and 2008 studies allows for

the claim that, in the case of the learners from Poland, cultural changes occur as a process and they have an acculturative nature. Among other features, this brings about the following:

the entire change comprises the symbolic sphere (the feeling of identity, lan- •guage), social structure (peer contact) and the sphere of economic behaviour (living standards);the change has a violent course and takes place within one generation; •it has specifi c stages (from confrontation of cultures, through adaptation of •new cultural contents, to deculturation – applying the models of the foreign culture);it causes repeated shift s of the border • familiarity – strangeness, tamed strange-ness;it has specifi c consequences. •

Th e process results either in (a) assimilation – related to limiting contact with people coming from the native culture and to unwillingness towards it, its negative evaluation, not using the language, sometimes conscious denial of the origin, and associated with fi nding satisfaction and positive emotions mainly in relations with the members of the admitting culture; or in (b) separation – linked with limiting the contact with the admitting group to the necessary minimum and with the domination of negative emotions – the admitting culture is viewed by the learners from outside, they are rather observers than participants, and what becomes a characteristic feature is the mutual lack of understanding and the willingness to contact, which brings about withdrawal and unwillingness.

Th e presented considerations do not refl ect the complete picture of the accul-turation processes which the Polish children educated in German schools face. Th ey merely attempt at seizing, describing and interpreting the characteristic features and tendencies within the discussed issue, which is of due signifi cance in undertaking certain educational activities in multicultural societies. Th e presented refl ections bring about new questions in the context of intercultural theory and practice and, in this way, they enable familiarization with the new socio-cultural reality in which the contemporary Polish child lives.


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Forms of Organizational Pathology Among the Teaching Staff in Prahova County

Abstract

Th e present work describes the most common phenomena of maladjustment which exist in the organizational media grouped under the denomination of organizational pathology/psychopathology.

Most times, these organizations have been compared to the human body. In the same way that the human body goes through states of illness and health, the organizational “body” goes through similar states. Th us, we can talk about the optimal condition of the organizational systems. A healthy organizational medium is characterized by high productivity, a very satisfactory working condition of employees, the existence of a safe and secure medium, a low fi gure of job resigna-tion, a low number of absentees and high effi ciency.

Key words: organizational pathology, stress, burnout, mobbing, workaholism, questionnaire.

Introduction

Organizations produce, by their structures, mechanisms and fi nalities, a cer-tain type of person and a certain kind of behaviour. In their turn, the person and organizational behaviour strongly infl uence the organizational life and effi ciency.

New research theme, contemporary to the modern epoch of human civilization, organizational psychopathology represents a domain wearing the peculiarity of analyzing a concept which transposes a denominated entity – the organization – into the hypostasis of a human organism, responding to external and internal stimuli.

Roxana EnacheRomania

30 Roxana Enache

Organizational pathology is a systematic approach to diff erent “diseases” of some active companies on the economic market, analyzing syndromes, generic causes, modalities of diagnosis and successful treatment. Preventive and curative measures taken for the recovery of organizations represent a special phase in the mentioned domain research, and appear as measures of counterbalancing of organization vul-nerability, approaching the main weak points of the organization, such as: multiple fragility, slow response, rigidity, rise crisis, etc., attack and defence strategies, as well as how we can fi ght successfully against elements that can generate organizational diseases. And whether they depend on organizational management or malfunc-tions coming from the interior of the organization, they can be established only by analyzing and diagnosing the crisis state correctly.

For a long time the word “stress” has been part of the current vocabulary. We encounter regularly, if not daily, stressing situations, so, to a certain extent, we are somewhat used to them: from the heat we bear, to the situation where, perhaps, the last loaf of bread was already bought in front of us.

Beyond daily stress, of much interest and importance is the stress caused directly or indirectly by our work. What is a natural thing, moreover, when work occupies a lot of time in our day and when the whole family depends on the activity we do at work.

Stress is perceived and lived as a negative state, and it is associated with uncer-tainty, irritation and tension. We must emphasize the fact that stress is a proper state for an individual, being as much a problem of attitude as one of interpretation. Not the events in themselves are stressful, but the attitude and the way we see them, these ones being, in this case, estimated as negative.

Stress is thus a reaction to a situation, a reaction or response which can be adequate or not. Rigid people, who are very much concerned with security and who are more prudent or doubtful, can easily exaggerate the consequences of ordinary events, thus reacting accordingly. A mere observation of a colleague can be taken as aggression or criticism. In such situations a short break is recommended, as well as an objective evaluation of the situation, during a few moments of relaxation and considering the matter.

Because of the sea of the day-to-day activities we undertake, we most currently forget to relax and to relate the respective situations to the real-time basis. Th is is why, a state of agitation or stress remains in the back of our minds, which amplifi es with every new solicitation. Stress can be, from this point of view, compared to an avalanche which grows rapidly from a moment to another.

Stress brings out manifestations at the physiological level (perspiration, tachy-cardia, muscular strain, headaches) but also at the psychological level (tension,

31Forms of Organizational Pathology Among the Teaching Staff in Prahova County

anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, fatigue). Th e immediate consequence is a decrease in the capacity to adequately respond to the situation, thus creating a chain reaction, which can also lead to panic attacks or anxiety fi ts. A life full of stress is fi rst of all a life deprived of joy and moments of happiness. Th is fact can shorten the life expectation of an individual by 5 up to 10 years. (Stress causes heart conditions, premature ageing, etc.). Despite the fact that stress has an obvious negative impact on the individual, as well as on the organizations, the amount of attention granted by the employers, viewing the causes and the sources of illnesses due to work conditions and for the improvement of these conditions, is relatively small, at least comparing to other activity domains, such as: cost control and/or equipment maintenance. Organizations invest large sums of money annually in programs of stress control, especially training for stress management, although most of the time understanding the sources of stress is insuffi cient and lowers the effi ciency of the techniques used in the management of stress. Besides selection and training, stress can be another zone where the gap between theory and practice at the level of the organizational behaviour can be established.

Th e issue of fatigue and work stress has held and will continue to hold an impor-tant place in the study of work psychology, the fact determined by: the exaggerated evolution of diff erent types of tasks, which leads to the appearance of new activities or to the modifi cation of “classical” ones, the solicitations of which must be evalu-ated; the need to adjust and adequately manage the tasks and duties in order to maximize individual performance; the necessity to organize on the scientifi c basis the work processes (diagram sizing, activity planning, working in shift s, etc.) for maximizing the organizational performance; the necessity to prevent and limit as much as possible the defi cit of human effi ciency, which can lead to human and material loss (errors, accidents, etc.).

Most of them have reached the level where they do not see the working place as a place where they spend a few hours and periodically receive their wages, but the current trend is to obtain as many activities as possible, thus gaining more money. Th at is not a bad thing to do, except for the fact that one of the consequences of this is chronic stress, a sort of complete fatigue, which translates in more scientifi c terms into the “burnout syndrome”. Th e involvement in an activity or profession is a progressive process. As long as they like what they do, people are more involved, creative, willing to achieve success, performance which eventually transgresses into fi nancial benefi ts. And everything can be seen as a spiral of evolution and benefi ts: the harder the person works and in a more effi cient manner, the more money he/she earns, and this fact leads to improvement in lifestyle, comfort-growing, more wishes, and thus one reaches the state when the saying: “However much

32 Roxana Enache

money you have, it is not enough,” proves true. Th e entire evolution process can determine a constant destructive stress to turn on the physical and psychological capacity of the individual, reaching in some, the burnout syndrome – total physical, psychic and mental exhaustion. Th e above-mentioned syndrome appears as a result of working conditions, as well as of personality factors. If, a long time ago, the stressing factors were tough work conditions such as cold, crammed and badly illuminated offi ces, nowadays we can talk about competitiveness, the emphasis on productivity, unstadardized programs, work continued at home, etc. Th e latter usually aff ects the social and family life of those who do it.

Th ose who suff er from the burnout syndrome usually are not aware of it, they cannot objectively evaluate their involvement in work and neglect personal and social needs. Advancement, better fi nancial gains, the admiration of colleagues or heads give them a feeling that they are on the proper road. Frequent irritability, uncontrolled reactions, fattening or weakness, pain or acute states of faint can still alert them. One handy solution could be short holidays, weekend trips. Th ey may have a better infl uence upon the body than a long vacation followed by a much longer period of stress. Other healthy habits may also rebalance the body: smoking cessation, taking up sports, careful selection of food, reading, watching comedies. Anyone can reserve some regular time of analysis in which to analyze priorities and try and capture the wrong beliefs or unrealistic expectations that are at work.

Th is professional exhaustion syndrome aff ects mostly those who have chosen to help others (such as lawyers, teachers, medical staff , and nursery school teachers) briefl y, all those who give themselves and not always feel that “I get something in return.” Th e syndrome occurs especially in those who work in the health system because they get in direct contact with suff ering, unhappiness and disease. Th is type of reaction is quite similar to depression or may lead to it.

For those addicted to work the mere thought about being on holiday and not having to work is just as if you did not have the alcohol when you are an alcoholic. Th e situation when someone addicted to work is no longer able to work may have the same symptoms as in the case of an alcoholic deprived of drink: depression and headaches. Addiction to work is diffi cult to be recognized as a personal problem because the symptoms of workaholism are confused with the behaviour of someone who is busy, who is dedicated to his/her work. Here are some of the diff erences between those who are addicted to work and those who work with dedication: a hard-working person sees work as a necessity and an obligation to be satisfi ed, but for one who is addicted to work is like a refuge from life problems, a place that feels safe, far from unpleasant feelings or other duties. A hard-working person knows the limit of his/her commitment to work and is able to be totally present


and available for activities in the family, for friends, fun, whereas the addicted lets work control all other areas of his/her life, the promises and obligations to the family are oft en abused because of the necessity to fulfi l the requirements of the job. Th e diligent can control appetite for work while the addicted cannot work in other environments, talk about work all the time, when on holiday or at home. If he/she cannot work, he/she gets panicked or depressed. A workaholic is not able to enjoy the achievements of his/her work. He/she always needs goals to meet, and when close to the fi nish, needs another goal that keeps the adrenaline moving.

Family and work are the main concerns of people. Th ese are the main sources of satisfaction and the delineation of personal identity. Although in general family is more important, certain modifi cations are discernible in contemporary society, i.e. devaluing the family and providing an increasing focus on work. Th is has created ground-suited appearance of workaholism or work addiction. Workaholism is characterized by “incontrollable need to work without ceasing;” it is a pathological relationship between man and his work, which causes changes in the inner life by compulsive states, a loss of control, poor health and a declining interest in social life. However, workaholics have their satisfactions. Some of them are convinced that there would be no performance if the time is not totally dedicated to work. Others receive satisfaction from the process itself, when they understand that the result was almost a utopia. Over-involved in what they do, workaholics cease to notice what is happening around them, they no longer enjoy Sundays spent with their family, walking in an amusement park with their children, a romantic dinner with the loved one, etc. Some know when to stop, but others need professional help.

Workaholism sometimes resembles perfectionism when man strives to be always at top performance admitting no failure. If the person who works to exhaustion has no satisfaction in life, then it is very serious and the fi rst step towards returning to normal would be to allow oneself to make mistakes even once. Th ere are situations when workaholism is a forced measure. When a company lacks the concept of time-management, and work at weekends becomes normality, the one to blame is not the employee, but the leader. Th ere are many companies, including large fi rms, known on the internal market. Sometimes in these fi rms employees’ workaholism is awarded, e.g. they are given tickets to some seaside or mountain resorts. Th ere are situations when a worker turns into a workaholic without even knowing it. It happens that the rhythm of work in the company is determined by an informal leader – a workaholic one. Th is is the ideal worker in the eyes of the employer – the workaholic who embodies the “ideal worker is the one who leaves the last.”

Workaholism is currently present among employees with a higher education than among workers with a lower educational level. Th is is explained by greater

34 Roxana Enache

responsibility and a higher stress, which involves a higher level in the hierarchy of the organization. Technological development has led to a culture of speed; the employee has to do several activities at the same time and is overloaded with tasks to be done as soon as possible. Th e number of working hours increases due to very demanding deadlines. At the same time, the number of the hours dedicated to leisure activities or family decreases, domestic space is invaded by the job tasks.

Mobbing is not just an individual, professional, organizational “disease”, but also a social one as it disturbs the social balance. In the organizational plan, direct and indirect costs of mobbing are associated with the treatment of diseases of physical and psychological victims, increasing the number of days of sick leave requested and the amplifi cation of staff fl uctuation. Th e fi nancial costs create frustration within organizations. To this end, increased interest in devising a methodology for calculat-ing the costs caused by mobbing and some specialists’ conclusion would be that it is more profi table to provide rehabilitation programs to employees, to reorganize the work than to continue treatment in the old manner. Among the social eff ects of mobbing there are extensions of the organizational and individual, aff ecting social and economic transactions. On the other hand, the company, through its institu-tions of protection, has to pay extra for longer or shorter periods of unemployment, for psycho-socio-professional recovery programs, for restoring their own balance.

Case study – Identifi cation of the organizational pathology forms among the teaching staff of Prahova County

I conducted research that aims to identify the forms of organizational pathology in the teachers who work in educational establishments of Prahova county. As a research method we elaborated 2 questionnaires, one for stress and burnout and another for mobbing and workaholism, which we applied to 42 teachers who teach in secondary and higher education institutions, both in urban (Ploiesti, Văleni the Mountain, Boldeşti Scăieni) and rural (Păcureţi, Călineşti, tickle Tomşani, Loloiasca) environments, but also some special education teachers. Survey by questionnaire aims to produce scientifi c knowledge.

Questionnaire 1 – stress and burnoutTh is questionnaire is designed to identify the forms of stress and burnout among

teachers, the causes which determine them and what measures may be taken. I ask you to sincerely complete this questionnaire. Answers and personal data will be confi dential. At questions marked with “M” you can choose multiple answers.


Do you consider the job tasks to be beyond the limits of your physical, 1. mental and emotional capacities? Yes NoWhen you have to fulfi l a task, your priorities are:2.

fi nancial reward;a. purposes of the institution; Mb. personal achievements.c.

Job tasks aff ect your family life/social life? Yes No Sometimes3. When you are with your family/friends and you have to do a job task4.

you detach yourself and try to feel gooda. you think how to do the task better and faster,b. you talk only about the task that you feel as a drudge.c.

When pressed for a specifi c job task, do you experience any of the following 5. symptoms?

Yes No SometimesFatiguePhysical and mental exhaustionHeadaches

How do you think the tension generated by job tasks can be avoided?6. by recognizing achievements and providing feedback;a. avoiding overwhelming labourb. discussions between senior staff and workers to identify labour diffi cul-c. ties;other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .d.

Have there been moments in your work when the results did not coincide 7. with what you expected at the beginning? Yes NoIf Yes, describe the situation and what you felt at those moments. 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Have you experienced moments when you lost interest in working aft er 9. a professional failure? ☐ Yes ☐ NoWhat are the main causes leading to professional failure and not fulfi lling 10. job tasks eff ectively within an organization?

lack of cooperation between colleagues, lack of spur and fulfi lment a. at workrepetitive and monotonous work actions ,b. doubts about one’s own competence or others’;c. other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .d.

36 Roxana Enache

Sex: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Age: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marital status: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Function: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Teaching level: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .School location (rural/urban): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Questionnaire 2 – workaholism and mobbingTh is questionnaire is designed to identify the forms of workaholism and mob-

bing among teachers, the causes which determine them and what measures may be taken. I ask you to sincerely complete this questionnaire. Answers and personal data will be confi dential. At questions marked with “M” you can choose multiple answers.

How many hours a day does it take you to prepare lessons and materials 1. necessary to carry out your school activity?

2–3 hours;a. 4–5 hours,b. more than 5 hours.c.

How much time do you spend with your family or outside school?2. 2–3 hours;a. 4–5 hours,b. more than 5 hours.c.

In your life the following activities prevail:3. devotion to study and preparation for schoola. household,b. recreation;c. other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .d.

In the current school year you have4. taken training courses;a. conducted curricular projects,b. organized and conducted extracurricular activities ;c. other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .d.

Do you consider these activities, although necessary, as involving a highly 5. physical and mental eff ort and too time-consuming? Yes NoWhen prompted to conduct these activities you accept work:6.

happy and eager to begin as soon as possiblea. curious to know how it will develop,b. not showing interest in it;c.


because the task was required and you cannot refuse it.d. When you perform a task with a deadline you feel:7.

safe because you know that you will solve the task in timea. stressed because you are pressed for time,b. good, at ease, willing to work because you know you will solve your c. tasks in time anyway.

Have you identifi ed the existence of confl icts between colleagues in your 8. workplace? ☐ Yes ☐ NoIf “Yes”, how did they appear?9.

verbal confrontationa. derision,b. personality contemptc. moral maltreatmentd. others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .e.

Have these confl icts been targeted repeatedly at a certain person? Yes No10. If “Yes”, who is the person and why is she/he the target of these confl icts? 11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Which people (by the nature of their position) most oft en induce confl icts 12. in your organization?

directora. department colleagues,b. secretary;c. other colleagues who you work with,d. others.e.

Sex: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Age: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Marital status: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Function: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Teaching level: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .School location (rural/urban): . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As the procedure of organization, I went to a special school, and I informed the management about the research and we asked for permission to apply the questionnaires to the teachers present at the school at that time. Th e remaining thirty-two questionnaires were answered by the teachers of both secondary schools and higher education institutions, in urban and rural areas, which we addressed in the master course of Educational Management and European Integration.

Before completing the questionnaires, the teachers were asked for honest answers, they were informed about the role of these questionnaires in the research

38 Roxana Enache

0

2

4

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Full teacherPh.D. ProfessorTeacher 2nd degree

Teacher 1st degree

Distribution of the teachers by teaching grade

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0123456789

2 3 4Age group 25-35 yaers old 46-55 yaers old

56-65 yaers old36-45 yaers old

No.

of t

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ers

Distribution of the teachers by age groups

Fig. 1. Distribution of the interviewed teachers by educational degrees

Fig. 2. Distribution by age group of the interviewed teachers

Fig. 3. Distribution by sex of the interviewed teachers

Fig. 4. Distribution of teachers according to marital status

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Distribution by sex of the interviewed teachers

Female teachers Male teachers

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Marital status of the interviewed teachers

marriedunmarried not stated

divorced

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ers

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Distribution of the interviewed teachers according totheir teaching level

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Teachers in urban area

Urban/Rural areas

Teachers in rural area

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Fig. 5. Distribution of the teachers according to the levels of teaching

Fig. 6. Distribution of the teachers according to the teaching area


that we were conducting, and the fact that data would be confi dential. To sim-plify the interpretation of the results, we grouped the teachers according to: educational degrees, age, sex, marital status, teaching environment, level of teaching, and the type of education.

Conclusions

Stress factors that can be identifi ed in an organization are primarily related to its structure, climate, politics and culture but also to a number of life aspects of individuals. In school organiza-tions in which we conducted the case study, the main stress agent identifi ed is the occupational demands, notably that being a teacher requires mental and emotional consumption much higher than other professions. Another stress factor of the teachers’ activity is related to career development, which can be treated along with another, namely the human being-work interface.

Th e teachers interviewed are participating this year in training, organizing and conducting extracurricular activities, the development of curricular activities, activities that, despite being time – consuming, are regarded by the teachers as necessary. All these activities, however, cause a decrease in time spent with family or in society.

Burnout or “fi ghters’ disease “ is a phenomenon involving the development of negative attitudes and individual behaviour in response to labour demands. Based on the results of the questionnaire applied to standard education teach-ers, one can state that within these school organizations, burnout is an isolated phenomenon, limited, as only a few of the interviewed teachers lost interest in working aft er a professional failure and the times when results did not coincide with the expectations were rare, generated in particular by the performance of students in the national semester examination or several school competitions. In special education it is present in most teachers, this being due to the fact that the results did not coincide with expectations and the respondents feel useless.

Workaholism or the work addiction is oft en generated by an imbalance between professional and personal life. One must fi rmly distinguish between the addicted and the hard-working. Th e interviewed teachers are industrious, they think that

Fig. 7. Distribution of the teachers in standard and special education

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1 2

Standard education teachersSpecial education teachers

Distribution of the teachers in standardand special education

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40 Roxana Enache

the job tasks cannot exceed the physical, mental and emotional, tasks that do not aff ect family life but sometimes, and when with family or in society can easily detach themselves from job tasks and try to feel better, while special education teachers cannot do this. Th us, they can be considered workaholics only from this point of view.

Mobbing or all the harmful behaviours is an essential aspect of working with eff ects in the psycho-individual, psychosocial and psycho-organizational plan. In the studied organizations there appear confl icts represented by verbal confrontations and personality contempt, confl icts oft en induced by the senior staff in urban primary schools and by heads of departments and colleagues in rural areas. Although in the studied organizations there were confl icts based on harmful behaviours such as personality contempt, non-recognition of merit and rare moral maltreatment, we cannot speak of an existing mobbing phenomenon within them because these behaviours neither have targeted only a specifi c person nor were practised for long periods of time, which means they have an accidental character.

In conclusion, the improvement of interpersonal relationships between the subjects participating in special education can be achieved by stronger interac-tions in the group, mutual activities, encouraging communication and exchange of experience. Th e recommendation I plan to do lies in better communication on both the professional and personal plane through participation in joint activities such as participation in school days, communication sessions, the intercurricular approach of lessons, in celebrating March 8, on the days of education and other activities.

References:

Zlate, M. (2007). Tratat of organisational – managerial psychology, Polirom, Iaşihttp://www.fi nanciarul.com/articol_6791/sindromul-burnout:-efectul-muncii-

epuizante.htmlhttp://www.contractdemunca.ro/codul-muncii/articol/id_121/avocatnet.htmlhttp://www.romaniantimes.org/resources/198.+Politica$2C+Noi+muncim$2C+n

u+gandim$2C+Daniel+Lucescu.pdf

Questions about the Infl uence of the Way of Spending Leisure Time on Human Health1

Abstract

In the paper we deal with problems of the relation of leisure time and health. Based on the research done using a method of standardized leading dialogue, data were evaluated and interpreted with regard to problem solving. Th e main problem was a question about mutual infl uence and cooperation of categories of leisure time and health, which was put to respondents aged fi ft een and older.

Key words: health, leisure activities, leisure time, risk behaviour.

1. Introduction

Leisure time is a matter of interest in many psychological, pedagogical and social professions. Th e problems of using leisure time and its relation to the quality of life, healthy behaviour, personality determinants and overall mental health are being dealt with by a range of home and foreign authors (e.g. Pávková et al. 2002, Vážanský, Smékal 2001, Argyle 1992).

On one hand, it presents an opportunity for personality and social development and, on the other hand, it presents some risks. Th e term leisure time involves rest, relaxation, entertainment, interest and voluntary activities. Leisure time (Hofb auer, 2004) is the time when a human being is not active under a certain strain of obliga-tions arising from his social roles.

1 Th is study was elaborated within the Research Project of the Faculty of Social Studies MU: MSM 0021622406, “Psychological and social characteristics of children, youth and family, personality development in the time of changes of modern society“

Jana ŘehulkováCzech Republic

42 Jana Řehulková

Leisure time has educational, health care and social functions. It contributes to the formation of interpersonal relations, reinforcing them at the same time; it develops abilities, strengthens moral qualities, satisfi es human needs, forms value interests.

Leisure time can be also perceived as the time when we are able to choose our activities freely, we do them voluntarily and with pleasure, they bring us a sense of satisfaction and relaxation (Pávková et al., 2002).

Th e sense of leisure time is its valuable use, new knowledge, skills and habits acquisition and in the personality development. For instance, sports activities in leisure time compensate for a long period of sitting down during school lessons. C. M. Sabiston and P. R. E. Crocker (2008) emphasise the importance of physical activity in their study on adolescents´ leisure time.

Leisure activities are also signifi cantly determined by society off er, which is comparable only with diffi culties, both in formal (new kinds of clubs or leisure time organization, e.g. techno parties, etc.) and content (e.g. sci-fi literature, ecology, expansion of certain political orientations, etc.).

In our contemporary society it is necessary to consider political and social changes from the last decade, precisely since 1989. From this point of view the results concerning leisure activities obtained until that date are diffi cult to compare with the recent research. Many authors give a notice of this fact, e.g. P. Macek (1999). Th e comparison with foreign research touches upon also other historical and economic connections, which signifi cantly determine the use of leisure time.

2. Scope of the research

Research on opinions and human attitudes to the infl uence of the way of spend-ing leisure time on human health was conducted at the end of 2008 within a wider study on health care questions and problems of health in the Czech Republic.

3. Research Methodology

Th e research was conceived as sociological according to the project and with the use of research instruments, elaborated by the submitter and commented by competent staff of the research creator. Legwork examination was made with the

43Questions about the Infl uence of the Way of Spending Leisure Time on Human Health…

technique of standardised moderated dialogue of the interviewer with the respond-ent. Th e fi nal appearance of the interviewer’s folio was defi ned according to the results of the pre-research.

Data were executed and ensured by 360 professional interviewers in the whole Czech Republic.

Statistical data processing was carried out with the programme SASD 1.3.4 (Statistical Analysis of Social Data). Th e 1st degree of classifi cation and contingent tables of selected indicators of the 2nd degree of the classifi cation were elaborated. Th e measure of dependence of selected signs was determined on khi2 and further testing criteria, applied according to the signs character. Based on this analysis data interpretation and relevant tables and graphs were made.

4. Research collection

1795 individuals selected in a random sample via quotes composed the research collection. Th e collection is a representative sample of population of the Czech Republic at the age over 15. Representativeness was derived from the basic collec-tion of population in the Czech Republic at the age of 15 and older.

Th e composition of the selected collection in intentions of basic demographic signs is the following: In terms of gender the collection comprised 45.5% of men and 51.5% of women, which corresponds to the analogical structure of the popula-tion of the Czech Republic at the age of 15 and older. In terms of relative frequency the deviation of the selected collection from the basic collection is 0.1%, which means that the research is representative for the population of the Czech Republic over 15 according to gender.

5. Aim of the research

Th e aim was to fi nd out whether people in the Czech Republic realize that the way of spending leisure time is important for human health. Here also an open question was chosen enabling to fi nd out what people really think about this problem without having answer options. Th e question about this phenomenon was: “What is, according to you, the impact of the way of spending leisure time on human health? Express yourself briefl y using your own words”.

44 Jana Řehulková

6. Results

1113 types of answers or their variations made the scope within leisure time. All the answers were followed by a content analysis. On its basis categories of answers were made as follows.

Defi nition of the infl uence without specifying the content of leisure time. 1. (Essential, big, signifi cant, considerable, very important, enormous, inten-sive, larger than people think, favourable, very positive, etc.).Positive defi nition of the infl uence specifying the content or function of 2. leisure time. (Useful for rest, relaxing, people are not in stress, it is not pos-sible to live without leisure time, everybody has to know how to switch off and relax, the body needs to relax the right way, better mind, better mood, catharsis, good physical and mental infl uence, positive spending of leisure time supports health, adequate use of leisure time aff ects the human mind and health in a better way, sports activities useful for health, positive – sport, hiking, music, arts, when a person moves more, strengthens immunity, etc.).Emphasising the positive and negative impact of leisure time. (How and 3. when, the matter is how we use our leisure time, good and bad, partial, active spending of leisure time is healthier than wasting time with a gang, it depends on mobility, healthy interests – no alcohol, it depends on the way to spend leisure time, sport activities positive – doing nothing negative, it is individual, it depends on the personality, what is pleasant is positive, what is unpleasant is negative, etc.).Emphasising the negative impact of leisure time. (Worse lifestyle – obesity, 4. computer, television, not everybody enjoys leisure time, people spend their life in stress, when we spend leisure time in front of television and PC with cola and crisps, it is obvious that it is not healthy, etc.).Undervaluation of the impact of leisure time on health. (No impact, little 5. impact, not too big, leisure time does not mostly aff ect health, etc.)Other opinions – the way of expressing does not enable to classify into 6. categories mentioned above. (Good for people in the country, it aff ects our mood, etc.).Th ey do not know, do not have a clear opinion, cannot express.7.

Categories 1 and 2 limit the infl uence of leisure time on health positively, category 3 emphasises its positive and negative impacts, category 4 stresses the negative infl uence of leisure time, and category 5 trivializes its infl uence on health. From the other point of view the answers in categories 1 to 4 are considered to


infl uence human health, both in a positive and negative sense. Categories 5 to 7 do not defi ne or trivialize this infl uence.

Individual answers were then encoded according to the mentioned categories and mathematical statistical analysis based on the fi rst and second degree of select-ing was made. Frequency and contingent tables were elaborated on the basis of the analysis and statistically signifi cant relations were evaluated.

28 respondents refused to answer this question, which is 1.6 % of their overall number. Th e following analysis comes from verifi ed answers.

Th e research results are defi nite in this area.

Only 2.2% think that the way of spending leisure time infl uences human health little or does not infl uence at all, other 2.2% chose another answer and only 2.4% cannot answer this question. In other words, we can say that the people’s opinions are cleared up in this area and considerably crystallised.

Th e biggest part of the people (44.1%) think that the way of spending leisure time infl uences human health a lot without specifying its impacts. Other 30.6% emphasise the positive infl uence of leisure time on health in terms of sports activi-ties and nature. Th e potency of the positive and negative impact of leisure time according to the way of its spending is presented by 17.1% of the respondents, other 1.7% emphasise the potency of the negative impacts. Concerning this we can state that the people from the Czech Republic connect negative spending of

Graph 1. Infl uenc e of the way of spending leisure time on human health

0.0

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10.0

15.0

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25.0

30.0

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line1 44.1 30.6 17.1 1.7 2.2 2.2 2.4

BIG INFLUENCE WITHOUT

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LITTLE, NO INFLUENCE

OTHER OPINION

THEY DO NOT KNOW

N = 1767

46 Jana Řehulková

leisure time mainly with sitting in the pub, passive watching television and sitting at the computer.

Th e men, more oft en than the women, are satisfi ed with claiming that leisure time and the way of spending it infl uences considerably without specifying its impacts (α = 0.01), the women advert more to the positive aspect of leisure time (α = 0.05). X2 is in gender 14.249 with 6 degrees of leisure. Age does not signifi cantly impact the evaluation of this problem. Neither did testing of other demographic and social signs identify statistically important relations between them and opin-ions concerning the infl uence of the way of spending leisure time on human health. Th at means that the position valid for the whole collection is similar in these social and demographic groups as well.

7. Conclusions

We can state that the most people in the Czech Republic (93.2%) are convinced that the way of spending leisure time infl uences human health. People also realize that this way may have a positive or a negative impact. Positive impacts are con-nected mainly with active leisure time experience, oft en with sports activities and hiking in nature, negative impacts are connected with sitting in the pubs, passive watching television and a range of computer activities.

Bibliography

Argyle, M. (1992). Th e social psychology od everyday life. London: Routledge.Bonino, S., Cattelino, E. & Ciairano, S. (2005). Adolescents and Risk. Behaviors,

Functions and Protective Factors. Milan: Springer-Verlag.Hofb auer, B. (2004). Děti, mládež a volný čas. Praha: Portál.Macek, P. (1999). Adolescence. Psychologické a sociální charakteristiky dospívajících.

Praha: Portál.Pávková, J. (ed.) (2002). Pedagogika volného času. Teorie, praxe a perspektivy

mimoškolní výchovy a zařízení volného času. Praha: Portál.Řehulková, J. (2008) Otázky vývoje organizovaných volnočasových aktivit

respondentů ELSPAC v jedenácti a třinácti letech. Psychológia a patopsychológia dieťaťa, 43, 4, 356–366.


Sabiston, C. M., Crocker, P. R. E. (2008). Examining an Integrative Model of Physical Activity and Health Eating Self-Perceptions and Behaviors Among Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 40(1), 64–72.

Vážanský, M., Smékal, V. (2001). Základy pedagogiky volného času. Brno: Print--Typie.

Particular Aspects of Quality Management in School

Abstract:

Th e article presents certain fi ndings of the study focused on the problems of quality management, particularly self-evaluation processes. Th e main aim of the paper is to present the key contribution of the quality management processesto the working of a particular school and with the help of the contextualization of a chosen school system consider the essential conditions for its meaningful usage in the Czech environment..

Key words: quality, quality management, school, self-evaluation, case study, quality manager.

Evaluation processes represent a signifi cant element with regard to quality management in education. Th e proceeding decentralization of the school system and related enhancement of school autonomy in diff erent areas of their functioning which does not apply to the Czech Republic only but also to the other European countries is accompanied by new possibilities for the quality advancement of the whole educational system including the performance of particular schools. Th us, the extent of school autonomy has an impact on demands for their evaluation, as the external supervision or quality evaluation only are not suffi cient in the relatively autonomous organizations. At the same time it brings out the need to expand the current concept of the school accountability and treatment of school potential for further development. A logical consequence is then e.g. outer pressure on the implementation of self-evaluation processes (cf. OECD, 1998), on the judgement of school by internal agents.

Jana VašťatkováCzech Republic

49Particular Aspects of Quality Management in School

Internal evaluation is rather a new but mandatory element in the Czech school-ing; it represents a considerable, even paradigmatic change in the whole educational system, however, even more in school work. Within this context it is useful to learn also from other experience from abroad to fi nd out information about how to make use of positive potential that these processes possess. Th at is why the article will touch upon the ways of quality management in a particular school system with the focus on school self-evaluation. Th is Flemish framework will be supplemented with some more information from practice at the lowest school level through certain fi ndings of a chool case study. Synthesis of this input and comparison with the current situation in the Czech Republic will help to determine some of the preconditions and key factors for performance of meaningful school self-evaluation.

1. Relationship of quality and evaluation

Th e quality may be considered a “series of qualities” (Posch, Altrichter 1997, p. 130). Th ere is a number of approaches which draw the quality closer; they dif-fer in theoretical criteria or indicators, in practical aspects, e.g. by the fi nancial demands of the certifi cation aspects (e.g. by the subject of its acceptance, the level of the development progress in areas, and its validity), but also in the degree of staff involvement in the processes of the quality care. A common feature of all approaches is the need for evaluation activities and their positive potential for school quality assurance and development.

Evaluation generally includes two aspects (Descy, Tessaring 2005): systematic research to specify (with the use of relevant methods, criteria, indicators or stand-ards) the value or strong points of measures or progression and development (i.e. clarifying specifi c procedures and practice to the involved parties, which contrib-utes to collective learning, etc.).In order to maintain long-term sustainable school development in the desired direction it is optimal to combine both forms of the evaluation (Macbeath, Mcglyn 2002) meaningfully: external and internal one, as each has its benefi ts and possible risks. In many European countries, self-evaluation, which is a type of internal evaluation, is then reinforced as a counterpart of the external evaluation mostly performed by inspectional work. However, it is not a common practice in all European school systems, as its implementation depends on various factors. Among the external ones there are : “culture” of the educational system and its regulation methods (Meuret, Morlaix, 2003), the expected way of school accountability (proving school responsibility to society which may be

50 Jana Vašťatková

interpreted in a diff erent context: political, legal, administrative, market-related, etc.); the level of external support for schools (e.g. provision for teacher training, for consultancy), etc. As for the internal factors, it is important to notice that self-evaluation is a concept with a paradox: it may be viewed from various perspectives: fi nancial (as relatively cheap mechanisms to ensure the quality of school work), political (it is an impulse but it connotes a political mandate), participatory (as a means allowing participation of diff erent people in school life); developmental (as a periodical and spiral process of introducing and managing changes; in an ideal case it shows changes supporting a desirable school development), as a process of quality assurance, etc.

2. Quality care in Flanders

Th e care for quality in education is one of the major principles, though, as for school quality management, school self-evaluation is not compulsory in all the three school systems in Belgium up to level ISCED 4 (it is compulsory only for those that are, on voluntary basis, involved in GOK network supporting equal opportunities). Nevertheless, in the French-speaking part of Belgium schools have to annually evaluate the realization of school curricula and write a report assess-ing the achievement of educational targets; some other forms of assessment are required within diff erent networks; in the Dutch-speaking part the decree of 13 July 2007 reformed the evaluation system and linked evaluation to the introduction of individualised teachers´ job descriptions (though not at the level of the whole school). Flanders was chosen as a framework for an example of a system indirectly promoting self-evaluation processes, for a case study, because a large number of frequently quoted professionals in the fi eld of school self-evaluation come from this region and a lot of schools from this part of Europe gain various certifi cates acknowledging the quality management process.

Th e Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (with approximately 5.8 million inhabit-ants), the Flemish Community is responsible for policy areas in which the provi-sion of services to the people is closely related to the language in which they have to be carried out; specifi cally they include education, welfare, public health and culture. Within the Government of Flanders the Flemish Minister of Education is responsible for almost every aspect of the education policy. Quality assurance and improvement within the system is based on: attainment targets (i.e. minimum objectives that the majority of pupils should achieve are set at the government level), the inspectorate (especially the Inspectorate of the Flemish community but


also inspectorate of cities and provinces play a role), educational supervision and mainly on schools themselves.

Th e Inspectorate of the Flemish Community inspects the quality of educa-tion, on the one hand, and recognises the educational institutions on the other. For carrying out its assignment for quality assurance the inspectorate uses the CIPO-model (i.e. context, input, process, output) as a structuring framework in which the results can be evaluated in their mutual relation. Until recently, schools had to complete a self-evaluation form or self-evaluative profi le before an inspection/school audit took place. Schools were invited to judge and assess themselves on diff erent issues such as vision, participation policy, communication, co-ordination, data gathering, quality analysis and improvement. Th e inspectorate provided feedback to this and to the whole school work which was summarized in a public document, inspection report. Since 2009 the situation has been diff erent, as according to the decree (stuk 2160) every institution examines and guards quality in a systematic way and chooses the way how to achieve it; the inspectorate checks it (Art 38 Par 1).

Th e main advisory body and supporting role within the system has been entrusted to the educational support services that are related to the school networks. Th e networks support teaching staff , school managers and school administrators in order to achieve the pedagogical plan. Th ey are divided according to the organising body and fi nancial resources (e.g. traditionally there are public networks, networks subsidised publicly or privately run – these are Catholic or Protestant networks, etc.). Every network has its own educational and methodological advisors. How-ever, within the system there are other “new” networks with a bit diff erent missions, as e.g. in 2005 a Flemish network on quality management (SOK) started: more than 200 schools have been involved, which has enabled mutual learning from each other’s good practice among schools, thus a platform for an interesting way of voluntary school benchmarking has been created.

Th e other important actors are schools themselves as they are responsible for the quality management (despite uniformity and bindingness of curricula for all schools the execution of which is found out through overall tests at the end of each educational cycle), schools have the chance to choose their specifi c and individual way of refl ection on its own work. As already stated, there is no formal obligation to implement school self-evaluation, it still comes under the exclusive authority of schools and their organising bodies. However, school self-evaluation is highly recommended, valued and recognised by the authorities and the inspectorate. Schools can appeal to a large number of instruments which have been developed by researchers or specifi c institutions in view of the performance of self-evaluation.


Th e diversity of self-evaluation instruments relates to the diff erent interpretations of the educational level, the aspects to be questioned, the methods used, the func-tions of self-evaluation. Th us, schools usually decide autonomously whether to evaluate themselves and how they proceed: one example will be provided in the following part of the text.

2.1. Case studyWhile looking for ways to implement the self-evaluation processes at schools the

appropriate method seems to be the school case study that according to Walterová (2002) enables an in-depth description and analysis of a particular concept by means of various tools and instruments. A case study can be treated as a research design, too. It helps to study current phenomena in their real context, helps to understand the principles of issues. It is recommended especially in cases when researchers have almost no control of events (cf. Cohen, Manion, Morrison, 2000). It is also suitable when addressing such a complex phenomenon as school and such a complicated process as quality management with the accent on self-evaluation processes.

Th e design of the presented school case study was intrinsic (cf. Stake,1995) with the aim of exploring diff erent levels of quality management at a particular school: macro level (i.e. the whole school), meso level (groups, teams), micro level (teachers, students). Th e school was chosen as a positively “extreme case” (cf. Yin, 2003) on the basis of the results of meta evaluation fi ndings with regard to quality assurance. Th is school received the “PROSE basic label”, it was invited to present a good practice on quality management with CAF, as the fi rst Belgian school received the EFQM label (to obtain this label the school had to hand in a fi le proving that it screened 9 domains of EFQM and carried out 3 improvement projects successfully).

Th e study was conducted from 2007 to 2008 in several phases with a rather practical challenge of being realised in a non-native language for all the involved. To gather information diff erent tools were used: observation (especially of quality manager’s work), analysis of school documents and interviews. Th e interviews were held in the English language, which means the ability to speak English at a commu-nicative level was the main key when choosing respondents (3 students, 3 teachers, a headmaster and a quality manager). Data were analysed with a procedure typical of a grounded theory. Th e study is reported on in a descriptive-analytical way so that a concurrent comparison with other “school case studies” could be made.


2.1.2. Quality Management at the particular schoolTh e school is situated in a rural area in Flanders; it off ers general and technical

education. Th e school, as it is today, is the result of a fusion of three secondary schools in 1983, it is a member of a school community of local Catholic schools. Th ere are about 1000 pupils and students in the 12–18 age group, 105 teachers, a headmaster, a deputy headmaster and a “management supporter,” who is also a quality manager. As a GOK school, self-evaluation is compulsory but only in the area of equal opportunities (not for the whole organisation). Every third year there are inspection visits to the school for a “GOK check” (which is diff erent from a typical inspection visit).

“We know who we are, what we do and where we want to go”Th e mission of the school, with a Christian inspiration, is written down in a

pedagogical project that concentrates on 3 major principles: “learning to learn,” “learning to live and live together” and “learning to be.” A 16-year-old student, when characterizing this school, says: “here you can be who you really are, you learn about yourself a lot”.

Th e vision of the school is refl ected in several documents, e.g.: vision of quality management; of in-service training; of pupils´ guidance and counselling; of teach-ing, etc., describing the desired quality in particular areas. Th e school priorities are mentioned in the annual school work plan that is organized according to EFQM. Th e school work plan states what action will be taken, when, etc., but also who will be the process owner. It is based on the feedback from diff erent meetings, e.g. meetings with parents, quality management team. At the end of a school year several participating groups (not only school management) evaluate the school work plan and suggest priorities for the following year. Th e core of the school work can be explained by the quality manager’s words: “Most schools have their own pedagogical projects, which include quality statements. However, a school also has to take into account the requirements of the Inspectorate and the demands of the government (recent issues are cross-curricular work, quality management, health-care and competence-oriented learning). Since society has been changing continuously, so do the right things. Th e greatest challenge for a school is to fi nd the right balance between cherishing the positive elements already accomplished and dedication towards continuous improvement. Th is is not an easy task. A school wishing to be up-to-date must continuously evaluate and adjust in order to provide real quality in education.”

“Self-evaluation is the individual’s responsibility, quality is team work”Th e headmaster’s statement demonstrates that quality management is an


important issue at this school, self-evaluation is emphasised in daily life. Th e word ‘quality’ can be understood in many diff erent ways. In this school it means “doing the right things right,” each individual selects his/her own “right things” but most of these individual opinions are known, taken seriously and (if necessary) adjusted within the school policy. To support this, the position of a quality manager was cre-ated in 2002 and a former language teacher was appointed to it. His tasks included the following: stimulating and giving support at all school levels, being a critical friend to the school, coordinating quality processes, off ering internal training in quality management to teachers (5 times a year), etc. “I try to be invisible within the school. Self-evaluation is more important than control. Every individual school member is a kind of process owner. Doing the right things right is part of the job for every school member. A quality manager can never take the responsibility of a school member or of school teams; he doesn’t “control” other people. Stimulation and facilitation of quality care is according to me the most important job of mine.” Th e quality manager is also a chairman of the quality management team that discusses the long-term matters and organizes quality issues within the school. Th ere are 11 members, including the school headmaster and teachers. Everyone enters the team voluntarily for a limited period (everyone can apply for this position; if there is a vacancy this is made known in the teachers’ room). On the other hand, this team aims to be representative in some way or another. Th e heterogeneity of this group is an aspect of working in a qualitative way; several types of education (general and technical) are represented (men and women, younger and older people, science teachers and language teachers, etc.). Th e tasks of this team are as follows.:

to create and evaluate the vision and diff erent procedures, e.g. in in-service •training, evaluation of pupils, etc.to organize self-evaluation processes (the quality manager says: “ • all other teachers are stimulated to integrate self-evaluation in their job; more and more teachers do that…and sometimes self-evaluation emerges quite spontane-ously”).to analyse, synthesize and interpret the results of the self-evaluation proc- •ess,to feel the “heart beat” of the school (how processes are getting on, satisfac- •tion of pupils, teachers,…).

…

More and more teachers at school perceive self-evaluation as a logical part of their job, they appreciate it that their voice is heard within the quality management team. Apart from quality issues this team deals with the teachers’ daily concerns.


During every meeting about 1/4 of the time is reserved for critical remarks of the team members. Th en they are followed by the headmaster´s remarks during the same meeting or the next one. Th e team uses diff erent quality models, various tools for its work (e.g. to determine the strong and weak points, diff erent instru-ments such as the PROSE or SORA techniques, balanced score cards, the school’s own instruments, etc., are used), methods (e.g. action research: this is a form of self-refl ective inquiry undertaken by the teachers who have been teaching for 3 years at this school). For communication among the staff , pupils and parents, a “blackboard” (web tool) has proved to be useful. Th e quality manager explains the principle as follows: “Combining tools and methods is important as there is not a one-and-only method to evaluate quality at school. What should be borne in mind is the combination of data and dialogue. For instance, when dealing with the issue of staff satisfaction we make an inquiry among the staff , which results in data. Th ese data are discussed in our quality management team. Th us, the combination of dialogue and data is vital.”

“We are doing the right things although it has not always been done in a right or perfect way.”Except for the above-mentioned meta-evaluation activities with regard to the

quality management label, also in the last inspection report from 2005 it was stated that the internal quality management of the school is systematic, integral and cycli-cal. Nevertheless, it also stated that the concern for quality management had not yet fully taken place on the “workfl oor”. Th e interviews of the case study provided some possible explanations for the weak points of the quality management. Th ey were determined as follows:

the school management team lacked the courage to tell the teachers the •truth,missing communication between the teams of teachers of the diff erent •grades,the quality manager confi rmed this when saying: “ • some teachers or groups of teachers have developed know-how that is oft en unknown to other teachers”,too much “extra” stress resulting from the work of the quality management •team,evaluation practice of some subjects was not in line with the teaching •practice,the students were not involved in the quality management; as a matter of •fact only a few of them knew the existence of such a team.


“We know we are learning”During the fi rst years of intensive quality management, the school went through

important changes, e.g. a procedure of in-service-training was created, reorganisa-tion of meetings of the teachers when they talk about pupils was done, a new method for the teachers to plan their lessons was introduced, etc. Going through the drastic changes involves doing the right things, although not always in a perfect way as a self-evaluation is a learning process. However, the subsequent changes are less drastic and with a lesser chance of making mistakes during their imple-mentation. Nowadays most of the quality changes are small. Th e quality manager comments: “Currently the output of self-evaluation usually deals with small changes as we have come to the stage of Kaizen. We evaluate (solid) processes and apply changes, which are mostly quite small.” A teacher confi rms: “We notice that the more years we put quality management in the picture, the less drastic changes there are”.

Th e strong points of quality management in this school were, on the basis of a data analysis, concluded as follows:

work of the quality management group; •good relationship among the staff with the emphasis on respecting the •ethical issues (e.g. existence of the so-called Steam Team supporting pupils and Steam Team Pro for the staff that acts according to its own Code of behaviour),a teacher (1) says: • “It isn’t the case here that you couldn’t speak about any kind of your problems with the school management or with other teachers..;”in-service training policy; •a teacher (2) says: “ • you must follow the courses but it isn’t that bad…,” “only later I realised how useful some of them were”;pupils guidance – work of the Steam Team, the pupils´ parliament; •internal benchmarking: scores in tests developed by the school (except for •national tests) being benchmarked in time and with other students, test-ing new students, etc. A student (17 years old) says: “ You have to fi ght for your good score in the tests but the score in fact doesn’t matter, what is more important is that I know I did my best.”

Th e self-evaluation data are internally compared too, so development can be traced. For instance, the pupils are asked some questions about the quality of educa-tion annually in October. Th ey evaluate various issues making statements such as: “as for the tests we know beforehand what we have to study,” which is an aspect of quality according to the school. Th e results of this evaluation are compared through the years. Two indicators are used for this purpose: 1. a “target indicator”: a specifi c percentage; scores above this percentage are interpreted as suffi cient, the results that


score above the target indicator are interpreted as strengths. 2. “alarm indicator”: scores below this indicator are insuffi cient. In this case the quality team looks into the situation and tries to explain the low score and creates improvement actions. For instance “working together in groups” scored the alarm indicator in the school year 2007–2008 in this inquiry. It was decided this topic had to be introduced as a topic for our yearly “day of study.” (During this day, the pupils have a day off , the teachers gather and discuss certain topics.) Th e quality manager concludes: “Th ere are some musts in the quality management (whatever level), which can be based on PDCA thinking: 1. to describe what you want, i.e. to describe the desired quality (taking into account the expectations from several parties), and 2. to evaluate performance, i.e. evaluate the actual quality. During this cycle a school or an individual school member continuously approaches the goal of quality management, namely the realization of (expected) quality. Th is is a never-ending story. In this sense it is important to under-stand that self-evaluation is not an occasion. It is not something a school should do for external reasons (e.g. an inspection visit). Both describing what quality means and evaluating quality is a continuous preoccupation.”

2.1.3. Key factors of “successful” school self-evaluationIn the monitored school, the process of quality management including the school

self-evaluation (with its both strong and weak points) was originally initiated in a bottom-up way. Later its position in the organisation was strengthened by becom-ing a GOK school as the procedure is based on quality management. (With the new Quality Decree, since 2009, every school needs to have a vision on GOK.) As for the external school environment other supporting features can be determined: e.g. various forms of regular but stable external feedback, consultancy, effi cient in-service teacher training, existence of diff erent functioning school networks, provision of reliable instruments suitable for school self-evaluation by researchers and other bodies, etc.

Internal preconditions for the success of self-evaluation processes are: a well-defi ned vision and mission of a school, refl ection of demands and needs of both external and internal “key actors” into planning of common school life and quality management. Th e obtained list of strong and weak points “opens the door” for concluding internal key factors infl uencing the concept of self-evaluation that can be deduced as follows: the headmaster’s support for non-twisted evaluation, number of school activities in the organisation that promote self-evaluation at all school levels, shared understanding of quality, involvement of an evaluation team on a voluntary basis, careful and ethical dealing with the outcomes of these processes. Th e initial factor of change is highly needed too: a quality manager who


has time and expertise to do various quality activities. (Th e existence of a quality team or manager is neither common nor fi nancially supported by the government in Belgian schools, their existence, however, proves concern for quality care.)

2.2. On Czech situation in quality care

It is the care for quality education which is the concept declared on the long-term basis in all signifi cant documents and plans of development at the state and regional level in recent years. It goes with many other changes resulting from, among other things, considerable decentralization of the whole system and thus a strong increase in the autonomy of the Czech schools (e.g., in 2003 all schools got the status of legal entities) and their organising bodies (i.e. municipalities, counties, private institutions, Churches, etc.). At the same time the schools have to cope with the gradually introduced limits determining their autonomy that are imposed by the legislation or the current situation of their organising body. Th e latest essential claims (stated by the so-called School Act) introduced to the schools in 2005 are: creation of a school council, introduction of a two-level curriculum (framework educational and school programmes) and implementation of the internal school evaluation (extending the rather formalistic concept of accountability). At the same time some procedures enabling refl ection of self-evaluation were introduced in a wide school environment (e.g., the report on self-evaluation serves the Czech school inspection), however, making use of them is still mainly only declared. Schools choose their own education-schooling and other ways of their function-ing and thus need diverse feedback about the fact how effi cient these ways of their functioning are, high-quality, eff ective and purposeful. Introducing school self-evaluation in a top-down way obtains certain “national” particularities, for an accepted proposition abroad ceases to hold true (cf. Vanhoof, Van Petegem, 2007) that it represents a process initiated by schools themselves.

Both the particular fi ndings published recently and the present activities (e.g., of various counties) confi rm that the particular good experience with self-evaluation processes as part of quality care in the Czech environment does exist. However, the experience has a diff erent quality and in the positive case is rarely published (due to the highly competitive environment the schools are not willing to open discussion or to share experience). Most investigations reveal that many schools are still at the beginning while making use of the positive potential of self-evaluation. It has diff erent reasons: a relative lack of experience, uncertainty about the desired way of implementing these processes, unwillingness to change in a traditional


way of work, perceiving self-evaluation as useless bureaucracy or as a step which only confi rms what is already known (does not bring anything new), denial of its infl uence on the quality of schooling, etc. (cf. Basl, Straková, 2006, Šlajchová, 2007, Vašťatková, 2007, 2008 and others). It has already been demonstrated (cf. Vašťatková, 2008) that there has been statistically relevant dependence between the demand to have self-evaluation done and the absence of the benchmarking activities (i.e. these schools do not participate in any confrontation with other schools, they are rather “ingrown”). However, there have also been problems in the educational practice because of various denominations of school self-evaluation (this is what they are called in the framework educational programmes for schools on ISCED level 0, 1, 2, whereas in the legal documents they are called a school’s own assessment) and due to their diff erent qualitative determination. Moreover, if the letter of the law were observed and the self-evaluation processes were implemented meaningfully (not only formally), the Czech schools would not be systematically supported at present – the amount of the possible guidance or support depends on the place where the school is situated. Neither the teachers´ unions, formal network of schools nor any other institutions, which support the schools eff ectively and with no profi t while implementing self-evaluation, in the Czech environment exist. Th e concept of the further training of pedagogues has just been outlined. Th e Czech school inspection, as one of the main elements of external evaluation, cannot offi cially assist the schools because its role in the whole system is established by the law as inspectional in particular, not advisory. Th e other bodies of external evaluation are helpful only in particular monitored areas, if at all. Organising bodies employ the external evaluation of school work only occasionally and unsystematically (they are infl uenced by the current political concept). Together with the absence of any educational or pedagogical standards or national testing we could say that support and feedback (non-commercial) given to schools from the outside is without concept and unsystematic.

On the whole, the situation could be characterized as follows: certain activities focused on internal self-evaluation at schools are in progress, but in principle they lack grounding in the management quality processes, purposefulness, cyclicality, they fail to be systematic and are accompanied with the real concerns of many pedagogues for the disclosure of the negative fi ndings of their work. Self-evaluation and its role in the quality management processes in institutions and the system is therefore a challenge to Czech schools at present. Inspiration could be found from abroad, from Flanders for instance, in the steps where the care for quality moved from the level of declared to the level of realized. Various Czech research shows that neither preconditions for successful school self-evaluation are met nor


are its internal factors dealt with: this might prevent the desired enhancement of teachers´ professional development and promotion of the feeling of ownership among school stakeholders.

3. Conclusion

Th is article has provided the basic framework of the two school systems with the focus on challenges that one of them currently faces with regard to the imple-mentation of school self-evaluation as a vital part of quality management and with an example of the other (supplemented by an instance from its lowest level) of how these challenges might be met. It is interesting to notice that in Flanders self-evaluation is not mentioned in the law: a school decides itself in what way it will deal with quality and quality management; in the Czech example, according to the law a school chooses its way in self-evaluation, but framing it into quality management is rather blurred in school practice.

Evaluation is based on systematic information gathered in order to support decision making and learning (cf. Scheerens, Glas, Th omas, 2003). Learning from within needs to be supplemented by providing external feedback to school work (including meta-evaluation activities in the school system) and various forms of support. Teachers´ professional approach is needed, the examples of good prac-tice should be published, but also much attention should be paid to support and the overall cultivation of society. Sharing the same values, philosophy – shared understanding of quality within diff erent levels of the system is crucial. However, it is important to realise that: “Th e right work in education cannot be cloned, the problems of schools cannot be solved from outside by some other institution, but only by the school itself. It would be only a sort of dream in this ever-changing and complex time, the dream quite unrealistic, without context/people/their relationships/values… Because all those factors infl uence the quality of education. It is just the property of schools that could be best handled only by themselves.” (Posch, 2004) Quality of a school refers to its complexity not just to certain aspects like teaching, school management, etc. Th e spirit of self-evaluation ought to be strongly embedded in micro, meso and macro level at school. However, quality management cannot be cloned and the way of school self-evaluation performance cannot be cloned, either. Every school walks its own way in the line of quality management: one of the many ways was demonstrated by the case study.

Th e paper was written with the help of fi nancial support of the grant project GA ČR 406/07/P019 “Options to use self-evaluation and benchmarking in school”.


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Young Poles from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region (Polish Emigrants 1999–2007) – Part I

Abstract

Th e work is dedicated to the young Polish emigrants from the Kujawsko – Pomorskie region who emigrated to the UK in the years 1999–2007. Th e survey sample was representative for the group of people aged 19–30. Th e article presents the analysis of selected data. Inter-variable correlations point unambiguously to the diff erent character of motivation amongst the male and female emigrants. Except for the women characterised by intercultural attitudes, involved in bilingual relationships, the female emigrants are generally prone to return to the country, taking conservative attitudes towards tradition, language and culture of the mother country. Th e men more oft en express willingness to remain abroad, their assimilation with the target country is quicker and more permanent in nature; their decision to leave the country is determined by fi nancial aspects, promotion at work and unemployment in the country of their origin. Th e women holding university degrees were willing to undertake professional studies in the UK, their aim being to improve their qualifi cations and language competences with a view of returning to Poland. Th e young Polish emigrants see themselves as Europeans rather than emigrants. Th ey are willing to return to the country, yet attach major importance to fi nancial and professional aspects, which were given priority until 2007.

Introduction

People’s migration is a demographic, socio – cultural and historical phenom-enon. Historical crises of various types forced people to make crucial decisions connected in many cases with leaving their fatherlands.

Iwona Maria StachanowskaPoland

64 Iwona Maria Stachanowska

Th e phenomenon of the Polish emigration has been present for 359 years and dates back to the period of the Swedish invasion of Poland in 1655–1660.

Th e mentioned waves of Polish emigration include:religious emigration (1655–1660);1) patriotic emigration (1772, 1776);2) political emigration (1830, aft er 1945);3) economic emigration including seasonal emigration (1836–1939, aft er 4) 2000);combined political and economic emigration (aft er 1980);5) 1

ethnic emigration (1944–1989).6) 2

Young Poles from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region

Th e factors of the Polish migrations are the same as in the case of global migra-tions, and streams of immigrants heading for and leaving Poland belong, no doubt, to the streams of global migration.3 “In the 21st century, in the area of intensive globalization, the Poles no longer have to emigrate for political reasons; foreign countries provide them with an opportunity to fi nd employment or better self-development possibilities.4 Young Polish emigrants from the Kujawsko – Pomor-skie region, much the same as their counterparts in the years 1999–2007, more frequently than in the previous decades, have chosen emigration as a means to satisfy their various needs.

Th ere was also a group of ‘global citizens’ and some of them expressed willing-ness to settle in foreign countries while others treated emigration as a short-term economic exodus.

“In the years 1996–2000, the total number of emigrants amounted to 112, 231 including 57, 443 men and 54, 788 women”.5

1 A. Targowski, B. Piechowiak-Topolska (2006). Cele i strategia badań naukowych nad uchodźstwem polskim i Polonią w XX w. Wprowadzenie do dyskusji. Rocznik Polonii, 2, 114–115.

2 J. Kupczak, J. Albin (1998). Z badań nad problematyką narodowościową państw Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego, 48–49.

3 P. Koryś, M. Okólski (2005). Globalny kontekst współczesnych polskich migracji. Przegląd Polonijny, 3, XXXI, 7.

4 A. Targowski, B. Piechowiak-Topolska, op.cit., p. 118.5 Statistical Yearbook (2006). Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny, p. 216.

65Young Poles from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region

Th e total number of emigrants who left the towns of the Kujawsko – Pomorskie region in the years 1990–2001 for good amounted to 2, 915.6 “3 out of 100 students, graduates of universities and recent secondary school graduates expressed their willingness to remain in Poland planning their educational and professional future in this country! Lower social status, doing work that is below one’s qualifi cations, the so-called ‘glass escalator syndrome’ or, in the case of women ‘glass ceiling’ did not appeal to an economically determined young generation treating emigration as a way of life.”7 “Th e UK was among the destinations for seasonal emigrants where ‘dispersion of existential risk”8 was, apart from a short stay abroad, the intention to live off the money earned abroad in the future or a one-time change in material status, e.g. to earn enough money to aff ord a tuition fee or a used car, for example. Another group of seasonal emigrants are teenagers working illegally, especially in such sectors of the British economy as: hotel industry, catering, agriculture, care and nursing service (children and elderly people), fl at and offi ce cleaning or transport, building and repair services.

