2016 Vol. 43. No. 1 - The New Educational Review

Transcription

2016
Vol. 43. No. 1
© Copyright by Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
Toruń 2016
ISSN 1732-6729
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CONTENTS
Stanisław Juszczyk
Editor’s Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
 GENERAL DIDACTICS
Vlasta Hus, Minka Koprivnik
Development of Some Notions of the Learning to Learn Competence
in Students of Primary Education in Slovenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Fifilia Xiao, Bens Pardamean
MOOC Model: Dimensions and Model Design to Develop Learning . . . . 28
Irena Przybylska
Emotional Intelligence and Burnout
in the Teaching Profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Pavel Doulík, Petr Eisenmann, Jiří Přibyl, Jiří Škoda
Unconventional Ways of Solving Problems in Mathematics Classes . . . . . 53
Ahmed Thaer, Ghbari Thaer
The Effect of ARCS Motivational Model on Achievement Motivation
and Academic Achievement of the Tenth Grade Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Mikhail Kolyada, Tatyana Bugayeva, Grigoriy Kapranov
Energizing Students in Class on the Basis
of Positional Training Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Matjaž Duh, Jerneja Herzog, Miroslav Huzjak
Popularity of Art Motifs among Fourth-Grade Primary School
Students in Slovenia and Croatia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Irina A. Malinina
Implementing Web 2.0 Tools for Collaborative Work
of Learners Studying English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
4
Contents
 SOCIAL PEDAGOGY
Sylwia Szopa, Krzysztof Sas-Nowosielski
Family Recreation Zones as a Supportive Environment for Physical
Activity in the Opinion of Its Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Fernando Barragán, José Gómez, Antonio Llorens,
Pedro D. Herrera
Gender Violence and Prisoners: Action Research and Pedagogy . . . . . . . 125
Andrés J. Muñoz-Mohedano, Miguel A. Martin-Sanchez
Reality and Criticism of Giftedness in the Spanish Education System . . . 137
Moh. Muchtarom, Dasim Budimansyah, Ace Suryadi
The Implementation of Integrated Education to Develop
the Intact Personality of Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Abdul Razaq Ahmad, Mohd Mahzan Awang
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Socio-Educational Support and
Community Engagement for Educational Development of Aboriginal
Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Aleksandra Tłuściak-Deliowska
School Experiences Retrospectively: Relationship Between Recall
of Bullying Experiences and Perception of Schools by Pedagogy
Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
 PEDEUTOLOGY
Radmila Burkovičová
Motivation to Become a Preschool Teacher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Krzysztof Rubacha, Mariana Sirotova, Mariola Chomczyńska-Rubacha
Educational Self-Efficacy in Teachers of Various Ethical Orientations.
The Slovak Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Kyung Ryung Kim, Eun Hee Seo
Investigation into the Desirable Character of Korean Teachers Using
the Delphi Technique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Elena V. Kostareva, Tatyana M. Permyakova
The Study of EFL Teachers’ Instruction Formalization
in LMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Contents
5
 MEDIA PEDAGOGY
Anna Brosch
When the Child is Born into the Internet: Sharenting as a Growing
Trend among Parents on Facebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Rajko Pećanac, Biljana Jeremić, Zivorad Milenović
Digital Media in the Teaching of Music Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
June Lee, Yangmi Koo, Mi Hwa Kim
Enhancing Problem Solving Skills in Science Education with Social
Media and an e-Collaboration Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
 SOME ASPECTS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Lenka Ďuricová, Lucia Lukáčová
Adolescent School-Related Self-Concept in Relation to Adolescent
Personality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Dagna J. Kocur
The Phenomenon of Fifty Shades of Grey:
the Role of Sexual Satisfaction and Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
 METHODOLOGY OF RESEARCH
Zuzanna Zbróg
Collective Biography Writing – Theoretical Foundations, Methods
and Outline of the Research Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
CONTRIBUTORS
Ahmad Abdul
Razaq (PhD)
Associate Professor, Faculty of Education,
National University of Malaysia, UKM
Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
e-mail: [email protected]
Awang Mohd
Mahzan (PhD)
Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education,
National University of Malaysia, UKM
Bangi Selangor, Malaysia
e-mail: [email protected].
my
Barragán Fernando
Universidad de La Laguna – Campus
Central-, Facultad de Educación, Avda.
Trinidad, s/n, 38204, San Cristóbal de La
Laguna, Tenerife, Islas Canarias, Spain
Brosch Anna (PhD)
Department of Early Education and
Media Pedagogy, University of Silesia in
Katowice, Poland
pl
Budimansyah
Dasim (Prof. Dr)
Professor of Civics Sociology, Indonesia
University of Education, Bandung,
Indonesia
e-mail: budimansyah@upi.
edu
Bugaeyova Tetyana
Ivanivna (PhD)
the Senior lecturer of the Engineering and e-mail: bugaeva_tatyana@
Computational Pedagogic Department,
mail.ru, website: http://donnu.
Donetsk National University, Ukraine
ru
Burkovičová
Radmila
Pedagogical Faculty, Ostrava University,
Pre-Primary and Primary Pedagogy
Department, Czech Republic
ChomczyńskaRubacha Mariola
(PhD, Prof.)
Faculty of Educational Sciences, The
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń,
Poland
Doulík Pavel (doc.,
PaedDr., Ph.D)
associate professor, Department of
Pedagogy, Faculty of Education UJEP,
Czech Republic
e-mail: [email protected],
website: www.ujep.cz
Duh Matjaž (PhD)
Department of Elementary Education,
University of Maribor, Slovenia; e-mail:
[email protected].
Ďuricová Lenka
(Mgr. PhD.)
Pedagogical Faculty, Matej Bel University,
Department of Psychology, Banská
Bystrica, Slovakia
e-mail: lenka.duricova@umb.
sk
Eisenmann Petr
(doc., PaedDr., CSc.) Mathematics, Faculty of Science UJEP,
Czech Republic
e-mail: Petr.Eisenmann@
ujep.cz, website: www.ujep.cz
Gómez José
Itaca Research Group, Faculty of
Education, University of La Laguna, Spain
8
Contributors
Herrera Pedro D.
Herzog Jerneja
(PhD)
Department of Elementary Education,
University of Maribor, Slovenia
Hus Vlasta (PhD)
Associate professor, University of Maribor,
Faculty of Education, Maribor, Slovenia
Huzjak Miroslav
(Mr. art.)
The Faculty of Teacher Education,
University of Zagreb, Croatia
Jeremić Biljana
Faculty of Education in Sombor, Serbia
Kapranov Grigory
Aleksandrovich
(Ph.D)
Vice Director for Strategic Development,
School of Education, Far Eastern Federal
University, Russia
Kim Kyung Ryung
Department of Teacher Education, Yonsei
University, Seoul, South Korea
Kim Mi Hwa
(Corresponding Author) Assistant
Professor, Department of Educational
Technology, Hanyang Cyber University
220, Wangshibri-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul,
Tel +82-2-2290-0323
Kocur Dagna J.
(MA)
University of Silesia, Department of
Psychology, Katowice, Poland
pl
Koliada Mykhailo
Georgijovych (PhD)
Professor, Head of the Engineering and
Computational Pedagogic Department,
Donetsk National University, Ukraine
e-mail: kolyada_mihail@mail.
ru, website: http://esu.com.ua/
search_articles.php?id=4240,
http://donnu.ru
Koo Yangmi
Senior Researcher, Prime College, Korea
National Open University 86 Daehak-ro,
Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea
Tel +82-2-3668-4451
[email protected]
Koprivnik Minka
(MA)
University of Maribor, Faculty of
Education, Maribor, Slovenia
e-mail: minka.koprivnik@
gmail.com
Kostareva Elena
(PhD)
National Research University – Higher
School of Economics, Perm, Russia
Krzysztof Rubacha
(PhD, Prof.)
Department of Pedagogy, Faculty of
Philosophy, University of Ss. Cyril and
Methodius, Slovakia
e-mail: krzysztof.rubacha@
ucm.sk
Lee June
Professor, Graduate School of Education,
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
107, Imun-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul,
Korea Tel +82-2-2173-3012
Llorens Antonio
website: http://uss.dvfu.ru/
Contributors
9
Lukáčová Lucia
(Bc.)
Pedagogical Faculty, Matej Bel University,
Department of Psychology (student),
Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic
Łukasik Joanna M.
(PhD)
Jesuit University Ignatianum in Cracow,
Poland
Malinina Irina A.
(PhD)
Associate Professor, Foreign Languages
Department, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Nizhny
Novgorod, Russia
[email protected]
Martin-Sanchez
Miguel (PhD)
Full-time professor, University of
Extremadura (Spain), Department of
Sciences Education. Teacher Training
College. Avda. Universidad s/n 10071
Cáceres (Spain)
e-mail: miguelmartin@unex.
es
Milenović Živorad
Teacher Training Fac. of Prizren University of Pristina, Serbia
Muchtarom Moh
Value Education, Doctoral Candidate of
the Postgraduate Program in School
General Education, Indonesia University
of Education, Bandung, Indonesia;
Lecturer of Sebelas Maret University,
Indonesia
e-mail: muhtarom1974@staff.
uns.ac.id, website: http://
ihtiroom.staff.uns.ac.id
Mulyono Herri
The University of Muhammadiyah Prof.
DR. HAMKA, Jakarta, Indonesia
e-mail: herrimulyono@gmail.
com
Muñoz-Mohedano
Andrés J. (MA)
doctorate, University of Extremadura
(Spain), Department of Sciences
Education. Teacher Training College.
Avda. Universidad s/n 10071 Cáceres
(Spain)
Pardamean Bens
(PhD)
Director, Bioinformatics & Data Science
Research Center, Bina Nusantara
University, Jakarta, Indonesia
e-mail: bpardamean@binus.
edu, website: http://research.
binus.ac.id/bdsrc/
Pećanac Rajko
(PhD)
Faculty of Education in Sombor, Serbia
e-mail: rajkopecanac13@
gmail.com
Permyakova Tatyana National Research University – Higher
M. (PhD)
School of Economics, Perm, Russia
Przybylska Irena
(PhD)
University of Silesia, Faculty of Education
and Psychology, Katowice, Poland
e-mail: irena.przybylska@
us.edu.pl.
Přibyl Jiří (Mgr.)
lecturer, Department of Mathematics,
Faculty of Science UJEP, Czech Republic
website: www.ujep.cz.
Rubacha Krzysztof
(Prof. Phd.)
Faculty of Educational Sciences, the
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń
e-mail: Krzysztof.Rubacha@
umk.pl.
10
Contributors
Sas-Nowosielski
Krzysztof (PhD,
Prof.)
The Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical
Education in Katowice, Department of
Humanistic Bases of Physical Culture,
Poland
e-mail: k.sas-nowosielski@
awf.katowice.pl
Seo Eun Hee
Department of General Education, Seoul
Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea
Sirotová Mariana
(MA, PhD)
Associate professor, Department of Peda- e-mail: mariana.sirotova@
gogy, Faculty of Philosophy, University of ucm.sk
Ss. Cyril and Methodius, Slovakia
Suryadi Ace (Prof.
Ph.D)
Professor of Economics Education,
Indonesia University of Education,
Bandung, Indonesia
Szopa Sylwia
The Jerzy Kukuczka Academy of Physical
Education in Katowice, Poland
Škoda Jiří (doc.,
PhDr., Ph.D.)
Pedagogy, Faculty of Education UJEP,
Czech Republic
e-mail: Jiri.Skoda @ujep.cz,
website: www.ujep.cz
Thaer Ahmed
the Hashemite University, Jordan
Thaer Ghbari
the Hashemite University, Jordan
Tłuściak-Deliowska
Aleksandra (PhD)
Assistant Professor in Department of
Theory of School Instruction, The Maria
Grzegorzewska University, Warsaw,
Poland
pl
Xiao Fifilia (MA)
Graduate Program of Information System
Management, Bina Nusantara University,
Jakarta, Indonesia
e-mail: fifi[email protected],
website: http://msi.binus.ac.id
Zbróg Zuzanna
(PhD)
Assistant Professor at Jan Kochanowski
University, Kielce, Poland
Stanisław Juszczyk
Editor’s Preface
The first number of The New Educational Review in 2016 is the forty-third issue
of our journal since the start of its foundation in 2003. In this issue there are
mainly papers from: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia,
Poland, South Korea, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, and Russia, because
our journal is open for presentation of scientific papers from all over the world.
