Promoting teaching,learning and informed decision-making through the lenses of international large-scale assessment: looking beyond numbers

Public discussion on the quality of education in different corners of the world very much relies on the data provided by the international large-scale assessment (ILSA) studies. While aware of different methodological keystones and technicalities embedded in these, the idea behind this special issue is to contribute to the understanding of how students solve ILSA items and the kinds of literacy skills they rely on. A shared element of reported studies is that they seek to document and analyse test-taking as a concrete practice using different theoretical and methodological perspectives. We find such scrutiny to be important and significant at this point in time as it offers some new lenses through which ILSA items could be inspected and further discussed.     

Effects of self-monitoring training on reading accuracy and fluency of poor readers

The effect of the self-monitoring training on reading accuracy and fluency of second-grade poor readers was examined. The participants were assigned in one experimental and three control groups. The experimental group was reinforced with token-economy for self-correction and fluent reading. One control group practiced reading without feedback, the second one practiced the calculation of simple arithmetic tasks, and the third one received no training at all. The improvement in reading accuracy was obtained only in the self-monitoring group, and remained for five months. However, the improvement in reading fluency was obtained in the two reading groups, but only the self-monitoring group showed further improvement during five months after training. The results confirmed the importance of self-monitoring already at the level of lexical access in reading and that of local text comprehension.     

Problems of reforming educational systems in post-communist countries

The main problems of educational reform in post-communist countries are identified, by use of an interactive model of education and developmental dimensions of society. The relation of implicit and explicit educational goals and characteristics of a society is reviewed, and a typology of the relations between political and economic state regulation on the one side, and the structure of educational goals on the other is suggested. It is established that the so-calledsocialist pedagogy decreases the transparency of educational goals and obstructs a systematic analysis of education. The role of education in the transition policy of post-communist countries in discussed, with a special emphasis on economic and political reforms, and ideological changes. It is concluded that the Europeanization of education in Eastern European countries will be impeded because of the stalemate in the transformation of ownership and political modernization, as well as ideological conservatism. The educational effects of European cooperation in the economic recovery of the East are to be expected in the areas of standardization and unification of education, while the effects in the internalization of modern values and attitudes are expected to be much less prominent.

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Zusammenfassung Die Hauptprobleme der Bildungsreform in post-kommunistischen Ländern werden mit Hilfe eines interaktiven Modells über die Ausmaße der gesellschaftlichen Bildung und Entwicklung ermittelt. Die Beziehung zwischen hintergründigen und vordergründigen Bildungszielen und den Charakteristika einer Gesellschaft wird dargelegt. Der Autor befürwortet eine Typologie der Beziehungen zwischen politischen und wirtschaftlichen Regelungen durch den Staat einerseits und der Struktur von Zielen im Bildungsbereich andererseits. Er stellt fest, daß die sogenanntesozialistische Pädagogik die Transparenz erzieherischer Ziele mindert und eine systematische Analyse der Bildung behindert. Die Rolle der Bildung in der Übergangspolitik post-kommunistischer Länder wird unter besonderer Beachtung der wirtschaftlichen und politischen Reformen und der ideologischen Veränderungen erörtert. Es wird gefolgert, daß die Europäisierung der Bildung in den osteuropäischen Ländern durch Stillstand der Privatisierungsmaßnahmen und der politischen Erneuerung und durch ideologischen Konservatismus behindert wird. Für das Erziehungswesen sind die Auswirkungen der europäischen Zusammenarbeit beim Wiederaufbau der Wirtschaft im Osten in den Bereichen Standardisierung und Vereinheitlichung der Bildung zu erwarten, während der Einfluß bezüglich der Aufnahme moderner Wertvorstellungen und Haltung als viel geringer angesehen wird.

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Résumé Les problèmes majeurs de la réforme éducative dans les pays postcommunistes sont identifés en faisant appel à un modèle interactif fondé sur l'éducation et les dimensions développementales de la société. On examine la relation entre les objectifs éducatifs implicites et explicites et les caractéristiques d'une société. On suggère une typologie des relations entre le fonctionnement politique et économique de l'Etat d'une part, et la structure des buts de l'éducation d'autre part. Il est établi que la pédagogie ditesocialiste réduit la transparence des buts éducatifs et empêche leur analyse systématique. On analyse le rôle de l'éducation dans la politique de transition des pays postcommunistes en mettant en relief les réformes économiques et politiques et les changements idéologiques. On conclut que l'européanisation de l'éducation dans les pays de l'Est sera retardée par la situation de point mort à laquelle sont arrivées la transformation de la propriété et la modernisation politique, ainsi que par le conservatisme idéologique. Les effets en matière d'éducation de la coopération européenne sur le redressement économique des pays de l'Est se feront sentir dans les domaines de la standardisation et de l'unification de l'éducation, tandis que ceux produits par l'assimilation de valeurs et attitudes modernes seront vraisemblablement beaucoup moins importants.