Th e survey was conducted on people diff ering in terms of gender, education and social background living in such British cities as London, Belfast, Birmingham, Coventry as well as in larger urbanized areas of Scotland, Ireland and on the Island of Jersey. 52 people were chosen for the survey (29 women and 23 men). Th e sample was representative in the years 2000–2006 (within the age bracket of 20–29). It was decided to carry out an analysis of factors determining emigration to the UK in the young representatives of the Kujawsko – Pomorskie region, taking into account their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in this respect.

Th e research employed defi nitions by many authors plus further clarifi cations by M. Łobocki, J. Sztumski, T. Pilch and T. Bauman, A. W. Maszke as well as M. Łobocki, W. P. Zaczyński.9

6 Statistical Yearbook of Kujawsko-Pomorskie (2003). Vol. II. Bydgoszcz: Urząd Statystyczny Województwa Kujawsko-Pomorskiego, p. 147.

7 G. Dutka (2006). Młodzi Polacy w Londynie. Społeczne i kulturowe konsekwencje życia na emigracji po 1989 roku. Przegląd Polonijny, 1, XXXII, 89–118.

8 W. Łukowski (2005), Wyjazdy sezonowe do Niemiec – próba wyjaśnienia ich społecznego sensu. Przegląd Polonijny, 3, XXXI, 50.

9 M. Łobocki (2000). Metody i techniki badań pedagogicznych. Kraków: IMPULS, p. 32. and M. Łobocki (2004). Wprowadzenie do metodologii badań pedagogicznych. Kraków: IMPULS, p. 143. J. Sztumski (2005). Wstęp do metod i technik badań społecznych. Katowice: Śląsk, p. 62. T. Pilch & T. Bauman 2001, Zasady badań pedagogicznych. Warszawa: ŻAK, p. 50. A. W. Maszke (2004). Metodologiczne podstawy badań pedagogicznych. Rzeszów: Uniwersytet Rzeszowski, p. 60. M. Łobocki (2007). Metody i techniki badań pedagogicznych. Kraków: IMPULS, p. 33 &


Th is work utilizes multi-value variables quoted from the above authors taking into account, in addition to gender, age, social background, place of residence prior to emigration, type of completed school and type of higher education, such variables as: number of children in the family, knowledge of English, marital status of emigrants, fi nancial needs, unemployment, educational aspirations and others. Th e variables are divided into the following types: independent, dependent and intermediate.

Th e research provided material for two MA theses.10 Both works include the construct of working hypotheses and detailed issues (8 issues and 24 hypotheses). 7 detailed issues and 9 working hypotheses were accepted for realization.

Th e article focuses on the analysis of the multivariate results prepared on the basis of raw indicators obtained by the authors of the aforementioned theses from an analytical survey – e-mail questionnaires sent to the respondents in the UK in the years 1999–2007.

Based on the above division, the following indicators have been characterised in the work:

interferential, e.g. emigrants motivation, their level and type of aspiration; •defi nitional, e.g. social and fi nancial status of an emigrant both in the target •country and the country of origin,empirical indicators, e.g. respondents’ demographic data. •

Th e major issue of the research is the following question: what type of motiva-tion (extrinsic or intrinsic)11 determines emigration to the UK?

Th e extrinsic motives include:numerous family (diffi cult family situation, having many children);1)

p. 144. W.P. Zaczyński (1995). Poradnik autora prac seminaryjnych, dyplomowych, magisterskich. Warszawa: ŻAK, p. 21.

10 M. Gaudzińska, Emigracja sposobem na życie młodych Polaków z regionu kujawsko – pomorskiego. (MA thesis written under the supervision of Dr. I. M. Strachanowska. Th e work has not been published). UKW, Bydgoszcz 2008, June. A. Murawska, Czynniki determinujące emigrację młodzieży polskiej (na przykładzie losów emigracji z regionu kujawsko – pomorsk-iego w latach 1999–2007). (MA thesis written under the supervision of Dr. I. M. Stachanowska. Th e work was not published). UKW, Bydgoszcz 2008, July.

11 Intrinsic motives include: 1) willingness to settle down (permanently) in the target country; 2) willingness to settle in the target country on a temporary basis; 3) adventure dur-ing studies; 4) way of spending one’s holidays (during and aft er studies); 5) willingness to get to know the Anglo–Saxon culture; 6) improving language competences; 7) further university education in the UK; 8) family reconstruction (relationship with an already known foreigner); 9) becoming independent; 10) getting to know new countries; 11) emigration to join a peer group (friends); under the pressure to achieve success while having low self-esteem in the country.


unemployment in the region (e.g. functional);2) unemployment in the country;3) unemployment among family members;4) emigration with the aim of joining the family (or their members) living 5) abroad for economic reasons;political views;6) mobbing in the workplace;7) work below one’s qualifi cations;8) low pay (despite high qualifi cations);9) fashion for emigration in the peer group;10) improving social status of the family;11) improving social status in the place of residence;12) fi nancial (high pound exchange rate against zloty until 2007).13) work below one’s qualifi cations to satisfy short-term fi nancial needs e.g. 14) purchasing a fl at or a car.

Hypotheses verifi cationTh e major issue of the research is the following question: What type of motiva-

tion (extrinsic or intrinsic) determines emigration to the UK?

Hypothesis 1 (regarding intrinsic motivation):Young Poles from the Kujawsko-Pomorskie region decide to emigrate because

they know English; they want to get to know the Anglo–Saxon culture and become independent while having the opportunity to improve their English; less frequently wanting to settle down in the UK.

Hypothesis 2 ( regarding extrinsic motivation)Th e decision to emigrate made by the Polish people from the Kujawsko – Pomor-

skie region, during their studies or following their graduation is infl uenced by the following factors: fi nancial aspects, job availability and unemployment in Poland, less frequently pressure from their acquaintances and peer group.

For the purpose of the research conducted in September and October 2007, the motives for the Poles’ emigration were classifi ed based on the selected fragments of the pilot research, carried out by the author into the Polish communities in Germany, Canada and Belgium in the years 1999–2007 (study of individual cases of bilingual families), original research.


Th e enumerated intrinsic (11) and extrinsic (14) motives are correlated in the raw data overall tables which include the following:

the respondents’ demographic variables (7 variables);a) independent variables (7 variables):b) intermediate variables (29 variables);c) dependent variables (46 variables).d)

Due to the limited publication possibilities, only the most interesting of the received results are presented below:

Demographic variables such as:gender (A)1) age (B)2) social background (C)3) number of children in the family (D)4) place of living (prior to emigration) (E)5) the respondents’ marital status (F)6) number of off spring and their age (prior to emigration) (G)7)

were correlated with intrinsic (11) and extrinsic motives (14) yielding the fol-lowing results for intrinsic motivation:

A) gender infl uence on:the willingness to settle in the target country on a permanent basis is high 1) and reached the value of r–c = 0.507 in the case of men;the willingness to settle in the target country temporarily is high and reached 2) the value of r–c = 0.509 in the case of women;treating emigration in terms of an adventure in the period of studies is at 3) an average level in the case of women r–c = 0.316; the same level in the case of men is r–c = 0.422;the way one spends his/her holidays is insignifi cant and equals r–c = 0.054 4) for women and r–c = 0.090 for men;the willingness to get to know the Anglo–Saxon culture is average in the case 5) of men: r–c = 0.393 and low in the case of women: r–c = 0.112;the willingness to improve language competences is average in men, reach-6) ing the value of r–c = 0.316 and high in women equalling r–c = 0.508;further university education in the UK is correlated at a low level in the case 7) of men r–c = 0.201 and averagely correlated in women, reaching the level of r–c = 0.423 for the latter;family reconstruction (relationships with already known foreigners) is 8) low for both genders: r–c = 0.0109 for men and r–c = 0.208 for women respectively;


the willingness to become independent is average in women: r–c = 0.318 and 9) highly correlated in men, reaching the value of r–c = 0.509;getting to know another country is averagely correlated in men: r–c = 0.392 10) and at a low level in women, reaching the value of r–c = 0.111;emigration to join a peer group (friends) under the pressure to achieve 11) success while having low self-esteem in the country is highly correlated in men, equalling r–c = 0.506, and at a low level in the case of women: r–c = 0.110.

For variable (C), i.e. social background, the highest level of the inter-variable correlation was obtained for:

men of the country background who expressed the willingness to settle in •the target country temporarily (r–c = 0.509);men of the working class background who expressed the willingness to settle •in the target country on a permanent basis (r–c = 0.508);men from educated families, combining improvement in language compe- •tences, settling on a temporary basis and low self-esteem in the country of origin (r–c = 0.507);women from educated families – education related reasons (additional fi eld •of study, doctorate), improving language competences, getting to know the Anglo–Saxon culture (r–c = 0.420).

For variable (D), i.e. the number of children in the family, the highest level of inter-variable correlation was obtained for:

men of the country background (residing in the country and towns) express- •ing the willingness to settle in the UK on a temporary basis (r–c = 0.508).

For variable (E), related to the place of residence prior to emigration, the highest level of correlation was obtained for:

women of the working class background residing in towns, expecting to •become independent while abroad (r–c = 0.316);men of the country background living in large cities (r–c = 0.509). •

For variable (F) – demographic variable “marital status,” the highest results were yielded for:

unmarried people from large cities, combining educational reasons with the •willingness to improve their language competence (r–c = 0.4020);married people leaving the country with the aim of reconstructing their families •(r–c = 0.4050).

Th e demographic variable (G) pertaining to the number of off spring prior to emigration did not infl uence the intrinsic motives of the male emigrants (within the bracket of 0–3 children). In the women, the same variable was the factor


determining emigration! In the women having one child, the result was r–c = 0.318 and was moderately correlated with the willingness to settle in the UK on a permanent basis. Th e women who had two or three children were reluctant to leave the country even for a short time, which was refl ected in the result reaching the level of r–c = 0.0108 (little correlation). Th e remaining motives correlated with this feature obtained negative results in the case of women. Th erefore, women do not decide to emigrate and satisfy their intrinsic motives (including educational motives) if they have more than one child!

Below are the results obtained by correlating the extrinsic motives (14) with the demographic variables (7):

A) Th e infl uence of gender on motives no. 13 (fi nancial status), no. 12 (improv-ing social status in the place of residence), no. 11 (improving family social status) was signifi cant and unambiguous in the men, regardless of their social background (C), marital status (F) and place of living prior to emigration (E): r–c = 0.508.

It was a high level of inter-variable correlation!Th e same factor – gender (A) – infl uenced the extrinsic motives in the women

including unemployment in the region (2), unemployment in the country (3), unemployment in the family (4), low pay (9), work below one’s qualifi cations (8) and showed an average correlation of r–c = 0.307. In the women, the motivation connected with joining their family members living abroad was highly correlated with the diffi cult situation in a numerous family (1) and unemployment in the region (2) r–c = 0.501.

Th e following intermediate variables (29) turned out to be signifi cantly correlated (from the statistical point of view) with the extrinsic motives:

lack of one’s own room (fl at); in women: r–c = 0.674, in men: r–c = 0.680; •parents’ age and social background; in women: r–c = 0.517, in men: r–c = •0.501;parents’ fi nancial and educational aspirations; in women: r–c = 0.319, in •men: r–c = 0.511;parents’ unemployment; in women: r–c = 0.680, in men: r–c = 0.682; •social isolation of people not emigrating; in women: r–c = 0.601, in men: •r–c = 0.685;fashion for broad participation in the global culture; in men: r–c = 0.604; •reluctance to become involved in life of the mother country (political, social, •cultural); in women: r–c = 0.682, in men: r–c = 0.400.

Th e group of dependent variables (46) was correlated with the intrinsic and extrinsic motives. Th e inter-variable positive correlations having the most interest-ing statistical structure are as follows:


→ Polish identity:was highly correlated in the women with such variables as: maintain-ing bonds with the family in Poland by visiting its members during public and religious holidays, cultivating national traditions in the target country (ranging from language and religion to national cuisine): r–c = 0.608. Th e women were reluctant to remain in the UK on a permanent basis, perceived temporary stay as having fewer advantages and more draw-backs. Th ey felt a sense of attachment to their fatherland when abroad.

→ Complex identity:occurred more oft en in the childless men from cities (of the Kujawsko – Pomorskie region) who had been brought up in educated families. Th ey assimilated with British society very quickly. Th ey did not attach any sub-stantial importance to traditions (holidays, religion) or Polish customs. Th ey spent their leisure time with the British, they did not visit Poland during holidays. At weekends, they watched British programmes, went to pubs, gyms, travelled in the country they had emigrated to. Th ey admitted home-sickness, yet fi nancial and professional success was more signifi cant for them than returning to Poland. Th ey oft en called their families or wrote e-mails in Polish. Th ey identifi ed themselves with Poland, however had no motivation for returning to the country of their ancestors (r–c = 0.501). Th e willingness to travel in the UK or Europe and investing in oneself was stronger than family bonds in Poland.

→ Intercultural identity:occurred both in men and women. It was, however, due to diff erent criteria for selecting correlation variables. In the women married to or having relation-ships with foreigners or an emigrant remaining abroad for a long time, the level was high: r–c = 0.504 (including both respect for tradition, use of both languages at home, observing traditional holidays in a British and Polish way, intermingling of both cultures and religions). Th e men were characterised by a high level of assimilation with the Anglo –Saxon culture with simultaneous acceptance of all cultures and religions. Th e high level of the inter-variable correlation obtained in the surveyed men was r–c = 0.608.

Both the men and women with intercultural identity12 did not rule out the pos-sibility to return to Poland or to settle permanently in a country other than the

12 Th e research conducted by M. Gaudzińska, MA and A. Murawska, MA under the supervi-sion of I. M. Strachanowska, PhD., utilises the A.P.D. method for the analysis of respondents’ statements, creating the model of a male and female emigrant from the Kujawsko – Pomorskie region in 2008. Th e same method was used by I. M. Strachanowska, PhD., while categorizing


UK or the country of origin. Th ey saw more advantages than drawbacks in both countries. Th ey described themselves as Europeans, citizens of the world in the fi rst place and only later did they talk about themselves as Poles. Th e surveyed people had a university diploma, were of the working – class origin or born into educated families who knew English. Th ey had wide interests, spent their free time among representatives of various races and cultures in the UK.

Conclusions

Young representatives of the Kujawsko – Pomorskie region emigrating in large numbers to, e.g., the UK are characterised by a better knowledge of the English language and little, if any, professional experience. Th e majority of them, irrespec-tive of their gender, is driven by the need to satisfy their fi nancial needs. Th e diff erence is, however, that the women are more prone to return to Poland (which they actually do during, e.g., holidays) declaring their willingness to live in their mother country. Th e men are quicker to assimilate within the target country, do not attach importance to tradition, religion, emotional bonds with the family in the country of origin (parents, siblings). Th e generation of “global teenagers” socialised by the Internet or mobile phones, invest in their future more oft en than older generations, seeing themselves as Europeans equal to their peers from the countries of the so – called former EU. Th ey do not want to be perceived as “OTHERS” or “FOREIGNERS” but as open, competent, hard-working “citizens of the world” who can and are willing to change the place of residence. Professional success is more important motivation for leaving the country in young Polish men than emotional criteria. A small number of women decide to continue their studies abroad (doctorate, second subject), expressing the willingness to pursue their professional careers in Poland! It is obvious for them that they will return to the country despite the fact they perceive themselves as Europeans bearing the features of intercultural identity.

Bydgoszcz 29/07/2009

intrinsic and extrinsic motives for emigration based on the statements by the Polish emigrants (in the years 1999–2007) who settled in Germany, Canada and Belgium.


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”We are Still stuck in a Factory”: Social and Political Resistance to Changes in Education

Abstract

Th e changed dynamics of everyday life make it impossible for the present and future generations to replicate their parents’ life patterns in the new social, political and economic contexts. Th is is why the state sets new challenges and responds with innovations for the education system. Th e system “produces” people according to society’s trends of development. “It is the school which, in times of unprecedented transformation, prepares to make necessary social changes and innovations (or at least it should do so). It is the school which prepares the next generation to partici-pate in the social system by bringing up citizens for the state and training qualifi ed employees for the economic system” (Sawisz 1989, p. 122, 5). Does the present education system off er suffi cient opportunities for future citizens and employees to acquire the knowledge necessary for existing in a dynamically changing society? According to Alvin Toffl er, it does not.

Key words: sociology of education, education system reform, education, social resist-ance, social communication, knowledge society, man of knowledge.

Th e development of contemporary society is characterized by dynamic social, political and economic changes. We live in the time of transformation and turbu-lent activity in which the future is being created. Contemporary systems of values, norms, beliefs, social and economic structures, as well as political ideas indicate that societies have taken a new direction of development in the face of radical changes (Drucker 1999, p. 10). A sign of our times is that both a sense of being and grasp of reality seem lost. “Paradoxically, in the age of access to various sources of information, a fl ood of news from the mass-media, availability of experts in all

Katarzyna Kowalczewska-GrabowskaAgata Rzymełka-FrąckiewiczPoland

75”We are Still stuck in a Factory”: Social and Political Resistance to Changes in Education

areas, signifi cant or not, as well as a common education, people have a deeper and deeper feeling of being lost” (Dołęga 1999, p. 58). Each new generation faces a new reality, lives in a diff erent world, which takes the form of prefi gurative culture1 (Mead 1978), the third wave, future shock (Toffl er 1974, 1986), or the process of globalization – a new world disorder (Bauman 2000, p. 71).

“Parents do not know how to teach their children, who are so diff erent from them when they were their age, and most children are not able to learn from parents and the elderly, to whom they will never be similar” (Mead 1978, pp. 122–123, 130). Diff erent education backgrounds and the contrasting life experience of the two generations create two diff erent worlds. New realities enforce changes at various levels. “It seemed that conversion from uncertainty (the transforma-tion of the post-communist system) to certainty (a well-established democratic and liberal system), from ambivalence to transparency is only a matter of time. However, it appeared that the awareness that the loss of uncertainty is as uncertain as the uncertainty itself, is something completely diff erent” (Bauman 1995, p. 268). Changing dynamics of everyday life makes it impossible to apply the parents’ life model to the life of the present and future generations facing new social, political and economic realities. “We have to create new patterns for adults (parents), who should teach children not what, but how, to learn” (Mead 1978, p. 141), so that they can bravely discover the unknown future on their own.

In the past, authorized representatives of the state very oft en set education goals on the basis of economic needs. A. Sawisz in her book Szkoła a system społeczny [School and the social system] provides many examples of education reforms, conducted in many countries at various times in history, when the “school” as an element of the social system was “adjusted” to the needs of the social, economic, political and cultural system. In industrial societies, the factory created a new type of an employee as well as served as a new education model. Almost at all times, education has responded to the need for new inventions and technologies. Th is is why, the state sets new goals for the education system. It has to react to innova-tions. Th e education system “produces” people according to the trends in the social development. “It is the school which, at times of unprecedented transformation, prepares to make necessary social changes and innovations (or at least it should do so). It is the school which prepares the next generation to participate in the social system by bringing up citizens for the state and training qualifi ed employees

1 Prefi gurative culture is characteristic of post-industrial society (or a society about to enter this stage); in prefi gurative culture older generations will be forced not only to acknowledge independence of the young but also to learn from them to a signifi cant extent, new attitudes and ways of behaving, which are imposed by the accelerated rhythm of social life.

76 Agata Rzymełka-Frąckiewicz

for the economic system” (Sawisz 1989, p. 122, 5). “Implementation of this goal may seem closest to the traditional defi nition of the education process, namely acquiring knowledge and imparting information. Yet, the main diff erence lies in the functional compliance of knowledge and information with current technical demands of civilization” – writes L. Witkowski. “Even if students master and retain knowledge, which the school checks, if that knowledge does not conform to the industrial ethos of civilization, it may bring a sense of inferiority, a sentence of spiritual harm and developmental retardation and make school itself a strange, retarded creation” (Witkowski 1991, p. 134).

Dynamic changes in one social system require immediate response from the other. Contemporary changes in the economy have to result in adaptations in the education system and its adjustment to liberal conditions (Bielska, Radziewicz-Winnicki, Roter 2005, pp. 52–65). Th e education system must adapt to new techniques and technology. Politicians are responsible for this adaptation, since it is their role to regulate the education system, i.e. present a vision of the future of education, ensure stability of the education system and its capacity for reform, as well as guarantee its cohesion by setting priorities (UNESCO report, 1998, p. 163).

Your fate depends on your education2 (Pilch 2001, p. 75). Education and upbringing are decisive factors in preparing the young generation to face the chal-lenges of the future. Th e size of these challenges will necessitate drastic reforms of education systems (Szymański 2000, p. 1). A state and its political system have to guarantee the acquisition of knowledge needed in a dynamically changing society. Politicians are, and will be, responsible for preparing future generations to live in the modern world “not only in the sense of physical existence, but also (and most of all) they will be responsible for the next generation’s comfort and living standards” (Andrzejewski 1999, pp. XIII-XIV).

At each stage of education, the reformed school should equip a person with a civilized competence and identity, appropriate for post-industrial reality (Radziewicz-Winnicki 2001, p. 32). “Responsibility for future generations, in a world where human and political intervention is shaping the future life of human race […] is an obligation which we cannot reject”. (Bimbacher 1999, p. 254). Th e man of knowledge (Znaniecki 1937, 1965) and the knowledge society (Drucker 1999) are the only way to the future. State policy guarantees the implementation of this uncontested goal by means of its educational goals and their accomplish-

2 Tadeusz Pilch considers education to be one of the most certain mechanisms for rising above social marginalization (or avoiding it).


ment. As politicians themselves emphasize, a starting point for education change is the awareness that the future development of the Poles will be determined by the level of their education and Poland’s place in the world will be decided by the level of the school system in our country (Kwieciński 2000, pp. 345–352)3. Today, education is about preparing children, young people, but also adults to “actively participate in changes, which are frequently surprising and of uncertain direction” (Radziewicz-Winnicki 1999, p. 22).

As many sociologists and education specialists emphasize “it is not possible to have a chance to transform Poland without profoundly and radically changed public education of children, young people and adults. Th is transformation requires social approval from the majority and not, as previously, from a minority in the form of the central authorities acting alone. It requires […] competence in social communication to establish consensus about collective purposes (e.g. education). […]. A society of contractual agreement […] is a society of well-educated people, who learn and who are cooperative and open to change and otherness”. (Kwieciński 1998, p. 13).

Taking the volume and scale of present-day threats to the future well-being into consideration, the present attempts to adjust education systems to the needs of civilization, according to J. Materne, are insuffi cient. Unsatisfactory activity of states to defend against threats to contemporary civilization results from various reasons. Mainly, it seems to stem from a lack of awareness on the part of the majority of people. Th e knowledge of the signifi cant majority of people about these problems is either very shallow or does not exist at all.

In general, people base their behaviour and way of thinking on family values and standards, important for a local community. However, they have not learned this manner of thinking in reference to continental and global society i.e. trans-boundary problems. Similar stereotypical ways of thinking characterize politicians, social workers, educators and specialists in socialisation. Families, wrestling for existence and struggling with their own problems, usually do not have enough power to acquire widely-understood cultural assimilation. Th erefore, in their clos-est environment, children and the youth do not get a proper chance to develop the awareness of contemporary threats, sensitivity to these risks, personal motivation and social skills to fi ght with them. Th e state school, in its present form, is inert in the face of the most urgent needs of modernity; it fails to produce appropriate results in line with expectations. In its present shape, the entire system of educa-

3 Th is is what was said by the Prime Minister, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, in October 1996 – Assumptions about long-term state education policy.


tion and upbringing itself constitutes a contemporary problem (Materne 1991, pp. 123–129).

It is commonly said that education system reforms parallel economic pro-grammes. Th erefore, each education policy, implemented by education offi cers “which does not take into account various future scenarios and their sociological interpretations, brings a risk (which should be avoided) of creating past-oriented schools, while we rush into the future” (Meighan 1993, pp. 445,446).

At present, we are experiencing the birth of a new type of society, in which industrial production no longer plays the main role. Th e monopoly of the indus-trial era is over and we are entering a completely new phase of development. Knowledge-based economy is the most commonly used term (Giddens 2004, pp. 398–400). It is the type of economy in which growth and development depends on ideas, information and knowledge of a diff erent kind.

As Ch. Leadbeater noticed “Most of us make money on nothing: we do not produce anything which can be weighed, touched and measured. Our products do not fi ll port storehouses, are not transported to warehouses or carried in goods wagons. Most of us make money by providing services, issuing opinions, giving information and preparing analyses, whether we work in call centres, solicitors’ offi ces, a ministry or a laboratory. We all make something out of nothing.”

Alvin Toffl er, American writer, sociologist and futurologist, famous and appreci-ated all over the world, claims that we are ”still stuck in a factory”. In an interview, given to “Wprost” at the beginning of 2009 (Wprost , 2009), he tries to convince the reader that we are actually “at the beginning of the third wave”. Th e entire history of the Silicon Valley encompasses only several dozen years. Th ere are numerous people who make use of advanced technologies, but the gap between individual countries as far as technological development is concerned is huge.

Nowadays, the social transformation and reorganization of institutions are most diffi cult challenges. Th e majority of the world is still organized on the basis of the rules of the industrial or even the agrarian era. Some countries may not even be included in either of these categories.

According to Toffl er, the education system is a measure of changes. “If we still teach children as if we wanted to adjust them to work in a factory – by assigning them tasks, in which they only learn to copy things, and expect them to imitate what other people do – we cannot expect positive results. We act on the basis of programmes which we created in the 19th century when business wanted to industrialize people from the very childhood. Th at is when schools were created that were copies of factories”.


Th e problematic situation we encounter in many countries is that there are two or more waves of change and neither of them is dominant. Th ere are societies in which the number of people employed in agriculture and industry is still high, while the services, information and modern technology sectors are simultaneously in the process of development. It is,thus, very diffi cult to observe the sense of changes and confl icts. Waves and currents clash confusingly and whirl around local areas of stillness. At present, the clash of the second and third waves results in social tension, dangerous confl icts, surprising new political attitudes, which demolish old distinctions of social class, race, sex and politics. Traditional politi-cal dictionaries have become useless; it is very diffi cult to diff erentiate between the supporters of progress and reactionaries, between friends and enemies. Old polarizations and previous coalitions have disappeared.

Th is chaos in political life is refl ected in the disintegration of human personality. Because of the collision of these waves of change, we can observe that diff erent cur-rents cross and clash in the area of work, family life, sexual attitudes and individual morality. Th e confl ict between the second and third wave forces determines the most signifi cant political tension in contemporary communities. We have adherents to the industrial past on the one hand, and on the other more and more numerous supporters of the thesis that the most urgent problems cannot be solved within the framework of an industrial order.

Th e picture of the new world order in Toffl er’s categories helps us to understand the social processes and political activities in our Polish reality. While analyzing changes in the education system reforms started in the 1990s, we may observe opposition and resistance to the proposed innovations. Common defi ance against the changes appeared both between citizens vs. politicians as well as among coali-tion and opposition politicians themselves.

Polish democracy is characterised by the lack of citizens’ involvement in solving problems which concern them and by a lack of trust in politicians. Th erefore, the citizens frequently express their objections towards what is proposed, and towards slowly implemented changes. According to H. Świda-Ziemba, political problems constitute an important focus for openly revealed social attitudes. Mentality, shaped in the communist system, is central to the analysis of the attitudes observed. For many years, citizens did not participate in social activities that could have infl uenced reality (Świda-Ziemba 1994, pp. 39–49). As a result, even today we can notice a lack of belief that social activity can change reality. Citizens habitu-ally express their objections and resistance to the political decision and proposed changes in the education system. Th is results from stereotypical thinking, which still exists, that the state does not do anything for the public good but only cares


for private benefi ts. Such a behaviour is social resistance, understood as “the anger which appears when people are under pressure” and as “civil disagreement to the ideas of the people in power”. Citizens do not have any sense of infl uence; they perceive most decisions as being imposed on them and this generates resistance to what is seen as oft en inconsiderate and unjustifi ed results.

On the other hand, according to A. Radziewicz-Winnicki, the civilization incompetence, people responsible for innovations and the institutionalization of education, become a barrier to change. In Poland it is expressed in the political culture by passivity, a disregard for the public good and a lack of interest in social and public matters (Radziewicz-Winnicki 1997, pp. 82–83, 1998). Politicians are aware of the need to implement change, however, quite oft en governing is less important than using politics to acquire and retain power. Indolence, holding off and postponing decisions by politicians oft en result from the fear of losing public support i.e. people’s votes in elections. While observing politicians, we oft en witness a struggle between conformists who protect social interest, and progressives who protest against the lack of progress and reforms. Th e progressives are characterised as egoists, who aim at implementing their own plans (Sunstein 2006, pp. 14–15).

Analysis of social opinions about changes in education suggests that the major-ity of citizens is afraid of change, objects to reforms or is just confused as far as the proposed modifi cations are concerned. In 1999 (CBOS, 1999) the majority (71%) was aware of the need to implement changes in the education system. However, only one in four respondents considered change in the education system as urgent (24%), and more than one eighth thought it unnecessary. One fi ft h of the adult Poles (20%) declared that they did not know what the reform, planned by the Ministry of Education, was about, and the majority (64%) claimed that they had heard about the reform but were not really sure what changes would be implemented. Th e majority of the respondents (75%) did not support the idea of lowering the starting-age of children entering formal school education. Only one in fi ve respondents (20%) backed the concept of imposing compulsory school on six-year-olds.

Ten years have passed and, in fact, social opinions on education system reforms have not changed (CBOS, 2008). Th e level of the respondents’ knowledge about changes in education planned by the Ministry of Education is relatively low. Th e majority of the respondents (41%) have heard about modifi cations of the educa-tion system, but they do not know the details. Only 11% of all the respondents have knowledge about the planned changes and as many as one third of the Poles (33%) do not know anything about the reform and do not express any interest in this issue. Th e following changes arouse mixed feelings: lowering of the age


of the children who start school education and imposing an obligation to attend compulsory pre-school on the fi ve-year-olds. Parents, 50% of the respondents, do not agree to lowering the age of pre-school education, and 40% express their consent, but on condition that it will have to be spread in time and fulfi l various other conditions. Th ese changes were already planned within the framework of the reform, implemented at the end of the 1990s. Even though ten years have passed, the proposals have not gained social approval. Politicians, although they make the same declarations, oft en use the proposed changes and mood of the public in their political games. Sometimes they postpone them, at other times they undertake the challenge.

Indolence, lack of anticipation of changes and political disputes induce anxiety and disorientation, which in turn results in social protests, lack of social approval, and resistance against changes of apparently safe reality . Th erefore, we experience a vicious circle of social and political defi ance against necessary changes in the education system.

An interesting solution for a still immature democracy may be off ered by the rules of democracy, presented by Piotr Sztompka (Sztompka 2007, pp. 355–356):

First of all, democracy demands communication between citizens: exchange •of opinions, defi ning political views, expressing political support. Trust facilitates communication, acts in favour of interaction and makes relations free and spontaneous.Secondly, democracy demands tolerance: acknowledgement of diff erences, •accepting a variety of opinions, lifestyles, tastes and preferences.Th irdly, democracy replaces confl ict with compromise and consensus as the •main mechanisms of politics and making decisions.Fourthly, democracy demands some level of cultural and political disagree- •ment and disputation: focusing on the subject under discussion, avoiding ad hominem arguments, showing respect for opponents.Fift hly, democracy demands participation: active citizens, ready to be •involved in democratic institutions, as well as in social associations and organizations.Sixthly, democracy demands well-educated citizens. Effi cient participation, •even only at the basic level as voters, demands a broad scope of knowledge, information, perceptiveness and evaluation skills.

It seems that the reform of the education system, being a very diffi cult – if not the most diffi cult – task, still remains deadlocked. It is caught, on the one hand, between lack of social activity and social involvement in solving problems that concern people and, on the other hand, lack of trust in politicians and social sup-


port. Both politicians and citizens are aware that changes of the education system are necessary if the “system” is to respond to the needs of modernity. Beyond any doubt, implementation of the basic principles of democracy and democratic society will be the way to make politicians act and citizens to become more involved in their own issues. It seems that in the reality of Poland aft er 1989, the conviction that democracy equals mainly rights and privileges for people in power and citizens, is quite common. However, everyone seems to forget, that democracy involves also non-negotiable obligations of communication, dialogue, compromise, understand-ing, bilateral involvement and trust. Benefi cial changes of the system of education will be a most important test for the society of the future, which will have to be faced by both politicians and citizens.

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Books.

The (Little) Eff ect that Parents’ Labour Emigration has on their Children’s School Performance: a Study of Secondary School Students in Oradea (Romania)

Abstract

Th ere are authors that attribute the decline in the academic performance of the off spring left at home to parents’ migration for work. Th e main argument explains the phenomena through the impairment of the family structure due to migration. I used survey data from 1811 high school students from Oradea and multi-level regression to show that the bi-variate relationship between GPA and the situation that both parents have migrated recently for work masks the simple fact that both the lower academic performance and migration are the products of a lower socio-economic status. Th e conclusion is that parents’ migration for work is not an academic risk for students.

Key words: transnational families, academic performance, multilevel modeling.

Introduction

Between 60.000 and 170.000 Romanian children1 are in a situation where, according to offi cial and research data, one or both of their parents have gone abroad for work, most of them in countries of Western Europe, like Italy, Spain or France. Several tragedies, especially suicide, which had been attributed to the

1 Th e smaller fi gure was made public in June 2007 by the National Authority for the Protec-tion of Children’s Rights (Realitatea, 2007) while the greater is an approximation based on a survey of the Romanian Gallup Organization and made public in October the same year (2007).

Adrian HatosRomania

86 Adrian Hatos

loneliness and depression that aff ect the lives of children left to the care of their relatives or neighbours sparked interest in the fate of these.

My concern in this article is with the eff ects of parents’ international migration for work on the academic achievement of their children left home. Th is is a problem as the literature suggests that children from this category perform more badly in the school, which adds up to other various problems of psychological adjustment, like suicidal tendencies, depression, anxiety and increased rates of juvenile delinquency. If this is true, one can say that the evident positive outcomes of remittances and international experience are off set in a great degree by the negative consequences of absence of parents in the lives of their children.

Concept and theory

Best suited for our topic is the concept of transnational families, which refers to families abandoned by one or more of their members being temporarily away, usually for work. Bryceson & Vuorela (2002) refer to transnational families as ‘families that live some or most of the time separated from each other, yet hold together and create something that can be seen as a feeling of collective welfare and unity, …, even across national borders.’(p.3). While problems of migrant families are important for the host countries, which are typically the greatest producers of sociological knowledge and research, the issues concerning transnational families are of greater worry for the countries that are greater suppliers of such families. I will use, then, the concept of children from transnational families to refer to the children whose parents have gone abroad for work.

Academic achievement and family structure

Previous research has produced hard evidence on the signifi cant impact of variables describing the background of families – economic, educational and cultural capital as well as the tendency of school results to refl ect social inequali-ties (Boudon, 1973; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1970; James Samuel Coleman, 1966; Halsey, Heath, & Ridge, 1980; Jencks, 1979). At the same time, more recent studies emphasized the impact of context variables at all levels – classroom, school and even educational system (J.S. Coleman, 1990; PISA, 2001).

One of the basic arguments connecting trans-nationality with academic achieve-ment is to be found in Coleman’s (1988) theorization of the impact of social capital

87The (Little) Eff ect that Parents’ Labour Emigration…

on the creation of human capital. Briefl y, he states that the structural defi ciency of the intra-familial social capital – meaning that one or both parents are absent – has a negative impact on learning, as it prevents children from the benefi ts of time spent with them, of being provided with positive role models and supervision. Children with deprived social background will be especially aff ected by the structural fl aws of families as social capital has the capacity to compensate for the scarcity of other resources known to be important for the children’s academic career.

According to this thesis, children with non-intact family structures should be displaying worse academic achievements controlling for other intervening vari-ables like the indicators of socio-economic status (income, education, occupational prestige), due to the defi cit of involvement on behalf of their parents.

Various studies on the impact of family structure on the measures of children’s adjustment, including school results have supported this argument. Children from non-intact families, living with one-parent – in most of the research – or with step-parents – are found systematically to have poorer grades (Eagle, 1989; Milne, Myers, Rosenthal, & Ginsburg, 1986; Pong, 1997), to have lower educational aspirations (Kandel & Kao, 2001) or face a higher dropout –risk (Pong & Ju, 2000). Every now and then, though, research provides evidence of no actual signifi cant diff erence in achievement between children raised in two parent families and those living in non-intact ones, like in the study from Hong-Kong presented by Chiu & Ho (2006). Th e PISA 2000 survey furnished compelling international evidence that children from single parent families suff er from the absence of a parent as their results at the mathematics test turned out to be lower even aft er controlling for socio-economic variables (PISA, 2001). Most of the studies were concerned, however, with the structure of the families, which implies traumatic phenomena like divorce, separation, death of a parent and remarriage, while the topic at hand deals only with trans-national migration.

While Astone & McLanahan (1991) and partly Milne et al. (1986) support Cole-man’s hypothesis, according to which the absence of a parent has a signifi cant eff ect on achievement on behalf of the student. Some of the available empirical evidence suggests, however, that the correlation between the family structure and the measures of school results or adjustment is mediated by important variables. Most of these alternative causal models point to income or other measures of socio-economic status or family processes as the intervening variables (Astone & McLanahan, 1994; Chiu & Ho, 2006; Milne et al., 1986; Pong, 1997; Pong & Ju, 2000; Toth & Toth, 2007). Th e argument goes simply as this: children from families of lower SES or children from mobile families are more likely to live in non-intact families and to display poor school performance at the same time and

88 Adrian Hatos

thus the connection between family structure and the measures of achievement is spurious.

Data. Variables

In the subsequent parts of the paper I will apply multivariate modeling tech-niques to predict GPA from the last semester before the survey to a set of data collected through self-completed questionnaires by a stratifi ed cluster sample of 1811 students in grades 10–12 from secondary schools in Oradea. Th e subjects were grouped in 89 classes selected randomly from 20 schools.

Th e dependent variable in the study will be the GPA of the previous semester. Individual independent variables are:

Structural variables: gender, and grade as a proxy of age •Measures of family socio-economic status: father and mother holding a •higher education degree; material endowment at home, measured with an index of 5 household items (telephone, computer, car, a silent place for doing homework, internet connection); cultural endowment at home, measured with an index of 3 items (more than 50 books, or a shelf of books; more than 10 albums of classical music, paintings or other art forms)School engagement: satisfaction with school – measured using a composite •index (alpha >0.7); involvement in extracurricular activities – measured with an index of 10 items of extracurricular activities excluding parties and proms organized within the school (alpha>0.7);A factor score revealing the preference for party-going, extracted through a •principal component analysis from 10 measures of leisure activities.Family structure: parents have divorced during the last year; mother and/ •or father abroad for work during the previous year

School and classroom level variables described the social composition of edu-cational collectivities using measures of: percentage of boys, average satisfaction with schools, average material endowment, and the percentage of students with father/mother holding a higher university degree.

Results

Trans-national families and correlatesOur independent focus variable is the situation that one of the parents, or both,


has gone abroad for work during the previous year. Fewer than 14% of the students in the sample have experienced the absence of parents due to migration for work in the previous 12 months. Most frequently there is the migration of father (7%) while the absence of both parents is the least common (2%).

According to the bi-variate analysis of the two focus variables, our data confi rm, partially, the results obtained in the previous research. Th us, while the absence due to labour migration of either of the parents, father or mother, does not have any signifi cant eff ect on the GPA (pt>0.05), when both parents leave the country and their children behind, the academic performance suff ers a serious drop: the average GPA is 8.19 as compared to the grand average of 8.50 (pt<0.01).

Is this a proof that children from non-intact families tend to do worse at school? Computing the odds ratios of situations that 1) either parent has left the home to work abroad and 2) both parents are labour migrants with several measures of socio-economic background, family relations and actual educational status of the children, we have clues that the relationship of trans-nationality with academic results refl ects more complex connections between variables.

Th e bivariate analyses reveal the fact that children whose parents have migrated for work are approximately twice more likely to originate from working class fami-lies. Moreover, in these families the likelihood of parents having divorced recently is three times greater. Since the question was about recent divorce one can infer that parents’ divorce and migration are related. Without an in-depth analysis, though, the causal chain between the two processes is diffi cult to ascertain. Moreover, these children have their chance of being enrolled in the academically oriented liceu theoretic reduced by a third. Th e likelihood that both parents have migrated abroad for work leaving their children behind is dramatically increased when the mothers, but not fathers, have a low socio-economic status – are housekeepers and do not hold a university degree. Th ese children have a chance of being in liceu theoretic two times smaller than that of those who have only one parent abroad.

All my fi gures show that parents working abroad leaving their off spring at home belong more likely to the lower social strata and have problems in their marriage which oft en result in divorce. Moreover, the children of these parents are engaged in less promising educational tracks. Th eir prospects are peculiarly aggravated when the mothers have lower indicators of social status, which increases the risks of migration of both parents, of divorce and of enrollment in worse schools.

We can put forward a hypothetical model through which GPA is produced by SES both directly and indirectly via family relations, which tend to be strained in families hit by hardships, and migration, which we see as a strategy of coping with the challenges faced by poorer and dysfunctional families. According to this

90 Adrian Hatos

model, the hypothetical direct eff ect of migration on GPA indicates the importance of family intactness.

OLS regression model (R2=0.27) confi rms the conventional wisdom about school results. Th e measures of socio-economic status, school engagement and leisure are all signifi cant in deciding the level of the student’s success. Being male has, though, the strongest (negative) impact on the dependent variable. Both indicators of family structure defi ciency maintain signifi cant (negative) eff ects on the academic results. Th is shows that migration for work operates on slightly diff erent levels of family structure than divorce or, perhaps, it operates at diff erent causal chains, which do not necessarily have anything to do with the intactness of the family. All in all, the lower the socio-economic background of the family, the involvement in school, whereas the higher the propensity for partying and socializing during leisure the poorer the academic results. Controlling for these eff ects, divorce of parents and/or their migration for work tends to decrease academic results as well

Th us, the regression model supports, although weakly, the thesis that migration for work has an impact on the academic performance that is not mediated by other sociological variables.

Table 1. OLS regression of GPA (R2=0.27)

B Std.

Error Beta t Sig.(Constant) 5.821 0.302 19.278 0.000 Grade (proxy for age) 0.128 0.025 0.116 5.093 0.000 Mother – higher education 0.122 0.062 0.059 1.976 0.048 Father – higher education 0.267 0.061 0.132 4.401 0.000 Material endowment 0.059 0.017 0.088 3.551 0.000 Cultural goods 0.091 0.023 0.099 3.858 0.000 Gender – male –0.524 0.041 –0.294 –12.915 0.000 Satisfaction with school 0.032 0.003 0.229 10.027 0.000 Extracurricular involvement, except parties 0.050 0.012 0.093 4.016 0.000 Party-goer –0.089 0.019 –0.107 –4.618 0.000 Divorced parents –0.212 0.077 –0.063 –2.764 0.006 Both parents abroad for work –0.281 0.137 –0.047 –2.047 0.041


Multilevel model of GPAOLS regression is not suited, however, for this kind of data. As said, educational

researchers showed long ago (Woessman, 2003) that the student data are nested, and multilevel data cannot be modeled properly using OLS regression. A simple decomposition of GPA variance on level components supports our argument: only half of GPA variance can be attributed to student-level variables, while features of the class explain 17% and the remaining of 32% is caused by school-level variables. In order to solve this issue I fi tted several multilevel regression models.

Table 2. Three level model of school results in grades 10–12 in Oradea (pseudo-Rsq = 0.2)

B sigStudent’s levelGrade 0.127754 0.002Mother with higher education –0.056985 0.242Father with higher education 0.097757 0.043Parents divorced –0.133570 0.027Party-goer –0.068573 0.000Satisfaction with school 0.024318 0.000Participation in extracurricular activities 0.039744 0.000Material endowment 0.016052 0.229Male –0.229188 0.000Avg. cultural endowment 0.066136 0.016Both parents abroad for work last year –0.118270 0.419Class level% of males –0.497491 0.007Avg. Satisfaction with school 0.067785 0.000% of students with father with higher education 0.781535 0.024School levelIntercept 4.489544 0.000% of males –1.041010 0.000Avg. material endowment 0.549691 0.004% of students with mother with higher education 1.331876 0.003Type of school (1=liceu teoretic) 0.220015 0.215

92 Adrian Hatos

Th e multilevel model attempted to explain the variance of students’ GPA by modelling the intercepts at three levels and looking for random eff ects. Continuous variables were centred around the group mean.

In the model, besides the intercept at the class and the school level, only two variables were revealed to have signifi cant random eff ects, at the school level: cultural endowment and the event of parents’ migration. Th at means that the slope of the two variables varies among schools, however this eff ect is of interest only in case of cultural endowment, which has a statistically important eff ect on the dependent variable. Th e eff ect of parents’ migration for work appears to be not signifi cant when accounting for multi-level variation in data.

One can derive several consequences concerning the causation of school results, and especially the eff ect of parents’ migration for work on the dependent vari-able.

Th e model furnishes us with evidence that the social composition of edu- •cational collectivities infl uences students’ achievements. However, strong individual-level eff ects remain even aft er controlling for the organizational variables: time use, school engagement, gender and cultural endowment. As predicted by the theory, divorce of the parents has a signifi cant negative eff ect in the multilevel model, too.Th e eff ects of individual variables interact with those that characterize the •educational organizations. For example, the impact of family educational background appears to be very weak while that of the weight of students from educated families in the collectivities seems to be rather strong. Th is suggests that the reproduction of social inequalities through schools is not direct but rather it is mediated by processes that lead to a certain social composition of schools and classes.Th e impact of our focus independent variable is annulled in the multilevel •model as well as that of the type of school2. Th is means that the poorer results of students whose both parents have been abroad can be explained

2 Th e model is close to that obtained using a similar data set collected a year earlier (cf. Hatos, 2008)). One important diff erence is the eff ect of the type of school which, contrary to the results drawn on the data collected at the end of 2007, appears with the more recent data to be not signifi cant. Th is might be explained by the fact that, in contrast to the fi rst mode, I added the education of mother and the divorce of parents. Could these variables explain the diff erences among types of high schools students’ regarding performance? What is more plausible and important for the study of school diff erentiation and segregation is the supposition that certain combinations of measures of background socio-economic status, including the mother’s education, are behind these diff erences.


mostly by the peculiar composition of the schools in which they learn. Con-sidering the parameters one can infer that students of this sort are mostly to be found in classes with low satisfaction towards the school, in collectivities with students from poorly educated backgrounds and where boys are more numerous than the average.

One important assumption of many works on the eff ects of trans-nationality on students’ academic achievement is that it is confounded with the impact of family structure’s intactness. Our data indicate an alternative explanation.

It is doubtful that the structural defi ciency of the family has any importance •in determining the academic achievement, though the negative impact of parents’ divorce would imply this. As I mentioned earlier, the mere absence of either of the parents, as well as their absence for work abroad, do not have signifi cant eff ects on the dependent variables. Th erefore, one can infer that the divorce of parents deteriorates the academic performance of students probably through mechanisms that are not necessarily related to the absence/presence of parents – probably via psychological mechanisms.It is evident tough that teenagers whose parents have both gone abroad for •work have inferior grades because they are more likely to have orientation towards school and ways of time use that are detrimental for learning and, on the other hand, are concentrated in classes and schools with features that tend to decrease academic performance. Th erefore, it appears that the bi-variate correlation of parents’ migration and GPA masks the reproduction of social inequalities through the avenues of educational diff erentiation and segregation. Simply, youth whose parents are more likely to leave home to work abroad are the same who tend to fall victims of negative educational selection and be allocated into schools and classes that are detrimental to academic achievement.

Limits of the researchMy research has several limitations that hamper the reliability of the interpreta-

tions provided and urge for further investigations:Many variables at the superior levels, e.g., size of schools or of the classes, 1. pedagogues, etc. are missing from modeling. Hence, a lot of the variance in the dependent variable remains unexplained. However, my models can sustain successfully the argument of the thesis that the correlation of parents’ migration and GPA is spurious.

94 Adrian Hatos

Th e hypothetical causal mechanisms cannot be successfully tested but using 2. longitudinal data and special statistics – structural equations modeling with longitudinal and hierarchical data.Sampling biases may have distorted the parameters. We do not know either 3. what the relationship is of dropping out with the situation of migrant parents or if in the case of younger students or those that live in villages or towns the relationships would be the same. More general results would need a broader and larger sample to account for regional, residential eff ects.

Conclusions

Focusing on the issue of the eff ects of parents’ migration for work on second-ary school students’ academic achievements, I investigated the possible sources of diff erences in results of students in grades 10–12. Th e research had the main focus on the assumption that the structure of the family has an important impact on the academic performance of teenagers through which the lowering of grades of those whose parents are abroad for work is produced.

Two conclusions can be drawn on the theoretical level. Th e results in this paper do not support the thesis that children from trans-national families have poorer academic performance because of their defective family structure. Although it is true that the average GPA of students whose both parents have worked abroad in the last year is signifi cantly lower than the average, this seems to unveil only the fact that the SES of these children is also lower. A multi-level analysis reveals that children from these categories are at high risk of being placed in unattractive academic tracks, in classes and schools with higher rates of academic failure and lower levels of educational engagement.

Secondly, defective family structure does not seem to have an important eff ect on academic results, thus contradicting Coleman’s hypothesis on the importance of intra-family social capital. While parents’ migration for work or their absence has no direct eff ect on GPA, the signifi cant action of divorce of the parents masks probable psychological mechanisms that are to be further studied.

Our research highlights the fact that children from trans-national families are not specially at risk of poor educational achievement and there would be no need for special treatment at this level. If the parents leave their children to fi nd work abroad, this seems to be a strategy to face economic hardships and the poverty of social chances which can, in the long run, have even benefi cial eff ects. What is wor-risome actually is the gap in the achievement between children with diff erent social


background and the tendency of the current educational system to exacerbate educational inequalities through mechanisms of segregation and diff erentiation.

References

Astone, N.M. & McLanahan, S.S. (1991). Family structure, parental practices and high school completion. American Sociological Review, 56(3), 309–320.

Astone, N.M. & McLanahan, S.S. (1994). Family structure, residential mobility, and school dropout: a research note. Demography, 31(4), 575–584.

Boudon, R. (1973). L’Inegalite de chances. La mobilite sociale dans les societes industrielles. Paris: Hachette.

Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J.C. (1970). La reproduction. Paris: Minuit.Bryceson, D.F. & Vuorela, U. (2002). Transnational Families in the Twenty-fi rst

Century. In Th e Transnational Family: New European Frontiers and Global Networks (pp. 288). Oxford: Berg Publishers.

Chiu, M.M. & Ho, E.S. C. (2006). Family Eff ects on Student Achievement in Hong Kong. Asia Pacifi c Journal of Education, 26(1), 21–35.

Coleman, J.S. (1966). Equality of educational opportunity (summary report). Wash-ington: U.S. Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare, Offi ce of Education.

Coleman, J.S. (1988). Social Capital in the Development of Human Capital: Th e Ambiguous Position of Private Schools. Illinois.

Coleman, J.S. (1990). Equality and achievement in education: Westview Press Boulder.

Eagle, E. (1989). Socioeconomic Status, Family Structure, and Parental Involve-ment: Th e Correlates of Achievement.

Halsey, A.H. , Heath, A.F. & Ridge, J.M. (1980). Origins and destinations: family, class, and education in modern Britain: Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Hatos, A. (2008). Impactul segregării şi diferenţierii asupra performanţelor şcolare ale elevilor din clasele 10–12. O analiză multinivel. Calitatea Vietii(3).

Jencks, C. (1979). Who gets ahead?: Th e determinants of economic success in America: New York: Basic Books.

Kandel, W. & Kao, G. (2001). Th e Impact of Temporary Labor Migration on Mexican Children’s Educational Aspirations and Performance 1. International Migration Review, 35(4), 1205–1231.

Liang, Z. & Chen, Y.P. (2007). Th e educational consequences of migration for children in China. Social Science Research, 36(1), 28–47.

96 Adrian Hatos

Milne, A.M., Myers, D.E. , Rosenthal, A.S. & Ginsburg, A. (1986). Single parents, working mothers, and the educational achievement of school children. Sociology of Education, 59(3), 125–139.

PISA. (2001). Knowledge and skills for life : fi rst results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 (No. 9264196714). Paris: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Pong, S.L. (1997). Family structure, school context, and eighth-grade math and reading achievement. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 59(3), 734–746.

Pong, S.L. , & Ju, D.B. (2000). Th e Eff ects of Change in Family Structure and Income on Dropping Out of Middle and High School. Journal of Family Issues, 21(2), 147.

Realitatea. (2007). Copiii celor plecaţi la muncă în străinătate rămân în grija poliţiei.

Toth, A., & Toth, G. (2007). Efectele migratiei: copiii rămasi acasă: Fundatia Soros România.

Woessman, L. (2003). Schooling resources, educational institutions, and student performance: the international evidence. Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics 65(2), 117–170.

Selected Aspects of the Family Environment of Creative People as Exemplifi ed by Research Conducted among

Academic Youth

Abstract

An emphasis on forming a creative attitude of a human being is a response to contemporary world changes. Th e attitude can be formed by environment infl uences, especially by the family infl uence. Th e article shows the results of the research the purpose of which was to answer the question about family environment characteristic features of people distinguished by creative and imitative attitudes. A diagnostic survey was conducted among humanistic studies students. Th e results of the survey were to show how the subjects – in their early youth period – describe the family environment, depending on their dominant attitude diagnosed on the basis on the Creative Behaviour Questionnaire KANH by Stanisław Popek.

Key words: family environment, creative attitude, imitative attitude, creativity.

Introduction

Th e surrounding reality is full of dynamism and continuous changes. A contem-porary person, especially a young one who just enters the adult environment, fi nds it more and more diffi cult to understand and fi nd his/her place in this postmodern reality. A contemporary life requirement is to be creative, open to novelties and to accept changes and contractions. Th e category of creativity is a need or even a requirement of our times (Cudowska 2004, p. 14).

A creative attitude, understood as a formed cognitive and characterological feature which shows the tendency to transform the state of things, phenomena

Monika FraniaPoland

98 Monika Frania

and one’s own personality, is a really desirable phenomenon (Popek 1988, p. 27). An active attitude of a human being towards the world and life, expressed by the constant need for getting to know, experiencing and consciously transforming him/herself and the surrounding environment is the essence refl ecting a creative approach to life (Turska 1994, p. 27). Every individual has the potential possibility of forming a creative attitude because it is a commonly attainable feature which specifi cally distinguishes a human being from other species (Mendecka 2003, p. 9). A creative attitude can be stimulated through environment infl uences. Th e most signifi cant spheres are in this case: school, peers and workplace. Th e environment which infl uences the individual for the longest time is the family which can both stimulate and inhibit the individual’s creativity.

Th e purpose of the analyses was to identify some family attributes which could be both brakes on, or stimulators of a creative attitude towards life. Th e research was undertaken in order to identify (diagnose) the attitudes presented by academic youth, in terms of creativeness versus imitativeness, and to analyse certain family environment features as perceived by the subjects, depending on the presented attitude.

Identifi cation of the research issues

Th e presented research has become part of a broad refl ection about the infl u-ence of the family environment on forming an individual’s creative attitude. Th e population of the subjects comprised the third year students of selected faculties of Silesian University in Katowice. Th e surveyed group consisted of 120 people. All of them were students of full-time studies. Th e research into the development of creative attitudes and the infl uence of the family environment on the process of forming them was decided to be conducted within similar age groups because of the fact that the subjects are in the period of life where the impact of the family system has become much weakened and the subjects no longer treat their family so emotionally (Mendecka 2003, p. 24). Simultaneously, these people have not distanced themselves from their parents yet and their opinions can be a source of material for the research. In most cases, these people are dependent on their parents and that is why a parent family home is still, in the literal sense, their own home. All the subjects were humanistic studies students. Th ese studies prepare students for the pursuit of a professional career connected with working with people (pedagogy, specialization: social and childcare education; political science, specialization: mass media and social communication; history, specialization:

99Selected Aspects of the Family Environment of Creative People…

teaching). It is these young people that will aff ect the shape of the modern world in diff erent spheres of life in the future.

Th e main problem considered in the present article was formulated in the form of a question: what characterises the selected aspects of academic youth’s family environment depending on the dominance of a creative attitude over the imitative one among the young people.

In order to answer the above questions, I used the diagnostic survey method, within the range of which the survey technique and the Creative Behaviour Questionnaire KANH by Stanisław Popek was applied. Th e survey question-naire, formulated by me, concerns family environment features selected for the research, which are subjectively perceived by the subjects. Th e level of creative and imitative attitudes, i.e. Y dependent variable was studied using the Creative Behaviour Questionnaire KANH by Stanisław Popek – a device standardized in Poland (Popek 2000).

Analysis of the results

Individuals with highly developed creative attitudes are creative people, with numerous attributes which enable them to function well in the rapidly changing contemporary world. Among 120 subjects, 23 showed dominance of this attitude. 16 people showed an opposite attitude, namely the imitative one. Th e subjects with an indefi nite attitude were the largest group. Th e size of this group, in accordance with a personal analysis, was aff ected by the specifi c type of the research device. Th is group comprised both people with average creative and imitative attitude intensity and at the same time individuals who showed contradictory features with respect to the presented attitudes. Th e largest group with an indefi nite attitude can be related to the tendency of standard features division, according to which indirect features are the most typical and they occur most oft en, whereas features located at the edge of the axis continuum occur relatively seldom.

For the needs of my own research, further analysis covered only the empiri-cal material of the people with a defi nite attitude: the creative or imitative one. Th e subject area I have taken up allows me to reject the group with an indefi nite attitude. A group chosen for further analysis contains 23 people with a creative attitude and 16 people with an imitative attitude. Th e correlation between sex and a creative or imitative attitude was not statistically important (Pearson Factor I ≈ 1.04).

100 Monika Frania

A. Subjective perception of relation with parent familyIn most cases the subjects with both a creative attitude and an imitative one still

live with their parent families. It is 20 people out of 23 for creative individuals and 14 out of 16 for the imitative ones. Th e fact of living in the same place is not the only important one for the purpose of the research. Also the subjectively perceived degree of relation with the family is crucial. Living in the same place can be only an external act, while by asking the subjects about their sense of connection with their families, it is possible to fi nd out whether parents, supervisors, possibly other family members had a real infl uence on an individual. In case of the creative people, 70% of the subjects declared a strong relation with their families, whereas for the remaining 30%, the relation was average. Nobody felt weak or no relation. A similar situation was among the imitative people, where 69% had a strong relation with their families and for 29% – it was average. Such strong ties allow us to suppose that families had and still have a great infl uence on the subjects, also in the aspect of forming a creative attitude.

B. Family structure and its fi nancial situationIn my research, attention was paid to family completeness or incompleteness.

74% of the students with a creative attitude had a complete family, while 26% were brought up in an incomplete family. Among 17 people from the complete families, in 16 cases it was a natural family, and in 1 case it was a reconstructed one. Th ere were 6 people from incomplete families. In 2 cases it was caused by the death of a parent, and in 3 cases – it was abandonment or a broken family. One person was brought up by a single mother. Every fourth subject lives in an incomplete family. It seems to be quite a large proportion. As results from the empirical material analysis, incomplete families are mostly families without a father, regardless of the fact if it was caused by death or marriage collapse. Th e lack of a father can be an important factor for developing a creative attitude. Probably it is some kind of a liberalizing factor, which may make the individuals more ingenious, open and creative. Although the loss of a parent is usually a traumatic experience, this fact can also aff ect the necessity of increasing the child’s independence, which has a crucial infl uence on forming a creative person.

While studying the family structure it is worth paying attention to its size, which translates into the number of children in the family community. Th e research material analysis shows that a great majority of the subjects has siblings. Th is fact can be observed in 18 cases out of 23 creative students, which accounts for 78% of this surveyed population. Because brothers and sisters are considered important for these individuals, it can be concluded that the subjects derived the patterns


of behaviour from their siblings. Th e students from this group certainly learnt the standards of life in a group faster, which aff ected their later adaptation to the requirements of social life. Co-existence with a brother or sister taught them to cooperate, solve confl icts, negotiate and fi ght for their rights.

Th e next matter considered in the research is the subjectively perceived fi nancial situation of academic youth. A great majority of the creative subjects perceive their situation as average and over ¼ as good. Th e smallest proportion perceive their fi nancial situation as bad. Hence, the optimal situation for forming creative attitudes in children seems to be an average fi nancial situation. Most likely, the biological basic needs are satisfi ed then, but a child is not spoon-fed. A partial lack of resources to provide for more sophisticated needs favours activity and encourages undertaking action. On the other hand, it can be supposed that a good fi nancial situation also fosters the development of creative attitudes – an individual has all his/her needs satisfi ed and can focus on the development of his/her own personality. Families with a high life-standard much more oft en take part in cultural life, they are also able to provide the child with a lot of enriching and stimulating experience, which also aff ects creativity at a later stage.