In the present issue the Editors’ Board have proposed the following subject sessions: General Didactics, Social Pedagogy, Pedeutology, Media Pedagogy, Chosen
Aspects of Psychology, and Methodology of Research.
In the subject session “General Didactics” we publish eight articles. Vlasta Hus
and Minka Koprivnik present the results of empirical research on the learning to
learn competence in students of primary education in Slovenia. Massive Open
Online Course is a revolution in education; Fifilia Xiao and Bens Pardamean
describe their research on a learning model that is in accordance with the dimensions compatible with the MOOC rules. The presented study by Irena Przybylska
employs an emotional intelligence framework as a means of explicitly examining
the emotional competences and experiencing job satisfaction or burnout. The
contribution by Pavel Doulík and his co-workers enquires into possibilities of the
application of the heuristic methods in the teaching process, specifically its application during the classes of mathematics in grammar school. The examining of
the effect of ARCS model on the achievement motivation and academic achievement of the tenth grade students is the subject of the article by Ahmed Thaer
and Ghbari Thaer. The article by Mikhail Kolyada and his co-workers considers a
positional training model as a way to energize students in class. Matjaž Duh and
his co-workers present the results of an empirical study, whose purpose was to
identify preferences for art motifs among fourth-grade primary school students
in Slovenia and Croatia. The aim of the paper by Irina A. Malinina is to introduce
findings of the project on implementing Web 2.0 resources for collaborative work
in the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
12
Stanisław Juszczyk
In the subject session “Social Pedagogy” we publish six articles. The main purpose of the study by Sylwia Szopa and Krzysztof Sas-Nowosielski was to examine
how a relatively new initiative supporting active leisure of people, i.e., Family Recreation Zones, is perceived by its users. Action-Research Methodology and gender
sensitivity linked to solving gender violence expression in prisons is the subject
of the article presented by Fernando Barragán and his co-workers. The paper by
Andrés J. Muñoz-Mohedano and Miguel A. Martin-Sanchez is a critical analysis
of and a theoretical reflection on the minority of students: gifted children in the
Spanish education system. The objective of the study by Moh, Muchtarom, Dasim
Budimansyah and Ace Suryadi was to describe the implementation of integrated
education in Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior Secondary School of Sukoharjo, Central Java, Indonesia. Abdul Razaq Ahmad and Mohd Mahzan Awang
report on the socio-educational support provided by local community, parents
and school teachers for aboriginal students. The study presented by Aleksandra
Tłuściak-Deliowska explores the bullying experiences of 332 pedagogy students
in their former schools.
In the subject session “Pedeutology” we publish four articles. The purpose of
the research presented by Radmila Burkovičová was to find out which external
and internal considerations and life experience motivate students for acquiring
university education for the teaching profession and majoring in preschool
teaching. The article by Krzysztof Rubacha, Mariana Sirotova and Mariola
Chomczyńska-Rubacha provides an empirical analysis of a relationship between
ethical orientations and educational self-efficacy. Kyung Ryung Kim and Eun Hee
Seo explore the desirable character attributes of teachers and provide specific
behavioural guidelines for being a good teacher in Korea. The paper by Elena V.
Kostareva and Tayana M. Permyakova focuses on the formalization of English as
foreign language teachers’ instruction in LMS eFront.
In the subject session “Media Pedagogy” we publish three articles. The goal
of the paper by Anna Brosch is to theorize a new type of parents’ online activities concerning their children, especially the problem of sharenting, which is
increasingly common in the context where social media, such as Facebook, play
a significant role in relationships and interactions. The article by Rajko Pećanac,
Biljana Jeremić and Zivorad Milenović examines the contribution of learning
with the help of digital media to the quality of students’ knowledge when getting
acquainted with the basics of musical literacy in the teaching of Music Education
in lower primary school grades. The study by June Lee, Yangmi Koo and Mi Hwa
Kim aims to explore a collaborative problem solving case using social media and
Editor’s Preface
13
an e-collaboration tool, and analyse its educational implications in a qualitative
research method.
In the subject session “Chosen Aspects of Psychology” we publish two articles.
The aim of the study by Lenka Ďuricová and Lucia Lukačová was to examine
adolescent personality in relation to the adolescent school-related self-concept, in
particular to its cognitive aspects. In the presented study, Dagna J. Kocur asks what
aspects of the book “Fifty Shades of Grey” attract women’s attention, what they
despise and how the book assessment relates to sexual satisfaction or motivation.
In the subject session “Methodology of Research” Zuzanna Zbróg describes the
innovative method of qualitative research, i.e. Collective Biography Writing, which
is not well known at all in the pedagogical research of the region of Central and
Eastern Europe.
We hope that this edition, like previous ones, will encourage new readers not
only from the Central European countries to participate in an open international
discussion. On behalf of the Editors’ Board I would like to invite representatives
of different pedagogical sub-disciplines and related sciences to publish their texts
in The New Educational Review, according to the formal requirements placed on
our website: www.educationalrev.us.edu.pl – Guide for Authors.
General
Didactics
Slovenia
Development of Some Notions of the Learning
to Learn Competence in Students
of Primary Education in Slovenia
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.01
Abstract
The learning to learn competence is becoming more and more important, as
it enables efficient learning, is developing awareness and planning one‘s own
process of learning. With empirical research, we wanted to study some of its
aspects in the 4t year (undergraduate) and 1st year students (postgraduate) of
the Faculties of Education in Slovenia. To establish the students‘ evaluation of
their ways of learning and competence to teach we used a questionnaire. With
the use of the research, we established the growth of evaluation of the majority
of aspects, which shows that the learning to learn competence is related to
a better evaluation of students’ own way of learning and better marks. Reported
findings reveal that this competence and its aspects have a great impact on the
effectiveness of learning and success of students.
Keywords: lifelong learning, learning to learn competence, undergraduate students, postgraduate students, Faculties of Education in Slovenia
Introduction
In today’s time when the only constant is change, the development of the
learning to learn competence is particularly important. The European Commission pointed out the importance of this competence in 2006 and proposed to all
members of the Union to place the competence in the curricula at all education
levels. The learning to learn competence was defined as “the ability to learn and
18
persist in learning, to organize one’s own learning, including through effective time
and information management, both individually and in groups” (Official Journal
of the European Union 2006, 16). Amalathas (2010) lists the following skills which
the learning to learn competence enables individuals: independent and lifelong
learning, an ability to take account of individual needs, to adapt to change and
a capability of self-reflection on work and learning, motivation, knowledge of
strategies and ways to choose to learn effectively, self-confidence, an ability to learn
with and from others, etc.
Stringher (2006) gathered 40 different definitions of learning in her study, and
found out that the concept of the learning competence covers a variety of factors.
One of them is self-regulation of learning, which Zimmerman (Schunk and Zimmerman, 1994) describes as a cyclical process, where learners observe and monitor
the applied strategies of learning, changes and self-efficacy, and on this basis adapt
and replace ineffective strategies for those which they deem to be more efficient.
The development of self-regulation is very important because it has a significant
impact on learning outcomes (Bakracevic Vukman and Licardo, 2010). A student
who has well-developed self-regulatory abilities knows how to set his/her goals, is
aware of the effectiveness of learning, knows how to manage time and knows how
to use cognitive and metacognitive strategies in learning (Bakracevic Vukman,
Funcic Masic and Schmidt, 2013).
Cognition and cognitive strategies play an important role in the development
of the learning to learn competence as they enable complex thinking, the skill of
information processing, mental habits and the acquisition of effective learning
strategies (Ažman, Jenko and Sulič, 2011). In addition to cognition, a major role
is played by metacognition, which in the 1970s Flavell defined as the knowledge
about cognitive processes (Bakračevič Vukman, 2010). Metacognition should
enable students to be aware of how to plan learning, monitoring, the evaluation
and explanation of their own learning process, the capability of assessing the
appropriate methods of teaching and self-reflection (Ažman, Jenko and Sulič,
2011), and have a significant impact on academic achievements.
Effective learning is influenced by understanding the impact factors of
successful learning, which include the efficient use of available learning time.
It is important that students learn to plan their own learning and schedule
work tasks as individuals or as a group. This helps them to maintain learning
motivation on which it depends what the thoroughness of learning and the
quality of the results obtained will be like (Binder, Keller and Thiel, 1999).
Besides planning time, the management of information skills is important. If
students have developed the skills of individual searching, reviewing, collect-
19
ing, processing and presenting information, as individuals or as a group, their
learning will be more effective.
Moreno (2006) states that the majority of students do not study in order to
learn, which would help them in lifelong learning, but they learn primarily to
pass exams. This way of thinking leads to their learning specific contents without
understanding the contents or the processes taking place. That is contrary to the
objectives of educational institutions that want to lead students to quality knowledge. Therefore, it is important that students’ acquiring adequate knowledge about
the learning to learn competence and its factors will help them in achieving better
learning outcomes.
For many years, research into the learning to learn competence has been carried
out within the EU member states. One of the studies, which was conducted in 2007
in Slovenia (Licardo, 2009), showed that the development of the learning to learn
competence is associated with the attitude to education and school achievements
and that regulation of emotions and metacognition has the greatest influence on
learning achievements. According to Licardo (2009), the results of the conducted
study confirmed the importance of the learning to learn competence in the educational process and that students‘ performance depends on the development of it.
Research Methodology
The purpose of the study was to examine how individual learning to learn
competences are eveloped in students of primary education. We wanted to find out
how students evaluate individual statements, which reflect the individual factors
of learning to learn competence, which are:
 efficiency of time management in the organizing of learning
– as an individual and
– in a group
 effectiveness of information management in the organizing of learning
– as an individual and
– in a group,
 effectiveness of the cognitive aspects of learning,
 effectiveness of the metacognitive aspects of learning and,
 one’s own attitude toward education.
We also wanted to determine whether there are, regarding individual factors,
any differences among average achievement in previous year and the evaluation
of their own way of learning.
20
The study was based on a descriptive and causal non-experimental method
of empirical pedagogical research. In the study, there were 305 4t year level 1
and 1st year level 2 students included who studied in the programme of Primary
Education at the faculties of education in Slovenia in the academic year 2014/2015.
For data collection, we used a questionnaire with verified metric characteristics
(validity, reliability, objectivity). To measure the individual factors of learning to
learn competence, which were evaluated by the students using a variety of statements (statements adapted according to Licardo, 2008), we used a rating scale
(1 – 5).
The data were analyzed using SPSS statistics program, where we used basic
descriptive statistics. Statistically (in)significant differences between various
factors were examined using analysis of variance differences (ANOVA), where
commonly general F-test was used. Where the assumption of homogeneity of
variances was not justified, we indicated the outcome of Welch F-test.
A broader presentation of the research results is available in the paper by
Koprivnik (2015).
Results and Interpretation
First, we examined how students of the faculties of education evaluated individual statements related to factors that reflect the learning to learn competence.
Table 1. Results of basic descriptive statistics in the overall results of individual
factors of learning
Factors
N
MIN MAX
_
x statements
_
x
s
SKEW KURT
Time management in the organ- 305 9.00 20.00 3.5590 14.2361 1.84338 -0.129 0.784
izing of learning as an individual
Time management in the organ- 305 3.00 15.00 2.5596 7.6787
izing of learning in a group
Information management in
the organizing of learning as an
individual
2.27581 0.356
0.100
305 6.00 24.00 3.5705 17.8525 2.26991 -0.448 1.529
Time management in the organ- 305 6.00 30.00 4.0328 24.1967 3.85775 -0.586 0.802
izing of learning in a group
Cognitive aspects of learning
305 8.00 25.00 3.8715 19.3574 3.00769 -0.289 0.235
Factors
N
Metacognitive aspects of learning
_
x state-
MIN MAX
21
_
x
ments
s
SKEW KURT
305 6.00 30.00 3.8219 22.9311 3.83352 -0.542 1.091
Attitude toward education
305 5.00 26.00 4.3370 21.6852 3.06819 -1.268 2.632
_
(N – number of students, MIN – minimum, MAX – maximum, x statements – mean of statements, –
mean, s – std. deviation, SKEW – skewness, KURT – kurtosis)
The results showed that the students best evaluated the statements of the factor
_
Attitude toward education (x statement = 4,3370), while the lowest grade was given to
_
the factor Time management in the organizing of learning in a group (x statement =
2,5596). We assume that the low grades of the latter suggest the problem of group
work forms, namely that professors at universities, despite their increasing awareness that students in group work forms are more actively involved in the learning
process and achieve good results (Peklaj, 2001), do not make sufficient use of them.
