Volume 10 (2020): Edition 3 (December 2020)

Introduction: Inquiry-based teaching is a constructivist-based method that has become popular in recent years. In this method, students work in a systematic way like a scientist during the research process, actively participate in the learning process, solve problems and learn in practice. The aim of this study is to reveal the opinions of prospective teachers about inquiry based teaching practices.

Methods: The study was designed in a qualitative research design. The participants of the study are primary mathematics teacher candidates. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews conducted face-to-face with the students. The data were analyzed using content analysis. The findings obtained from the analysis of the prospective teachers’ views were presented with the relevant themes and codes under the titles.

Results: Some of the findings of the prospective teachers’ opinions about the process in which inquiry-based teaching method is applied are as follows. It provides permanent learning, is suitable for real life, develops skills such as research, problem solving, leadership, motivates and gives experience to the profession, is learned actively by doing and experiencing in the process, unexpected difficulties are encountered, the traditional method is easier, not suitable for every course, the lecturer should give more feedback and guidance, communication and coordination in group work is required.

Discussion: Prospective teachers stated many positive opinions about the process in which the course content was taught using inquiry-based method. It can be said that the application process positively influences the practical knowledge and skills of teacher candidates. However, it is seen that some prospective teachers find the process tiring and time consuming. It is understood that teacher candidates have intense concerns about Public Personnel Selection Examination (KPSS) and this affects the process. KPSS is a test in Turkey for prospective teachers where they should get enough points to be appointed as teachers after graduation. Although the participants of this study are 3rd grade prospective teachers and they take the KPSS exam after graduation; it is understood that KPSS affects them and their motivation.

Limitations: This research is limited to the measurement and evaluation course and to the 3rd grade mathematics teacher candidates who are the participants of this study.

Conclusions: Prospective teachers mostly have positive opinions about the inquiry-based teaching process. It can be said that it would be beneficial to use this method in teacher education.

Introduction: This research aims to determine the humour behaviours of school administrators according to teacher perception and to reveal the relationship between humour behaviours and school climate.

Methods: The research was carried out in a survey model. The data of the study were obtained from 221 primary school teachers working in Ankara and Aksaray provinces via a questionnaire created online. Regression analysis technique was used to determine the relationship between variables.

Results: According to the results of the research, school administrators showed relatively more positive humour (producer-social humour and affirmative humour) behaviours. In terms of climate, it is seen that the perception of a positive school climate (supportive and intimacy based school climate) is higher than the negative ones. When the relationships between the variables were examined, it was seen that there was a definite increase in the school climate with the school administrator using humour positively. With the rise in the use of refusing or sarcastic humour, there was an adverse increase in school climate.

Discussion: According to these results, it can be argued that humour behaviours of school administrators are an essential determinant in the context of creating a positive school climate in schools.

Limitations: Data from the sample of the study were collected through online questionnaires. Therefore, this research has no claim of generalisability.

Conclusions: Therefore, it is necessary to increase the knowledge and sensitivity of school administrators on how to use and manage humour.

Introduction: The earth has entered a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene demonstrates how human activities have changed the world negatively by causing several environmental issues such as global warming. Therefore, it has become an important problem for people. Education should be reconsidered according to the new epoch to deal with it. There is a trans-disciplinary call for this issue. In relation to this call, the present study has aimed to evaluate the new English language teaching program (ELTP) for lower secondary school (5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades) in terms of the Anthropocene in Turkey.

Methods: The present study was designed as a qualitative study. The data collection tools were the new ELTP for lower secondary school and the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th-grade English language course books prepared according to the new program. The data were analyzed through documentation analysis. Triangulation and thick descriptions were used to make the study trustworthy.

Results: The documentation analysis of the data has showed that there are six themes related to the nature in the new ELTP for lower secondary school: theme 9 (the animal shelter) in the 5th grade; themes 4 (weather and emotions) and 9 (saving the planet) in the 6th grade; themes 4 (wild animals) and 9 (environment) in the 7th grade; theme 10 (natural forces) in the 8th grade. The learning outcomes and language skills of each theme were prepared according to the contents of the themes. Theme 9 in the 5th grade shows how human activities can affect the environment positively. Theme 4 in the 6th grade indicates how the environment can affect people. The rest demonstrate how human activities have affected the nature negatively and how people can save the nature.

