21世纪初塞浦路斯劳动人民进步党的发展现状与理论主张

塞浦路斯劳动人民进步党是在艰辛的探索中不断前进的。它英勇反抗殖民统治,取得了民族解放的胜利;它多次被反动势力打入地下,却始终坚贞不屈;它顽强地坚持将革命道路与议会斗争道路相结合并成功上台执政。塞浦路斯劳动人民进步党之所以能够取得如此辉煌的成就,与它极具特色的社会主义理论主张是分不开的。     

The efficacy of small internal networks for improving schools

Through two school case studies in Cyprus, in this paper I explore the role of small internal collaborative networks in promoting school improvement. The analysis of the two cases revealed a series of interrelated themes which indicated issues related to school improvement, and actually, it provided evidence that small internal collaborative networks could contribute to school improvement. This contribution was related to the development of interest in the learning of children coming from vulnerable groups, to the creation of conditions for more effective leadership and management within the schools, and to changes in the culture of the schools.     

Ethical and political dimensions of action research and lesson study: reflections from a research project on a controversial issue in Cyprus

ABSTRACT

As educational interventions that integrate death issues in the school curriculum are rarely designed, implemented and evaluated, our action research (AR) project aimed at investigating the complexities of integrating the concepts of loss and grief in the primary school curriculum of Cyprus. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze convergences and divergences between AR and lesson study (LS), as they emerged in our project. We particularly focus on the ways that AR served to legitimate ethically and politically those aspects of the project that constituted the experimentation of lesson plans on loss and grief. The AR and LS elements of our project functioned differently and served different purposes, and we speculate that this is not irrelevant to the controversial aspects of the lesson plans’ topic, namely loss and grief. The paper argues that it may be strategically important, for ethical and political reasons, to both demarcate and associate AR and LS, navigating between them, particularly if a controversial issue is involved.     

Higher education provision for students with disabilities in Cyprus

Internationally, the number of students with disabilities entering higher education institutions is on the rise. Research estimates that 8–10% of students attending higher education are registered with disability, with learning difficulties being the most commonly reported disability. Widening participation in higher education has been supported by legislative changes, inclusive education practices, the use of ICT and accessible facilities and programs and, ultimately, an increasing belief among students with disabilities that higher education maximizes their opportunities for employment and independent living. Within the Cypriot context, research on disability, access and provision in higher education is limited. This study was a part of a large-scale study (PERSEAS) funded by the EU. From the original sample, 15 students attending private higher education institutions in Cyprus reported disability (i.e., sensory impairment, dyslexia, physical disabilities) and were selected for focus group discussions. Also, interviews and focus groups were conducted with the Headmasters and teachers, respectively, in 10 private higher education institutions. This study yielded interesting results regarding the current state of provision (e.g., concessions for exams and assignments, infrastructure, teaching modification, counseling services) as well as issues of social inclusion, equality of opportunity and entitlement to education.     

Adult learners’ emotions in online learning

The aim of the research study reported in this article was to investigate how adult learners talk about their emotions in the context of a year‐long online course, the first online course these adults take, as part of a distance education program. The theoretical and methodological approach focused on formulating an account of how emotion discourses are used by learners, what role they play in online learning, and how they change over a one‐year period (if they do so). The findings of this study provide three insights: (1) they show how adult learners (who also happen to be novice online learners) respond emotionally and talk about their emotions in relation to online learning; (2) they call attention to the ways in which emotion talk changes from the beginning of the course to the end, always in response to specific demands and dimensions of online learning; and (3) they reveal the differential emotional responses between men and women in relation to their social and gender roles and responsibilities. Empirical and policy implications of this study are discussed at the end.     

