Practice and Theory in Systems of Education
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CONTENTS
Volume 2 Number 3-4 2007
ISSN 1788-2591 (Online)
ISSN 1788-2583 (Printed)
Julia Horvath & Ildiko Kozma & Aniko Salga:
Measuring the Unmeasurable?, pages 1-12
It has become evident that in order to observe, assess and record the condition of motor disabled children at individual and group level, which then set the direction for development, it is necessary to provide well documented common criteria which can then be used in different contexts. During conductive education the child is motivated to achieve higher levels of development and the purposefulness of education and plan-making are determinants of the development level of the dysfunctioning and their achievements and also form the basis for future advancements. As the education process is dynamic and constantly changing, so the evaluation of results cannot be limited to single, occasional actions but is rather a continuous process. This process can be analysed using a set of scales which have been designed to measure seven different areas of development based on dynamic (operative) observation.
Adrienn Deák:
Children with special educational needs: the position in Spain, pages 13-20
The situation of children with special educational needs in Navarra (Spain) is introduced by document analysis, focusing on the possibilities of integrated education. The great age of the establishment of special educational centres was in the '60s. The general Educational Act of 1970 was the first one to consider special education as general mainstream education. It has become obvious after the proclamation of the Constitution (1978) that every citizen is entitled to education and authorities are obliged to promote the integration of the disabled in every field of the society, especially in education. The Royal Decree of special education orders a series of educational drafts of new laws in order to optimally meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs. As a consequence the well prepared Integration Programme started in 1985 which brought significant changes in the provisions for pupils with special educational needs and, in 1990, the Parliament adopted the Act of Educational Organisation, which brought basic changes into the Spanish educational system. From that date on the emphasis was put not on the child's deficiencies but on the educational system and its adaptation to the pupils' needs and its features adjustable to the solutions.
Ferenc Mező:
Tests or Opinions? A Problem of Identification of Giftedness, pages 21-34
The central issue of the current study is to compare peers', teachers', and the persons' opinions who are in the focus of identification of giftedness with each other and with the results of more objective instruments of measurement. Our aim is furthermore to gain experience about the inter-test reliability between opinion- and test-results, about the reliability of equivalent forms between opinions from different sources, and about what kind of affect the type of opinions, measured personality-variables, sex, and age have on the results. Finally, the aim of our research is to disclose and compare the organization of cognitive and non-cognitive personality-variables in relation to the results stemming from different persons' opinions and methods of measurements.
Debra Giambo & Tunde Szecsi:
Does Diversity Education Make a Difference in Teacher Education?, pages 35-50
This study examined (1) factors influencing pre-service teachers’ diversity-related beliefs; (2) sensitivity toward diversity; (3) relationship between personal/professional diversity beliefs; and (4) the effect of diversity-related courses on diversity issues. Participants included junior level students enrolled in a diversity-related course as part of a teacher preparation program. Data collection involved pre- and post-surveys. Results indicated: (1) The number of diversity courses, cross-cultural experiences, and ability to speak another language correlated with some diversity beliefs; (2) Personally, participants showed high sensitivity to race, ability, gender, and cultural diversity; while professionally, participants demonstrated low gender sensitivity and high sensitivity to race, ability, sexual orientation, cultural diversity, and language; (3) More personal than professional sensitivity on issues of race, ability, gender, and cultural diversity was demonstrated, while participants showed more professional than personal sensitivity to language and sexual orientation; and (4) There was significant change on personal language beliefs over the course of the semester.
Róbert Pap-Szigeti:
Cooperative Strategies in Teaching of Web-Programming, pages 51-64
In recent decades, the cooperative learning has been one of the most intensively studied teaching methods. Many empirical evidences, in educational research, prove that students' academic achievement, motivation, and social skills can develop much faster by using cooperative methods than in frontal or individual education. These advantages of cooperative learning can be utilized in college education, and it is very important in the situation of credit-system, where possibilities of social learning and students' professional communication are abated. In this study the main principles of cooperative learning are reviewed, and the techniques used in teaching web-programming are presented. We conducted an experiment with a small college student sample (n=24). The most important results of this project are shown in the paper.
Thomas Vietorisz & László Z. Karvalics:
Information Age Education in a Sustainable World, pages 65-78
Heading off the fast approaching global ecological and social crisis, the education must necessarily play a crucial role. What is essential is the kind of education that involves newly emerging generations of society, both cognitively and emotionally, in the creation of new knowledge about increasing ecological and social risks and their remedies. The transition to sustainable development crosses the integration of education with science in a vision of "knowledge producing megamachines of the future" - the hybrid communities of scientists, teachers and students.
Tamás Vámosi:
Aspects of a Special Group of Hungarian Labour Market, pages 79-84
The paper focusing on some macro level progressions that have influences on Hungarian labour-market and developed important target groups of adult education. Since the early 90s unemployment is decreasing, but the average duration of being in this status has increased. A massive group of long-term unemployed has set, and adult education - especially vocational training – is the most effective resort of re-integration. The economic activity of population aged 50-64 is very low in Hungary, without marketable knowledge they application is hardly possible, and that compromises the objectives of Lissabon, too. Nearly one million people couldn't or could finnish only elementary school, so the lack of specialized knowledge is a straight way to unemployment status or illegal labour relations.
Zoltán Bábosik:
The Future of Technical Education, or the Lessons of a Survey, pages 85-90
It is commonly known that the level of a country's technical development and technical culture basically depends on education, more precisely, the quality of basic education and that of technical education, one built on the other. In modern society, technical education fulfills a priority role in founding an individual's social competence, since in this case it is the foundation of the social success of large masses of people rather than that of an insignificant stratum of society that is at stake.
Judit Tauszig:
The Challenges of Life-long Learning - Success and Effort from the Physically Handicapped Students' Point of View, pages 91-96
The essay shares the conclusions of an experimental survey. The research was made with physically handicapped students in secondary education. It had two aims. On one hand it examined the disabled students' opinions about scholastic success and effort. On the other hand it tried to find out whether these students have the same point of view about these questions as the majority of the students in secondary education.
Book review
Knowledge and School (Csapó, Benő) reviewed by Csaba Jancsák pages 97-102
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