Unlike the population of young adults with a dominant creative attitude, all the imitative subjects came from families of a full and natural structure. By the same token, they were not deprived of a parent, so they had not suff ered from traumatic experience in this regard. Th ey had a full set of personality patterns. Nevertheless, it is likely that this situation did not require taking any activity from them and perhaps did not motivate them to make any creative eff ort. Th ey did not have to take any defensive steps, which could also be creative activities for them.

Great diff erences in the family size are also worth noticing. In the surveyed population, the imitative people are mostly only children. 9 people do not have siblings, which accounts for 56% of this group. Th e fi nancial situation of the imita-tive people’s families is generally worse than that of the creative people. Only 13% of the people of the population perceive their fi nancial situation as good, and not much more than a half – as average. A large proportion, namely 31% of the people perceive it as bad.

C. Parents’ features and mutual relations between parents and childrenTh e level of parents’ education has an infl uence on forming the child’s atti-

tude. Th e level of education is strictly connected with the social status and with knowledge values which are or are not respected by parents. Th is oft en translates into parents’ career situation, and thus, into the family fi nancial situation. It also frequently determines, at least in the general frames, the future path of the child’s

102 Monika Frania

education. In the group of creative people, secondary education prevails among both their mothers and fathers (61% and 52%). 1/3 of the fathers and 13% of the mothers have the higher level of education. Th e same proportion of the fathers and the mothers has vocational education – 17%. 4% of the mothers have elementary education, 4% have other education than listed in the questionnaire, namely they graduated from post-secondary school. Th e research results show that the imita-tive students’ parents are characterised by a relatively low level of education. Th e majority of the fathers (44%) and the mothers (38%) have vocational education. Secondary education was completed by 31% of the mothers and 39% of the fathers. Every fourth mother and only every tenth father has higher education. 6% of the mothers fi nished only elementary school.

In addition to the demographic features, the parents’ personality traits are also very important. Th e young subjects were asked to evaluate their parents and to assign three features to each parent from a set of twelve features. In the group of people with a creative attitude, maximally 23 choices could be assigned to a given feature in the case of the mothers, because there were 23 creative subjects. In the case of the fathers, 20 choices could be assigned to a given feature, because in two cases a father was dead and in one case the subject was brought up by a single mother. In general, there were 69 choices of a mother’s features and 60 choices of a father’s features. During the data analysis, the choices were converted into percentages. In the group of features there were six features typical of creative people: independence of thinking, nonconformity, broad interests and passions, propensity to explore knowledge, independence and self-confi dence, and there were six features typical of imitative people: no self-acceptance, fear of novelty and change, conventionality and traditionalism, emotional coldness, no ability to cope with diffi cult situations and social type.

Th e parents with creative features are more likely to aff ect the child in a crea-tive way. Th ey will be able to stimulate the child and form a creative attitude. As shown in Graph 1, the features most oft en indicated as typical of creative people’s mothers are: independence of thinking (16%), broad interests and passions (14%) and independence (13%). All these features are characteristic of creative people, so on this basis it can be supposed that creative people’s mothers also show some creative features. In the case of the fathers, the most frequently indicated features were: independence (13%), independence of thinking (12%), nonconformity (12%) and conventionality and traditionalism (12%). Th e fi rst three features are typical of the creative life orientation. Taking into consideration the context of the parents’ personality characteristics, the relations between parents and children cannot be disregarded. From a set of defi nitions, the subjects could choose one that defi ned


Graph 1. Features of creative people’s parents (in %) in the light of the survey results

12%

0%

8%

12%

10%

10%

12%

5%

13%

5%

10%

3%

16%

1%

9%

4%

14%

12%

10%

9%

13%

1%

6%

4%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

independence of thinking

no self-acceptance

fear of novelty

nonconformism

broad interests and passions

propensity to explore knowledge

conventionality, traditionalism

social type

independence

emotional coldness

self-confidence

mother

father

no ability to cope with difficultsituations

104 Monika Frania

the relations with their parents in the best way. In the case of the creative people, the relations with the mother are in 86% based on emotional closeness, in 9% on respect and in 5% they were defi ned as cold. Th e relations with the father were defi ned in 35% as based on emotional closeness, in 25% mostly on respect, while 20% of the subjects defi ned their relations with the father as indiff erent and 15% as cold.

D. Atmosphere in the family homeResearchers do not share one opinion about which features of the atmosphere

and climate of the family life foster the development of a creative attitude. Th e surveyed youth were asked to determine the atmosphere in their homes. Th e greatest number of the creative respondents specifi ed their family atmosphere as changeable with occasional quarrels (30%). At the same time, a high percentage of the subjects declared a climate of love and mutual trust (26%). It may be assumed that the best environment in which creative people develop is an environment which combines a few features. Th is is also proven by the statements provided by the people who, aft er selecting the option “other,” wrote that “the atmosphere is strangely mixed – a bit of quarrel and a bit of love” and “mutual trust, occasional quarrels, but there is love”.

Summary

Th e analysis of the collected material produced the following fi ndings:In the surveyed population, the majority was characterised by an attitude •which cannot be unequivocally qualifi ed as creative or imitative. 23 people have a creative attitude and 16 an imitative one.A dominant attitude (creative or imitative) is not determined by the sex of •the subjects. Creativity is not a specifi c feature of either a male or a female student.Th e majority with a dominant creative attitude come from complete families •– they have families, however in 26% of the population there are incomplete families. Most creative families have siblings (78%). Th e subjects with a dominant imitative attitude come from complete families. Most students are only children (56%).Th e fi nancial situation of the creative students is described as relatively •better, and their parents’ education level as higher than in the case of the imitative people.


Th e creative students’ parents show features of creative people. Th e students’ •relations with their mothers are, among others, based on an emotional tie, which does not play such a signifi cant role in the case of the fathers. Th e atmosphere in the family home is described as based on the climate of love and mutual trust to almost the same extent as changeable with quarrels.Th e imitative students’ parents show imitative features in such students’ •opinion. Th e relations with their mothers and fathers are in most cases based on respect. Th e atmosphere in the family home is to a similar extent described as changeable with occasional quarrels as based on harmony and mutual respect.

Th erefore, it may be concluded from the research that the conditions which foster developing a creative attitude are: having siblings, a good fi nancial situation, creative personality traits of the parents, satisfying the need of security, showing trust and appreciating the individual’s eff orts. Th e family structure is also an ele-ment which aff ects the development of a creative or imitative attitude.

As the family has a lot of infl uence on developing a creative attitude of a young person, parents should be instructed, at the earliest possible stage of their children’s lives, how important it is to develop a creative approach to reality in themselves. Th en they will have a chance to bring up their own children in a creative way. Crea-tive children notice creative features in their parents, which seems to be confi rmed by the thesis that creative parents have creative children. Th e defi nitely justifi ed conclusion states that a child who is raised in an environment with the features of creative thinking is much more likely to develop a creative attitude than an individual brought up in an environment where a schematic thinking dominates, there is no stimulation or encouragement to be active.

Th e empirical research is only an attempt to identify the set of dependences between the family environment and forming a creative or imitative attitude in an individual. It can only serve as a contribution to further analyses taking into account other elements of the family environment, e.g., parents’ attitudes, the way of communicating in the family and the style of upbringing.

Bibliography

Cudowska A. (2004). Kształtowanie twórczych orientacji życiowych w procesie edukacji, Białystok: Trans Humana.

Mendecka G. (2003). Środowisko rodzinne w percepcji osób aktywnych twórczo, Częstochowa: WSP.

106 Monika Frania

Popek St. (2000). Kwestionariusz twórczego zachowania KANH, Lublin: UMCS.Popek St. (1988). Zdolności i uzdolnienia twórcze – podstawy teoretyczne, [in:]

Popek St. (red.) Aktywność twórcza dzieci i młodzieży, Warszawa: WSiP.Pufal – Struzik I. (1995). Rola emocjonalnego klimatu rodziny w rozwijaniu

potencjału twórczego młodzieży, [in:] Niebrzydowski L. (red.) Stymulatory roz-woju aktywności i osobowości twórczej, Łódź: wyd. Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego.

Turska D. (1994). Dynamika postawy twórczej a typ kształcenia szkolnego młodzieży, Lublin: UMCS.

General Didactics

Creating the socio-cultural model of scientifi c-technical literacy

Abstract

Th e author of the contribution discusses the elementary basis of scientifi c and technical literacy, defi nes its structure from the socio-cultural approach. She identi-fi es the key characteristics of scientifi c – technical literacy which have become the subject of her scientifi c research (KEGA grant 3/712709). Based on socio-cognitive approaches she searches for connections between school literacy and scientifi c-technical literacy.

Key words: literacy, scientifi c-technical literacy, socio-cognitive approach, curricu-lum, reproduction of culture, production of knowledge.

Introduction

One of the typical features of this era is the dominance of technology, which is present in all the spheres of our life. In the 60s of the last century, J Šafarík, a Czech philosopher, expressed the thesis that about one third of the inhabitants of our Earth owe their existence to technological progress. Under natural conditions our Earth could nourish only about a quarter of the human population. It is not decisive to what extent this estimation is exact, it is important to be aware of the fact that mankind today is dependent on technological progress. On the other hand, we realize to a greater extent that mankind has come to a situation in which the basis of life on this Earth is threatened. Technology has been judged from these two perspectives today. We realize that mankind could not survive without technology in its scope. However, the majority of us know that mankind has to

Mária KožuchováCzech Republic

110 Mária Kožuchová

strive to survive because technology enables us to act and do things which could have negative contingency for all mankind.

In this contribution we try to deal more deeply with the issue of school educa-tion in the context of children´s environment, from the perspective of techno-logical progress and its infl uence on the current cultural demands of humans. Under the notion culture we understand everything that has been generated by a human being as the agent of the course of events, that is of what makes up human societies sharing common values, knowledge, and standards. Technology is a component of culture, it is its dynamic element and brings along the huge expansion of civilization.

Critical reactions to school have emerged mainly in the context of cultural demands on humans. We oft en perceive education from the utilitarian point of view, from the “usefulness of acquired information“, not so much from the aspect of adaptation to values of the social sphere. Education in the sense of adaptation expresses more complex abilities, which can be expressed by the notion literacy. Th is notion has experienced in pedagogy a signifi cant change in children´s sociali-zation. School should concentrate and pass on those elements of culture which are connected with children’s characteristics and important cultural background. Technology represents important values in our social sphere and it is strongly rooted, thus it is necessary to deal with it also in schools, so that everyone partici-pates in its utilization, production and critical evaluation. Th e ability of a human being to participate in the utilization of technology as a cultural element is called scientifi c-technical literacy.

1. Reproduction of culture and scientifi c-technical literacy

Departing from the assumption that the main task of education is to transmit the culture of a certain society to younger generations, the situation was fairly simple in the times of early civilisation: experiences and knowledge were passed on directly from father to son while working. With further quantitative and qualitative development of culture a specialization in working and diff erentiation between work and teaching took place. Th e faster culture developed, the more the characteristics of literate humans changed. Literacy becomes a key competence of man bound to a certain historical era and culture. We can thus realize more the social and cultural demands on a “literate“ person currently and to what extent these are refl ected in society. With the changing understanding of literacy the aims, objectives and methods of teaching are changing as well. Th e defi nition of

111Creating the socio-cultural model of scientifi c-technical literacy

scientifi c – technical literacy may become an important key to education and to shaping a cultural human being.

2. Identifi cation of key characteristics of scientifi c-technical literacy

Th e question of literacy has been investigated within diff erent pedagogical, psychological and sociological topics. Th e Special Dictionary of Literacy (Harris end Hodges, 1995), which contains several defi nitions of this notion, indicates that literacy is not understood as one “singular“ notion but as a complex, “multidimen-sional“ one. One of these is also scientifi c-technical literacy, which has been defi ned by many authors abroad, e.g. Dyrenfurth , Zoller, Toldsepp. In Slovakia Kožuchová, Krušpán, Pavelka and others deal with it. In general, scientifi c-technical literacy is defi ned as an ability to participate in the utilization of technology in its own substance. We distinguish several levels of scientifi c-technical literacy. Our aim is to deal with its elementary level, which should be achieved by everybody already within primary education.

Th e defi nition of the competences which relate to scientifi c-technical literacy requires carrying out complex research focused on fi nding out the most important approaches, abilities, knowledge and skills which employers require from their employees parallel to those which adults consider important in life. We examined scientifi c-technical literacy in children of the pre-school age in the last years and we conducted reseach into primary school pupils We compared our fi ndings with those from abroad, which helped us theoretically to formulate components of elementary scientifi c-technical literacy in three spheres:

Table 1. Basic lines of the elementary basis for scientifi c-technical literacy

A. Approach• understand the role of technology in society (understanding diff erent aspects of technology)

from the aspect of economic, ecological, social, aesthetic and moral stancesB. Content• orientation in technical terms and processes• handling of technical toolsC. Process• acquisition of methods and systems of scientifi c research


Our defi nitions also correspond to UNESCO recommendations, which drew the basis for basic technical education in the 80s of the last century. In the following we try to analyse the specifi c competences of scientifi c-technical literacy in three basic lines.

A. Understanding the role of technology in societyFrom the perspective of approach scientifi c-technical literacy relates to the

awareness of diff erent aspects of technology: ecological, economic, social, aesthetic, moral and others. Th e elementary level is conntected mainly with moral aspects. Education should initiate the awareness that technology is a tool in the hands of man and that it depends on morality for what purpose it will be used. Th e concept of the role of technology in society should include:

the awareness of the fact that technology infl uences our life in various situ- •ations (at home, at school, travelling, playing, sport, in hospital, etc.)the bipolar concept of technology (technology can help but also threaten •health and life)evolution of moral conscience and acting in relation to the utilization of •technology

B1. Orientation in thechnical terms and processesIt is very diffi cult to defi ne the main facts, notions and processes which represent

technology with present-day demands on scientifi c-technical literacy. Th ese terms are “social representatives of reality“ and they are variable and temporary. It is known that many facts, terms and processes from the sphere of technology date out very quickly, they are oft en contradicted and replaced by new ones. Among the most important contributions of social constructivism from which we depart in our research on technical literacy is the reference to sociocultural conditional-ity and thus the relativity of terms in the sphere of technology for the phase of their existence. But technical terms and processes create the best explanations and of which science disposes at the given time. Th eir plausibility is not verifi ed by supertemporability, but they are verifi ed and approved in practice and by their usefulness for further development of science and technology.

Th e research team at Wisconsin university – Stout (Sterry, L. 1987) dealt with representative spheres of technology which enable man to understand basic technical problems. He defi ned two levels of their acquisition (Table 2). Selected representative spheres of technology became in the 80s and 90s of the 20th century the basis for the design of curricula of technical education in several countries.


Th e fi rst sphere relates to understanding the importance of technology in soci-ety. Even though there is the content set, pupils acquire the necessary competence throughout all educational problems, because in the whole content the necessity of humanitarian use of technology is stressed. Th e second sphere is focused on materials and technologies, which is very well – known, as it was the main content of technical education until recently. At present also in this sphere education methods based on the principles of scientifi c work are applied, such as: experimenting and scientifi c research. Th e third sphere – transport is notable, where the evolution of travellers´ mobility is the objective alongside with the development of designing abilities. Th e fourth sphere is aimed at fostering scientifi c investigation in technology. Th e last sphere is oriented on the acquisition of adequate skills in handling technical devices. Discussions have been intensive on the necessary minimum of adequate skills in operating and handling technical devices.

Comparing the above spheres we may state that the system of education set up by us respects the main spheres for understanding basic technical problems,

Th e technical education at primary schools in Slovakia contains the following spheres:

Table 3. Main spheres of technical education in the SR..

Man and tech-nology

Production Trasnport Designing Technology in households

– infl uence of technology on human life

– materials– technologies– energy sources

– means of transport– mobility

Scientifi c techni-cal processes

– technical devices and their handling

Table 2. Representative spheres of technology according to Sterry et al.

Levels: Communication Traffi c Production Construction tech-nology

I. – communication systems

– graphic commu-nicaction

– traffi c systems– techn. elements

of traffi c

– production systems

– prod. materials and processes

– construction systems

– planning, design

I. – electronic comm.. systems

– communication means

– draft planned systems

– transport of per-sons and goods

– designs of prod-ucts

– production units

– structure in con-struction

– electromechanic machines


it respects all the three lines of the development of scientifi c-technical literacy (approach, content and process)

B2. Handling technical devices

It has aleready been mentioned that there are disputes concerning the necessary adequate skills for handling and operating technical devices. It is natural, because technology relates to a broad spectrum of skills necessary for the utilization of new and developed media. M. Velšic (2005) defi nes three levels of severity in operating technical devices:

the lowest level refers to the simplest activities connected with everyday life •(handling usual technical equipment in households)the higher level is connected with more complicated technology, where •operations are carried out by simple operational electronic cardsthe highest level is connected with the use of computers; this literacy is •linked to microprocessing technology and individuals have to be skilled at working with programmes, like text editor, chart processor, the Internet, CD-ROM, e-mail, etc.

Currently we see a great acceleration of technical devices to which children react completely diff erently than adults. Children cope with using and working with technical devices much easier than adults, thus categorization in this sphere is fairly problematic.

C. Recognition of methods and procedures of scientifi c research and methods of instructionStressing the social and cultural aspects of literacy, including scientifi c-technical

literacy is refl ected at the level of education strategies. If education is to prepare pupils for being successful in scientifi c-technical society, we cannot be satisfi ed with an artisan approach. Behaviouristic approaches based on the acceptance of the category of output are outdated, as well. Emphasis is laid on the mediation of the rich social experience with technology and knowledge in an authentic social and cultural context, including forming attitudes to technology. Instead of a cor-rect or incorrect understanding of technical processes and phenomena, pupils are directed to critical evaluation, raising questions, discussion and sharing their own ideas, including the analysis of their own products. Based on this objective several new approaches in technical education were introduced. Th e constructional-projective and exploring approach can be considered as the most important. Th e


constructional-projective approach was developed mainly in the British and German educational systems. Th e main idea here is the organic connection of pupils executive and creative activities. Pupils´ direct work on a certain product is preceeded by a draft of this technical product, or by several alternative draft s. Pupils have to solve several technical tasks, like the selection of material, working tools, technological sequences of making the product, etc. Designing followed by constructing may be seen as a challenge for children to organize, explore, draft , and execute tasks. In designing a programme, the teacher sets objectives which are to be achieved and plans situations fostering the achievement of these objectives. Th e ability to solve problems is the most important feature of the construction-projection approach. Th e basic methods of instruction are creative work and prob-lem solving tasks, situation, analysis of given tasks and discussion about possible or optimal ways of their solution. One of the most important objectives in the constuction-projection approach is to develop divergent thinking. Its advantage is that it is appropriate both for pupils´ individual and team-work which applies to talented and less talented pupils equally.

Th e exploring approach is based on the search for the most appropriate way of solution, optimal conditions, discovering of new facts and new contexts. Pupils acquire new knowledge by their own examination, exploration, and experiences. Th e fundamentals of education in the exploration approach lie in the stimula-tion of explorative activities. Knowledge here is not the objective of the teaching process, but a tool for achieving the objective. In this approach the pupil realizes characteristics of reality through his/her research, exploration, trials and errors.

Th e model of exploration was defi ned by Dewey (1915), which has been applied until now with slight modifi cations. It was structured into fi ve phases:

Suggestions. 1. A problem, diffi culty generates suggestions of possible solu-tions.Intellectualization of diffi culty2. . Th e pupil gets from the feeling of diffi culty to the substance of problems.Creation of hypotheses3. , which serve as a model for the solution of problems. Th ey express probable steps to the solution of problems.Argument (reasoning4. ) lies in the deduction of logical implications of the accepted working hypotheses.Testing.5. Hypotheses are tested by experiments, practical acting, verifi cation of functionality, etc. Testing either proves or disproves the hypotheses. With disproval a new hypothesis has to be formulated.

Creation of hypotheses in the exploring approach is one of the most important acitivites of pupils. It is about pupils trial answers to the solution of a certain


problem. Held (In: Kolláriková and Pupala (ed), 2001) distinguishes a simple, empirical and verifi able assumption the achievement (or non-achievement) of which is not based on theoretical justifi cation. Compared to it a hypothesis has a reasonable theoretical explanation. Th e author (ibid) defi nes three basic types of hypotheses:

Descriptive and predictive hypotheses. 1. Th ese are statements about facts or simple prognoses of what is going to happen or which we expect to hap-pen.Causal and explaining hypotheses –2. the search for the justifi cation of a certain behaviour, reaction of objects aft er the reaction of a concrete event. It is known in practice that children are almost always able to fi nd causal justi-fi cations at the level of their knowledge. Several studies on children’s naive theories (Gavora, 1992, Osuská a Pupala 1996) prove this.Procedural and technological hypotheses 3. occur in technical education most frequently. Th ey relate to the question “how to approach it.“ Unfortunately, the least attention is paid to this issue. Perhaps most teachers are demotivated by the fact that the child does not have the knowledge and sense to propose reliable measuring. It is important to pay attention to these hypotheses in the interest of the complexity of scientifi c knowledge.

Experimental activities in technical education help pupils to decide on an opti-mal selection. Th e pupil faces a concrete task, e.g. the construction of a bridge. He/she has to decide on the most suitable material, the most appropriate type of bridge fulfi lling given criteria. He/she explores which shape for the beam is the best, what should it serve and fi nally he/she assesses the “product.“

Th e exploring approach was most successful with the youngest pupils. Th ese pupils are naturally curious and are not attached to traditions. For them this educa-tion is a kind of entertainment because psychomotoric activities connected with the solution of a problem respond to their idea of sensible activity resembling playing.

3. Social contribution of the socio-cultural model of technical literacy

An important contribution of the socio-cultural approaches to scientifi c-technical literacy is the connection of literacy with the historical, social and cultural context. Literacy has not been seen any more as a defi ned individual psychological skill idependent of changing historical, social and cultural conditions, but on the


contrary, it is seen as a certain “policy“ which determines what social and cultural competences are its necessary components. Under the conditions of important social, economic, political and cultural changes stressing the necessity of the development of scientifi c-technical literacy for the individual´s ability to function in society has become very topical. Today it is almost impossible to determine the requirements of literacy in the future due to the immense development of tech-nology. Already today we speak about the technological, Internet or multimedia literacy. Th e terms “civilisation“ literacy, electronic literacy (E – literacy) or “new,“ “second“ or even “post-literacy“ have been introduced.

Another importance of the socio-cultural model of scientifi c-technical literacy lies in the production instead of reproduction of knowledge or skills. Great emphasis is laid here on social interaction between teachers and pupils within the learning community.

We consider the sphere of the theory of and research into of literacy as the most important contribution of the socio-cultural model of scientifi c-technical literacy. New approaches have off ered, instead of the autonomous cognitive paradigm, the “paradigm of social practice.“ Processes of social interaction under the conditions of school teaching have become the subject of research applied to discussions and dialogues and in critical analysis of one’s own products. In this respect we consider teachers´ approach to knowledge acquired via the widespread basis of research and the role of the teacher in this research as important.

4. Pedagogical refl ections of technical literacy in the theory and practice of instruction

Educational practice has always been forced to routine practices of certain imposed procedures contrary to much more important things. Th us, a contradic-tion between the so-called “school literacy“ and “functional literacy“ necessary for the life in our society has become more and more evident. Th is contradiction is even more clear in the sphere of technical education. Th e twenties of the last century were characterised by a strict depreciation of technical education at our schools. Today there are polemics about the mode of technical education even though the issue of scientifi c-technical literacy has been accepted. It is the subject of discussion when technical education should be introduced and what the pupil’s role in the teaching process is, what the possibilites of pedagogical eff ects are, etc. Actual approaches to technical education are being critically evaluated and enriched by new dimensions. We consider as exceptionally important the complex


view on literacy and scientifi c-technical literacy as resulting from it. Here we can see a clear shift from passive to active acceptance of technology. Th e shift of focus from the objectives and content of education to processes and strategies are evident, too. We observe a change in the understanding of the content of technical education, which is connected with the social and cultural context, i.e. with cultural contents which are typical of a particular culture – socio-cultural environment and are shared by the members of this particular society. Here we can also see the shift from handicraft -productive competences to scientifi c-application competences.

At present the development of civilisation and culture is accelerating to an unprecedented speed and technology acts here as a catalyst. It is time to combine the sociocultural dimension of development with the educational dimension. Th is dimension of the development of literacy is long-range and longstanding. .

Bibliography

Dyrenfurth, M. (1991). “Technological Literacy“ – extensive und intensive Aspekte eines Bezugssystems zukunft iger Bildung. Polytechnik, 1, 20–27.

Gredler, M. (1992). Learning and Instruction. Th eory into Practice. Deuxieme edi-tion. New York: Macmillan.

Harris, T.L. & Hodges, R.E. (1995). Th e Literacy Dictionary. Newark: International Reading Association.

Kolláriková, Z. & Pupala, B. (Eds.) (2001). Předškolní a primární pedagogika/Pred-školská a elementárna pedagogika. Praha: Portál.

Kožuchová, M. & Pomšár, Z. & Kožuch, I. (1997). Fenomén techniky vo výchove a vzdelávaní v základnej škole. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského.

Kožuchová, M. (2003). Obsahová dimenzia technickej výchovy so zameraním na predškolskú a elementárnu edukáciu. Bratislava: Univerzita Komenského.

Sterry, L. (1987). Relationship Between Technology Education and Trade and Industrial Education. Th e Technology Teacher, 46(5), 11.

Šafařík, J. (1969). Člověk ve věku stroje. Liberec: SN.Toldsepp, A. (2000). Quo vadis – science education – in the new millenium. In:

Science and technology in new millenium. Praha: Peres Publisher, pp. 20–23.UNESCO (1991). IBE Education Th esaurus. Paris: Unesco.Velšic, M. (2005). Civilizačná gramotnosť – problém budúcnosti. Bratislava: IVO.Zápotočná, O. (2004). Kultúrna gramotnosť v sociálnopsychologických súvislostiach.

Bratislava: ALBUM.


Zoller, U. (2000). Innovative sets teaching toward scientifi c and technological lit-eracy for all in the new millenium. In: Science and technology in new millenium. Praha: Peres Publisher, pp. 14–20.

The Role of Metacognition in Education

According to the ideas that defi ne the changes of the contemporary education in Poland, school should not be an institution focused only on teaching, but it also should develop the urge to learn in students, to help them in their self-development and self-realization. Apart from the teaching process, school should introduce independent seeking of knowledge and self-education to students (T. Lewowicki, 1994).

Th e high level of the metacognitive factor is favourable for the development of educational independence.

Metacognition including self-regulation of education is a subject of recent con-sideration and research and therefore it is worth examining more thoroughly.

Th is short thesis includes:the defi nition of metacognition •the characteristics of the process of education based on self-regulation, •including the classifi cation of the methods and techniques of the cognitive processthe role played by conscious learning and the learning strategies learned in •class, in the self-development of the student.

Key words: metacognition; self-regulation, the learning strategies.

The Role of Metacognition in Education

According to the ideas that defi ne the changes of the contemporary education in Poland, school should not be an institution focused only on teaching, but it also should develop the urge to learn in students, to help them in their self-development

Izabela KrasiejkoPoland

121The Role of Metacognition in Education…

and self-realization. Apart from the teaching process, school should introduce independent seeking of knowledge and self-education to students (T.Lewowicki, 1994). Th e main goal of education is the development of inquisitiveness, focused on seeking the truth, goodness and beauty in the world; the formation of the founda-tions, introduction to the process of self-education and the constant improvement of oneself. Th e high level of the meta-cognitive factor is favourable for the develop-ment of educational independence.

Metacognition, including self-regulation of education, is a subject of recent consideration and research. Meta-cognition is composed of two separate, but connected elements:

the knowledge and convictions of cognitive processes; •the regulation and control of the cognitive behaviour (self-regulation) (M.H. •Dembo, 1997).

Meta-cognition refers to the knowledge, possessed by an individual, of his/her own cognitive processes and products, and all that is connected with it, for example the information or data important for the learning process. Metacognition is above all active cognitive monitoring and consequent regulation as well as the employ-ment of those processes for educational purposes, usually used in solving some particular task or a problem. (J.H. Flavell, 1976; M.H. Dembo, 1997).

Meta-cognitive knowledge incorporates the knowledge about oneself as a learn-ing individual (e.g., about preferences, strong and weak points, interests, learning habits, etc.), the knowledge about tasks (information about the requirements and the level of diffi culty of a particular task), and the knowledge about learning strate-gies and how to use them.

Th e analysis and understanding of the circular thought cycle is important for the development of knowledge and the convictions about one’s own cognitive process (e.g., the thought: “I will never learn mathematics because I am not smart enough;” emotion – “the aversion for the subject or the teacher; behaviour – “the student does not do his/hers homework and does not study;” the result – “failure in the subject;” thought – “I will never learn mathematics because I am not smart enough” and so on.), and its eff ect on the effi ciency of learning. In this way students are able to learn how their psychic and intellectual activity functions (B.McCombs, J.Pope, 1997).

Lester and Gorfalo (1986) suggest that teachers are able to help students in the development of their metacognitive knowledge through asking questions that require refl ection on their own thinking process and course of action: for example think about everything what you do when you do your exercises – why do you do all this? what can you do to do more exercises correctly? why? do you usually do it? (M.H. Dembo, 1997).

122 Izabela Krasiejko

Th e second aspect of metacognition – self-regulation – guides the thought processes in learning situations. Under the term “self-regulation of the learning process” G.C. Kunz, V.Drewniak and F.Schott (1992, p. 288) understand “all goal-oriented, controlled and potentially refl ective actions used by students to improve their learning ability”. P.Simons and F.P. De Jong (1992, p. 333) defi ne the self-regulation process of learning as the process where “students realize the education by themselves” and they mention six general categories of action, in which self-regulation can occur: preparing oneself for the learning process, the organization of the learning, cognitive monitoring, the assessment of achieve-ments, the delivery of the return information, the guidance of motivation and concentration. (E.Czerniawska, 1999).

Th e investigation of the problem of self-regulation is very important, because according to research there is a connection between this process and the results of learning: the higher the level of self-regulation the higher the achievements in natural and school learning conditions (T.Bouff ard, J.Boisvert, C.Vezeau and C.Larouche, 1995; M.Pressley, J.Borkowski and W.Schneider, 1987; B.J. Zimmer-man, 1994; E.Czerniawska, 1999). On the other hand, the reason for learning results lower than expected , based on the standard capability tests, is the employment of less eff ective learning strategies (J.Borkowski and P.K. Th orpe, 1994; M.Ledzińska, 1996). Besides this fact, the students who regulate their own cognitive process blame others for their own problems less oft en and they less oft en consider luck to be the reason for success. Th ey understand that success depends on the method of conduct and their hard work. Th is kind of thinking is the basis for the permanent internal motivation to learn and to make an eff ort and to be proud of one’s achieve-ments (B.Weiner, 1992; S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres, 1997).

However, reaching a high level of self-regulation is dependent on gaining experience in learning situations (T.Garcia and P.Pintrich, 1996; D.Schunk and B.Zimmerman, 1994, E.Czerniawska, 1999) due to its complexity (P.Alexander, 1995; P.Winne, 1997; E.Czerniawska, 1999). Nonetheless, it is possible to practise self-regulating processes, above all in the conditions of the school environment (M.Boeckaerts, 1997; F.De Jong, 1990; E.Czerniawska, 1999).

Most of the scholars dealing with this issue during the 1980s and 1990s were of the opinion that schools in Poland do not teach the process of self-regulation. When asked about the source of their knowledge about the learning strategies, students very rarely mentioned teachers (E.Czerwińska, 1995; M.Ledzińska, 1988). Th at might have been the result of the organization of the educational process inappropriate or unfavourable for the development of the self-regulating process. Presenting all necessary information in class, intercepting the control over the


course of the cognitive process by the teacher, hinders students from making inde-pendent activity attempts. A teacher who sets goals and methods of reaching those goals and verifi es the results as well as evaluates them, takes over the responsibility for the regulation of his/her students’ activities and encourages them to the passive attitude toward their own cognitive process (E.Czerniawska, 1999).

Recently, this situation has begun to change in Poland. It is connected with the reform of the educational system as well as with the increasing popularity of new methods among teachers and the availability of the special literature on this subject (e.g., J.Konoblauch, 2000; B.Oleszlager, 2007; B.Kubiczek, 2009).

According to S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres (1997, p. 28), education based on self-regulation is based on “conscious and well-considered eff orts of the student, made to achieve certain goals.” Th ey are defi ned by functionality, individual approach and independence. According to B.J. Zimmerman (1989) the cognitive process can be called self-regulated if students participate in the class and their participation is based on the metacognitive as well as motivational and behavioural principles. S.G. Paris and D.R. Cross (1993) consider the union of understanding, motivation and the individual attitude that is “fusion of the will and abilities,” as the essence of a self-regulation-based education. Th e reason for this is that in this situation students explore their own learning process before, during and aft er solving a problem or a task (S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres, 1997).

It is very important that students have the knowledge of the learning processes and that they make a conscious use of them. Learning strategies are the means used by students to learn something (P.Bimmel, 1995). One can imagine the psychologi-cal structure of learning strategies as an association of a condition with an action: if my goal is to learn x I will do y. F.Bereźnicki (2001) classifi ed the following as learning methods: receptive methods (observation, using the spoken language, using textbooks as help in learning thanks to a “literal method of remembering” as well as “not literal method of remembering”), heuristic methods, research (using discussions, learning through solving problems, learning through research), expressive and exercise methods.

Th e activating methods, i.e. the ones that are favourable for teaching students the learning methods, were extensively described by B.Kubiczek (2009). As methods and techniques of learning she mentions mainly: mind mapping, educational projects, the checklist, the leading text method, planning from the past, the tech-niques of creative thinking, puzzles, and a running dictation.

In case the student is gaining education by using the learning strategies, his/her cognitive process is more eff ective. He/She knows not only what he/she should


learn but also how to proceed in order to learn – to learn in a way that is convenient for him/her and that would lead to the goal of learning a particular thing.

Th e control of one’s own cognitive process by making a decision about using specifi c learning strategies leads to an increase in motivation and self-confi dence, as well as it increases the independence and responsibility for one’s own learning (P.Bimmel, 1995).

Parallel to the studies and research into education based on self-regulation, the importance of the student’s infl uence on the process of learning (e.g., W.Puślecki, 1996) as well as the participation of the student in the process of learning (e.g., B.Wojciechowska – Charlak, 1985, 1991; J.Kujawiński, 1998a, 1998b), is being men-tioned more and more oft en. Th e common decision-making about the particular components of education is according to W. Puślecki (1996) based on the right of the student to select or suggest the means to be used to solve particular problems, methodology of teaching, organization of work, the assessment of achievements, homework and the way of learning certain things, the selection of classmates for solving particular problems and the initiating of the educational situations con-nected with his/her cognitive or existential needs.

Th e infl uence of students on the process of education is also connected with the withdrawal from the adaptive educational doctrine and the application of the critically creative doctrine, (T. Lewowicki, 1994) the formation of the clearly task-oriented approach, and the design of the educational opportunities and situational approach (R. Więckowski, 1989).

If students are able to guide their own education, they have the opportunity to choose goals and to satisfy their need for a challenge, that means they can perform interesting tasks with a level of diffi culty adequate for them. Besides this, students are able to have a crucial infl uence on their own education, thanks to which they are constantly motivated and responsible for the results of their education. Students regulating their own educational process know which procedures they have at their disposal, they understand how those methods operate, when they should use them and why there is a need for their employment. (Lipson, Wixon, 1983; S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres, 1997).

Children eagerly make use of the library and other sources; they look for help from their teachers, parents and classmates. Learning in small groups, allowing for the development of cooperation between students is favourable for the process of education (S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres, 1997).

Students that regulate their own process of education do not only posses the knowledge about learning but they plan this process on their own. Th e consid-eration about their own achievements, strong and weak points, and the ability to


control and correct the results of their own work is essential in this case. Th e forms of participation in the educational process were described by B.Wojciechowska – Charlak (1984, 1991). Th ose forms allow students to regulate their own educa-tion process by participation in the class, but also they stimulate motivation and initiative, they help in the development of independence, they are the cause of the increase in responsibility for the education results and for the development of learning skills.

Students’ participation in the educational process depends on their performing such activities as planning, preparation, conducting and evaluation of a lesson.

Students’ participation in the process of planning a class consists in establishing individual as well as collective tasks according to the goals and the subject of the class; the detailed programming of task realization methods as well as diff erent forms of using them during the class. It is possible to establish permanent groups, which students could join according to their interests, and temporary groups as part of students’ preparation for classes. Students in those groups would need to prepare data, didactic aids or information to be used during one or a few classes. Incorporating students in the process of conducting a class can have many diff erent forms, for instance, the teacher sets a subject of the class and presents the main problem of the topic which needs to be resolved; while the students analyze the situation, they formulate and present detailed problems, independently formulate conclusions and suggest the content and the form of homework. On the other hand, participation in the common evaluation of the results of their work can be expressed in the evaluation of the eff ort put into the preparation of the class, the intensity of the participation in the class and students’ behaviour (B.Wojciechowska – Charlak, 1984, 1991). Introducing processes such as self-control, self-evaluation and self-correction to students is also a very important aspect. S.G. Paris and P.W. Winograd (1990) indicated two necessary elements for the self-regulating cognitive process, those are: the capability of self-evaluation and the ability to control one’s own behaviour. According to R.I. Arends (1998) if the process of education should be successful, it needs to be accompanied by constant analysis and refl ection.

Self-evaluation is the assessment of one’s abilities (J.Reykowski, 1975), the recognition of one’s value (J.Korczak, 1978), the methods of the classifi cation of their own work by students, allowing them to recognize if the goal of education has been reached (S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres, 1997). In the broad sense, it is the critical reference to oneself and one’s behaviour, in the narrow sense it refers only to the evaluation of one’s work (J.Poplucz, 1985). According to Lipson, Wixon (1983; S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres, 1997), self-evaluation consists also of students’ knowledge of diff erent learning methods.


Self-evaluation is, beside self-control and self-correction, one of the components of students’ self-controlling and self-correctional acts (J. Poplucz, 1985).

Self-control includes: attention of the student during the task performance, revision of the task for the self-control reasons, the analysis of the task questions and assumptions, the comparison of the task components with given patterns, identifi cation of mistakes and gaps (J. Poplucz, 1985). In the self-control methods A. Nowicka-Chachaj (1993) includes also the intuitive methods (the repetition of the learning process) and the analytical methods (verifi cation according to a given pattern, verifi cation according to a pattern in a given place and verifi cation accord-ing to a self-developed pattern). Z.Wolańska (1986) presented many education measures, e.g. : fl ash cards, cards for identifying words, slide rule for creating syllabi and words, etc.

Self-evaluation consists of counting all mistakes and gaps, their division into important and minor ones, comparison of the number of mistakes and gaps with the grade scale and evaluation – giving a grade. Self-correction, on the other hand, includes: admitting the possibility of correcting mistakes and fi lling in gaps, cor-rection of the task and verifi cation of the corrected task (J. Poplucz,1985).

Helping students to realize the properties of self-control and self-correction results in more successful work; work which is more motivated, disciplined, more thorough and longer lasting. Students learn that they are able to control their actions and it gives them the opportunity to be able to search for better means of education.

Self-correction should be conducted in a student-friendly environment. Th e student should not be afraid of admitting to mistakes. Mistakes should be con-sidered by the teacher as well as the student as a momentary, easy to overcome setback and not as a failure.

In the self-regulation based education, besides the self-evaluation made by the students, what is equally important is also the cooperation between the teacher and the student in order to analyze the strong and weak points of the student’s work. In such cases teachers should employ constant, multidimensional and descriptive evaluation (S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres, 1997). In the methods that stimulate the student’s refl ection on his/her own cognitive process we can include: portfolios (folders of the student’s systematically collected works, which can illustrate indi-vidual achievements, progress, and the student’s conduct), reviews and inventories, class registers and lists as well as consultations (S.G. Paris and L.R. Ayres, 1997).

Th e self-regulating cognitive process makes it possible to gain knowledge of how a student can develop thanks to his/her hard work and the knowledge about his/her abilities in order to have an infl uence on his/her life – to know him/herself.


(J. Korczak, 1978). Helping students to learn about themselves is considered to be the main condition of preparing them for making the right choices in their life (M. Kostka, D. Słowicka , 1991), also those concerning education.

Furthermore, self-regulation of the cognitive process is connected with the development of the potential abilities of an individual, his/her interests through participation in many forms of activity connected with gaining knowledge, with self-realization (Z. Skorny, 1989). Th e most important condition of self-realization, which is one of the most important human needs, is the feeling of being in control of the conducted action which presents the possibility to make choices and deci-sions about one’s fate (R. Ingarden, 1972; Z. Skorny, 1989).

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Lewowicki T. (1994). Przemiany oświaty. WarszawaMcCombs B.J., Pope J.E., (1997). Trudny uczeń, jak go skłonić do nauki. Warszawa:

WSiP, Nowicka-Chachaj, (1993). Samokontrola uczniów. Edukacja i Dialog, 45Oleszlager B., (2007). Jak uczyć uczenia się? Kraków: Impuls. Paris S.G. , Ayres L.R. (1997). Stawanie się refl eksyjnym uczniem i nauczycielem,

Warszawa: WSiP. Paris S.G. , Cross D.R. (1993). Ordinary learning. In G. Bisanz, R. Kail (ed.) Learn-

ing in childern. New York: Spinger Verlag, Poplucz J., (1985). Samokontrolne i autokreatywne czynności uczniów, Nowa

Szkoła, 7(8).Puślecki W. (1996). Kształcenie wyzwalające w edukacji wczesnoszkolnej. Impuls:

KrakówWięckowski R., (1989). Współczesne problemy teoretyczne pedagogiki wczesnosz-

kolnej a zagadnienie kształcenia nauczycieli. Ruch Pedagogiczny, 1Wojciechowska-Charlak B., (1991). Efektywność współudziału uczniów w procesie

dydaktyczno-wychowawczym. WarszawaWojciechowska-Charlak B. (1984). Formy współudziału uczniów klas I–III

w procesie dydaktyczno-wychowawczym. Życie Szkoły, 448Wolańska Z. (1986). Umiejętność samokontroli i samooceny w nauczaniu

początkowym. Białystok: Wyd. Filii UW w BiałymstokuSkorny Z., (1989). Samorealizacja a uczestnictwo w działaniu. Ruch Pedagogiczny, 3Zimmerman B.J. (1989). Models of self – regulated learning and academic achieve-

ment. In B. Zimmerman, D. Schnuck (ed.) Self – regulated learning and academic achievement. New York: Spinger Verlag,

“Auto-Education” as Understood by Students of Pedagogy and their

Individual Auto-Educational Goals

Abstract

Th e main aim of the research was to determine the way of understanding the notion of “auto-education” by students of pedagogy and recognizing the material content of the formulated auto-educational goals. Th e main research tools which were applied in the research included a diagnostic survey and an auditorium ques-tionnaire. Th e research results reveal that the notion of auto-education is present in the students’ perception as four ideas: auto-education as self-education; self-education and self-upbringing; self-upbringing and learning about oneself. In the process of auto-education, the respondents formulated goals concerning gaining knowledge, developing intellectual skills and specialist abilities, goals concerning biological, bodily dimensions of human life; goals referring to the development of one’s own spirituality, axiological inner life, searching for meaning in life and aims concerning self-discovery.

Key words: auto-education; aims in the process of auto-education, academic didactics.

Introduction

Th e research presented in this article refl ects on the issues of auto-education from the perspective of academic didactics. Th e main aim of the research was to deter-mine the way in which students of pedagogy defi ne the notion of “auto-education.” Moreover, another major concern of this research was to fi nd out whether and what kind of objectives they formulate in the process of auto-education undertaken by

Violetta RodekPoland

130 Violetta Rodek

them. As far as the latter issue is concerned, the chief purpose was to learn the material content of auto-educational aims and their subjective meaning to the respondents.

Th e main research tools which were applied in the research included the method of a diagnostic survey and the technique of an auditorium questionnaire directed to 120 students of the full-time pedagogical course, at the faculties of social peda-gogy and social rehabilitation. Th e research was conducted in the academic year 2008/2009. Th e designed questionnaire consisted of two parts. In the fi rst part, one sentence formed as a question aimed at provoking a certain verbal response in the respondents. Th is sentence was of a declarative character and read as follows: “I would like to know how you understand the notion of “auto-education.” Th e second part of the questionnaire concerned the material content of the goals. Th e respond-ents’ task was to specify auto-educational goals that they wished to fulfi ll. Each of the subjects could give an unlimited number of goals depending on their choice. Th e questionnaire included an introductory instruction informing the respondents about the aim of the research and explaining the way of answering the questions. In this part the respondents were also assured of the anonymity of the research.

Further part of this paper includes presentation of the research results. In the fi rst place, the author presented how the students of pedagogy who participated in the research perceived the notion of “auto-education”.

“Auto-education” as perceived by students of pedagogy

Th e notion of “auto-education” is understood diff erently by the representatives of various scientifi c disciplines such as educationalists, sociologists, psychologists. Th e term “auto-education” is oft en associated with such concepts as: self-education, self-teaching, self-improvement, auto-creation, self-upbringing. It is possible to notice that auto-education is mainly used as a notion with two meanings: a narrower sense, related to education, and a broader one, referring to self-realization. In the former meaning, auto-education is perceived as a process of self-teaching, whose aims, content, means, sources, forms and methods are selected by the learner. It is the learner who exercises self-control and performs self-assessment. [cf. e.g. : Okoń W., 2003, p.155; Kupisiewicz Cz., 2005, p.27; Półturzycki J., 2002, pp.209–210; Wró-blewska W., 2005, p.381]. In the latter, broader sense, auto-education is considered equivalent to the process of self-development harmonizing with one’s motivation, referring to the development of the whole personality, including the development of the mental sphere, i.e. independent learning. [continued by: Matwijów B.,

131“Auto-Education” as Understood by Students of Pedagogy…

1994, p.113]. In this approach, three essential features of auto-education are most frequently emphasized. Th ese are: intentionality and social rationality; autonomy; intensity and durability. Th erefore, the process of auto-education becomes the kind of process that is authentically subjective and autonomously oriented by the subject of development. [cf. e.g.: Jankowski Dz., 2004, p. 108]. However, it is important to notice that some authors express skeptical opinions on auto-education, claiming that a human being possesses a small development reserve which can be used during the self-improvement process. Auto-education can also take a destruc-tive, or even pathological form, for instance as a result of a family dysfunction, destructive models drawn from the mass media, anti-cultural peer groups and other sources. Th erefore, such an important role is attributed to the process of education where the development of auto-educational aspirations should go in line with the formation of autobiographical motivation and an appropriate system of values which allow an individual to act in a constructive and optimally creative way throughout the entire lifetime. [cf. e.g.: Łukaszewski W., 1984, pp. 272, 391; Dudzikowa M., 1993, p. 46].

Let us investigate now how the notion of auto-education is understood by the students of pedagogy who took part in the research. In the questionnaire the respondents were asked to provide an answer to an open question. Th ey were asked to present their own way of understanding the term “auto-education.” A thorough analysis and assessment of the obtained empirical material rendered it possible to distinguish four main ways of understanding this notion. (Table 1).

Table 1. “Auto-education” as understood by the studentsparticipating in the research

Categories of comments Numericaldata

Data in %, N=143of all obtained

answers Auto-education as a process of self-reliant and independent learning. Self-education. 78 54.5%

Auto-education as self-education and self-upbringing 35 24.5%

Auto-education as a process of one’s personality development. Self-upbringing 12 8.4%

Auto-education as learning about oneself, gain-ing knowledge about oneself 18 12.6%

Source: the author’s own study (on the basis of data obtained by means of a question-naire)

132 Violetta Rodek

Th e students who participated in the research presented mostly a narrow way of understanding auto-education by considering it equivalent to self-education understood as a process of self-teaching, whose aims, content, forms, methods are selected by the learner. Th e majority of the respondents associate auto-education with independent, unassisted acquisition of knowledge and skills as well as with the cognitive sphere of a human being. Th is can be proved by the following com-ments expressed by the respondents: “Auto-education is a process of an individual’s self-education, gaining knowledge, broadening one’s intellectual horizons;” “Auto-education means development of one’s knowledge, extending it, forming new mental structures, discovering new information of one’s own free will. I as a teacher, guide;” “Auto-education is a conscious process undertaken by an individual with the aim of developing their own cognitive abilities.” From this perspective, the characteristic feature of auto-education is the independence and self-reliance of an individual in relation to both process planning and process realization as well as freedom and awareness of one’s own goal. Th is is how the students who participated in the research perceived this issue: “Auto-education is a conscious decision to broaden one’s knowledge individually, through work on one’s own initiative;” “(…) a person sets himself educational goals and achieves them by self-initiated actions;” “Auto-education means self-education, an independent, self-reliant, carefully planned proc-ess of broadening one’s knowledge, triggered by one’s own initiative. It also involves exercising one’s abilities and developing one’s own mental powers.” However, accord-

43,8

32,8

14,39

0

10

20

30

40

50

I cat. II cat. III cat. IV cat.Goal categories

Perc

enta

ge v

alue

Key:CATEGORY I: Goals concerning gaining knowledge, improving intellectual skills andspecialist abilities;CATEGORY II: Goals concerning the biological and bodily dimension of human life;CATEGORY III: Goals concerning the development of one’s spirituality, axiological innerlife, searching for the meaning of life;CATEGORY IV: Goals concerning self-discovery.

Chart 1: Pedagogy students’ individual autoeducational goals

Source: the author’s own study (on the basis of the data obtained by means of a ques-tionnaire)


ing to some respondents, auto-education understood as a process of self-education may occur “with somebody’s help, under somebody’s tutelage,” it may also be initiated by a teacher who, by off ering guidelines and instructions, “helps learners identify a direction in which they are going to conduct the search.” It can also be observed at diff erent courses, workshops, training provided that “a decision to take part in these events is conscious, voluntary, without any top-down obligation.”

Consequently, auto-education is understood by the students as a clearly inten-tional process which is directed at gaining new knowledge, broadening the scope of the already existing knowledge and acquiring new abilities. For the majority of the respondents, this is the main goal of this process which concerns “going deeper into the content of an interest to an individual for the sake of pure satisfaction derived from learning it.” It is connected with intrinsic motivation, “it arises from an inner drive to learn about new things, phenomena, concepts.” However, the analysis and assessment of the research material implies that knowledge and abilities may also constitute an indirect goal leading to the development of personality, interests, creation of one’s own outlook on life, increase in tolerance, development of one’s career. Th e aforementioned statement can be illustrated by the following com-ments expressed by the respondents: “Auto-education as education of oneself leads to the acquisition of knowledge, thanks to which it is possible to achieve personality development;” “Auto-education broadens mental horizons, allows an individual to form their own opinion rather than accept the knowledge off ered by other people…;” “Auto-education creates favourable conditions for development, ‘extension’ of one’s own viewpoint, openness to other views, which favours greater tolerance;” “(…) it is possible to acquire knowledge ‘for oneself,’ but also knowledge that is useful in a professional life. Without this it is hard to think about a professional career.” What is more, in the process of independent and self-reliant acquisition of knowledge indi-viduals set themselves certain requirements, whose aim is to “make an individual a well-educated and eloquent person who is knowledgeable about the contemporary world.”

Some of the respondents rightly noticed that auto-education is a continuous process and should last for the entire lifetime. One person claimed that auto-education can only be used with reference to adults. Unfortunately, this opinion was not supported by any justifi cation. Th is view corresponds to the opinion of those educationalists who believe that auto-education is signifi cant for a person only in their adulthood aft er gaining a satisfactory level of self-knowledge and defi ning their social and moral conduct that constitutes a condition for critical self-assessment. [Jankowski Dz., 2004, p. 109 and p. 129].

134 Violetta Rodek

Th e group of the respondents considered auto-education equivalent not only to self-education, but also the process of developing one’s personality, self-upbringing. It was rarely perceived as an independent category. Instead, it was most frequently seen as a complement to the fi rst way of the understanding of the notion of “auto-education”: “(…) auto-education consists of: self-education (…) and self-upbringing understood as striving to develop one’s personality;” “independent and self-reliant work on one’s own initiative aiming at achieving defi ned educational goals as well as work on one’s own character.” Auto-education as self-upbringing, the process of personality development, was perceived by the respondents in two diff erent dimensions, dependent on will, aspirations and actions, referring to working on oneself, one’s character and improvement. Regarding this issue, the students’ comments were very general and brief. A more profound understanding of auto-education perceived as self-upbringing and personality development can be found in the second part of the research focusing on the presentation of individual auto-educational goals.

More elaborated and interesting comments were found in the last category of the understanding of auto-education as a process of learning about oneself, gaining knowledge about oneself. According to the respondents, the essence of auto-education in this approach is getting to know oneself, obtaining information about oneself from other people, and by means of auto-refl ection, through gain-ing an insight into one’s mental life and psychological conditions. Th e way the notion of auto-education was understood in this category was strictly related to the precise auto-educational goals defi ned by the respondents in the second part of the research. Th ese issues will be discussed in detail in further part of the article.

To sum up, let us briefl y present the results of the research on the way of under-standing the notion of auto-education by the students of pedagogy who participated in the research. According to the respondents, auto-education means:

self-education, the process of independent learning:– learner, the subject, determines all elements of this process, including •self-control and self-assessment;– the basic elements of the process of self-education are knowledge and •abilities which can constitute the aim itself, or they can be an indirect goal, leading to the development of personality, interests, tolerance, outlook on the world, career;– this process has an individual character, but it does not exclude the role •of the teacher who may initiate and direct it;– it is a continuous process and it can last a lifetime; •– it can take place in a certain human development phase (adulthood); •


self-upbringing, the process of personality development:– working on oneself; •– striving to develop oneself; •

learning about oneself, gaining knowledge about oneself:– getting to know oneself through auto-refl ection, gaining an insight into •one’s mental life, psychological states, and obtaining information about oneself from others;– gaining knowledge about one’s emotions, abilities, reactions in diff erent •situations in life;

In accordance with psycho-transgressionism, a psychological concept of man, a human being is considered to be a relatively self-steerable system. People are ‘originators’ of their behaviour, focused on their inner and outer development. As intentional individuals, they formulate various aims constituting an anticipated state of aff airs which is perceived as a carrier of potential values and meanings. [Kozielecki J., 2001, pp.22–23]. In the process of auto-education, individuals also set themselves certain aims, whose accomplishment oft en results in changing the limits of one’s abilities, namely excelling oneself.

Let us see now whether the participants in the research formulate their auto-educational goals and what material content of these objectives is.

Pedagogy students’ individual auto-educational goals

In order to identify the pedagogy students’ individual auto-educational goals, in the second part of the survey questionnaire the respondents were asked to provide an unlimited number of auto-educational goals which they wished to attain. Out of 120 respondents, 83 identifi ed their auto-educational goals. Th is constitutes 69.1% of the overall public participating in the research. Consequently, 37 respondents (30.8% of the respondent body) did not have any auto-educational aims. It may be assumed that these subjects are not involved in the process of auto-education, or the research itself was not as strong an incentive for them to make refl ections on their own auto-educational actions and indicate the goals formulated in their scope. Some of the young people who participated in the research wrote down in the questionnaire (part II) that the questions are interesting, but they had not given much thought to this issue yet, nor had they had many opportunities to discuss auto-education in their lives. However, those who made an eff ort to indicate their own auto-educational goals did not limit themselves to providing only one objec-tive. As a result, the obtained empirical material concerned 671 auto-educational

136 Violetta Rodek

goals. Th e next stage involved categorizing the content of the goals. It was possible to distinguish four categories of auto-educational goals (Table 1).

Th e fi rst category (the greatest number of goals indicated by the respondents) includes goals referring to: gaining or broadening the knowledge of general pedagogy and didactics; creation of one’s own methodological techniques con-nected with the future professional career; gaining and improving specialist skills concerning the future professional career; developing intellectual skills necessary to “acquire the educational material required in the university course more effi ciently ” (memory, attention, logical thinking). In this category the outstanding prevalence was given the goals aimed at obtaining precise knowledge and skills viewed as pro-fessional training, preparation for the future professional career. Th e respondents declared their willingness to upgrade their skills throughout their entire lifetime. Th ey seemed to be aware of the fact that in order to fi nd and keep a job for their entire life they would be made to broaden their scope of knowledge concerning the discipline in which they would be involved, mainly through self-education work. It is possible to note that the young people who value the possibility of personal development see a chance to fulfi ll their ambitions on the professional grounds by getting a quick promotion, making professional careers, winning recognition. However, they realize that achieving professional success is connected with auto-education, sparing no eff ort, continuous upgrading of professional qualifi cations and acquiring new competences.

Th e second category in relation to the number of the goals listed by the students, referring to the biological and bodily dimension of human life, included goals concerning mainly care for one’s health condition (“maintaining good health condi-tion,” “improvement of physical condition,” “establishing new eating habits – healthy food,” “giving up smoking,” “drinking less alcohol”) and improvement of one’s appear-ance (“lose weight!”, “systematically follow slimming and weight loss programmes”, “silhouette improvement,” “change one’s appearance, fi nd one’s own style of dressing”). Goals included in this category were characterized by diff erent levels of generality. Most frequently, they took a form of a slogan without a broader interpretation of the material content. Nevertheless, attempts were made to indicate precise ways of achieving these goals, e.g. going to the gym or going swimming regularly, contact-ing a dietitian, identifying shops selling healthy food, etc.

Th e goals concerning the development of one’s spirituality, axiological inner life, searching for the meaning of life were rarely mentioned in the respondents’ comments. However, they were most elaborate and were supported by justifi cation. In this category it is possible to distinguish main religious objectives referring to deepening faith, strengthening the inner spiritual life, gaining religious experience


and understanding (“feeling God’s presence,” “establishing a direct relationship with God”), “being an active member of a religious community.” Th e students participating in the research wrote: “My greatest desire is to fi nd inner peace, harmony, feel God’s grace and love,” “Live life with God, develop spiritually – this is probably the core of my existence. Is there anything more important?” “I must deepen my faith. Now I am not pleased with myself as I want to be an evangelizer.” Th e results obtained in the research seem to prove the thesis that these days tradition, a myth, religion are increasingly important elements constituting the sense of identity and meaning for many people.

Th e third category also includes goals which are not directly related with religion, but they refer to the development of oneself, one’s personality, most frequently through:

being useful to others, helping those in need, taking part in charity activities. •Th e following comments can serve as the best illustration of this attitude: “I would like to help disabled people, but it is diffi cult for me at the moment…,” “this year I have become a volunteer worker in a children’s hospital… this is what matters to me. By helping others, especially children, I am becoming a diff erent, defi nitely better person,” and through:“taking part in cultural life, • ” learning about tradition, shaping culture (“develop an artistic talent, open an exhibition of my works”).

Th e fourth category concerning self-discovery included such goals as: “gaining an insight into my mental states,” “learning the systematics of my own behaviour in diff erent situations in life,” “obtaining knowledge about myself, my emotions and abilities.” At the same time, the respondents pointed out the usefulness of such knowledge in respect to the formation of interpersonal relations, ‘functioning in social life in a more effi cient way’ (performing social roles). Simultaneously, for the respondents, the knowledge about themselves becomes the fi rst step to self-reliance, change or modifi cation of undesirable, inappropriate forms of behaviour deeply rooted in their mentality. Consequently, it may be viewed as an introductory stage to the process of working on oneself, improving one’s personality. From this perspective, the goals connected with self-discovery may be viewed as sub-goals, i.e. instrumental goals leading to the accomplishment of fi nal aims referring to the development of oneself.

Many authors emphasize the role of self-discovery in controlling one’s develop-ment. People need an appropriate theory of themselves. Th ey seek information enabling them to diagnose correctly their skills and abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Subjective, accurate auto-perception allows an individual to func-tion eff ectively and adjust themselves to a social environment. [Dymkowski M.,

138 Violetta Rodek

1993, p.29]. On the basis of the results obtained in the research, it is possible to observe that a scant number of the respondents were oriented at self-discovery in the process of auto-education undertaken by them. It was this category where the smallest number of auto-educational goals was observed (only 9.09% of all the goals indicated by the students). In addition to that, the respondents concentrated mainly on fi nding an answer to the question: “what am I like?” or alternatively: “why am I the way I am?”. However, deep self-discovery requires providing answers to further questions, such as: “what is my formative environment like?” “what variants of further life and development are possible in my case?”. Th is knowledge constitutes an essential element of human biographic competence [Pietrasiński Z., 1988, pp. 100–101 and 111–113], which is an indispensable condition for the occurrence of an intentional auto-education understood as a process involving the development of the whole personality.