Below we present the results of the analysis of statistically significant differences
in individual factors of the learning to learn competence with regard to:
 average achievement of the previous year, and
 evaluation of one’s own way of learning.
Table 2. Results of the analysis of differences verification variance in the assessment
of individual factors of the learning to learn competence with regard to the last year’s
average learning achievement
Factors
Time management in the
organizing of learning as
an individual
organizing of learning in
a group
Information management
in the organizing of learning as an individual
Learning
achievement
6.00 – 7.99
8.00 – 8.99
9.00 – 10.00
N
_
x
F2
P2
0.002
57 14.8070 1.68437
8.00 – 8.99
198 7.6364
9.00 – 10.00
57 7.4912
9.00 – 10.00
P1
198 14.2475 1.84539 0.363 0.696 6.532
50 8.0600
6.00 – 7.99
F1
50 13.5400 1.80939
6.0 – 7.99
8.00 – 8.99
s
1.77752
2.30847 2.446 0.088 0.929
0.396
2.53633
50 17.2000 1.60357
198 17.8636 2.31012 4.943 0.008 4.983
57 18.3860 2.50538
0.008
22
Factors
Information management
in the organizing of learning in a group
Learning
achievement
6.00 – 7.99
8.00 – 8.99
9.00 – 10.00
6.00 – 7.99
Cognitive aspects of
learning
8.00 – 8.99
9.00 – 10.00
6.00 – 7.99
Metacognitive aspects of
learning
Attitude towards education
8.00 – 8.99
N
_
x
s
P1
F2
50 23.3200 3.70019
198 24.2626 3.86862 0.070 0.932 1.890
P2
0.153
57 24.7368 3.89380
50 18.4800 2.64375
198 19.3333 3.07767 0.658 0.519 4.530
0.012
57 20.2105 2.87064
50 21.0000 3.60838
198 22.9141 3.71684 0.233 0.792 13.302 0.000
9.00 – 10.00
57 24.6842 3.65063
6.00 – 7.99
50 20.7200 3.27040
8.00 – 8.99
F1
198 21.8283 3.00098 0.450 0.638 3.102
0.046
9.00 – 10.00
57 22.0351 3.00574
_
(N – number of students, x – mean, s – std. deviation, F1, P1 – test of homogeneity of variances, F2,
P2 – ANOVA)
The results of F-test show that there are statistically significant differences
in factors: Time management in the organizing of learning as an individual (P =
0.002), Information management in the organizing of learning as an individual (P
= 0.008), Cognitive aspects of learning (P = 0.012), Metacognitive aspects of learning
(P = 0.000), and in the factor Attitude to education (P = 0.046).
The averages show that those students who grade better the factors Time management in the organizing of learning as an individual, Information management in
the organizing of learning as an individual, Cognitive aspects of learning, Metacognitive aspects of learning and assess more positively the factor Attitude toward education, have better academic achievements. The results were predicted, as each of the
factors listed significantly contributes to achieving better learning achievements.
Effective time management is one of the important aspects of the learning to learn
competence that contribute to achieving better outcomes (Bakračevič Vukman,
2010). A great role is also played by well-developed information management
skills that enable us to acquire our knowledge more systematically and effectively.
Students’ academic performance is also dependent on properly developed cognitive abilities that allow for a proper understanding and processing information
and lead them to a specific objective (Vermunt, 1989), and develop metacognitive
abilities that have a major impact on how an individual learns. The more developed these abilities are, the higher possibilities an individual has to achieve the set
23
goals, learn their study material better (Pintrich and Schunk, 2002) and achieve
better academic outcomes. In her study on some aspects of the learning to learn
competence and its relationship with academic achievements, Licardo (2008) drew
the conclusion that metacognition has the highest correlation coefficient with
school performance. Additionally, Moreno (2006) found that a positive attitude to
education significantly contributes to academic achievement.
Table 3. Results of analysis of differences verification variance in the assessment
of individual factors of the learning to learn competence with regard to the assessment
of one’s own way of learning
Assessment of one’s
own way of learning
organizing of
learning as an
individual
N
_
x
s
Very poor, poor
11 13.4545
Neither poor nor good
68 13.3529
1.69075
199 14.3819
1.74798
Very good
27 15.7037
1.26536
organizing of
learning in
a group
Very poor, poor
11 7.9091
2.58668
68 8.3676
2.39965
199 7.4925
2.15057
Very good
27 7.2222
2.48586
Information
management in
the organizing
of learning as an
individual
Very poor, poor
11 17.0000
2.14476
68 16.8382
1.87370
199 18.0151
2.25961
Very good
27 19.5556
2.08167
Information
management in
the organizing
of learning in
a group
Very poor, poor
11 23.2727
4.62798
Good
Good
Good
Good
Very good
Cognitive asVery poor, poor
pects of learning Neither poor nor good
Metacognitive aspects of
learning
68 22.3971
3.75416
199 24.3970
3.66090
27 27.6296
2.45181
11 18.3636
3.00908
68 17.8382
3.20732
2.76592
Very good
27 21.3704
2.48299
Very poor, poor
11 17.3636
4.36515
68 20.5147
3.47912
199 23.5126
3.20961
27 27.0000
2.58695
Good
Very good
P1
F2
P2
2.69680
199 19.6583
Good
F1
0.878 0.453 13.454 0.000
0.508 0.677 2.978
0.032
1.012 0.388 11.536 0.000
1.993 0.115 14.052 0.000
1.006 0.390 12.066 0.000
0.907 0.438 39.079 0.000
24
Assessment of one’s
own way of learning
Very poor, poor
Attitude toward Neither poor nor good
education
Good
N
_
x
11 19.2727
s
F1
P1
F2
P2
2.96954
68 20.7500
3.28895
199 21.9296
2.97380
1.776 0.152 7.505
0.000
Very good
27 23.2222 1.94804
_
(N – number of students, x – mean, s – std. deviation, F1, P1 – test of homogeneity of variances, F2,
P2 – ANOVA)
The results of the F-test showed that there are statistically significant differences
among arithmetic means in all the factors of the learning to learn competence in
relation to the assessment of one’s own way of learning.
The results showed that in most cases the students who better evaluate the
individual factors of learning, better estimate their own way of learning as well.
From the presented average values we can see that the students who rate the
factor Time management in the organizing of learning as an individual better, rate
their own way of learning higher than the students who manage time worse. The
average values for the factor Time management in the organizing of learning in
a group show that the students who consider their own way of learning as worse,
rate their ability of time management at learning in a group higher. The latter
results were not expected, since we had assumed that in both cases, in accordance
with the increase in the rates of time management (as an individual and in groups),
the assessment of one’s own way of learning would have also increased. Proper
time management, nevertheless, is one of the important strategies of effective
learning and has an important impact on rating one’s own way of learning (Binder,
Keller and Thiel, 1999).
The students who rate the factors Cognitive aspects of learning and Metacognitive
aspects of learning higher have a better opinion about their own learning style. The
results obtained were expected, because we believe that students who are aware of
the capabilities of their own learning and also rate it higher, possess more developed cognitive and metacognitive abilities which are very important for effective
learning. These refer to effective acquisition of a new knowledge and adjusting the
characteristics of one’s own way of learning. The influence of metacognition on
rating one’s own way of learning is also supported by Magajna (1996), who states
that metacognition affects the individual‘s perception of self as a learner, which
can be associated with being aware of and evaluating one’s own way of learning.
The results show that the students who rate the factors Information management in
25
the organizing of learning as an individual and in a group higher also estimate their
own way of learning better. Developed skills of information management, such
as searching, organizing, sorting, presenting material should therefore contribute
to a better assessment of one’s own way of learning both as an individual and ina
group.
Conclusions
In 2006, the European Parliament and the Council presented the key competences for lifelong learning and one of these is learning to learn. According to
experts, it is one of the key competences because it represents an important means
for students’ future, enabling them a successful integration with the labor market
and free movement of the labor force across the European Union. The aim of
the EU policy is to increase the quality of education for all its members, a great
contribution to it is the aforementioned competence that allows students to learn
effectively.
In our study we wanted to highlight the importance of developing certain
factors of the learning to learn competence and to determine how these abilities
appear in the Slovenian students of primary education, how they impact on their
academic success and the assessment of their own way of learning.
We discovered that the students best evaluate the factor Attitude to education.
The result is good, because previous studies show a positive correlation between
the appropriate attitudes to education and achieving good learning outcomes. The
factor Time management in the organization of learning in a group has proved to be
the worst estimated. The students told us that it is hard work doing a task in a certain time so they adapt poorly to the scheduling of work in groups. The latter arguments are worrying because recent findings show that learning in a group makes
students more actively involved in the learning process and achieve better results.
Results indicate the fact that the students of Faculties of Education in Slovenia
during training do not gain sufficient relevant experience, skills or encouragement
in relation to work in groups, which leads to poor results in this sort of work. We
believe that professors and mentors need to make greater use of collective forms
of work and learning. They need to support students in using these techniques
and ensure well-planned tasks and activities that make such work and learning
possible. The following results showed that individual factors of the learning to
learn competence are correlated with the achievement of learning outcomes and
evaluating their own way of learning. In doing so, the participants emphasized
26
the factor of Metacognitive aspects of learning, which was marked as one of the
best factors. Metacognition and metacognitive abilities should, in fact, have a significant impact on the effectiveness of learning, which is a positive indicator of
the condition in Slovenian faculties. In this study, we showed the real state of the
development of the learning to learn skills in colleges for primary school education in Slovenia and confirmed the importance of the development by students, on
whom it depends how their pupils will develop the aforementioned competence.
We believe that given the importance of the learning to learn competence and to
promote lifelong and effective learning, similar research should be conducted in
all the countries of the European Union and thus, the situation in the EU member
states could be compared. With mutual cooperation on the basis of the obtained
results it would globally contribute to better development and implementation of
the learning to learn competence, registered in the Official Journal of the European
Union, and it would also be included in students’ curricula at universities and
other educational institutions.
References
Amalathas, E. (2010). Learning to Learn in Further Education. Reading: CfBT Education
Trust. Retrieved from: http://www.campaign-for-learning.org.uk/cfl/assets/documents/
Research/LearningToLearn_v5FINAL.pdf
Ažman, T., Jenko G. & Sulič, T. (2011). Ugotavljanje in vrednotenje razvitosti kompetence
učenje učenja. [Assessment and evaluation of the development learning to learn competences] Ljubljana: Andragoški center Republike Slovenije. Retrieved from: http://arhiv.
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ucenja.pdf
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of learning to learn skills] Maribor: Oddelek za slovanske jezike in književnosti.
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and emotional self-regulation influence performance in adolescence and young adulthood. Educational Studies, 36 (3), 259 – 268.
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učnim uspehom ob koncu primarnega, sekundarnega in terciarnega izobraževanja. [Some
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Fifilia Xiao, Bens Pardamean
Indonesia
MOOC Model: Dimensions and Model Design
to Develop Learning
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.02
Abstract
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is a revolution in education. As learner,
teacher presence and teaching method no longer depend upon time and distance, class enrolment also becomes open for more of the populace regardless
of educational background. The goal of the research is to design a learning
model that is in accordance with dimensions that are compatible with the
MOOC rules. Literature review, a questionnaire, and interviews were used to
define dimensions based on the MOOC rules. The research resulted in a model
that is in accordance with MOOC categories and dimensions based on input
from both users and developers.
Keywords: MOOC dimension, MOOC Model, learner oriented, e-learning, online
courses
Introduction
Technology development has driven changes in education. E-learning is a learning method that uses technology, such as CD-ROM, internet/intranet, audio, video,
application, program, object, website, etc. (Moore, Dickson-Deane & Galyen, 2011).
Online learning or online course is a part of e-learning, a method that allows for
flexibility in terms of accessing class activities and contents without the limitations
of physical place and time (Cole, 2000).
The online learning method requires devices known as the ‘Bring Your Own
Device’ component, Internet access, and cloud technology. Massive Open Online
MOOC Model: Dimensions and Model Design to Develop Learning
29
Course (MOOC) is a new online learning method in education that is currently
developing. MOOC was founded in 2008 by Siemens et al. In this method, the
learner has freedom to choose a course (Scagnoli, 2012), while MOOC provides
learning services by using videos, quizzes, blogs, and other online materials
(O’Reilly & Veeramachaneni, 2014). MOOC also incorporates interactions and
fosters interconnectivity among learners through online discussion forums, rendering its global and universal nature for learners.