Implementing inclusion in disabling settings: the role of teachers’ attitudes and practices

Teachers’ attitudes towards disabled students seem to define the extent to which teaching practices are inclusive. Aiming to explore Cyprus secondary education teachers’ attitudes and practice, and the consequent implications for the future of disabled students and inclusive education, we conducted mixed methods research. Our research typology was sequential and integrated. First, we conducted a survey, during which we received 536 questionnaires from our randomly selected stratified sample of Cyprus secondary education teachers. The survey was followed by interviews with 21 Greek Philology teachers that enriched the findings from the quantitative phase. Data analysis revealed that even though Cyprus secondary education teachers have a rather positive attitude towards disabled students, they have low expectations from them and do not employ inclusive teaching practice. In addition, they tend to categorise students based on abstract notions about ability. Stereotypes and prejudice are more evident regarding students with cognitive disabilities. Despite the observed disabling practices, participants postulated that there is hope to implement inclusive education, if teachers are trained for inclusion and thereby begin to see the person and not the disability.     

Has family involvement migrated into higher education? An investigation of how administrative staff document the phenomenon in students’ university experiences in Cyprus

Families have been getting more and more involved in their children’s education. This paper presents findings of a study investigating family involvement in their members’ undergraduate studies attending a state (non-fee-paying) and a private (fee-paying) university in Cyprus. The data presented in the paper were collected via online logs completed by administrative personnel in the two universities documenting incidents of family involvement. The data analysis demonstrates how similarly the phenomenon manifests in both universities and suggests that where the two universities differ is more in the intensity of the various modes of family involvement. It also projects students’ desires and encouragement of their family’s involvement and their families’ intervention to protect or guide them. The findings of the study are discussed in view of cultural and societal norms and changes about parenthood and the relationship between families and their university age members in a marketized higher education context.     

Pedagogic struggles to enhance inclusion and reconciliation in a divided community

This article explores the successes and failures of teachers' pedagogies and school policies to establish a culture of inclusion and reconciliation at a shared secondary school in Cyprus—a school in which students from the two conflicting communities (Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots) are co-educated. Drawing on an ethnographic study based on interviews and observations of six teachers, interviews with students and the school principal, and observations of students' interactions inside and outside the classroom, it is shown that there is resistance to shared education and the formation of reconciliation pedagogies. While most teachers choose to avoid contentious issues rather than exploring them in order to prevent possible conflicts, a few others push for clear integration policies and pedagogies. It is argued that although these efforts are well-intentioned they simply reinforce existing divisions due to the lack of commitment to systemic structural change.     

‘Children at our school are integrated. No one sticks out’: Greek‐Cypriot teachers’ perceptions of integration of immigrant children in Cyprus

Increasingly social scientists, including education theorists, find themselves having to fight an almost invisible racism that is masked by the racist undertones of the dominant discourse and practice of colorblindness. A continuous emphasis on colorblindness gives precedence to the role of race, diverting attention away from other forms of discrimination which can become the basis for exclusion. I would argue that for such acts of marginalization, difference‐blindness may have more explanatory power. This paper discusses Greek‐Cypriot teachers’ perceptions of the integration of immigrant children in a Greek‐Cypriot public primary school through the framework of difference‐blindness. The discussion shows that despite their good intentions, teachers utilized a difference‐blind ideology to rationalize practices of social exclusion of non‐Cypriot students in what was considered an ‘integrated’ school environment.     

Personal narratives of loss and the exhumation of missing persons in the aftermath of war: in search of public and school pedagogies of mourning

This paper is grounded in a phenomenological‐interpretive exploration of how mourning is experienced and understood by the victim’s nuclear family – the victims are Greek‐Cypriot missing persons whose remains have been recovered, identified and properly buried, after exhumations of mass graves in the aftermath of war. Particularly, the focus is on the pedagogical openings that are created for educators and students who seek to engage in learning about mourning and/or how to mourn in schools. Two in‐depth mourning narratives are analyzed and the pedagogical implications of the nationalization of mourning are discussed. A careful critique of the nationalization of mourning formulates a critical discourse from which it becomes possible to launch a renewal of an affective community, that is, a restructuring of affective spaces in schools and the public arena so that new affective connections with the Other are created. The analysis shows the complexities involved in attempts to formulate public and school pedagogies of mourning.