Volume 10 (2020): Edizione 2 (August 2020)

Introduction:Students could react to the learning activities, teachers, or administrators knowingly and willfully, many times intentionally by resisting in various ways. A detailed analysis of this definition indicates that unlike naughty behaviors, resistance behaviors do not develop suddenly, they are often planned beforehand by the student, and they contain some messages to the person or institution they are directed at. These kinds of behaviors could have negative effects not only on students’ academic, social, and psychological development but also on teachers’ professional satisfaction. Therefore, these issues should be elaborated carefully. However, despite the importance indicated in the literature, students’ resistance behaviors are one of the neglected issues that are not investigated adequately. With reference to this need, the presented study aims to identify perceptions of primary school teachers about students’ resistance behaviors.

Methods:The participants were 152 primary school teachers. Data were collected through the Student Resistance Behaviors Scale for Teachers (SRBS-T) and Teacher Interview Form. In addition to descriptive statistics, data were analyzed using t-test and one-way ANOVA. Also, a qualitative descriptive analysis was conducted regarding qualitative data of the study.

Results:Results show that the mean scores for SRBS were “medium” on a 5-point Likert scale. While teachers’ perceptions about resistance behaviors showed no significant differences according to gender and the type of school they graduated from, scores showed significant differences in terms of teachers’ years of seniority. According to the teachers, the most encountered resistant behaviors were gathered under the themes of resistance to teacher authority and hostile attitudes towards the teacher/peers.

Discussion:Through discussion, the results obtained by the scale and interviews were discussed. All the findings showed that teachers are important receivers of resistance behaviors and they are facing with different types of resistance in the classroom.

Limitations:It is obvious that these results were limited to the reached primary school teachers. Another limitation was that the data within the study collected via SRBS-T and interviews.

Conclusions:The study showed that teachers and students are the key components of the educational process and students could show resistance to both the process and teachers in different ways. As this study only focused on primary teachers’ experiences, more studies could be organized through understanding the resistance middle and high school teachers face with as well. Further research could be conducted with students to see how they feel and behave when they feel resistance as well as with other teachers working at various levels of education and in various institutions.

Introduction:In the context of national and global events of the last few years (wave of refugees in 2015, terrorist attacks, climate change, strengthening of far-right and radical parties, fake news and manipulation, etc.), the ability of making an independent opinion, making resolutions based on facts and knowledge, being able to see through the flooding information dumping, and creating the routine of selection are becoming extremely important issues. How do we think about ourselves and others, about “the Other” and “the Stranger”? More importantly, how do young people think about these social and public issues, how do they see themselves, the country and the world where they live, the present and the future that they will be shaping?

Purpose:The primary goal of the study is to examine the global competences of Hungarian youngsters aged 15-29.

Methods:For mapping global competences the data of Hungarian Youth Empirical Research (2016) are used.

Results:The vast majority of Hungarian youngsters aged 15-29 are not interested in social, public life-related or political issues. As for the examination of the questions concerning attitudes, the choice of medium options on the scales was typical, which reflect either indifference, disinterest, insecurity or the lack of knowledge that would be necessary for expressing an opinion. Youngsters are the children of the “Technological Age”, online world is the most important scene for entertainment, communication, social life; however, they do not deal with public-life-related issues on their favourite social network sites. They also tend to keep distance from offline public-life, party- or political youth organisations. Among youngsters, the fear of strangers and migration is highly visible, a so-called “exclusionary attitude” describes them, global thinking is typical for only few of them.

Discussion:The study confirms the previous research statements: Political passivism is typical for people aged 15-29 as their public and social life activism is extremely low. Their distrust towards the representatives of the democratic institutional system is also associated with a low-level interpersonal trust. However, as for their value preferences, the dominance of traditional values (family, love, friendship) is clearly conspicuous, and the role of nation and social order is gaining more importance. With regard to all these factors, the communication and free time spending habits of the young, we can state that their public life-related disinterest does not primarily stem from their smart phone and entertainment-centred attitude but it is mainly due to their disillusionment, their social discomfort and the erosion of their future beliefs. Among youngsters, a new nationalist tendency has also appeared, which means that they value their own group more and strongly devalue other, strange groups.

Limitations:The Hungarian Youth Research, which analyses 8000 participants aged 15-29, can be regarded representative from the aspects of gender, age, education, settlement type and region. We can compare the research findings with all parts of the youth research series that started in 2000. Questions applied in the questionnaire are based on the previous waves (Youth 2000, Youth 2004, Youth 2008, Hungarian Youth 2012), so the database provides the possibility of outlining the trends.

Conclusions:Concerning the attitudes and values of youngsters aged 15-29, close-mindedness, moderate tolerance, low personal and institutional trust, keeping distance from public life, and a high degree of disinterest are typical. The young, as well as the whole society, typically claim for national isolation, and they are not really willing to collaborate with “the stranger”, “the other”.