Discussion: Theme 9 (saving the planet) in the 6th grade, themes 4 (wild animals) and 9 (environment) in the 7th grade, and theme 10 (natural forces) in the 8th grade explain how several environmental issues have occurred owing to human activities, how these issues have affected the nature and human lives negatively, and how people can deal with these issues. Theme 9 (the animal shelter) in the 5th grade informs students about how human activities can affect the nature positively, and theme 4 (weather and emotions) in the 6th grade about how the environment can affect people. Through these themes, the new ELTP for lower secondary school can enable English language students to understand that people are a part of the nature, have the power to change the environment, and can live with the environment in balance.

Limitations: The curriculum evaluation is only related to the new ELTP for lower secondary school (5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades) in Turkey.

Conclusion: The Anthropocentric evaluation of the new ELTP for lower secondary school has shown that it can raise English language students’ awareness of the relationship between people and the nature and their effects on each other.

Introduction: The aim of this study is to examine children’s moral reasoning and logical reasoning processes and the relationship between these two mechanisms. In the present study the focus is on the relationship between the factors such as fair sharing, equality, merit, ownership, opportunity in the resource allocation and logical reasoning among the children aged 5-7.

Methods: In this study, which aims to examine how the logical thinking skills differ according to the children’s moral reasoning process, a survey design approach was used. Participants were 92 children aged 5 (female N=13, male N=14) and aged 6 (female N=17, male N=18), aged 7 (female N=17, male N=13). The data collected from the moral and logical reasoning tasks were analyzed in two steps. At the first step the answers of the participants were scored. At the second step their justifications were categorized. To test out hypotheses we used two general linear models to examine the age effects of Age (5-7 years) and Reasoning (equality, ownership, merit, opportunity) on children’s evaluations of the vignette characters’ actions. Age-related changes in children’s evaluation and their logical reasoning skills related to initial distribution and transfer status were analyzed by the variance analysis.

Results: Based on the findings of the study it can be stated that the children in the age group of 6-7 evaluated negatively the reward distribution based on the outcomes due to their concerns about the inequality in the opportunities and the violation of the principle of equality. The findings of the study indicate that there is no significant difference in children’s logical thinking skills depending on their age. As a result of the study, it is found that although there is no direct relationship between the moral and logical reasoning processes of children, the children who can reject the AC type inference predominantly emphasize the principle of equality. Although there is no significant relationship between moral reasoning and logical reasoning processes, it can be said that children with higher levels of logical reasoning much more frequently emphasize the principle of equality in moral reasoning process.

Discussion: Research indicates that children aged around 5 consider the reward distribution based on the outcomes fair. Older children, on the other hand, evaluate the inequalities in resource distribution as unfair. These findings support the results of the study suggesting that older children consider inequal source distribution both at the first case and at the transfer cases unfair. The children’s approval or disapproval of the transfer varies based on their reasoning processes. They support transfer if they emphasize the principle of equality, but they do not support it if their focus is on the principle of ownership. Older children are found to have a commitment to the principle of equality, and the difference between the 5-year age group and the 6-7-year age group is remarkable in this regard. Similar findings are reported in the previous studies, and it is generally stated that younger children are more selfish and that the tendency to distribute resources equally becomes dominant due to the increase in the age of children. Although there is no significant relationship between moral reasoning and logical reasoning processes, it can be said that children with higher levels of logical reasoning emphasize the principle of equality in moral reasoning process much more frequently.

Conclusion: Cognitivists argue that cognition and particularly reasoning have significant roles in making moral decisions. It suggests that children whose logical thinking skills are higher than others understand the necessity of equality to ensure fairness. The basic information on logic should be taught and introduced to the children from an early age. In addition, children should be ensured to use these methods through connections with both daily life and other courses at schools. It is thought that having basic logic knowledge by children will affect positively their cognitive, affective and social development. In order to examine this effect, a logic program including simple logic rules and basic inference types should be developed and the effects of such programs on the cognitive, affective and social development of children should be examined.

Introduction: Leadership is part of the educational process, nevertheless, it has not been fully surveyed. Successful teaching and good results usually depend on an educator, as well as on the way s/he organizes the educational process. There are a lot of various educators who organize the educational process in a different way. As a result of that, three prevailing leadership styles appear - coaching, instructional and educational. In the scientific literature, it is possible to find a huge amount of information about these three styles, however, little research has been carried on the comparison of differences and similarities between them. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to derive and compare parameters (criteria) in leadership, distinguishing and summarizing their differences and similarities in tables.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to compare the particular leadership styles according to formulated original parameters (criteria).

Methods: In the paper, the method of a comparative literature review is applied.

