How students perceive teachers’ nonverbal and verbal communication at agricultural universities in Austria,Slovenia and Albania

Purpose: This study attempts to close the research gap created by the fact that existing studies neglect the problem of how effectively agricultural professors from different European countries communicate. The aim is to identify similarities and differences in the numbers of agricultural professors perceived by students as engaging in verbal and nonverbal immediacy communication.

Methodology: An online survey was conducted among students of agricultural universities from Austria, Slovenia and Albania.

Findings: The results show that professors of agriculture from Austria, Slovenia and Albania should generally not be satisfied with their own communication patterns and should thus try to improve their communication. The result also reveals cultural differences in the shares of agriculture professors employing different communication patterns in Austria, Slovenia and Albania. Compared to Austrian and Slovenian students, their Albanian peers perceive that most of their professors use nonverbal immediacy communication. According to Austrian students, the majority of their professors use verbal immediacy. On the contrary, Albanian students assessed that some of their professors employ verbal immediacy.

Practical Implications: The results show the professors of agriculture should improve the way they communicate to students. In particular, the Albanian professors should improve their verbal communication especially in terms of providing timely and quality feedback to students.

Theoretical implications: The study reveals differences in immediacy communication among countries (Austria, Slovenia and Albania) which the scientific literature considers to have a high-context culture.

Originality/Value: Given that no study has yet examined how students perceive professors’ communication in different European countries, this research helps understand the characteristics of agricultural professors’ communication.     

Developing a Microteaching Studio for Student Teachers of Home Economics

St Angela's College of Education for Home Economics is an associate College of the National University of Ireland, with a small annual intake (28 students) for a four‐year B.Ed. degree.

A consequence of the College's association with NUI was the introduction of microteaching as part of the Education component of the degree. In order to meet fully the requirements of such a programme, the College undertook the development of a microteaching studio, specifically focused upon the teaching of Home Economics.

In this brief article, the authors explain the thinking and planning that went into the installation of the studio.     

The Professional Development of Adult Educators: Some Structural and Methodological Considerations

The case is stated for a scheme of professional training for adult educators, which should at once be

_____ comprehensive and unified;

_____ able to take into account the particular possibilities of individual adult educators; and

_____ easily adjustable to the particular needs within the community.

Such a scheme can only be realized through the application of a modular structure. A scheme like this is being developed at Gwent College of Higher Education for a professional training programme which will give a Certificate in Continuing Education, conferring full teacher status in adult and further education. This development is used to illustrate the points the author wants to make. The development of a programme on such a scheme raises considerable structural and methodological problems, which are discussed and compared with what is done elsewhere.     

Between Tradition and Progress: Oldenburg University's Model Plan for Comprehensive Teacher Training

Since early 1974, a pilot project for integrated teacher training has been in progress at Oldenburg University. This is currently the only extensive teacher training reform which exist in the German Federal Republic.

All plans for this integrated training program are designed to provide training normally encompassed by the traditional two‐stage programm.

The integrated training program includes:

- studies in the areas of education and social science;

- studies in two major subjects which are later to be taught at school;

- practical studies and activities.

The new model leads to the following degrees:

- nine semesters of study for a Certificate of Qualification for primary and lower‐level secondary school;

- eleven semesters for a Certificate of Qualification for higher‐level secon dary school and the education of exceptional children.

Theoretic training in major subject areas and related didactic training as well as education and social studies take place chiefly in the form of projects. A basic assumption is that interdisciplinary projects which are practice‐ and problemoriented permit a highly desirable integration of theory and practice on the whole.

In the project, contact teachers are an essential link between field practice at school and academic training at the university. Contact teachers are under contact to the university for an extended period of time (generally three years). In place of remunation, their teaching loads are reduced by ten hours per week.

In 1978/79 the project will be put to the test as the first generation of students prepares for State Board Examinations.     

The Subjectivity of the Teacher and the Subjectivity of the Children: Negative or positive co‐operation

Subjectivity is one of the elemental human needs. It is also significant since it plays a part in educational situations. A particularly important premise of subjectivity is responsibility for one's actions and, associated with this, determination of a direction for one's own activity, the exercise of control and the making of choices.

