bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Between Teaching and Research: Challenges of the Academic Profession in Croatia
Authors: Turk Marko , Ledić Jasminka 
Published: November 2021

Discussions about synergy or independence of teaching and research are present in many studies (Bilić, 2009; Brew & Boud, 1995; Enders & Teichler, 1997; Griffiths, 2004; Jakovljević, 2010; Jenkins, 2000; Ramsden & Moses, 1992). Humboldt’s model introduced synergy between teaching and research, thus highlighting the importance of originality in scientific work and of the dissemination of the knowledge stemming from it. The synergy between teaching and research is also referenced in the education policy of the European Union, with the Berlin Communique (2003) introducing a request for the promotion of better synergy between European educational and research areas. However, studies reveal a different understandingof the teaching-research relationship between those who advocate their synergy (Brew & Boud, 1995; Jenkins, 2000; Neumann, 1993) and those who advocate their mutual independence (Hattie & Marsh, 1996; Ramsden & Moses, 1992). Examining different perspectives of the teaching-research relationship, the research presented in this paper focused on understanding how academics see their dominant roles. Its objective was to examine how academics perceive their roles as teachers and researchers. A qualitative approach was used, with data being collected using a standardised semi-structured interview. A total of 60 interviewees participated in the research, all academics from Croatia. The results revealed that the research participants see themselves most frequently as teachers, then as teachers and researchers, and least frequently as predominantly researchers. Their identification is mainly determined by external factors, most frequently negatively connoted, which presents a challenge within the context of job satisfaction. Such results also point to legal, material, personnel and administrative difficulties in the Croatian higher education system.
Preschool Teaching Staff’s Opinions on the Importance of Preschool Curricular Fields of Activities, Art Genres and Visual Arts Fields
Authors: Zupančič Tomaž , Čagran Branka , Mulej Matjaž 
Published: November 2021

This article presents preschool teachers’ and assistant teachers’ opinions on the importance of selected fields of educational work in kindergartens. The article first highlights the importance of activities expressingartistic creativity within modern curriculums. Then, it presents an empirical study that examines the preschool teachers’ and assistant teachers’ opinions on the importance of the educational fields, art genres, andvisual arts fields. In research hypotheses, we presumed that preschool teachers find individual educational fields, individual art genres, and individual visual arts activities to be of different importance; consequently,education in kindergarten does not achieve the requisite holism. The study is based on the descriptive and causal-non-experimental method. We have determined that the greatest importance is attributed to movementand language, followed by nature, society, art and mathematics. Within art genres, the greatest importance is attributed to visual arts and music and the least to audio-visual activities. Within visual arts, drawingand painting are considered to be the most important and sculpting the least. These findings can support future studies and deliberation on the possible effects on practice in terms of requisitely holistically plannedpreschool education.
The Use of Compliment Response Strategies among Iranian Learners of English: Researching Interlocutors' Relative Power and Gender
Authors: Tamimi Sa’d Seyyed Hatam 
Published: November 2021

This article reports on a study that set out to investigate how Iranian EFL learners respond to compliments in English. The data were collected using a discourse completion task (DCT) consisting of a variety of situations that required the participants, 26 EFL learners (13 males and 13 females) to respond to compliments directed at them. The data were analysed both quantitatively and qualitatively. To this end, the participants’ responses were coded according to a coding scheme adopted from Yu (2004) which identified six compliment response strategies (CRSs). The findings indicated that, regardless of or concerning gender and power (–P and =P), the first three most frequent CR strategies included “Acceptance”, “Combination” and “Amendment”. These findings were then analyzed in light of previous similar studies that revealed that the participants had followed their first cultural norms not only in usingthe strategies mentioned above but also in employing very infrequently such strategies as “Face Relationship”, “No acknowledgment”, and “Nonacceptance”. As regards the role of gender, a Chi-square test was run which showed that males and females differed significantly in their use of CRSs. Furthermore, males used more CR strategies compared to females.The qualitative analysis of the semantic formulas of the CR strategies also revealed that, by accepting a compliment, Iranian EFL learners sought agreement and consequently relied on positive politeness to foster rapport and solidarity.
An Interactive Approach to Learning and Teaching in Visual Arts Education
Authors: Tomljenović Zlata 
Published: November 2021