Conclusion: Comparing leadership styles, coaching leadership is focused on helping the learner and the improvement of the educational process; instructional leadership aims for effective and academic teaching when the educator is the leader; while educational leadership is focused on distributing education when the teacher, student and school environment are involved in the educational process.

Introduction: From the aspect of the success of an organization and its competitiveness in the market, human capital has a crucial role to play. Therefore, universities should offer their students study programs corresponding with the needs of the labour market and to adjust their graduate profiles to the current requirements.

Purpose: The authors of the paper present a project carried out by DTI University in Dubnica nad Váhom, Slovakia. The aim of the project is to design a functioning model which could help update the management graduate profile in the context of Industry 4.0. The focus is on the theoretical background of the project and the research tools applied especially at its first stage.

Methods: At the first stage of the project, a research on the key factors will be carried out. At the second stage, based on the obtained results, key aspects of the management graduate profile will be formulated and subsequently, a model having the potential to synchronize expectations, opportunities and finances will be designed and verified.

Conclusion: Based on the results, changes in the management study programme with the ambition to be implemented in the marketing strategies of both private and public universities will be suggested.

Introduction: In this article, we want to point out what kind of pedagogical and didactic change is being recorded in Slovakia’s education system and we will point out where it could go and develop to achieve positive results. This article is one of the upcoming outputs in the form of paper and study on the provision of structured, analytical and critical thinking (SAC). In the article, it is shown how the situation has changed and how we perceive the attitude of students during the educational process. Next, it is described current problems and inadequacies in the educational process and define how to use a change of thinking to increase motivation and improve access to knowledge.

Purpose: In general, there is a consensus that it is important for teachers to be able to guide their students to problem-solving skills (Aktaş & Ünlü, 2013). It is pointed out that, with the right educational tools, such skills can be stimulated, developed and improved (Jordaan & Jordaan, 2005). This article is designed for all levels of education, but we are mostly concerned with educating future educators.

Methods: In this paper, there are described methods that can help to improve the quality of thinking of students and thus increase the level of thinking of the whole society. This article take inspiration from important historical personalities as well as relevant current personalities in their professions. Critical, analytical and creative thinking, also based on logical and structured thinking, is our main method of our educational process.

Conclusion: In conclusion, it is pointed out the need to develop SAC as a whole. It is important for the general publica to have better skills in SAC, for example, from the point of view of cognitive mistakes in experts, in the field of political literacy, recognition of misinformation and a better general awareness of rational thinking. As can be seen, SAC is not only about education, but it also closely affects society as a whole. It can thus influence the operation of the company, prevent the development of the first-class solutions offered and raise the whole company to a higher level.

Introduction: Although there is ambiguity about the elements of teacher knowledge, all researchers accept that being able to anticipate what errors can be made, the reasons for and the strategies to overcome these errors, in short, the knowledge of students is important for student achievement. In this study, knowledge of students refers to being aware of students’ possible errors and underlying reasons for these errors and knowing how to overcome these errors. Based on this consideration, the purpose of this study is to investigate pre-service elementary teachers’ knowledge of students on the subtraction topic.

Methods: Considering the purpose, the data were collected from 118 pre-service elementary teachers who were enrolled in a four-year Elementary Teacher Education program via a task-based questionnaire related to the topic of subtraction and semi-structured interviews following the questionnaire. The task-based questionnaire included three completed incorrect subtraction tasks and was prepared considering the related literature and the elementary school mathematics curriculum of Turkey. Each task in the questionnaire contained a different type of error. The pre-service elementary teachers’ answers to the task-based questionnaire were categorized as correct, partially correct, wrong, or no answer by means of categorical analysis. The pre-service elementary teachers who gave correct and partially correct answers to the tasks were asked to participate in the second part of the study to learn their possible strategies to overcome the errors made in the tasks.

Results: As a result of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the pre-service elementary teachers’ responses, it was found that their knowledge of students for subtraction is limited. Specifically, although the pre-service elementary teachers were partially able to identify the errors in the first and second task, they were not able to identify the error in the third task. Furthermore, they were better able to determine a more commonly occurring subtraction error compared to the uncommon ones. The pre-service elementary teachers could not identify the underlying reasons that led the students to the errors. They could not explain what conceptual knowledge related to the topic of subtraction the student lacked that resulted in the errors. As the pre-service teachers did not attain these reasons, they were not able to provide strategies to overcome these errors different than restating the rules or procedures to overcome students’ errors.