Human activity takes place principally in a social context. For this reason it is important to pay attention to two‐subject relationships. Their features are above all purposefulness, bi‐directionality and co‐ordination. Two‐subject activity may be of two sorts—negative co‐operation (conflict) or positive co‐operation, co‐ordination of a line of action including dialogue and collaboration.

Educational activity, particularly when directed at younger children, is characterized by different planes of functioning. The adult acts in a longer‐term perspective and formulates his aims in terms of general concepts but a small child acts in a short term perspective and formulates aims in concrete terms.

A system of priorities is put forward here, a two‐task model for the educational situation which makes subjective activity possible both for the child and for the adult. In the last part of the article an experiment is described which illustrates how such a two‐task situation works with a system of priorities and the results that were obtained.

     

Patterns of Teacher Education in Italy

An outline of the organisation of education in Italy stresses its characteristics as a centralised system supported by consultation with grass‐roots levels. Local coordination should be ensured by the so‐called ‘Organi Collegiali’ (participatory bodies).

The system is aware of the need to promote a real change in the pedagogical‐educational approach to teaching and learning, and recent reforms have implemented structural innovations and have required changes in the teachers’ roles and functions.

The new professional profile of the teacher points out the need for initial and in‐service education and training; given the insufficient provisions available, in 1979 the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with OECD, has initiated a project for introducing PRESET pilot projects in a number of Italian universities.

The MPI/OECD Project has gone through a four‐phase preparation process, including a background report, a national seminar, feasibility studies, planning of pilot projects.

The basic ideas were to improve the scientific/cultural and methodological preparation of teachers: curricula of study must ensure an appropriate balance between scientific knowledge in a subject‐matter or in a discipline area and educational studies. Teaching practice is considered as essential all through the course of study.

Starting November 1983 the University of Bologna will start a PRESET course of study for primary school teachers as a joint activity between the Faculty of Education and the Faculty of Sciences.

Other projects are on study at other universities.     

Artistic and Verbal Creative Capacity of 6‐year‐old Children and their Psychopedagogic and Social Conditioning

The subject of the study comprised individual differences of creative achievements among 6‐year‐old children in two basic and qualitatively different kinds of child's activity: verbal and artistic. The aim of the research was both the analysis of the creative capacity level differentiation and pointing out the hierarchy of factors which determine certain inter‐ and intra‐individual as well as inter‐ and intro‐group differences.

The study is based on the concepts of the creativity theory of Wallach and Kogan (1970) and the capacity theory of Renzulli (1986) and Monks (1981) developed within the framework of humanistic and cognitive psychology.

The researcher analysed 6,000 drawings and the same number of oral statements produced by 643 children attending two types of pre‐schools and living in three different habitats. The research also covered teachers working with the 6‐year‐old children.

The following were used in the study: the test ‘Draw‐a‐Man’ of Goodenough; Guilford's tests of divergent thinking; Uszynska's Questionnaire of self‐estimation; The Schaefer's and Aaronson's Classroom Behaviour Inventory Pre‐school to Primary Scale; Popek's Questionnaire of Creative Behaviour ‘KANH’, and Uszynska's Questionnaire for parents.

The results of the research confirm a great differentiation of creative capacity levels of children and suggest that the most significant factors determining them are the pedagogic ones, which may directly or indirectly be influenced by the preschool teacher.     

Young Children's Symbol‐Making Tools and Factors Influencing Their Availability,Selection and Use: An International Survey

Families and schools play essential roles introducing children to the tools of their culture, including pencils and other symbol‐making instruments. Child development and education specialists from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America confirm these roles and reveal that symbol‐making tools, as cultural artifacts, reflect countries’ levels of human development, including life expectancy, literacy, and purchasing power.

In countries of low and moderate levels of human development children are more likely to use commercial symbol‐making tools first in schools, not homes. The symbol‐making tools most widely available to young children are pencils and crayons. Yet, when commercial tools are unavailable, children create their own, using objects from the natural environment.

The pencils used by most young children are standard adult‐sized while crayons, brushes, and markers are more varied in size. In most countries children use symbol‐making tools freely and with adult direction. Nonetheless, adult‐directed tool use decreases and free use increases as human development levels rise.