Summarizing the fragment of the article concerning auto-educational goals, it is possible to note that the students of pedagogy who participated in the research are oriented at achieving the following goals in the undertaken process of auto-education:

concerning the intellectual sphere:gaining or broadening the knowledge of general pedagogy and didactics; •creating one’s own methodological techniques connected with the future •professional career;gaining and improving specialist skills concerning the future professional •career;developing intellectual sills (memory, attention, logical thinking); •

concerning the biological, bodily sphere:care for one’s health condition, improvement of one’s appearance; •

concerning the spiritual sphere, searching for the meaning of life:religious goals: deepening faith, strengthening the inner spiritual life, gain- •ing religious experience and understanding (religion as a sense-making factor);development of oneself through involvement in charity activities and par- •ticipation in culture and its formation;

concerning self-discovery (knowledge about oneself necessary to form inter-personal relations and constituting a basis for personality development):

gaining an insight into one’s mental states; •obtaining knowledge about oneself, one’s emotions and abilities; •discovering reasons behind the forms of behaviour displayed in diff erent •situations in life;


Th e research presented in this article does not exhaust the issues concerning auto-education in academic didactics. Owing to formal limitations, it was possible for the author to present two problems: the way of understanding the notion of ‘auto-education’ by the students of pedagogy and the respondents’ declarations in respect to their individual auto-educational goals. A goal itself represents a state of aff airs which is likely to occur owing to the subject’s activity. It is directed towards the future. In order to make the vision of future states of aff airs have a regulatory power in behaviour, it is necessary that a goal should be accompanied by specifi c methods of its realization. Th ese means of accomplishment can be more or less complex. Th ey can take a form of a generally outlined plan or precisely defi ned action programme. It seems justifi able to determine whether students recognize their auto-educational goals and what means of attaining their aims they indicate. While analyzing the students’ auto-educational process, it is also worth giving some thought to the determinants of the course and eff ectiveness of the process as well as gaining an insight – by means of a qualitative methodological approach – into the sense and meaning assigned by the students to the process of auto-education [Cf. Wróblewska W., 2005, pp. 382–383].

Bibliography:

Dudzikowa M. (1993). Praca młodzieży nad sobą. Z teorii i praktyki. Warszawa: Spółka Wydawnicza TERRA.

Dymkowski M. (1993). Poznawanie siebie. Umotywowane sprawdziany samowiedzy, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Instytutu Psychologii PAN.

Jankowski Dz. (2004). Edukacja wobec zmiany. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Adam Mar-szałek.

Kozielecki J. (2001). Psychotransgresjonizm. Nowy kierunek psychologii. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Akademickie „Żak”, .

Kupisiewicz C. (2005). Podstawy dydaktyki. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Szkolne i Pe-dagogiczne.

Łukaszewski W. (1984). Szanse rozwoju osobowości, Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza.Matwijów B. (1994). Samokształtowanie się człowieka w pedagogicznych koncepcjach

XX wieku. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego.Okoń W. (2003). Wprowadzenie do dydaktyki ogólnej. Warszawa” Wydawnictwo

Akademickie „Żak”.

140 Violetta Rodek

Pietrasiński Z. (1988). Rozwój z perspektywy jego podmiotu. In M. Tyszkowa (ed.), Rozwój psychiczny człowieka w ciągu życia. Zagadnienia teoretyczne i metodo-logiczne, Warszawa: PWN.

Półturzycki J. (2002). Dydaktyka dla nauczycieli. Płock: Wydawnictwo Naukowe NOVUM.

Wróblewska W. (2005). Autoedukacja studentów jako przedmiot badań dydaktyki szkoły wyższej. In A. Karpińska (ed), Edukacyjne obszary „głębokiej zmiany” w dialogu i perspektywie. Białystok: Wydawnictwo Trans Humana.

Pedeutology

Perceptions of School Teachers Regarding the Professionalism of the Teaching Profession

Abstract

Th e aim of this study is to determine teachers’ perceptions whether they have all the standards of professional teaching or not. Research indicated that teachers’ perceptions that their profession is congruent with the standards of professional teaching are not high but a middle level. When these perceptions were examined with the point of view of variables, the perceptions of the teachers who are female, elementary school teachers, public school teachers, and the teachers graduated from other, not educational, faculties are high. According to the results of this research, there is no relationship between seniority and the perception of profes-sionalism.

Key words: teacher profession, professionalism.

Introduction

Are teachers professionals? Th is question has been discussed for about a hundred years. Is teaching a profession that requires special professionalism? Here, it should be stressed that the word “profession” has been used with two meanings. Th e fi rst meaning is occupation and the second meaning is accomplishing a particular job with the highest standards (Aydın, 2003). In this research, the term profession is used in the second meaning.

When the history of education is studied, teacher education was given as apprenticeship education before the 19th century in Europe. Th e idea that teaching is a profession and there should be a formal education for it began fi rst in the

Sedat YükselTurkey

144 Sedat Yüksel

17th century in West Europe and this idea is widely accepted with the increasing importance of national education in Europe in the 19th century. Th ere were big changes in society and economy with the industrial revolution, the need for new jobs emerged in the USA and Europe, expert teachers having a higher academic education began to appear especially in Germany and other European countries as well as in the USA (Yang, 1998).

Sociologists studying the so-called professional occupations, such as law and medicine, concluded that they share certain characteristics that make them dif-ferent from other occupational groups (Larson, 1977). Th ese characteristics were described as receiving a long-term education related to the profession, working in a defi nite and limited fi eld, professional autonomy, having been given responsibility for the behaviours and decisions, the defi nite ethical rules of the profession and professional culture, an independent and comprehensive professional organization that governs itself, the specifi c conditions to enter the profession, giving permission to only those individuals who conform with these conditions to be a teacher, estab-lishing appropriate working conditions, the recognition of the prestige, fi nancial condition, and occupation by public (Aydın, 2003; Celep, 2004; Gündüz, 2003; Lieberman, 1956; Öztürk, 2002; Ryan & Cooper, 1998).

Although there have been discussions whether teaching is a “professional” or “semi-professional” occupation, it has been generally accepted that it is a “semi-professional” occupation (Duke, 1990; Etzioni, 1969; Morris, 1963; Sadker & Sadker, 2000). Here, the most important problem is to establish possible teacher autonomy because the education system, school and curricula are determined by policy makers and administration. However, while teachers have most of the professional teaching standards in some of the countries or schools, they may not have these standards in some other countries or schools (Ryan & Cooper, 1998).

When the situation related to the teaching occupation is examined in Turkey, teaching was enunciated as an occupation fi rst in the laws passed in 1924 and 1926. Teaching is expressed as an occupation having special expertise in the National Education Principal Law number 1739, passed in 1973 (Resmi Gazete, 1973). Th is law is still valid and has formed the legal foundation of Turkish education. However, it should be examined whether or not the teaching occupation in Turkey fulfi lls the conditions stated above in order to make comments on the status of the teaching occupation in Turkey. Especially the prestige of the teaching occupation in society should be taken into consideration. Although teaching is considered a sacred occupation in Turkey, it is considered to be one of the low status occupa-tions because of the insuffi cient salaries and conditions (Celep, 2004; Özpolat, 2002; Eğitimciler Birliği Sendikası, 2004; Erden, 1998).

145Perceptions of School Teachers…

Another problem with the professionalism of teaching is that there is no com-prehensive teacher organization that can govern itself independently in Turkey. An eff ective professional organization for teachers is necessary to increase the social and economic status of teachers, to determine professional standards, competence, and teachers’ responsibility and scope of authority, to defi ne ethical values of the occupation and to educate teachers according to these values, and to help them to receive the appropriate title and status to educate students. However, current teacher unions and clubs can hardly perform the role of a professional organiza-tion (Gündüz, 1997). Th ere is no strong professional organization preventing the teaching occupation from being a profession.

Th e research into teachers in Turkey reveals that they select this profession not by deliberate thinking, but by considering job security, short working hours, and long holidays (Eğitimciler Birliği Sendikası, 2004; Okçabol & Gök, 1998; Övet, 2006). On the other hand, teachers complain about low salaries (Acat & etc., 2003; Azar & Henden, 2003; Eğitim Bir-Sen, 2008; Günbayı, 2001). Moreover, as Bascia (2009) points out “teachers’ concerns about their working conditions, their expres-sions of concern about job security, salary and benefi ts and they are not behaving as professionals. True professionals do not complain. Th ey should seek “intrinsic” (personal satisfaction) rather than “extrinsic” (specifi c, concrete) rewards; discuss-ing their salary in public is not only impolite, but it suggest they care more for their own pocketbooks than for their students” (p.481).

Th e research done in this area mostly states the problems of teachers. How-ever, there is hardly any research into the professional standards of the teaching profession. Th e aim of this study is to determine teachers’ perceptions about the professional standards of their profession.

Method

Participants: Th is is a descriptive study and was carried out on 233 teachers working in Istanbul at the end of the 2008–2009 academic year. Istanbul is a densely populated city, and also an industrial and commercial centre. Migration to Istanbul occurs at high rates.

Table 1 shows the data regarding the personal data of the teachers who were included in the study.

Table 1 shows that most of the teachers in this study are female and graduated from educational faculties and most of them are elementary school teachers in public schools.

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Instrument

In the study, the researcher developed the Perception Scale for the Teaching Profession (PSTP), which was applied to the teachers. Th e scale was designed to question the views of the teachers regarding the professionalism of the teaching profession. Th e correlations of item-total and item-residue were calculated based on the data collected from 233 teachers in order to determine the distinguishing powers of the individual criteria of the 57 questions in the draft form with respect to its features.

Analytic and corroborant factor analyses were employed to determine the structural validity of the PSTP.

Table 1: Distributions of personal data of the teachers who were included in the study

Options

Gender Male Female Total

η 98.0 135.0 233.0% 42.1 57.9 100.0

Type of SchoolPublic Private –

η 155.0 78.0 233.0% 66.5 33.5 100.0

GraduateEducation Fac. Other Fac. Total

η 177.0 56.0 233.0% 76.0 24.0 100.0

Level of School Primary school. Secondary school Total

η 185.0 48.0 233.0% 79.4 20.6 100.0

DisciplinePrimary Science

& MathSocial

Courses Total

η 132.0 34.0 67.0 233.0% 56.7 14.6 28.8 100.0


Analytic factor analysis

For the analytic factor analysis, Kaiser Meyer was calculated as Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin=.927, and Bartlett analysis was calculated as [p<.01]. Th e perpendicular axial rotating technique was then performed to generalize the data to be obtained from the scale in this study. Th e varimax technique for perpendicular axial rotation was preferred due to the multifactor nature of the scale (Rennie, 1997; Stapleton, 1997; Stewens, 1996;). It was understood that the items of the scale consisted of two (2) sub-scales. Th e specifi c values of each subscale are greater than 1. Th e total of the specifi c values of the subscales in the scale is 10.35. Th e explained variance percentage total is 54.53, and factor charges for the items of the subscales range between 0.61 and 0.85 (cf. Table 2).

When the factor analysis was repeated for the remaining 19 items resulting from the factor analysis, it was seen that the factor charges of these items were higher in only the subscale directly below. Th ese subscales are as follows:

(i) Belief in Professional Identity: Th is consists of thirteen items, nine positive and four negative. High scores obtained for this scale indicate that the teachers believe that teaching is a professional occupation.

Samples from the items:(1) Teaching is an occupation requiring

expertise.(2) A teacher can be successful without

following the advancements in their fi eld.

(ii) Position in School: Th is consists of six items, all of which are positive. High scores obtained for this scale indicate that

Table 2: The results of analytic factor analysis for the PSTP

SubscalesBelief in

Professional Identity

Position in School

Item No Factor charge

Factor charge

ITEM 33 .85ITEM 6 .84ITEM 23 .82ITEM 15 .81ITEM 24 .81ITEM 34 .76ITEM 1 .75ITEM 21 .75ITEM 14 .72ITEM 8 .72ITEM 12 .68ITEM 25 .61ITEM 57 .57ITEM 31 .74ITEM 29 .67ITEM 39 .65ITEM 47 .65ITEM 48 .64ITEM 43 .61Specifi c value 7.48 2.87

Explained Variance 39.39 15.14

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the teachers’ working conditions in schools and status are appropriate to satisfy the requirements of teaching professionally.

Samples from the items:(1) Th e teacher can freely express their thoughts at the meetings at school.(2) No one restricts teachers’ activities in classrooms.

Corroborant factor analysis

Th e corroborant factor analysis was performed at two stages as another eff ort to support the scale’s structural validity. At the fi rst stage, it was determined whether the estimated values exceeded the theoretical limits before evaluation of the corroborant analysis results of the subscales (which were obtained as a result of

the analytic factor analysis of the scale). According to the results, no values were found to exceed the theoretical limits. Th e consistency indices for the corroborant factor analysis seen in Table 3 were calculated as chi-square (χ2) value [χ2=393.29, df=231, p<.01] for the scale. Also, other consistency wellness indices [GFI=0.92, AGFI=0.94, RMSEA=0.06] show that the model recommended for the scale is suitable. Furthermore, the factor charges which were obtained in the corroborant factor analysis for the scale, range between 0.37 and 0.79.

Cronbach’s Alpha coeffi cients for interrelation in the scale were found to be 0.75 and 0.93 for the subscales, and 0.87 for the scale in general. Table 4 shows Cronbach’s Alpha coeffi cients of subscales and item numbers of the subscales of the scale.

Table 3: Consistency parameters of the scale for the corroborant

factor analysis model

Consistency parameter Coeffi cient

GFI 0.92AGFI 0.94RMSEA 0.06df 231χ2 393.29χ2/df 1.70

Table 4: Reliability coeffi cients of the subscales and item numbers

Subscales η Item number Alpha

1–1.FACTOR 233 13 0.932–2.FACTOR 233 6 0.75TOTAL 233 19 0.87


Analysing the data

In the study, demographic variables of the sample group were grouped before the statistical analysis, and the scale was then scored according to a 5-point Likert system. Th e distribution of the data was checked. Kolmogorov-Smirnov’s normality test was performed to determine whether the distribution was normal. According to the results of the test (p<.05), the data was not distributed normally. In other words, the distribution was non-parametric.

Accordingly,Th e • Mann-Whitney-U Test was employed to determine whether the scores of the teachers included in the sample varied depending on gender, the type and level of school in which the teachers worked and graduated.Th e • Kruskal Wallis-H Test was employed to determine whether the scores of the teachers included in the sample varied depending on the teachers’ fi elds.Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis • was employed to determine the relationships between the teachers’ scores and job experience.

Findings

Table 5 shows the teachers’ ideas about the professionalism of their occupation.As can be seen in Table 5, the teachers do not agree that the teaching occupation

has all the professional standards. Th at is, the teachers mostly believe that teaching is not a professional occupation. However, their ideas about the position of teachers at schools, which is one of the standards of the professionalism of the teaching occupation, are more positive. According to these results, although the teachers do not believe that their occupation is not a profession since the teaching occupation does meet all the requirements of a profession, teachers are in good position at schools.

Table 5: Test of normality: Kolmogorov-Smirnov

Dimension Z df p1 – Belief in Professional Identity 2.81 233 .0002 – Position in School 1.50 233 .022TOTAL 1.88 235 .002

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Table 6 shows the teachers’ perceptions regarding the professionalism of the teaching profession depending on gender.

According to the Mann-Whitney U-Test, meaningful variations were found for the female teachers in favour of the belief in the professional identity of the teach-ing profession, as well as in the total. Th e female teachers believe more than the male teachers that teaching is a professional occupation.

In the teachers’ perceptions regarding the professionalism of the teaching profes-sion depending on the school level, no meaningful variations were found for the belief in the professional identity of the teaching profession and total. However, meaningful variations were found in the primary school teachers in favour of the belief in the position at school. According to this, the position and environment of the primary school teachers are more appropriate to professional standards. However, their perceptions of the professionalism of their occupation is not higher than that of the secondary school teachers (Table 7).

Table 8 shows the teachers’ perceptions regarding the professionalism of the teaching profession depending on the type of school.

According to the Mann-Whitney U-Test results, meaningful variations were found for the public school teachers in favour of the total scale. Yet, no meaningful variations were found in all the subscales.

Table 5: Results for the teachers’ perceptions regarding the teaching profession

Subscales η X SS1 – Belief in Professional Identity 233 2.82 .892 – Position in School 233 3.49 .68TOTAL 233 3.04 .61

Table 6: Mann-Whitney U-Test results for the teachers’ perceptions depending on gender

Subscales Group η X SS Xrank U z p

1 – Belief in Pro-fessional Identity

Female 135 3.04 .85 134.664231.0 –4.697 .000

Male 98 2.52 .86 92.67

2 – Position in School

Female 155 3.47 .66 114.976341.5 –.542 .588

Male 78 3.52 .70 119.80

TOTALFemale 155 3.18 .58 132.62

4506.5 .588 .000Male 78 2.84 .61 95.48


Table 7: Mann-Whitney U-Test results for the teachers depending on the school level



Primary School 185 2.77 .92 115.364136.0 –.731 .465

Secondary School 48 2.99 .75 123.33


Primary School 185 3.56 .63 122.913347.5 –2.636 .008

Secondary School 48 3.22 .77 94.24

TOTALPrimary School 185 3.03 .64 117.15

4412.0 –.066 .947Secondary School 48 3.06 .52 116.43

Table 8: Mann-Whitney U-Test results for the teachers depending on the school type



Public 155 2.88 .65 121.075413.0 –1.302 .193

Private 78 2.71 .59 108.90


Public 155 3.54 .64 121.915284.0 –1.573 .116

Private 78 3.41 .71 107.24

TOTALPublic 155 3.09 .65 123.91

4974.0 –2.207 .027Private 78 2.93 .53 103.27

Table 9 shows the teachers’ perceptions regarding the professionalism of the teaching profession depending on the higher education institutions they graduated from.

According to the Mann-Whitney U-Test, meaningful variations were found for the teachers who did not graduate from educational faculties in favour of the belief in the professional identity of the teaching profession, as well as in the total. Th at is, the perception of the teachers who did not graduate from educational faculties (e.g., those who graduated from liberal arts, etc.), is not higher than other teachers.’

In the teachers’ perceptions regarding the professionalism of the teaching profes-sion depending on their disciplines, no meaningful variations were found.

Table 11 shows the results of the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Analysis made to determine the correlation between the teachers’ perceptions and their job experience.

According to the statistical results, no meaningful relationship was found in the scale and all the subscales. Th at is, there is no relationship between the teachers’ seniority and their belief in the professionalism of their occupation.

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Table 11: Pearson Correlation Matrix between the teachers’ views and their job experience

Variables Belief in Professional Identity

Position in School TOTAL

Job experience .035 –.037 –.022

N=229

Table 9: Mann-Whitney U-Test results for the teachers depending on the higher education institutions they graduated from



Education Faculty 177 2.74 .91 110.823863.0 –2.488 .013

Other Faculties 56 3.10 .75 136.52


Education Faculty 177 3.52 .66 118.904620.0 –.766 .444

Other Faculties 56 3.42 .72 111.01

TOTALEducation Faculty 177 2.98 .62 110.76

3851.0 –2.514 .012Other Faculties 56 3.20 .58 136.72

Table 10: Kruskal Wallis-H Test results for the teachers depending on the discipline

Subscales Group η X SS Xrank X2 SD p


Primary 132 2.77 .92 114.72.441 2 .802Science & Math 34 2.92 .79 117.13

Social Courses 67 2.88 .89 121.43


Primary 111 3.55 .63 122.532.170 2 .338Science & Math 54 3.47 .62 112.81

Social Courses 70 3.39 .79 108.23

TOTALPrimary 111 3.02 .63 115.34

.187 2 .911Science & Math 54 3.10 .46 119.57Social Courses 70 3.04 .66 118.97


Conclusion

Although there are discussions about whether teaching is a profession or semi-profession, it should be remembered that bringing the teaching occupation to the level of a profession will contribute to the considerable improvement of the working conditions in schools and an increase in student success (McLaughin & Talbert, 1993; Ornstein, 1988). For this reason, the teaching occupation should have most of the standards if it does not have all of them. However, there are some practices that prevent teaching from being a professional occupation. Autonomy and salaries are two of such important practices. Especially aft er the Second World War, teachers have been exposed to increasing governmental control. Constant scrutiny of teachers’ performance by experts, trying to mould teachers into the same shape in the name of standardization, and trying to defi ne teaching in terms of technical tools are some of these control eff orts. All of these practices harm the teaching profession and autonomy that is one of the requirements of professional-ism. On the other hand, teachers are not paid well enough to meet their eff orts. All of these negative conditions decrease the status of teaching in ociety (Bursalıoğlu, 2002; Novoa, 2000). Th is low status leads teachers to a pessimistic view of their profession and decreases their motivation to develop themselves.

Th is research shows that teachers’ autonomy is an important criterion for the teaching occupation to become a profession. Autonomy might be the reason for pri-mary and public school teachers’ perception that their occupation fulfi lls the criteria of a profession. Teachers’ autonomy is restricted at secondary schools and private schools since there is more pressure at secondary schools than primary schools and there is more administrative and parent pressure at private schools. Th e teachers who do not feel autonomous do not see their occupation as a profession. Another fi nding of this research is individual thoughts about the teaching profession. Th is might explain why the teachers who did not graduate from educational faculties regard their job as more professional than those who graduated from educational faculties. Th e explanation might be that the possibility of being a teacher is very low for those who did not graduate from educational faculties and they value their job more than the teachers who graduated from educational faculties.

As a result, the criteria of the teaching profession, such as autonomy, should be taken into consideration if teaching is to become a complete profession, such as that of an engineer, doctor, and lawyer. Although it does not seem to be possible for teaching to become a complete profession, it should be remembered that if the teaching occupation fulfi lls the standards of a profession, the quality of teaching will considerably increase.

154 Sedat Yüksel

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Life Satisfaction of Slovak Teachers Depending on the School Type

Abstract

Th e paper deals with a current issue – life satisfaction of teachers in Slovakia. Th e authors analyse satisfaction of Slovak teachers with their life as a whole, but also their satisfaction with domains such as work, health, students. Life satisfaction is analysed in terms of the type of educational institution where the teachers work.

Key words: life satisfaction, status, teacher, subjective well-being, job satisfaction.

Theoretical analysis

In recent years, considerable attention has been paid to the issue of life satisfac-tion and related constructs. Satisfaction with one’s own life forms an inseparable part of subjective well-being, which is very oft en regarded as an indicator of the quality of life. In several delimitations of the term quality of life we come across emphasis placed on satisfaction. According to this notion, a person has quality life when he/she is satisfi ed with his/her life. An individual is then satisfi ed if he/she succeeds in achieving goals set in advance. Echteld (In: Ellison, C.G. , 1991) sees this fulfi lment as a consequence of a person’s long-term experience of achieving his/her own life goals. If the person succeeds in carrying out his/her own plans, he/she is satisfi ed. It means that the level of satisfaction is closely related to the personal understanding of the quality of life.

In no case can subjective well-being be identifi ed with the quality of life and use these terms as synonyms. With regard to the extent of both terms, in this paper we

Lucia Pašková, Marta ValihorováSlovak Republic

158 Lucia Pašková, Marta Valihorová

are interested in subjective well-being, particularly its cognitive component – life satisfaction.

Satisfaction is related to the past and like all emotions which relate to the past, it is already embedded also in thinking and interpretation. People are mostly pre-vented from experiencing satisfaction by insuffi cient evaluation and by not having much success in the past or they place too great emphasis on negative experiences. Emotions relating to the past can be transposed into the level of fulfi lment and satisfaction by means of gratitude, which increases – improves experiencing and evaluating of positive things from the past, and by means of forgiveness, which weakens the power of negative events.

When studying subjective well-being, the most preferred conception is the theory by Diener (2002, 2003, 2004) according to which subjective well-being is traditionally formed by two components:

Aff ective component – 1. the frequency of experiencing positive and negative emotions.Cognitive-evaluative component2. – satisfaction with one’s own life.

Th e aff ective component is based on the circular model of aff ective reactions which distinguishes two dimensions: 1. positive emotions (it is represented by adjectives of positive emotions – joyful, active, etc.) 2. negative emotions (it is represented by adjectives of negative emotions – worried, angry, etc.) (Watson, D. – Clark, L.A. – Tellegen, A., 1988). It is measured by a person’s account of the frequency of experiencing individual emotions, and functions on the principle of homeostasis (an eventual change is corrected to the original level which is typical of that particular person). Th e cognitive component (its content is almost identi-cal with the term satisfaction with life and functions on the principle of psychic equilibrium – aft er an eventual change it can stabilize also at another level) is measured on the basis of a person’s statement – by means of cognitive processes the person evaluates how he/she is satisfi ed with his/her own life as a whole and with its various specifi c domains. For example, Fahrenberg (1994) characterizes life satisfaction as an individual evaluation of the past and present life conditions and expected perspective of life. Th e author distinguishes satisfaction with life as a whole and apart from that also satisfaction with such specifi c domains of life as health, work and occupation, fi nancial situation, leisure, marriage and partner-ship, relationship with one’s own children, satisfaction with one’s own personality, sexuality, friends, acquaintances and relatives, housing.

Findings by Diener et al. (1994, 1999, 2000) indicate that satisfaction with life as part of subjective well-being refl ects fulfi lment of the individual’s values and goals and participates in looking for meaningfulness of life. Džuka and Dalbertová

159Life Satisfaction of Slovak Teachers Depending on the School Type

(2006, 2002) state that satisfaction within the psychology of human needs and within the theory of self-regulation is a domain of psychic phenomena, which is incorporated in the subjective experiential domain of man. It is a subjective experience which originates in man in connection with objectively existing needs, or according to the theory of self-regulation it is a response to self-regulating processes in the organism. According to them, life satisfaction is determined by the following moderators:

subjectively perceived control1. the style of coping with stress2. attitudes to one’s own health3. social support systems4. the person’s means to maintain his/her own status5. particular life events6.

Seligman (In: Diener, E., 2004) presents an equation which should clarify what determines how satisfi ed we are with our life:

H = S + C + VH – satisfaction (enduring level of happiness)S – set range (expresses the person’s genetic contribution to his/her overall happiness,

dispositions to experience happiness)C – life circumstancesV – factors under voluntary control (internal circumstances)

Blatný and Plháková (2003) express the opinion that one of the main prereq-uisites for life satisfaction is positive evaluation of one’s own personality. Th e authors state that there is a relationship between some personality characteristics (mainly those of temperament), self-evaluation and life satisfaction: extroverts and emotionally stable persons are more satisfi ed with their life and have a higher self-evaluation than introverts and emotionally unstable persons. However, talking about the relationship between self-evaluation and life satisfaction, we can always identify persons who are either satisfi ed with themselves and not with their life; or persons satisfi ed with their own life, but not with themselves. Foundations for self-evaluation criteria are laid in the childhood and are formed by parents, important persons within the family or other persons in educational and parental functions (Oravcová, J., 2006). A change occurs in adulthood and it is connected with being employed and starting a family. Th e best predictor of self-evaluation among adults is support by the partner, their own children, family, co-workers and persons from reference groups. Th e value of oneself should occupy an important place in man’s


hierarchy of values, since values are signifi cant regulators of man’s experiencing and actions (Salbot, V.-Poliach, V., 2007).

Many various factors contribute to life satisfaction. Frk (2002) considers job satisfaction as one of them and on the contrary, job satisfaction leads to the overall life satisfaction (Vašašová, Z., 2007). In a similar way, also Brandstätter (In: Diener, E., 2004) includes job satisfaction in his conception of subjective well-being which contributes to the overall life satisfaction.

Job satisfaction as part of life satisfaction is based on the evaluation of working conditions as a whole and their partial components. Th e proportion of evaluat-ing individual conditions and components of work to the overall evaluation of work and profession varies according to objective and subjective circumstances. As a rule, job satisfaction is regarded as a subjective complex phenomenon based on the evaluation of individual parts, conditions and circumstances of perform-ing a certain profession (Frk, V., 2002). Rymeš (In: Kubáni, V. – Kandrík, P., 2007) includes the following in the most oft en stated factors of job satisfaction: one’s own work, conditions for its performance including a wider context of socially economic conditions, remuneration for work, promotion opportunities, organiza-tion and management including leadership of a particular work group, conditions in the work group, corporate culture, social prestige of work, positive infl uence on satisfaction – mainly on autonomy in decision-making, attractiveness and diversity of work, good interpersonal relationships. When focusing on teachers’ job satisfac-tion and life satisfaction, Valica (2001) argues that a signifi cant indicator of overall job satisfaction is teacher’s attitude to the teaching profession. Motivation “to be and remain a teacher“ even aft er negative experiences in the role of a teacher is a substantial sign of an overall positive attitude or of the need to be a teacher. Daniel (2002) claims that the professional work of a teacher is decisively infl uenced by the choice of this profession which has its specifi cs. He states that when a graduate of a pedagogical faculty starts work, stress situations oft en occur at the stage of adaptation, with pupils, school management, as well as with parents. He also speaks about a reality shock. Th e preparation of future teachers is of decisive importance for successful coping with this stage. Teachers having a 1–3-year teaching experi-ence are considered to be beginner teachers. In the following years they become experienced teachers (most oft en aft er 5 years of practice). Th eir competence is based mainly on professional readiness, personality prerequisites and on extending their pedagogical-psychological knowledge. Th e fi nal stage of the professional career of teachers concerns those who have approximately 30 years of experience, have enough experience and are in the so-called pre-retirement period. Here we can observe a decline in professional ambitions, non-involvement, the feeling of satisfac-


tion from work declines, they do not feel like spending all the time with pupils and the feeling of physical weariness and psychic stress is growing (Kariková, 2005).

Holdaway and Johnson’s theoretical model (In: Kubáni, V. – Kandrík, P., 2007) attempts at a summary explanation of teachers’ job satisfaction. Its main compo-nents include individual aspects of the profession, personal and organizational characteristics, personal needs and values. Th ese are projected into perceptual and cognitive processes from which satisfaction with individual aspects of the profession as well as overall job satisfaction result. According to the authors, sat-isfaction with partial components of work (e.g., relationships with colleagues and pupils) is of importance for the emotional exhaustion (burn-out), interpersonal confl icts, feelings of helplessness and bureaucratic obstacles. According to Průcha (ibid), teachers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their own pedagogical activity is determined by various criteria: evaluation by supervisors, manifestations of pupils’ behaviour during the lessons (activity, expressed interest, attention, order), pupils’ achievement, or teachers are oft en unable to identify the cause of their satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

Research has dealt with the issue of diff erences in satisfaction among teachers at various school types, teaching various subjects and with diff erences between male and female teachers:

Fields and Blum (In: Diener, E., 2002) found that job satisfaction is also infl u-enced by the gender composition of the work group. Job satisfaction was generally higher where the number of women and men were essentially the same. Teams where one gender prevails, as is the case at most Slovak primary schools due to feminization, report lower satisfaction in comparison with gender balanced groups. In Mocko’s opinion (2003), schools are being too feminized and the education system “is getting old“.

Válková (In: Kubáni, V. – Kandrík, P., 2007) found that female teachers have signifi cantly more positive attitudes towards their profession than male teachers, however, these decrease with the length of teaching experience in both groups. Investment in work (resourcefulness, contribution, decision-making, responsibility, eff ort) is the same among male and female teachers; it is signifi cantly higher only in the group of men with longer experience. Interpersonal relationships between female teachers are better than the relationships between male teachers; similarly, also motivation, job satisfaction and adaptation.

Paulík (In: Valica, M., 2001) compared satisfaction of primary school, secondary school and university teachers and noticed a tendency to declining overall job satisfaction with the growing age of pupils. A more detailed analysis of results suggested some diff erences between female and male teachers:


Men in comparison with women were more dissatisfi ed with their pay, 1. equipment in the school and working environment.Women were more dissatisfi ed with lack of time (particularly for their own 2. family and for preparation for the lessons) and with pupils’ inappropriate behaviour (failure to abide by the school rules, aggression, vandalism) and with pupils’ attitudes (insuffi cient preparation, not bringing things necessary for the lesson).

Kika (In: Zvaríková, M. – Račková, M., 2007) sees the main reason for teachers’ job dissatisfaction in the fi nancial remuneration of pedagogues, across the whole spectrum of the criteria: the ratio of pedagogues’ salary to salaries in other profes-sions, the ratio of the salary to pedagogues’ education, the ratio of the salary to the importance and responsibility of teachers’ work, the ratio of the salary to the length of teaching experience. Zvaríková and Račková (2007) point to the fact that the situation has not changed since 1992, when similar research was conducted into all the mentioned criteria; on the contrary, it got worse and teachers’ feeling of dissatisfaction has deepened. Vikartovský (2003) mentions also other problems. Demands put on teachers’ work are growing continuously. Emphasis is placed on the improvement of pre-graduate preparation, introduction and consistent per-formance of life-long learning, there have been even proposals that teachers should be re-accredited aft er several years and prove their pedagogical competences. If teachers wanted to properly perform all the tasks assigned to them, they would work more than 43 hours per week. Th e reason can also be the current perception of the status of the teacher in society. In recent years, the status of the teacher has been declining in society. Kariková (2005) thinks that the infl uence of the mass media can also play a certain role; they present a negative picture of teachers’ work, of the low level of the education system and the like.

In our paper we attempt to present the current state of life satisfaction of Slovak teachers working at various types of schools.

Empirical part

In the empirical part we focused on the analysis of life satisfaction among 244 teachers of nursery schools, primary and secondary schools and universities. We will analyze diff erences in teachers’ life satisfaction depending upon the school type.


Research hypothesesH1: We assumed that there would be diff erences in life satisfaction of teachers

depending upon the school type.H1A: We assumed that a statistically signifi cant diff erence in life satisfaction of

nursery school and primary school teachers would be confi rmed. (In view of the demands put on work at nursery school and primary school, as well as in view of the number of children in groups – classes, we expect that teachers at nursery schools would be more satisfi ed with their life than teachers working at primary schools.)

H1B: We assumed that a statistically signifi cant diff erence in life satisfaction of nursery school and secondary school teachers would be confi rmed. (On the basis of pupils’ ontogenetic characteristics we assumed that teachers at nursery schools would be more satisfi ed with their life than teachers working at secondary schools. We expected that a diff erence would be recorded also in the case of satisfaction with pupils.)

H1C: We assumed that a statistically signifi cant diff erence in life satisfaction of primary school and university teachers would be confi rmed. (In terms of the level of self-fulfi lment and diff erent duties at work, we expected higher life satisfaction among university teachers than among teachers at primary schools.)

Research sample244 teachers participated in the research; their average age was 44.5. A detailed

characteristic of the research sample in terms of gender and school type is pre-sented in Table 1.

Research methodsIn view of the set research objectives and hypotheses, we applied a standard-

ized Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, LSQ, in order to obtain the necessary data –

Table 1. Distribution of the research sample in terms of gender and school type

Nursery school

Primary school

Secondary school

University Total

N % N % N % N % N %Women 32 100 93 83.8 48 68.6 16 51.6 189 77.5Men 0 0 18 16.2 22 31.4 15 48.4 55 22.5Total 32 100 111 100.0 70 100.0 31 100.0 244 100.0


(J. Fahrenberg – M. Myrtek – J. Schumacher – E. Brähler, translation and revision by Rodná, K. – Rodný, T., 2001). Th e LSQ is designed to assess overall life satisfaction and satisfaction with life in individual domains. It is made up of 63 items which are assigned to 9 domains identifying satisfaction with a particular domain of life: health, work and employment, fi nancial situation, leisure, one’s own personality, friends, acquaintances and relatives, housing, children – family. For our needs also students were included in the examined domains.

Th e LSQ provides norms for the Czech population and for our purposes we prepared population estimates of values for individual variables. We used uni-variate and multivariate statistics – a method for robust estimate of the mean. In order to estimate the standard deviation we applied the Jackknife method and used program STATIT.

Apart from the method determined for collecting research data, we applied a mathematical-statistical analysis for their processing. In order to identify signifi -cant diff erences we made use of the Mann-Whitney U-test and calculations for the mean value of distribution – the median.

Research fi ndings

Th e main question to which we tried to fi nd answers was identifi cation of diff erences in assessing life satisfaction as a whole, as well as satisfaction with individual examined domains of life. Th e results of our fi ndings are presented in Tables 2–7.

Table 2 illustrates the diff erences in life satisfaction between the respondents working at nursery schools and primary schools.

We discovered that the teachers at nursery schools are more satisfi ed with their life as a whole (Me = 129; p = 0.0000), as well as with the domain of students (Me= 13; p = 0.0004) and fi nance (Me = 12; p = 0.0070). Th e explanation can be found in the motivation to choose the teaching profession, where especially among the teachers at nursery schools fi nancial remuneration will probably not be at the top, but love to children and desire to shape them at an early age, to watch how they change, to apply their own creativity and acquired knowledge at work.

We recorded even more signifi cant diff erences when comparing the teachers at nursery schools and secondary schools (Table 3). Th e teachers at nursery schools are again more satisfi ed with their overall life, but they are also more satisfi ed with their work, with their pupils and with their personality. Perhaps it is also conditioned by a more demanding profession of secondary school


Table 2. Signifi cance of the diff erences in life satisfaction between the nursery school and primary school teachers

Domains of life satisfac-tion

Chi-square Diff erentialDf

Signifi cancep-value

Median (Me)-nursery

school

Median (Me)-primary

schoolHealth 0.71 3 0.9945 14 14Work 3.69 3 0.3019 13 13Students 16.51 3 0.0004 13 11Finance 12.0 3 0.0070 12 10Leisure 5.00 3 0.1703 15 14Personality 3.54 3 0.3203 15 15Family 4.68 3 0.2009 15 14Friends 0.74 3 0.8828 15 15Housing 4.95 3 0.1755 15 14Overall life satisfaction 30.3 3 0.0000 129 118

Table 3. Signifi cance of the diff erences in life satisfaction between the nursery school and secondary school teachers


chi-square Diff erentialDf


Median (Me)-nursery

school

Median (Me)-secondary

schoolHealth 3.6 3 0.3029 14 14Work 16.30 3 0.0003 13 10Students 16.22 3 0.0006 13 11Finance 0.71 3 0.9943 12 10Leisure 3.84 3 0.3200 15 14Personality 15.4 3 0.0012 15 12Family 0.75 3 0.8830 15 15Friends 4.33 3 0.2004 15 15Housing 4.99 3 0.1784 15 14Overall life satisfaction 30.1 3 0.0000 129 120


teachers in relation to students, since these are individuals at an older school age – puberty.

Th e diff erences in life satisfaction between the teachers at nursery schools and universities are presented in Table 4.

We found a single statistically signifi cant diff erence (p= 0.0022) in the domain of satisfaction with work, again in favour of the teachers at nursery schools (Me= 13). From the presented fi ndings follows a summary as if there were three types of schools

nursery schools,1. primary and secondary schools,2. universities,3.

because signifi cant fi ndings were confi rmed exactly in the combination of these three types of educational institutions. Th is conclusion has also been confi rmed by the following fi ndings.

When comparing the teachers at primary and secondary schools (Table 5), we discovered a signifi cant diff erence in two domains – in the domain of work and personality. In both cases the primary school teachers were more satisfi ed. A lower evaluation of one’s own personality among the secondary school teachers (Me = 12) can be related to the fact that students (at puberty) are more critical towards their teachers.

Table 4. Signifi cance of the diff erences in life satisfaction between the nursery school and university teachers




Median (Me)-nursery

school

Median (Me)-university

Health 5.31 3 0.1735 14 15Work 14.73 3 0.0022 13 11Students 3.73 3 0.3218 13 13Finance 0.74 3 0.9483 12 12Leisure 3.6 3 0.3028 15 14Personality 0.77 3 0.8844 15 16Family 4.53 3 0.2009 15 15Friends 4.33 3 0.1770 15 16Housing 0.33 3 0.9960 15 14Overall life satisfaction 3.23 3 0.3541 129 128


Table 5. Signifi cance of the diff erences in life satisfaction between the primary and secondary school teachers




Median (Me)-primary

school

Median (Me)-second-

ary schoolHealth 5.94 3 0.1174 14 14Work 15.4 3 0.0015 12 10Students 3.20 3 0.3643 11 11Finance 3.64 3 0.3142 10 10Leisure 3.01 3 0.3938 14 14Personality 14.93 3 0.0007 15 12Family 6.28 3 0.0980 14 15Friends 6.43 3 0.0928 15 15Housing 1.69 3 0.6648 14 14Overall life satisfaction

0.74 3 0.8828 118 120

Table 6. Signifi cance of the diff erences in life satisfaction between the primary school and university teachers




Median (Me)-primary

school

Median (Me)-univer-

sityHealth 6.49 3 0.0935 14 15Work 3.20 3 0.3643 12 11Students 16.3 3 0.0004 11 13Finance 12.8 3 0.0043 10 12Leisure 5.99 3 0.1175 14 14Personality 6.39 3 0.0944 15 16Family 3.66 3 0.3124 14 15Friends 3.00 3 0.3925 15 16Housing 1.65 3 0.6655 14 14Overall life satisfaction 28.9 3 0.0000 118 128


Table 6 presents a comparison of life satisfaction between the teachers at primary schools and universities. When comparing the teachers at primary schools and universities, a highly statistically signifi cant diff erence (p= 0.0000) was discovered in experiencing overall life satisfaction by the primary school teachers (Me= 118) and the university teachers (Me= 128). We found a signifi cant diff erence in the domain satisfaction with students (p= 0.0004) in favour of the university teachers (Me= 13). We see huge diff erences in the way of communicating and working with pupils at primary schools and students at universities, who are in fact adult people. Th e university teachers are more satisfi ed with fi nancial remuneration (Me= 12; p= 0.0043), which is connected with their higher qualifi cations and with better opportunities for professional self-fulfi lment.

Table 7 presents a highly statistically signifi cant diff erence in overall life sat-isfaction (p= 0.0000) between the teachers at secondary schools (Me= 120) and universities (Me= 128), which was manifested in the domain satisfaction with students (p= 0.0001) in favour of the university teachers (Me= 13) as well as in the domain satisfaction with one’s own personality (Me= 16; p= 0.0018).

If we want to summarize, we can state that:Teachers at nursery schools and universities are generally more satisfi ed •with their life than primary and secondary school teachers.

Table 7. Signifi cance of the diff erences in life satisfaction between the secondary school and university teachers

Domains of life satisfac-

tion



Median (Me)-secondary

school

Median (Me)-university

Health 6.44 3 0.0927 14 15Work 3.22 3 0.3644 10 11Students 26.38 3 0.0001 11 13Finance 5.94 3 0.1178 10 12Leisure 6.38 3 0.0981 14 14Personality 15.3 3 0.0018 12 16Family 3.61 3 0.3214 15 15Friends 3.25 3 0.3939 15 16Housing 1.64 3 0.6625 14 14Overall life satisfaction 29.0 3 0.0000 120 128


Th e diff erence between nursery schools and universities, as well as between •primary and secondary schools was not statistically signifi cant.Diff erences in individual domains of life satisfaction pertained to satisfac- •tion with one’s own personality, work, fi nance and students. Th e signifi cance of diff erences was not confi rmed in other areas.

We do realize certain methodological limitations concerning the generaliza-tion of our research fi ndings, however the obtained results can be considered as a probe into the important issues of life satisfaction among Slovak teachers. Equally, interpretations represent only some explanations of all possible ones. In order to analyse this issue more in depth, we intend to focus on life satisfaction from other aspects and analyse it not only in terms of the school type, but also in terms of permanent residence, gender and length of experience or to focus on the determinants of life satisfaction of teachers resulting, at present, for example, from the growing aggressiveness of pupils and parents directed against teach-ers; another cause of their dissatisfaction may be the burn-out syndrome. Our fi ndings are confi ned to the presentation of teachers’ current life satisfaction; in order to analyze the causes of dissatisfaction it would be necessary to use other research tools.

Conclusion

Th e overall life satisfaction as well as satisfaction with individual areas of teach-ers’ life is certainly infl uenced by the social status of this profession. Blahovec (2002) considers it necessary to make changes by adopting measures improving the social status of teachers, particularly in the following areas: the status of teachers and the status of their profession, pay, social security, moral assessment, ethical and health capability. By conducting changes in the given areas, he sees improvement in the social status of Slovak teachers. Šimčáková (2005), in her research dealing with teachers’ ideas for the development of the educational system and the status of teachers in society, says that it is necessary to: 1. improve the working conditions of teachers, 2. grant social and cultural benefi ts to teachers, 3. grant benefi ts to teachers for their health care, 4. increase teachers’ pay, 5. strengthen the social status of teachers, 6. evaluate adequately and assess morally teachers’ work, 7. enhance teachers’ further education, 8. make the preparation of teachers more attractive and enhance it, 9. improve interpersonal relationships, 10. eliminate excessive administration and bureaucracy, 11. create conditions for teachers’ self-fulfi lment.


All these tasks could also lead to the increase in teachers’ satisfaction with their profession as well as with their life as a whole. Th e fact remains that although demands put on the performance of the teaching profession are rising (changes in approaching pupils, changes in teaching methods, emphasizing the importance of teachers’ creativity and the development of pupils’ creativity, the growing number of problem pupils and the like), conditions remain the same (Oravcová, J., 2003; Salbot, V., 2007).

We can agree with the opinions expressed by Šimčáková (2005) and Blahovec (2002) that the importance, extraordinary character and uniqueness of teachers’ social mission and the extent of their responsibility for the cultural-educational level of our population are oft en in contrast with conditions provided by society. Among other things, high demands put on teachers are related to the necessity to change their approach to pupils and used teaching methods and the like. Th e causes of this problem are miscellaneous, ranging from economic, through departmental, political, social, legal, to psychological, and others. Th e Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic with the support of the Government of the Slovak Republic and national eff orts should enhance the life satisfaction of teachers and provide them with living and working conditions which correspond to the important and signifi cant role they play in society.

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Andragogical Refl ections on Teachers’ Lifelong Education and Learning

Abstract

Th e study analyzes the possibilities of using the andragogical theory of adult education with respect to the teaching profession. It compares the characteristics of “learning organisation” with the relatively conservative surroundings of school and classroom. It points out the diff erences between the learning of adults and the learning of teachers caused by the specifi c conditions of the teaching profession, specifi cally due to teachers’ isolation from colleagues, the shortage of formative feedback, the non-existence of team work and low self-confi dence. It off ers new ideas for the application of andragogy in the system, methods and forms of con-tinuing adult education.

Key words: andragogy, pedeutology, learning school, learning of teachers, attitude of teachers towards learning, isolation of teachers, learning under collegial cooperation, mentor, tutor, career counselling with respect to the teaching profession.

Andragogy, the science of the education of adults, is used more and more in many spheres of corporate and career education, i.e. in various kinds of profes-sions. Th e irony is that in Slovakia it is least applied in the sphere which should be most intimate from the professional point of view – in the further education of teachers. Th is is probably because of the fact that fi rst of all it is historically strongly bound to pedagogy, which addresses the issues of teaching and learning specifi cally with respect to children. Th e increased salience of andragogy, specifi -cally into pedeutology (i.e. into the theory of the teaching profession), might result in fundamental conceptual modifi cations with respect to the further education of adults.

Beata KosováSlovac Republic

174 Beata Kosová

Andragogical inspirations for pedeutology

Th e andragogical concept of lifelong learning (according to Lifelong learning… 2000) clearly points out that the further education of teachers and other professions must be lifelong – i.e., it should be uninterrupted and at the same time continual, i.e., synergically followed up, stepwise or periodically developing and ensuring ever greater expertise of the teacher in the sphere they are devoted to. Th e further education of teachers thus outlined should not be only based on the miscellane-ous off ers of various education institutions, but also on a sophisticated system of educational possibilities for teachers that result from the required career stages, based on the stages of increasing professionalism.

Th e theory of society based on knowledge provided the concept of the learning organisation, which is also gradually asserting itself at schools. Today in the Slovak Republic, education policy also stipulates that every school should have its own program of development, including human resources. Based on analysis, every school should identify its own needs, outline its developmental program, plan and manage changes, evaluate its progress, and this should be done in accordance with a systematic approach; i.e. a quality management system.

Th e concept of the learning school (the school as a learning organisation), so obvious at fi rst glance, has not been considered in more detail in the Slovak environment so far, and its practical application faces serious obstacles, mainly due to the distinctive features of the teaching profession and the attitude of teachers towards their learning. Neither Slovak primary schools nor secondary schools comply with the distinctive features of the learning organisation, as characterised by Prusáková (2000, p. 12). For example, only a few schools routinely show systematic treatment of the education of their employees; the creation of an atmosphere of change is more perceived as an obstacle to work and not as its basis; school is not a strategic place for the education of the teacher, where education is focused on the needs of school, educational programs are not assembled in accordance with the needs of the institution, teachers at school do not learn in teams, managements do not organise regular exchanges of experience with truly open refl ection and self-examination, teachers do not link their educational needs with the needs of school, etc. Teachers prefer to participate in courses apart from their schools, and they use the results above all for themselves; they neither consider self-refl ective and research activities nor supervision and collegial exchange of experience to be education, and they prefer to avoid these activities (Hustler 2003, Lazarová, 2006). Th e “Metodicko-pedagogické centrá” (Methodological and Pedagogi-cal Centres, state institutions for the further education of teachers in Slovakia) have recently intensifi ed the education of school managements with respect primarily to

175Andragogical Refl ections on Teachers’ Lifelong Education and Learning

the concept of the learning school. Despite this and the fact that schools themselves are directly educational organisations, we could rate them on a fi ve-degree scale of the development of education in organisations (used in public administration in Canada – 1. refusal, 2. obligation, 3. disarray, 4. system and 5. integration )(Prusáková 2000, p. 14) at stage two – obligation, or three – disarray.

Th e main reason is probably the traditional character of the teaching profession in Slovakia. Th e profession is executed in particular, closed and in general, strongly conservative surroundings of the classroom (similarly Barth, 1990). Th e Czech authors Pol and Lazarová identifi ed several key “defects“ that are characteristic of schools, which create obstacles from the point of view of the learning organisation, such as the strong emphasis on bureaucratic rules and ordinances, the systems of evaluation (of teachers and pupils), which help to improve teaching, the low involvement of teachers in decision making, the isolation of teachers and the barri-ers in the cooperation among teachers and between teachers and the management of schools (Pol – Lazarová, 2000, pp. 11–12).

Th ere are two other important andragogical issues that are decisive for the status of the profession, for the understanding of what makes the profession to be a profes-sion, and for what the teacher’s expertise means (cf. details in Kosová, 2006). It is represented by the devising of the standards of the teaching profession and the career system in the profession in such a way that the teacher will not need to remain in one position throughout their professional life, which also makes motivation for further education more diffi cult. Th e Act on pedagogical professionals adopted in 2009, for the fi rst time during Slovak history, requires the existence of standards for the sub-professions of teachers and implements a career system into the teaching profession; it progressively sets four career stages (the teacher-beginner, the teacher, the teacher with fi rst attestation, the teacher with second attestation) and several specialised career positions that follow the system of further education and rep-resent the functional or specialised (expert) promotion of the teacher, including the modifi cation of the fi nancial remuneration system. However, we would like to express our regret that it includes neither new andragogically justifi ed forms of teacher education based on collegial cooperation nor positions (mentor, tutor, peer coach, peer teacher, etc.) that correspond to such an education.

Distinctive features of teacher learning

Andragogy deals with the distinctive features of adult learning. However, it should be mentioned that in addition to those generally applicable, there are more features

176 Beata Kosová

specifi c to teachers with respect to the attitudes and the learning styles that are strongly infl uenced just by the character of the profession that the teacher practises, and that must be taken into account during the process of their education.

Th e fundamental diff erence that distinguishes the education of adults from the education of children is the principle that it is the education of equals, assuming that the adult is free and able to develop and to use their own potential (Jarvis, 1985). Th erefore, they should be a partner in education complying with the fundamental prerequisites of adult learning, according to Knowles: they are an independent self-regulating being, they use their experience during education, according to their social roles they are prepared and internally more motivated to learn specifi cally what is useful for them and what satisfi es their needs (Knowles, 1984, pp. 7–13). Th us, they should be such a partner that actively participates in the formation of their education.

However, the perception of one’s own education by Slovak as well as Czech teachers is signifi cantly infl uenced by the fact that they have not left school since the age of six, and they perceive their education as the education of their pupils. Czech and Slovak research (Lazarová, 2006, Kosová – Kasáčová, 2001) and the personal experience of the author show that teachers very oft en prefer courses and seminars organised by external educational entities, they demand good lectures clarifying everything, the goals of education should be clear in advance and they should be formulated by an educator, they demand ready-made practical topics that can be used at schools immediately, etc. Th us, they behave like the objects rather than the subjects of education.

One of the reasons is quite low motivation towards further education. Th e motives that are characteristic of other professions do not work for the teaching profession. As the career system has not been put into practice so far, only for small groups of teachers does further education lead to real career advancement, work of higher prestige, a higher salary or increased possibilities of self-fulfi lment, which are the basic motivational factors for the further education in other professions. Teachers are rarely appreciated and remunerated by their superiors for improved qualifi cations. Th e motive of adult education very oft en consists only of a whole-some dissatisfaction with work that, in addition to the reasons already mentioned, relates to feedback on the results and quality of teachers’ work. Feedback is mostly rendered by pupils due to the isolated character of the profession.

With respect to pupils as their clients and in contrast to other professions, in most cases, the teacher holds the safe position of someone who knows more and in a form that is the only one required by pupils, i.e. in the didactic form. Th us, the pupil’s advanced knowledge on a specifi c issue that pupils master in a dif-


ferent way compared to that stipulated in curriculum does not necessarily force the teacher to educate him/herself further. Many teachers strongly emphasise a didactically processed form of curriculum acquisition by pupils, partially in defence of their own self-perception. Apparently, this is not applicable only to work with information-communication technologies, to educational issues of a disciplinary character and to the special educational needs of integrated or socially handicapped pupils, where the insuffi ciency of the teacher’s knowledge, skills or abilities constitutes a signifi cant motive for learning itself. With respect to the teaching profession, the choice of further education is more forced by the school management, directed by the existing selection, sometimes infl uenced by modern trends, or by an affi liation with some association, but it is less a refl ected-upon and planned choice based on an individual plan of the teacher’s own career development. Although teachers declare awareness of the necessity to learn, most of them claim that they are too busy, do not have enough money, and at the same time, 40% consider it to be a workload that increases fatigue (Lazarová, 2006). All these point out that further education is not a priority or a signifi cant personal value for Slovak teachers.

Compared to other adults, the attitude of teachers to learning is nonetheless distinctive. According to Hanselmann, the fact that teachers teach children may create the feeling that they necessarily know and manage everything better than the child, and thus they behave similarly in any other situations in life and in their own learning. Th ey tend to lecture and correct mistakes, and they see the causes of their failures in others and not in themselves (Hanselmann, 1951, pp. 91–93).

Th e most important distinctive feature of teacher work from this point of view is the isolation of the teacher and their colleagues, because the teacher spends most of their time in class with their pupils. (Pol – Lazarová, 2000, pp. 12–13) Contrary to other professions, the teacher faces the necessity to confi rm themselves in their profession immediately from their entry into the profession (i.e. to teach successfully from the very fi rst day). Th erefore, the teacher must create their own method directly, based on what they saw during training as a student, or the teacher resolves to imitate the models of their own teachers. Th us, the procedures utilised over the centuries are preserved, the risk of stereotype and routine increases, and then it is not very far from conservatism and unwillingness to accept changes. Consequently, the teacher remains alone with their uncertainty from their fi rst day on, and they must hide this uncertainty from their pupils, their pupils’ parents and their superiors; their methods are confi rmed without any confrontations, and gradually, any change represents an ominous threat. And this clearly contradicts the fact that the present period with its swift changes should be refl ected in everyday

178 Beata Kosová

life at schools, as schools should prepare pupils for changes and infl uence the changes through pupils in the future.

Th e main cause of this situation is the developed “culture of non-interference” at our schools (Pol – Lazarová, 2000), where isolated and uncertain teachers work only based on their own experience without suffi cient and quality feedback from other professionals. In comparison with other European countries, where the teacher-beginner undergoes many observations, refl ections and evaluations during the fi rst four to fi ve years, the mentor in Slovakia very oft en has no time to observe the teacher-beginner in class. In the learning school, the teachers teach one another, and they are oft en observed by their colleagues, from whom they receive constructive, formative professional feedback. Th ey are neither occasional consultations with a tutor, inspections by superiors having an impact on their work evaluation nor comfortable cooperation with occasional complaints in the staff room, but what is known as peer observation or peer coaching, coaching by the tutor that is systematic, long-lasting, voluntary, open and formative (i.e. not evaluating). Th is form known from andragogy, the tutor as an individual helper, consultant and advisor in education (Prusáková, 2005, p. 53), has not been theoretically articulated at all under the conditions of the teaching profession, and neither has it been used in practice nor have experienced teachers been prepared for the work of tutor.

Andragogy considers team work and cooperation to be the most eff ective forms of learning. In the learning school teachers discuss real teaching practice, they plan together, they verify and evaluate teaching processes, they perform active research together, etc. Th is does not comprise a safe character of interaction in the staff room that does not infringe upon the borders of the classroom. However, in the culture of non-interference, the insecure teacher, who needs to be perceived by others as an expert on the issues of learning and teaching for the stability of their ego and for the protection of their professional self-image, in fact, is not willing to discuss their work, and certainly not with their colleagues at school. Th ey worry and fear to reveal their shortcomings and they produce defensive reactions against anything, including any collegial advice and help. According to Mucchielli, the social defence of the teacher’s ego represents an unaware fear of the change of one’s own image about oneself in the eyes of the team, as the feedback from others may result in doubts about oneself, it gnaws away at existing self-perception, and the less secure a person is, the more they avoid any help (Muccielli, 1996).

Such a type of work requires a high-quality mentor who is able to work with such a distinctive group, or a supervisor who is even able to evaluate this work, and who is able to teach teachers to express refl ections and self-refl ection under


such demanding conditions. Even experienced teachers working as instructors and methodologists have not been prepared for the work of mentor yet. Th e preparation of peer teachers – tutors, mentors and supervisors – is a sphere where andragogy should be applied to a larger extent. At the same time, andragogy together with adult psychology should articulate the causes, manifestations and procedures to overcome teachers’ resistance to further education and self-education in more detail, and the preparation of the above-mentioned positions, specifi cally with respect to older teachers, should be used as a change of the nature of the work itself, and thus also as prevention of burnout. Naturally, this also relates to the change of preparation of education professionals and to implementation in education legislation.

In general, andragogy predicates (Knowles 1984, Turos 1993, Prusáková 2005 and others) that the adult, in contrast to the child, has developed the skills of self-regulated learning. It is also due to the constant learning of new social roles, whereby the teacher reconstructs the original ones, which results in the fact that they are more and more aware of the relativity of knowledge, the signifi cance of the understanding of the situational context and possible factors in decision making increases, i.e. something like the multidimensionality of thinking. However, most teachers assume one main social role during their professional lives. Th erefore, some skills of self-regulated learning have developed in a diff erent way, with even less multidimensionality of thinking compared to other professions. Th is is ironi-cally indicated by the “typical teacher”, which usually means a one-sided approach to instructing and ordering.

It is characteristic of adults that they use their experience during the process of education and they focus on the practical use of the acquired knowledge and skills in comparison with children. Similarly, it is characteristic of teachers that they are interested in practical procedures and in information from real practice to a larger extent. Th erefore, they are most focused on methodological aspects and the innovation methods of teaching that are possible to be introduced in class immediately. However, aft er the acquired innovations are implemented, one sees neither an immediate success in learning (as is typical of the so-called impossible professions in which failure is an everyday occurrence) nor in education, where a long-lasting infl uence is necessary. One of the basic causes is that the isolated innovation implemented in routine practice does not work; it does not need to necessarily correspond with the teacher’s previous experience, but it may even directly contradict it.

Specifi cally under the conditions of Slovakia, where the thinking of adults is bound to (conservative) practice, and with respect to the teaching profession it is

180 Beata Kosová

complicated by the mess of paradigms in both the preparation of the teacher and their further education. As discovered by Porubský, an ordinary Slovak teacher who studied during the era of socialism and later participated in various innovative courses from time to time does not have their own paradigmatically comprehensive philosophy of teaching, neither the traditional one any more nor any other one (Porubský, 2006). Th us, compared to other adults, the education of the teacher is more a “process of re-education, i.e. the acquisition of new experience, meth-odological models, information, cognitive schemes, motives and the methods of acting and the refusal of old ones“ (Turos 1993, p. 23). Th is means that lectures and lecture courses cannot comply with this situation. In this case, the dialogue, emancipation and consensus andragogical theories of adult education “for which the goals, methods and the context of education are the subject of negotiation and the partner dialogue between equal partners“ (Beneš, 2003, p. 55) should be used primarily. Socio-constructivist approaches are inspiring, specifi cally the conceptual change model (Held, 1992/93), as it includes methods and techniques that create opportunities to make visible and to become aware of self-conception, its gaps or insuffi ciency for understanding one’s own pedagogical decision-making and its consequences. Th ese are specifi c methods of education allowing refl exive pedagogical thinking to develop based on various feedback (apart from the above-mentioned tutoring, mentoring, supervision, e.g., such as video-training, Balint groups, the controlled analyses of practice based on case studies, diaries, case histories, controlled discussions, practical and active research, systematic approach, various kinds of training, etc.) However, these are not suffi ciently articulated for the needs of teacher education in both andragogy and pedeutology.