The advantage of the MOOC service for learners is the award of online certification of accomplishment at the end of the course. This certification states that
the learner has taken tutorials, problem sets, quizzes, and final examinations for
each subject based on provided materials. On the other hand, the advantage of
the MOOC service for material providers and instructors is the ability to analyze
learning activities through data collection.
With the rapid development and expansion of MOOC and online learning in
general, it would be necessary to have a strong basis for comparing MOOC and
online learning, especially for dimensional knowledge and development process.
This would allow for the determination of the impact that technological development and innovation have in education.
Every development plays its own role in providing operational services and
learning contents (Kesima and Altınpulluk, 2014). In this discussion, it is the
emphasized 11 questions which are related to time and online learning that is not
determined by distance and time. The Learner-Oriented category consists of some
dimensions, such as Assessment, Course Offered, General, Human, Instructional,
Learning Content, and Time. This category is related to user activities such as
observation, submitting, viewing data, taking course attendance, quiz, exams
and collaborating about data that have been data standard described by Veeramachaneni, Dernoncourt, Taylor, Pardos, & O’Reilly (2013). Learner orientation is
related to material knowledge and skills (Rosselle, Caron & Heutte, 2014) as well
as the assessment method of learner achievement and development. In the online
learning content dimension, everything in accordance with standard can be used
repeatedly, after a few adjustments, such as those regarding the difficulty level
and material copyrights. Varied sources of learning can also facilitate the learning
process. Materials such as videos, online reading, and other digital contents can
broaden knowledge (Scagnoli, 2012). Assessment in learning is used as an indicator
of the level of skill acquisition. This dimension creation should be tailored to the
format and duration of individual sets of material content in order to maximize
its quality. Automatic scoring can also be done. The human dimension in learning
influences the learning process, taking the role of planning and implementing
30
Fifilia Xiao, Bens Pardamean
learning development. The human developer requires support from many parties,
such as technical assistance, instructional assistance, library assistance, and the
actor’s feedback/response (in this case, the learner’s). To attract users’ interest, it is
better to pay attention to a general dimension related to naming. Besides that, clear
instructions that are easy to understand help users to learn and comprehend the
scope of courses offered. The last dimension of learner orientation is time, which
is related to the duration of the learning activity.
Community is a part of the Communication category. This dimension is related
to the interaction control between learners and teachers through both in-person
and online media interactions. For instance, Google+ (Grover, Franz, Schneider,
& Pea, 2013) assists communication through the creation of discussion forums,
social media, and linking/blogging, which fosters various communities.
Figure 1. MOOC Concept Model
Technology is an important component in providing online learning. The technology and design dimensions are included in this category, which is related to
main technology, support and design. Main technology in learning relates to platform, communication/interaction media, and learning analytics support (Grover,
Franz, Schneider & Pea, 2013). Technology consists of video editors, browser, live
31
chat software, office document editor, etc., which are complementary to preparing
learning materials. The design of learning consists of adaptive structure and the
learning process, while the aim of learning that is in accordance with the standard
applied may help the learner to find motivation (Kizilcec, Piech, & Schneider, 2013).
Method
The presented study utilized qualitative descriptive methods for the development of a learning model that is in accordance with the MOOC rules. Literature
review is used for data collection of previous studies related to online learning
dimensions. The concept used in developing a learning model that is in accordance
with the MOOC rules defines the relationship between previous studies and the
current learning development phenomena. This concept consists of 10 dimensions
that are related to one another and divided into 3 categories: Learner Oriented,
Communication, and Technology. These 10 dimensions are used in composing
49 questions for the questionnaire, which were used to support the development
of learning. The questionnaire and interview were also used for data collection.
Questions in this phase were aligned to learning dimensions. Convenience
sampling was applied in order to select questionnaire respondents, consisting of
lecturers and learners who had had experience with online learning. The interview
portion of the data collection was done to garner input from learning developers
at universities that have applied online learning. Collected data are analyzed with
descriptive statistics by ratio analysis (%).
In designing the learning model, Unified Model Language (UML) and the
model consisting of Use Case, Activity Diagram, Class Diagram, Entity Relationship Diagram, Flow Chart, and User Interface were used.
Result
1. advertisement duration
2. material duration
3. motivation
4. accomplishment period
5. time flexibility
6. learning review
7. time adjustment vs. level of difficulty
8. impact of quiz duration on result
9. impact of duration on exam result
10.remedial exam
11. recommendation
32
Figure 2. Questionnaires Analytics
Figure 2 shows the results of the study questionnaire covering the relationship
between duration and the learning results. Questions in the questionnaire are
about what if online learning is supported by using advertisement, duration of
video watching, relation between duration and motivation, duration of learning
accomplishment, flexibility of learning duration and learning recommendation
may cause the learning duration to be well organized. The data will also be used
to develop learning design. In Figure 3 there are 40 entities related to the learning
material, the learning process, and the users. This design discusses the learning
process that is related to the duration dimension and its relationship with potential
activities that learners can perform while learning, which are presented in Figures
3 and 4.
The learning process related to user activities (as described in Figure 3) covered
learner, teacher, course, enroll course, course detail, event, source, and share entities. ‘User entity’ stores data needed to log in to the learning system, while the detail
is stored at entities based on their roles. ‘Enroll course’ and ‘course detail’ store data
concerning learning. ‘Share’ stores data concerning sharing activities, ‘source’ stores
data concerning source of material, and ‘event’ stores data concerning learning
activities, material name, duration between starting and accomplishment time
(adjusted to the level of difficulty for each material based on 93% of respondents),
Figure 3. Entity Relationship Diagram (1)
[33]
Figure 4. Entity Relationship Diagram (2)
[34]
35
and information about material log. ‘Source’ stores data concerning material
resources that come from many other resources including its material access URL.
Figure 4 shows the relation between event entity and any activities that learners
can perform. Design in Figure 4 consists of journal, video, material, quiz, and
examination entities. Those entities are related to event entity that covers all activities, duration, and frequency during the enrollment. Based on 93%, it is designed
for users to access quizzes during the enrollment period with options to retake the
quiz if results do not meet expectations.
Users may perform any actions that are related to journal view, material
readings, communication (e.g., discussion), and submission of quiz exercises and
examinations. Any actions that users can do are shown in Figure 5.
The use case diagram in Figure 5 shows the actions that users can do with the
system, such as enrolling in the course, watching videos, viewing, and downloading
materials, viewing, and creating journals, viewing notes, and creating notes, taking
quizzes or examinations, reviewing courses, and sharing materials. Before performing these actions, users must log in to the learning system. Registration must be
done prior to logging in to the learning system. Then users may choose courses,
visit any pages, submit anything related to the course, and update personal data
that have been recorded by the system. If a user has enrolled in a course, then he/
she may do any other actions. The details of user interactions during the enrollment
are described in Figure 6. User behavior during a quiz is related to several objects
that interact with user actions and behavior, which are also illustrated in Figure 6.
The sequence diagram in Figure 6 describes user action while doing a quiz in
a course. After logging in to the system and choosing a material, ‘Enroll User’ will
check the quiz and then the user may do the quiz. Afterwards, the answers will be
sent to the system and marked automatically, and then the score will be sentto the
user.
After defining user actions, ‘User Interface’ is designed in order to simplify the
description of the information flow between the user and the computer. ‘User
Interface’ is created in order to show information and user action on learning pages.
Figure 7 presents the Initial page of learning, i.e., a page through which a user
may register as a new user, log in to the system (after account creation), and read
the information that has been provided by the learning service developer. This
Initial page is designed to show any information that can be read and understood
by anyone who has visited this learning page. The information details include
information about the service provider and recommended course materials. The
user may also view information about learning through any social media icons
that are supplied by the provider.
[36]
Figure 5. Use Case Diagram
Figure 6. Quiz Sequence Diagram
[37]
[38]
Figure 7. Home User Interface
Figure 8. Course User Interface
39
The Course page will show the courses offered by the lesson provider. The user
may choose a course through the selection of a specific course during a specific
time. The user may enroll as long as the registration occurs within the offered time
period, during which the user can perform any learning action. The details are
described in Figure 9.
Figure 9. Enroll Course User Interface
On the learning page, users can view their learning progress summarized by
a status bar that is placed on the learning page, material video, material description, and list of module. There is also an action tab for the user to support learning,
such as class forum, materials, notes, share, and connections. ‘Class forum’ is used
for communication among learners and lecturers to discuss the course. ‘Materials’
is used for displaying all materials related to learning. ‘Notes’ is used for taking
any notes and viewing previous notes related to learning. ‘Connections’ is used
for viewing any users who have enrolled in the same course. This page is also
connected with social media to support communication media among users. The
learning and course pages that have been visited and enrolled into by a user are
recorded in the user’s history log.
40
Conclusion
This research focused on the development of the MOOC model design with
10 dimensions related to one another. Learning model development is described
differently, based on the service provider. Integrating input from users and providers enhances the design of the model. Despite its expansive reach, MOOC can
be used to target individual users as well. Studying each user is important in order
to accumulate ways to personalize and thus improve the quality of the learning
experiences. For instance, the ‘Time’ dimension can be considered as an indicator
by which providers can adjust material learning duration and the level of material
difficulty of a course; users can also choose the offered learning based on their own
interests in order to support motivation and learning activities.
References
Cole, R.A. (2000). Issues in Web-based Pedagogy: A Critical Primer. Westport. CT: Greenwood Press.
Grover, S., Franz, P., Schneider, E., & Pea, R. (2013). The MOOC as Distributed Intelligence:
Dimensions of Framework & Evaluation of MOOCs. 10t International Conference on
Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, 42 – 45.
Kesima, M., & Altınpulluk, H. (2014). A Theoretical Analysis of MOOCs Types from
a Perspective of Learning Theories. 5t World Conference on Learning, Teaching and
Educational Leadership (WCLTA 2014).
Kizilcec, R.F., Piech, C., & Schneider, E. (2013). Deconstructing Disengagement: Analyzing
Learner Subpopulations in Massive Open Online Courses. In Proceedings of the Third
International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (pp. 170 – 179). ACM.
Moore, J.L., Dickson-Deane, C., & Galyen, K. (2011). e-Learning, Online Learning, and
Distance Learning Environments: Are They the Same? Internet and Higher Education.
O’Reilly, U.M., & Veeramachaneni, K. (2014). Technology for Mining the Big Data of
MOOCs: Research & Practice in Assessment, 9(2), 29 – 37.
Rosselle, M., Caron, P.-A., & Heutte, J. (2014). A Typology and Dimensions of a Description
Framework for MOOCs. EMOOC.
Scagnoli, N.I. (2012). Instructional Design of a MOOC. Thoughts on Instructional Design
for MOOCs.
Veeramachaneni, K., Dernoncourt, F., Taylor, C., Pardos, Z., & O’Reilly, U.M. (2013).
MOOCDB: Developing Data Standards for MOOC Data Science. In AIED 2013 Workshops Proceedings (p. 17).
Irena Przybylska
Poland
Emotional Intelligence and Burnout
in the Teaching Profession
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.03
Abstract
The presented study employed an emotional intelligence framework as a means
of explicitly examining the emotional competences and experiencing job satisfaction or burnout. Emotional intelligence is hypothesized to have a positive
relationship with higher job satisfaction and negative with burnout. Firstly,
the variables are discussed on the basis of existing concepts and research.
The second part presents my own research: methodology outline, main data
and discussion. Results showed that emotional intelligence was a negative
significant predictor (r=0.54, p<0.05) of burnout symptoms, and a positive
significant predictor of job satisfaction (r=0.37, p<0.05). The paper concludes
with a discussion of the pedagogical implications, teaching professionalization
and recommendations for future research.
Keywords: teaching, emotional intelligence, emotional labour, job satisfaction,
burnout
Teaching is an emotional endeavour (Hargreaves, 1998, Przybylska, 2014). On
a daily basis, teachers must deal with a variety of interpersonal and organizational
aggravations. Increasing stress, decreasing personal achievement and job satisfaction might be the result of constant interruptions, rule violations or changing
working conditions. Teachers are constantly required to manage their own emotional displays as well as the emotions of their students, therefore teachers who are
emotionally apt better deal with emotional and social strains. On the one hand,
42
Irena Przybylska
emotional intelligence changes the perception of relations with students, helps
to reduce or even avoid stress. On the other hand, it influences the contentment
a person derives from work.
