III: Torn between Action and Reflection: some dilemmas of ‘pedagogical support persons’ in the Environment and School Initiatives Project

ABSTRACT

In 1990, a group of Slovenian researchers and teachers from eight elementary schools joined the international project Environment and School Initiatives, co‐ordinated by OECD/CERI. This paper presents some dilemmas and insights resulting from the co‐operation of ‘pedagogical support persons’ with teachers during the project, using the action research paradigm which presupposes a partnership relation and mutual learning of all involved. The paper has two parts. The first part deals with the rationale of educational support and with some dilemmas encountered, such as: What is action in action research on environmental education? How to help teachers develop initiative and self‐confidence in doing action research? (avoiding the trap of giving recipes, but also another trap of giving “freedom” where teachers needed genuine help and direct feed‐back on what they were doing). The second part is a case study of one of the Slovenian projects, illustrating the problematic nature of the relationship between action and reflection, between making others understand the underlying complexity of environmental problems and developing one's own deep understanding. The process of maturing and developing genuine communication is illustrated by quotations and interpretations from the perspective of all “three circles’: the pupil's, the teacher's and the support person's. to condemn, but not so easy to understand. I may illustrate this from my experience, but first I shall proceed with my interview.     

European cultural statistics in a comparative perspective: index of economic and social condition of culture for the EU countries

In the article, we present the construction of an index of economic and social condition of culture using datasets of Eurostat’s Cultural Statistics Pocketbooks from 2007 and 2011 and Eurostat’s COFOG data. The datasets allow us a broad perspective over a set of more than 200 variables in 12 domains for the EU-27 member states. Using high-dimensionally adjusted factor analysis (Metropolis–Hastings Robbins–Monro algorithm), we construct an index and determine a set of its several dimensions (as seen from the cultural statistics viewpoint). Using cluster analysis, we determine the general similarities and differences among the analysed countries and show several broadly different groupings that roughly, but not exclusively follow the divide speculated in some previous studies. The analysis therefore brings a novel and statistically developed tool to empirically follow the changes in the economic and social condition of culture from the viewpoint of cultural statistics, while the clustering of models has important consequences for empirical cultural policy and has to be verified in future studies.     

Do we need Positive Psychology in Croatian kindergartens? The implementation possibilities evaluated by preschool teachers

Constant changes in a modern world and scientific knowledge from the growing field of Positive Psychology appear to make a previously unheeded contribution to preschool teacher competences. The aim of this study was to explore preschool teachers' opinions concerning the need for positive psychology knowledge and its implementation. A nine-item pool was used on a sample of 49 preschool teachers (mean age 33) enrolled in a graduate programme of early and preschool care and education in Rijeka. Overall, preschool teachers liked this subject very much and thought it was needed very much for their profession at all work levels. Also, they viewed the positive psychology findings as very useful and applicable in their work, and especially in their work with children. Finally, they saw lots of implementation possibilities in Croatian kindergartens.     

That’s Not For Our Kids: The strange death of philosophy and ethics in a low socioeconomic secondary school

Abstract

This article reflects on the successes and failures of a new Philosophy and Ethics course in a low socioeconomic context in Perth, Western Australia, with the eventual demise of the subject in the school at the end of 2010. We frame this reflection within Deleuzian notions of geophilosophy to advocate for a Philosophy and Ethics that is informed by nomadic thought, as this offers a critical freedom for students to transform themselves and their society and suggests practical ways both of overcoming the prejudices which led to its demise and of student reluctance to engage in open discussion in class. We consider the demise of the course a ‘missed opportunity’ because it had so much potential to be transformative of student subjectivities in schools.     

Providing written feedback on students’ mathematical arguments: proof validations of prospective secondary mathematics teachers

Mathematics teachers play a unique role as experts who provide opportunities for students to engage in the practices of the mathematics community. Proof is a tool essential to the practice of mathematics, and therefore, if teachers are to provide adequate opportunities for students to engage with this tool, they must be able to validate student arguments and provide feedback to students based on those validations. Prior research has demonstrated several weaknesses teachers have with respect to proof validation, but little research has investigated instructional sequences aimed to improve this skill. In this article, we present the results from the implementation of such an instructional sequence. A sample of 34 prospective secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs) validated twelve mathematical arguments written by high school students. They provided a numeric score as well as a short paragraph of written feedback, indicating the strengths and weaknesses of each argument. The results provide insight into the errors to which PSMTs attend when validating mathematical arguments. In particular, PSMTs’ written feedback indicated that they were aware of the limitations of inductive argumentation. However, PSMTs had a superficial understanding of the “proof by contradiction” mode of argumentation, and their attendance to particular errors seemed to be mediated by the mode of argument representation (e.g., symbolic, verbal). We discuss implications of these findings for mathematics teacher education.     

Supporting performance management with business process management and business intelligence: A case analysis of integration and orchestration

The case(s) demonstrates the importance of business process management (BPM) and business intelligence systems (BIS) in achieving better firm performance. It has been well documented in the literature that research on the effectively usage and combination of knowledge from BPM and BIS in turbulent service environments is limited. In response, we conduct an exploratory comparative case study of four firms in banking and telecommunication industries that have implemented BPM initiative and BIS solution. Our results firstly highlight that actual results of applying BPM and BIS differ greatly from the results that were originally planned. Secondly, we find that BIS initiatives are usually driven by improving marketing and sales, while BPM initiatives are driven by improving business processes. Thirdly, we identify that there is a lack of strong commitment to using both systems for supporting performance management.     

Practical Components in Teacher Training Programmes in Slovenia (Yugoslavia)

For the present development of teacher training system in Slovenia (Yugoslavia) two trends are characteristic: the prolongation of studies for elementary school teachers (grades 1‐8) from two to four years and an institutional shift of responsibility for subject teacher training from ‘mono‐technical’ (pedagogical academies) to ‘polytechnical’ institutions (different faculties or departments of the universities).

These trends are having important implications for the scope of practical training and its relationship to other parts of the studies. Traditional forms of practical training that had developed at pedagogical academies are being discontinued but the new ones are not yet firmly established.

The existing forms of practical training of student teachers are briefly described (exercises in general professional courses, exercises in classroom observation, teaching attempts and block practice). In addition, the role of teachers of special didactics and the role of practice teachers is analysed.

The pragmatic character of practical training has to be overcome on the basis of systematic attempts to confront students’ subjective theories on teaching and learning, based on experience, with scientific theories throughout the process of their training.

An important prerequisite for the necessary integration of different components of study and especially of theory and practice is cooperation between university teachers of academic, general professional subjects and special didactics. How do we achieve such a cooperation and overcome the negative attitude of teachers of academic subjects toward professional and practical training of students? This remains one of the open problems in the reform of teacher training in Slovenia.     

Interpersonal Neural Synchrony During Father–Child Problem Solving: An fNIRS Hyperscanning Study

Interpersonal neural synchrony (INS) has been previously evidenced in mother–child interactions, yet findings concerning father–child interaction are wanting. The current experiment examined whether fathers and their 5- to 6-year-old children (N = 66) synchronize their brain activity during a naturalistic interaction, and addressed paternal and child factors related to INS. Compared to individual problem solving and rest, father–child dyads showed increased INS in bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left temporo-parietal junction during cooperative problem solving. Furthermore, the father’s attitude toward his role as a parent was positively related to INS during the cooperation condition. These results highlight the implication of the father’s attitude to parenting in INS processes for the first time.