The teacher and counselling

Th ere is one more sphere where andragogy owes the teaching profession a great debt: counselling. With respect to the position of the career system, neither real career counselling nor any work position executing it exist with respect to the teaching profession. Such a position would require andragogically experienced teachers who would be able to give information about various opportunities for further education, to advise teachers and lecturers with the choice of the forms of education, to analyse the advantages and disadvantages of specifi c educational programs for them, to recommend related programs and forms, to advise teachers on issues concerning how to teach the best, to help them to know themselves better, and thus to identify diffi culties in learning, and to eliminate them. Aft er


the career system is implemented, it will help teachers to look for possibilities of education that will allow them to proceed with their career stages or to reveal their own abilities and thus to fi nd the most suitable sphere for themselves, in which the teacher could work as a specialist.

Such an advisor should also be able to help the teacher to understand that this profession, for example, is not suitable for them and that they should abandon the idea. In Western Europe, for example, the possibility of abandoning the profes-sion is considered to be a way of improving motivation towards it. According to de Jesus, the teacher should be allowed to abandon their profession to discover other professions and face the consequences of such a choice, or should be helped to evaluate the characteristics of other professions and their possibilities with respect to them realistically, and thus (aft er a critical evaluation) to acquire a more positive and optimistic attitude toward the teaching profession again (de Jesus, 1995/96, p. 18).

Th e issues that we have mentioned point out how wide the sphere of competence is for andragogy in pedeutology, and what demanding tasks this sphere of edu-cational science will face. First, it is necessary to execute a precise analysis of the further education of teachers in Slovakia and to conduct serious andragogical and pedeutological research into the teaching profession and the learning school that will empirically explain the indicated issues. Only then will it be possible to develop truly eff ective models of andragogical education directly in the surroundings of school and the further education of teachers in it in the spirit of current European trends.

Bibliography

Barth, R.S. (1990). Improving Schools from Within. San Francisco, Oxford: Jossey-Bass Publisher, 1990

Beneš, M. (2003). Andragogika. Praha : Eurolex Bohemia, 2003.Hanselmann, H. (1951). Andragogik. Wesen, Mőglichkeiten, Grenzen der Erwach-

senenbildung. Zürich: Rotapfelverlag, 1951.Held, Ľ. (1992/93). O procese ďalšieho vzdelávania učiteľov cez model konceptuál-

nej zmeny. Pedagogické rozhľady, 2(4–5), 10–12.Hustler, D. (2003). Teachers´ perception of continuing professional development.

London : DfES, 2003.De Jesus, S.N. (1995/96). Perspektívy ďalšieho vzdelávania učiteľov v západnej

Európe. Pedagogické rozhľady, 5(2), 16–19.

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Lifelong learning: the contribution of education systems in the Member States of the European Union. Eurydice, Lisabon 2000. [online] Eurydice. [cit. 2004–11–21]. Accessible at <http:// www.eurydice.org/Documents/LLL/Sk/FrameSet/html>

Jarvis, P. (1985). Th e sociology of adult and continuing education. London: Routledge Kegan & Paul, 1985.

Knowles, M.S. (1984). Andragogy in Action. Applying Principles of Adult Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publisher.

Kosová, B. (2006). Profesia a profesionalita učiteľa. Pedagogická revue, 58, 1, 1–14.Kosová, B. & Kasáčová, B. (2001). Vzdelávanie učiteľov v pedagogických inováciách.

In: Inovácie v edukácii a v príprave učiteľov, pp. 10–27. Banská Bystrica: PF UMB.Lazarová, B. (2006). Cesty dalšího vzdělávání učitelů. Brno: Paido, 2006.Mucchielli, R. (1996). Le travail en équipe. Paris: ESF.Pol, M. & Lazarová, B. (2000). Spolupráca učiteľov – podmienka rozvoja školy.

Prešov: Metodické centrum.Porubský, Š. (2006). Rozvoj osobnosti žiaka prostredníctvom pedagogického textu

s dôrazom na kognitívne funkcie. Dizertačná práca. Banská Bystrica: PF UMB.Prusáková, V. (2000). Systémový prístup k ďalšiemu vzdelávaniu. Bratislava: Inštitút

pre verejnú správu.Prusáková, V. (2005). Základy andragogiky I. Bratislava: Gerlach Print a FF UK.Turos, L. (1993). Andragogika ogólna. Siedlce: WSRP.Zákon č. 317/2009 z 24. júna 2009 o pedagogických zamestnancoch a odborných

zamestnancoch a o zmene a doplnení niektorých zákonov [online]. Ministerstvo školstva SR, 2009 [cit. 2009–11–16]. Accessible at http://www.minedu.sk/data/USERDATA/ Legislativa/Zakony/317_2009.pdf

School Culture – Teacher’s Competence – Students’ Creative Attitudes .

Refl ection on school pragmatics

Abstract

Th e present paper is an analysis of the empirical research on the notion of school culture and its impact upon the teacher’s competence in the area of developing the student’s creative attitude. It presents elements of school culture and factors crucial in the building thereof. Opinions of the polled teachers justify the need for school improvement in order to provide suitable conditions for auto-creation competence and the development of creative attitudes in students. A creativity-friendly climate, part of school culture, is constructed by both material and human factors. A school that is open to changes can build its own organizational culture, which in eff ect expands developmental opportunities for the employed teachers.

Key words: the teacher’s competence, school culture, students’ creative attitudes.

Introduction

Th e analysis of the empirical research results and pedagogical refl ection pre-sented beneath constitutes part of broader research on pedagogic determinants of the teacher’s competence, including the ability to diagnose creative potential and shape creative attitudes of the student. Th e employed model of analysis embraces the complexity of the above-mentioned components, which defi ne the multifaceted character of the school and multidimensional character of the teacher’s compe-tence, including the ability to recognise learners’ skills and creative attitudes. Th ese

Barbara DobrowolskaPoland

184 Barbara Dobrowolska

refl ections and analyses refer to school culture as a precondition to the teacher’s competence and basis for creative cooperation with the student.

Th e subject of this research are middle school teachers, which is a result of unique characteristics of teaching at this level of education (organisational diffi culties of middle schools and a short education cycle; the students’ physiological age in the adolescent period leads to educational problems and the necessity to employ appropriate methodological and educational solutions). Th e relationship between school culture and the teacher’s competence is holistic in nature as it represents teachers’ work and attitude to creativity as an educational value in the interweaving socio-pedagogical and personal determinants. Th e following analysis limits the relation only to pedagogical factors, including the educational and didactic aims of the school. Th e inclusion of change, as a precondition for school development and school life dynamics, is a prerequisite for implementing a quantitative analysis in addition to hermeneutical understanding.

Basic information abouth the research

Th e aim of the analysis is to fi nd what, according to the teachers, are the constitu-ents of school culture and what infl uence they have upon creativity in pedagogi-cal practice, including shaping and supporting creative attitude development in students.

Th e research covered 238 middle school teachers from urban and rural areas of the Masovia and Podlasie regions.

Th is research study comprises a number of issues founded on the defi nitions of school culture present in the specialist literature. For example, D.Hargreaves and D.Hopkins defi ne school culture as procedures, values and expectations which guide human behaviour within an organisation (A.Hildebrandt 2001, p.106). According to E. Schein, it is a deeper level of main assumptions and convictions held by members of an organization acting subconsciously; therefore, they are regarded as a foundation of an obvious style of an organization and its environment (A. Hildebrandt 2001, p. 106).

Based on the above-mentioned defi nitions, the following research questions were formed:

What elements is school culture composed of according to teachers?1. What factors are the key to building school culture?2. Can school provide suitable conditions for creativity by its own develop-3. ment?

185School Culture – Teacher’s Competence – Students’ Creative Attitudes

What subjects comprise school culture?4. Which factors do teachers regard as the most signifi cant for creativity and 5. school development?

An original research tool was employed in the research analysis: a questionnaire form about school culture. Its aim was to assess the scope of teachers’ knowledge regarding the topic and pedagogical culture, a part of school culture determining the teacher’s competence. Pedagogical culture is linked to the notion of school culture as it concerns class and school organisation. It constitutes a system of values, working styles, methodological and educational solutions, aspiration for continu-ous professional development, deriving satisfaction from didactic and educational attainments, and fi nally awareness of full participation in the process of the student’s comprehensive development. Pedagogical culture is the creation of a particular work-ing style of both the teacher and the student. Possessing one can be either a condition or an eff ect of organisational development and school improvements (defi nition of the author). Th erefore, the ideas of organisational as well as pedagogical culture were incorporated in the topic of the present study.

School culture, teachers’ competence and students’ creative attitudes in the research

Th e polled teachers distinguished components of school culture, which are categorized underneath. Th eir percentage compositions are displayed in Chart 1:

Teacher’s professional training and development;1. Didactic and educational effi ciency of the school;2. System of school management and social relations therein;3. Well-organised communication and dissemination of information;4. Constant need for changes, improvement and self-development as an 5. institution;Vision of school and personal engagement in school development;6. Suitable work climate in school;7. No answer;8. Other.9.

Th e teachers’ choices of the most important elements of school culture indicate the following factors to be essential: interpersonal relations, effi cient communica-tion, knowledge and experience sharing. Th e respondents pay attention to the school management system and are against it being authoritarian. Instead, it should be characterised by democratization and partnership. As a component of culture,


cooperation culture favours broadening the teacher’s competence by enriching knowledge and exchanging the know-how. Th is in turn creates a suitable ground for pedagogical culture growth, which is represented by an increased level of pro-fessional self-consciousness and sense of uniqueness and autonomy. Subsequently, it may lead to professional independence and self-realization, creating favour-able conditions for the teacher’s creativity. Th e teacher’s attitude and readiness for change involve the application of innovative, miscellaneous solutions, which support students’ creative attitudes and skills.

Nearly 23% of the total number of the polled teachers did not respond to the question of school culture elements; whereas about 25% declared that this was the fi rst time they had encountered the notion.

Some of the respondents declared school culture to be dependent on external factors (local environment, the Ministry of Education), which may indicate a lack of auto-creational competence and professional independence, or incomprehen-sion of one’s professional and social role. Others highlighted the importance of tradition, school rituals and rules. However, it remains unknown to what extent these factors favour teachers’ professional development and render school open to changes.

Th e category entitled teachers’ professional training and development was selected by 6.7% of the respondents. We may gather, then, that professional development in the respondents’ opinions is rather insignifi cantly related to building school culture or the quality of teaching. However, such an idea must be opposed. It may signify the understanding of professional development category as a subjective approach, which is to be translated into the teacher’s knowledge and skills rather than into the effi ciency of school operation. Th is might prove the assumption that collective responsibility is disappearing from Polish schools, hindering progress of the school as

05

101520253035404550

1Indices of all categories do not add up to 100% (multiple answers possible).Percentage values correspond to the aforementioned categories ofthe teachers’ answers.

Chart 1. Elements of school culture according to teachers (L=238) (data expressed in %)


a learning institution. Didactic and educational effi ciency of the school was selected by every fourth respondent. Vision of school and personal engagement in school develop-ment was chosen as part of school culture by a mere 10.1% of the respondents, which can suggest that the teachers consider it dependent on the principal’s activities (nearly 50% of the polled regards the school management system as the most important ele-ment of school culture). Th e polled teachers seem not to appreciate the signifi cance of their individual actions directed at the development of school as an institution. It is an indicator of a low organisational self-awareness, low level of autonomy and professional independence, or an autocratic style of management in a particular school. Th ese attitudes defi nitely fail to encourage creative attitudes in school.

Only 7.1% of the respondents mentioned school’s constant need for change, improvement and self-development as an institution as a component of its culture. Th e category requires an in-depth analysis. Institutional improvement, self-devel-opment, and openness to change enforce certain rules of conduct on its employees. On the one hand, the obtained opinions can show barriers (resistance to change and fear of the unknown); on the other hand, they may confi rm the presence of an organizational stereotype of the Polish schools, which involves a still-present autocratic style of management. It deprives teachers of individual subjectivity, abil-ity to improve the skill of self-control, self-diagnosis, self-development, of school reality creation, and responsibility for the school. In this case, it may be assumed that the notion of school culture is not refl ected in school practice. Th e lack of need for development as an institution amongst the polled teachers signifi es weak identifi cation with the school, professional group, and the institution they jointly build.

Th e analysis of the opinions revealed that only 1.7% of the teachers did not make a hierarchical choice of signifi cant elements of school culture development. Th e absolute majority selected these factors according to their own preferences.

On the basis of the analyzed data (percentage rates), the category that seems most substantial for the polled teachers is good teamwork and ability to share experiences (73.5% in total), followed by creating a suitable, creative environment for didactic and educational work (57.6%). Th e third most popular category is effi ciency of institution management and suitable work climate (56.3%); whereas the fourth one is openness in inter-human communication (53.3%). Th e categories and their percentage rates are displayed in Chart 2. Supposedly then, what is the key in school culture is a climate that promotes creativity stemming from teamwork, mutual understanding, and cooperation, rather than from competition.

Moreover, the teachers participating in the research described the way schools can provide conditions for creativity development when promoting their organiza-


0

20

40

60

80

1 2 3 4

Teamwork and ability to share experience;Building a creativity-friendly climate in didactic and pedagogical work;Efficiency in school management and a suitable work climate;Openness in interpersonal communication.

Legend:

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Introduce or prefer a particular style of teaching;Shape joint responsibility awareness for pedagogical workactivities aiming at the formation of “creative education”;Promote and award innovative solutions, in particular, specialachievements and stimulating methods of work;Work and solve problems as a team;Indicate and disseminate forms and methods of action eradicatingbad habits or stereotypes; Other;No answer.

Legend:

Chart 2. Highest percentage values of signifi cant elements creating school culture (L = 238) (data expressed in %)

Chart 3. Organizational self-development of the school vs. preconditions for creativity according to the polled teachers (L = 238) (data expressed in %)

tional growth. Th eir answers were categorized and the percentage rates displayed in Chart 3.

By raising the standards of pedagogical activities, culture directly aff ects the quality of educational work. It can be assumed that the need to streamline school work, experiences and knowledge exchange serves implementation of novel tech-niques and strategies of educational activities, which creates fi ne conditions for creative education. As a result, the lesson process may be organized as a practice


based on the pedagogy of creativity. Th e teacher’s need for fulfi lment triggers off motivation for designing a new quality of school reality.

More than 60% of the respondents regard themselves as creators of school organisational culture. Th is represents a sense of responsibility for the school and a confi dence in one’s role in the school work organisation. As far as the percentage rates are concerned, a vital position in the creation of school culture is held by the principal ( impact nearly equals that of teachers). Th is implies that the polled teachers perceive the head of school as a manager who effi ciently coordinates the operations of their institution. Th e participation of students in the creation of organisational culture ranks third (66% of the opinions). Amongst the subjects participating in the building of the organisational culture of the school, the respondents include parents and local societies. Th e analysis fi nds 4.6% of the polled providing no answer to the question concerning the designation of the subject that creates school culture.

To the question pertaining to the infl uence of the teachers upon organisational culture in their schools, the following replies are available: they may have some infl uence – 7.6%; they have an infl uence – 64%; they may not have any infl uence – 1.3%; they have no infl uence – 6.2%; no answer – 20.9%.

Th e teachers who try to specify their infl uence upon school culture seem to treat their own actions as one of the elements of school operations. Furthermore, they aff ect all changes occurring in school. However, the problem is that every attempt to introduce modifi cations or seek innovative pedagogical solutions in school is performed in specifi c, oft en thoroughly dissimilar, environmental, organizational, and mental contexts. Th e fact worth consideration is that barely 8.8% of the respondents think that their individual and professional enhancement aff ects school development.

Th e respondents claim that a climate for creativity and school development is composed of distinctive categories that should be put in a preference-based order from 1 to 4. Relatively the greatest number (21%) of selections in the 4-point scale of elements composing climate for creativity and school develop-ment was suitable factual and practical knowledge. For 18.1% of the respondents, the teacher’s personality traits was the fi rst choice. It was a second option for 18.9% of the polled, too, which denotes that elements favourable for building a suitable climate for creativity and school progress include not only knowledge and experience but also personality traits of the teachers. It needs to be stressed that the previous analysis of the obtained percentage rates indicated that teach-ers would omit the following category: the teacher’s factual knowledge regarding creativity in education.


It allows us to believe that the polled treat suitable factual knowledge and practi-cal training tantamount to qualifi cations in the area of creativity. However, this has not been confi rmed by other research into teachers’ knowledge, abilities, creative attitudes, their stimulation and growth (M.Tyszkowa 1990; D.Nakoneczna 1990; I.Czaja-Chudyba 2005; K. Bieluga 2003). Supporting and strengthening the student’s development was fundamental for creativity and school development for 10.1% of the polled.

Th e analysis proved that the teachers’ most frequent choice of a factor promoting creativity and school growth was school base and equipment. It is to be accom-panied by the teacher’s personality traits, which ranked second. Supporting and strengthening the student’s development is regarded as an educational value realised by teachers. Th e polled regard the teacher’s motivation for sparing creative eff ort as equally important for creativity climate formation.

A well-equipped school and access to modern didactic aids and technical tools facilitates the teacher’s execution of a didactic process in an attractive and interest-ing manner.

What is more, the polled teachers evaluated a creativity-friendly climate. Nearly 70% of the respondents assumed a creativity-friendly climate and need for self-development of their school; whereas, 24.1% provided no answer to the question. It may result from the teachers’ fear of imparting a negative assessment to the school in which they are employed or diffi culties in expressing such an uncompromising evaluation. Th e climate encompasses various factors, i.e.: the attitude and style of the principal’s school management, interpersonal relations, closest environment, the teacher’s motivation, level of cooperation and teamwork.

Th e teachers’ opinions on the value of correlation coeffi cients and power of bonds regarding a creativity-friendly climate and school’s external environment proved no substantial interrelations. It is a sign that the teachers’ views on the subject of climate for creativity and self-development of the school are not at variance in the researched environments (urban, rural). Th e environment, as a diversifi cation vari-able, has no crucial impact on the evaluation of school’s creativity and a conviction that there is a need for fulfi lment.

Conclusions and generalizations

Th e following conclusions can be drawn on the basis of the obtained statements and opinions of the polled pertaining to school culture and its infl uence upon competence and creativity in pedagogical work.


According to the teachers, school culture comprises: school management 1. system and social relations therein (49.6%); effi cient communication and dissemination of information (47.5%); didactic and educational effi ciency of school (25,2%) treated as eff ective pedagogical activities; suitable work climate in school (34.9%); vision of school and personal engagement in its development (10.1%); constant need for change and self-development as an institution (7.1%);School can provide conditions for creativity and the teacher’s competence 2. development, simultaneously tending to self–development, by a system of awards, promotion of innovative solutions, and application of stimulating methods of work, teamwork, and joint problem solving to form “creative education”;School culture is created by principals, teachers, students, and their parents 3. alike (their behaviour, attitudes and actions evoke certain reactions and pedagogical actions of teachers and principals);Th e majority of the polled teachers (more than 70%) reckon that they 4. infl uence the creation of school culture; whereas 7.5% see no involvement therein. 21% of the respondents provided no answer to the question. Th e most popular opinion refl ects understanding of an individual role in the construction of school culture;A constant need for school’s progress as an institution, its self-development 5. and introduction of changes, constitute an unimportant category in the organizational development of the school. It is indicative of a weak identi-fi cation of the polled with the institution of the school and lack of common targets amongst its members;According to the polled, a creativity-friendly climate is primarily composed 6. of material and human factors (the teacher’s personality traits, motivation for making creative eff orts and student development support).

Th e conclusions presented above allow the following synthetic generalizations to be formulated:

One of the pedagogical prerequisites for expanding teachers’ professional 1. competence is provision of suitable conditions for autonomy and profes-sional independence by permanent cooperation in order to improve the quality of education, which subsequently creates school work culture;Teachers require professional development in the area of management 2. theory, diagnosing school work, and constructing repair programmes;Th e autonomy of the teacher’s work and simultaneous ability to cooperate and 3. co-create school’s image should precondition creative pedagogical activity.


School perceived as a developing institution open to change is a pedagogi-4. cal condition for professional competence growth and provision of suitable conditions for comprehensive student development.

Bibliography

Bieluga K. (2003). Nauczycielskie rozpoznawanie cech inteligencji i myślenia twórc-zego. Kraków: Ofi cyna Wyd. Impuls.

Czaja-Chudyba I. (2005). Odkrywanie zdolności dziecka. Kraków: Wyd. Akadem. AP.

Hildebrandt A.(2001). Zmiana kultury szkoły. In E.Potulicka (red.), Szkice z teorii i praktyki zmiany oświatowej. Poznań: Wyd. UAM.

Nakoneczna D.(1980). Kształcenie wielostronne stymulujące rozwój uzdolnień.Warszawa: WSiP.

Tyszkowa M. (1990). Zdolności, osobowość i działalność uczniów. Warszawa: PWN.

Teaching ≠ Learning? A longitudinal Study into the Efl Teacher Trainees’ Cognitions

Constructivist view of teacher education implies the relevance of trainees’ think-ing processes and interaction between personal knowledge of the trainees and the factual knowledge obtained in the course. Th e article focuses on characterizing the trainees’ initial cognition and beliefs about the teaching/ learning process. Th e data are collected by means of the teacher trainees’ self-reports and verbal association tasks. Th e results indicate that the course had some, yet limited impact on the trainees’ perception of the teaching/ learning process, which led to reorganization, re-labelling and reversal of some of the teacher trainees’ beliefs. Th e trainees slightly verifi ed and changed their perceptions about the role of the teacher and the process of language learning.

Key words: novice teachers, teacher cognition, teacher beliefs, implicit knowledge, metaphors.

1. Background

Within the contemporary constructivist view of teacher education, teacher learning takes place through the interaction between what trainees bring to a teacher education programme and the experiences and content they encounter on it. Ignoring the former is likely to hinder the internalization by teachers of the new ideas they are exposed to and practices they are encouraged to adopt (in Borg 1006: 54). Loughran and Russell (1997: 165–166; in Borg 2006: 54) summarize the idea of pre-service constructivist teacher education in the following way:

Th e student-teacher is a learner who is actively constructing view of teaching and learning based on personal experiences strongly shaped by

Grażyna Kiliańska-PrzybyłoPoland

194 Grażyna Kiliańska-Przybyło

perceptions held before entering the program. Loughran and Russell (1997: 165–166; in Borg 2006: 54)

Crucial for the work, then, is the concept of beliefs, defi ned as preconceptions and implicit theories; an eclectic aggregation of cause-eff ect propositions from many sources, rules of thumb and generalizations drawn from personal experience (Crawley and Salyer 1995, in Borg 2006). In the literature, teacher trainees’ beliefs may be referred to as “implicit knowledge” (Švec 2006), “implicit theories” (Woods 1996: 192), “personal theory” (Tann, in James 2001) or “practitioner’s personal theory of action” (Kwiatkowska 2008: 110). Beliefs have certain functions, namely they “act as very strong fi lters of reality” (Arnold, 1999, p. 256) and “interpretative framework, according to which a person justifi es what is right and appropriate” (Woods 1996).

Learner beliefs as well as teacher beliefs are also crucial for another reason. Augustein (1983, in Bernat and Gvozdenko 2005) stated that beliefs about learner capacity and personal models of their own processes were more central to under-standing the individuals’ learning performances than universally accepted theories of learning; these personal “myths” explained more about individual diff erences in learning than such psychometric measures as intelligence or aptitude (Th omas & Harri-Augustein, 1983, in Bernat and Gvozdenko 2005). Interdisciplinary research suggests that learner beliefs about learning are intertwined with factors such as self-concept and identity, self-effi cacy, personality, and other individual diff erences (Epstein, 1990, in Bernat and Gvozdenko 2005).

As far as beliefs of inexperienced teachers are concerned, the research states the following:

Pre-service teachers’ beliefs refl ect inappropriate, unrealistic or naive under- •standings of teaching and learning (e.g. Brookhart and Freeman 1992 in Borg 2006: 54).Th ey are based on observation, informal knowledge and folklinguistic •theories used to describe pre-service teachers’ own experience.Teacher trainees’ beliefs are characterized by ‘presentism,’ i.e. teachers •adopted a day-to-day outlook on their careers, very few focused on what their in-service experience might be like.Pre-service teachers oft en hold beliefs about language teaching which •are unlikely to provide the basis for successful classroom experience (e.g. a prevalent belief that teachers should be learners’ friends) (Urmston in Borg 2006: 55).

195Teaching ≠ Learning? A longitudinal Study into the Efl Teacher Trainees’ Cognitions

Pre-service instructional decisions during a practicum were based on images •of teachers, materials, activities and classroom organization generated by their own experience as L2 learners (Johnson (1994 in Borg 2006: 53)Pre-service teachers decided to promote or to avoid specifi c instructional •strategies on the basis of their positive or negative experiences of these respective strategies as learners (Numrich 1996 in Borg 2006: 53). It means that implicit knowledge is largely based on the personal experiences of a teacher.Th e impact of apprenticeship of observation may be more powerful on non- •native teachers (NNS) of a language than on native speakers, because of the fact that “the NNS, being in an L2 context, are still in the language learning experience) (Warford and Reeves 2003 in Borg 2006: 54).While teaching, pre-service teachers are mostly concerned about two things: •unexpected students’ behaviour and maintaining the fl ow of activity in the classroom (Johnson 1999 in Borg 2006: 58).Inexperienced teachers are characterized by limited episodic knowledge, •poor recognition of similarities across contexts and a large repertoire of context-free rules (e.g. general rules concerning teacher’s behaviour and reactions, e.g. ‘Never criticize a student’; Berliner 2001: 21–22).Novice teachers are also said to devote less time to in-depth analysis of vari- •ous classroom situations than expert teachers (Rollett 2001: 27). For all the reasons, novice teachers experience confusion and trouble with interpreting classroom phenomena appropriately (Berliner 2001: 24).

As teacher education is not merely about the accumulation of new ideas, the foremost objective of training courses seems to capture initial cognition (beliefs) of pre-service teachers and trigger their refl ection, or at least, raise trainees’ awareness about their beliefs and personal theories and professional developments during teacher training courses. Additionally, the goal is to equip trainees with tools or means for self – monitoring and self – evaluation.

2. The study

Th e aim of the study was:To identify teacher trainees’ cognition (beliefs) at the beginning and at the 1. end of the teacher training course (a course on language pedagogy).To observe the change in the cognition and establish some tendencies of 2. this change.


To achieve the research objectives a questionnaire with 2 tasks was distributed twice: at the beginning of the academic year (October 2008) and at the end of it (May 2009).

Th e fi rst task in the questionnaire was based on Teachers’ Beliefs Inventory (Johnson 1992 in Richards & Lockhart 1996: 48–49, cf. App. I). Th e students were requested to read 15 statements and select 5 that best refl ect their opinions on teaching/learning English. Th e second task consisted of four sentence heads to be completed. Th e students were supposed to provide their associations and images related to the teaching/ learning process as well as teacher and learner (ex. Teach-ing is like…; Th e teacher is like….; Th e learner is like……; Language learning is like….; cf. App. II).

Th e selection of the second task was determined by the opinions of Elbaz. According to her (cited by Th ornbury 1998:36), a teacher’s ‘knowledge’ is structured at at least three levels: rules of practice, practical principles and images. Images, she argues, ‘constitute the main ordering feature’ of practical knowledge.” Th e image is a brief, descriptive and sometimes metaphoric statement which seems to capture some essential aspect of oneself, one’s teaching, situation in the classroom or the subject matter, and which serves to organize one’s knowledge in the relevant area. Th e image is generally imbued with a judgement of value and oft en expresses a purpose in a clear way” Elbaz (in Th ornbury 1998:36).

Th ornbury (1998) points out that teacher educators can use imagery and meta-phor to gain deeper understanding of what motivates their trainees’ classroom decision, help trainees to raise their awareness and talk about their experience. As images of teaching slightly diff erentiate the teachers, analyzing them provides a use-ful platform for discussion at the initial selection stage and an idea of a productive theme for a seminar early on in the course programme. Bullogh suggests that the metaphors should be identifi ed and then monitored as the course progresses (cited by Th ornbury 1998: 37).

Th e study was conducted among 35 teacher trainees attending a teacher training programme (second year students of the English Philology Department). Th e stu-dents then were exposed to theoretical classes in language pedagogy, methodology of ELT and teaching practices.


3. The outcomes

On entering the training course the subjects represented a very traditional, teacher-centred and accuracy – oriented approach to language teaching. Aft er a year, they still focused their attention on the teacher and the role of grammar, however, the course made them reconsider their attitudes towards grammar and error correction, which resulted in the rearrangement of some beliefs. Aft er a year, more trainees recognized the importance of fl uency, the role of interaction and students’ productivity in foreign language learning. Th e time spent on the teacher training course also contributed to the abandonment of some beliefs, esp. about the role of error correction. Detailed data are displayed below (sections 3.1 and 3.2 respectively).

3.1. The statementsTEACHERS’ BELIEFS INVENTORY: PRE – TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (06.10.2008)

ESL students generally need to understand the grammatical rules of English 1. in order to become fl uent in the language. (63 %)When ESL students make oral errors, it helps to correct them and later teach 2. a short lesson explaining why they made that mistake. (54%)As long as ESL students listen to, practise, and remember the language which 3. native speakers use, they are actually learning the language. (54%)Language can be thought of as meaningful communication and is learned 4. subconsciously in non – academic, social situations. (51 %)

TEACHERS’ BELIEFS INVENTORY: POST – TREATMENT QUESTIONNAIRE (21.05.2009)If ESL students understand some of the basic grammatical rules of the 1. language they can usually create lots of new sentences on their own. (71% as compared to 46% in the pre-treatment questionnaire)ESL students generally need to understand the grammatical rules of English 2. in order to become fl uent in the language. (62% as compared to 63%; initially the most frequent answer)As long as ESL students listen to, practise, and remember the language 3. which native speakers use, they are actually learning the language. (62% as compared to 54% position maintained)As long as ESL students understand what they are saying, they are actually 4. learning the language.(57%)


Language can be thought of as meaningful communication and is learned 5. subconsciously in non – academic, social situations. (57% as compared to 51 %, position maintained)

3.2. The metaphorsRelabelling. At the beginning of the courses the subjects perceived teaching

as guiding and showing the right way. At the end of the course they still believe that teaching means guiding in the unknown area, however the subjects are more aware and precise about diff erent aspects of teaching. Th ey notice various shades of the teaching profession (i.e. presenting language and cultural points, establishing appropriate relationships with students, bringing them up or sharing the knowl-edge). Additionally, they realize the unpredictability of the process.

Th e most observable change is noticeable while defi ning the role of the teacher. Certain beliefs are abandoned and redefi ned. For example, at the beginning of the course the teacher is perceived as a person equipped with some supernatural power and extensive knowledge (i.e. God, saint, master, prophet). Th ese metaphors are abandoned at the end of the course. It seems that aft er a year of training the subjects concentrate more on what the teacher does rather than who s/he is (i.e. guide, farmer, gardener, captain instead of God, saint). Another observed tendency is to use terms describing strong, yet contradictory roles of the teacher (e.g. judge, parent, friend), requiring from the teacher diff erent degrees of involvement and formality. Teacher training contributed to the rearrangement of this set of meta-phors in terms of intensity. Th ey are still applied by the subjects, however they are not so popular.

As far as learners are concerned, the prevalent metaphors used to describe learn-ers indicate their passive role (learners as sponges, raw material to be shaped, children). Interestingly, at the beginning of the course, the subjects provided the metaphors of explorers or people craving for knowledge to indicate their curiosity, need and willingness to learn a foreign language. Th ese metaphors declined in force at the end of the course and were replaced by the metaphors of a pioneer and inventor.

When discussing the metaphors concerning language learning, some tenden-cies can be observed. Metaphors presented at the onset of the course stressed the subjects’ attitudes and expectations (e.g. discovering new lands, widening horizons), the pragmatics and necessity of knowing the language (e.g. a mission, duty, a key to success) and features describing the command of language (e.g. communication with others). Aft er a year, the collected metaphors stress the personal experience of learning a foreign language, the subjects’ involvement and change (e.g. rebirth,


entering a diff erent world but also climbing mountains). Th e metaphors also indi-cate the uniqueness of experience, probably due to the intensity of the training and language practice at university. Another set of metaphors refers to the stages or elements of the language learning process (e.g. building a language system, repetition). Th e data obtained from the subjects are presented in Table 1.

4. Conclusions

Th e study allowed to draw the following conclusions:1. Images and metaphors are group specifi c and context specifi c, closely refl ect-

ing the needs and perceptions of a particular group of trainees. Some metaphors frequently mentioned in the literature, e.g. the teacher as a gardener (James, 2001); actor (Janowski 1998) were not popular in this group. On the other hand, quite a lot of metaphors were idiosyncratic and showed the uniqueness of the subjects (e.g. the teacher as a guard, politician, mother cell).

2. In the similar task I did with the other group of pre-service teachers, the amount of verbalization at the end of the course greatly outnumbered the meta-phors off ered at the beginning of the course, showing the trainees’ prolifi c contri-bution but also intensive refl ection over the content. Here, in this study group, the participants off ered a similar number of images at the beginning and at the end of the course, which may also be due to the group-specifi c characteristics.

3. Th eoretical training is said to have little infl uence on teacher beliefs as reported by many studies (e.g. Urmston, Farrell in Borg 2006). Th is tendency is also observable in the study I carried out. Th ere is small but gradual verifi cation and redefi nition of some of the issues, for example, the role and place of gram-mar, which is perceived as important, but not essential. Th e trainees gradually tend to move from the didactic approach, largely based on grammar teaching to the communicative approach, focusing on communication and the learner. Th e subjects also reconsidered the position of error correction, which at the end of the course is not perceived as crucial. Moreover, they rearranged and specifi ed their expectations concerning the role and position of the teacher. And fi nally, they redefi ned the ideas about the process of learning the language. In other words, the course had some, yet limited, impact on the trainees’ perception of the teaching/ learning process:

reorganization and rearrangement of beliefs •relabelling •reversal of some of the beliefs •


4. Th e impact of the theoretical training does not necessarily imply change, as Borg (2006: 65) states, but can also take the form of reinforcement in prior cogni-tion. Th is tendency was observable in the beliefs the trainees held at the beginning and at the end of the training. Some of them were maintained (e.g. learning English by interactions with native speakers and in social contexts). Here, the increase in the percentage of the trainees claiming so was observed. Another example comes from the ata gathered by means of a sentence completion task. Certain images/ metaphors were retained, i.e. teaching and the teacher perceived as guiding and a guide, respectively.

5. Some changes were observed in the perception of learners and language learning. Initially, the learners were not described by means of images, but by enumeration of some features and presenting students’ attributes, e.g. people who want to learn, notice the necessity and have a positive attitude. Th e course enabled the trainees to defi ne their own learner’s identity more precisely, they used some images at the end of the training. A similar thing can be observed in terms of language learning. Before the course it was described as a process, the students focused on the process and noticed the instrumental reasons for learning a language. At the end of the course, they concentrated more on the eff ort that is required and new possibilities that knowing a language off ers.

6. As the trainees still continue their teacher training course, there is a need for further inquiry into the process of FL teachers’ identity formation.

Bibliography

Berliner, D. (2001). Teacher expertise. In F. Banks, & A.S. Mayes. Early Professional Development for Teachers. London: David Fulton Publishers

Bernat, E. (2009). From language learners to language teachers: Conceptual metaphors of role identity in transition. Asian EFL Journal, http://www.asian-efl -journal.com/Bernat – 2009.php

Bernat, E.& I. Gvozdenko (2005). Beliefs about Language Learning: Current Knowl-edge. Pedagogical Implications and New Research Directions. TESJ – EJ 9(1).

Freeman, D. 2001. Second Language Teacher Education. In: R. Carter & D. Nunan.(Eds). Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (pp. 72–79). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

James, P. (2001). Teachers in Action. Tasks for In-service Language Teacher Educa-tion and Development. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Kwiatkowska, H. (2008). Pedeutologia. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Akademickie i Profesjonalne

Long, M.H. (2005). Methodological Issues in Learner Needs Analysis. In M.H. Long (ed), Second Language Needs Analysis (pp. 19–76). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

Long, M.H. (ed). (2005). Second Language Needs Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Richards, J.C. & Lockhart, Ch. (1996). Refl ective Teaching in Second Language Classrooms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Rollett, B.A. (2001). How do expert teachers view themselves? In: F. Banks & A.S. Mayes, Early Professional Development for Teachers. London: David Fulton Publishers

Švec, V. (2006). Implicit Knowledge – a New Phenomenon in Teacher Education. Th e New Educational Review 10, 183–194.

Th ornbury, S. (1998). Images of Teaching. English Teaching Professional 8, 36–37Tripp, D. (1993). Critical Incidents in Teaching. Developing Professional Judgement.

London: RoultedgeVieira Abrahoa, M.H. (2006). Th e Construction of Th eoretical and Practical

Knowledge in Initial Teacher Education. In Profi le Issues in Teachers’ Professional Development retrieved from: www.scielo.org.co

Woodward, T. 1991. Models and Metaphors in Language Teacher Training. Cam-bridge: Cambridge University Press

Woods, D. (1996). Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.


Appendix I

K. Johnson 1992 (in Richards & Lockhart 1996: 48–49)TEACHERS’ BELIEFS INVENTORY – APPROACHES TO ESL INSTRUCTION

Language can be thought of as a set of grammatical structures which are 1. learned consciously and controlled by the language learner.As long as ESL students understand what they are saying, they are actually 2. learning the language.When ESL students make oral errors, it helps to correct them and later teach 3. a short lesson explaining why they made that mistake.As long as ESL students listen to, practise, and remember the language which 4. native speakers use, they are actually learning the language.ESL students generally need to understand the grammatical rules of English 5. in order to become fl uent in the language.When ESL students make oral errors, it usually helps them to provide them 6. with lots of oral practice with the language patterns which seem to cause them diffi culty.Language can be thought of as meaningful communication and is learned 7. subconsciously in non – academic, social situations.If ESL students understand some of the basic grammatical rules of the 8. language they can usually create lots of new sentences on their own.Usually it is more important for ESL students to focus on what they are 9. trying to say and not how to say it.If ESL students practise the language patterns of native speakers they can 10. make up new sentences based on those language patterns which they have already practised.It is important to provide clear, frequent, precise presentations of grammati-11. cal structures during English language instruction.Language can be described as a set of behaviours which are mastered through 12. lots of drill and practice with the language patterns of native speakers.When ESL students make oral errors, it is best to ignore them, as long as you 13. can understand what they are trying to say.ESL students usually need to master some of the basic listening and speaking 14. skills before they can begin to read and write.It is not necessary to actually teach ESL students how to speak English, they 15. usually begin speaking English on their own.


Appendix II

Finish the following sentences using up to three metaphors:Teaching is like…Th e teacher is like…Th e learner is like…Th e classroom is like… Th e textbook is like…Language learning is like…

Table 1. The subjects’ responses from the questionnaire distributed twice: in October 2008 and May 2009.

Pre-treatment questionnaire – October 2008 Post-treatment questionnaire – May 2009

TEACHING IS LIKE:• guiding / showing the right path/ (11×)• sharing your knowledge / transferring

knowledge and experience (8×)• lesson of life / hard work (6×)• creating something new / making good

bread rolls / sculpturing (6×)• adventure / an extreme sport / a way in high

mountains diffi cult to pass (4×)• improving something that is in ourselves• an enterprise• a concert• a craft • a gift • eating a cake• growing trees• a river

TEACHING IS LIKE:• guiding people in the unknown area/ giving

prompts (5×)• opening the door of the foreign culture and

language/ making the students enter a diff er-ent world / giving a new outlook (5×)

• bringing up / breeding (3×)• sharing knowledge the teacher has in a crea-

tive and interesting way (2×)• cooking – you never know what the results

will be• a long and tiring process that may bring a lot

of satisfaction• a challenge to cope with• learning to ride a bike• an exhibition in a gallery or a play in the

theatre• no answer



THE TEACHER IS LIKE:• a guide who tries to show the best path

through the nebula/ a person carrying light (14×)

• a leader/ a captain (of a team) / a personal mentor (5×)

• a judge (4×)• a parent but outside the house because s/he

also teaches something new/ life (3×)• a baker / a sculptor /God who creates (3×)• a master – who is supposed to know every-

thing but have a human side /a well-educated person / a fi gure(3×)

• a shepherd/ a farmer (3×)• a saint (2×)• a helper who creates conditions (2×)• a policeman who prevents you from making

mistakes / a guard (2×)• a prophet with his mission (education of

course)• a friend who can help with solving the prob-

lems, who can understand you (2×)• a singer/ vocalist (2×)• a mother cell• a politician• a medium between the learners and the

institution

THE TEACHER IS LIKE:• a guide who helps students to understand

grammatical rules and structures/ a guide who instructs, helps, corrects if needed and provides feedback (8×)

• a shepherd / a farmer / a gardener who seeds plants and then watches them grow (3×)

• the supporter and at the same time, provider of knowledge / an advisor, s/he helps you master the needed skills (2×)

• an omnibus – s/he has to know a lot whether asked or not / a master who knows almost all the rules (2×)

• a guidebook /the visual version of the lan-guage which students are taught (2×)

• a father/ a parent holding your back (2×)• a medium between the learner and the proc-

ess of teaching• s/he sets an example• an actor on the stage• a person who has a job to do

LEARNERS ARE LIKE:• dry sponges, they absorb knowledge pretty

fast/ the receptors/ receivers of knowledge (11×)

• travelers / tourists / explorers (6×)• people who crave, desire to learn something

new (5×)• unaware children/ children waiting for

instructions (4×)• rolls / clay / untouched diamonds (3×)• no answer (3×)• sheep (2×)• a white piece of paper/ tabula rasa (2×)• warriors

LEARNERS ARE LIKE:• spectators who are waiting for a wonderful

show / the audience (4×)• children who must trust their father/ chil-

dren on the bike (4×)• sheep /cows / birds of one kind which have

to live with others (4×)• tabula rasa (2×)• inventors who invent a new language• pioneers – they are exploring new lands• travellers• instruments in the orchestra• a sponge which absorbs the knowledge• people who should be taught• seeds – they are to become trees of knowl-

edge



LANGUAGE LEARNING IS LIKE:• discovering new lands/ sailing and stopping

at diff erent islands / an exciting journey / adventure (11×)

• a never – ending duty that must last if someone wants to be perfect /an important mission ( 6×)

• learning to communicate to a wider branch of people, communication learning / learn-ing how to feel and perceive / getting to know others / gaining new friends (9×)

• opening yourself to a wholely new dimen-sion of knowledge / widening your horizons to the spheres of a better comprehension of the world/ (3×)

• becoming a new man (2×)• an extreme sport / playing a game (2×)• a key to success / a method gate to better life

(2×)• singing a song in this concert• revising our mother tongue• following parents in something new• helping the travelers to fi nd diff erent ways of

the language• no answer (2×)

LANGUAGE LEARNING IS LIKE:• entering a diff erent world / opening eyes to

new experience / rebirth / becoming a new person / acquiring new identity (10×)

• learning how to live, think, feel, behave in a way that a baby does/ mastering the ability to keep your balance, steering and not crash-ing into a tree / unique experience, diff erent from learning other things (4×)

• trying to achieve the top, the highest peak / climbing mountains (2×)

• ruminating the grass / eating, drinking (2×)• getting stages of acquisition and diff erent

levels• building a new language system in mind• repetition all the time/ repeating structures,

using new vocabulary in a meaningful context

• watching the play• no answer

Teacher’s role in the formation of emergent curriculum inspired by the Reggio Emilia Approach

(An experience from Iran)

Abstract

Speaking about curriculum, very oft en we think of some exact, preplanned curricula determined for schools in advance. However in the new approach called Emergent Curriculum, all the benefi ciaries including students, teachers, parents , society and all of whom are considered protagonists play some role in curriculum decision making and formation of learning. In Emergent Curriculum inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach there is no preplanned curriculum, it means the teacher and educational system aff ect what children are supposed to learn. In this study, the main research objective was a study of the formation of Emergent curriculum and documentation of the process. For this purpose, an ethnographic study was employed. Th e research was carried out in an unoffi cial school in Tehran. Th is school has been working for 3 years as a research project under the supervi-sion of a non-governmental centre. An experienced teacher as well as 35 children participated in our study of which 23 were male and all of them were 7–8 years old. To collect a deep understanding of Emergent Curriculum implementation in the school, observing, listening to and describing interactions in class, recording events, interviewing the teacher and gathering the pupils’ works and the school’s documents have been used. Categorizing observations, underscoring main issues, organizing documents and interpreting the data were the main methods of data analysis. Findings were reported in 3 main groups: the teacher’s role in emergent curriculum, project approach role in implementing such a curriculum, as well as challenges and future perspectives.

Key words: emergent curriculum, Reggio Emilia approach, curriculum implementation.

Kourosh Fathi Vajargah, Mahbobe Arefi , Ali TaraghijaIran

207Teacher’s role in the formation of emergent curriculum…

Introduction

Emergent curriculum is based on the emergentism, which refers to the dynamic process of emergence and development of the entity or phenomena. As opposed to emergence, “being predefi ned” refers to being complete and fi nished (Yu-le, 2004). Emergent curriculum is quite diff erent from the standard imposed teaching, in fact emergent curriculum is planning the focus of learning or what happens in the classroom (Osber& Biesta, 2008) as a result of interaction between teachers and children with both contributing ideas and reacting to them to build on appealing and worthwhile units of study

Such a curriculum either may be teacher-proof, i.e. one provided by a group of specialists for a large number of students in a way that teachers have to follow instructions as predicted, or some school teachers and principals might play some role in its preparation. In either case, such curricula may be classifi ed as preplanned ones.

However, this study does not concern a preplanned curriculum approach; instead, it concentrated on a completely diff erent one. In the new approach called Emergent Curriculum, all the benefi ciaries including students, teachers, parents, society and all of whom are considered protagonists play some role. As its name suggests, fi nal curriculum has to be maintained aft er its implementation not before. Apparently the new approach is entirely diff erent from the one being taught in schools and may give rise to some serious questions. Th us, this paper is to demon-strate some of the fi ndings of qualitative research in this fi eld. Th e new approach addresses all of the elements of the teaching-learning process. Th is paper, however, pays attention to the role played by the teacher as well as the project approach in Emergent Curriculum.

Emergent Curriculum inspired by the Reggio Emilia approach

From a construct-oriented point of view, a student has to acquire knowledge through clarifying interactions, and knowledge cannot be transferred to him/her (New, 1998). Th is view considers the learner as one of the most basic elements of the learning process, and emergent curriculum is based on this very assumption. According to Jones and Nimmo (1994) Emergent Curriculum was fi rst proposed by Jones in 1970 and it refers to a certain type of curricula, which is grounded on the pupil’s interests and activities, not on a preplanned curriculum. Pupils’ expressed interests rather than being based on a curriculum preplanned by the teacher drive

208 Kourosh Fathi Vajargah, Mahbobe Arefi , Ali Taraghija

emergent Curriculum. In Forman and Fyfe’s words (1998) such a curriculum is brought into existence by children, shaped, and formed by the teacher

Teaching children should be focused on the kids not the plan. Teachers, however, fi nd it easier to rely on the curriculum. Th at is because it is much more manageable compared to children. But a curriculum is about what happens in educational atmosphere, i.e. what actually happens and not what was logically planned (Jones and Nimo, 1995, p.2). Such a view is certainly in confl ict with Emergent Cur-riculum.

In the Reggio Emilia approach there is no preplanned curriculum, i.e. the teacher and educational system aff ect what children are supposed to learn. Th ey are very well aware that the process can give rise to some beauties and complexities, which should never be overlooked. In a preplanned curriculum, educational hierarchy, subjects to be taught, teaching techniques, equipment, etc. are determined in advance and this fact inhibits taking advantage of possible opportunities, children’s thoughts and novel ideas.

On the other hand, in Emergent Curriculum, the process begins by teachers’ observations of and listening to children. In the new approach, children’s personal and group issues and concerns are taken into account. Teachers’ observations of children’s interests and motivations as well as consulting other teachers can help expand issues of interest and turn them into a personal or group project. Meanwhile, learners do research, hypothesize, test their hypotheses and propose their results and fi ndings through various means and in various formats (Forman, 1998). All of the above help children construct knowledge and learn how to learn. Projects and/or subjects are expanded based on children’s feedback, activities, questions and concerns, as well as teachers accompanying parents as adults who would do their best to contribute to the process. What drives curriculum is neither the child’s wants nor the teacher’s plans, but the interaction between teachers, children, parents and society. What matters is how the interaction progresses, which will be discussed in the further sections of the paper. As time goes by, the project may head to a point diffi cult to predict in advance, and that is due to recognizing children, parents and teachers as protagonists. Carlina Rinaldi, a teacher of the Reggio Emilia approach, makes her interpretation of Emergent Curriculum:

Teachers organize general goals of the educational process, but leave exact objectives of each project or activity to be determined through the process. Instead, based on their understanding of the children and their own experience, they make some hypothesis regarding what might occur. While hypothesizing, they target fl exible objectives relative to children’s


interests. Such interests and needs include what children exhibit. Th is type of planning is what we call an Emergent Curriculum (Rinaldi, 1998)

In such a system, curriculum is neither child-centred nor teacher-centred, but brought into existence by the child and shaped and formed by the teacher. Th at is why Negotiated/Emergent Curriculum is preferred to a child-centred one for it best refl ects the fruitful, consistent and mutual relationship between teachers, children and parents as well as the interactive, negotiation-based relation of subjects, pre-senting techniques and the child’s current knowledge. It means that subjects are chosen in an interactive, cooperative way. To fulfi ll the task, several teachers and teachers-parents meetings should be arranged.

Methodology

In the present research, a qualitative study was employed. A qualitative method is aimed at studying and exploring questions of human and social fi eld. Th e researcher off ers a general, complicated picture, analyzes words, provides a detailed report of observations and data, and pursues the research in its natural ground (Kersol, 1998, p. 15).

Ethnography may be defi ned as studying life within a certain cultural context or among a people. According to Hooman (2006), ethnography, compared to other qualitative traditions, is more comprehensive and inclusive. Since the current research considers Emergent Curriculum’s development as a phenomenon within the cultural context of school and it portrays a detailed picture of challenges facing the teacher, students and parents, ethnography was used as a research method.

Research Site: Th e research was carried out in an unoffi cial school in Tehran, Iran. Th is school has been working for 3 years as a research project under the supervision of a nongovernmental centre. Th e school offi cials as well as the parents who send their children to this school are not happy with public schools and try to come up with a new experience to maintain a proper atmosphere for the children.

Participants: Th e teacher has over 8 years of experience with children of various ages. Moreover, he has taken courses on modern educational approaches. He is much of a researcher and very interested in the topic in hand, and made a great eff ort to learn more and experience new ideas during the course of our study. 35 children participated in our study, out of which 23 were male and all of them were 7–8 years old.


Instruments: To collect an even deeper understanding of Emergent Curriculum implementation in the school, observing, listening to and describing interactions in class, recording events, interviewing the teacher and gathering the pupils’ works and the school’s documents were found necessary. All of the above-mentioned instruments were used in developing Emergent Curriculum as well.

For analyzing the information: Data derived from various instruments were analyzed through categorizing observations, underscoring main issues, organizing documents and interpreting the data.

FindingsFindings are classifi ed in 3 main groups: the teacher’s role in emergent cur-

riculum, the role of the project approach in implementing such a curriculum, as well as challenges and future perspectives.

Since the study was carried out through a qualitative method including a lot of information, some of the events that occurred during the course of study should be mentioned so as to clarify issues.

The teacher’s role and functionsTo assess the teacher’s role, a few points should be taken into account. Th e

children are supposed to be the main players in this approach. However, it does

Teacher asa

reasarcher

Teacher as acompanion and

learner

Teacheras a

guide andfacilitator

• Planning and consultation meetings• Examining theory in action

• Accompanying children in their activities• Listening to children’s ideas• A learning-rich atmosphere for both the teacher and the children

• Expressing ideas in various forms• Question: an opportunity to think• The whole city as a class• Recalling and reviewing the process by the teacher and documents

Figure1: Teachers’ Roles in Emergent Curriculum


not mean that the teacher plays no vital role or that his only function is to provide the children with what they need to answer their questions. Th is is not the case at all and the teacher’s role in the new approach is even more pronounced compared to a preplanned curriculum. Th e only diff erence is related to the teacher’s view and contribution. Teachers play a role just as children do, and what is important is that everybody plays their role perfectly.

1. The teacher as a companion and learner

Teachers fi nd themselves partners in the learning process (Gandini, 1997). Such a mutual exchange constructing the knowledge is found important and fostered. Th e idea that education is transferred in a two-sided way while the pupil and the teacher are cooperating with each other is best described in Malaguzzi’s (1998) metaphoric expression which describes such a process as a ping pong game in which two players should match each other so as to achieve optimum, advanced learning. Just one player cannot make a successful partnership. In addition, the teacher’s role as a companion and assistant is not limited to the pupil, but extends to other teachers as well as parents.

1.1. Accompanying children in their activitiesOne of the most important parts of the teacher’s role is accompanying the chil-

dren. Such a quality should not be found fake, rather the learners should fi nd their teacher a close companion, try to use his help and share the beauties they have just found with him. Th is makes the children fi nd their teacher closer to themselves and consequently they would welcome him in their group.

Th e teacher would participate in many games the children played. Th is act not only made the children feel much better and they were encouraged to cooper-ate with each other, but it also helped the teacher to better explore the children’s interests, concerns and even misunderstandings. Such a deep understanding of data would help him support and expand subjects already in hand. Sometimes accompanying children needs a lot of patience. For example, in this study one child just spoke about what he was about to do and never tried anything. Th e teacher always listened to him carefully. Th e child spoke a lot about home and his pets, so the teacher asked to get to his home along with other children. At home, he showed the teacher and his classmates many works he had done and never brought to the school. Many ideas were exchanged, and the child announced he was about to make a big turtle. Th e atmosphere at home as well as the teacher’s and classmate’s


supports made it possible for him to take fi rst steps to do such a great job and within next few days he accomplished his task.

1.2. Listening to children’s ideasListening is one of the most important points occupying the core of the new

approach. Everything begins with listening, i.e. acquiring children’s opinions, concerns, etc. expressed by children in various ways. Th at is why some of the scholars of the Reggio Emilia approach describe the whole process as the “peda-gogy of listening.” In the present study, for example, in a long term project called Everlasting Way Factory, the whole thing begins with vibrant communication with kids about craft ing beautiful, saleable containers. Th rough careful listening to the children and asking proper questions, the teacher arranged a project which took over 4 months to complete.

Th e teacher’s proper act in interactions that receives special attention in the Reggio Emilia approach certainly begins with listening, and listening never stops throughout the whole process. Very oft en it happens that children’s ideas direct a project.

1.3. A learning-rich atmosphere for both the teacher and the childrenSpeaking about what the teacher learns from children may be more of a cliché.

For example, “I learned transparency, honesty, etc. from children” are heard fre-quently. In our experience, however, we mean a lot more. At the very beginning, when asked what he had learned from the children, the teacher replied with a few general terms. However, as the study proceeded, the teacher found out that he can learn a lot more, and such a change was gradually refl ected in his own actions. Let us mention some of the things he learned. In the Everlasting Way Factory project, a child did pay attention to other issues in addition to factory’s products. Such issues were usually less pronounced and paying attention to them was a result of a comprehensive view.

On the other hand, the teacher recalled that during a photography course, a child paid special attention to details and refl ected some particular aspects of object details in his photographs. Th en the teacher found out how close-up pictures can portray a fundamentally diff erent image. Along this line, there was a host of diff erent uses for diff erent tools discovered by the children. In the teacher’s words:

It was about 3 months ago that I had bought some rod. However, we could not use them as we had no gadget to cut them. One day, a child picked a piece of the rod and cut it through rasping. Th en he handed it over to another child to use it


for his machine’s axis. I was so surprised… Now, everyday I get to the class, I try to fi nd out what I can learn from each child.

2. Teacher as a guide and facilitator

2.1. Expressing ideas in various formsOne of the means the teacher has to expand and deepen a subject is letting the

children use various forms to implement what they have in their minds. Express-ing ideas in various forms using various materials help the child get closer to his/her idea and what he has in mind and review it. For example, in the case of a machine, repetitive drawing and manufacturing using various materials clearly helped improve the child’s understanding of what he/she was about to do.

Providing children with various materials and tools enables the teacher to take advantage of his experience and thought. By providing a new material, the teacher can help expand the subject and develop an atmosphere in which the child can demonstrate his/her idea in a new form so as to address the subject from a novel point of view. For example, using a rod opened a new door to sculpture: the chil-dren could fi rst use the rod to make a volumetric shape of the sculpture.

Figure 2: Examples of Kiarash’s drawings and paintings


2.2. A question: an opportunity to thinkTh e teacher is not supposed to answer children’s questions directly. Rather he

has to ask more questions so as to illustrate the subject and help the child get a deeper understanding in his/her quest. Th e teacher’s knowledge has to serve as a framework to deepen the child’s inquiry so that the child can construct the knowledge him/herself.

During an interview the teacher said that within the fi rst two months of the study, making proper questions constituted his main concern and he felt some lack in this area. Hence, through listening to recorded voices of the class, he tried to fi nd his mistakes and problems regarding question subjects and timing and the way questions were made. He fi nds himself more skilled now. He emphasizes the importance of the questioning skill. On the other hand, the children’s feedback can also help to better evaluate the skill. For example, when the children say, “you know it, so why do you ask”, “you surely know the answer”, “why do you ask me so frequently,” etc., they reveal that the questions are not mature enough to help them explore and expand the subject.

2.3. The whole City as a classCompared to just reading from books, experiencing real-world things children

face in daily life teaches them a lot more. In meetings aimed at planning and discovering possible consequences, attention is paid to things such as visits, which can help expand and deepen projects (Lee& Johnson, 2007; Michael, Dittus, & Epstein, 2007). For example, in the Everlasting Way Factory project, the children welcome visits to ceramic and handicraft shops. Or while the children’s primary goal was to achieve fabricated containers useful for daily use (according to a child, ‘containers which can be used for drinks’) the teacher arranged a visit to an enameling workshop. A few sessions later, when a child said that the container is not still useful for drinks, another child readily answered: “we can take it to that workshop.”

Also in the sculpture project, several visits were arranged including visiting the Ali Akbar Sanati exhibition (which served as a turning point), Mother Square, and Bakeries, all of which contributed to expanding the project.

Using various books and bringing various samples by the teacher or parents contributed a lot to the project. Even though the children sometimes paid almost no attention to them, they contributed a lot to the process. For example, various samples of ceramic brought to class by the teacher helped the children consider more points. Alternatively, photographs of sculpture workshops helped the children acquire a better understanding of volumetric shapes and three dimensions.


2.4. Recalling and reviewing the process by the teacher and documentsDocumenting the children’s activities showing documents to the children and

speaking about the works and activities done by the children, helped review and expand the project process.

Th e teacher’s pursuits resulted in the children’s following their activities even more energetically. For example, in the sculpture-bakery project, before a session in which a child was supposed to speak about making dough, the teacher would call him the day before to remind him to bring necessary materials. Th e next day, the child came to the class and handed the material over to the teacher to use them in the planned session.

During an interview in later parts of the study the teacher mentioned:When a child fails to continue his/her work, very oft en it is because he/she

forgets about it not that he/she has lost interest in the work. At the beginning, I used to think that seeing the work or speaking about it would remind the child of his/her task. However, I later noticed that this is not the case and documentation demonstrating the process from its very beginning helps them a lot continue their work. Another point is that I have recently found out how forgetful I am. Hence, documentation helps me and the children remember our task, where we were and how we are about to continue.

3. Teacher as a researcher

Th e teacher’s role as the one who facilitates children’s learning their interests, questions and curiosities requires that the teacher take the role of a researcher

Figure 3: Visiting a city site as part of the curriculum


as well (Edwards, 1998; Malaguzzi, 1998). Th rough listening to and carefully observing children’s interests and activities and closely following them by means of a combination of data and analysis, the teacher can come up with better solutions to accompany children and open new doors for them.

3.1. Planning and consultation meetingsAs opposed to what one might imagine, planning teachers’, and parents’ con-

sultation has an important position in emergent curriculum. In such meetings, teachers and parents speak about what happens in the class. Such a review helps rediscover some of the opportunities once overlooked. Moreover, consultation and dialogue usually helps the teacher address the issue in hand from some novel points of view that in turn helps make a better interpretation. All of such reviews are aimed at fi nding new opportunities for children, isolating points in which they have failed to acquire a complete understanding, determining experiences they have not fully accomplished. Furthermore, fi nding hypotheses that are being tested, fi nding out how the subject can be expanded as well as determining which equipments and/or facilities can help children engage in the subjects from various aspects and construct their knowledge this way are among other objectives.