Place of residence, socio‐economic status, teacher and parent educational levels, and commercial availability account for often wide within‐country variations in child access to and use of symbol‐making tools. Finally, symbol‐making tool design and use appear to be based on tradition rather than research.

     

The mentor role in individualized education at Empire State College

This paper discusses the role of mentors in individualized learning at Empire State College, New York State. The discussion implicitly questions roles and procedures in distance education.

This individualized learning programme is defined and illustrated. The components of the role of mentor are likewise defined and illustrated. Then the implications of being a mentor working with individual students are spelt out as they illuminate the relationships of mentors in academia.

The conclusion is offered that the mentor's commitment to his/her students is an exhibition of his/her fundamental commitment to a philosophical stance in education which surmounts primary loyalty to one's academic faculty.

The final whimsical question is whether or not individualized learning and distance education are compatible or conflicting.     

Social Studies as a form and medium of education in the Greek kindergarten

It is known that one of the major goals of preschool education, if not the most important one, is the socialisation of children. In kindergarten socialisation is mainly achieved through social studies activities.

There is worldwide research concerning the application of social studies to kindergarten. In Greece, specifically, there is no relevant data about this subject.

Therefore, the current study was carried out in order to find out, interalia, I) whether kindergarten teachers occupy students with social studies activities, 2) if they do occupy them, in what social studies activities children engage more frequently and 3) the self‐assessed adequacy of the kindergarten teachers’ training and their attitudes concerning the application of social studies activities to kindergarten.

In order to collect the necessary data for this study, three hundred kindergarten teachers, from urban and non‐urban areas of Greece, were given a questionnaire and the conclusions drawn from their answers form the basis of the study.

In order to gain greater data validity, the recorded answers were cross‐referenced with informal observations in classrooms of teachers who participated in the study.     

Teacher‐training in People's Poland

The goal of teacher education in Poland is to provide all teachers with initial training at the same (higher education) level, but until this goal is achieved, a variety of institutions and standards will prevail.

Rapid expansion in the provision of schooling has kept up the demand for teachers, and there is still a shortage situation to which a full response cannot be made at university level, so that two‐year courses must persist for some time. Different Ministries will continue to be responsible.

The author provides a detailed analysis of the content of initial training; correct pedagogic induction is regarded as highly important, though a satisfactory allocation of time has yet to be reached. This problem is recognised by both Ministries responsible for teacher training, and important experimental work is under way.

In‐service training is highly important, both school‐based and externally provided; the various agencies are described. The training is available up to and including Doctoral level.

Many studies have been carried out of teachers and teacher‐training, and these help with the identification of current problems. These problems are frankly identified by the author, who offers a view of the directions to be followed.

Mieczyslaw Pecherski is Professor of Education at the University of Warsaw and Secretary of the Pedagogic Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.     

Adoption of Agri-Environmental Measures by Organic Farmers: The Role of Interpersonal Communication

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of interpersonal communication on the adoption of agri-environmental measures (AEM) by organic farmers in Germany.

Methodology: The study used the logit model to predict the probability of adoption behaviour, and Social Network Analysis (SNA) was conducted to analyse the question of whether validating information about organic farming provided by interpersonal information sources is associated with communication frequency.

Findings: Our findings demonstrate that being an early adopter of organic farming practices and frequent contact with young and highly educated farmers increases the probability of adoption of other AEM. However, contact frequency in interpersonal networks was found not to be a significant determinant for explaining adoption decisions. Frequently communicating farmers in the network are more likely to attribute higher levels of importance to organic farming information received from formal actors than to information received from informal actors.

Practical Implications: If young and highly educated farmers, who can be considered as informal opinion leaders, are approached by the extension services, then an effective diffusion of information on AEM can be expected. To support the AEM adoption, a platform should be provided by state agencies that would enable organic farmers to understand the environmental benefits achieved over the time.

Originality/value: This study contributes to the scientific discussion on the role of interpersonal communication on AEM adoption. A new aspect is our consideration of organic farmers adopting additional AEM. Moreover, we highlight organic farmers' validation of the importance of formal and informal information sources on organic farming.     