Introduction:The research aims to investigate the relationship between pedagogical beliefs, epistemological beliefs of teacher candidates as well as their beliefs toward learning.

Methods:The study is a quantitative study based on a correlational survey model. Analysis of the data was done through artificial neural networks. The sample consists of fourth-grade students (teacher candidates) in social studies education in Süleyman Demirel University.

Results:In this study, it is found that beliefs toward learning are effective regarding pedagogical beliefs, epistemological beliefs.

Discussion:Hence, our finding is important in terms of implying that beliefs toward learning are more fundamental than the epistemological beliefs and pedagogical beliefs so that beliefs toward learning should be remedied to educate more qualified teachers.

Limitations:There were several limitations to this study. First, the very nature of identifying beliefs is difficult. The second limitation is that this research relied on only teachers’ self-reported data. The third limitation is the population. Our population is small for making more general deductions regarding teacher candidates’ core beliefs such as taking teacher candidates from different geographical areas of Turkey even from different cultures.

Conclusion:In this study, it is found that beliefs toward learning are effective regarding pedagogical beliefs, epistemological beliefs and pedagogical beliefs are effective about epistemological beliefs to the same extend. Hence, our finding is important in terms of implying that beliefs toward learning are more fundamental than the epistemological beliefs and pedagogical beliefs so that beliefs toward learning should be remedied to educate more qualified teachers.

Introduction:This paper presents the results of a survey on excellent teachers conducted in Hungary in 2018. The main question of the study was how pedagogical talents can be characterised by competences and personality traits according to effective teachers and their colleagues. Furthermore, what effective teachers think about their own competences and characteristics, as well as how that is related to their beliefs of pedagogical talents was tested.

Methods:The online questionnaire method was applied in the research. The sample involved effective teachers (N=92) of high-risk students (N=25) and of gifted students (N=43), as well as supervisor teachers (N=24) who were selected by judgment sampling. The control group of teachers (N=76) had similar characteristics to the sample as they were matched by the type of institution and geographical location. The data was processed using SPSS software.

Results:The excellent teachers’ beliefs about pedagogical talents showed differences in many ways. Excellent teachers of high-risk students had the most child-centred view. Not only did they pay attention to students’ needs while planning and organizing lessons, but they also found the students’ feedback important, much more than other subsamples. They also said in high proportion they can handle the challenges related to the societal level of their work. Among all the sub-samples, they indicated most frequently that excellent teachers should be happy, initiative and practical. Supervisor teachers unanimously indicated that good teachers should be highly cooperative and also that excellent teachers should be friendly and flexible. It turned out from the research that excellent teachers of gifted children used significantly fewer teaching methods than the other group. Among all sub-samples, they were the ones who found the competences of “developing student groups and communities” the least important. The data showed that the teachers in this sub-group felt less able to adapt to the changes related to the societal level of their work. The words “theoretical”, “isolated”, “serious”, „distant” appeared in a significantly higher proportion among these teachers when speaking about pedagogic talents in general. These words were frequently used when spoking about their own characteristics.

Discussion:The results of the excellent teachers of high-risk students and supervisor teachers showed similarity in many regards. Both groups seemed to be methodologically well-prepared, and able to give varied enjoyable lessons, as well as to develop student communities; and to carry out continuous reflective practice. Excellent teachers of gifted students focused on academic knowledge much more than other sub-groups. They also planned and managed their lessons differently. The background of this phenomena could be that their students’ knowledge and motivation is more homogenous.

Limitations:Although the size of the sample was not representative, the study confirmed and complemented former relevant research.

Conclusion:The results showed that pedagogical talents can have multiple manifestations., which can be caused by the wide range of pedagogical work and the related roles. On the other hand, there are different teachers’ characteristics and competences. The study also showed that teachers’ views about excellent teachers are closely connected to the particularities of the taught student group. The researchers hope that these results can be an inspiration for further studies in this field.

Introduction:In the proposed paper, the key findings of the national project “School Open for Everyone” are presented. The research focused on the conditions and preparedness of schools for inclusive education. As a part of the project, an investigation into first-grade teachers’ attitudes towards and opinions on the education of pupils with special educational needs in primary schools was carried out.

Methods:In the research, the qualitative phenomenological method based on the grounding theory was applied. The sample consisted of 218 female teachers with a minimum of 20% of disadvantaged students in their classroom.

Results:The main findings show that the teachers’ opinions and attitudes towards inclusive education are positive and they appreciate their cooperation with specialists in schools. The research revealed some barriers to the realization of inclusive education - e.g. the disadvantaged children’s poor school attendance or their general unpreparedness for school.