Figure 4: A documentation scheme


Such a view toward the future and predicting possible consequences best help the teacher to off er students his right support at the right time, even though sometimes the teacher and his group fail to predict later developments. For example, in the case of the sculpture project, paying a visit to a bakery was coincidental and even for the next few consultative meetings the association between two events was not fully established. Aft er a while, however, the teacher and the group came to understand the relation between the events. It should be noted that documentations including photos, voices and writing play an important role in the review process.• Project approach: a proper framework for realizing Emergent Curriculum

addressing interpersonal characteristics while proceeding project eff orts. Long-term, deep projects have various aspects and each learner can get better involved in some of the aspects. Hence, in a long-term project in which various subjects of various levels are proposed from which pupils learn, each child shows more interest in a certain subject or is more skilled in doing a certain task. Th erefore, while a general atmosphere directs the path of children and teachers, each child contributes to a certain part of the project according to his/her personal charac-teristics. Th is fact makes it possible to expand and deepen a subject in various ways. For instance, in the project called Everlasting Way Factory, one pupil was more interested in social relations ruling the atmosphere. Th erefore, various games were developed in which each child would play a special role such as the one of a principal, internal director, design unit, etc. Being involved in this way allows the child to learn more. In a meeting with parents, a child’s father, who is a CEO of a factory, said: “For a while, I noticed that my son asked me more about the factory: what do I do there? Why am I the CEO? Do the employees follow my orders and why?” Th e child would take some of what he had learnt everyday to the class and work on it. In many cases, the subject in hand turned into a group challenge which the children discussed. Th e whole process allowed other children to learn more and have an opinion of their own. In the same project, various subjects such as manufacturing ceramic containers, decorating them, making them useable, proper quality and price and many other issues were addressed, which helped children explore the subject in hand from various aspects.

Learning from peers and strengthening cooperationWhile working on a project, very oft en it happens that children learn from

their friends (Hart, 2000). Since each child is motivated to solve a problem or fi nd a solution, sometimes they might get help from other children to solve their problems. Moreover, looking at the fi nal result or the type of work another child does, the child may get interested in it. All of the above strengthen group work. In


addition, since the general spirit of a general goal drives the project, children fi nd each other partners pursuing the fi nal goal, so they off er a special support to each other, consider others’ strengths and help each other. Helping each other is also fruitful from another point of view: in contrast to adults, when children try to teach something they usually accompany the learner and since they have a closer, more similar understanding of the issue, they can better help each other.

An opportunity to learn how to learnProblem solving is a skill closely related to learning how to learn, and may be

assumed as a basis for a construct-oriented approach. When children encounter a new subject or fi nd a new problem, they do not receive immediate answers from the teacher. Th erefore, they always look for an answer themselves and learn how to approach a new subject. Rather than giving direct answers, the teacher’s role is to use additional questions to make the children even more interested in thinking about the subject and provide them with an opportunity to consider the problem from a broader perspective and think of more solutions. Hypothesizing and testing hypotheses is an integral part of project work and problem-solving. An important

point in the novel approach is that the teacher does not try to off er original ques-tions; however, since real life is ongoing in the school, various problems arise during children’s activities. Th en, the teacher tries to explore the problem, not to pass it and teach the children the immediate solution. Th erefore, the teacher fi nds it an opportunity so that children could seek various ways, hypothesize and test hypotheses so as to solve the problem.

Figure 5: Carving inside a plaster cast object with various means so as to make hollow plaster cast shapes


A proper framework for incorporating a curriculumAddressing various subjects such as maths, science and art are necessary at

primary school. However, what matters is how to address them, determine the level of students’ interest and the way they would continue the work. Another point is whether we want our children to learn how to construct knowledge, or limit our scope to teaching a few concepts. One should note that the model which separates various courses, requires that children think about, e.g., maths in a certain amount of time (for example 40 minutes). However, while incorporating an approach, since the subject is so expanded, children may think about maths 10 times a day each time for about 4 minutes. It should be noted that such

Figure 9: Incorporating curriculum concepts in activities

Figure 6: Using a rod, the sec-ond object remains above the level in the fi rst object (a child is taking the container out of the mold)

Figure 7: Putting a hollow container inside a larger con-tainer (the ends of 2 pieces stick to each other)

Figure 8: Emptying plaster before getting tough


a separation is not grounded in children’s mind; however, learning for a while in a separation-focused environment is more than enough to let the child fi nd such a separation a very important issue. During the project, children test, examine, and experience various subjects related to various categories of science. For example, in the case of the Machine Project, balancing the issue for the machine made the children fi nd out about the centre of gravity. Hence, they made the lower part of the machine weightier and experienced the centre of gravity concept in this way.

In various cases, maths helped the children solve their problems. For example, in the Factory Project, pricing the products, gathering money and distributing it between group members was carried out using maths concepts. Or in the Sculp-ture Project, going from two dimensions to 3 dimensions improved the children’s understanding of space and volumetric shape and they experienced such concepts objectively.

Challenges and perspectives of the new approachEach view needs some specifi c prerequisites and practising it needs some time to

put the idea deep inside a person’s life and activities. Such a view toward training and education needs the help of its proponent to be realized and fl ourish, as it (compared to the dominant view) has a diff erent approach toward many elements of training and educating. Such a view toward the child, time and location of learning, its specifi c view toward theory and practice, and monitoring practice so as to be matched with subjective ideas, etc. may be assumed primary challenges. In addition, teachers’ creativity and qualifi cations should be considered some challenges on the implementation stage arena.

Viewing the child as a capable, curious being and a main player in the learning processViewing the child as a capable, curious being makes us consider him/her as one

of the main players in the learning process. Consequently, we will not try to provide them with what we ourselves fi nd necessary, but rather try to let them direct the stage and take responsibility of their learning-development process. Th en we do our best to support them and help them continue their way, not to give up at tough moments and continue the learning process. It is all because we believe each child is a unique, diff erent creature and has their own needs every moment. Th erefore, while involving in group activities, personal characteristics should be addressed exclusively. Closely studying projects carried out by children, we may conclude that while a project develops, each child tries to have their personal discoveries and


learning. Th is fact makes the atmosphere even richer for various children would view the subject from various points of view.

For example, in a sculpture group, one child did not get involved much during the project and seemed to be isolated. One day, the child paid a visit to the teacher’s home and found lots of stones of various sizes and colours. He spent some time there playing with the stones and then expressed his willingness to make a sculp-ture out of the stones. He asked for the stones several times. Finally, the teacher refused to provide him with more stones and said that he has to fi nd his stones himself. Th e child explored the school courtyard and the neighbouring gardens for a while, and then came to his teacher telling him that he wanted to go to a certain traditional bakery (which uses stones to make bread) and buy some stone. It was a great idea. Perhaps it was the fi rst time that a person went to the bakery just to buy, for example, 2 kilograms of stone. And the association between a sculpture and a bakery was again established. Asked by the teacher why he wanted to buy stone from that bakery, the child answered: “for its stones are rather clean” and that was certainly true for the stones in this certain type of traditional bakery are exposed to direct heating.

Time and location of learningTime is probably the everlasting player in education. In the common educational

system, time is quite limited. Th at means we lack enough time to transfer the knowledge and have to make eff ective use of time. Another problem is that the time span dedicated to each subject is equal for all the children and they have to learn it within a certain amount of time.

Many people who have visited Reggio describe it as such: “It seems that nobody makes haste to teach, and there is enough time for fi nding and learning” (Ketz, 1998). Th is fact points to a view which argues that each person, according to their personal characteristics, needs a certain amount of time to fi nd a subject and construct knowledge. We may even claim that the beginning and end have no exact meaning in the learning process. It is so because a child may spend a lot of time watching and thinking about a subject while s/ he reveals no sign of thinking, and we may falsely come to the conclusion that s/ he is not learning; however, the child may learn whatever he/she needs aft er a while and begin acting upon it. Pertaining to this, there is an event that happened to one of the teachers during the course of study. One day he was standing in the school courtyard, looking at beautiful fl owers, when a child passed him. He invited the child to look at the fl owers. Th e child looked for a while and left . Th e teacher thought that the child saw almost nothing. But a few days later, the child reminded his teacher of the


fl ower details and it was quite surprising to the teacher. During the course of study, one child did almost no artistic act and, in the teacher’s words, did not even touch the pen to draw something. He seemed to be listening and watching all the time. Finally, when he tried to draw and paint, he made some excellent works. Another point regarding the time issue is that we usually consider time as an opportunity to teach and transfer knowledge. However, in the Reggio schools, most of the time is spent listening to the children, and listening provides a host of opportunities for the child’s development. In addition, time on the one hand is an opportunity to contemplate and be alone and on the other hand it is an opportunity for being together and socializing.

Theories and ideas they state regarding learning, the child and education, are not completeTh e new approach is based on a day-to-day eff ort to better understand theo-

ries, test them and construct new knowledge about children’s learning processes. Th erefore, it makes the teacher and parents listen more to the child to learn more points about learning, rather than try to execute already available theories. Th at is why the new approach makes the teacher and parents always research into education and learning. Th e new view is entirely diff erent from the one that asks the teacher to execute what others have predicted and prescribed. Th erefore, the new approach may be challenging to teachers and parents who are still loyal to traditional models.

Monitoring view through documentationPerhaps one of the most important elements that contributes to a view based on

change and better day-to-day understanding of learning, the child and education, is the monitoring view toward thoughts and acts while acting. In this view, documen-tation can be used as a means to review and consult events, and our interpretations of them and to provide a guidebook for future work. If teachers, parents and all people in contact with the child’s life fi nd their development process parallel to that of the child, and understand that understanding current vs. favourite condition is a prerequisite for development, then they will fi nd monitoring the most basic method for maintaining eff ective development for both themselves and others around.

The teacher’s personal qualifi cations and creativityClosely studying projects and children’s works reveals that activities carried out

by the teacher to fully support children’s development are broad. Th at is the result


of love, attachment and commitment to developing each. Meanwhile, to reach an eff ective curriculum there is a need for cooperation among all the teachers and school elements.

What matters more than the teacher’s activities is his/her attitude, which serves as a basis for all his activities? Th erefore, in order to implement Emergent Curriculum the teacher has to begin with him/herself, be critical of what he/she previously knew/learned about education and be ready to encounter children, their learning and their development with a new understanding that develops day in day out. Perhaps the most important element in developing such a view is integrating learning and teaching, i.e. the teacher has to get to school everyday to learn new things.

Some other points such as the learner view throughout life, considering no temporal/spatial limit to learning, allowing for making mistakes, hypothesizing and constructing knowledge as necessary elements of active learning, and having patience and courage to enter new areas are some characteristics of teachers in the new approach.

It should be noted that the new approach points to a path not a destination, and what matters is direction not location. Th erefore, sincere cooperation of colleagues, teachers and parents would contribute a lot to the development of each one of them.

As mentioned previously, the new approach is holistic and considers the whole life and social atmosphere of a place for learning. Th erefore, the teacher tries to take advantage of all potentials to prepare the atmosphere for learning. It may seem a rather diffi cult task, and indeed, it is so, for it is not limited to a few days but extends to all days and moments through which the teacher seeks the proper atmosphere of learning. Th erefore, teachers in the new approach are so fascinated by children and spend a lot of energy to make them develop and fl ourish.

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Osber, D & Biesta, G (2008). Th e emergent curriculum: navigating a complex course between unguided learning and planned enculturation Journal of Cur-riculum Studies, 3, 313–328

Yu-le, Z. (2004). Some thoughts on emergent curriculum. Paper presented at the Forum for Integrated Education and Educational Reform sponsored by the Council for Global Integrative Education, Santa Cruz, CA, October 28–30., from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/CGIE/yule.pdf

The Teacher’s Conception of Project-based Teaching

Abstract

Project-based teaching has recently become a widely used method of teaching in the Czech Republic. Teachers at all educational levels are talking about project-based teaching. But what is it?

Th is paper off ers an interpretation of the results of the research into teaching projects at primary schools. Th ere is a defi nition of project concepts, project-based teaching and the project-based method, and there is a description of the diverse elements that constitute the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching. Some of these will be examined in more detail.

Key words: project, project-based teaching, project-based method, the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching.

Introduction

Th e start of the 21st century has witnessed great changes within education in the Czech Republic.

A new element has entered into Czech schools – the formation of school edu-cational programmes (within a state-defi ned context), which has resulted in far greater educational autonomy and a greater level of freedom, but at the same time has also brought greater responsibility for fulfi lling these goals and attaining the given competences for that level of education. All of this opens up opportunities for various innovations and alternatives, for fi nding suitable coursebooks and teaching strategies, methods and systems as well as educational environments which respect

Jana KratochvílováCzech Republic

226 Jana Kratochvílová

pupils’ personalities and aid in their overall development. A change in the concept of the pupil’s personality also requires a change in the teacher’s paradigms and his/her way of working. Th is presupposes the use of methods and systems of work which can support the child’s development, individuality, integrity, creativity and freedom, and enhance his/her knowledge and overall experience.

One way in which to develop the newly formulated competences, to strive for the defi ned goals and implement the content element of cross-sectional themes within educational programmes is the project-based method, which occupied a signifi cant place in the history of Czech schools (esp. in the 1920s and 1930s) and which made a return at the start of the 1990s.

Th e expansion of the use of projects in teaching, published professional articles, discussions with teachers and J. Stockton’s idea that (1920) “the project-based method was viewed as something fashionable, as a gimmick, used more or less as a trick and without full realization of its character and power” all contributed to this research, the aim of which is to achieve an overview and understanding of the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching today.

Characteristics of the Research Topic and Research Aim

Th e following questions provided the starting point for examining the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching:

What do teachers think of project-based teaching? What is their concept of the word “project”? What type of project do teachers most oft en carry out? How do teachers plan a project? What role do they play within it? How does project-based teaching progress? What role do the pupils play within it? Th ese led us to the formulation of the basic research topic: How is the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching implemented in today’s primary schools in the Czech Republic?

For the purpose of this research, we understand the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching as the general strategy in the teacher’s pedagogical ideas and approach during project-based teaching. Th is is the basis for the teacher’s thoughts about project-based teaching, how it will progress, the project prepara-tion, its implementation and evaluation.

It is implicit, subjective and relatively intuitive. It is variable and develops prin-cipally through individual experience or shared experience with other teachers. It has a complex character with many diverse elements.

227The Teacher’s Conception of Project-based Teaching

Research Sample

Th e research sample was made up of a targeted selection of schools and teach-ers who use project-based teaching, have a degree of experience with it and could therefore confi dently respond to the required task.

29 teachers from 18 schools took part in the research: fi ve one-room primary schools and 13 full primary schools from towns and villages in Bohemia and Moravia. Th e teachers were aged between 25 and 60 and their experience of project-based teaching varied from 2 to 10 years.

Th ere was an analysis of 29 free writing texts on project-based teaching and 19 ideas maps relating to the project concept.

Research Strategy

A qualitative investigation was chosen for the research into the teacher’s con-ception of project-based teaching in order to look more deeply and thoroughly at teachers‘ ideas concerning project-based teaching and to acquire in all its complex-ity and suitability an overview of their overall approach to project-based teaching and also the individual elements which, up until now, could only be inferred from the teacher’s conception of education in general.

To achieve this result we employed a method based on the analysis of the teach-ers‘ contributions:

Free writing on the theme of project-based teaching1. Th e teachers were asked: Th rough free writing, note down your ideas relating to project-based teaching – this entails freely working through your subjective opinions on project-based teaching.An ideas map for mapping the pedagogical conception of “creating 2. a project”.Th e teachers were asked: By using a map of concepts illustrate your ideas on the theme of creating a project – this entails capturing the ideas and connec-tions involved in the creation of a project.

In this paper there is an analysis of the results of the free writing on the theme of project-based teaching.


Results and Interpretation

When interpreting the research results it was necessary to defi ne the basic terms: project, project-based method and project-based teaching. Th e defi nition proceeded from the original pragmatic concept of the project.

A project is a complex task (issue), connected with a living reality which the pupil identifi es with and assumes responsibility for, so that through his/her theoretical and practical work he/she can achieve the required result (output) of the project, for whose defence and assessment he/she has arguments that emerge from newly acquired experiences. (Kratochvílová, J. 2006)

We view the project-based method as a structured system of activities for the teacher and pupils in which a dominant role is played by the classroom activities of the pupils, with a supporting role played by the teacher in an advisory capacity, which together aim to achieve the goal and concept behind the project. Th e complexity of the activities requires the use of vari-ous methods of teaching and various forms of working. (Kratochvílová, J. 2006)

In defi ning project-based teaching there is reference to the concepts of J. Průcha; E. Walterová and J Mareš, 1 in which project-based teaching is defi ned as teaching based on the project-based method.

Free Writing – Project-based TeachingTh rough open coding 17 main categories were gradually determined, which can

be considered to be individual components – elements of the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching.

Th e concept of requirements for project-based teaching •Th e concept of the benefi ts of project-based teaching •Th e concept of the proposer – author of the project – the supporter •Th e concept of orientation for project-based teaching •Th e concept of the organization of project-based teaching •Th e concept of conditions for project-based teaching •Th e concept of the teacher’s role in project-based teaching •Th e concept of the importance of project-based teaching •Th e concept of the type of project-based teaching •

1 Průcha, J.; Walterová, E.; Mareš, J. (2001). Pedagogický slovník. 3. Praha: Portál, p.185.


Th e concept of the concentration idea – the core idea of the project • Th e concept of the progress of the project •Th e concept of project planning •Th e concept of assessment in project-based teaching •Th e concept of a work strategy in project-based teaching •Th e concept of prize-giving in project-based teaching •Th e concept of the phases of the project • Th e concept of disadvantages of project-based teaching •

In this paper (due to the limitations of space) only some of these are described.

Interpretation of the Obtained Results• Th e concept of requirements for project-based teaching

Th e analysis shows that part of the teacher’s concept of project-based teaching is the notion of the requirements that the actual implementation of the pro-gramme brings with it. Teachers see requirements in the context of individual phases in project-based teaching – preparation, the actual progress of the project and its evaluation. Th e greatest requirements are connected with their own preparation of the project. If we consider the individual subcategories of the concept of preparation, then it is this stage to which teachers pay more attention than the project requires. If everything is prepared beforehand by the teacher, the project is no longer the pupil’s “enterprise,” but becomes the teacher’s “enterprise.” Th e pupil then becomes an administrator of the tasks set by the teacher.

From the analysis we conclude that there is a deviation in the original character of the project as being the “enterprise” of the pupil towards the project based on the principles of thematic teaching or actually being the-matic teaching which is carefully prepared and implemented according to the teacher’s vision.

• Th e concept of the benefi ts of project-based teachingTh e concept of the benefi ts of project-based teaching is important in the range and content of individual categories and subcategories. Th e elements of the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching can start to take shape through the wide spectrum of answers to the question: “Why work with projects in schools? Why implement project-based teaching?” It is clear that teachers are able to describe in detail the benefi ts both for the pupil and also for the teacher, or rather for the teacher and pupil together. Project-based teaching brings about development in the pupil at complex levels – cognitively, socially,


emotionally and also volitionally. It develops the pupils’s competences (knowl-edge, skills, abilities, attitudes and values). It contributes to the development of the six key competences of RVP ZV (Framework Educational Programme for Basic Education): study, problem solving, communicative, social and personal, civic and occupational. According to teachers the greatest benefi t for pupils is the linking of knowledge from several subjects into one whole. Th e importance of project-based teaching is also seen in the area of knowledge. Project-based teaching extends beyond the framework of the school itself.

Due to its benefi ts, project-based teaching occupies an important place in the educational process emerging from the new concepts of the curriculum. Its advantages can be seen in the development of the child’s personality in all areas.

• Th e concept of the organization of project-based teachingFrom the analysis of these components of the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching it is clearly seen that the pivotal organizational form of work in project-based teaching is group work, which is, however, supplemented by individual and frontal teaching. Th ere is a certain variability involved in group work due to the make-up of the groups, the size of the groups and their stability during the progress of a project. An interesting phenomenon is the establishment of groups of pupils from various years (inter-year projects). Th rough the development of cooperation, project-based teaching fulfi lls one of the criteria of the RVP ZV – the development of students’ ability to co-operate and respect the work and successes of themselves and others.

In the current educational process, projects are implemented jointly, based on mutual co-operation.

• Th e concept of conditions for project-based teachingTh e concept of conditions for project-based teaching is perceived in an all-encompassing way by teachers. Th ere is clearly a need not just for the provision of materials but also for the creation of an appropriate atmosphere during work on the project and a necessity to equip pupils with some skills, particularly the skill of cooperation, which corresponds to the concept of work organization during a project and favouring of joint, group projects.

During a joint project, the basic prerequisite for its implementation is the creation of an appropriate atmosphere (a climate equipping the children with the skill of cooperation and the appropriate provision of materials).

• Th e concept of the teacher’s role in project-based teachingIt is clear that the teacher’s role is perceived in a wide spectrum of subcate-gories with various characteristics: from a seeker of information (a role con-


nected with the concept of conditions for project-based teaching) – observer – partner – adviser – assessor – supervisor, right up to a directorial role.

In the concept of the teacher‘s role a considerable diversity of opinions is evident. Th e category which is mentioned most oft en, however, is the role of an adviser.

• Th e concept of the concentration idea – the core idea of the projectWith projects that involve year groups and projects in one-room schools it is usually the teacher who selects the core idea; most oft en, however, projects are adapted to “fi t” the child. From the analysis it can further be seen that the central idea of the project can take many forms: a theme, a specifi c stimulus – festivals, traditions, public holidays, anniversaries, signifi cant events; tasks in everyday life; a specifi c issue.

From the results of the analysis it is clear that teachers most oft en choose a defi nite theme as the core idea of a project. It is generally worded as a slogan, using nouns, and the title by itself does not include a specifi c task or issue. We believe that this wording can lead to a project being diverted from its actual essence towards ordinary thematic teaching based on the use of inter-subject relationships.

What can be seen in projects carried out in schools is a defl ection of the core idea away from the issue or specifi c practical task towards a theme, which consequently brings with it the application of elements of thematic teaching into project-based teaching and infl uences its form.

• Th e concept of the progress of the projectTh e results of the conceptual analysis point out the signifi cance and variability of the methods of motivation for work on a project. Th e actual progress of a project thus reveals sub-categories like the theme of the project, project tasks, working with information and the output of the project.

From the analysis it can be concluded that the theme of the project is jointly “uncovered” in a verbal or possibly written form; in this phase a mind map of concepts is oft en used. Th e observation of topical features of the theme can be considered a signifi cant aspect of project-based teaching for pupils in the progress of a project, which corresponds to the requirement for teachers to be fl exible in the conception of project-based teaching.

Th e project tasks testify to the varied range of individual subcategories of this concept. An important fact is the concept used most oft en in this category: tasks are clearly worded, fi rmly set out – prepared by the teacher, which corresponds to the previous fi nding in individual components of the teacher’s overall conception of project-based teaching (the exacting nature of


preparation, the teacher’s initiative). Even tasks of a competitive nature have their place here. A pleasing fi nding, on the contrary, is the involvement of parents in project-based teaching tasks.

Working with information speaks unambiguously in support of utilizing diff erent sources of information, both internal and external, and once again enables the development of key competences set out in the Framework Edu-cational Programme for Basic Education (RVP ZV).

Th e output of a project off ers a wide range of possibilities and is oft en linked with the presentation of the work results. It is worth considering whether the assessment and awarding of prizes for the best product might not lower the value of the overall eff ort invested by all the participants in the project and lead to a loss of motivation during participation in other projects. Th is phenomenon is most oft en connected with projects involving diff erent year groups or the whole school. External participants in the project (parents and guests) oft en take part in the awarding of prizes and are only aware of the overall result, not the process, which also deserves their attention. Th e progress of a project is generally concluded by its assessment, aft er which follows the teacher’s documentation of the progress of the project.

It is assumed that frequently reinforced, precisely laid out tasks which are set in advance by the teacher do not make it possible to exploit the children’s inventiveness and creativity and do not make full use of the potential of the child’s personality.

• Th e concept of assessment in project-based teachingTh e analysis of concepts points out the application of three viewpoints during the assessment of project-based teaching: assessment of the pupils, assessment of the project and assessment of the recording of the project.

Th e assessment of the pupils includes self-assessment, assessment by other pupils and assessment by the teacher, usually in the form of words or points. In the assessment of the project we can observe three aspects of assessment: the viewpoint of those participating in the assessment, the time span of the project, and positive and negative aspects of the project.

Assessment in project-based teaching makes it possible to exploit a wide range of possibilities for assessment. Th is can involve the assessment of the actual progress of the project, the output of the project and the personal contribution of individuals.

• Th e concept of disadvantages of project-based teachingTh e research points out three basic categories of this element of the teacher’s concept of teaching. Disadvantages for pupils and for teachers, and disadvan-


tages connected with the organisation of teaching. Disadvantages for pupils can be characterized by two aspects: the premature incorporation of project-based teaching at a time when pupils are not equipped with certain skills, and a lack of diff erentiation of tasks and lack of respect for the individual approach to the pupil.

Th e disadvantages for teachers relate primarily to the exacting nature of preparation for a project, which can be caused by a deviation from project-based teaching in its true sense towards thematic teaching (cf. concept of requirements for project-based teaching). It is clear that teachers feel that they lose control over the transfer of information to pupils. It is also possible to address this aspect using a suitable type of feedback.

Teachers furthermore perceive as a disadvantage the considerable require-ments of project-based teaching for the provision of materials, which can be justifi ed. Th is disadvantage can be eliminated by the participation of pupils and parents in the preparation of a project. Th e fi nal problem concerning time is a serious issue for project-based teaching in view of the modern concept of the educational process and the excessive demands of the curriculum.

It is assumed that the majority of the disadvantages stated are connected with insuffi cient theoretical preparation by teachers for project-based teach-ing.

Conclusion

From the research into the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching, it unambiguously emerges that we are dealing with a very subjective and complex pedagogical phenomenon. From the analysis of the works written by the teachers we have managed to outline individual elements of the teacher’s conception of project-based teaching augmented by other concepts, from which, in conclusion, we select the following:

1. Th e concentration idea as the central idea of a project is a basic element of project-based teaching which infl uences its progress. If the concentration idea takes the form of a theme (which does not introduce a defi nite issue nor a specifi c task, and the theme does not arise through the pupil’s initiative), individual sub-themes and their contents divert the teacher from project-based teaching towards thematic teaching. Th is form of teaching lacks its characteristic feature – it is not about the pupil’s initiative, through which the pupil takes on full responsibility, but about the teacher’s initiative.


2. Teachers delimit the place of project-based teaching within the educational process, understand its signifi cance for the overall development of the child’s personality and are aware of its contribution.

3. With the help of a project, teachers observe (among other things) the devel-opment of cooperation between children of diff erent ages, abilities and interests. Teamwork comes about through the basic organizational form and group projects are favoured.

4. During the creation of a project, teachers proceed from their own ideas and needs and from the demands of the curriculum. In this way, they become the instigators of the project. Th e project is oft en shaped for children but without children. Children are not always invited to take part in the creation of the project or the formulation of its central idea.

5. Th e implementation of project-based teaching places certain requirements and demands on the teacher and involves a change in the concept of the role of the teacher. Th e teacher becomes an adviser to the children during the fulfi lment of project objectives and in the process of achieving the output of the project.

6. Th e progress of a project emerges from a motivational phase, for which the pedagogue bears full responsibility. It is based on working with information and carrying out specifi c tasks, which are, however, oft en defi ned in advance by the teacher. In this way, the pupil’s own journey of discovery, linked with his/her inventiveness and creativity, is oft en lost.

7. Various types of projects are implemented in schools from the point of view of the length of a project, the year group and the subjects involved. Classifi cation according to the duration of a project does not use consistent terminology. Projects carried out in more than one subject are favoured.

8. Th e assessment of project-based teaching makes use of various possibilities (words, points.). It includes the assessment of the actual progress of a project, the output, the documentation and self-assessment – the pupil‘s personal contribu-tion.

9. Project-based teaching is a complex process with phases: project prepara-tion, implementation, presentation and assessment, which continuously follow on from one another.

10. Project-based teaching also has its disadvantages, of which some are wholly justifi able; others are however the result of a lack of preparation and experience of this type of teaching on the part of the teacher.


Bibliography

Grecmanová, H., Urbanovská, E. (1997). Projektové vyučování a jeho význam v současné škole. In Pedagogika, č. 1, pp. 37–45.

Henry, J. (1994). Teaching Th rough Projects (p. 159). London: Kogan Page Limited.Kašová, J. (1995). Škola trochu jinak – projektové vyučování v teorii i praxi. Kroměříž:

Iuventa.Kratochvílová,J., Lukášová-Kantorková, H. (2002). Výzkum obtíží s pedagogickým

projektováním v přípravě učitelů primárního vzdělávání. In Walterová aj. Výz-kum školy a učitele. Sborník z 10. výroční konference ČAPCV s mezinárodní účastí (pp. 80–83). Praha: PdF UK.

Kratochvílová, J. (2002). Projektová metoda a projekt. Komenský, č. 2, pp. 4–10.Kantorková, H. (2000). Pedagogická tvořivost studentů učitelství (p. 155). Ostrava:

PdF OU.Maňák, J; Švec, V. (2003). Výukové metody (p. 23). Brno: Paido.Mareš, J., Slavík, J., Svatoš, T., Švec, V. (1996). Učitelovo pojetí výuky (p. 91). Brno:

CDVU MU.Průcha, J. Walterová, E., Mareš, J. (2001). Pedagogický slovník. 3. vydání (p. 322)

Praha: Portál.Stockton, J. l. (1920). Project work in education (p. 166). Boston, New York, Chicago:

Houghton Miffl in Company.Šimoník, O. (1997). Výukové projekty. In J. Maňák, Alternativní metody a postupy

(p. 90). Brno: PdF, MU.Tomková, A. (1998). Proměny vyučovacích metod v primární škole. In K současným

problémům vnitřní transformace primární školy (pp. 48–61). Praha: PdF UK, Valenta, J. aj. (1993). Projektová metoda ve škole a za školou. Pohledy (p. 61). Praha:

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Technology of Education

Empirical Application Dimensions of Cooperative Learning Usage at School

Abstract

Th e aim of the article is to present the co-operative teaching as one of eff ective teaching forms and to point out that it is a myth to consider self-assertion as the only way leading to individual success.

Cooperative learning represents an important stimulus for individual implemen-tation of general approaches, for the development of specifi c variants considering the conditions of a school, a subject, a teaching style, etc.

Th us, cooperative learning can become one of the relevant approaches and forms of education and instruction in the conditions of contemporary society and the human being. From the point of view of the future perspective, CL can become a relevant educational model. Th ere is also a need to say that provided CL is accepted by teachers and students, it can operate as an educational innovation of a partial or principal character.

Key words: cooperative learning, education, positive interpersonal relations, research.

Introduction

Th e research into CL has been carried out for a relatively long time, however the evidence of the eff ective functioning of CL has appeared only in the recent 30 years.

At the end of the 80s, D. and R. Johnson, in their theory and research into CL (1989), claimed that the basic research question is not the question of the cooperation in learning, but the question of closer examination of the conditions of the eff ectiveness of CL.

Tomá JablonskýSlovak Republic

240 Tomá Jablonský

Nevertheless, if the education practice is examined in a closer way, it is found out that the cooperative learning strategies have been more frequently applied in education abroad. Among the countries where the research into CL is well-advanced, the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia and Israel can be ranked. Th e phenomenon of CL has not been widely spread in Slovakia and therefore the research has been rather limited so far.

As a matter of fact there have been elaborated neither detailed analyses referring to basic terminology and relation context, the content and the process dimensions of CL, nor the empirical framework regarding the preparation and implementation of an experimental intervention including activities promoting the cooperation.

Th e research focused on the interaction aspects of social relations in the school classroom.

Methodology

When formulating the methodological fundament we started with assessing the research carried out by foreign and Slovak authors. All the mentioned theoretical and methodological concepts have become the basis for the formulation of the research which examined the issues and the evidence of CL application when infl uencing interpersonal relations in a group.

Considering the theoretical concepts and regarding the experience in this fi eld, we can proceed to the formulation of the research project:

What is the correlation between cooperative learning and the students’ socio – preferential relations in a school class?

Th e following research objectives were examined:to prepare and to realize projects of experimental intervention predomi-1. nantly by means of activities which develop cooperation,to fi nd out how the integration of cooperative learning into educational 2. activities in a school class can aff ect the change of socio-preferential relations in a group,to fi nd out how the integration of cooperative learning can infl uence the 3. social climate in a school class,to examine and to analyze the impact of the teacher conception of education 4. in experimental and control groups in relation to the character and the changes of socio – preferential relations in a group.

We assumed that there is a relation between the application of cooperative learning and the quality of interpersonal relations in a primary school classroom.

241Empirical Application Dimensions of Cooperative Learning Usage at School

With regard to the stated objectives the anticipated relations and connections were presented in a form of 8 hypotheses.

Operationalization of variables in the hypotheses:cooperative learning (independent variable)1. socio-preferential relations in the classroom (dependent variable 1)2. social climate in a class (dependent variable 2)3. intervening variables4.

Th e hypotheses were tested by means of a pedagogical experiment (quasi •experiment) as the pivotal testing method.Th e socio – preferential relations testing •

Parametric socio-metric test (Janoušek)1. SO-RA-D (Socio-metric Rating Questionnaire) (Hrabal)2. Plebiscite of aff ection (Řezáč)3.

Testing of social climate in a group •“Our class” Questionnaire (Lašek – Mareš) – My Class Inventory MCI” –(Fraser-Fisher)

Examination of the teacher conception of teaching •Teacher Conception of Teaching Questionnaire (Mareš) –

Statistical processing of results (the application of statistical soft ware •SPSS)

Non-parametric Wilcoxon signed – ranks test –Quantitative index analysis –Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) –

Quasi-experiments were conducted during the period of 2002, 2003 and 2004 at the 2nd level of primary schools (228 respondents) in the Trnava region (Slo-vakia).

Th e main formulated hypothesis and consequently the deduced hypotheses tested the eff ect of these variables:

Cooperative learning (independent variable) – cooperative learning starts with the theory and the methodology of cooperative learning. Th e structure of activi-ties aimed at the development of cooperation were draft ed into 5 basic principles referred to the cooperative learning model.

Socio-preferential relations in a classroom (dependent variable 1) – the structure of socio-preferential relations in a group is represented by:

o individual indexes of socio-preferential behavior of an individual, as the index of socio-metric status of an individual (ISS), the index of negative socio-metric


status of an individual, the index of mixed socio-metric status of an individual, the IP index of infl uence, the IO index of popularity, and the IN index of aff ection,

o clustered (group) socio-metric indices, as the ISKh index of group cohesion, the ISKr index of group coherence, the ISIn index of group integration, the ISKI index of group climate, the IV index of infl uence and the IS index of sympathy (affi nity),

o quantitative method “aff ection plebiscite” designated to detect the dimensions of sympathy – antipathy in mutual relations of students in a group.

Social climate of a class (dependent variable 2) – social climate of a class – the test-ing of social climate was realized by means of questionnaire Our Class – My Class Inventory – MCI, which was developed by B.J. Fraser and D.L. Fisher (1986).

Intervening variables – we assumed that in the course of the experiment, the intervening variables could infl uence to some extent. We think that they will be present in the experimental as well as control groups. It is necessary to point out that in this case when the quasi experiment was applied it was not possible to eliminate intervening variables in the full scope. Th e control of interven-ing variables was assured by a quality analysis of data concerning the teacher perception of teaching, both in the experimental and control groups, obtained by means of the “Teacher conception of teaching” questionnaire (Mareš, 1996). Th e experimental group and the control groups always had the same climate type, some of the experimental and the control groups were working under the leadership of the same teacher.

Regarding the fact that there were age diff erences among the groups, prior to the experiment we made the analysis of covariance. Th e age was presented as a covariant. By means of the age control a potential infl uence of age on the fi nal score was detected. Th e score of pretest items was used in the analysis as dependent variables, the type of a group (the experimental versus control groups) as the factors. We found out that in the pretest there were no signifi cant diff erences between the age diff erences and the type of group (age: 0.695086; EG vs. CG: 0.786191).

Research results

Th e main focus was the observation of the correlations between cooperative learning and socio-preferential relations of students in a class. Partial research objectives represented the programme orientation of the interventions.


Research objective 1To prepare and to carry out the projects of experimental intervention with the

dominant position of activities developing cooperation.

Research objective 2To fi nd out how the integration of cooperative learning into educational activ-

ity of a school class can have an infl uence on the change of socio-preferential relations in a group.

Quantitative index analysis of socio-preferential relations was focused on the research into:

Th e increase in the number of mutual choices in the experimental group (which was not proved in the control group) during the output measurement as well as the changes in the fi gures of socio-preferential relations in the experimental group represent the proof of the betterment of the relations among the group members. Th e presented data correspond with the results obtained by means of aff ection

Methodology material that was worked out and applied in the conditions of research contained important aspects of group dynamics and overall group interaction and allowed the teacher to control and to interfere or systematically infl uence group processes.

Selected activities showed a common fea-ture that the individual kinds of activities (drawing, motion, drama, etc.) represent an operating and a communication tool in mutual contact of group members, by means of this instrument they express their relations towards individual group members and to the group as a whole.

Th ey are further characterized as activating all the group members and are draft ed in compliance with the 5 crucial principles of cooperative learning.

Th eir changes under the infl uence of an intervention

Positions of an individual in a socio-metric structure

Socio-metric structure of a group


plebiscite which, during the output measurement, showed a signifi cant increase in the satisfaction rate in mutual relations among the students under the infl u-ence of the intervention in the experimental group, and the data obtained by a “Our class” questionnaire which at the output measurement had also showed the signifi cant increase in the satisfaction rate and a decrease in dissonance among the students. Th e increase in the group cohesion and coherence indices and the increase in the overall group climate index is the proof of the effi ciency of the intentional work and the systematic educational activity in the form of integration of the cooperative tape of teaching into education aiming at positive changes in mutual relations.

Research objective 3To fi nd out how the social climate in a class can be infl uenced by integrating

cooperative learning.Th e experimental intervention –

a meaningful integration of active social learning via cooperative ori-ented activities pointed out that the manipulation and the aff ection of the dependent variable “the climate of the class” is possible. In the experi-mental group, the experimentalists tried to correct the relations among the children and to carry out a social education using the methods and the techniques of cooperative learning, a positive change in the variable of climate were noticed.

Research objective 4To examine and to analyze the dimensions of teacher perception of teaching

in the experimental and control group in relation to the character and changes of socio-preferential relations in a group.

During the qualitative analysis of statements attention was predominantly focused on the procedural and interpersonal aspects of the realization of the class.

CompetitivenessSeriousness

Unity

Satisfaction

Disagreements

Variables


THEORETICAL--EMPIRICAL

ASPECT

Implies the necessity to elaborate in more detail the methodological framework of the research (the long-term character of research, the extension of research sampling of respondents covering other development phases, the application in other subjects, etc.).

Implies the need to develop literature, teaching texts, meth-odology textbooks, model projects focused on cooperative learning as a basis for systemic changes.

Implies the requirement to increase the eff ectiveness and the quality of teacher training for cooperative learning in education in preparatory, graduate and in-service phases.

Implies the need for research projects of CL in universi-ties and methodology centres, for the implementation of cooperative learning techniques and processes in education, empowering the theory and the practice refl exion, from the point of view of education and educational technology.

Implies the need to apply a model of cooperative learning applied in diff erent levels and types of schools, including lifelong learning institutions, respectively.

CONTENT CENTRED

ASPECT

ASPECT OF EDUCATIONAL

PROCESS

ASPECT OFCONCEPTUAL-REALIZATION

It was shown that the competitiveness or the cooperativeness respectively, as the principle of the approach toward the procedural level of education, is also refl ected in mutual relations in a group, especially in the sensed competitiveness rate that is unconsciously accepted by students.

We state that concerning the procedural dimension of education the socio-preferential indicators were improved when the cooperative approach of the teacher toward students was applied.


Th e application of the obtained information and the recommendations for educational practice

In the area of educational practice we found out the evidence that the educa-tion based on cooperative learning can be an instrument for the enhancement of interpersonal relations which create a starting point for the overall restoration of school education.

Considering the obtained results, we formulated the following conclusions and recommendations. Hereby we emphasize the following aspects:

a theoretical-empirical aspect,a) a content-centred aspect,b) an aspect of conceptual realization,c) an aspect of educational process.d)

Taking into consideration the above-mentioned results we can conclude that at present it seems to be necessary to restore and advance education, to improve the social atmosphere of the school as a whole.

Th is proceeding is in compliance with the “Millenium” concept of education and the development in the Slovak Republic, moreover, it results from it.

We state that it is not easy to understand and to accept the presence of the phenomenon of social relations in a class, to be able to diagnose and to infl uence it in a positive direction, but it has become a necessary concern in scholastic oriented school.

Conclusions

We intended to present cooperative learning from the aspects of the most signifi cant characteristics and systematic elements which make CL eff ective.

Th e comprehension of the key elements enables teachers, methodologists and researchers to plan, implement and evaluate educational units and their parts based on cooperative learning.

Th e research revealed that the experimental intervention and the positive outcomes justify cooperative learning. It can compensate the personal and social development in the conditions of education and instruction. It does not digress from the in-depth knowledge but it does not omit the human being as a thinking and feeling entity. By CL the scholastic and humanistic elements are introduced in school education.

It is obvious that CL in education cannot be further developed without stimuli for research, without multilateral and multilevel support of the school and the


teacher striving for eff ective teaching and instruction. In that case it would remain unexploited potential, but in compliance with the presented criteria, this potential can be a pre-requisite for a meaningful transformation of school education.

Bibliography

Frasher, B.J. (1986). Classroom environment. London: Croom Helm.Hrabal, V. (1989). Pedagogickopsychologická diagnostika žáka. Praha: SPN.Jablonský, T. (2006). Cooperative Learning in School Education – terminologi-

cal, methodological, historical, contentual and empirical dimensions. Kraków: FALL.

Johnson, D.W. & Johnson, R.T. (1989). Cooperation and Competition. Th eory and Research. Edina, MN : Interaction Book Company.

Mareš, J. – Slavík, J. – Švec, V. – Svatoš, T. (1996). Učitelovo pojetí výuky. Brno: MU.

Is Polish Special Education Eff ective? Academic and Socio-emotional Eff ects of Schooling in Special,

Integrated and Regular Schools1

Abstract

Th is article presents the results of a study of school achievement and socio-emotional integration in pupils with mild intellectual disability fi nishing Grade 3 of primary school. Th e participants attended schools/classes organized according to three diff erent principles: special schools, integrated classes and regular classes. Th e main research question which this study strove to answer was: how does reduction of special educational care aff ect participants’ school achievement and psycho-social functioning? Th e study yielded the following fi ndings: Th ere were no signifi cant diff erences between the pupils in the three diff erent organizational forms of education as far as cognitive achievement is concerned. However, the pupils in special schools had the most benefi cial psychosocial situation. Th ey felt most comfortable at school, rated their peer relations most highly and were most motivated to study. Finally, the study demonstrated that special educational care at school weakens the relationship between pupils’ school achievement and their psycho-social situation.

Key words: inclusive education, mild intellectual disability, academic achievement, socio-emotional integration.

1 Preparation of this article was supported by grant MNiSW no. 1566/H03/2007/32, “Eff ects of Schooling of Pupils with Mild Intellectual Disability in Segregated, Integrated and Inclusive Settings”.

Grzegorz Szumski, Anna Firkowska-MankiewiczPoland

249Is Polish Special Education Eff ective

1. Introduction

Th e introduction of the concept of integrated education of pupils with disabilities triggered off worldwide research into the eff ects of teaching in this group of pupils. Since the purpose of these studies was mainly to evaluate the practical utility of the new idea, the most common approach was to compare special and integrated schools. Th e range of the studied eff ects was wider than the one usually studied in healthy pupils and included not only academic achievement but also social and emotional adjustment. Th is broader scope is justifi ed by the generally accepted opinion that the goal in the education of children with disabilities is social integra-tion (cf. e.g. Maciarz 1999). Th is integration may be defi ned in several dimensions. Special educators usually adopt the following indices of successful integration of pupils with disabilities: position in the class peer group, subjective sense of group participation and level of development of social skills. In addition to these social factors, researchers also study disabled pupils’ academic profi ciency although this is not viewed as an indicator of social integration. Th is approach does not seem correct because school achievement is one of the most important predictors of integration in adults with disabilities (Szumski 2009). School achievement is a major determinant of one’s opportunities to fulfi l highly esteemed social roles, e.g., occupational or family roles (cf. Firkowska-Mankiewicz 2000).

Several meta-analyses of studies conducted in various countries have led to the conclusion that integrated education of pupils with reduced intellectual ability (intellectual disability and learning disability) do better in integrated education than in segregated education. Th is observation has been confi rmed, e.g., in studies of intellectually disabled pupils’ achievements in mathematics and their native lan-guage. S. Freeman and M. Alkin (2000: 8) reviewed the literature on such research and found that in 6 out of 9 studies meeting the methodological selection criteria, the pupils attending integrated classes had better achievement parameters than the pupils attending special (segregated) classes. No signifi cant diff erences were found in three studies. A similar pattern of higher academic achievement in integrated classes compared with special classes emerged in a Polish study conducted by I. Chrzanowska (2003: 69–70). A review of studies of the achievement of pupils with learning disabilities (Haeberlin et al. 1991: 115–118) yielded similar fi ndings. In four out of fi ve cases, the pupils attending integrated classes had better academic achievement than the pupils attending special classes. No signifi cant diff erences emerged in one study.

It is much more diffi cult to analyse the remaining factors believed to aff ect the expected outcomes of education of pupils with disabilities. Various researchers use

250 Grzegorz Szumski, Anna Firkowska-Mankiewicz

very diff erent research instruments making it impossible to assume that they are assessing the same variables. Th e aforementioned S. Freeman and M. Alkin (2000: 10) identifi ed six empirical studies comparing the social relations of intellectually disabled pupils (assessed using non-sociometric methods) in segregated and inte-grated educational settings. Integrated education gave better results in four of the studies and no signifi cant diff erences were found in the two remaining studies.

Th e importance of research comparing the schooling of pupils with disabilities in integrated and segregated settings diminished when mainstream discussion transcended the integration-segregation debate. Th is process already began in the 1990s, triggered by the increasing certainty that it was imperative to educate pupils with disabilities in regular schools because that was their human right. In other words, the justifi cation was ethical and legal rather than pragmatic (Dyson 2000; Lipsky & Gartner 1996). Th e already mentioned concept of inclusive educa-tion which developed in the 1990s as an eff ort to overcome the shortcomings of integrated education greatly contributed to the emergence of the ethical-legal approach (Szumski 2006; Firkowska-Mankiewicz 2004). If the dominance of this latter approach blocked the development of empirical studies on the eff ects of various forms of education of pupils with disabilities, the concept of inclusive education inspired such research. Typically, this work takes into consideration the eff ects of a much wider range of variables than just the organisational form of schooling on the educational outcomes of pupils with disabilities.

Th e vast majority of these studies focuses on the way the educational process is organised. Th e fi rst problem which they address is where the special education is provided. In many Western countries, particularly the USA, Denmark and Norway, the popular practice is to use resource rooms, i.e., separate rooms outside the classroom where pupils with disabilities are taught for part of the school day. Th is solution is now being rejected on behalf of the so-called full inclusion, i.e., transfer-ring special assistance to the ordinary classroom. Comparisons of the two forms of education of pupils with disabilities arouse considerable interest. In a recent meta-analysis, R. Savage (2006) demonstrated that resource rooms are less eff ective in elementary reading instruction than ordinary classrooms. Even special thera-peutic programs for reading learning diffi culties, conducted in separate rooms, are unable to compete with the simulating eff ect of a diverse educational environment. J. Wiener and Y. Tardif (2004) found that resource rooms have a poorer eff ect on the social and emotional functioning of pupils with learning disabilities than integrated and inclusive classes.

A second group of studies focuses on the eff ects of special care on the educational outcomes of pupils with disabilities. Th is is an extremely important issue because


the logic of inclusive education implies less special care for pupils with disabilities compared with segregated and integrated approaches (Porter 1999, Biewer 2005). Although the postulated reduction of special care and, consequently, increased similarity of the process of education of pupils with disabilities and healthy pupils is quite fundamental, it has not been put to extensive empirical test. A study reported by G. Bless (2007) deserves attention. Th is researcher compared the eff ect of the extent of special care on pupils’ progress with respect to the acquisition of academic knowledge and skills (mathematics and native language) in pupils with learning disabilities. A longitudinal research design was adopted. Th e study revealed a posi-tive correlation between the extent of special care and increments in the test scores of academic achievement.

Th is article presents the fi rst phase of the research project which focuses on school achievement in mathematics and native language and social-emotional integration in pupils with mild intellectual disability, attending special, integrated or regular schools/classes. Th e main objective was to fi nd out whether the type of school, and hence the various forms of education and support off ered to pupils with disabilities, has a diff erential eff ect on pupils’ academic achievement and socio-emotional adaptation. Diff erent hypotheses can be formulated regarding these eff ects depending on who formulates them: advocates of segregated versus non-segregated education, and so we have so far refrained from suggesting any hypotheses on the nature of these eff ects.

2. Method

2.1. SampleTh e study was conducted on 254 pupils with mild intellectual disability, toward

the end of primary school grade 3. Th e participants were recruited with the help of the National Education Information System (SIO) database. Th e pupils in the three basic forms of education of children with mild intellectual disability available in Poland were studied: special schools/classes (N = 114; 45%), integrated schools (N = 90; 35%) and regular schools (N = 50; 20%). Th e ratio of the boys to the girls in the entire sample was more or less balanced with slightly more boys than girls: N = 136 (53.5%) and N = 118 (46.5%) respectively, but there were signifi cantly more (p = 0.02) boys than girls in the special schools.


2.2. Forms of educationTh e three forms of education addressed in this study diff er in several respects:

the staff , the organisation of teaching and especially the extent of special care. Special classes for children with intellectual disability are usually located in separate schools and are taught by special educators, appropriately qualifi ed to work with a particular type of disability. Th ese classes are small (10–16 pupils per class; MEN order 2001) and specially taught. Integrated classes are located in integrated or regular schools and the number of pupils per class is also reduced (16–20), with 3–5 disabled pupils per class. A special educator assists the regular teacher in such classes. Regular classes with one or two pupils with disabilities are normal-sized and do not employ additional special educators (Table 1).

Table 1. Brief characteristics of the Polish primary school system

Type of schoolSpecial Integrated Regular

Number of pupils per class 10–16 16–20 25–30Number of special educators per class All 1 0Number of students with disabilities per class All 3–5 1–2Percent of pupils with disabilities in the school system ≈ 50% ≈ 16% ≈ 34%Curriculum Th e same base for all pupils

2.3. Methods and procedure• Th e verbal aptitude test for pupils with mild intellectual disability completing

Grade III (levels 1 and 2) was constructed by G. Szumski (2007a). Th is test has good psychometric parameters (Cronbach α = 0.77) and is used to assess the fol-lowing competences: reading with order comprehension, letter expertise, sentence concept comprehension and sentence construction (level 1), and narrative text reading with comprehension (level 2).• Mathematical aptitude test for pupils with mild intellectual disability

completing Grade III (levels 1 and 2) by G. Szumski (2007b). Th is test has very good psychometric parameters (Cronbach α = 0.92) and assesses the follow-ing competences: adding and subtracting, written and freestyle, solving simple text problems, comprehension of the sum concept, solving simple and complex problems using addition (level 1) and multiplication (written and freestyle), division, comprehension of the concept of diff erence, numerical axis expertise, mathematical operation sequence, and solving simple problems using subtraction (level 2).


• Th e Academic Integration Questionnaire (QSI; Polish adaptation by Szumski 2007c). Th is is a Polish adaptation of the original Swiss questionnaire Fragebogen zur Erfassung von Dimensionen FDI 4–6 (Haeberlin et al. 1989). It has 45 items organised in three scales: Emotional Integration identifying the pupil’s emotional attitude toward school (e.g. “I do not like going to school”; Cronbach α = 0.76), Social Integration identifying satisfaction with peer relations in the classroom (e.g. “I have many friends at school”, Cronbach α = 0.81) and Study Motivation assessed with self-reported academic aptitude (e.g. “I am a good pupil”; Cronbach α = 0.76).

Th e testing was conducted in May 2008 by trained interviewers working for Millward Brown SMG/KRC, a survey company specialising in social studies. Organisational eff orts were made to unify the procedure and eliminate the eff ect of potential interferences.

3. Results

3.1. Academic achievementTh e data of the pupils’ academic achievement (mean sums of scores on the

language and mathematics tests) in the three types of school are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Academic achievements of the pupils from special, integrated and regular schools

School/class Verbal test M(SD) Math test M(SD)Special (N = 114)Integrated (N = 90)Regular (N = 50)

26.4 (7.3)25.0 (7.6)24.7 (9.4)

18.5 (11.2)16.4 (11.3)16.4 (12.2)

p ns ns

No signifi cant diff erences in academic achievement were found for pupils attending the three diff erent organisational forms of education – a very interest-ing fi nding indeed!

Th is pattern also emerged at each level, 1 and 2, of verbal and mathematical achievement (cf. Table 3).

It is worth noting, however, that the pupils attending special classes achieved slightly higher scores compared with the pupils attending integrated and regular schools. We therefore have a trend consistent with the traditional opinion of special pedagogues that pupils with disabilities do better in special schools than regular schools.


3.2. Socio-emotional integration

Th e superiority of special education compared with integrated and regular edu-cation showed more clearly when the QSI scores, the measure of socio-emotional integration, were analysed (Table 4).

Table 4. Socio-emotional integration and type of school

School/class Emotional integration

Social integration

Study motivation

special (N = 114) M (SD) 41.9 (9.4) 45.8 (9.0) 41.8 (9.1)integrated (N = 88) M (SD) 37.6 (11.5) 41.4 (10.7) 36.0 (9.3)regular (N = 50) M (SD) 40.2 (11.5) 41.1 (14.3) 38.9 (11.7)Total (N = 252) M (SD) 40.1 (10.7) 43.3 (11.0) 39.2 (10.1)

Signifi cance of diff erences

F(2.251) = 4.28; p = 0.02,η2 = 0.03

1>2

F(2.251) = 5.38; p = 0.005,η2 = 0.04

1>3

F(2.251) = 8.72; p = 0.0001,η2 = 0.07

1>2

Th e pupils attending special schools/classes did much better on all three scales than their peers in integrated schools/classes and regular schools. Th ey feel best at school, are most satisfi ed with their classroom peer relations and also have the best self-reports of their potential for school achievement , that is study motivation according to Haeberlin et al. (1989). Interestingly enough, no signifi cant diff erences emerged between the pupils attending integrated and regular schools for any of these

Table 3. School achievement (verbal and maths) of the pupils from diff erent types of schools/classes (level 1 and 2)

School/class Verbal 1 Verbal 2 Math 1 Math 2Special (N = 114)Integrated(N = 90)Regular(N = 50)

M(SD)

M(SD)

M(SD)

21.7 (6.9)

20.5 (6.8)

20.4 (8.1)

4.7 (1.4)

4.5 (1.5)

4.2 (1.9)

11.5 (6.3)

9.7 (6.7)

9.5 (6.7)

6.9 (5.5)

6.7 (5.4)

6.9 (6.1)

Total (N = 254) M(SD)F(2,253)p

21.0 (7.1)0.870.42

4.6 (1.6)1.710.18

10.5 (6.6)2.710.07

6.9 (5.6)0.100.91


variables. What these results seem to suggest is that educational eff orts in integrated classes have no eff ect on the psycho-social situation of pupils with mild intellectual disability. It is particularly surprising that emotional integration and study motivation are poorest in integrated classes, even worse than in regular classes.

3.3. School achievement and socio-emotional integrationFew studies on the eff ectiveness of various forms of education of pupils with

disabilities address relations between psycho-social integration and school achieve-ment, yet this is surely a very important issue. As predicted, in the present study such correlations were found in the entire sample indicating that the children with higher levels of school achievement are also more integrated (Table 5).

Interestingly, however, this pattern was not found in every type of school. It emerged for regular schools but the relation between school, achievement and psychosocial functioning was much less pronounced in special schools and even less so in integrated schools.

Tab. 5. Correlations between school achievement and socio-emotional integration

Verbal 1 Verbal 2 Math1 Math 2Total

Emotional integration 0.315*** 0.191** 0.259*** 0.217**Social integration 0.245*** 0.184** 0.246*** 0.228***Study motivation 0.243*** 0.143** 0.182** 0.185**

Special schoolEmotional integration 0.059 0.084 0.233** 0.223**Social integration 0.140 0.037 0.282** 0.239**Study motivation 0.111 -0.036 0.111 0.204*

Integrated schoolEmotional integration 0.432*** 0.083 0.085 0.101Social integration 0.308** 0.131 0.101 0.208*Study motivation 0.171 -0.121 0.019 0.021

Regular schoolEmotional integration 0.558*** 0.488*** 0.551*** 0.397**Social integration 0.292* 0.362** 0.319* 0.259^Study motivation 0.507*** 0.639*** 0.436*** 0.373**

*p<0.05; **p<0.001, ***p<0.0001


4. Discussion

Our review of the existing research comparing the school achievements of pupils with disabilities in segregated and non-segregated forms of education has led us to the following general conclusion. Pupils with learning disabilities and mild intel-lectual disabilities in integrated education with healthy peers do better in terms of school achievement, or at least not worse than pupils in special education. Our own research revealed that the situation in Poland does not diff er dramatically from the situation in other countries. Th erefore, we have once again demonstrated that there is no empirical justifi cation for the claim that special schools need to be defended because they ensure more eff ective education of pupils with disabilities. Th is does not mean, however, that our fi ndings are exactly the same as the fi ndings obtained in other countries.

In Poland, the academic achievement of pupils with intellectual disabilities attending integrated and regular schools/classes does not diff er signifi cantly from the academic achievement of pupils attending special classes, whereas in the West it is usually superior. Th e situation in our country is similar to the situation in Western countries several years ago. If we compare earlier and more recent reviews of the research on the educational outcomes of pupils with disabilities, we shall notice an important diff erence. Older reviews either found no diff erences in the school achievement of pupils in diff erent types of schools or found slightly better outcomes in special schools (e.g. Carlberg & Kavale 1980). More recent reviews suggest that integrated education is more eff ective than special education (Freeman & Alkin 2000).

Considerable progress has been made in Western countries within the last three decades as far as the methods of integrated teaching of pupils with special educational needs and pupils without such needs are concerned. Western teachers are now more experienced. Also, many methods and strategies of joint instruction have now been developed, such as the ALEM-Program (Adaptive Learning Envi-ronments Model), TAI-Program (Team Assisted Individualization), Peer Tutoring or Peer Cooperation. Th e results of evaluative studies suggest that these methods are very eff ective (Bankmann & Pieringer 1991: 108–141). In Poland, meanwhile, integrated education only began to develop in the 1990s and our methods are still at a rather inchoate stage.

As far as subjective social integration as measured with the QSI is concerned, it is better in pupils attending special classes than pupils with disabilities attending integrated or regular classes. Th is fi nding corroborates those reported by other researchers. It is worth pointing out that the socio-emotional situation of pupils


in special classes is superior, however we choose to assess it. Self-report measures and traditional socio-metric measures yield similar results. It therefore seems that poorer psycho-social adjustment is a relatively permanent cost which pupils with disabilities in non-segregated education are incurring.

Our main objective, however, was not to compare the academic outcomes of various forms of organization of education but to investigate the eff ects of the special care behind these various forms. If we look at the present results from this perspective they become really exciting. What we found was that the relation between the special care and the school achievement in pupils with mild intel-lectual disabilities is statistically insignifi cant. Pupils taught by regular teachers in normal classes achieve comparable levels of academic knowledge and skills aft er three years of schooling to the levels achieved by their peers taught by special educators. Th is fi nding must raise the question of the nature of eff ectiveness of special education, a fundamental question for special education and educational policy (Norwich & Lewis 2007). Meanwhile, the question of “how special is special education” does not crop up very oft en in contemporary special education. What is more, if the issue is analysed at all, it is analysed on the periphery of discussions of the concept of integrated education whereas the question, logically speaking, is the central and integral element of the concept. We cannot responsibly say whether every district school can teach pupils with disabilities if we know so little about the question of whether or not it is essential that we educate such pupils separately. Th e last line of the investigation which we conducted were the relations between the socio-emotional functioning of pupils with mild intellectual disabilities and their academic achievement in various forms of education. Th ese relations are strong in regular schools and less strong when special educators appear on the stage – in integrated schools and especially in special schools. One possible line of interpreta-tion of this unexpected fi nding would be via the concept of integrated education as a qualitatively novel type of schooling. In regular schools there is a positive relation between how well pupils do academically and how comfortable they feel at school (the QSI measures several aspects of this well-being). Th e development of the self-concept where feelings of self-worth are contingent on achievement is consistent with the rules of the now dominant culture of competition and free market. School as a social, achievement-oriented agency reproduces the existing mechanisms of development of social structure and therefore encourages the formation of the type of identity which is consistent with these social demands. To borrow H. Marcuse’s (1991) formulation, contemporary school creates the “one-dimensional man”.

