Volume 7 (2007): Issue 2007 (June 2007)

The aim of this article is to provide a theoretical ground about teacher self-construction that is in harmony with his/her capabilities, natural environment, and society. The article initially considers the Blondelian philosophy of action as a specific philosophical view that forms an approach for teacher education: the primary concepts of action and synergy help consider the ontological dynamism of human life and its unavoidable conditions. In particular, the work on teacher prejudgements, considered as a system of conditions, is central in teacher education, as it represents a central and unavoidable condition. This reference to "conditions" is then articulated, in the specific case of teacher education, as the need to study the phenomenon of prejudgements, which can be considered the first step towards a greater awareness of educational and cultural skills. The third step of the article consists in "translating" these main issues of the philosophy of action into the idea of a performative process in the education of the teacher. According to philosophy of action, the article shows the performative character of teacher education processes, which is based on the pursuit of goals by activating all personal capacities.

This article discusses theoretical and practical aspects of transformative learning that can become a way for adults to critically evaluate and essentially comprehend themselves and their input in education, whose goal is to create action towards a sustainable society. The review of contemporary literature focuses on sustainability as a holistic concept linked to the idea of vision as significant in engendering alternative transformative power. The framework of a sustainable development has a potential to stimulate teachers' engagement with educational and societal processes with respect to the future development of a society within an ethical framework around values of democracy and active societal engagement. The aim of the research presented here is to explore the effect of critical transformative learning process for revitalizing adults' societal action brought about by engagement with in-service course for adults, aiming to gradually assist adults helping them to become creative producers of self and agents of transformations in education.

As a result of presentations in the PCC Conference in Sydney in 2005, this research aims to contribute Australian voices to the project being conducted simultaneously in other countries from the Pacific Circle Consortium. The research used project-devised survey and interview instruments with purposive sampled pairs of teachers and pre-service teachers during professional experience in 2005 and with teacher educators from the University of Western Sydney. The findings indicated that the participants have a common view of the purpose of education. However, there were range of issues that this view prompted participants to discuss. There were also perceived constraints, especially expressed by the experienced teachers. Implications of this finding are that teachers need forums in which to discuss their deep-seated philosophical approaches as they build a sustainable community of practice. The findings of this project can powerfully contribute to policy making at national and international government and university levels as they raise implications of how we meet challenges in future teacher education.

The article deals with the ecological didactic model of students' as prospective teachers' pedagogical practice. The model has been developed to facilitate university students' systemic ecological thinking, professional development, including the development of various competences, and their successful integration within the multilevel, multicomponent, and multifunctional environment of a comprehensive school. The model describes a comprehensive school as multilevel and multifunctional environment, where the students (trainees) and the teachers (supervisors of training) are integral parts of such environment. The functioning of a triad - a university lecturer - supervisor of pedagogical practice, a student, and a supervisor of pedagogical practice at school - as an interactional system is significant for the model. The principles of organization, implementation, and evaluation of the pedagogical practice and the didactic requirements for the students have been developed within the given model. At present this model is under the theoretical and practical approbation.

The background to the study examines parental involvement in education as a form of social capital and focuses on how involvement may be developed through three dimensions of social capital: bonding, bridging, and linking. Both groups (students and parents) were surveyed using questionnaires. The data of two different studies have been used: a cross-sectional study carried out in sixty-five schools in Estonia and a study of a comprehensive school to introduce practical implementations of the findings. The results of the studies indicate a high degree of readiness for cooperation from both sides - parents and the school, even though their understanding of responsibilities slightly differ. Parents and teachers should have mutual power and influence regarding the child's education, although schools have to take the prime responsibility in organizing the cooperation process.

The central question in this article is how teachers socialize pupils. Our hypothesis is that socialization takes place when an individual identifies something as a problem or as undesirable. In the process of socialization, teachers sometimes make mistakes. Attempting to hide these mistakes, however, may result in new or even greater mistakes. D. Kahneman implies that people do not like loss or failure. People attempt to justify earlier incorrect decisions by often undergoing senseless stress and exertion. People agree to exert themselves to guarantee what in their opinion is a fair and equitable solution to a particular situation. Subjective probabilities play an important role in our lives. This paper presents the results of an ethnographical study of education. Our findings suggest that mistakes and negativity contribute to strengthening norms be cause "bad is more representative than good". In addition to negativity, teachers try to teach norms through collegial responsibility and conscience, and regulation is important at every step. This study concludes that both success and failure are constantly renewed in a cycle. That is why people tend to use earlier behaviour models, including self-evaluation and beliefs, which are continually actualized. The importance of a supportive, positive, and optimistic learning environment cannot be underestimated. The concept of psychologically sustainable education requires greater in-depth study.

At the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, the period between 2005 and 2015 was declared to be the decade of sustainability. Therefore, it is important to see the implementation of sustainability pedagogy come to the fore in every country. Putting this into practice may lead to hardships for headmasters and teachers in schools. This process requires changes in behavior and approaches, besides, the development of certain students' skills have to be considered that the institutions have not perceived as their duty so far. To implement the idea of sustainability in education, in every country from elementary to higher education, properly trained and prepared teachers are needed. Post-graduate teacher training, international interchange of experience have to be stressed. Furthermore, to understand the content of sustainability and put it into everyday practice in schools, the activities have to be fact-based, with clear directions and have easily available teacher aids. The article demonstrates method how to implement projects related to healthy nutrition.