Determinants of higher education choices and student satisfaction: the case of Poland

The dynamic changes in tertiary education that were observed in Poland for the last 20 years transformed the Polish educational market and led to the immense expansion of educational institutions. The rapid increase in the number of students that continued until 2006 is however over and Polish universities have begun to compete for their clients. Increased competition along with the pessimistic forecasts for Poland with regard to demographic changes result in the growing demand for the knowledge on determinants of student educational choices and satisfaction. Although the amount of studies in this field is growing, Poland is still substantially underrepresented in the current research. The purpose of this article was to examine the underlying factors behind the choices that Polish students make while pursuing their tertiary education. The research method that combines focus groups’ discussions and a survey study among 1,420 business major students helped us to identify the factors behind three phases of the decision making process: pursuing higher education; information search along with final choice of a university; and satisfaction from chosen studies. Our research implies that decision making with regard to tertiary education is multifaceted and longitudinal as it combines a different set of factors in each stage of the decision making process.     

Betwixt and Between: Working Through the Aesthetic in Philosophy of Education: George F. Kneller Lecture,Conference of the American Educational Studies Association Savannah,Georgia, October 30, 2008

At a time when both philosophy of education and the arts are under threat within education, this article inquires into interdisciplinarity as one way of approaching the disciplines of philosophy of education and aesthetics. The article offers a retrospective autobiographical intellectual history and phenomenology of the author's own learning and scholarship within Higher Education in three main areas—philosophy of literature education, women's studies, and philosophy of music education, areas paralleling the three periods of her academic career. One sub-theme of this narrative about the balancing act of working in literature and music through philosophy of education is the author's ongoing resistance to professionalization or disciplinary academic control—of literature, philosophy, and music—while being a critical student of educational theory and practice in these areas—philosophy, literature and music within philosophy of education—of thus being “betwixt and between.” Two other themes comprising the article's subtext are “praxis” and “embodiment.” The double entendre of the phrase “working through” entails, first, using the arts of literature and music to practise philosophy of education; and secondly, embracing the psychological, ethical, and spiritual introspection that comes with critical engagement of the arts and its discourses. In short, the article aims to reprise some burning philosophical educational questions that have preoccupied its author over the years, questions deemed especially pertinent to the current increasingly diverse membership in the discipline of educational studies.     

Institutional Interpretations of the Relationship between Sport-Related Disciplines and Their Reference Disciplines: The Case of Sociology of Sport

The sociology of sport literature is now sufficiently broad to allow a general analysis of research patterns in this field. To facilitate the identification of these vectors of expansion, sources referenced in articles published in Sociology of Sport Journal and Journal of Sport and Social Issues between 2003 and 2011 are examined in terms of sources referenced. Highly cited sources often used together in the same sources can be combined through bibliometric methods in clusters of similar influential publications, which together can be used to map the field. The resulting clusters show that a dominant pattern in these clusters is the preeminent role played by authors like Foucault, Bourdieu, and Connell. To help explain the preeminence of these authors’ work, a hypothesis is proposed, which interprets it with the help of institutional theory as an effort of a field to find legitimacy by developing research from reference academic disciplines that concerns sport or is closely linked to it (e.g., through the concept of corporeality).     

COMMUNICATING ACROSS CULTURES AND DISCIPLINES: THE BUCHAREST READING GROUP AS EMBODIED SOCIAL KNOWING

This article reports on a pedagogical experiment conducted by three American Soros Foundation‐sponsored professors and several Romanian sociology students who formed a reading circle. Its purpose was to encourage an exchange of ideas among students and teachers in an informal setting. Beginning in 1994, its first topic of discussion was Sex, Love, and Death in Postmodern Literature. During the following year, the topic was Public and Private Space in Society, and for the current (1996‐1997) academic year, it is Communication: Embodied Action in Culture. Partially presented in an interview format, this article serves as an interim evaluation of this type of teaching‐learning experience and also of the possibilities of academic mobility.     

Anna Zofia Krygowska

The article is a biography of A. Z. Krygowska (1904–1988) covering her school years, university studies and professional work as a teacher, teacher trainer, and scientist. The author emphasizes the great influence of A. Z. Krygowska's teaching experience on her interest and scientific work in the didactics of mathematics. Her most important achievements in the theory and practice of the teaching of mathematics are also presented.     

What Happens to Policies When Assuming Institutions? A Short Story About Romania’s Never-Ending Educational Reform

Over the past decades, educational reform has been one of the centerpieces of transition in Central and Eastern Europe. A huge degree of variability among countries exists, from sudden liberalization to securing the status quo previous to revolutionary political change. Reforms have ranged from institutional to instrumental changes. We argue that policies may lead to undesirable outcomes, when they assume a certain institutional framework. We then describe the evolution of Romania’s educational system, focusing on a case study of an implemented large-scale policy program: the Rural Education Project for Romania. We thus argue that by assuming institutional change such attempts are bound to fail because the existing status quo adapts actions to existing practices, thus leading to unexpected outcomes.     

Strong Periphery,Weak Centre: The Paradox of Sport in Early Twentieth-Century Romania

Abstract

When looking at the impact of the political, territorial, and social transformations which occurred in Central and Eastern Europe after the defeat of the Central Powers in the First World War, an evidence check suggests that sport was deeply influenced by the sudden disappearance of the Habsburg Empire. This article examines the shift triggered in the relation between a ‘centre’ (e.g. Bucharest) and a ‘periphery’ (former Austro-Hungarian provinces) of sporting life by the political outcome of the First World War. The joy and difficulties surrounding the emergence of ‘Greater Romania’ were well highlighted in the field of sport by tensions which appeared mostly in internal competitions and debates, rather than in the international arena.