Th e inclusive school concept is an attempt to alter this state of aff airs. Its pro-ponents assume that academic achievement in the traditional sense should not be


the main objective of education or the linchpin of self-worth (Lipsky & Gartner 2000; Prengel 1995). One of the fundamental principles of inclusive education is appreciation of the internal diversity of human society. Th e list of evaluative param-eters must be broadened. Our fi ndings seem to suggest that this can be achieved by introducing special educators to regular schools. Th eir presence could change school culture. Th is new culture would loosen the connection between achieve-ment and self-worth, at least in pupils with mild intellectual disabilities. How extensive this change will be and whether or not it will spread to pupils without special educational needs is a separate problem for further study, a problem which is extremely important for the future of the concept of inclusive education.

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The Infl uence of Criterion-Referenced Assessment on Students’ Attitudes towards Education

Abstract

Educational assessment forms students’ personality and at the same time evokes positive or negative attitudes towards education. Th e paper points to the possibil-ity of using criterion-referenced assessment at secondary schools; its criteria are known to students and students know that they can improve their performance using their initiative. Th e application of criterion-referenced assessment enables students to experience more positive feelings in the educational process, in other words, the joy of learning.

Key words: educational assessment, grading, criterion-referenced assessment, stu-dents’ attitudes towards education.

Introduction

Educational assessment has always belonged to the competences of each teacher. It is a tool and a means of controlling the educational process, of infl uencing and shaping the student’s personality and it also serves as feedback, information about accurate or inaccurate learning techniques.

Grading belongs to fundamental control activities at our primary and second-ary schools. Pedagogues and psychologists, authors of pedagogical publications (Staněk, S. 1990, Jedinák, D. 1992, Okruhlicová, A. 1991, Rőtling, G. 1997, Kosová, B. 1998 and others) point to the non-functional character of grades and evaluation levels, which is also caused by legislation based on grading.

Zlata VašašováSlovak Republic

262 Zlata Vašašová

In the area of educational assessment, Th e National Program for Education in the Slovak Republic, called Milénium (Millennium) (2002), emphasizes the necessity of using various approaches, so that educational assessment fulfi ls all its functions and is also humane. One possibility of incorporating the components of humanist psychology into educational assessment at secondary schools is the use of criterion-referenced assessment. Th is assessment requires application of an individual referential norm, i.e. the performance of the individual is not compared with the performance of the group or other individuals (Slavík, J. 1999).

1. Educational assessment and its importance

Human beings are curious and active creatures. Th ey strive to understand their environment, but also themselves. Apart from that, they do not passively accept everything that they encounter, but they adapt it to their existence (Oravcová, J. 2005). Comparing, attributing, and reacting to facts are involved in the process of assessment. If humans want to evaluate not only their environment, but also them-selves, they have to learn it during their life. Critical evaluation forms the basis for true and fair expression of one’s thoughts, objective evaluation and simultaneously it supports healthy interpersonal relationships. Th e understanding of the importance or meaning of educational assessment is linked with the perception of its functions. Generally, three functions of assessment are presented most oft en and these are motivational, cognitive and connative ones (Mareš, J. 1991, Slavík, J. 1999).

1.1. The importance of educational assessment from the teacher’s point of viewAssessment represents a process in which the teacher gains information about

the level of students in relation to education, but also in relation to his/her work. Th e ability to choose the most eff ective way of assessment in relation to students’ abilities and personality prerequisites belongs, according to Kariková (1999), to fundamental competences of each teacher. Assessment fulfi ls mainly an informative function for teachers, it informs them about their work, preparation and planning of teaching their subjects, but also a regulatory one, which enables to manage, revise and improve their teaching. Since teachers infl uence students’ attitudes towards learning, society, value orientation and the like, assessment also fulfi ls an educational function. B. Kosová (1998, p.17) presents these functions from the teacher’s point of view:

Diagnostic function – when the teacher gains information about all aspects •

263The Infl uence of Criterion-Referenced Assessment on Students’ Attitudes…

of the student’s personality. Assessment enables to test the level of knowl-edge, skills, and habits, to know the student’s individuality, the emotional and social aspect of his/her development.Developing function – is used by the teacher to advance or slow down the •development of the student’s personality. Th e teacher’s verbal and non-verbal manifestations provide students with information and thus form their self-image and self-perception. Assessment in the hands of a sensitive teacher assists the student with areas where he/she should accelerate or get better. Assessment by an insensitive teacher can harm rather than help, and therefore in this case it becomes a dangerous tool. Th e author calls this function educational and didactic.Self-diagnostic and self-regulating function – assessment fulfi ls this func- •tion when teachers realize their outcomes and eff ectivity of their work. Th e knowledge of one’s assessment style and preferences of the particular student enables them to change and improve not only themselves, but also their students.

Educational assessment involves an interaction between the subject and object of the assessment and some authors speak about the function – means of bringing together the participants of the teaching process (Kolář, Z. – Navrátil, S. – Šikulová, R. 1998). Th is function is directed at transforming the education system into humanization of education which rejects teachers with black notebooks – for writ-ing down students’ false moves – that form a barrier in the relationship between the teacher and the students. Also Valihorová (2008) sees the interaction between the examiner and the examinee (the possibility of students’ self-assessment, students’ involvement in the system of assessment and the like) as one of the signs of the humanistic approach to students.

1.2. The importance of educational assessment from the student’s point of viewStudents as an object of assessment are exposed to evaluative judgements by

teachers, classmates and parents, but also by the general public with which they get in touch. Assessment awakens and regulates students’ activity, which is connected with their positive motivation to learn, but it can also become a negative factor of motivation. It concerns mainly students’ intrinsic motivation, which results from human needs and is linked with pleasant experiences and individual success. Negative assessment arouses states of discontent, tension, and fear in students and has a demotivating eff ect. It is particularly important to motivate students in the period of maturation, since the school achievement motivation declines at this


age (Oravcová, J.2000, p.95). Academic achievement should represent a positive value for students in the hierarchy of their value systems, because “personal values are important regulators of experiencing and acting“ (Salbot, V.-Poliach, V. 2007, p. 96).

According to B. Kosová (1998, p. 17), we can distinguish three functions from the student’s point of view:

Cognitive and self-cognitive function: the author recommends including •informative, diagnostic and self-diagnostic functions into this function. By means of assessment students get information about their progress, but also about the weaker aspects of their performance. Th ey select and identify all information and thus set mirror enables them to complete the image of themselves. Apart from themselves, they learn about the teacher’s demands and values, distinguish what is relevant and irrelevant.Motivational – activating function – under the infl uence of assessment •students form their system of values, they take something on, refuse some-thing else and direct their interests, activities and actions in a certain way. “Positive assessment has the most benefi cial eff ect on students; in particular with weaker students those areas should be emphasized in which they can experience joy of personal success“ (Kariková, 2003, p.77).Self-regulating function – the author calls it a control, self-control, self- •evaluating, regulating, prognostic, but also selective function. Th is function of students’ assessment signalizes whether they have fulfi lled a given task, or achieved set goals, and makes them revise their eff orts and endeavour. Th e teacher’s assessment and their own activity enable them to create images about their personality and at the same time an attitude towards themselves. On the basis of grades, students integrate themselves among successful or unsuccessful students. Th rough this function, also students’ volitional features are developed, their independence, which is a prerequisite for better performances in the future (Salbot, 2007).

A frequent phenomenon at our schools is students’ eff ort to get a good grade, because it is the measure of success. Th e Polish pedagogue W. Okoń (in Jedinák, D. 1992) points to the fact that for most students grades became not a means, but an end of their school work. He adds that this is true not only for students, but also for parents, and what is least understandable, also for some teachers. Th is approach to grading and to grades refl ects the values of our education system, in which the content and quantity of curriculum are preferred and grades are decisive for admission to secondary schools and universities (Valihorová, 1999).


2. Research in the area of educational assessment

Th e fi rst research in the area of assessment, evaluation and grading of pupils occurred in the pedagogic literature in 1958 (Meisner, J. 1958). At the time, the author of the study was interested in pupils’ overload in terms of evaluating their performance. He focussed his research on all types of schools apart from universi-ties and his objective was to analyze negative aspects of examining pupils in terms of mental hygiene. Further research was directed at discovering the relationship between pupils’ achievement and their intellectual abilities (Hraše, J. – Hradecká, M. – Hanák, J. – Valová. G. 1966, Hintnaus, L. 1968, Picková, M. – Musil, J.V. 1970, Hrabal, V. – Krykorová, M. – Pavelková, I. 1981). Th e authors of the research found out that academic achievement is infl uenced by the overall level of pupils’ intellectual abilities.

Other authors of scientifi c studies (Hrabal, V. Snr. – Lukš, J. 1978, Rosina, J. 1982, Mareš, J. – Skalská, M. – Kantorková, M. 1994) focused their attention on the rela-tionship between academic achievement and the teacher’s personality, in particular on the infl uence of the teacher’s subjectivity on educational assessment. J. Mareš et al. (1994) examined teachers’ subjective responsibility for their pupils’ outcomes. Th ere were very interesting fi ndings that teachers at all types of schools, including universities, attribute the merit of students’ success to themselves, but failures are attributed to students and responsibility is shift ed to them as well.

Apart from that research, a group of authors (Hrabal, V. Snr. – Lukš, J. 1971, 1974, Sýkora, M. 1974) examined the relationship between students’ academic achievement and motivation and also students’ activities. In both cases the research confi rmed that secondary school students’ achievement depends on their motiva-tion to study and on their activity. Apart from that, they pointed out that positive educational assessment increases students’ motivation to learn and leads to their voluntary involvement in the educational process.

Connections between self-assessment and achievement at the fi rst stage of primary school were not unequivocally confi rmed only in some research studies (Vágnerová, 1995). Th e author came to the conclusion that educational assessment was connected mostly with judging one’s own position in the classroom, which is, however, predetermined by grades. Th is research showed that the result of self-assessment was most infl uenced by adults’ opinions and academic achievement represented an alternative of expressing teachers’ opinions. Other research results in the population of adolescents (Ďuricová, L. 2004) pointed to signifi cant con-nections between students’ achievement motivation, academic achievement and self-concept.


In the area of assessment, evaluation and grading at our primary schools the greatest success aft er 1989 was further development of oral assessment and its application at the fi rst stage of primary schools. Th e experimental research by B. Kosová (1998) made a major contribution to this issue; its aim was to integrate humanistic components into education. Th e research results confi rmed the accu-racy of introducing oral assessment at primary schools and also confi rmed that the humanist approach at school leads fi rst of all to respecting pupils’ needs and their personality (Bernátková, M. 1995, 1996, Farkasová, Z. 1996). In addition, it was proved (Kosová, B. 1998) that educational assessment also infl uences pupils’ attitudes towards learning. Within a research task of the Ministry of Education called “Measurement and assessment of educational outcomes at the 1st stage of primary schools” a parallel testing of oral assessment at the 2nd stage of primary schools was launched. Th is research has not been completed and verifi ed yet (Farkašová, Z. 2000).

Th e use of authentic assessment at the fi rst stage of primary schools was also examined by A. Anderková (1999, 2000) by means of a portfolio. In her research, the author pointed to the possibility of using alternative approaches in evaluating pupils’ performance while respecting all humanistic principles. Th e National Pro-gram for Education in the Slovak Republic called Milénium (Millennium) (2002) emphasizes the importance of using co-assessment and self-assessment. Th is technique of educational assessment, however, lacks set criteria, which remain in the competence of each teacher. Th e only current aid of teachers in the educational assessment is the Methodological direction No. 15/2007 for educational assessment at vocational schools, where Article 7 sets common criteria for the evaluation of general and technical subjects.

2.1. Criterion-referenced assessmentTh is type of educational assessment does not oft en occur at schools, but it ena-

bles pupils to enhance their learning and to improve in a given subject through their own activity, even to eliminate their fear of grades.

When teachers assess and evaluate pupils in the classroom, they very oft en use the norm of the classroom. When assessing the performance of individuals, they judge how an individual performed on the task in comparison with the class according to the prevailing outcomes. Sometimes this norm can be the outcome of the whole population. Th en we talk about norm-referenced assessment. Th is assessment of a particular pupil in relation to the performance of the whole group (classroom) is unfair for an individual, because for example when taking aptitude tests or entrance exams an individual fails in given exams despite the fact that he/


she passed them, but in comparison with the group his/her results may be worse. In contrast to that, criterion-referenced assessment is much more ideal; if the pupil succeeds in the task, it is a positive assessment of his/her performance. Th e success does not depend on how he/she fulfi lled the task. Th is assessment is applicable only if criteria are set accurately. A criterion is the name of a characteristic which occurs with various individuals and which an individual can acquire, or master to a certain extent. Th at means that the pupil either has or does not have a given characteristic, or it is only partially developed. Since criteria are common for more objects, we can compare these objects. Th e more sensitive the criteria are, the better they can divide a big problem into smaller sub-problems. It does not concern the content of the subject, but the skills, competences, which a pupil should gain in a given subject. Competence is the level of an individual’s readiness to perform a certain social role, or to cope with social requirements, demands of his/her environment. Pupils enter school only with germs of competences and school approaches them like beginners who should develop them fully. In criterion-referenced assessment we focus on the qualitative aspect of the assessed phenomenon, on its poles. However, if teachers need a fi ner distinction, inter-poles are used. Th e given inter-stages must contain exactly described manifestations of the pupil’s behaviour, which correspond to them. Pupils do not have to achieve a given level of competences during the same time; therefore an individual approach is applied here.

We consider the characterized criterion-referenced assessment as the most suit-able for educational assessment at secondary schools, because it provides students with clear criteria and possibilities of their own improvement. On the basis of these facts we tried to use criterion-referenced assessment at secondary schools. It should lead pupils to co-assessment and self-assessment and at the same time infl uence positively pupils’ experiencing in the educational process.

3. Research objectives and hypotheses

Our research objective was to fi nd whether the application of criterion-refer-enced assessment causes a change in secondary school students’ attitudes towards learning. On the basis of this objective we set hypotheses assuming that:

Students in the experimental group would have diff erent attitudes towards •learning aft er applying criterion-referenced assessment.Students’ attitudes towards learning and education in the experimental and •control groups would be statistically signifi cantly diff erent aft er the applica-tion of criterion-referenced assessment.


Research sampleTh e research sample consisted of 152 students from selected secondary schools

in Banská Bystrica. Th eir representation was distributed to a grammar school, a technical school and a vocational school. Th e experimental group consisted of 82 students of the average age 16 years. Th e control group was composed of parallel classes or groups, in which the given teacher taught the same subject, it comprised 70 students. Th e experiment lasted 5 months.

Research methodsIn order to reach our objectives, we selected an experiment to test criterion-

referenced assessment in selected subjects at secondary schools. Th is testing was preceded by the setting of assessment criteria for individually selected subjects: history at grammar school, the German language at vocational school (VS), mathematics at technical school and psychology at VS. While devising criterion-referenced assessment, we focussed on students’ active involvement in assessing the performance of their classmates and on self-assessment, on the opportunity to correct a bad grade and previous assessment, but also on the possibility of changing the overall assessment.

We chose the Test of Semantic Selection (TSS) as a supporting method of the experiment, by means of which we wanted to fi nd out whether the experiment has some infl uence on students’ experiencing. Th e TSS is based on the semantic diff erential technique, the authors of which are E.E. Osgood, G.J. Suci and P.H. Tannenbaum, who devised it in 1957. Th e TSS represents a modifi ed version of this technique. It was developed in the 1960s by the Prague biochemist and psychiatrist V. Doležal. As V. Smékal (1990) states, it is more suitable than the semantic dif-ferential technique.

Th e principle of TSS is based on a set of pictures and a set of concepts or words. In our test we used a set of pictures and a set of 20 concepts. Th e set of pictures consisted of schematic depiction of 16 objects which are constant and these include the sun, moon, grille, worm, grave, boat, spider’s web, mouth, tree, dagger, eye, snake, fl ower, fi sh, house, and water. Th e set which was given to the respondents contained 20 words: school, teacher, grade, written test, joy, praise, examination, fear, oral assessment, punishment, parents, school report, classmates, pupil’s record book, class list, “ being called to the blackboard“, help, learning, explanation, to cor-rect grades. We selected concepts according to our intention to discover whether a change in the educational assessment would bring about a change in the students’ attitudes towards learning. Th e respondents’ task consisted in connecting each concept with exactly eight pictures which according to their opinion are related


to that concept. Among these concepts there were words “joy” and “fear,” which determined the dimensions of comparison with other concepts and their image served as a defi nition of the semantic image. When comparing all the concepts with the concepts of joy and fear, 4 quadrants were formed in the semantic space, which according to the author of the TSS divide it into the following parts: Quadrant I – fear, quadrant II – ambivalence, quadrant III – indiff erence, quadrant IV – joy. By means of the TSS we tried to measure the infl uence of a new assessment form devised by us on the students’ experiencing and attitudes towards the educational process. Th e test of semantic selection was submitted to the students at the begin-ning (test), and also at the end of the experiment (retest).

Research resultsWhen comparing the results at the beginning and at the end of the experiment

we found statistically signifi cant diff erences, which proves that the new form of educational assessment had a positive infl uence on the students’ attitudes towards education and on their positive experiencing of the educational process.

When comparing the experimental and control groups at the beginning of the experiment we found statistically signifi cant diff erences only in four concepts in the control group. It concerned the concepts of school (p ≤ 0.023), oral assessment (p ≤ 0.041) and explanation (p ≤ 0.044), where the experimental group reported a higher rate of joy (in quadrant IV) of these concepts at the beginning of the experiment. It is probable that the students took a positive attitude towards these pedagogical phenomena already in the past. We observed an interesting phenom-enon with the concept of punishment, which in the control group in comparison with the experimental group recorded higher joy (p ≤ 0.011). As regards oral assessment, the control group recorded a higher fear of this assessment (p ≤ 0.029) in comparison with the experimental group.

Th e results of the test indicated that the students’ experiencing of the educational process in the experimental and control groups was approximately the same at the beginning, which also confi rmed our assumptions.

Aft er an experimental intervention, i.e. aft er introducing criterion-referenced assessment at the level of retest in the experimental and control groups, i.e. at the end of the experiment, we recorded a statistically signifi cant shift in 12 concepts in the dimension of joy and in 11 concepts in the dimension of fear (Table 1):

Th e concept of school in the dimension of joy was experienced more joy- •fully by the students in the experimental group than in the control group (p ≤ 0.001). In the dimension of ear, the students in the control group experienced a bigger fear of the concept of school than the students in the


experimental group. Th ere is a statistically signifi cant diff erence (p ≤ 0.013) in the students’ attitudes between the experimental and control groups.As regards the concept of teacher, the students in the experimental group •manifested bigger joy than the control group (p ≤ 0.000); the students in the control group experienced a bigger fear in connection with this concept (p ≤ 0.010), which was manifested in the dimension of quadrant I.Grade and written test in the dimensions of joy and fear showed a statisti- •cally signifi cant diff erence (p ≤ 0.000) in both groups.Praise evokes positive experiencing and attitudes in man, which was con- •fi rmed in the retest in our research sample of students. Th e students in the experimental group were fi lled more with joy in relation to this concept than those in the control group (p ≤ 0.009).Examination aroused bigger joy in the dimension of joy in the students in •the experimental group than in the control group. In the dimension of fear, the students in the control group had a bigger fear of this concept than the students in the experimental group. In the dimensions of joy and fear, there is a statistically signifi cant diff erence (p ≤ 0.000) between the attitudes of the students in the experimental and control groups.Students at secondary schools have little experience with oral assessment. •In our research sample this concept aroused a positive attitude in the quad-rant of joy in the experimental group in contrast to the control group (p ≤ 0.000). Its position in the dimension of fear showed a statistically signifi cant change in the students’ attitudes (p ≤ 0.000), where the students in the con-trol group experienced a bigger fear than the students in the experimental group.Th e concept of school report evoked more positive emotional experiencing •in the experimental group at the level of joy than in the control group (p ≤ 0.001); by contrast, the students in the control group had a bigger fear of this concept with a statistical signifi cance (p ≤ 0.042).Also with the concept of a pupil’s record book, the students in the experi- •mental group experienced bigger joy than the students in the control group (p ≤ 0.025), while in the dimension of fear the values were higher in the control group than in the experimental group (p ≤ 0.018).As regards the concept of class list, we discovered a statistically signifi cant •diff erence (p ≤ 0.030) in the dimension of fear between the attitudes of the students in the experimental and control groups.Th e concept of “being called to the blackboard“ recorded a statistically sig- •nifi cant diff erence (p ≤ 0.003) in the dimension of joy between the students


Table 1: Statistical diff erences between the experimental and control groups at the end of the experiment

Item

Joy FearExperim.

groupControl group T test

Experim.group

Control group T test

Rretest Rretest Sretest Sretest

AM SD AM SD p AM SD AM SD pschool 4.422 1.687 3.486 1.755 0.001 3.843 1.468 4.529 1.803 0.013teacher 4.675 1.644 3.586 1.429 0.000 3.687 1.528 4.343 1.539 0.010grade 5.699 1.360 3.386 1.407 0.000 2.952 1.405 4.757 1.449 0.000written test 4.096 1.436 2.800 1.536 0.000 4.072 1.342 5.071 1.467 0.000joy 8.000 0.000 7.943 0.232 0.045 1.880 1.057 2.029 1.219 0.428praise 6.446 1.078 5.900 1.385 0.009 2.205 1.149 2.286 1.289 0.687examination 4.000 1.440 2.629 1.365 0.000 4.373 1.386 5.300 1.246 0.000fear 1.880 1.057 2.029 1.219 0.428 7.928 0.259 7.943 0.232 0.705oral assessment 5.723 1.442 4.214 1.594 0.000 2.843 1.393 3.900 1.774 0.000punishment 2.217 1.193 2.557 1.390 0.112 5.639 1.247 5.743 1.284 0.615parents 5.928 1.200 5.843 1.261 0.674 2.446 1.273 2.500 1.328 0.799school report 4.952 1.512 3.986 1.801 0.001 3.470 1.516 4.014 1.703 0.042classmates 5.639 1.313 5.300 1.345 0.122 2.747 1.325 2.957 1.367 0.342pupil’s rec.book 4.337 1.608 3.700 1.808 0.025 3.880 1.631 4.529 1.696 0.018class list 3.964 1.718 3.457 1.810 0.082 4.060 1.547 4.629 1.623 0.030call to the board 3.783 1.628 3.057 1.372 0.003 4.265 1.432 5.229 1.333 0.000help 5.410 1.658 5.229 1.523 0.486 3.108 1.513 2.986 1.498 0.618learning 4.060 1.660 3.986 1.599 0.780 4.024 1.362 4.371 1.475 0.138explanation 5.422 1.381 5.014 1.429 0.078 3.072 1.306 3.243 1.478 0.458correct. of grade 6.181 1.054 4.300 1.562 0.000 2.602 1.182 4.029 1.558 0.000

in both groups, where the students in the experimental group experienced bigger joy than the students in the control group. In the dimension of fear, we recorded more fear of this concept in the control group than in the experimental group (p ≤ 0.000).

• Th e last concept, where we recorded statistically signifi cant changes in both groups (p ≤ 0.000) in the dimensions of joy and fear, was correction of grades. Th e students in the experimental group had bigger joy of this concept than the students in the control group, and the students in the control group had a bigger fear of this concept than the students in the experimental group.


Conclusion

We assumed that by introducing an experiment in the educational assessment there would be statistically signifi cant diff erences in experiencing and students’ attitudes towards education between the experimental and control groups. In order to measure these diff erences we used the test of semantic selection, which we applied at the beginning and at the end of the experiment in the control and experimental groups. When the experiment was over, we found that there were signifi cant diff erences in experiencing the concepts related to education between the experimental and control groups. In each person who knows traditional school and has some positive or negative experience with lessons at school the words related to learning and education evoke pleasant or unpleasant experiences. Th is aff ective experiencing resonates with people for a long time and oft en infl uences their future life. If an individual wants to perform well and be successful, there is no place for fear and tension in this process. And that is the case at school, where authority oft en rules even at present. We have tried to eliminate exactly this phenomenon by means of our experiment.

Th e research results pointed to the fact that by introducing an innovative form of assessment, namely criterion-referenced assessment, the students’ attitudes towards learning changed in the experimental group and experiencing of a given concepts was shift ed from the quadrant of fear to the quadrant of joy in comparison with the control group, where 12 comparable concepts were in the quadrant of joy and 11 concepts in the quadrant of fear.

In conclusion, we can state that criterion-referenced assessment had a positive impact on the students’ experiencing and their attitudes towards education. Th e fact that by using criterion-referenced assessment the students became an active component of the evaluation process can be regarded as a positive contribution. Th is form of educational assessment formed the students’ new competence – the ability to assess the performance of classmates and their own performance on the basis of criteria set in advance.

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za školní úspěšnost žáků. Pedagogika, 44(1), 23Meisner, J. (1958). K přetežování a zkoušení žáků z hlediska hygieny výchovne –

vzdeláváciho procesu. Pedagogika, 8(2), 210MILÉNIUM: Národný program výchovy a vzdelávania v Slovenskej republike na

najbližších 15 až 20 rokov. Bratislava: IRIS.Okruhlicová, A. (1991). Rozvoj osobnosti žiaka a slovné hodnotenie. Pedagogická

revue, 7, 515–526Oravcová, J. (2000). Vývinová psychológia. Banská Bystrica: FHV UMB.Oravcová, J. (2005). Sociálna psychológia. Banská Bystrica: FHV UMB.


Picková, M. & Musil, J.V. (1970). K problematice posudzování schopností středoškoláků. Pedagogika, 20(4), 607

Rosina, J. (1982). K problematike subjektívnosti pri klasifi kácii žiakov. Pedagogika, 32(2), 167

Rőtling, G. (1997). Hodnotenie učebnej činnosti žiakov. Banská Bystrica: MC. Salbot, V. & Poliach, V. (2007). Osobné hodnoty v štruktúre osobnosti. In Psycho-

logické pohľady na osobné hodnoty (pp. 96–103). Banská Bystrica: PF UMB.Salbot, V. (2007). Tvorivosť a škola. Banská Bystrica: PF UMB.Smékal, V. (1990). Psychosemantické metódy. In Metodológia a metódy psycholog-

ického výskumu. Bratislava: SPN.Slavík, J. (1999). Hodnocení v současné škole Praha: Portál.Staněk, S. (1990). Je možná klasifi kácia bez známok? Komenský, 6, 366–367.Sýkora, M. (1974). Motivační vlivy školního hodnocení. Pedagogika, 24(2), 213Vágnerová, M. (1997). Psychologie problemového dítětě školního věku. Praha:

Karolinum.Valihorová, M. (1999). Školská úspešnosť – neúspešnosť žiaka. In: Kačáni, V. a kol.,

Základy učiteľskej psychológie (p.143–155). Bratislava: SPN.Valihorová, M. (2008). Školský psychológ a škola. Banská Bystrica: PF UMB.

The Opinions of Extra-Mural Students about the Factors which Hinder the Study

Abstract

Th is article shows fi ndings concerning pedagogy extramural students’ comments about their obstacles in studies. A questionnaire which contained 38 statements was used as a research instrument. As a result of the factor analysis eight types of factors that can cause problems related to studying in the extra-mural system were distinguished. Th e next step in the data analysis was to group the examined people based on the criterion referring to the nature and intensity of experienced problems connected with the process of studying. Th e statistical method which was used to group the examined people was a cluster analysis. As a result four groups of the surveyed people were distinguished. Th e further analysis of the empirical material was to describe the relationship between the affi liation of the tested students with the particular groups and the students’ dwelling place, work, year of study, marks, age, and possession of children.

Key words: factors which hinder the study, extramural students.

Introduction

From the didactic point of view, extramural studies should be considered as “a well-thought-out system that directs self-education and in which the school is an organizer of the process of learners’ self-educating” (T. Aleksander 2004, p.48). Studying in this way is not an easy task for students, since the extra-mural students are usually in a fairly complex situation based on the fact that in addition to the role of the student they also have several other, radically diff erent roles: the

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276 Agnieszka Kozerska

role of a worker, a parent, etc., they oft en start studies aft er a long period from the completion of secondary school. Th is is connected with the presence of barriers causing a situation where despite the motivation of many extra-mural students they reach only a minimum of knowledge and skills (T. Aleksander, 2004).

As the Central Statistical Offi ce shows, 1937.4 thousand students were study-ing in all types of schools including higher education at the beginning of the 2007/2008 academic year in Poland. In the academic year 2007/2008 the number of extra-mural students was 997.2 thousand, i.e. 51.5% of all the students. In public schools including higher education extra-mural students were 37.1%, while in private schools this group constituted 79.3% of all the students. Extra-mural studies are more common among women than among men. In the 2007/2008 academic year, women accounted for 57.1% of all the students; the overall number of female students – 52.1% were studying in the extra-mural system.

Diffi cult situation – defi nitions

Speaking about the human situation, we think of “the arrangement of human relations with other elements of the environment at a particular moment of time” (Tomaszewski, 1975, p. 17)

T. Tomaszewski (1967, p.260) calls the normal situation a balanced system of tasks, activities, conditions and characteristics of the cognitive entity. All the ele-ments named in this defi nition are linked with mutual relations. If the balance of these elements is disturbed, then we are talking about a diffi cult situation, the occurrence of diffi culties. In other words, in a diffi cult situation there is a discrep-ancy between the needs or tasks of a human capacity and possibility to gratify those needs or carry out the tasks. Tomaszewski (1967, p.262) distinguishes between objective diffi culties that arise when a person able to perform normal tasks under normal conditions is faced with tasks or conditions that exceed the norm, as well as the subjective diffi culties that occur when a normal person cannot perform normal tasks. Subjective diffi culties may arise from the lack of certain capabilities, may result from fatigue, emotional state, etc.

Research purpose and method

Th e study involved the conditions that were subjectively assessed by the students as situations that are related to diffi culties in studying. It was conducted in October

277The Opinions of Extra-Mural Students about the Factors which Hinder the Study

and November 2008. 211 people participated in the research – students of pedagogy at AJD in Częstochowa, studying in the extra-mural system. Th is article presents the results of the studies with the use of a questionnaire in which the students indicated the degree to which they suff er from each of the 38 diffi culties described there. Th is degree was determined using a scale from 1 to 7. In the analysis of the data only those questionnaires were taken into account which included a set of answers to all the questions: questionnaires completed by 172 people. Th e ques-tionnaire is based on interviews conducted freely among the students.

Th e following research questions were asked:What are the types of obstacles when studying in the extra-mural system?1. What group of students can be identifi ed when taking into account the 2. extracted factors ?How can one characterize a particular group of students taking into account 3. the socio – demographic variables?

The types of factors hampering studying

Due to the large number of statements making up the questionnaire the factor analysis was used to reduce the number of variables. Interpretation was assigned to each factor. When analyzing the model reports from other studies were also included. Research into the diffi culties in extra-mural studies were conducted, for example, several years ago in Poland by J. Starościak (1963), who distinguished three types of problems that are reasons for failures of students: subjective reasons, the reasons of social nature and didactic causes. Th e same issues were covered by a study by L. Bandura (1963), where the relationship between the diffi culties during the course of study and certain variables were examined, such as demographic variables. A detailed description of the diffi culties in the study can be found in the work of E. Zawacka (1974) where a similar classifi cation of obstacles appearing in the course of studying was described as in the work of J. Starościak. According to K. Denek (1980) eff ectiveness of studying is a resultant of academic teachers’ activity, organization of the educational process, studies program and social envi-ronment. In turn, J. Wabia (1988) on the basis of student utterances, identifi ed four types of diffi culties associated with: operating the teaching process, the terms of organization, personal characteristics of students, and their life.

As a result of the factor analysis (aft er the VARIMAX rotation) eight types of factors that can cause problems related to studying in the extra-mural system were distinguished. Th ey are:


Factor 1. Student adaptation to the way of study conducting and organization. Th e sources of diffi culties that are found in this group are: too extensive – in the opinion of students – curriculum, excessive accumulation of classes during the day, the diffi culties associated with the mastery of anxiety during exams, fear of public speeches, fatigue caused by an excess of duties, lack of time which can be spent studying independently, diffi culties with understanding the terms used in textbooks, criteria for evaluation not specifi ed by teachers, the diffi culties associ-ated with understanding of what is mentioned in class. Factor 1. explains 12.9% variance.

Factor 2. Relations among students. Th e second factor consists of problems such as diffi culties in establishing contact with the other members of the group, a sense of alienation caused by ignorance of people in the same group of students, confl icts in the group, competition in the group, confl icts with the teachers. Factor 2. explains 7.5% variance

Factor 3. Reconciliation between work duties and students’ obligations. Th e third factor is connected with the diffi culties in getting furlough for the duration of meetings, problems at work obstructing studying and connected with it uncom-fortable timing of meetings, inadequately arranged schedule. Factor 3. explains 8% variance

Factor 4. Organization of the learning process. In this group of factors which hinder the study is, according to the students, a lack of relevant textbooks, dif-fi culties in obtaining books and manuals, inappropriate, in the opinion of the respondents, teaching methods used in class, as well as an inadequate (too big, too small) number of teaching hours. Factor 4. explains 6.4% variance.

Factor 5. Students’ family situation. Th e variables making up the fi ft h factor include: diffi culties in preparing for classes because of housing conditions, a lack of understanding of family members concerning the need to devote time to studying, diffi culty in fi nding childcare for the duration of meetings, family problems that aff ect the study. Th is group of variables also includes: too long break in learning aft er the completion of secondary school or health problems that aff ect the study. Factor 5. explains 7.3% variance

Factor 6. Internal properties of the student. Th is group includes variables related to internal characteristics of the students, which in their opinion, make it diffi cult to study. Th ese are: a low level of overall abilities, a lack of learning skills, an inability to speak fl uently, a lack of information searching skills, poor preparation gained from secondary school, a lack of motivation for self-study. Factor 6. explains 7.7% variance.


Factor 7. Distance from students’ dwelling place to the university. Th e seventh factor comprises particularly the diffi culties connected with transport. Factor 7. explains 5.1% variance.

Factor 8. Funding of studies. In this group of variables, there is too high tui-tion in relation to students’ income and the lack of suffi cient money to purchase textbooks and teaching aids. Factor 8. explains 4.3% variance.

Th e extracted factors explain 59.1% variance.Diversifi cation of students’ opinion on the factors which hinder the study

(results of the factor analysis carried out on the surveyed people)Th e next step in the data analysis is to group the examined people based on the

criterion referring to the nature and intensity of experienced problems connected with the process of studying.

Th e method of statistical analysis which can be used to group the examined people is the cluster analysis – a grouping method named: k-means. Th e purpose of this method is the distribution of the tested objects (in this case: students) into groups in such a way that the objects most similar to each other should belong to the same group, while those least similar to the objects should belong to other groups. Th e variables taken into account when grouping the types of experienced diffi culties were the factors described in the previous section. Th e values of the variables are the arithmetic means of the students’ answers including a question-naire consisting of items for each factor. It helped to extract the four groups.

Cluster 1Cluster 2Cluster 3Cluster 4

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

0

Mea

n Sc

ore

FACTOR 1 FACTOR 3 FACTOR 5 FACTOR 7FACTOR 2 FACTOR 4 FACTOR 5 FACTOR 8

Variables

Figure 1. Results of cluster analysis on the tested people


In Figure 1. each of the separate groups of students was characterized in terms of views including obstacles to study. On the basis of the interpretation of Figure 1. of the obtained groups we can distinguish the following types of the surveyed people:

Type A. Th e fi rst cluster consists of 37 people. Th ese are mainly the students suff ering from the diffi culties associated with reconciling the duties at work and the role of the student. Th e participants belonging to this group also point out the problems concerning paying for the study. Other types of problems are highlighted by the persons from the group to a relatively low degree.

Type B. Cluster 2 includes 45 people. Th e students belonging to this group suff er from all kinds of diffi culties to a relatively low degree as compared with the other three groups.

Type C. Cluster 3 consists of 43 people with a high degree of diffi culty of adapta-tion to the role of the student, to the conduct of classes given by teachers. Th e source of the diffi culties in this group is the organization of the learning process. Type C students have diffi culty in obtaining textbooks, the number of teaching hours does not suit them. Working is not likely to be the source of their diffi culties in studying. To a great extent they feel the problems of fi nancing their studies. Th ey experience diffi culties including establishing relationships in the group more oft en than the students belonging to Type A or B.

Type D. Cluster 4 consists of 47 people suff ering from all kinds of diffi culties to a higher degree than groups A, B and C. In particular, they feel the intense diffi culty of transport to school. Th e people from this group have problems in reconciling the obligations in their work with the role of the student. Th ey have a problem with the organization of the process of studying.

From the characteristics of the four groups we can draw a conclusion that the students are not a homogeneous group in terms of the sense of diffi culties associ-ated with studying. Among the surveyed students there is a group of people who do not suff er from these problems (Type B) and there are groups of people who are strongly aff ected – compared to the others – by only some types of problems (Types A and C) and a group feeling in an intensive way (compared to other groups) all the handicaps (Type D). From Figure 1. one can infer that all the students feel the diffi culties connected with relationships in their groups of students, their own family situations and a their internal characteristics the least intensively. Among the most oft en experienced diffi culties should be mentioned the problems concerning the students in group B associated with reconciling the role of the person who works with the role of the student (the arithmetic mean of the students’ answers is: 5.85) and the problems associated with remote dwelling place in the group of Type


D (arithmetic mean: 6.09 ). Almost all the groups (except Type B) have a strong sense of the diffi culties in fi nancing of their study (arithmetic means for groups A, C, D are greater than 5).

Th e further analysis of the empirical material was made to describe the rela-tionship between the tested students’ affi liation with the particular clusters and the students’ dwelling place, work, year of study, marks, age, and possession of children.

As shown in Table 1, there are some relationships between the students’ affi liation with the particular clusters and certain socio-demographic variables. Students’ place of dwelling, year of study, and work play an important role. One can notice a clear relationship between the variable including the living place and the membership of Cluster 4 (Type D). Th e students who suff er most from all the problems (Type D) come mainly from rural areas. 76% of Cluster 4 are those living in rural areas, 40% of all the students living in rural areas are the members of Cluster 4. Table 2 shows that in Cluster 1 there are primarily those who work (89%). Cluster 1 comprises the type of students who feel above all the diffi culties involving reconciling work with the role of the student. In the majority (64%) they are the students studying at university for a long time. A large percentage of the students living in large cities (43%) were in Cluster 2, so in the group of individuals with little diffi culty in studying. In contrast, the students who are in Cluster 3 are mainly those studying at university for a short time (74% of this group being in the fi rst or second year).

No relationship was detected between the membership of each cluster and the age of the students, having children or grades.

Table 1. Characteristics of Clusters 1, 2, 3, 4.

Num

ber o

f cl

uste

r

Profes-sional work

Place of dwelling Year of study Age Grades Having

children

Yes No Big city

Small city

Coun-try

1 or 2

3 or 5

Young-er

Old-er High Low Yes No

1 32 4 9 14 14 13 24 19 18 10 20 4 332 29 15 16 11 18 23 22 22 23 15 24 2 433 24 19 9 15 19 32 11 26 17 10 27 9 344 32 15 3 8 35 28 19 28 19 15 27 8 38

Total 117 53 37 48 86 96 76 95 77 50 98 23 148χ2 10.33 21.56 13.124 1.792 1.209 6.037df 3 6 3 3 3 3p 0.016 0.002 0.004 0.62 0.75 0.110


Conclusion

It should be noted that in the study the nature of the students’ subjective reference to the situation in which they are was analyzed. A strong sense of a particular type of diffi culty not always has to be consistent with the student’s objective situation. When talking about the perception of one’s own situation as being diffi cult one should be aware that there are other variables, including personality characteristics, aspirations, orientation in one’s own skills, etc.

Bibliography

Aleksander, T. (2004). Specyfi ka akademickiego kształcenia na studiach zaocznych. In D. Skulicz (Ed.) W poszukiwaniu modelu dydaktyki akademickiej. Kraków: Wydawnictwo UJ.

Augustyńska, U. Kozerska A. (2008). Zastosowanie analizy skupień do interpre-tacji wyników badania skalą poczucia zadowolenia studentów z warunków studiowania. In A. Gofron, M. Piasecka (Ed.) Podstawy edukacji. Epistemologia a praktyka edukacyjna. Częstochowa: Wyd. AJD.

Bandura, L. (1963). Sprawność kształcenia w wyższych szkołach pedagogicznych. Gdańsk-Warszawa

Denek, K. (1980). Pomiar efektywności kształcenia w szkole wyższej. WarszawaKozerska, A. (2009). Trudności występujące w toku studiowania w systemie niestac-

jonarnym a rok studiów. In K. Denek, T. Koszczyc, W. Starościak, Edukacja Jutra.Wrocław.

Starościak, J. (1963). Problemy dydaktyczne studiów zaocznych, PZWS, WarszawaTomaszewski, T. (1967). Aktywność człowieka. In M. Maruszewski, J. Reykowski,

T. Tomaszewski (Ed.) Psychologia jako nauka o człowieku. Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza.

Wabia, J. (1988). Powodzenia i niepowodzenia w studiach (Analiza psychologiczna). Szczecin

Zawacka E. (1974). Przeszkody i niepowodzenia w studiach nauczycieli pracujących. Warszawa: PWN.

An Investigation into the Eff ects of Educational Gains of Vocational School of Health Students on their

Environmental Attitudes

Abstract

Th is study was carried out in order to investigate the environmental attitudes of fi nal year students in Vocational School of Health Services, which trains inter-mediate staff for health institutes. Th e primary aim of the study was to determine whether the environmental education they had previously received from the family or school changed in any way aft er receiving vocational training in the Vocational School of Health Services. In the study, an attitude questionnaire on environment was applied to the fi rst and fi nal year students in the vocational school and the question whether the students’ environmental attitudes changed in any way aft er the vocational training they received in Vocational School of Health Services was investigated. Th e results reveal that the fi nal year students are more sensitive to the environment in comparison with the fi rst year students (P < 0. 01), which might be interpreted as a positive change of environmental attitudes caused by the vocational training received at this school.

Key words: health services, environmental education, vocational school, education.

Introduction

One of the most signifi cant problems of modern society is the individual’s and society’s need to set a balance between the natural environment they live in and themselves. In addition, one of the most important problems facing the world today is the individual’s sensitivity to the environment they live in. In this respect, for the

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284 Fulya Öztaş

continuation of the environment today and in the future, education of individuals and societies has gained in importance. It has been claimed that society’s sensitivity about environmental issues and their ability to take sensitive decisions are related to this (UNESCO, 1995) and the education one has received throughout his/her whole lifetime forms the basis for the individual’s environmental attitudes (Roth, 1992). For this reason, it has been acknowledged that the environmental education students receive plays a great role in their sensitivity toward the environment. Many studies have shown that inadequate environmental education gives rise to environmental problems in various dimensions (Knapp, 2000; Cutter & Smith, 2001). Environmental education should be able to address basic ecological terms, basic environmental problems, nature protection strategies (environmental values, sensitivity towards nature, individual and social behaviours developed against nature, control mechanisms), individual and society’s sociological structure and their refl ection to the environment (Hines, Hungerford & Tomera, 1987). Individuals and societies equipped with suffi cient knowledge about nature should theoretically possess environmental values and behaviours plus the qualities to refl ect this in their attitudes and behaviours. An individual’s or society’s attitude toward nature refl ects their environmental consciousness. In this respect, especially the environmental training of health workers is signifi cant and the healthy environ-ment created by health staff may contribute to the reduction of environmental contamination and the prevention of environmental problems.

Methods

Th is study incorporates 238 newly-registered fi rst year students and 212 fi nal year students in Konya Selçuk University Vocational School of Health Services in the spring term of 2009. In the study, within the fi rst month of registration, a ques-tionnaire was applied to the fi rst year students. With the help of this questionnaire applied just before the fi rst year students made the transition to vocational training, it was aimed to determine the students’ previous knowledge, experiences, and attitudes towards the environment.

As for the fi nal year students, the same questionnaire was applied within the last one-month period of their last semester at school. Th is questionnaire was applied to the students aft er a partial modifi cation of the questionnaire used by previous researchers Yavetz & Pe’er (2002). Th e questionnaire includes questions related to students’ demographic features, attitudes towards the environment, education level of their families, and the place they live in.

285An Investigation into the Eff ects of Educational Gains of Vocational School…

Attitude toward the environmentA questionnaire comprising two parts was applied to the students. In the fi rst

part of the questionnaire, the students were asked to answer questions according to a fi ve-point Likert scale. Answers ranged from 1 (No) to 5 (almost always). In the second part of the test, the students were asked to choose appropriate options related to diff erent activities. To this aim, a Cronbach’s Alpha test was conducted and the test was found out to be reliable with coeffi cient 0.71.

Demographic and background dataIn the questionnaire, the students were required to state their age, gender, place

of residence, and education level of their parents. Places of residence were classifi ed as suburbs or city centre; educational levels of parents were classifi ed as (a) Primary School, (b) Secondary School or Higher Education, (c) Literate.

Background dataTh e average mean of the ages of the students registered in the Vocational School

of Health Services was 18.3 (SD=2.53); 54.84 % (n=121) of them were girls, and 49.16 % (n= 117) were boys. When the educational level of the mothers was analyzed, 59.33 % were found out to be primary school leavers and 40.67 % were secondary school or university graduates. 63.33 % of the students grew up in the suburbs whereas 36.7 % grew up in the city centre.

For the analysis of the results, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 12.0) was adopted. In order to calculate the mean and standard deviation and the percentages, t test was conducted and for the calculation of internal consistency Pearson correlation analysis was made.

Findings

Th e mean values of the environmental behaviours of the newly registered fi rst year students and the fi nal year students according to the Likert scale are presented in Table 1. According to this, the mean values of the fi rst year students’ answers were (M= 2.79) with the standard deviation values of (SD= 0.76). As for the fi nal year students, the mean was calculated as 3.42 and the standard deviation was 0.59.

On analyzing the students’ general attitudes towards the environment, a posi-tive change was seen in the fi nal year students’ attitudes towards the environment (P < 0.01). In the questions regarding the eff ort to reuse waste products (P < 0.001),

286 Fulya Öztaş

carrying out the citizenship duties related to environment (P < 0.01), participation in environmental activities voluntarily (P < 0.01), the fi nal year students were found to be more sensitive towards the environment than the fi rst year students.

When the alternative behaviours of the fi rst and fi nal year students are examined, it is seen that the fi nal year students are more sensitive to the environment. For example, while 52.8 % of the newly-registered students say the cheapness of the notebook is important, this rate is 32% in the fi nal year students. Th is diff erence between the fi rst and fi nal year students was found to be statistically meaningful (P < .001). Although there was an increase in the environmentally-sensitive shop-ping behaviour of the students, this positive change did not reach a statistically meaningful level in the other criteria.

To the question concerning what they would do aft er a picnic if the waste bin for throwing away the used bottles, plastic cups and other waste was full, 14.1 % of the fi rst year students said they would put the waste in a bag and carry it until they fi nd a waste bin, whereas this rate rose to 21.4 % in the fi nal year students due to the rise of environmental awareness, which signals a positive change (P < .05).

When asked what they would do when they got a print-out for trial, 22.4 % of the fi rst year students gave the answer “if there was a recycling bin special for

Table 1. The mean values of the students’ environmental behaviours

Th e categories of the students’ environ-mental behaviours

First year studentsMean (M) and Standard

deviation (SD)

Final year studentsMean (M) and Standard

deviation (SD)Preservation of resources for the aim of economizing 4.11 ± 0.61 4.02 ± 0.54

Responsibility as a consumer and the habit of using reusable products 3.14 ± 0.73 3.61 ± 0.45

(P< 0.05)Participation in environmental activities 3.32 ± 0.68 3.71 ± 0.73

Eff ort to reuse waste products 2.61 ± 0.97 4.20 ± 0. 46(P< 0.001)

Pursuing the citizenship duties related to the environment. Participating in environmental protection activities voluntarily

1.83 ± 0.78 2.67 ± 0. 64(P< 0.01)

Participation in the activities of environmen-tal societies and institutions 1.74 ± 0.81 2.34 ± 0. 72

(P< 0.01)

General attitude mean 2.79 ± 0.76 3.42 ± 0.59(P< 0.01)


Table 2. The % Breakdown of the Students’ Alternative Behaviours

Questions Alternative behaviour % %When I want to buy a notebook

I prefer a reusable one.I prefer a medium grade notebook.I do not pay attention to the grade of the notebook.For me cheapness of the notebook is important.

% 7.4% 27.2% 12.6% 52.8

% 9.20% 24.7% 14.1% 32.0(P < .001)

Aft er a picnic, what would you do if the waste bin where you are going to throw bottles, plastic cups and other waste is jammed full?

I put all the waste in a bag and carry it with me until I fi nd a waste bin.I put all the waste in a bag and put it near the waste bin.I leave all the waste on the picnic site.

% 14.1

% 78.9

% 7.0

% 21.4(P < .05)% 67.3

% 11.3

What do you do af-ter you get a print-out for trial?

I throw it in a recycling bin special for unused paper (if available).I preserve it and when necessary I use the back of the paper for print.I cut it into small pieces to take notes on them.I throw them all in a waste bin.

% 22.4

% 17.7

% 20.3% 39.6

% 36.2(P < .05)% 21.3

% 22.3% 20.2(P < .001)

How do you defi ne your behaviours toward the environ-ment?

I feel responsible for the environment.

Although I perceive the importance of environmen-tal problems, I do not refl ect this in my life.

I am aware that I have responsibility towards the en-vironment. I refl ect this to my behaviours partially. However, I think this is not suffi cient.

I act without feeling any responsibility towards the environment.

Environmental problems do not mean anything for me.

% 18.5

% 44.8

%16.4

% 3.2

% 4.1

% 27.3(P < .05)% 36.1(P < .001)

% 24.6(P < .001)

% 1.3(P< .001)

0.7(P < .00)

waste paper I would throw it in that bin”, whereas this rate was 36.2 % among the fi nal year students. Th e diff erence between the fi rst and fi nal year students was meaningful (P < .05) and a positive change in the students’ attitude towards the environment is noticeable. Similarly, while the rate of the fi rst year students who prefer to throw away the paper is 36.7 %, this rate falls to 20.2 % among the fi nal year students, which is statistically meaningful (P < .001).

288 Fulya Öztaş

To the question “How do you defi ne your environmental behaviours?” 18.5 % of the fi rst year students and 27.3 % of the fi nal year students replied they acknowledge responsibility for the environment. Th is positive change in the fi nal year students was found to be meaningful at the level of (P < .05).

Th is change in the students’ attitudes towards the environment can be seen in Table 2 and it is possible to claim that the Vocational School of Health Services students have been positively aff ected by the education they received.

Th e relationship between the students’ environmental attitudes and the fact that they come from the suburbs or the city centre was analyzed and regardless of the place of residence, the education received at Vocational School of Health Services was found to have a positive eff ect on the fi rst and fi nal year students’ environmental attitudes. As can be seen in Table 3, a comparison based on the places of residence of the fi rst and fi nal year students showed that student attitudes varied meaningfully between P < 0.05–0.001 in all the questions. In this regard, it can be claimed that whether the students of Vocational School of Health Services come from the suburbs or the city centre, the education they receive aff ects their environmental attitudes positively.

Table 3. The relationship between the students’ environmental attitudes and their hometowns

Environmental behav-iour category Hometown First year

studentsFinal year students

Awareness of active envi-ronmental protection

city centre (n=285) 3.12 ± 0.61 3.45 ± 0.72P<0.001

suburban (n=165) 3.41 ± 0. 65 3.59 ± 0. 68P<0.05

Environmentally-sensitive consumption

city centre ( n=285) 3.43 ± 0.51 3.67 ± 0.71P<0.001

suburban (n=165) 3.62 ± 0.72 3.81 ± 0.72P<0.05

Activities related to the environment

city centre (n=285) 3.56 ± 0.63 3.71 ± 0.87P<0.001

suburban (n=165) 3.65 ± 0.85 3.51 ± 0.64P<0.01

Use of recyclable products city centre (n=285) 2.51 ± 0.22 3.01 ± 0.45P<0.01

suburban (n=165) 2.71 ± 0.34 2.78 ± 0.68P<0.001


Th e question whether there is a meaningful relationship between the students’ environmental attitudes and the educational levels of their mothers was inves-tigated and it was observed that the mothers having fi nished secondary school or graduated from university have a positive eff ect on environmental attitudes. For all the questions given to the students, the fact that mothers are secondary school leavers or university graduates was found to be statistically important (Table 4).

Discussion

Th e upbringing of individuals responsible for the environment is one of the main objectives of all levels of education and the vocational education received at Vocational School of Health Services is expected to contribute to raising environ-mentally sensitive and responsible individuals. With the help of family or school education, the development of a positive attitude towards the environment and its implementation is recognized as the main factor in forming an environmental

Table 4. The mean values of the eff ect of mother’s educational level on the students’ environmental behaviours

Environmental behaviour category mother’s educational level First year

studentsFinal year students

Awareness of active environ-mental protection

Secondary school / Undergraduate (n=183) 4.43±0. 73 4.65±0. 81

P<0.001

Primary school (n=267) 3.67±0.65 3.98±0.61P<0.05

Environmentally-sensitive consumption

Secondary school/Undergraduate (n=183) 4.05±0.81 4.21±0.76

P<0.00


Activities related to the environment

Secondary school /Undergraduate (n=183) 3.79±0.73 4.08±0.71

P<0.01


Use of recyclable products Secondary school /Undergraduate (n=183) 2.90±0.37 3.12±0.73

P<0.05


290 Fulya Öztaş

awareness in individuals. (Hsu,2004). Ramsey et al. (1981) divide environmental activities into three: appropriate use of resources, identifi cation of environmental policies, legal sanctions. Smith-Sebasto & Aynes (1995) divide environmental activities into six: social response, training activities, fi nancial resources, legal sanctions, physical practices and individual and social persuasion techniques.

A student developing positive attitudes and behaviours towards the environment is an expected condition. In this respect, identifi cation of environmental attitudes and behaviours of the newly-registered fi rst year students and the fi nal year students in Vocational School of Health Services, which trains intermediate staff for health institutions, was aimed. Th e identifi cation of how the education received in these schools change students’ environmental attitudes and behaviours is the main topic of the study. Another aim of the study is to fi nd out whether individuals’ environ-mental attitudes and behaviours, individual or social responsibilities change with education. Th e destruction and harm caused by medical waste is important and the individuals working in health institutions are expected to gain more sensitivity towards the environment and develop positive behaviours. Formation of a healthy environment will be possible when individuals and societies realize that not every kind of waste is the same.

In some countries recycling programs are applied for the recycling of waste products and for this purpose the use of diff erent waste bins for diff erent recyclable material is encouraged. Th e separation of domestic waste and other waste is also supported (Barr, 2003). In the near future, these practices will be made obligatory and legal action will be taken against those who do not comply. However, such a practice does not guarantee that society and the individual have developed envi-ronmental awareness and formed environmental behaviours and attitudes accord-ingly. Only the active eff orts of individuals and society are counted as a measure of reaching environmental awareness. As seen in this study, although there has been a positive environmental attitude change as regards individuals and society, active involvement in environmental activities has not reached a satisfactory level. Nevertheless, it can be seen that the education received at Vocational School of Health Services has a positive eff ect on transforming the students’ environmental attitudes to action. Participation in nature trips, examination of plants and animals in nature, watching documentaries and reading about such activities are known to increase students’ interest in the environment and environmental activities (Vaske & Kobrin, 2001). Although environmental activities are not directly mentioned in the curriculum of Vocational School of Health Services, topics like medical waste, contamination, environmental eff ects of sterilization are commonly referred to. In addition, it is possible to suggest that the directives given on environmental


cleanliness in the practices and work places have been eff ective in changing the students’ behaviours and attitudes.

An individual’s attitude toward the environment is measured by their active environmental attitude (Roth, 1992). Individuals and society begin interacting with the environment the moment they start breathing its air. Hence students are expected to be aware of the happenings in their environment, and form attitudes and skills accordingly. One of the main objectives of education is to include basic environmental elements and consciously refl ect this in behaviours. It is seen that although there is a positive change in active environmental behaviours of the fi rst year students, these students’ environmental behaviours and attitudes are not at a satisfactory level. Th e students’ relatively low interest in recyclable products proves this. Yet, as in all environmental problems, economic conditions have been preventing the students from forming positive behaviours. It is also seen that the fi rst year students are not sensitive enough to the collection of waste harmful to the environment and prevention of environmental pollution.

Individuals’ environmental behaviours and attitudes are, to a great extent, infl uenced by the family and the environment they grow up in. Family, religious practices, political atmosphere, and other factors play a great role in the formation of environmental attitudes in an individual. Th e mother’s education level, whether they come from the suburbs or the city centre, has also a certain eff ect on the forming of environmental behaviours and attitudes. Nonetheless, environmental behaviour and attitude are closely related to the individual’s and society’s economic condition (Goldman, Yavetz & Pe’eri 2006). In this study, environmental attitudes of the fi rst and fi nal year students were compared considering the places they come from and it was found out that no matter where they came from, the fi nal year students’ attitudes changed positively. However, this change was higher in the students coming from the city centre.

Th e educational level of the mother has also an important eff ect on the forma-tion of environmental attitudes and behaviours. Th is was found to be eff ective in the students’ choice of recyclable products. It is understood that the educational level of mothers changes students’ environmental attitudes positively. As one of the socio-economic factors, the educational level of mothers was found to be important due to its infl uence on students’ environmental attitudes.

As a result, it was concluded that the fi nal year students in Vocational School of Health Services are more sensitive to the environment than the fi rst year students, which can be interpreted as a positive change in the students’ environmental atti-tudes and behaviours as a result of the vocational education received at school.

292 Fulya Öztaş

Bibliography

Barr, S. (2003). Strategies for sustainability: Citizens and responsible environmental behaviors. Area, 35, 277–240.

Cutter, A. & Smith, R (2001). Gauging primary school teachers’ environmental literacy: An issue of priority. Asia Pasifi c Education review, 2(2), 45–60.

Goldman, D., Yavetz, B. & Pe’eri, S (2006) Environmental Literacy in Teacher Train-ing in Israel: Environmental Behavior of New Students, International Journal of Environmental Education, 38(1) 3–22.

Hines, J.M. , Hungerford, H.R. , & Tomera, A.N. (1986–1987) Analysis and synthe-sis of research on responsible environmental behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Education, 18(2),18.

Hsu, S.J. (2004). Th e eff ects of an environmental education program on responsible environmental behavior and associated environmental literacy variables in Taiwanese collage students. Journal of Environmental Education, 35(2), 37–48.

Knapp, D (2000) Th e Th essaloniki Declarations: A wake-up call for environmental education? Journal of Environmental Education, 3(3), 32–39.

Ramsey, J., Hungerford, H.R. & Tomera, A.N. (1981) Th e eff ects of environmental action and environmental case study instruction on the overt environmental behavior of eight-grade students, Journal of Environmental Education, 13(1), 24–29

Roth, C.E. (1992). Environmental literacy: Its roots, evaluation and direction in 1990s, Columbus, OH:ERIC Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics and Environmental Education.

UNESCO-UNEP (1995) Environmental education: Que vadis? Connect, 17, 1–8.

Yavetz, B., & Pe’er, S. (2002, May) Impact of an ecology and environmental quality course on attitudes of teacher-training students towards environmental issues, Paper presented at the 32nd Conference of the Israel Society for Ecology and Environmental Quality Sciences, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Creativity in Romany Pupils in Primary Education in the District of Trebišov

Abstract

Th e article focuses on the creativity in pupils in primary education in the district of Trebišov. Th e author analyzes two pre-determined hypotheses. Th e fi rst hypoth-esis is verifi ed by the Figural Torrance test of creative thinking, form B. Th e second hypothesis is verifi ed by a non-standardized questionnaire. Both hypotheses will be verifi ed by statistical procedures.

Key words: creativity, Romany pupils, primary education, Figural Torrance test of creative thinking.

Introduction

Creativity in Romany pupils moves in diff erent dimensions compared with pupils from the majority population. Th is implies that it is necessary to begin examining it from diff erent points of view. We chose two aspects which we would like to clarify.