     

The realization of grounded active RC multiport networks with a minimum number of capacitors

Applying a state-space technique and the reactance extraction principle in the realization of multiport network functions by means of grounded active RC networks containing grounded voltage-controlled voltage sources (VCVSs) and using a minimum number of grounded capacitors, a new theorem concerning the least upper bound on the number of grounded VCVSs sufficient for the realization is proved. The obtained expression for the least upper bound allows one to generate the least upper bound on the number of VCVSs sufficient to realize each of all possible different types of multiport network functions.The proof of the theorem is based upon the use of results concerning the number of VCVSs sufficient and, in general, necessary to realize an arbitrary real multiport network function by means of grounded active resistive multiport networks embedding grounded VCVSs, and on the results concerning the possibility of choosing a convenient equivalent minimal system realization.     

Transdisciplinary qualitative paradigm in applied linguistics: autoethnography,participatory action research and minority language teaching and learning*

The paper emphasizes the crucial importance of transdisciplinary approach to qualitative research methodology in teaching and learning contexts involving highly stigmatized minority languages. Autoethnography and participatory action research are herein employed as constructive, critical, qualitative methodological procedures relevant to transdisciplinary research on minority languages in applied linguistics. An international project on teaching and learning Romani, QUALIROM, is used as a case study in order to emphasize the fact that mere theoretical knowledge and professional expertise are important but not sufficient for successful implementation and sustainability of outcomes in this field of linguistic research. The analysis suggests that socially engaged minority language learning and teaching projects should be understood as transdisciplinary, collaborative activities that transcend academic boundaries, and in which research participants create a number of interactive contexts within project-oriented communities of practice aimed at reshaping dominant social relations and practices.     

Lifelong education in Yugoslavia

Conclusion Notwithstanding the weaknesses noted in theory and practice, tangible results have been achieved in Yugoslavia in the domain and policy of permanent education. Many obstacles stood in the way of this progress and resistance was encountered on various sides to the introduction of lifelong education. This resistance was overcome by the adoption of the Resolution on the Development of Education on an Autonomous Basis which is deeply permeated by the ideas of lifelong education, thus opening broad avenues for its development in Yugoslavia.     

Student Peer Review as a Tool for Efficiently Achieving Subject‐Specific and Generic Learning Outcomes: Examples in Botany at the Faculty of Agriculture,University of Belgrade

Several teachers at the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Belgrade recognised the need to improve teaching methods in order to actively involve students in the teaching process, help them learn more effectively, and reduce the low exam pass rate. This led to a purpose‐designed course on improving academic skills, after which the author has been implementing interactive teaching methods for the past three academic years, with positive results in improving student exam performances as well as enabling the acquisition of valuable generic skills. Presented here are attempts to test students' ability to assess themselves and each other by introducing student peer reviewing and student self‐assessment exercises.     

Stories From Intercultural Education in Serbia: Teacher Leadership and Parent Participation

This article explores the potential of teacher leadership as a strategy to promote intercultural education by empowering parents and members of ethnic minority groups to participate in the life of the school. It links the idea of participation for social justice with the goals of intercultural education within the context of the APREME (Advancing Participation and Representation of Ethnic Minority Groups in Education) project, which is located within a wider program of research, development, and advocacy designed to promote inclusion and social cohesion in the western Balkans. The outcomes of this action-based stage of the program are presented in the form of vignettes that portray teachers’ projects designed to enable parents and community members to participate more fully in the life of the school. Conclusions are drawn about the relationship between teacher leadership and a transformative approach to the intercultural education.     

中外图书馆申请专利分析

本文对我国及世界图书馆作为专利权人所申请的专利进行了分析和对比。研究发现由于行业特点,各图书馆专利申请量不高,但近年来专利申请量有所提升,我国在国际图书馆专利申请中排名靠前,说明我国图书馆人对知识产权保护意识的加强。另一方面,近年来我国申请专利多集中在数字图书馆领域,并多与企业合作申请,世界图书馆申请专利也有类似趋势。由此提出了我国图书馆在专利申请领域应注意的问题和发展方向。