Analysis of FRBR User Tasks

FRBR, FRAD, and FRSAD models propose user tasks as a way to address and categorize functions that a catalog should support. The user tasks are not harmonized among these models, but to do that, they should first be fully understood and analyzed, especially “select” and “identify.” We decided to look at the FRBR user tasks from the perspective of interactive information retrieval (IIR). Several IIR models were reviewed and Ellis’ and Belkin's models were chosen for further analysis and interpretation of FRBR “select” and “identify” tasks.     

The emergence of the analytical method in early childhood education – the scientific effort to produce the learning child for the nation in a global era

Through an analysis of a recent Danish administrative educational reform in the area of early childhood education, this article raises a discussion about the way pedagogical objects and subjects are generated in the knowledge acquisition of administrative educational reforms promoting accountability, visibility and documentation. It is argued that pedagogy is generated as a sequential and unit-specified way of working on the production of ‘the learning child’, forming a time- and material-optimising approach. Hereby, the nursery teacher, as a daily scientific researcher, comes to serve the nation by an ongoing observational intervention, producing the learning foundation for the entrepreneurial citizen, and thus the nation as a knowledge society in a globalised world. This is what this article terms the emergence of the analytical method.     

Encounters with action research in the african context: a case study in the school curriculum in lesotho

This article is based on an action research study undertaken in the African context, in Lesotho. It illustrates understandings and insights that developed in this context about action research by reference to the factors that influenced the comprehension and implementation of the method, reflections of the research team on the method, and the potential of the method to improve practice. It is argued that the method had potential to improve practice in this context, and that the contextualisation of action research by reflection on the method was essential.     

Science Curricula and the Organization of Secondary Schooling

This paper explores the substance of competence-driven changes in teacher education curricula by testing the possibility of using a framework distinguishing between the German pedagogical culture of Didaktik and the Anglo-Saxon Curriculum culture to describe the substance of these changes. Data about the perceptions of competence-driven changes in teacher education curricula has been collected in 30 in-depth interviews with teacher educators, student teachers, and their school mentors in Serbia, and analysed with the help of qualitative data processing software. The coding procedures involved classification of utterances into five groups relating to the perceptions of (1) teacher evaluation, (2) teacher competence in subject matter, pedagogy, and curriculum, (3) understanding of the education system and contribution to its development, (4) teacher competences in dealing with values and child-rearing, and (5) changes in teacher education curricula related to these groups of competence. The perceptions in each group of utterances were interpreted in terms of their alliance with Didaktik or Curriculum cultures. The findings indicate that the framework cannot be used as a continuum since the utterances aligned with the two cultures co-exist in the individual responses, but could be useful as a reflection tool in teacher education curricula.     

Environmental Education in Serbian Primary Schools: Challenges and Changes in Curriculum,Pedagogy, and Teacher Training

The protection of human health and the preservation of the environment are topics that form an integral part of the primary school curriculum in Serbia. However, research studies have shown that students do not have enough knowledge to contribute to the development of a healthy lifestyle and environmental awareness. The latest changes in school policy and curricula confirm that the relevance of environmental education has been recognized, but changes in school practice are yet to come. This article discusses the challenges encountered in the implementation of the intended curriculum and offers suggestions for changes to the curriculum, pedagogy, and teacher training in order to enhance environmental education.     

The Visual Holdings of the Slavonic Library,Prague

This study focuses on the visual collections in the holdings of the Slavonic Library (a section of the National Library of the Czech Republic). The library holdings also include unique collections relevant to the topic of Russian and Ukrainian emigration: collections of visual art, ex libris, posters and flyers by Ukrainian émigrés (1918–1945), and a collection of invitations and flyers by Russian émigrés (1918–1945). Rudolf H?lka’s collection of photographs, dating back to the 1920s, captures a series of ethnographic, folkloric, and architectonic phenomena which no longer exist. Moreover, Russian posters from the period of WWI, from the revolutionary year of 1917, and the subsequent civil war are equally fascinating as are banknotes from the same period and region.