Status of Individuals' Planning to Prepare for Retirement in Turkey

This research was conducted in Ankara province for the purpose of examining the status of planning in preparation for retirement as an individual and as a family of individuals who show differences in educational level. Individuals who lived in Ankara province, who were 3 years from retirement according to age limit, and who had social security from one of the three official government plans (The Pensions Fund For Civil Servants of The Republic of Turkey, Social Insurance Institution, or Social Security Organization of Artisans, and Craftsmen and other Self-Employed People) were the research population from which 393 individuals were chosen using the Stratified Random Sampling Method. There was a higher percentage of individuals who stated that they had not planned for retirement than those who had. Of the individuals who stated that they had made plans, 80.7% had made those plans about their financial status. Individuals who thought that it was necessary to have an educational program for preparing for retirement also wanted “financial status” topics at the head of the list of topics for such a program.     

Steps towards inclusion in Hungary

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a rhythmic gymnastics programme on the dynamic balance ability of a group of children with deafness. The sample consisted of 29 children with deafness. The subjects met the same criteria in terms of age, aetiology, hearing level, intelligence, school placement and socioeconomic status, and in this way, they were assigned to two groups of 12 and 17 children, for the control and experimental groups respectively. The experimental group received a 16-week rhythmic gymnastic programme at a frequency of three lessons per week, for 40 minutes, whereas the control group adhered to its regular school routine. The methods of data collection included pre-/post-test measurements of the dynamic balance for all participants of both groups. The dynamic balance ability was measured by means of a balance deck (Lafayette) in duration of 30, 45 and 60 s intervals. The findings of this study provide evidence that the specific rhythmic gymnastic programme facilitates significant improvement in the dynamic balance ability of this sample of children with deafness.     

The Use of Newspaper Articles as a Tool to Develop Critical Thinking in Science Classes

The aim of this research is to identify the difficulties experienced by secondary school students (aged 15–16) with the critical reading of newspaper articles with scientific content. Two newspaper critical reading activities in relation to the study of various scientific contents were designed and carried out in two schools (61 students in total), one with a student population from a medium to high social and economic bracket and the other with students from a medium to low social and economic bracket. These activities were designed taking into account the phases of the reading process: before, during and after reading. In order to analyse the difficulties ‘Elements of science critical reading’ were identified on the basis of the ‘Elements of reasoning’ of Paul and Elder and the categories proposed by Bartz C.R.I.T.I.C. questionnaire and a scale was drawn up. The results show that the activities designed were useful in helping students to read critically. We also rated very positively the instrument created to assess the students' answers: the scale based on the performance indicators of Paul and Elder. This instrument enabled us to detect the aspects of critical thinking where students have the most difficulties: identifying the writer's purpose and looking for evidence in a text. It was also shown that the stance taken in the articles also had an influence on the results.     

Teachers reflecting on their work: articulating what is said about what is done

Teachers' written reflections on their work, which report on a change in their practice, were the object of this research. Taking teachers' articulation of their plans and actions in teacher journals as our source, this study's aim is twofold: (1) to describe how teacher reflect in a self‐initiated and non‐framed way on their own practice, and (2) to review teacher self generated reflections in reference to models of reflection. In this way, we tried to disclose what precisely teachers write (said) when reflecting on their work (did) in order to appreciate their way of describing what matters in their work; and position this in reference to models that conceptualise (“talk”) on how to actualise (‘walk’) reflection. This ‘double’ articulation of reflection is gauged in two ways, i.e., on: a) completeness, that is, whether it includes relevant components of reflection (models) to be found in the literature, and on b) recursiveness, that is, whether the written account gives evidence of an integrated cyclical, i.e., recursive process of re‐view, which appraises and looks back on what has been accomplished.

The results show that teachers do not work along the lines identified in current reflection models (i.e. providing clear problem definition, searching for evidence, planning for change, and reviewing plans). Instead, many teachers use a narrative and valuing appraisal of their accomplishments; not so much cautiously reviewing their actions but prospectively commenting on plans and solutions for future action. The data lead us to be cautious about the prominence of reflection models as advocated in the literature to be applied to teachers' written accounts of their practice.     