Emotional labour in predicting burnout
It has been assumed that in caring professions workers are more likely to
experience burnout, as if there was something unique about health care, social
service work, teaching, etc. (Fengler, 2000, Brotheridge, 2002). Hochschild (1983)
proposed a list of “emotional labour jobs”, which involve frequent customer contact and emotion displays controlled by the organization. The concept considers
customer services in which high emotional control is needed to maintain positive
relations and interactions are less spontaneously emotional (Hochschild, 1983,
Koster, 2011).
Normal interaction with people may be exhausting in itself and give implications for workload, but interactions in caring professions can also involve the
need for employees to regulate their emotional expressions in authorized ways
(Grandey, 2000). In burnout research the emotional nature of interpersonal
relations at work is considered the main reason for burnout (Ashfort et.al, 1993,
Hochschild, 1979).
Long interactions, the need to engage into a relation with a client, a variety and
intensity of emotional expressions contribute to overload and exhaustion. On the
other hand, the argument is raised that employee perceptions of work demands
and control over the personal expression of emotions may be more predictive of
burnout. In numerous studies interpersonal demands were not found as predictors
of emotional overload. A question is posed whether emotional demands are stressful themselves or rather the perception of the demands. Emotional labour is not
a dichotomous variable and many jobs have some level of these emotional labour
demands (Grandey, 2003). In other words, employees in the “high emotional
labour” group do not report considerably higher levels of emotional exhaustion
than do those in the “low emotional labour” group. Therefore, emotional labour is
effective in predicting stress and burnout not only in caring professions (Grandey,
2000). Moreover, the perception of demands, which is filtered through personal
expectations, values and competences will alter the levels of job satisfaction and
burnout. In contrast, the quality of teachers’ competences, including emotional
ones, can be a strong indicator of effective school climate and teachers’ job satisfaction.
Emotional Intelligence and Burnout in the Teaching Profession
43
Burnout and emotional intelligence in teaching – concept outline
Emotional exhaustion is the core component of burnout. A person experiencing emotional exhaustion is no longer able to give himself/herself at an emotional
or psychological level. Simplifying emotional exhaustion refers to feeling emotionally drained by intense interactions, which can lead to depersonalization and
reduced personal accomplishment. At this stage, a burnt-out teacher begins to
disregard people, view them negatively and cynically, which is reflected in negative
or uncaring attitudes toward others. Consequently, the person begins to feel lack
of control and decreased motivation to work. It results in discontent with professional accomplishments (Maslach et.al, 1984, p.189). Each component of burnout
may be a consequence of chronic work stress.
The etiology and symptoms of burnout are diverse. Current burnout research
validates the importance of external and internal factors (Koczoń-Zurek, 2006,
Marek, 2000). Consequently, it seems that the teacher’s self-esteem, intellectual
and emotional competences along with the attitude towards perceived demands,
stressors and expected rewards make him/her prone or immune to burnout (Jude
et.al, 2011, p.106). Both the causes and the symptoms of burnout are emotional in
nature, connected with subjective perspectives.
According to P. Salovey and J. Mayer (1990, pp. 185 – 211), individuals vary as
regards their emotional knowledge and abilities to control their emotional lives.
These individual differences are termed emotional intelligence. This paper draws
on an ability model of emotional intelligence (Mayer, et.al, 2004).
The model of the role of emotional intelligence supports the thesis that is critical for success in professions based on communication and self-regulation (Mayer,
et.al, 2004, p. 2013).
Teachers are expected to demonstrate positive emotions and suppress negative
ones. Emotional expectations may overwhelm teachers, probably those more
emotionally intelligent will be able to balance emotional costs in such a demanding environment and manage emotions so as to preserve well-being and coach
emotional competences (Przybylska, 2014). People who deal with stress constructively are less prone to emotional exhaustion and are probably more immune to
depersonalization and loss of job satisfaction. In addition, burnout is caused by
experienced stress and it is chronic stress. It seems reasonable to consider the
correlation between emotional competences, work satisfaction and burnout.
In outline, emotional intelligence supports personal and professional competences and helps to cope with emotion-eliciting situations. In the teaching
profession, stress and emotional demands can lead to emotional and physical
44
Irena Przybylska
exhaustion, cynical attitudes towards teaching, and reduced feelings of personal
accomplishment. That is why there is an urge to find factors contributing to and
preventing from burnout. It seems rational that people who deal with stress constructively are less prone to emotional exhaustion and are probably more immune
to depersonalization and loss of job satisfaction.
Contemporary research overview
Evidence suggests that emotional intelligence may play a significant role in
a person’s ability to effectively deal with work stress and avoid burnout (Brotheridge et.al, 2002, Wróbel, 2013). There has been a substantial amount of research
on teachers’ burnout (e.g., Fengler, 2000, Koczoń-Zurek, 2009, Sęk, 2000) and
separately on their emotional competences (Góralska et.al, 2013). Relatively little
is known, however, about protective factors against teacher burnout, especially in
Polish research (Wróbel, 2013). In their studies, Nikolaous and Tsausis (Jude et.al,
2011, pp. 370 – 371) found a negative correlation between intelligence and emotional stress. Samples of British middle school teachers declaring lower emotional
competences simultaneously experience increasingly strong symptoms of burnout.
Correspondingly, the studies of Greek (Kondylis et.al, 2004, p. 443) and Chinese
(Chan, 2006, p. 1046) school teachers point to the existence of the discussed correlation. De Vito (2009, pp. 80 – 98) reported a non-significant correlation between
the general emotional quotient and burnout and a significant one in the subscale
of burnout- job satisfaction and a lower sense of achievement.
Methodology outline
Aims and hypotheses. The presented study attempted to elucidate whether
emotional intelligence predicts burnout in the teaching profession and job
satisfaction. Thus, it was proposed that lower levels of emotional intelligence
would predict burnout in environments with higher levels of interpersonal work
demands with a sampling of working teachers. With rising emotional intelligence
depersonalization is dropping. Three hypotheses were formulated:
1. Perceived emotional intelligence relates negatively to burnout. The possibility of burnout increases with lower emotional intelligence.
2. Emotional intelligence positively correlates with job satisfaction and negatively with depersonalization.
45
3. Teachers declaring higher emotional intelligence less often feel emotionally
exhausted.
4. Components of emotional intelligence: (a) emotional awareness, (b) emotional regulation, (c) using emotional knowledge, (d) identifying emotions
of others, (e) social relations correlate negatively with total burnout.
Sample. A total of 140 full-time Polish teachers participated in this study. The
participants were a convenience sample of teachers working in primary schools,
middle schools and secondary schools. The age limit of the test group was 25 – 60
and the length of service was in the range of 7 to 30 years. Seminar students participated in data collection.
Measures. Two questionnaires were implemented in the research procedure.
Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (KBIE) includes a 50-item self-report
grouped under five categories, namely: emotional awareness, emotional regulation,
using emotional knowledge, identifying emotions of others, and social relations.
A higher score indicates a high level of emotional intelligence in that corresponding area. The author has reported an internal reliability rating of 0.78 (Przybylska,
2007).
MBI CH. Maslach inventory was originally intended for use with human service
workers. In Polish teacher research it was employed by S. Koczoń-Zurek (2007).
Collected data is declarative as teachers described specific behaviours, feelings and
thoughts that indicate the possibility of experiencing burnout. In accordance with
Ch. Maslach’s concept, burnout manifests itself at three levels represented in scales:
emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and loss of job satisfaction.
Findings and discussion
The distribution of the results of both emotional intelligence and burnout is
normal. The teachers declared high emotional intelligence and low burnout symptoms. The raw results of burnout are varied (SD= 84), but they oscillate around
low. The mean result (M=30) suggests a low declarative level of burnout. At the
same time, emotional intelligence results are less dispersed (SD= 11.31), but they
fluctuate around high and medium (M= 132).
The fist hypothesis referred to the relation between emotional intelligence and
experiencing burnout. The gathered data and Pearson’s correlation coefficient
between the total emotional intelligence and the burnout syndrome is r=0.54,
indicating that the correlation is significant at p<0.05 (Table 1). In other words,
in the sample there is a negative correlation between the general quotients of the
Irena Przybylska
46
two variables. Emotional intelligence explains around 29% of variance of the level
of burnout. Medium and low results in EI are accompanied by more frequent
declarations of burnout symptoms. Age and seniority do not differentiate burnout
syndrome experiencing.
Table 1. Correlation between general quotients of emotional intelligence, burnout,
age and seniority
r
p<
N
Emotional intelligence
Burnout
Variables
0.54
0.05
140
Emotional exhaustion
0.69
0.05
140
0.37
0.05
140
0.13
0.05
140
Age
0.08
0.05
140
Seniority
0.07
0.05
140
Job satisfaction
Depersonalization
Source: own research.
Teachers with the highest emotional intelligence quotient do not report emotional exhaustion connected with work. They point to emotional engagement, even
tiredness evoked by entanglement in social relations but not to emotional burden
(Graph 1).
Emotional intelligence explains the variance of two levels of burnout: emotional
exhaustion (r=0.59, p<0.05) and diminished job satisfaction (r=0.37, p<0.05).
Those who declared emotional abilities were not emotionally exhausted (3/4 of all
emotionally intelligent teachers, t-student=1.99, p<0.05) because of work as often
as those with lower competences. On the contrary, the teachers lacking EI declared
that they felt exhausted at the very beginning of the work day, were worried about
difficulties and stressful situations at work (80% of all low intelligent teachers). In
the same group there are teachers reporting that they feel overloaded the whole
week.
Emotional exhaustion is one of the first symptoms of burnout (Sęk, 2000, p.
329). Diagnosed early, it gives more opportunities of prevention from full symp-
47
toms of burnout. Intrapersonal competences, which enable self-reflection and
regulation, could be most important in handling teacher stress and avoiding the
second step of burnout, i.e., losing work satisfaction (Maslach, 1994).
100.00%
93.30%
80.00%
60.00%
51.85%
48.15%
40.00%
20.00%
6.67%
0.00%
BW
46.15%
38.46%
SW
WZ
15.38%
0.00%
WIE
0.00%
PIE
NIE
Graph 1. Variance of emotional intelligence level and burnout
results
Source: own research. NIE – low EI, P – medium EI, W – high EI, BW
– no symptoms of burnout, SW – symptoms of burnout, WZ – burnout.
According to the gathered data, the teachers who claimed emotional intelligence were more satisfied with work than the teachers less emotionally intelligent
(t-student=2.1, p<0.05). The teachers talked about losing energy and motivation
to work as well as deferred work satisfaction or no satisfaction at all. Statistically
more often negative outcomes of work experience were declared by the teachers
with lower emotional intelligence (r=0.37, p<0.05). More emotionally intelligent
teachers grasp the progress of their students and appreciate good climate in class
more frequently. It seems that emotional competences which, with high probability, develop based on EI, help teachers to build interpersonal relations in class and
school. Such teachers are more empathic, understanding and they better cope with
problem solving. Intensified communication and often emotional engagement is
easier dealt with by socially and emotionally competent teachers (Przybylska,
2006, p. 87), who are better perceived by students.
The above-mentioned results allow for confirming the hypothesis that emotional intelligence positively correlates with job satisfaction and negatively with
emotional exhaustion.
Depersonalization means losing care of and interest in other people, reluctance
or avoidance of relationships (Koczoń-Zurek, 2009, p. 315). It was not possible to
assess the relation between the level of emotional intelligence and depersonali-
Irena Przybylska
48
zation. Independently of the general result in KBIE (t=0.45, p<0.05), almost all
the teachers avoided depersonalization in relations with students or declared that
they avoided them. Statistically, there is no relation between results of emotional
intelligence and depersonalization (r=0.13, p<0.05). The hypothesis must be
rejected. However, what is worrying, there was a group of teachers (17%) who
chose the statement in the MBI questionnaire: My profession makes me insensitive
to other people’s problems as their frequent experience. They pointed to difficulties
dealing with students as well as a lack of engagement in students’ problems or
needs. On the other hand, regardless of emotional intelligence the teachers stated
that it happens that they avoid students or treat them unfairly. Probably this is
a hint for another research project.
Depersonalization is a kind of defence mechanism of avoiding the source of
stress, which most often is students (Fengler, 2000). This little constructive method
is effective in the short term, but in a longer period is not satisfactory, that is why
it was one of the research assumptions that emotionally intelligent teachers do not
depersonalize as they are able to find more constructive coping strategies. This
relation needs further exploration on a bigger sample and probably with testing
methods implemented.