Discussion:In their suggestions, the respondents did not come up with any new, revolutionary or creative ideas. Therefore, searching for solutions should not be limited to teachers’ suggestions, but inspiration should be found in examples of good practice from abroad and in the activities of creative teachers and movements.

Limitations:Having “only” a homogenous sample of first-grade teachers can be perceived as a limit, but it is balanced by the fact that these teachers represent the children’s first contact with schools and with people outside their families.

Conclusions:The key findings show that teachers have positive attitudes towards the concept of inclusive education, but they call for more favourable conditions ensured by the state and the respondents proposals were located externally. The findings revealed a number of new or growing problems to be immediately dealt with and an urgent need for changing our school system.

Introduction:This study investigates the influence of gender and social networking sites (SNSs) such as Instagram, YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter on consuming, creating, and sharing content within the educational social media usage behaviors of higher education students. The survey method is applied to measure students’ social media usage for educational purposes. So that a more effective use of social media in education can be provided, it is important to understand how university students vary in their educational use of social media. The aim of this study is to examine how higher education students use social media for their educational purposes based on the content and activities with which the students engage. The aim of the research is to determine the correlations, if any, between gender, preferred SNS type, and educational social media in regard to consuming, creating and sharing content.

Methods:The derived scale is administered in Turkey with the participation of a total of 365 university students. Psychometric, validation and reliability analysis of the scale which is used in the study to collect the data were done first. Principal component analysis, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive, correlations and multivariate analysis of variance are applied to analyze the social media usage for educational purposes. Gender and the SNS type were set as the additional predictors of the consuming, creating and sharing content on social media.

Results:The validation and linguistic adaptation of the Inside School Social Media Behavior (ISSMB) scale from English to Turkish is performed first. Results showed that the three factors of the original scale were confirmed. Secondly, the derived scale is administered with the participation of a total of 365 university students. Results indicated that gender difference was a significant factor in explaining the content creation on social media. Instagram, WhatsApp, and YouTube are the most preferred SNSs for educational use among students at the higher education level. No significant effect was reported for the type of the SNS used in consuming, creating, and sharing educational content on social media. The type of the SNS used by the students was not found to influence educational social media usage; accordingly, students consume, create and share content, regardless of the type of the SNS they use.

Discussion:Higher education level students prefer watching videos more than any other social media activity for their educational purposes. The second most frequently preferred social media usage activity was reported as searching for the learning resources or information pertaining to schoolwork. Creating content was the least favorable social media usage. When the social media usage purposes focus on schoolwork and are furthermore educational, males’ social media usage outperforms the females. Thus, males were more likely to create content by using social media for inside schoolwork purposes than the females. Males were also more likely to have sharing habits than the females in sharing learning resources e.g., class notes with their classmates by using social media for their inside schoolwork purposes.

Limitations:The total number of participants used in the research sample is a limitation of this study. The study data were only collected in Turkey, and so the study results are only regionally generalizable.

Conclusion:Higher education students are consumers of the social media when they use it for educational purposes. Accordingly, students prefer being “passive consumer social media users who avoid active content creating”. Students prefer watching the uploaded ready-to-watch videos who avoid instead of creating and uploading their own video content. When sharing items are compared with creating content items, students responded more to the latter. Students do share their information with classmates e.g. exam schedules and lecture notes. Compared to other sharing content usages, students less frequently preferred sharing extracurricular learning resources. The gender difference found herein is a predictor of social networking site usage among young people, and social networking usage changes according to gender. Males are reported as being more “giving” within a school setting when it comes to sharing the educational content with their colleagues and friends. Social media is a reality of our modern lives, one that is growing exponentially; it is highly crucial that researchers facilitate a better understanding of the ongoing changes and developments that are emerging and transforming learning.

Both outside and inside school, the social media usage behaviors of young people can be examined according to different age groups do determine any age-related differences. The subject can be improved with new findings and results from different sample groups.

Introduction:The goal of this paper is to show how the undergraduate students are able to differentiate among learning-centered, learner-centered, feedback-centered and community-centered knowledge acquisitions. We wanted them to recognize which method is used by the teacher and how each method influences the primary school pupils’ knowledge acquisition.

Methods:We chose the video analyzing technique to make the students recognize different learning organizational methods.

Results:The results of the study suggest that the observation helped the undergraduate students understand the aims, tasks and techniques of teaching and organizing classroom work. They realized that this type of analysis helps them develop their own teaching strategies.

Discussion:Drawing on the results it is not possible to be a “good teacher” without obtaining and continuously maintaining a high level of professional knowledge, whose important element might be the Complex Instruction method and the recognition of the knowledge acquisition methods in the classroom.

Limitations:This study was limited to only undergraduate students who attended the study voluntarily. The sampling was confined to 46 participants.