The present research focuses on modernising the approach to learning and teaching the visual arts in teaching practice, as well as examining the performance of an interactive approach to learning and teaching in visual arts classes with the use of a combination of general and specific (visual arts) teaching methods. The study uses quantitative analysis of data on the basis of results obtained from a pedagogical experiment. The subjects of the research were 285 second- and fourth-grade students from four primary schools in the city of Rijeka, Croatia. Paintings made by the students in the initial and final stage of the pedagogical experiment were evaluated. The research results confirmed the hypotheses about the positive effect of interactive approaches to learning and teaching on the following variables: (1) knowledge and understanding of visual arts terms, (2) abilities and skills in the use of art materials and techniques within the framework of planned painting tasks, and (3) creativity in solving visual arts problems. The research results can help shape an optimised model for the planning and performance of visual arts education, and provide guidelines for planning professional development and the further professional education of teachers, with the aim of establishing more efficient learning and teaching of the visual arts in primary school.
Forms of Cooperative Learning in Language Teaching in Slovenian Language Classes at the Primary School Level
Authors: Rot Vrhovec Alenka 
Published: November 2021

In the Slovenian language syllabus, teachers are recommended to provide a greater share of group work during class. During types of learning such as cooperative learning in smaller groups or pairs, students actively develop communicative competence. The present article presents a survey that attempted to determine whether teachers from the first to the fifth grade execute cooperative learning in language classes. The purpose of the article is to raise teachers’ awareness and encourage them to design and execute cooperative learning more frequently.
Theory, Practice and Competences in the Study of Pedagogy – Views of Ljubljana and Belgrade University Teachers
Authors: Skubic Ermenc Klara , Živković Vujisić Nataša , Spasenović Vera 
Published: November 2021

Over the previous decade, higher education in Slovenia and Serbia has undergone considerable reforms, influenced by the Bologna process and its agenda of competence and learning outcomes. In the context of these reforms, the aim of this research is to consider the question of the relationship between the theoretical and the practical education of pedagoguesat the university level. Eleven university professors from departments of pedagogy and andragogy at the universities of Ljubljana and Belgrade were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews focused on two main research questions: 1) how they understand the relationship between pedagogical theory and practice, and the identity of pedagogy as a science in that context, and 2) their opinion about the competence-based approach in the context of the study of pedagogy. The findings show that the majority of the interviewed university teachers hold an opinion that pedagogy is primarily a theoretical (reflective) science and, accordingly, that the mastery of theory is crucial for the development of pedagogues’ competences. Furthermore, most of them are rather reserved and critical of the competence approach as well as of the practical skills development. Although there are some differences in opinions between the professors from Ljubljana and Belgrade, this study shows that similar discourses prevail. The gap between pedagogical theory and practice is one of the major issues that have been current in pedagogical science in the recent decades. The findings of our research indicate that there is dissatisfaction with the relationship between modern pedagogical theory and practice, accompanied by the need for its reconceptualization.
An Appraisal of the Internationalisation of Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Alemu Sintayehu Kassaye 
Published: November 2021

Over the past decades, the development of the internationalisation of higher education has revised the conceptual framework of higher education, enhanced its scope, scale and importance, and transformed its world, as well as reshaping relationships between countries. More powerful universities play a central role and are suppliers of knowledge, whereas weaker institutions and systems with fewer resources and lower academic standards occupy a peripheral position and are consumers. The centre-periphery dichotomy in the internationalisation of higher education undoubtedly presents considerable challenges to the higher education institutions of the peripheries. For developing regions like Africa, higher education is an important instrument for socioeconomic development, and one of the strategies to improve and qualify higher education is internationalisation. In spite of various attempts to enhance the benefits of internationalisation, African higher education has continued to be peripheral, with relationships remaining asymmetrical, unethical and unequal. Along with some positive benefits, internationalisation has brought complicated implications and new challenges, such as the brain drain, cultural values, the commodification of higher education, the persistence of inequality between global north-south universities, and so on. The purpose of the present paper is to highlight the challenges and unintended consequences of the internationalisation of higher education, with a particular focus on Africa.
Reclaiming the Idea of the University as a Possible Solution to Today’s Crisis
Authors: Pavlenko Sonia , Bojan Cristina 
Published: November 2021