The relationship between teacher’s autonomy support and students’ autonomy and vitality

Abstract

Within education, some teachers’ interpretation of professionalism emphasizes conformity to the perceived norms of collective associations. Unprofessional behaviour, often equated with ‘unethical’ behaviour, is seen by many to be that which threatens solidarity and loyalty to colleagues. Informal norms typified by casual collegial relations as well as more formal attachments to organized unions or teachers’ federations exert a significant influence on individuals’ behaviour within the group. Professional ethics, in this sense, become concerned primarily with how one relates to colleagues rather than how one fulfils moral responsibilities to students. Qualitative findings from interviews with elementary and secondary school teachers suggest that, as a result of an ethic of collegial loyalty, some teachers experience personal moral and ethical dilemmas that they find difficult to resolve. Some respondents acknowledged that this can enable serious situations to be ignored or ‘covered up’. This paper examines some of the tensions and dilemmas experienced by teachers and raises questions about the ethical adequacy of defining professionalism in terms of inter‐colleague behaviour.     

Experiments of two-level training in Hungarian higher education

An experiment designed to train engineering students to two levels of terminal achievement within single institutions is reported. The operative engineers (formerly high level technicians) qualify after three years whilst research and development engineers (fully qualified engineers) take five years. Organisational and curricular problems necessarily created by such integrated schemes are described and discussed. Social attitudes in society in general and in the student body in particular make the task of directing students towards the shorter form of training complex and difficult. From the experience gained so far it can confidently be asserted that the experiments in two-level training have been successful.Note by the Editor: This article is an abbreviated version prepared by the Editor of a 90-page UNESCO (copyright) report with the same title, Document ED. 75/WS/64, dated October 1975. We are grateful to the authors and to UNESCO for permission to print this summary of the report.     

Developmental Achievements of 7‐year‐old Children in Poland in the Light of International Tests and the Requirements of the Polish Language School Program

The language competence and reading comprehension of 406 7‐year‐old children are examined in the research discussed in this article. The children were tested using comparative tests as part of an international project conducted in 14 countries and sponsored by the IEA and the High Scope Research Foundation in Ypsilanti, USA. The discussion here relates only to a part of this wider research and focuses upon the aims and contents of Polish language teaching in grades I—III of the Polish primary school.     

Spelling well despite developmental language disorder: what makes it possible?

The goal of the study was to investigate the overlap between developmental language disorder (DLD) and developmental dyslexia, identified through spelling difficulties (SD), in Russian-speaking children. In particular, we studied the role of phoneme awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), pseudoword repetition (PWR), morphological (MA), and orthographic awareness (OA) in differentiating between children with DLD who have SD from children with DLD who are average spellers by comparing the two groups to each other, to typically developing children as well as children with SD but without spoken language deficits. One hundred forty-nine children, aged 10.40 to 14.00 years, participated in the study. The results indicated that the SD, DLD, and DLD/SD groups did not differ from each other on PA and RAN Letters and underperformed in comparison to the control groups. However, whereas the children with written language deficits (SD and DLD/SD groups) underperformed on RAN Objects and Digits, PWR, OA, and MA, the children with DLD and no SD performed similarly to the children from the control groups on these measures. In contrast, the two groups with spoken language deficits (DLD and DLD/SD) underperformed on RAN Colors in comparison to the control groups and the group of children with SD only. The results support the notion that those children with DLD who have unimpaired PWR and RAN skills are able to overcome their weaknesses in spoken language and PA and acquire basic literacy on a par with their age peers with typical language. We also argue that our findings support a multifactorial model of DLD.     

Being highly internationalised strengthens your reputation: an empirical investigation of top higher education institutions

In an educational context characterised by globalisation, reputation constitutes a crucial issue for today’s higher education institutions. Internationalisation of higher education is often seen as a potential response to globalisation and, consequently, higher education has become increasingly internationalised during the past decade. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between internationalisation and reputation in top higher education institutions. Results reveal that internationalisation positively influences a university’s reputation but also moderates the relationship between the institution’s reputation and its institutional performance with regard to research quality, teaching quality and graduate employability.