Discussion: Only being able to identify the errors is not enough to make the instruction effective. Teachers also need to know and provide a rationale for why the errors happen and how to overcome them (Even & Tirosh, 1995). Contrary to this statement, the pre-service elementary teachers in this study could not attempt to understand the students’ thinking or could not explain the reasons behind students’ errors with the notion of subtraction. Son (2013) emphasizes that pre-service teachers tend to explain the reasons for students’ errors as procedural. Similar to this emphasis, the pre-service teachers identified the errors as resulting from not applying procedures carefully or not enough knowing algorithms to find correct solutions. However, without addressing the reasons or focusing on procedures does not promote students’ understanding of the related topic (An, Kulm, & Wu, 2004). The pre-service teachers’ difficulties in identifying the possible conceptual reasons may result from deficits in knowledge of students (Fennema & Franke, 1992; Ball et al., 2008).

Limitations: The findings were limited with the responses of the pre-service elementary teachers participating in this study. Moreover, the pre-service elementary teachers’ knowledge of students was investigated within the scope of subtraction.

Conclusions: Although the pre-service elementary teachers could identify students’ errors on subtraction, they had difficulty in identifying the reasons and suggesting strategies to overcome the errors. Therefore, it can be concluded that the pre-service teachers’ knowledge of students for the topic of subtraction is limited. An implication of this is that teacher educators need to include error-analysis tasks to help pre-service teachers be aware of the importance of their knowledge of students.

Introduction: The presented study discusses the issues of teacher’s authority, its building and maintaining in the context of teacher’s justice. The main question to be answered is how high school students perceive teachers as authorities in relation with their perception of teacher’s justice.

Purpose: The aim of the present article is the identification of the relationship between perceived teachers’ justice and perceived teachers’ authority among Slovak high school students.

Methods: 159 Slovak high school students (120 males and 39 females) have participated in our study. Their average age was 17.2 years. The students have attended 3 kinds of high school - technical (49.7%), services (31.4%), and general (18.9%). Two questionnaires were administrated - Teacher Justice Scale (Dalbert & Maes, 2002) and Measurement for Omnisicient Authority Beliefs (Zhou, 2007). Data were examined by Pearson correlation, t-test and ANOVA.

Results: The results have shown the significant positive relationship between perceived teachers’ justice and perceived teachers’ authority. No gender differences were identified. There are significant differences in general perceived teacher’s authority among secondary school students depending on their specialization - technical, services and grammar.

Discussion: Results of the study support previous findings of Cseri (2013) and Gavora (2007) who point out the importance of teachers’ justice in building positive learning environment that support students’motivation to learn.

Limitations: The proportion of male and female participants was not equal. Also the proportion of participants divided by school specialization was not equal.

Conclusion: Accessing students fairly is not an easy task for any teacher, since perception of oneself as righteous may differ greatly from the perception of this apparent righteousness by individual students, who naturally dispose interindividual differences. It is extremely important that teachers pay attention to this fact not only at secondary schools but at all levels of the educational system, which is one of the basic pillars of public administration.

Introduction: Globalization provided people in once isolated lands with an array of democracy types and international principles. The boosting traditional, conventional, societal, ethnical, and cultural differences in countries all over the world are pushing educational authorities to reexamine their contemporary habits, customs, principles, and practices of citizenship. Examining the assumptions and methods of cultural democracy in education settings is the foundation of critical pedagogy. Thus, a critical multicultural pedagogy is formed on critical views on democracy and diversity by illuminating the transformative nature of citizenship. Accordingly, this study inquires the conceptual grounds of class teachers in a phenomenological tradition in that it investigates the conceptions of these teachers on the concept of diversity and democracy. The data of the study were gathered through a questionnaire, besides semi-structured interview questions designed by the researcher. Based on a mix method research design, this study makes use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques to collect the required data. 160 class teachers officially working in diverse regions in Turkey voluntarily participated in the study (N=150 for the questionnaire and N=10 for the interview). Related implications to raise the awareness of class teachers on diversity and democracy were presented at the end of the study.

Methods: This study searched for the conceptual underpinnings of the class teachers in the phenomenological tradition (Marton, 1981). Just like other methods to utilize philosophical phenomenology to the social sciences (Entwistle, 1997), the interpretative process of phenomenographic research is quite similar to that of grounded theory which refers to a set of systematic inductive methods to practice qualitative research (Richardson, 1999). Based on a mix method research design, this study makes use of both qualitative and quantitative techniques to collect data.