Desiderata for Research into Historical Concepts of Teacher Training: an attempt to update research into the history of teacher training in Germany

Summary A study of the history of teacher training in Germany reveals some fascinating blind spots which have been ignored for decades.

Pedagogical historiography must now liberate itself from Prussian dominance and take a keener interest in the activities which took place away from the better‐known centres of reform.

The basically bipartite teacher training system for a tripartite school system has evolved into contradictory models of integration in the different federal states.

     

The Gap between Theory and Practice

This contribution outlines the state of the art of the recent developments in teacher education for Secondary education in the Netherlands.

In the first section an overall picture is given from the different types of teacher training, their certification and their developments.

In the second section two key‐issues in teacher training are discussed, particularly the different training concepts and the developments in teaching practice in schools. Specific attention is given to the training of the co‐operating teachers.

In the third section two of the author's research projects are reviewed: the first is a project on problems of beginning teachers, and the second a project on teaching practice in schools.     

Steps to promote open and authentic dialogue between teachers and school management

Purpose: School principals must determine educational policies and make information-based decisions. Teachers have authentic information that they do not transmit in full to the principals. A theoretical model was tested that explains the factors behind this disconnection in communication.

Design: Four hundred and forty-five teachers completed questionnaires that examined a variety of aspects of reciprocal relations between teachers and school management.

Findings: The model explains 44% of the variance in authentic teacher–principal communication. The principal’s communication pattern with teachers, with two sub-components, represents a dominant factor in teacher willingness to share information. Leadership style represents only an indirect factor.     

Group Process and Emotional Education: Can the group process as described by Louis R. Ormont be effective in modifying the behavior of young children? (A retrospective study)

Several years ago I began to see children in my classroom who did not respond to the techniques I had used for many years to develop behavioural adjustment.

While searching for a new method that would be more effective, I was introduced to Louis Ormont's theories regarding the Group Experience involving adults.

Immediately I began to see the possibility of adjusting the adult Group Process to address the needs of the 5‐6‐year‐olds in my kindergarten class.

In my presentation I will discuss Dr Ormont's theory as I see it relating to my classroom and describe how I implement the Group Process and the results that were achieved over three years’ time with several classes of children.

My presentation will give new meaning to the terms ‘Group Meeting’ and ‘Behavioural Modification’ in the kindergarten classroom. In my mind the results are enormously positive. Children learn to take charge of their own behaviour and are strengthened by the feelings of group membership and personal empowerment.     

Historical and Sociological Perspectives of the Contemporary Kindergarten in the USA

Kindergarten education in the US has a rich heritage. The roots date back to the influence of Froebel with an emphasis on play and to Susan Blow and her concern for the whole child. Comenius regarded early childhood and kindergarten as an inseparable part of education and society as a whole rather than a separate entity. His belief parallels the contemporary approach to kindergarten, as it is increasingly being viewed on a continuum in the educational process.

Significant societal and educational changes in the US during the last two decades have influenced kindergarten education for five‐year‐olds. The American family structure has been effected by the increased divorce rate, the economy, and the increase in two‐employed parents.

Education changes include a shift to an emphasis on standardised testing at all levels, accountability, and the incorporation of four‐year‐olds in public schools. The result has been a ‘spiraling down’ of academic expectations.

In addition, schools are responding to the needs of demographic shifts in the nature of the population. Increasing numbers of children have multicultural backgrounds and English in their second language.

These societal and educational changes have precipitated the movement to the all day kindergarten. As more and more schools offer an all day experience to kindergarten children, numerous issues surface that challenge the original purpose of kindergarten. Entrance age, screening practices, retention, commercial books and materials are all influencing the nature of the all day kindergarten.

The current focus in the US on developmental appropriate practice places the emphasis on child‐centred programs that utilise hands‐ on learning and attention to the development of the whole child. A strong parent education and involvement component, a rich environment, and a qualified teacher are components of a quality kindergarten program. These issues and trends will be discussed within the context of the historical perspective of kindergarten education. The results of a current and thorough literature review will be shared with participants.