Higher education has always been associated in one way or another with crisis. One could even argue that the university has always faced one type of crisis or another. The one debated the most is the economic crisis; however, there are many debates focusing on other types of crisis. Furthermore, all major reforms in the history of higher education (from Humboldt’s reform in 19th century Prussia to the views promoted by Y Gasset against the background of the Spanish revolution, or even the Bologna Process) have arisen as a result of a crisis. Today, the global economic crisis has yet again highlighted the fact that the idea of the university, the very foundation on which it was built, is no longer present when addressing contemporary issues in higher education. Our paper argues that there is an imperative need to reclaim and reconsider the idea of the university, as this could provide a possible solution to today’s crisis in higher education. Furthermore, we will attempt to show the reasons why this should occur, as well as the manner in which it could be achieved. The focus today is on too many minute, detailed aspects of higher education institutions, which are managed, evaluated, quality assured, ranked, assessed and so forth, while the global perspective on the university has been lost/ignored. Today’s crisis could be used as an opportunity to reassess and re-establish a relevant idea for today’s university.
Child Participation in Family-School Cooperation
Authors: Maleš Dubravka , Kušević Barbara , Širanović Ana 
Published: November 2021

This paper discusses the cooperation between families and schools from the perspective of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). Given that the principal purpose of the cooperation between families and schools is children’s well-being, it is reasonable to expect the child’s participation in situations of direct parent-teacher cooperation. The theoretical part of this paper is grounded on contemporary scientific findings in family-school cooperation and the role of the child in the process, while the empirical part seeks to determine whether the requirement for child participation is being fulfilled in family-school cooperation in Croatia. As a theoretical basis for the research, Hart’s (1995) ‘Ladder of Participation’ model has been used; the results can serve as guidelines for improving the existing school practices and introduce changes in school legislation relating to cooperation with parents.
The Establishment of School Social Work in Austria – From a Project to a Regular Offer
Authors: Heimgartner Arno , Sting Stephan 
Published: November 2021

The contribution introduces the present situation and the basic challenges of school social work in Austria. Starting with the perception of a developing “knowledge society” (Höhne, 2004), school is seen as a life place at which social subjects and problems occur and are made manifest. The analyses are based in particular on empirical studies by the University of Klagenfurt (Sting & Leitner, 2011) and the University of Graz (Gspurning, Heimgartner, Pieber, & Sing, 2011), which were carried out in school social work facilities of Carinthia and Styria, but theyalso include Austrian-wide research projects. A methodical view is presented along the main target groups “pupils”, “teachers” and “parents”, and the basic orientations are discussed. The thematic analysis characterises school social work as a multi-thematic service (e.g., conflicts, love, problems at school, problems of the family) that needs to oppose the reduction to single problem areas such as drug abuse or violence. The structural analyses render visible the meaning of spatial conditions, personnel competence and the social-spatial network. Finally, the possibilities of a lasting implementation of empirical research in school social work are discussed.
Towards a Concept of Parental Authority in Adolescence
Authors: Kuhar Metka , Reiter Herwig 
Published: November 2021

The notion of authority is common in the literature on parent-child relationships. However, the notion of ‘parental authority’ remains largely unspecified. The present article first critically reviews conceptualisations of parental authority in selected developmental-psychological approaches. We find the absence of an explicit and integrated theoretical and empirical conceptualisation of parental authority, as well as a certain lack of consistency in the application of the concept. Against the background of this review, we suggest initial steps towards a concept of parental authority as relational, dynamic and co-constituted in the sense of a joint product and outcome of family relationships.
Teacher Education Reforms between Higher Education and General Education Transformations in South- Eastern Europe: Reviewing the Evidence and Scoping the Issues
Authors: Pantić Nataša 
Published: November 2021

The present paper considers reforms and developments in teacher education in South-Eastern European countries as part of overall reforms in higher education, and in light of changes in general education that impact teachers and their preparation. The paper reviews the literature and reports from the region that offer some evidence of and insights into the issues surrounding teacher education reforms in the contexts of postsocialist education transformations in South-Eastern Europe. It scopes the issues relating to: structural and curricular changes in teacher preparation; coordination of reforms across different levels; development of a common vision of good teaching in cooperation between teacher educationinstitutions, schools and communities; and quality assurance of teacher preparation. The identified issues include: the superficial nature of structural reforms and the neglect of substantial curricular changes; the dearth of opportunities for reflection linking theory and practice; insufficiently developed cross-curricular approaches to teacher educationreforms; the fragmentation of teacher education along a number of lines; the absence of a common vision of quality teaching, and of formative links between quality assurance systems for teachers, schools and teacher education providers. Finally, the paper outlines potentialavenues for future developments and implications for teacher education policies and practices.
Attitudes and Motivation in Early Foreign Language Learning
Authors: Mihaljević Djigunović Jelena 
Published: November 2021