Aim and hypotheses

Our aim is to determine the level of creativity of Romany pupils at lower grades of primary schools and to fi nd possibilities to develop it.

Th e aim of the research is to determine the level of creativity of Romany pupils at lower grades of primary schools by means of the Figural Torrance test of crea-

Mária VargováSlovak Republic

294 Mária Vargová

tive thinking. Th e partial objective is to fi nd out what is creativity of Romany pupils according to the teachers who teach them and then fi nd ways of how to develop it.

H1 – We assumed that there are diff erences in the level of creativity of Romany pupils living in a city and Romany pupils living in a village. At the same time, we assumed that there is a diff erence in the level of creativity between a mixed and homogeneous class in a village.

H2 – We assumed that Romany pupils’ diligence in class depends on their independence and not on the teacher.

Characteristics of the reference fi le and execution of research methods

Th e set of monitored pupils was formed by available selection from pre-selected primary schools. Th e set consists of Romany pupils attending four primary schools in the Košice region, the district of Trebišov. Th e number of Romany pupils in the mentioned primary schools was 227. It can be characterized as follows:

Table 1. An overview of the set of pupils

School GroupGrade

zero fi rst second third fourth totalSchool 1 homogenous 5 4 3 – 8 20School 2 homogenous – 23 23 30 24 100School 3 homogenous 9 17 24 11 7 68School 4 Mixed – – 14 14 11 39mean – age 6.21 7.79 9.03 9.91 11.34 9.30

Primary school 1 is located in the country with a population up to 1000 and only Romany pupils attend it. Th e school has 84 pupils out of whom 62 are in the lower grades.

Primary school 2 is located in a district town in a Romany settlement. Th e school has 475 pupils out of whom 326 are in the lower grades.

Primary school 3 is situated in a small town. Th e school is located directly in a settlement of the town. A fi eld offi ce of the school is in a Romany settlement with classes from the 1st to 5th grade and has 145 pupils out of whom 129 pupils are in the lower grades.

295Creativity in Romany Pupils in Primary Education…

Primary school 4 is situated in the country with a population over 1000. It is attended by both Romany and non-Romany pupils. Th e school has 182 pupils out of whom 66 Romany pupils attend the lower grades together with non-Romany pupils.

Another monitored set of the research comprised primary school teachers with mixed or homogeneous classes of pupils. Th ey were sent questionnaires. Out of 110 we received back 75 fi lled in questionnaires. Th ey were returned by 13 male and 62 female teachers. Th e monitored set of teachers teach in urban schools but also in schools in rural areas. Th e number of teachers from the urban schools was 33 and 42 from the rural ones.

In the research we used the Torrance test of creative thinking. In our case we used the Figural Torrance Test of creative thinking, form B. Figural forms requir-ing drawn responses contain three tasks: 1) creation (construction) of a picture, 2) incomplete fi gures, 3) repeated fi gures. Basic assessment of the Figural Torrance test of creative thinking is expressed by signs of divergent thinking: the number of relevant, acceptable responses gives the level of fl uency, the number of move-ments in thinking or the number of distinct categories which include responses is the measure of fl exibility. Th e statistical infrequency of the responses or the extent to which a response is an exception to the ordinary and obvious is the measure of originality. Th e number of details and specifi cs involved in the response is the measure of elaboration. (Jurčová, M., In: Ďurič L. – Bratská, M. et al., 1997, p. 364).

According to Jurčová there are three tasks in the Figural Torrance test of creative thinking which assess the following factors of creativity:

1st task – originality, elaboration,2nd task – fl uency, fl exibility, originality, elaboration,3rd task – fl uency, fl exibility, originality.Th e test responses were assessed according to the same criteria in a set of 227

Romany pupils. Th e system of originality scoring is based on a frequency analysis of all the Romany pupils’ responses from the zero through the fourth grade of primary schools. We found out the percentage of the occurrence of the respective drawn and named picture in each response. According to M. Jurčová we used a 4-step evaluation scale. Th e basic criterion for test response assessment is low statistical frequency and meaningfulness.

Th e used evaluation scale of originality of the drawn responses was as follows:Responses occurring less than 1% 3 points(in the set N = 227 with the frequency from 1–2)Responses occurring from 1–3% (3–6) 2 points

296 Mária Vargová

Responses occurring from 3–5% (7–11) 1 pointResponses occurring more than 5% (12 and over) 0 points

While applying the Figural Torrance test of creative thinking, we used the approach of M. Jurčová (1984). Th e Romany pupils did the test individually.Th e class teachers of the respective class or their assistants assisted in some lessons. Th e problem was in the speech barrier, there were also diffi culties with task 1 in unsticking, but also in writing.

Th e Figural Torrance test of creative thinking has three tasks to be solved within a time range of 10 minutes for each task. Th e class had in each case up to 10–15 students, so an individual approach was ideal. Aft er completing the last task, each pupil wrote personal data including: name, age, class and name of their school on the test sheet.

We distributed a non-standardized questionnaire to the monitored set of teach-ers. Th e questionnaire contained 11 questions. We processed them according to P. Gavora (2001). Ten questions represent scaling. We chose an odd rather than even number of degrees. Th is creates a symmetrical scale in which there is the same number of degrees on the left and on the right from the centre. Questions no. 1, 2, 4, 7 and 8 are formed by bipolar scales. Questions no. 3, 6 and 10 are formed by the Likert scales. A variant of the previous three questions is question no. 5. Question no. 9 is combined. Th e teachers were supposed to mark only one choice and then justify the choice. Question no. 11 is open but limited due to easier data processing.

Statistical operations with the data obtained were performed with EXCEL soft ware tools using publications by Walkenbach and Maguiness (1996), Clauss and Ebner (1988), Chajdiak (1994), Wimmer (1993) and Anděl (1985) and the soft ware tool CHIC by Turek (1996). Th e main output of the statistical data analysis are shown in tables and graphs.

Given the research objective we used a statistical data analysis to verify hypoth-eses H1 and H2.

Compliance with the conditions of the data normality and homogeneity of the research sets is conditioned by the use of statistical procedures by Clauss and Ebner (1988), Wimmer (1993), Chajdiak (1994), Anděl (1985), Hebák and Hustopecký (1987).

Normality of the statistical data was verifi ed at the current level of signifi cance of 0.05 by the Shapiro – Wilk test (In: Wimmer, G., 1993.) but only with the less numerous variables (mixed and homogenous class, grades). All variables can be considered to be divided by normal law. Other variables were not verifi ed for normality given the suffi cient abundance.


In addition to “classical statistics” the statistical soft ware CHIC (Classifi cation Hiérarchqiue Implicative et Cohesitive) is used, which is developed specifi cally for educational research (Bodin, A. – Couturier, R. – Gras, R., 1996. – Bodin, A., 1996. – – Bodin, A. – Gras, R. – Lagange, JB, 1997th – Couturier, R. – Gras, R., 1999). Th e output from the soft ware are shown in Figure 3.

Analysis of research results and their interpretation

Application of the Figural Torrance test of creative thinking showed diff erences in the Romany pupils’ creativity with respect the municipality.

Th e data from the test application were used to verify hypothesis H1 statisti-cally.

Th e fi rst hypothesis assumed the existence of a diff erence in the level of the Romany pupils’ creativity with respect to residence in a city and in a village con-sidering the nature of the class.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of aggregate rates by location

VILLAGE Or. Flu. Fle. E. CITY Or. Flu. Fle. E.

Mean value 25.93 12.66 8.61 12,20 Mean value 10.62 7.35 5.57 9.40

Median 23 12 8 10.5 Median 9 7 6 6Mode 23 11 8 5 Mode 3 4 7 0Standard deviation 12.72 5.29 3.23 9.55 Standard

deviation 8.18 4.21 2.94 10.05

Variance of selection 161.68 27.95 10.41 91.22 Variance of

selection 66.93 17.71 8.63 100.92

Skewness 0.39 0.24 -0.33 1.32 Skewness -0.47 -1.03 -0.91 2.94Kurtosis 0.82 0.56 0.23 1.08 Kurtosis 0.58 0.18 0.12 1.71Max-min range 56 25 14 45 Max-min

range 32 16 11 46

Minimum 3 2 2 0 Minimum 0 1 1 0Maximum 59 27 16 45 Maximum 32 17 12 46Total 1530 747 508 707.82 Total 988 654 496 826.83Numer 59 59 59 58 Numer 93 89 89 88

Key: Or. – Originality, Flu. – Fluency, FLE. – Flexibility, E. – Elaboration

298 Mária Vargová

H1 We assumed that there are diff erences in the level of creativity of the Romany pupils living in a city and the Romany pupils living in a village. At the same time, we assumed that there is a diff erence in the level of creativity between a mixed and homogeneous class in a village.

According to the position of the mean values of the variables the scoring of children from the village is signifi cantly higher (cf. Table 3 and Graph 1). Th e conclusion is evident also from the t-tests for mean values (cf. Table 4): in all the tests the P-value for a two-tailed hypothesis is smaller than usual signifi cance levels therefore we cannot accept the hypothesis of conformity of mean values and we claim that the diff erences between the mean values are statistically signifi cant.

Th e comparison of village – city is completed with a correlation matrix of partial subtests:

Th e correlation coeffi cients are essentially similar, only the fl uency-elaboration correlation in the city is negative, insignifi cant. Th e above proves the fi rst part of hypothesis H1.

Table 3. Mid-town values – a village

mean Originality Fluency Flexibility Elaboration TotalVillage 25.93 12.66 8.61 12.20 59.41City 10.62 7.35 5.57 9.40 32.94

Graph 1. Vector of aggregate mean values

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

originality fluency flexibility elaboration sum variable

mean value

villagecity


Table 4. Two-sample t-tests for mean values of summary partial subtests by location

Or. v Or. c Flu.v Flu.c Fle.v Fle.c E.v E.cMean 25.93 12.29 12.66 8.25 8.61 6.09 12.20 8.93Variance 161.68 94.55 27.95 25.42 10.41 10.87 91.22 81.13Observations 59 154 59 151 59 151 58 144Hypothesized Mean Diff erence 0 0 0 0

Df 85 102 108 100T Stat 7.45 5.50 5.05 2.24P(T<=t) one-tail 3.56E-11 1.40E-07 9.03E-07 0.01T Critical one-tail 1.66 1.66 1.66 1.66P(T<=t) two-tail 7.11E-11 2.79E-07 1.81E-06 0.03T Critical two-tail 1.99 1.98 1.98 1.98

Key: Or. – Originality, Flu. – Fluency, FLE. – Flexibility, E. – Elaboration v – village, c – city

Table 5. Correlation matrix of partial subtests by location

Village Or. g Flu. g Fle. g E. g city Or.b Flu.b Fle. b E. b Or. g 1 Or.b 1 Flu. g 0.89 1 Flu.b 0.89 1 Fle. g 0.83 0.87 1 Fle.b 0.82 0.94 1 E. g 0.38 0.38 0.23 1 E. b 0.08 –0.02 0.04 1

Key: Or. – Originality, Flu. – Fluency, Fle. – Flexibility, E. – Elaboration g – girls b – boys

Th e data shown above imply that there are diff erences in creativity of the Romany pupils living in the city and in the village. Th e higher level of creativity is in the village (cf. Table 3). Th ese diff erences are given by diff erent factors that infl uence the Romany pupils. Th e Romany children in the village have more room to play at home and this can also be the way how they develop their imagination and fantasy. Furthermore, they are not exposed to urban life amenities as their peers living in the city.

Th e descriptive statistics and graphs (Tables 6, 7, Graph 2) show that there is a slightly higher score in creativity in a mixed class of pupils. But the t-tests for specifi c subtests in all the cases with their P-values higher than a normal level of signifi cance of 0.05 do not allow to reject the null hypothesis on compliance of the mean values.

300 Mária Vargová

Table 6. Descriptive statistics: homogeneous – mixed class

Homogenous class Or. Flu. Fle. E. Mixed class Or. Flu. Fle. E.

Mean value 22.3 11.75 8 11.74 Mean value 27.79 13.13 8.92 12.43Median 21 11 8 9 Median 23 12 9 11.25Mode 13 11 8 0 Mode 23 13 9 5Standard deviation 12,.3 5.73 3.83 11.21 Standard

deviation 12.36 5.06 2.88 8.78

Variance of selection 167.17 32.83 14.63 125.74 Variance of

selection 152.69 25.59 8.28 77.11

Skewness 0.31 –0.68 –0.78 3.11 Skewness 0.59 0.85 –0.09 –0.16Kurtosis 0.79 0.26 0.22 1.51 Kurtosis 1.01 0.88 0.51 0.77Max-min range 48 20 13 45 Max-min

range 48 22 12 35.5

Minimum 3 2 2 0 Minimum 11 5 4 0Maximum 51 22 15 45 Maximum 59 27 16 35.5Total 446 235 160 223 Total 1084 512 348 484.82Numer 20 20 20 19 Numer 39 39 39 39

Key: Or. – Originality, Flu. – Fluency, FLE. – Flexibility, E. – Elaboration

Table 7. Mean values of subtests according to the class type

mean originality fl uency fl exibility elaboration TotalHomogenous 22.3 11.75 8 11.74 53.787Mixed 27.79 13.13 8.92 12.43 62.277

P-value of chi-square independence In Tables 2–6 is 0.640552.

Table 8. Two-sample t-tests for mean values of summary partial subtests according to the class type

Or. h Or. m Flu. h Flu.m Fle. h Fle. z E. h E. zMean 22.3 27.79 11.75 13,13 8 8.92 11.74 12.43Variance 167.17 152.69 32.83 25,59 14.63 8.28 125.74 77.11Observations 20 39 20 39 20 39 19 39HypothesizedMean Diff erence 0 0 0 0


Graph 2. The mean values of a homogeneous and mixed group

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

originality fluency flexibility elaboration sumsubtests

agr. values

homogenousmixed

Df 37 34 30 29t Stat –1.57 –0.91 –0.95 –0.24P(T<=t) one-tail 0.06 0.18 0.17 0.41t Critical one-tail 1.69 1.69 1.70 1.70P(T<=t) two-tail 0.13 0.37 0.35 0.81t Critical two-tail 2.03 2.03 2.04 2.05

Key: Or. – Originality, Flu. – Fluency, Fle. – Flexibility, E. – Elaboration, h – a homogeneous class, m – a mixed class

Th e results of the test of independence of chi-squares in Table 7 is interpreted as proving independence of the mean values on the class type. Th en the second part of the hypothesis is not proved! (cf. Table 8). Th e decision about the hypothesis was supported by using the program tool of cluster analysis CHIC. Its output is in Figure 1. Th e fi gure shows that the village characters cluster together fi rst, then the city ones.

A statistical analysis confi rmed the fi rst part of the hypothesis, as stated above. Among the pupils from the village and the pupils from the city there are diff erences in the level of creativity; a statistically signifi cant higher score was reached by the Romany pupils from the village. Th is is shown in Table 3.

Th e second part of the hypothesis was not confi rmed: although there was a higher score in a mixed class of pupils in the same category, it is insignifi cant, within the range of the statistical discrepancy. Th e mixed class was studied in a village and the homogeneous class in the village and in towns.

302 Mária Vargová

Figure 1. Cluster dendrogram City – Village

Arbre des similarités : C:\Documents and Settings\Uèite¾\Plocha\CHIC 3.1 envoi\m-d2.csv

r.d Flu.dFled E.d Or.m Flu.m

Fle.m;E.m

Graph 3. Dependence of selected qualities of a pupil’s personality

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4

diligence

laziness

mean

village

city

dependence independence

We can see higher scoring of the pupils from the group in a mixed class of pupils. Th is may be infl uenced by the school environment. Th eir presence among the non-Romany children and the children from better social background has a positive impact on the Romany children from weaker social background.

Th e second hypothesis was focused on the Romany pupils’ independence in class.

H2 – We assumed that the Romany pupils’ diligence in lessons depends on their independence and not on the teacher.

We verifi ed the hypothesis based on the results of the questionnaire investi-gation. From 75 relevant responses of the Romany children’s teachers we made a contingency table in scales determined by the author, in the poles of dependence


– independence and laziness – dili-gence (Table 9) and a graph of mean values (Graph 3).

Th e value of the correlation coef-fi cient test for signifi cance leads to the rejection of the null hypothesis. Th e correlation coeffi cient is signifi -cant, its size assesses the relationship (association, dependence) as medium. Th e result of the test of the chi-square independence indicates the mutual dependence of the two signs because the P-value is very high.

Hypothesis H2 cannot be rejected, it was proved by the results of the research. All the statistical procedures (visual graph, contingency table, correlation and its validity, a test of independence) support the argument that the diligence of the Romany pupils in lessons depends on their independence; it is not dependent on the teacher.

It is the work of the teacher how independent a Romany pupil is in lessons. It is necessary to educate Romany pupils to independence so that they are able to work without a teacher’s continual supervision of every step of their work. Th is way we prepare Romany pupils for the future independence in life-tasks solving without depending on the help from others.

Summary of the results

We formulated two hypotheses which were verifi ed by psychological tests for the pupils and a method of a questionnaire for the teachers.

Table 9. A contingency table of items 1 and 2 of the questionnaire

Numberdiligence laziness

1 2 3 4 5 Total dependence 1 3 3 2 1 6 1 8 3 1 4 16 20 4 45 4 7 8 3 18independence 5 1 1total 1 8 29 30 7 75

Table 10. Correlation matrix

Dependence diligencedependence 1 diligence 0.4049814 1

Th e P-value of the chi-square test for signs is 0.9909292.

304 Mária Vargová

H1 We assumed that there are diff erences in the level of creativity of Romany pupils living in a city and Romany pupils living in a village. At the same time, we assumed that there is a diff erence in the level of creativity between a mixed and homogeneous classes in a village.

According to the statistical analysis the fi rst part of the hypothesis was proved. As to the level of creativity there are diff erences in creativity of the Romany pupils living in the city and in the village; the children from the village reached a statisti-cally signifi cantly higher score.

Th e second part of the hypothesis was not proved. Although the children in a mixed class reached higher scores, it is insignifi cant, within the range of the statistical discrepancy.

H2 – We assumed that Romany pupils’ diligence in lessons depends on their independence and not on the teacher.

Th e hypothesis was proved by the research results, and therefore it cannot be rejected. All the statistical procedures (visual graph, contingency table, correlation and its validity, a test of independence) confi rm the assumption that the diligence of Romany pupils in lessons depends on their independence and not on the teacher.

Conclusion

Th e research results show that Romany pupils are creative, it is just necessary to develop creativity by means of appropriate methods.

Th e aim of the research was to determine the level of Romany pupils’ creativity at lower grades of primary schools by means of the Figural Torrance test of creative thinking. Th e partial objective was to fi nd out what is Romany pupils’ creativity according to the teachers who teach them and then fi nd ways how to develop it.

We can claim that the research aim was fulfi lled. Proving of the defi ned hypoth-eses H1 and H2 allows us to state that a teacher can apply appropriate methods in the process of teaching to develop Romany pupils’ creativity at lower grades of primary schools.

Bibliography

Anděl, J. (1985). Matematická statistika. Praha: SNTL/ALFA.Bodin, A., Couturier, R. & Gras, R. (1996). Anylyse ďune épreuve de concours par


la méthode implicative. Communication aux journées de la Société Francaise de Classifi cation, Vannes.

Bodin, A., Gras, R. & Lagrange, J.B. (1997). Implication statistique. Prépublication IRMAR n° 97–32, Rennes.

Bodin, A. (1996). Improving the Diagnostic and Didactic Meaningfulness of Mathematic Assessment in France. Annual Meeting f the American Educational Research Association AERA, New York.

Clauss, G. & Ebner,H. (1988). Základy štatistiky pre psychológov, pedagógov a soci-ológov. Bratislava: SPN.

Couturier, R. & Gras, R. (1999). Introduktion de variables supplémentaires dans une hiérarchie de classes et application ŕ CHIC, Actes des 7čmes Rencontres de la Société francophone de Classifi cation. 87–92, Nancy, 15–17 septembre 1999.

Gavora, P. (2001). Úvod do pedagogického výskumu. Bratislava: UK.Hebák, P. & Hustopecký, J. (1987). Vícerozměrné statistické metody. Praha: SNTL/

ALFA, .Chajdiak, J. a kol. (1994). Štatistické metódy v praxi. Bratislava: STATIS.Jurčová, M. (1984). Torranceho fi gurálny test tvorivého myslenia. (Praktická časť).

Psychodiagnostické a didaktické testy. Bratislava.Jurčová, M. (1997). Torranceho testy tvorivého myslenia. In L. Ďurič, M. Bratská,

a kol.: Pedagogická psychológia (p. 364). Bratislava: SPN.Turek, I. (1996). Učiteľ a didaktické testy. Bratislava: MCMB.Walkenbach, J. Maguiness, D. (1996). EXCEL 5.0. Grade publisching.Wimmer, G. (1993). Štatistické metódy v pedagogike. Bratislava: Gaudeamus.

Assessing the Listening Ability Levels of Internet Radio Programs

Abstract

Th e main purpose of this study is to determine the listening ability levels of Internet Radio programs. One hundred and fi ft y-eight students from Ankara were selected to participate in the research. Th ey were in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Data was gathered using Auditory Cloze Tests (ACTs) and focus group interviews. Error analyses were used to determine the possible strategies students employed while they were fi lling in the ACT blanks. Th e analyses of the ACTs revealed that the students of the sixth grade listened to the radio programs at the instructional level. Th e students of the seventh and eighth grades, on the other hand, listened to the programs at their frustration level. Large percentages of nonsense replacements and small percentages of synonym and semantic replace-ments indicated that the students could not grasp the meaning and could not fi nd the necessary contextual clues to replace the deleted words. Th e interview results revealed that the students found the characters’ speech too fast, and the programs content overloaded with supporting details, names, and dates.

Key words: Internet radio, assessment, auditory cloze, primary school.

1. Introduction

In recent years, the Turkish Ministry of National Education (MONE) has been broadcasting Internet TV and radio programs including personal and vocational development programs, documentaries, early childhood education programs, cartoons, stories, and a variety of slide and photo shows for students, teachers,

Mustafa UlusoyTurkey

307Assessing the Listening Ability Levels of Internet Radio Programs

and parents. Th ese TV and radio programs are developed and produced in the Educational Materials Development Unit by process designers, fi lm editors, writers, producers, music selectors, cameramen, graphic artists, educational soft ware devel-opment specialists, computer programmers, etc. (MONEa, n. d.). Primary school Internet radio programs are the main concern of this study. Th e main purpose of the Internet radio is to provide course support materials for formal and open primary school students. Th ese radio programs follow the formal primary school curricula including such courses as Social Studies, Ethics, Citizenship and Human Rights, Tourism, Turkish, History of the Turkish Revolution and the Principles of Atatürk, and Science at Work (MONEb, n. d.).

In the Internet radio design, media player soft ware is used to play audio fi les. Radio programs do not include text or visual images and are limited to speech and sound eff ects. Students are able to listen to programs on an Internet-connected computer and to repeat the content at any time with given play, stop, mute, fast forward, and rewind buttons. In these programs, narrators speak to the students and deliver lectures on course content to support instruction. In addition, programs include dramas regarding the program topics.

Th e Internet radio, as a vehicle for the diff usion of information, can be eff ective in helping students who have inadequate conventional instruction or this technol-ogy can be used to improve the learning of open primary school students that are geographically remote and there is a lack of traditional instruction. Th e target population of the Turkish Open Primary School is people who are out of the compulsory education period and people who want to receive further education. In Turkey, the compulsory education period is between the ages of 6 and 14 (MONE, 2003). Visually handicapped students can also benefi t from the radio instruction. Th e use of the Internet radio has enabled the MONE to reach a greater number of students with a lower cost and to provide instruction for students throughout the country.

Th e language and communication have four main skills including reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Compared with other skills, little attention has been given to the skill of listening (Smith, 1980; Viswat & Jackson, 1994). Funk and Funk (1989) stated that listening is a neglected skill area and many primary school children are poor listeners. Listening tasks require a good hearing ability and include processing the meaning of given information, following directions, and storing the information in working and long-term memory (Swain, Friehe, & Harrington, 2004).

Radio programs heavily depend on listening which is the most frequently used language activity (Rankin, 1926). “Radio instruction has been found to be at least

308 Mustafa Ulusoy

as eff ective as conventional instruction” (Barron, 2004, p. 952). In radio programs, course content is delivered in the form of speech. In other words, oral instruction is the primary means of communication. Music and other sounds are also provided along with verbal messages to improve students’ comprehension.

A quality radio program should have certain characteristics. Some of the quality indicators can be derived from Clark’s (1932) study. For example, radio programs should be presented by a presenter who has a quality voice with an interesting, bright, and cheerful style. Th e opening paragraph of the talk should attract the interest of the listener so that s/he will continue to listen. In addition, the fi rst paragraph should include the main idea and the last paragraph must be as interest-ing as the fi rst to encourage students to listen to more programs from the same source. Th e word order is important and it should fl ow as smoothly as possible. As Open College staff recognized that some presenters’ voices created listening problems, sound academic credentials, teaching experience, a wide range of contact in the professor’s fi eld of expertise, and a “radio trainable” voice were determined as criteria to select professors for radio instruction (Maskow, 2000). Th ese indicators and criteria may be helpful in increasing the comprehensibility level of a program, as the main idea is to provide a coherent radio program for students.

Question asking (comprehension, inference, and recall), observations, inter-views, gap fi lling techniques, and standardized tests may be used to assess the listening skills of primary school students. Selection of assessment techniques is closely related to the purpose of the assessment, and how to use the results of the assessment. An Auditory Cloze Test (ACT) is one of the gap fi lling techniques that provides detailed information about the listening ability level of the instructional talk, students’ listening and comprehension levels of the talk, and analysis of errors they made during the listening task.

Assessing the comprehensibility of a radio program is very important to know about the communication between the speaker and the listener. Th e use of the ACT can give valuable information to program developers, designers, and producers regarding the diffi culty level of the instructional talk that is used in the Internet radio programs. Research results showed that using the ACT is a reliable (Smith, 1980), useful (Dickens & Williams, 1964), and valuable (Nutter, 1974) measure of aural language comprehension abilities. Knowing the diffi culty levels of audio programs and determining students’ comprehension of these programs can give program developers many ideas about producing more comprehensible and listen-able radio programs.

Th e cloze test was fi rst developed by Wilson Taylor (1953, 1956) to assess the readability of texts. Later, the ACTs were used to test the comprehension of orally


presented talk (Hasson, 1982; Kennedy & Weener, 1973; Weaver, 1961). Th e main diff erences between the auditory and written cloze can be listed as follows: In the written test, students can see the written messages, and they can check the whole text to fi nd the necessary contextual clues to answer the blanks. In the auditory test, hearing is the main way of communication, i.e., students have to remember previous and following deleted words and rely on their memory to grasp the overall meaning of the listening. Secondly, in the written cloze, students can think about each blank and may use more time to fi ll in the blanks they fi nd diffi cult. On the other hand, the auditory cloze restricts students as they have to fi ll in the blanks in a given period of time. In the ACT, students can be allowed to listen to the passages numerous times. Research results showed that these numerous repetitions improved students’ replacements of blanks (Weaver, 1961).

In the written cloze test, every fi ft h word deletion is standard (Mariotti & Homan, 2001). Th ere are, however, diff erent opinions regarding the deletion pat-tern of the ACTs. Nutter (1974) found that every fi ft h word deleted in the auditory cloze is the most reliable to measure listening comprehension. On the other hand, according to Th eobald and Alexander (1977), as every fi ft h word deletion is too diffi cult to follow in an aurally presented format, deletion of every eighth word is preferable. Some selected research studies related to the ACTs are given in the following section of the study. Literature review results did not reveal ACT related research conducted on Turkish students. In addition, a review of the literature did not reveal research into the eff ectiveness of Internet radio programs in Turkey.

Smith (1980) compared 240 ninth graders’ responses to social studies and sci-ence texts that are presented with aural and written cloze forms. In this study, every fi ft h word deletion version of cloze tests was used and fi rst two sentences were kept intact. In the aural cloze format, students listened to the texts and recorded their answers in the appropriate spaces in information/answer booklets. Th e research results showed that the nstudents who answered the written cloze procedure were more successful. In this study, written and aural cloze procedures were found as reliable and equitable measures of comprehension abilities.

In Mulholland and Neville’s (1989) study, 301 students took both reading and listening cloze tests including one narrative and one expository passage. Th ere were 13 deletions in each passage. Th e results of the study revealed that 4 primary children showed higher performance when they listened and older subjects, 7 primary and 2 secondary, showed higher performance when they read the informa-tive passages. Th e results also showed that older groups found reading easier than listening, but the youngest age group found both modes equally diffi cult.

310 Mustafa Ulusoy

2. Purpose

Th e main purpose of this study is to determine the listening ability levels of Internet radio programs. Th e following three questions are investigated in this study:

What are the students’ listening levels of Internet radio programs?1. Are there any diff erences among the students’ ACT scores in terms of 2. grades? What are the students’ perceptions about the radio programs and the dif-3. fi culties they experienced while answering the ACTs?

3. Method

3.1. Sample158 sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students (76 female and 82 male) selected

from Ankara, the capital city of Turkey, participated in the research. Primary schools were randomly selected from diff erent parts of the city and the ACTs were conducted on randomly selected students. In the second part of the study, three focus group interviews were conducted. Th e subjects’ ages ranged between 11 and 14 years.

3.2. InstrumentationIn this study, the ACTs and focus group interviews were used to gather data.

3.2.1. The Auditory Cloze Tests.One program for each grade was randomly selected among the sixth, seventh,

and eighth grade radio programs. Th ere are nine radio programs for the sixth grade social studies, and eight radio programs for both the seventh grade social studies and eighth grade History of the Turkish Revolution and the Principles of Atatürk courses. Th ere are two preparations for exam programs at each grade level. Th e topics of the ACT programs were related to Geography and Our World, Culture and Civilization in the Ottoman Empire, and the War of Independence for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, respectively.

Th e ACT preparation procedures were adapted from Th eobald and Alexander’s (1977) study. Th e following procedures were used during the preparation of the ACTs. Each ACT included 50 blanks.


Nearly fi ft een minutes of audio recordings with a minimum of four hundred 1. words were recorded on a computer.Recorded radio programs were transcribed.2. Th e fi rst and last sentences of the passages were left intact, and beginning 3. with the second sentence, every eighth word was deleted on the printed copy. If the eighth word was a proper noun, it was skipped and the next word was deleted (Mariotti & Homan, 2001). Th is process was repeated until 50 deletions were obtained. Sound editor soft ware was then employed to delete these words. Th e sound 4. of a bell and thereaft er an eight-second gap was inserted in place of each deleted word. As an example, the transcribed and English translated version of a sixth grade ACT text can be seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1. A Transcribed Version of the Sixth Grade ACT Text.

SOCIAL STUDIES – SIXTH GRADEGeography and Our World.– Hello dear students. In this program, we will cover the unit named Geography and Our World. Th rough drama, the following subjects will be covered: Th e description of Geography, our world, and the earth’s movement around the sun. Dear listeners, we should not forget that Geography is an important educational subject in learning the natural and economic potential, and the problems of our country. We should know that every responsible citizen should have the basic knowledge of these subjects. Now let’s pay our attention to Mrs. Sema’s (teacher) bookstore and listen to their conversations.

Mrs. Sema: What are they Melih?

Melih: Geography books. If I have time, I will study. Yesterday night I studied my course notes.

Mrs. Sema: So, you started to study regularly.

Melih: I think students cannot be successful if they do not study regularly.

Mrs. Sema: Right Melih. If we observe the people around us, we can see that nearly all of them make long and short-term plans.

Melih: For example, I have a plan to fi nish Open Primary School and go to secondary school.

Mrs. Sema: Aft er years, we may see you as a university student.

312 Mustafa Ulusoy

Melih: Hopes… Without hopes, living on the earth would be meaningless.

Mrs. Sema: Now, let’s look at your books. Yes… Th e description of Geography and its subjects.

Melih: When Geography is mentioned, we generally think about knowing and memorizing the names (city, mountain, river, etc.).

Mrs. Sema: But, it is not the topic of Geography. Geography introduces the environ-ment to us. Th e subject of Geography is the relationship between the characteristics of the natural environment and humans.

Melih: Our natural environment is the earth we live on, isn’t it?

Mrs. Sema: Yes, the earth is our natural environment. But the earth consists of dif-ferent elements. Th e fi rst one is lithosphere. It is the shell of the earth and it consists of rocks and sand.

Melih: We obtain a very big part of our food from the sand.

Mrs. Sema: Not only our food Melih, we have our mines such as metallic sources from the lithosphere as well. Could you please bring this globe?

Melih: Sure, I brought my Geography atlas too.

Mrs. Sema: So Melih, you did not forget that the map is an important Geography tool. Th e atmosphere that covers the earth is also one of the elements of our environ-ment.

Melih: Climate events that aff ect us happen in the atmosphere. Th e events in the atmosphere like heat, pressure, and wind create diff erent climates on the earth.

Mrs. Sema: Dear Melih, you seem well prepared for this topic.

Melih: When I talk with you, I want to use the time effi ciently, that is why I prepared well.

Mrs. Sema: Yes Melih, let’s turn to our world. Due to climatic events, some part of our world become very hot and humid, and some other parts become very dry.

Melih: Th e other day I watched a documentary on TV. We are very lucky in our country. Fishermen live in the Polar Regions catch fi sh by breaking the ice-covered sea. Th eir only means of living is fi shing. We have more choices in this country.

Mrs. Sema: Sure, but we should not forget that our sources are limited too. Th e events in the atmosphere aff ect the living beings on the earth. In addition, the water in the atmosphere and the earth, plants in our environment, and animals constitute the natural environment.


Th e ACTs were pilot tested on 20 students from each grade to establish the reliability levels of the tests. K-R 20 results revealed .84, .82, and .81 reliability scores for the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, respectively. Th ese high K-R 20 scores indicated that every eighth word deletion version of ACTs was reliable in each grade. Th e pilot test results also revealed that the ACTs successfully dif-ferentiated the students at the various levels of the listening skill (independent, instructional, and frustration). At the independent listening level, the students can easily comprehend and listen to the material without help from their teachers. Th e instructional listening level indicates that the listening task is challenging for the students and they need their teachers’ help to listen and understand the radio program. At the frustration listening level, students have comprehension problems and teachers’ help may not be enough to make the radio program comprehensible for them.

3.2.2. Interviews.Th ree focus group interviews were conducted in each grade to learn the students’

perception about the radio programs and the felt diffi culties of the ACTs. Each focus group included eight students. Male and female students were represented equally and an equal number of students were selected from diff erent achievement levels. Th ese students were allowed to listen to as many radio programs as they desired, so that they were familiarized with the radio programs. Th e following ques-tions were included in the interviews. Open-ended questions such as “Tell me more about that” and “Please give me an example” were also asked to the interviewees based on their answers to the following interview questions.

Have you ever received listening instruction during the primary school 1. years?What do you think about the radio programs? 2. What advantages and limitations do radio programs have?3. What diffi culties were you experiencing while answering the ACTs? 4.

3.3. Data CollectionTh e primary schools were visited and the students were given instructions

regarding the ACTs. Th e students were provided with six recorded practice sen-tences to make them familiar with the test and they were told that each blank should be fi lled in with one word. Th e students listened to the radio programs individually using PCs. Th ey were allowed to change the volume level while they were answering the practice test. In the main application of the tests, the students listened to the recorded radio programs aimed at their own grade level. Th ey did

314 Mustafa Ulusoy

not follow the radio programs along on a printed copy. Aft er the bell sounds, the students guessed and said each of the 50 deleted words within eight seconds. In all the tests, it was stressed that subjects should try their best, but if they could not answer the questions they could leave the blanks unfi lled. Th eir responses were recorded on answer sheets by the researcher. Th e students were allowed to listen to the radio programs as many times as they wanted in a given period of time. Each cloze test session lasted 30 minutes on average.

3.4. Data AnalysisTh e percentage, frequency, and mean of the correct responses were calculated.

Th e sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students’ scores on the ACTs were compared by using the one-way ANOVA test. To determine the groups that were signifi cantly diff erent from each other, the Scheff e post hoc comparison test was used.

Only the exact answers were scored for the cloze tests (not a synonym). Th eobald (1974), and Th eobald and Alexander’s (1977) criteria were used to judge the cloze test scores. According to these criteria, the scores of 48% and higher indicate that the program can be listened to independently by the students. Th e scores between 33% and 47% show that the students can listen to the program with the help from their teachers. A score below the 33% designates that the listening is too diffi cult for the students.

To determine the possible strategies the students employed while they were answering the pauses, error analyses were used. During the error analyses, a lan-guage specialist’s help was frequently needed regarding the classifi cation of the errors. Th e ACT errors were classifi ed using the following categorization (Mariotti & Homan 2001; Shearer, 1982).

Semantically Appropriate: In spite of not fully refl ecting the intended mean-a. ing, replaced words make sense in the passage.Synonyms: Words that have the same meaning as the deleted words.b. Semantic/Not Syntactic: Replaced words may be meaningful, but they are c. not syntactically appropriate.Syntactically Appropriate: Words are not semantically appropriate, but they d. are the same part of speech as the deleted words, with appropriate tense and singularity/plurality. Nonsense Errors: Replaced words are not syntactically and semantically e. appropriate.f. Omissions: Deleted words are not fi lled in. f.

Th e transcribed interview data were summarized into smaller segments. Th ere-aft er, themes and issues were found. To analyze the interviews, I used pattern codes


which are “explanatory or inferential codes, ones that identify an emergent theme, pattern, or explanation that the site suggests to the analyst” (Miles & Huberman, 1984, p. 67).

4. Results

Th is study sought to answer the following three research questions.

4.1. What are the students’ listening levels concerning the Internet radio programs?Table 1, 2, and 3 answer the fi rst research question, which is about the analyses

of the ACTs. As can be seen in Table 1, the ACT scores range between 13 and 17.30. Th e students had the highest score (M = 17.30, SD = 6.57) in the sixth grade and the lowest score (M = 13.00, SD = 6.88) in the seventh grade radio programs. Th e means ranging from 13 to 17.30 represent percentage scores ranging from 26% to 34.60%. According to the criteria indicated in Th eobald and Alexander’s (1977) study, the sixth grade students listened to the radio program at their instructional level, and the

seventh and eighth grade students listened to the programs at their frustration listening levels.

As can be seen in Table 2, the majority of the students listened to the radio programs at their instructional level in the sixth grade. It could be concluded that these students could listen and understand the programs with the help from their teachers. At the seventh and eighth grades, the majority of the students’ listen-ing was at the frustration level. Th e high number of students at the frustration level indicated that the radio programs were diffi cult for the seventh and eighth graders.

Table 3 presents the percentage scores of errors on the ACTs for each grade. As can be seen in Table 3, the majority of the students did not take a risk and left the blanks unfi lled. Nonsense replacements were the second most frequently seen error type. Nonsense errors, semantically and syntactically inappropriate answers, ranged from 20.08% to 27.45%. Th e third most frequently observed error type was semantically correct replacements. Th e small percentages of synonym and

Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations of the ACTs in the Sixth,

Seventh, and Eighth Grades

Grades N M SD6th Grade 53 17.30 6.577th Grade 51 13.00 6.888th Grade 54 14.22 6.90

316 Mustafa Ulusoy

Table 2. Distribution of the students at the independent, instructional, and frustration Levels

Grades

Percentage of Correct Responses48% and above(Independent)

Between 33-47%(Instructional)

32% and below (Frustration) Total

f P f P f P f P6th Grade 8 15.09 26 49.06 19 35.85 53 1007th Grade 5 9.80 12 23.53 34 66.67 51 1008th Grade 8 14.9 20 37.04 26 48.15 54 100

Table 3. Percentages of error analysis

Passages 6th GradeP

7th GradeP

8th GradeP

1. EXACT REP. 34.60 26 28.442. SYN 3.02 1.18 2.963. SEM 7.55 4.32 5.854. SEM/NStc 2.67 0.86 1.745. STC 1.89 1.80 1.456. NON 20.08 27.45 24.417. OM 30.19 38.39 35.15

Note. P = percentage, EXACT REP = exact replacement, SYN = synonym, SEM = semantically appropriate, SEM/NStc = semantic not syntactic, STC = syntactically appropriate, NON = nonsense error, OM = omission.

semantically appropriate replacements indicated that the students could not grasp the meaning from the radio programs.

4.2. Are there any diff erences among the students’ ACT scores in terms of grades? Th e second research question was about the signifi cant diff erences among

the students’ ACT scores in terms of grades. As can be seen in Table 4, one-way ANOVA results indicated a signifi cant diff erence, F(2, 155) = 5.593, p < .01, among the diff erent grade levels. To determine the groups that are signifi cantly diff erent from each other, the Scheff e post hoc comparison test was used. Th e test results revealed that there was a signifi cant diff erence between the sixth (M = 17.30) and seventh (M = 13.00) grade students.


4.3. What are the students’ perceptions about the radio programs and the diffi culties they experienced while answering the ACTs?Th e students’ perceptions about the radio programs and the ACTs were exam-

ined in this section of the study. Th e students were asked if they received listening instruction during their

primary school years. Most of the interviewees stated that they did not receive lis-tening instruction from their teachers. Th e interview results also revealed that the students enjoyed listening to the radio programs. Th ey indicated that dramas and characters were very interesting for them. A male seventh grader stated, “I liked listening to this radio program. Speech like conversations were very interesting for me. I especially liked the characters, but I frequently had diffi culties understanding the content…”

As mentioned above, the most frequently indicated advantage of the radio programs was that they were considered to be interesting. Th e accessible nature of the programs was the second advantage of the Internet radio. A female eighth grader elucidated this advantage and said, “Th ese radio programs are just out there. I could listen to them day or night if I had an Internet connected computer.” Another male seventh grader said, “It is good to know that these radio programs are always there and available for students who would like to listen to them.” Th e students thought that they could listen to the programs whenever they wanted and as many times as they wished. Th e conversations among the characters were the third most frequently mentioned advantage. Th e students indicated that these con-versations helped them to keep their attention and remain focused on the program topics. A female sixth grader stated, “Th e conversations among the characters are very interesting and funny. For example, a teacher and her student talked about geography so nicely and fl uently. I was not bored while listening to them.”

Th e students were asked about the limitations of the radio programs. Th e interview results revealed that the characters’ fast speech rates were seen as the fi rst limitation of the programs. Th e students had diffi culties following the con-versations. A male sixth grader stated, “I had diffi culty following the conversations.

Table 4. ANOVA test results among grade levels

Source SS df MS F Sig.Between Groups 514.434 2 257.217 5.593 .005*Within Groups 7128.503 155 45.990Total 7642.937 157

*p < .01

318 Mustafa Ulusoy

Th ey were very fast for me.” Diffi culties in understanding the content were the second limitation for them. Most of the interviewed students indicated that as the programs covered too many topics, facts, dates, and names it was not easy to understand and follow them. Unnecessary specifi c knowledge covered in the radio programs was seen as another limitation. A female seventh grader said, “Th e Internet radio programs are content overloaded. Th e programs include too many things. It is very hard to remember all of them. Th e good thing is I can rewind and listen to them again and again… I wish I could save these programs on my computer, but there is no save option in the menu.” Some of the students indicated that they would like to save the programs on their cell phones, MP3 players, or iPods to listen to the programs while they are on the bus, while they are walking, or while they are resting at their homes. Th e lack of save option was seen as an important limitation by the students.

Most of the interviewed students indicated that fi nding the deleted words on the ACTs was diffi cult for them. A seventh grade female student said, “I could not fi nd the answers to the blanks, and then I lost my attention. Because of many unanswered blanks I could not get the meaning and could not focus on the test.” Th is quotation shows that unfi lled blanks prevented students from fi lling in the following blanks. Th e students also indicated that they frequently had diffi cul-ties regarding activating their background knowledge and fi nding the necessary contextual clues from the programs to replace the deleted words.

5. Discussion

Th e analyses of the ACTs revealed that the students listened to the radio pro-grams at the instructional level at the sixth grade. Th is result indicated that the sixth grade students could listen to the programs with the help from their teachers. On the other hand, at the seventh and eighth grade levels, the students listened to the programs at their frustration level, meaning that they had major listening and comprehension problems. Th e error analyses also supported this result. Instead of taking risks, the students left the blanks unfi lled. Large percentages of nonsense replacements and small percentages of synonym and semantically correct replace-ments indicated that the students could not grasp the meaning and could not use given contextual clues in the sentences to replace the deleted words.

Th e Scheff e post hoc analysis revealed a signifi cant diff erence between the sixth and seventh grade students. Th e students had the highest score in the sixth grade and the lowest score in the seventh grade. As the seventh grade program


was about history and included many names and facts, the students might have had diffi culties understanding the program. In addition, the sixth grade program covered a general geography topic and the students might have been able to replace the blanks more successfully because of their background knowledge about the topic. Th e focus group interviews revealed parallel results. Students indicated that characters’ fast speech rates and numerous topics, facts, and names covered in the programs prevented them from fi nding the correct answers. Th e interview results also showed that the students liked listening to the sixth grade program as it included a speech like conversation between a teacher and her student. Th e focus group interviews illustrated that the students found the ACT task diffi cult. Most of the interviewed students indicated that they had not received listening instruction from their teachers. Th is lack of listening instruction and the lack of ACT experience might be the cause of fi nding the ACT task diffi cult. Th e results of this study showed that the students would like to save the radio programs on their computers, cell phones, MP3 players, or iPods, but they could not fi nd this option on the Internet radio menu.

Th e frustration listening level in the seventh and eighth grades may be due to two factors. First, the radio programs might be diffi cult to listen. Second, stu-dents might not possess eff ective listening skills. Th e results of this study support both of these assumptions. Th e students found the characters’ speech too fast, and the program content overloaded with supporting details. As Clark (1932) stated “perhaps the commonest fault in radio speaking is the too rapid reading of the manuscript.” (p. 356). Most of the interviewed students indicated that they had not received listening instruction during their formal education. It might be argued that these students do not use effi cient and active listening strategies. Th is result supports Wilt’s (1950) fi ndings. Wilt found that the majority of teachers are unaware of the importance of the listening skills and they do not consciously teach them. Rubin (2000) also concluded that the lack of training in listening skills might be an obstacle to the development of reading, writing, and speaking. A review of the literature illustrated that listening was rarely (Tompkins, 2002) and oft en not explicitly (Rost, 1994) taught in schools.

6. Conclusions

Listening is a skill, and can be taught and learned (Petress, 1999; Th ompson, 1971). Teachers should give importance to listening activities and can be good models for their students by being eff ective listeners. Such listening strategies as

320 Mustafa Ulusoy

TALS (Th ink, Ask why, Listen for what, Say to self) and Give Me Five (Eyes on the speaker, Mouth quiet, Body still, Ears listening, Hands free) may lead to improve-ment of students’ listening ability when these strategies are taught and practised throughout the school day (Prouty & Fagan, 1997; Swain, Friehe, & Harrington, 2004). Teaching students how to fi nd main ideas, supporting details, and keywords may also be very useful. In addition, by using an author’s chair, reading aloud to the class, writing workshops, and cooperative group opportunities, teachers have a chance to practise eff ective listening in their classrooms (Brent & Anderson, 1993). Possibly many teachers received little instruction in listening strategies and they feel inadequate to teach them (Funk & Funk, 1989). In-service training in listening strategies may help teachers to teach these strategies.

Th e results of the pilot study showed that the ACT was a reliable measure of listening comprehension. Th is result indicates that the ACT can be used to measure Turkish students’ listening levels and the listening ability levels of radio programs. Th eobald and Alexander’s (1977) study revealed that teachers can use the ACTs in their classrooms to determine the listening ability levels of their instructional talk as well. Th is test also has a potential to be used to evaluate instructional podcast lessons. King and Gura (2007) stated that podcasting can release unexpected achievement, and that a very rapidly growing number of educators adopt podcast-ing in their courses.

Hawkridge and Robinson’s (1982) study showed that out of twelve educational broadcasting projects and organizations, student learning and attitudes were directly evaluated in eight case studies. Evaluation studies should be given par-ticular importance in educational broadcasting. In relation to the development and training of the radio staff , as Hawkridge and Robinson stated, a continuous system evaluation, which includes looking forward to the use of new approaches and looking outward to the developments in other systems, should be included in the Turkish Open Primary School System. Th e MONE should utilize the ACTs throughout the production of the radio programs. Pre-tests can be conducted to determine and evaluate the diffi culty levels of the instructional talk. In addition, interviews and questionnaires can give program designers, developers, and produc-ers valuable information about students’ attitudes towards the programs. Off ering students a save option for the radio programs may allow them to save the programs on their personal computers, MP3s, and iPods so that students can listen to the programs whenever they want to without needing the Internet connection. Th e save option may also enable students to maximize the learning opportunities from the Internet radio programs.


Th e analysis of the ACTs revealed that the listening ability levels of the tested seventh and eighth grade radio programs were very diffi cult for the students. Th e focus group interviews also illustrated similar results about the diffi culty levels of the radio programs. To present more comprehensible and listenable Internet radio programs for students, the MONE should: a) Reduce the diffi culty levels of the texts that are read by the presenters. Smith’s (1980) study stated that readability and content were eff ective variables for both aural and written cloze procedures. Readability of the radio texts should be evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. Determining the readability levels of the texts by using written cloze tests and assessing the quality of the writing style (coherence, cohesion, structure) may help the MONE to produce more comprehensible and listenable radio programs, b) Reduce the presenters’ speech rates, c) Reduce the facts, names, and supporting details of the programs, and d) Conduct pilot studies to pre-test the diffi culty levels of the presenters’ instructional talk. Th e error analysis results showed that the students could not grasp the meaning from the radio programs. It is evident that pilot studies will help the MONE to produce more listenable and comprehensible radio programs.

While the target populations of the Internet radio are both formal and open primary school students, this study included only students from formal primary schools. Th e ACTs should therefore be conducted with Open Primary School students to test the listening ability levels of the radio programs for these stu-dents. Th is study is the fi rst study that used the ACT to evaluate the listening ability levels of Turkish Internet radio programs. It could be concluded that there is a need for replication studies. Future research should focus on evaluating the listening ability levels of programs by using diff erent assessment techniques. For example, Sentence Verifi cation Technique (Royer, Hastings, & Hook, 1979), which was determined as a valid and reliable technique to evaluate listening tasks in the Turkish language (Ulusoy & Cetinkaya, 2009), could be used as an alternative method to test the listening ability levels of programs. Th e listening ability levels of the Internet radio programs should be assessed by using the ACT, Sentence Verifi cation Technique, and conventional question-asking methods. Th ereaft er, the results of each assessment method should be compared to see how these dif-ferent assessment techniques judge the students’ listening levels and the listening ability levels of the radio programs. It is expected that the results of these diff erent assessment techniques will provide more information about the listening ability levels of radio programs.

322 Mustafa Ulusoy

Bibliography

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Brent, R., & Anderson, P. (1993). Developing children’s classroom listening strate-gies. Th e Reading Teacher, 47, 122–126.

Clark, A. H. (1932). Radio talks. Th e Scientifi c Monthly, 35, 352–359.Dickens, M., & Williams, F. (1964). An experimental application of cloze procedure

and attitude measures to listening comprehension. Speech Monographs, 31, 103–108.

Funk, H. D., & Funk, G. D. (1989). Guidelines for developing listening skills. Th e Reading Teacher, 42, 660–663.

Hasson, E. A. (1982). Th e use of aural cloze as an instructional technique for the enhancement of vocabulary and listening comprehension of kindergarten children. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Temple University.

Hawkridge D., & Robinson, J. (1982). Organizing educational broadcasting. London: Croom Helm.

Kennedy, D. K., & Weener, P. (1973). Visual and auditory training with the cloze procedure to improve reading and listening comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 8, 524–541.

King, K. P., & Gura, M. (2007). Podcasting for teachers: Using a new technology to revolutionize teaching and learning. SERIES: Emerging technologies for evolving learners. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Mariotti, A. S., & Homan, S. P. (2001). Linking reading assessment to instruction: An application worktext for elementary classroom teachers (3rd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.

Maskow, M. (2000). Radio as a learning technology. New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, 88, 59–68.

Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1984). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods. California: SAGE.

MONEa. (n. d.). Eğiteki tanıyalım [Introducing EGITEK]. Retrieved March 3, 2009 from http://egitek.meb.gov.tr/ Egitek/Birimlerimiz/EgitekiTaniyalim.pdf

MONEb. (n. d.). Internet Radyo [Internet Radio]. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from http://aio.meb.gov.tr/

MONE. (2003). İlköğretim Kurumları Yönetmeliği [Regulations for Elementary Education Institutions]. Retrieved March 3, 2009 from http://mevzuat.meb.gov.tr/html/225_0.html


Mulholland, H., & Neville, M. (1989). Reading and listening at three school stages: Cloze tests and their response analysis. Journal of Research in Reading, 12(1), 29–48.

Nutter, B. L. (1974). Presentation methods, deletion patterns and passage types for use with aural cloze. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Th e University of Arizona.

Petress, K. C. (1999). Listening: A vital skill. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 26, 261–262.

Prouty, V., & Fagan, M. (1997). Language strategies for children: Keys to classroom success. Eau Claire, WI: Th inking Publications.

Rankin, P. T. (1926). Th e measurement of the ability to understand spoken language. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan.

Rost, M. (1994). Introducing listening. London: Penguin.Royer, J. M., Hastings, C. N., & Hook, C. (1979). A sentence verifi cation tech-

nique for measuring reading comprehension. Journal of Reading Behavior, 11, 355–363.

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Review

Book Review: Ján Bajtoš, Vybrané state z didaktiky Vysoke Školy . Učebný

text kurzu vysokoškolskej pedagogiky. Košice: Technická Univerzita v Košiciach, 2008, pp. 153

Th e book Vybrané state z didaktiky Vysoke Školy. Učebný text kurzu vysokoškolskej pedagogiky presents the contemporary view on the process of education performed at colleges and universities. In 10 chapters the author consistently verifi es the assumption that learning is not an automatic consequence of the methodologi-cally correct knowledge delivery exercised by the teacher. He advocates the idea of the involved/engaged education, i.e. active, stimulating the students’ cognitive processes, taking advantage of the learners’ resources and favouring activating teaching methods.

Th e fi rst two chapters of the work are an interesting debate on the paradigms of the contemporary didactics. Th us, the reconstruction of two theoretical and methodological sources constituting that particular sub-discipline of pedagogy has been made in order to show the specifi cs of college and university education and the open problems of the so-called higher education didactics .

Th e third chapter entitled Obsah Vzdelavania deals with a deep analysis of the teaching-learning process. It is worth noting that a certain pattern of the traditional perception of the process has lost its validity or, in other words, got exhausted. However, the pattern should not be totally rejected but its certain elements ought to be implemented while setting educational standards or writing syllabuses.

Th e following chapters (4–8) are actually an exquisite ‘precis’ for a teacher who performs as an academic teacher or intends to take up such a profession. Th e essence of didactic rules/canons has been rendered in a synthesised, simple and comprehensible way. Th e rules have been explained thoroughly and the teacher’s behaviour/acting has been referred to as the guarantee of maintaining the rules. Particular emphasis has been put on the infl uence of the atmosphere

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328 Beata Pituła

of the learning situations created by the teacher on the students’ knowledge perception level and its applicability, as well as on the degree of the opinions and beliefs independence (chapter 4). Th e classifi cations and typologies of the subject methodology widely functioning in the literature of the faculty have been presented in a way that shows their advantages and limitations (chapter 5). Th e organisational academic educational forms have been described in a very acces-sible mode. Th e most frequently used forms while working with students, such as lectures, classes, seminars, projects and trips and their aims, functions and effi ciency factors have been broadly analysed. Th e necessity of applying diff erent methods in the educational process has been stressed as well as the need for being/making a creative teacher (chapter 6). Both, the optimal time and space management in the educational process and the usage of teaching aids have been presented in detail (chapter 7). A considerable stress has been put on the fact that supervising and assessing is an integral part of the didactic process which should be carefully planned and realised by means of adequate tools. Th e tests quoted in the text exemplify the principles underlying the tests construction, assessment criteria and teaching results interpretation (chapter 8).

Th e last two chapters (9&10) are devoted to the question of personality of the academic teacher and the student as the subject of cognitive activity.

As the author himself says: „ak má vysokoškolský učitel’ efektívne splnit’ svoje úlohy, t.j.vzdelávat’,vychovávat’ a rozvijat’ osobnosti študentov, musi dôkladne ovládat’ svoj odbor, mat’ dobrú pedagogickú pripravu a vysokú všeobecnú kultúru” (p.135). Th erefore, according to the author, to perform the basic functions of an academic teacher it is not suffi cient to be well-prepared substantially and possess a wide knowledge of the subject; it requires not only versatile pedagogical compe-tence but also immense culture and tact. Such a perception of an academic teacher defi nes the range of capabilities and responsibilities. It also allows expecting from the teacher to treat students as subjects (not objects) as well as to be the initiator of the intellectual dialogue, mentor and supervisor.

Th e book, as the author emphasises in the introduction, does not aspire to be a didactic manual for higher education teachers, but it aims at showing the basic information referring to the specifi cs and problems of teaching at colleges and universities, it is meant to be just a set of instructions for those preparing for the role of an academic teacher (p.5).

In my opinion the publication lives up to the tasks put forward. Defi nitely, its undeniable merit is the conciseness and cohesion of the message, transparent con-tent and matching examples which “teach” how to put theory into practice. Each chapter contains a short conclusion and some questions directed to the reader.

329Book Review: Ján Bajtoš, Vybrané state z didaktiky Vysoke Školy …

Th is technique presumably catalyses the acquisition of the presented material and stimulates forming one’s own opinions and judgement.

Th erefore, I consider this book to be worth recommending not only to people who are preparing to take on the role of an academic teacher, but also to those, who are just taking their fi rst steps in the profession.

Book Review:Edukacja dorosłych by Malcolm S. Knowles, Elwood F. Holton,

Richard A. Swanson, trans. by M. Habura, R. Ligus, A. Nizińska, Warszawa: PWN, 2009, pp. 376

Educating Adults seems to be one of the most signifi cant works on educating adult people.

In the society whose imperative is long-life learning, a manual that explains the specifi cs of teaching and educating adults is necessary. Th e reviewed book aspires to be a comprehensive work dealing with the question of adult education.

Th e book consists of three parts. Th e fi rst one, entitled “Th e Roots of Andrag-ogy” (chapters 2&6) introduces the reader into pedagogical and andragogical discourse on the essence and extraordinariness of adult education. Th e particular chapters contain interesting interpretations of the research fi ndings referring to the process of adults’ learning, a deepened analysis of the didactic conduct in terms of the plan preparation, realisation and evaluation of the teaching-learning process, and rumination on adults’ learning models functioning in the theory and practice of adult education. Considerable emphasis should be put on the presented andragogical model of learning which is set against the traditional model of adult education. According to the authors the advantage of the andragogical model is based on the process and conduct ability (optimal usage of learning procedures and the learner’s resources). In this model the directing/supervising function of the teacher is rejected for the benefi t of common aims and strategies setting as well as implementing them.

Th e second part, “Progress in Adult Learning” (chapters 7–11), focuses on a detailed analysis of the andragogical model of learning practically how to educate adults; an attempt has been made to look at it and assess critically from the perspective of the individual’s professional development; numerous interest-ing assumptions which require empirical validating and verifying have been put

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331Book Review: Edukacja dorosłych by Malcolm S. Knowles at all

forward. A prognosis of the development of andragogy, both in theory and practice, has been brought forward, too.

Th e third part, “Adult Education in Practice” (chapters 12–19), is devoted to a thorough analysis, adopted at work, andragogical concept of adult education and exemplifi cation of its basic assumptions and principles. For instance, the chapter entitled Entirety-Part-Entirety is a sort of set of instructions for teachers working with adults. Particular steps of the didactic conduct, schemes of particular training and educating programmes have been shown in a synthesised way. Considerable emphasis has been put on the need to make a contract between the learner and the teacher, which constitutes a certain common ground to exchange the expectations resulting from the external requirements/standards set by the organisation as well as the ones resulting from the internal needs and interests of the learning person.

Tools allowing for the self-assessment of learning competence and individual model of learning have been analysed widely and conscientiously (i.e.: A Guide to Diagnosing and Planning the Key Competence Development and An Adult Learning Style Questionnaire). Selected adult learning models have been presented in the context of teaching methods: andragogical and pedagogical, stressing the merits/advantages of both. A great part of the chapter has been devoted to one of the most frequently used forms of educating adults: worker training. Th e factors determining their effi ciency have been analysed in detail, indicating at the same time their drawbacks and limitations.

Taking into account the extensive perspective from which the specifi cs of educat-ing adults have been referred to, as well as the interesting, logically cohesive lecture, absorbing interpretations of the quoted research fi ndings, and more importantly, propositions of the adult education quality improvement, I think this book is worth recommending not only to pedagogy students, but also to academic workers and specialists preparing training and other forms of adult education.