Subscales of emotional intelligence and burnout
As can be seen in Table 2, where Pearson’s coefficients among the scales of
emotional intelligence and burnout general quotient are collated, emotional
regulation was the most significant predictor among the variables. The abilities
consisting in identifying emotions of others are found as not predicting burnout
in the examined sample of teachers.
Table 2. Correlation (Pearson coefficient) between components
of emotional intelligence and total burnout
Components of emotional intelligence
burn out
p<
1
emotional awareness
0.26
0.05
2
emotional regulation
0.64
0.05
3
identifying emotions of others
0.16
0.05
4
social relations
0.20
0.05
5
using emotional knowledge
0.15
0.05
Source: own research.
49
Teachers experiencing difficult situations, which ontologically are part of their
job, are exposed to a variety of work-connected emotions. Coping with them is
indispensable to do the job efficiently and to maintain well-being. Thus, it was
assumed that emotional awareness and abilities to cope with emotions are factors
protecting from burnout. It turned out that emotional control correlates with
burnout stronger (p<0.64) than emotional awareness (r=0.26) in the sample. Both
abilities are factors explaining the variance of burnout. In the context it is obvious
that the correlations are negative.
Less important correlations are in the group of the so-called interpersonal abilities of emotional competences (cf., Przybylska, 2009, p. 265): identifying emotions
of others (r=0.16) and social relations (r=0.20). It could indicate that intrapersonal
qualities are more significant for dealing with occupational stress. Similarly, the
fifth set of EI abilities- using emotional knowledge - is not significantly related
to burnout (r=0.15). It can be assumed that competences connected with dealing
with socially difficult situations, emotion-laden interaction, self-perception and
control are of special importance.
Discussion and Conclusions
On the basis of the gathered data, which underwent statistical operations, and
qualitative description, the assumed correlations between emotional intelligence
and burnout were verified. In this research emotional intelligence turned out to
correlate positively with job satisfaction and negatively with the general burnout
quotient, emotional exhaustion. The correlation between EI and depersonalization
is not statistically significant.
Apart from the tendencies observed in the research, theory and research on
emotional regulation have already suggested training teachers. Training may be
an effective means of adjustment to work if indeed “jobs are not as easily moulded
as people are” (Loscocco et.al, 1991, p. 187). Emotional labour and the emotional
intelligence concept guarantee some intriguing, new areas for future research and
teacher training.
Taking into consideration the role of emotional intelligence in emotional
control, dealing with emotion evoking events it is reasonable to verify predicted
relations so as to plan prophylaxis and implement new competences in teachers’
professionalization.
50
Irena Przybylska
Definitely, teachers agree that the ability to manage emotions contributes to
their professional effectiveness: in achieving academic goals, building quality
social relationships, and maintaining good classroom management and discipline
practices (Sutton, 2004). Most teachers are also aware of the negative outcomes of
poor emotional regulation. Although awareness is the core of competences, it does
not guarantee competent acting.
Emotional competences are culturally determined. They develop naturally while
acting social roles and getting experience. When emotions are engaged at work,
especially service, the competences to deal with them must be professional and high
standard. Thus, selecting students according to their abilities, followed by training
soft competences during studies and finally supporting professional development
throughout professional activity is a must in teaching professionalization.
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teacher’s burn out). Psychologia Wychowawcza, vol. 5, pp. 385 – 396.
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Grandey A.A., (2000). Emotion regulation in the workplace: A new way to conceptualize
emotional labour. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, vol. 5, no 1, pp. 95 – 110.
Grandey A.A., (2003). When „the show must go on”: Surface and deep acting as determinants of emotional exhaustion and peer-rated service delivery. Academy of Management
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Hochschild A., (1979). Emotion work, feeling rules and social structure, America Journal
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Hochschild A., (2009). Zarządzanie emocjami. Komercjalizacja ludzkich uczuć. (The managed heart. The commercialization of human feelings). Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN,
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Jude A. M., Adekunle A, (2011). Emotional Intelligence and Locus of Control as Predictors
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Pavel Doulík, Petr Eisenmann,
Jiří Přibyl, Jiří Škoda
Czech Republic
Unconventional Ways of Solving Problems
in Mathematics Classes
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.04
Abstract
The contribution enquires into possibilities of application of the heuristic
methods in the teaching process, specifically its applications during the classes
of mathematics in grammar school. In the frame of the research the influence
was monitored of the unconventional way of solving problems during classes
of mathematics in relation to the evaluation of educational advancements. Furthermore, pupils evaluated their attitude towards mathematical study including
their viewpoint on problematic exercises in maths and the successfulness of
solving these mathematical exercises was also evaluated. The results of the
experimental group were compared to the same areas in the control group.
Keywords: heuristic method of teaching, problem-based learning, inquiry-based
learning, constructivist theories, learning activity management
Introduction
A number of research studies in didactics have, in the last 5 – 10 years, tackled the
issue of problem-oriented strategies within teaching with the strategies structured
under a variety of names as well as in different subtleties: problem-based learning,
heuristic teaching, research-oriented teaching, learning-activating methods, etc.
Introducing problem teaching/learning into the real procedure of education often
occurs spontaneously, unsystematically, and is backed up by teachers’ enthusiasm
rather than their deeper understanding of the issue background of problem-oriented strategies in learning activity management.
54
Satisfactory answers to questions asked in relation to problem-based teaching
and learning can only be offered by a long-term, thought-through and well-organized implementation of the above-mentioned strategies, and it should not be
limited to specific – and in principle isolated – educational contents only, but is to
focus on creating pupils’ general competences aiming at the very usage of effective
strategies in problem-solving as well as developing self-regulatory and autodidactic skills in learning individuals. The presented paper aims at introducing selected
results of particular long-run experimental teaching, concerning solving problems
in mathematics with the use of heuristic strategies.
Theoretical background
Approaches to teaching focused on introducing problems and solving them can
hardly be considered a unique and whole paradigm with its own theoretical framing. Problem-solving learning methods are understood to be a specific variety of
heuristic teaching approaches. Such approaches are to be deduced from Socrates’
Maieutic method, which is dialogue-based, and concerns features significant at
a personal level. Pupils are exposed to known units in a new context, i.e., confronted with their ideas and transposed to a contradiction (aporia). This cognitive
conflict can be approached as a problem. Excluding individual hypotheses, the
pupil gradually reaches their knowledge and axioms on which the knowledge has
been based (Kanakis & Chatzidimou, 1980).
Heuristic teaching methods are not to be limited to teaching through dialogue.
In a broader context, they cover larger complexes of learning activities, including
problem identification, formulation of hypotheses, asking questions, observation,
experimenting, collecting data and its evaluation, comparison, discussion, generalization, result verification, etc. (Boud & Felletti, 1997). The wide spectrum of
heuristic teaching methods, in its complexity, comprises other specific approaches
such as problem-based learning and research-oriented teaching along with
inquiry-based learning. Among the above-mentioned approaches, we trace many
analogies and thus define several basic features found in these attitudes: the core
of the teaching-learning process is the student’s own activity; the teacher’s function
is that of a facilitator of the educational process, and they also, in cooperation with
their pupils, set problem issues, incite cognitive conflicts within students’ preconceptions and reality, set conditions for their individual observation, experimenting,
tackling information, correct pupils’ possible errors and help them verify results or
help them solve problems the students have encountered. The aspects mentioned
Unconventional Ways of Solving Problems in Mathematics Classes
55
are rooted in educational constructivism. Constructivism is considered as a major
theoretical basis in pupils’ learning activity management applied within heuristic
approaches. A problem-solving individual faces their confrontation and uses their
personal experience and their own cognitive processes in the teaching-learning
situation. The determining element in the comprehension of reality is the learner’s
personality, and they invent their particular reality through their learning activity
(McInerney & McInerney, 1998).
The Czech didactics of mathematics used the term of so-called problem-based
learning in the 1960s. The leading personality in the branch of mathematics
didactics of that time was Jan Vyšín, whose ideas of problem-based learning were
followed by other writers developing the constructivist approach in teaching mathematics. Let us point out František Kuřina (e.g., Kuřina 2011) and Milan Hejný
(Hejný and Kuřina, 2009). Naďa Vondrová (Stehlíková, 2007) and Darina Jirotková
(Jirotková, 2010) are today’s representatives of the constructivist approach in the
didactics of mathematics.
It has been generally approved that efficient mathematics teaching consists
in solving problems, as it is referred to in the curricula files (Jeřábek, Lisnerová,
Smejkalová, & Tupý, 2013). The issues of solving problems have been the subject
of research for a long time and has been viewed from many perspectives (for more
detail cf., Silver, 1985).
The student’s ability to acquire a selected heuristic strategy depends on not only
the teaching-learning environment, but also the inner dispositions of the learner,
mainly his or her attitude to problem solving with the use of heuristic strategies.
Pajares & Kranzler (1995) state that the generally accepted truth of the learner’s
self-confidence in problem solving is positively reflected in the very ability to solve
problems and helps them lower their mathematical anxiety.
Practical part
Research design
The conducted research study was based on long-term and systematic application of problem-solving learning in mathematics classes at grammar school.
Within our research, three causal research problems were stated:
RP1: What is the influence of alternative methods of problem-solving on educational processes when applied while teaching mathematics at grammar
school?
56
RP2: What is the influence of alternative methods of problem-solving on
longitudinal changes in commonly used problem-solving strategies in
mathematics at grammar school?
RP3: What is the influence of alternative methods of problem-solving on the learners’ attitudes to maths education and problem-solving at grammar school?
The three formulated research problems consequently led to the following
research objectives:
1. Find out what the students’ evaluation of educational processes used by their
teachers in mathematics classes in the experimental and control groups are.
2. Find out what longitudinal changes take place within applying strategic
maths problems solutions after systematic implementation of problem-based learning methods has ceased.
3. Find out what the learners’ attitudes to maths education in the experimental
and control groups are.
Tackling research problems and fulfilling the stated objectives of the research
study, a quantitative research design with a quasi-experimental base was decided
on. The class with long-term unconventional problem-solving methods used was
the experimental group. The control group was, thus, the class with traditional
teaching methods, with a lack of systematic problem-solving teaching methods.
On the basis of the determined research objectives, research hypotheses were
formulated:
HO1: Using educational processes in teaching mathematics positively inciting
individual problem-solving is highly appreciated by the learners in the
experimental group rather than the learners in the control group.
HO2: Immediately after ceasing the systematic implementation of problem-solving learning methods in mathematics classes, the students use
heuristic strategies more often than they will do within half a year after
the problem-solving teaching has stopped.
HO3: The students in the experimental group show better attitudes to mathematics education along with solving problems compared to the control
group learners.
Verification of the research hypotheses with the use of adequate inductive
methods of statistical analysis of data was realized at the significance level α=0.05.
Comparing data obtained by interpreting individual items on the interval measurement level, F-test was first used, and consecutively an adequate type of t-test
to set congruous and incongruous variance. To compare data obtained through
evaluating items at the nominal measurement level, chi-squared statistics test of
independence was used.
57
The experiment took place between September 2012 and February 2014 at
Jan Neruda Grammar School, Prague (Gymnázium Jana Nerudy v Praze). The
participating 20 students were 16 years old when the experiment started. The class
curriculum does not belong to any specific branch of study (specialization). Jiří
(aged 34, with 8 years of teaching experience) is a maths teacher for the mentioned
group of students. In 16 months the learners were introduced to a selection of
heuristic problem-solving strategies through solving problems, where the heuristic
problem-solving strategies were the most efficient. The control group was designed
to resemble the experimental group in as many features as possible (sample size,
average of mathematics performance, etc.).
To realize the research study, two research tools were used – a questionnaire
and a didactic test.
The educational procedures questionnaire used is a non-standardized research
tool designed by the authors of this article. It consists of 26 entries that can be
divided into two categories depending on their construct as follows:
 Entries 1 – 21 were constructed using a Likert scale within the interval
measurement principle. These entries came to existence through adapting
the observation protocol focusing on the concepts of teaching and evaluation. The scales are five-point, rated from 1 to 5 where value “1” represents
a negative answer to a given question, disagreement with a given statement
or zero incidence of the phenomenon; and where value “5” represents
agreement, a positive stance or high frequency of occurrence.
 Entries 22 – 26 were constructed using the nominal measurement principle,
with the respondent selecting the one that best represents their answer from
the varieties suggested.
Considering the focus content of individual questionnaire entries, a selection of
five item groups based on the following can be elicited:
1. evaluating work with educational content,
2. evaluating learners’ class activity management in mathematics classes,
3. evaluating feedback information within mathematics classes,
4. evaluating the attitude towards mathematics as a school subject,
5. evaluating approaches to solving mathematics problems.