Conclusion:The students are able to spot the teacher’s activities that support pupils’ learning. They recognized the positive impact of generating debate among the pupils on the development of their skills.

Introduction:Health care is one of the most important fields not only in individual countries, but globally as well, yet it remains one of the most sensitive topics, too. Global organisations have calculated that one out of seven residents around the world has some sort of disability. It is very likely that due to various processes, the number of people with disabilities will increase. Therefore, the world in general and each country in particular, Lithuania included, faces a great challenge: to ensure suitable and high-quality accessibility to health care services for the disabled. Each country must have clear political guidelines and strategies how to ensure training of health care specialists qualified and able to carry out their tasks when working with the disabled. Therefore, this article analyses global trends of training specialists to work with the disabled and legal basis of such specialist training in Lithuania.

Methods:This article features analysis of scientific literary sources and legal documents.

Results:International and national Lithuanian documents have clearly established that people with disabilities have equal rights to health care services like the rest of the population without any reservations, so this norm must be established adhering to the principles of accessibility, suitability and universality, and which basically should be ensured by health care specialists. However, document analysis has revealed that documents governing the training of health care specialists in Lithuania and processes related to it pay little attention to the training of future health care specialists to work with the disabled, while descriptions of some specific areas of studies, e.g. dentistry, pharmacy, etc. designed to train health care specialists do no address the work with the disabled at all.

Discussion and conclusions:Analysis has revealed that institutions of higher education in Lithuania that train health care specialists are not legally entitled to, other requirements aside, to focus the study process on the work with the disabled. Therefore, it begs the question whether such specialists are actually ready to implement the requirements guiding the provision of health care services and ensure top-quality and proper provision of services to all members of the society, irrespective of their special needs, disabilities, etc. Therefore, this article can serve as a basis for further research related to the training of health care specialists to work with the disabled in order to identify what practice is applied in this area in other countries, as well as to ensure it internationally, what are the options and means required to implement it and how to improve the training of health care specialists as much as possible to work with the disabled ensuring the quality of health care in particular and their life in general.

Introduction:Disasters and emergencies adversely influence around 70 million children worldwide. Regrettably, those who suffer the most from the consequences of any natural disaster and do not have any knowledge on how to protect themselves in such situations are children. Particularly, educating and raising the awareness of children in this respect should be one of the common and fundamental problems of the world. It is recognized that disaster education and disaster awareness, which will be presented to children in the preschool education period when they get formal education for the first time, is essential. The general purpose of this research is to define the ideas of teachers who intend to bring disaster education and disaster awareness to children during the preschool education period.

Methods:This research was designed with the typical case study method grounded on qualitative analysis. The study group of the research was 35 preschool teachers who were selected among the population through the typical case sampling method and volunteered to participate in the research. The research data were obtained through face-to-face interviews with preschool teachers who joined the study group. In examining the obtained data, content analysis and descriptive analysis approaches were applied together, and the data were summarized and interpreted.

Results:The tables created under five headings were formed by taking into consideration each interview question based on the research findings. In the contemporary preschool education programs executed in Turkey, it is possible to say that the teachers determine the need resulting from the absence of any achievement for acquiring the education and consciousness of disaster to children. Besides, some of the teachers who took part in the research affirmed that disaster education to be provided to children during preschool education is not proper to their development levels and ages.

Discussion:During the preschool education period, teachers asserted that disaster education and disaster awareness could be achieved by using drama methods, exercises, and educational games. Based on their opinions supported by experts and family involvement in providing disaster education and raising the disaster awareness of children, trips can be designed to non-governmental institutions and organizations related to this subject. It could be said that teachers have the idea that the solutions linked with the subject should be managed and supported at the whole societal level.

Limitations:The sample consisted of thirty-five preschool teachers working in central districts of Erzurum in the 2018-2019 academic year and the “Teacher Interview Form”, which was applied in the preschool education period to give disaster education and disaster awareness to children.

Conclusions:It is plausible to say that, in the preschool education period, teachers prioritize the idea that common achievements on the subject can be involved in preschool education programs in order to provide disaster education and raise the disaster awareness of children on an international level. They declared that if such gains are involved in preschool education programs, they will also need education in this respect.

Introduction:The purpose of this article is to examine the use of socio-cultural based learning modules for developing critical thinking skills in elementary school children.

Methods:This article is a systematic review that collects data from relevant indexed journals.

Results:The findings are discussed in theoretical studies so as to produce conclusions. Well-structured socio-cultural modules can provide many benefits for students, namely for students who are actively involved in learning activities, and they can also attract students’ to be involved in learning activities.

Conclusions:The application of socio-cultural learning helps students in learn about their own culture, which can develop students’ character. These findings provide input for future research needed to develop socio-cultural based learning modules for the critical thinking needs of elementary school children.