This paper focuses on young foreign language learners’ attitudes and motivations. An overview is given of the main issues in this research area, based on key European studies. Approaches to studying these af-fective learner characteristics are described. Some attention is devoted to data elicitation techniques and the importance of triangulation. Research findings are presented through overviews of cross-sectional and longitudinal studies carried out in different European settings. The latter are presented in more detail, because their findings seem to be more revealing of the early foreign language learning process. The overall conclusion of this review paper is that young foreign language learners’ attitudes and motivations are not stable learner characteristics but change over time, creating layers of complexity that warrant further research.
Suggestions about possible future directions in researching young foreign language learner attitudes and motivations, and the application of its findings are also made.
Foreign Language Learning and Identity Reconstruction: Learners’ Understanding of the Intersections of the Self, the Other and Power
Authors: Tamimi Sa’d Seyyed Hatam 
Published: November 2021

The present qualitative study sought to explore the relationship between English language learning and identity reconstruction from the viewpoints of Iranian language learners. The data were collected by means of focus-group interviews with forty-five male intermediate learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). To define the concept of identity, the participants were found to draw upon notions as diverse as personal and social characteristics, ethnic origins, geographical locations, religious affiliations, national customs and rituals and values, amongst others. Furthermore, the vast majority of the learners held that learningEnglish had a profound impact on how they perceive their identity. Of these, nearly all the interviewees regarded the above impact as highly positive and beneficial to the course of language learning. The interviewees also expressed strong inclination to integrate and, therefore, to dentify with the target linguistic and cultural norms. Notwithstanding, a number of opposing voices were raised by some learners who resisted identity reconstruction through language learning, claiming that they learned English simply for the sake of instrumental, as opposed to integrative, purposes. These participants also levelled criticisms at what theyviewed as ‘the imposition of Western values on an Islamic country’. The results highlight the vital role of motivation and the status of English as an international language in viewing, redefining and reconstructing identity. In conclusion, the findings confirm the role of discursive practices, power relations, solidarity and otherising with regard to identityreconstruction in the course of second language (L2) learning.
Participation in Decision-making in Class: Opportunities and Student Attitudes in Austria and Slovenia
Authors: Mithans Monika , Ivanuš Grmek Milena , Čagran Branka 
Published: November 2021

This article focuses on the issue of student involvement in the education process. The study comprised pupils aged 10-11, 13-14 and 16-17; 322 students were attending school in Austria, and 458 students were in Slovenia. The data were collected through a questionnaire and processed on the level of descriptive and inferential statistics. The right to participationis among the four main principles set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child from 1989. However, a study that aimed to identify the areas in which students already have the opportunity to participate in decision-making and areas in which they want more participationshowed that they remain insufficiently aware of the right to participation in school. In addition, the study showed that students from Austrian schools have more decision-making opportunities than their peers in Slovenia do. The results also indicate that, despite its proven advantages, legal basis, and the repeated demands for its implementation, participationin the class environment has yet to become common practice.
Policy Reform Efforts and Equal Opportunity – An Evidence-Based Link?
Authors: Geppert Corinna , Bauer-Hofmann Sonja , Hopmann Stefan Thomas 
Published: November 2021

The main focus of the present paper is to answer two different questions: From the perspective of Austrian education policy, which core areas of schooling are linked to the demand for equal opportunity? Can these reform efforts sustain the current state of research, and what are the consequences for schooling? The paper draws on an analysis by Hopmann,Geppert & Bauer (2010). Fifteen official self-presentations (political programmes) of Austrian political parties were analysed for statements concerning the improvement of the education system. This resulted in about seventy different statements, which were aggregated into eight core areas. We conducted a systematic analysis of four of these core areas, dealing withthe topics of equal opportunity: comprehensive school, all-day schooling, school autonomy and standardisation of students’ achievements. The aim was not to judge the legitimacy or the political content of the claims made. In line with evaluative discourse, we asked whether the combination of political demands and their associated expectations met the current stateof research. In many policy programmes, it is assumed that comprehensive schooling, all-day schooling, education standards, standardised general certification for university attendance, school autonomy or language surveys go hand in hand with more equality of opportunity, justice and quality in education, but an analysis of the current state of research couldnot confirm this. The analysis showed that, with regard to education policy demands, statements having empirically little or nothing to do with each other are often linked.