The experimental group students wrote a didactic test at the end of the teaching experiment and also eight months after the experiment had ceased; the test
included eight problems. In the text to follow, we refer to these particular tests
as final and retention tests. All the problems in the written tests were evaluated on the grounds of successful solutions to a given problem. A successful
problem solution in all three tests was not strictly linked to unconditional
58
content-of-teaching knowledge which had been discussed in class between
September 2012 and June 2014.
Research study evaluation
Data evaluation was carried out with respect to the research hypotheses formulated. First, let us concentrate on items referring to the evaluation of dealing with
the teaching content. The experimental group’s (xoEXP) answers in their arithmetic
mean were tabulated; the control group’s answers in their arithmetic mean (xoREF);
the value of test criteria in t-test (t); the value of observed level of significance in
test criteria (P) (Table 1).
Table 1. Respondents´ answers evaluation of entries tackling reactions
to teaching-content
Item
xoEXP
xoREF
Does the teacher refer to your math knowledge acquired in previous maths learning?
3.92
4.04
-0.632 0.529
t
P
xoEXP = xoREF
Comparison
Does the teacher refer to your previous
knowledge acquired in other school
subjects?
1.71
2.08
-2.762 3.45.10-³
xoEXP < xoREF
Are there tasks set, where you have to use
other sources of information?
3.00
1.48
7.076
1.21.10-¹⁰ xoEXP > xoREF
The teacher of the experimental group assigns tasks considerably more often, so
the pupils need to use other sources of information and not their textbooks only;
other sources include the Internet, encyclopaedias, computer databases, etc. Conversely and statistically considerably less often, the experimental group’s teacher
links the students’ knowledge previously acquired in other subjects to the current
teaching content. Heuristic strategies (in problem-solving) encourage learners to
use different ways of thinking rather than relying on cross-curricular knowledge.
We introduced the evaluation of the results to the students’ answers in both
groups, concentrating on the learners’ evaluating their pupils’ learning activity
management (Table 2).
Such teaching-learning activities, typical of constructivist and education-centred strategies, were significantly more often appreciated by the respondents in
the experimental group; dialogues between teacher – learner as well as learner(s)
– learner(s) were applied, methods of punishment were less frequent and we could
notice that the teacher paid more attention to gifted pupils.
59
Table 2. Respondents´ answers evaluation of entries tackling reactions to managing
students´ learning activities
Item
xoEXP
xoREF
t
P
Comparison
Does the teacher implement dialogue in
classroom communication?
3.66
3.29
1.741
0.042
Are students allowed to discuss problems
among themselves?
3.00
2.16
5.506
Are students independent in their class
work or is it only incited by the teacher?
3.62
3.39
1.261
0.210
xoEXP = xoREF
Does the teacher praise for achievement
in class?
3.82
3.58
1.386
0.169
xoEXP = xoREF
Does the teacher punish failure in class
performance?
1.71
2.68
-5.521 1.42.10-⁷ xoEXP < xoREF
Is special attention paid to weaker
learners?
3.08
2.84
1.261
Is special attention paid to gifted
learners?
3.83
3.00
4.807
2.84.10-⁶ xoEXP > xoREF
Are you encouraged to solve challenging
tasks in your math classes?
3.46
2.76
3.672
1.98.10-⁴ xoEXP > xoREF
Does the teacher motivate students in
class?
3.22
3.40
-0.685
xoEXP > xoREF
1.53.10-⁷ xoEXP > xoREF
0.210
0.494
xoEXP = xoREF
xoEXP = xoREF
The following table (Table 3) presents the results of the students’ answers
evaluation within both groups, in entries concentrating on the evaluation of
feedback.
Differences between the two groups and the respondents’ evaluations only
differed in such cases where the teacher allowed their students to be present at the
achievement assessment. Statistical significance sides with the experimental group.
We may assume, with regards to the fact that discussing hypotheses or discussing
formulated conclusions are part of the problem-solving process, that the students
largely participated in the evaluation process and would grab the opportunity to
express their ideas on the procedures and results of solutions to the problems with
their peers.
Another group of entries dealt with the attitudes of the respondents in both
groups to the subject of mathematics as a school subject (Table 4).
There are no significant differences between the experimental and control
groups’ answers. Understanding maths as an important school subject is predominant in the respondents’ attitudes.
60
Table 3. Respondents´ answers evaluation of entries tackling reactions to receiving
feedback
xoEXP
xoREF
t
P
Comparison
Is students´ participation in grading
achievements allowed?
Item
1.94
1.50
2.409
9.20.10-³
xoEXP > xoREF
Do you think yourself successful at
solving maths tasks?
3.33
3.56
-1.304
0.195
xoEXP = xoREF
Are you interested in feedback while
solving mathematics tasks?
3.58
3.36
1.001
0.315
xoEXP = xoREF
Table 4. Respondents´ answers evaluation of entries tackling reactions to
approaches to the subject of mathematics
xoEXP
xoREF
Is maths a favourite subject of yours?
Item
3.21
3.40
-0.682 0.494
t
P
xoEXP = xoREF
Comparison
Is maths a challenging subject for you?
2.83
2.80
0.137
0.891
xoEXP = xoREF
Do you find maths an important subject?
4.05
4.04
0.008
0.993
xoEXP = xoREF
The absolute frequencies of the respondents’ answers to the question: “Why do
you think mathematics is taught at school?” are displayed in the following table
(Table 5).
No statistically significant difference (χ² = 1.679; P = 0.642) was found in the
answers between groups. Unambiguously, the students thought that mathematics
is ubiquitous and interweaves with everyday life. The frequency of other answers
is principally marginal.
The last group of analysed items involved the students’ attitudes to problem-solving. Table 6 displays evaluation of interval entries.
The experiment showed that educational strategy oriented to unconventional
ways of problem solving did not give rise to statistically significantly different
approaches to solving mathematics problems in the groups of experimental and
traditional teaching-learning.
A difference of statistical significance was traced in communication. Solving
problems with the use of heuristic strategies requires a different communication
model to what is the trend in traditional learning. Mutual communication among
learners themselves becomes especially important. Detailed analysis of procedures
used to reach solutions to problem tasks is shown in Table 7.
61
Table 5. Absolute frequency of reasons why, according to respondents´ ideas, maths
is taught at schools
Reasoning
Experimental class
Control class
0
0
I can´t say, it has to be so.
To spoil my life.
0
1
I can´t say, it may be important.
2
2
Because maths is everywhere, without it, there
would be no cars, mobiles …
17
18
Because it is in entrance exams.
1
3
Table 6. Evaluating respondents´ answers to entries covering students´ approaches
to maths solving tasks
xoEXP
xoREF
t
P
Solving maths task, do you suffer from
feelings of anxiety and helplessness?
Item
2.25
2.16
0.349
0.727
Solving maths tasks, do you find communication with peers important?
3.67
3.04
2.639
How do you find discussions on procedures and solutions to maths tasks?
3.79
3.72
0.456
Comparison
xoEXP = xoREF
4.85.10-³ xoEXP > xoREF
0.649
xoEXP = xoREF
Table 7. Absolute frequency of answer choices concerning learners’ ability to explain
the procedure used in a maths task
Reasoning
Experimental class
Control class
No, I can´t do it.
1
2
No, I´m too shy.
0
1
I´m not good enough.
5
3
Yes, if it´s a must.
9
13
Yes, I enjoy explaining it to others.
7
5
The prevailing majority of respondents were able to explain the procedure they
used to their peers, if asked. However, this ability occurred with the students in
both the experimental and control groups. The frequency of answer alternatives
suggested does not show a statistically significant difference (χ² = 2.812; P = 0.589).
62
Item No. 23 refers to the approaches chosen by the student in the cases of not full
comprehension of the problem assigned; the frequency of particular approaches
selected is shown in Table 8.
Table 8. Absolute frequency of answer choices concerning learners’ lack of
understanding of the task set
Reasoning
Experimental class
Control class
3
6
I wait for what the teacher or peers say.
I signal I can´t understand the problem.
0
2
I try asking my peers.
13
14
I try to remember if a similar task has already been
taught.
0
1
I try to crack it independently.
6
2
In the case that the student did not understand the mathematics problem
assigned, the most common procedure used within both groups was asking
a schoolmate. Such a procedure can simply be labelled as utilitarian and is viewed
as the most efficient from the student’s perspective. The best valued approach
allows the student to find the solution using their own, individual devices. Nevertheless, such an approach was opted for in the minority of cases. There are no
vast differences with statistical significance between the control and experimental
groups (χ² = 5.869; P = 0.209).
Item No. 24 covers the students’ answers to the question whether they enjoy
solving mathematics problems (Table 9).
Table 9. Absolute frequency of answer choices concerning learners’ being keen
on solving math problems
Reasoning
Experimental class
Control class
Absolutely not, it bothers me.
3
1
Not much.
4
3
I don´t care, I´ve got to be at school anyway.
2
7
Not much of a problem.
11
9
Yes, it´s fun.
3
5
Similarly, no major statistically significant differences were found within the
two groups (χ² = 4.545; P = 0.337). In both groups, “somewhat interested” pre-
63
vailed for an answer, which we understand as a positive result. The students also
frequently opted for expressing, principally, a rather indifferent attitude to solving
maths problems.
Item No. 26 covers possible approaches in the cases where the adopted algorithm
to tackle a problem leads to no success. The frequency of the students’ choices
within answering the question to describe the procedure they used is displayed
in Table 10.
Table 10. Absolute frequency of answer choices to algorithm varieties of procedures
where the algorithm does not lead to the required goal
Reasoning
Experimental class Control class
I give up.
0
0
I ask the teacher or my schoolmates for help.
4
10
I haven´t experienced such a situation yet.
4
0
I attempt to reach the solution through trial-and-error.
9
7
I systematically try to find various different ways of solution.
6
8
The preference of individual approaches does not show statistically significant
differences in the experimental and control groups (χ² = 7.854; P = 0.097). We
consider it to be a positive result that none of the learners gave up their task; the
learners attempted at systematic ways of solving a problem by using several ways
of handling the problem instead of giving up.
The results of final didactic test were described in detail in Eisenmann, Novotná,
Přibyl (a). Our paper compares the students’ results in the final (February 2014
– end of experimental teaching) and retention (written eight months after the
experiment had finished) tests. Correct solutions to the given problems in both
tests were the observed aspect. The rates of correctly solved problems to the total
of problems assigned to all the students in the outcome tests was 76% and 82% in
the achievement test. Comparing individual students’ achievements, paired t-test
was used (cf., Table 11).
Table 11. t-test for independent sample
Didactic
Test
Mean
Standard Error
N
of Mean
outcome
6.1
0.967906
achievement
6.55
0.887041
20
Difference
Standard Error
of Difference
-0.45
0.944513
t
sv
p
-2.13069 19 0.046399
64
Based on the assumption that both picks come from a normal distribution (as
suggested by the character of the results), we tested null hypotheses of expected
value to be equal. The result is obvious: at the 5 % level of significance, the students
obtained considerably better results in the retention test.
Discussion
In the field of the learners’ class activity management in mathematics classes,
the major difference was noted between the control and experimental groups. In
accordance with the theoretical premises, the largest differences refer to communication patterns applied within lectures.
Problem-based learning accentuates dialogue methods of teaching on a much
broader scale, and the methods infiltrate all of the problem-solving procedure
steps. Communication among peers was far more common in the experimental group. Changes to the teacher and student roles in problem-based learning
are shown in the allowed range of evaluation of education outcomes and the
teacher accepts the specificities of their students to a greater extent. The results
show that the experimental group students were allowed more independence in
solving rather challenging maths problems. The research hypothesis that using
educational processes (in mathematics classes) which positively incite individual
problem solving are highly appreciated by learners in the experimental class rather
than learners in the control group was confirmed. It needs to be stated that, at
a more general level, we had expected more differences between the learners’ class
activity management in both groups than those found. That could be explained
by the character of teaching maths, where even traditional class management
offers a large scope of problems that, up to a certain level, always consist in the
problem-solving approach.
The students’ experience with mathematics problems in both group types also
show results in the evaluation of other questionnaire items focused on procedures in solving maths problems. It turned out that the students’ approaches in
the experimental and control groups were identical. The learners prefer to find
solutions independently, or they seek solutions in cooperation with peers. Both
approaches might be considered required, and if taken from the perspective of the
educational process, also required and recommended (cf., e.g., Montague, 2003).