Results: The findings demonstrate that class teachers are open to new perspectives, diverse religions and different genders. Thus, it can be said that a critical perspective was adopted by class teachers. Further, class teachers should be included into curriculum and syllabus design which are solely carried out by policy makers. Otherwise, critical skills of class teachers might be destroyed in the process of education. Thus, primary school curriculums and textbooks need to focus on the importance of democracy and diversity. Policy makers, Ministry of National Education, Turkey and Higher Council of Education need to include critical theory and critical pedagogy into curriculum. Future studies should focus on the views of both novice and professional class teachers. In addition, views regarding democracy and diversity from different cultures need to be examined in future research. Direct democracy, representative democracy, gender diversity, cultural diversity and pluralistic perspectives need to be adopted by related textbook publishers, classroom teaching departments, administrators and policy makers.

Discussion: The findings of the study show that the participants developed a positive perspective towards democracy and diversity, although some issues in the context of Turkey are hardly mentioned or criticized (Dodd, 1992). The most important problem in examining democracy and diversity was religion because the participants stated that they respect religion, in their case Islam, because they somewhat would not want to hear church bell in a land of Islam (Bader, 2007). Diversity has been conceptualized as a positive element in the study. Since democracy and diversity are interrelated and interwoven, the participants generally adopted these terms (Banks et al., 2005).

Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that the respondents had positive conceptions on individual and cultural diversities. Further, they developed good attitudes towards cultural democracy and they believe in the power of integration through individual differences. Critical pedagogy is an educational theory which aims to form a progressive and democratic culture by means of critical inquiry, which consequently results in valuing and respecting personal and cultural differences. Critical pedagogy perceives teaching as a naturally political event, refuses the neutrality of knowledge, and asserts that matters of social justice and democracy are not recognizable from only educational activities.

Introduction: The historical conditions that have developed over the centuries, as well as the migration processes of the 19th and 20th centuries, have determined the multi-ethnic composition of the country’s population. Georgia, as a post-Soviet country, has been transitioning from totalitarianism to democracy for the last few years. The country is in the process of developing into an open, civil society; the modern concept of human-free development, the new principles and values of a civil society and the priorities of public consent placed the problem of ensuring the creation of tolerance in the foreground. Therefore, it is important to define the place and role of national minorities in modern social life.

The aim of the article is to determine the problems of non-Georgian general education schools in the educational space of Georgia and develop the necessary recommendations for the solution of these problems.

The object of the study is non-Georgian-language public schools in the territory of Georgia, where the teaching and learning processes of the representatives of national minorities is underway.

Purpose: The study will discuss the current situation in non-Georgian language general education schools. We will present the recommendations that we think will have a positive impact on the development of non-Georgian language educational institutions in the current education reform.

Methods: The article examines the situation in the state regarding the issue of general education of national minorities, international experiences, problems and the means of solving them. Through surveys, in-depth interviews, focus group, data collection, organisation, analysis and synthesis, attention was paid to three problematic issues. These were as follows: 1. low motivation of the students in non-Georgian language schools; 2. low level of knowledge of the state language among the students; 3. textbook availability in non-Georgian language schools of Georgia.

Conclusion: A content analysis was used to draw common conclusions. From the in-depth study of the materials, specific recommendations have been made regarding the effectiveness. The policies that were implemented in relation to the national goals of general education in national minorities are less result-oriented and need to be improved.

Introduction: Education is an important tool for improving many aspects of life, including socio-economic status or well-being. The paper is aimed at monitoring the financial literacy of pupils in Eastern Slovakia.

Methods: The contribution will contain the results of the survey. We analyse in detail the theoretical definition of financial literacy, strategy and measures of the state administration bodies in the field of improving financial literacy of more than 2000 pupils.

Results: The result of the research paper is an analysis of the achieved data and their characteristics.

Discussion: This part of the research paper deals with the areas of financial literacy of pupils in Slovakia. Education is an important tool for improving many aspects of life, including socio-economic status or well-being.

Limitations: Participants of the electronic questionnaire participated in the answers according to the activities and projects prepared by a particular elementary school.

Conclusion: Higher life expectancy, pension reforms, the availability of a more comprehensive range of financial products and services mean that the ability to make well-informed financial decisions is increasingly considered an important life skill. If a school fails at certain points during a child’s study, it is assumed that this will have a negative long-term impact on the child’s life in the future, as ending a school without sufficient qualifications can lead to difficulties in ensuring equal participation in the financial, civil and social aspects of modern society. Education is an important tool for improving many aspects of life, including socio-economic status or well-being.