As far as the students’ attitude to mathematics education and mathematics
teaching is concerned, the control and experimental groups show no statistically
65
significant differences. The learners primarily realize the importance of mathematics, not only for their further studies, but also for their everyday life.
Speaking of the evaluation of the didactic test, the result comparing achievement rates in both the outcome and achievement tests is clear: the pupils obtained
significantly better results in the achievement test. The development of the learners’
ability to solve problems is understandably also supported by more mathematics
education in-between. On the other hand, after completing the outcome test, the
long-term intensive experimental teaching stopped and we expected the ability to
solve problems using heuristic strategies eight months after the end of the experiment to sink slightly. Since the problems in both tests were solved efficiently and
with the use of heuristic strategies, we may state that HO2 was not confirmed.
To conclude, let us point out an interesting relation to the characterization of
the pupils in the experimental group, where the CPS structure (Culture of Problem
Solving) was used. It involves the structure of internal factors influencing the
student’s achievement, as described, e.g., in Eisenmann, Novotná, Přibyl ( 2014).
Within the frame of a long-term experiment, the pupils in the experimental group
were tested in four components of the CPS structure:
1. Intelligence
2. Creativity
3. Reading comprehension
4. Using current knowledge in mathematics
All the components except “intelligence” improved between the starting and
finishing points. A slight rise was noted in “reading comprehension”, while “creativity” scored a considerable increase, especially in the fields of fluency and flexibility.
The detailed results were analysed and interpreted in Eisenmann, Novotná, Přibyl
(a). We think the consolidation of the learners’ ability to solve problems with the
use of heuristic strategies described above may be related to the surge in “reading
comprehension” and mainly “creativity”.
Conclusions
The paper has introduced results of a research study which attempted at
complex comprehension of problem-based mathematics learning with the use of
heuristic strategies, solving mathematics problems at the longitudinal level. The
results show that the students mastered heuristic problem-solving strategies in
mathematics and were able to implant them efficiently even 8 months after the
66
end of the teaching/learning experiment had stopped. Such a result may be linked
to the development of fluency and flexibility, proven within the experiment. Sadly,
we did not prove a steadier change in the students’ approaches to mathematics as
a school subject. In the field of pupil learning activity management, differences
are to be noticed mainly in the change of the traditional model of pedagogic communication. Above all, it is discussions among the students along with discussions
between the students and the teacher that are the core of problem-oriented learning, which responds to the change in roles of learners and teachers in alternatively
designed models of learning activity management. The results of this paper show
that heuristic methods of solving mathematics problems are beneficial where the
educational process is to be made more efficient and leads to students’ desirable
competence in their own independent and creative problem solving. The experience gained in experimental teaching of mathematics is inspirational for teaching
other school subjects, where the analogical concept of scholar-oriented education
can be applied.
Acknowledgement
The research was supported by Czech Science Foundation project P407/12/1939.
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Jordan
The Effect of ARCS Motivational Model on Achievement
Motivation and Academic Achievement
of the Tenth Grade Students
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.05
Abstract
The presented study aimed at examining the effect of ARCS model on the
Achievement Motivation (AM) and Academic Achievement (AA) of the tenth
grade students. One hundred and thirteen tenth grade students (28 male, 85
female), divided into two groups (experimental = 50, control = 63), studied
a unit about magnetism with the use of two different methods, an ARCS model
and a traditional model for 2 weeks. Two instruments were used, a Motivation
Achievement Test (MAT) and an Achievement Test (AT). The results showed
that there were significant differences on the MAT and AT due to the implemented ARCS motivational model.
Keywords: achievement, ARCS model, motivation
Introduction
Motivation is defined as a student’s willingness, need, desire and compulsion to
participate in learning and to be successful in the learning process (Fairbrother,
2000). Steward, Bachman, and Johnson (2010 referred to motivation as a driving
force that encourages a person to engage in a task.
Covington (1996) declared that motivation interprets the reason for the human
behavior, as motivation is considered as the main factor that directs behavior
(Connie, 1997; Feldman, 1995; and Woolfolk,1995). Because of the importance
of motivation in the learning process, Keller, Deimann, and Liu (2005) stated
69
that motivational strategies help students develop their interest in the course and
a positive expectation of success.
Also, evidence documents motivation as an important determinant predicting
students’ achievement (Beal &Stevens, 2007; Broussard & Garrsion, 2004; Johnson,
1996; Sandra, 2002; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2006; Zhu & Leung, 2011).
Sometimes schools face problems with students’ motivation. Mart (2011) claims
that motivation needs to be taken into account by every educator. He also sees that
through positive reinforcement, teachers can sustain students’ interest. If school
leaders expect students to become motivated to learn, they must first sustain their
own motivation to create schools where students discover that learning is an
exciting and rewarding activity. Many teachers complain that their students lack
motivation, so they look for different ways to motive them to learn.
Consequently, teachers must take students’ learning motivation into consideration when they design teaching instructions (Fairbrother, 2000). Teachers
depend on the assumption that motivation is an important factor that can lead
to an increase or decrease in the status of students’ level of concepts (Barlia &
Beeth, 1999; Keller, 2000; Pintrich, Marx & Boyle, 1993). Teachers must leave the
traditional methods in teaching at schools. Yet, until the latter half of the 19t
century, science, more specifically physics, was taught exclusively with the help
of lecture, demonstration, and the textbook (Turner, 2012). Although laboratory
science became more common in the 20t century, lecture demonstrations have
continued to be a mainstay in science classrooms, and teacher demonstrations have
a negative association with student achievement, and no significant association
with attitudes toward science. Moreover, the demonstrations provide insufficient
opportunity for students to develop an understanding of the processes of science.
Furthermore, observing teacher demonstrations may be valuable, but they are not
a substitute for students’ laboratory investigations (Odom & Bell, 2015).
From that point, this study attempted to testify for a method which can drive
students’ motivation to learning and sustain it. It assumed that Keller’s ARCS
motivational model can play a significant role in the learning process.
Keller (2000) claimed that the ARCS model resulted from reviews and integration of research literature and successful practices, and it is being used in
many different countries and cultures in the world, but it does not offer simple,
prescriptive solutions to motivational problems.
The letters in the ARCS acronym stand for Attention, Relevance, Confidence and
Satisfaction, which form the main elements of the model. The attention element
means arousing and sustaining curiosity and interest. Relevance means linking
learners’ needs, interests, and motives. Confidence means helping students develop
70
a positive expectation of achievement. Finally, satisfaction means providing extrinsic and intrinsic reinforcement for effort (Keller, 1983).
To examine the effectiveness of the ARCS motivational model, a few studies
(but insufficient) were conducted. For instance, Arnone and Small (1995), in their
research into the relationship between curiosity and all of the ARCS components,
found that the model provided educators with a heuristic approach to generally
increase the motivational appeal of instruction, and encourage intrinsic motivation for learning. Song and Keller (1999) found that the motivationally-adaptive
CAI (Computer Assisted Instruction), which was developed in accordance with
the ARCS model, showed higher effectiveness and overall motivation, achievement, perceived motivation, efficiency, and continuing motivation. Moreover,
ARCS-strategies led to positive effects on different motivational indicators of
self-regulated learning compared with a text without any motivational features
(Astleitner and Lintner, 2004). Feng and Tuan (2005) pointed out that both students’ motivation and achievement in the acids and bases unit increased significantly thanks to the ARCS motivational model. The performance of undergraduate
students in terms of learner confidence was improved by the ARCS motivational
model (Huett, 2006). Finally, Malik (2014) found out that the ARCS model might
help organizations to overcome the dropout, passing percentage and low motivational problem of distance learners. In distance education programs, the elements
of both teaching and motivation used together can improve the success of distance
education students.
Previous researchers found that the ARCS motivational model plays effective
roles in different educational situations, such as CAI, distance educational or
online courses. The presented study attempted to explore the effectiveness of the
ARCS motivational model in achievement motivation and academic achievement
compared with the traditional method (lectures).
Purpose of the study
The presented study aimed at detecting the influence of the ARCS motivational
model on achievement motivation and academic achievement. It tried to answer
the following question:
Can we use the ARCS model to increase achievement motivation and academic
achievement of tenth grade students?
71
Participants
One hundred and thirteen 10t grade students participated in the study (male =
28, female = 85, age, M= 15 years). The participants were recruited with the use of
a random stratified sample method. All the participants were randomly assigned
into two study groups (experimental = 50, control = 63).
Instruments
Achievement Motivation Test AMT: An Achievement Motivation Test (36
items) was prepared with three dimensions (persistence, goals and time). All test
items can be corrected by using a 5-point-Likert-type scale. The highest score was
180, and the lowest was 36. The highest scores refer to a high level of achievement
motivation. Cronbach’s Alfa values were calculated for the 3 dimensions and the
total score 0.855, 0.847, 0.715 and 0.797, respectively.
Achievement test AT: A true- false test was used to examine the students’ Academic Achievement (AA) before and after the experiment. It contained 15 items
about a unit of magnetism in the student science textbook, the discrimination
coefficients values ranged from 0.262 to 0.713, and their difficulty coefficients
ranged from 0.53to 0.80. Cronbach’s Alfa of the total test was 0.858.
ARCS Lesson Plan: The first unit of magnetism in the physics course of the
tenth grade was prepared based on the ARCS motivational model and implemented in the experimental group. The plan consisted of the four ARCS elements
and contained eight modules of 45 minutes each, lasting two weeks. For the control
group, the same lessons were taught with the use of the traditional method based
on teacher demonstrations in the laboratory.
Procedures and Data Analysis
The subjects were chosen and randomly divided into two groups, the experimental group, instructed with the use of the ARCS model, and the control group,
instructed with the use of the traditional method. Both groups were given the
AMT and AT before the experiment. A trained physics teacher was recruited to
teach all the lessons on magnetism unit according to the ARCS model. Another
teacher taught the same unit using the traditional method (he used the ordinary
72
classroom and the laboratory). The experimental group studied eight 45- minute
lessons about magnetism. All the lessons were conducted in the laboratory of
the school. The session lasted two weeks. After ten days of the experiment, the
students were given the AMT and AT again. Finally, means, standard deviations,
and MANCOVA were used to analyze the data.
Results
To answer the study question of this study “Can we use the ARCS model to
increase the achievement motivation and academic achievement of tenth grade
students?,” means and standard deviations of the students’ scores on the posttest,
and MANCOVA were calculated. Table 1 presents the values.
Table 1. Means and standard deviations of the students’ scores
on the posttest of AMT
variable
Persistence
Goals
Time
N
M
SD
control
group
63
31.38
2.574
experimental
50
50.78
3.604
control
63
33.27
1.860
experimental
50
46.54
3.085
control
63
30.95
2.113
experimental
50
43.60
3.642
Table 1 shows that there are differences between the control group and the
experimental one in the three domains of the achievement motivation scale. To
determine the significance of the difference, MANCOVA was conducted. The
MANCOVA results show that there are significant differences in achievement
motivation between the two study groups in favor of the experimental one (Wilks’
Lambda = .061, f (3,106)= 539.866, p <.000, eta squared = 0.939 ). To further
examine the differences between the groups of the study, univariate follow-up
procedures were conducted to determine differences in the dependent variables
as shown in Table 2.
73
Table 2. MANCOVA analysis results to determine the significance of the difference
between the experimental group and the control group in the AMT
Dependent
Variable
Source
Method
Pretest of persistence
Sig.
1058.236
.000
goal
4588.738
1 4588.738
749.839
.000
time
4325.933
1 4325.933
547.298
.000
2.961
.088
27.828
1
goal
5.238
1
5.238
.856
.357
time
33.710
1
33.710
4.265
.041
27.828
1.157
1
1.157
.123
.726
goal
.353
1
.353
.058
.811
time
16.346
1
16.346
2.068
.153
.192
1
.192
.020
.887
goal
9.018
1
9.018
1.474
.227
time
20.250
1
20.250
2.562
.112
1014.916
108
9.397
persistence
Corrected Total
F
1 9944.628
persistence
Error
Mean Square
9944.628
persistence
Pretest of time
df
persistence
persistence
Pretest of goal
Type III Sum
of Squares
goal
660.920
108
6.120
time
853.649
108
7.904
persistence
11537.858
112
goal
5589.735
112
time
5385.982
112
The results indicate that there were statistically significant differences in the
three domains of the AMT (persistence, goals, time) due to the method.
To identify the differences between the experimental group and the control
group in the AT due to the ARCS motivational model, the means and standard
deviations of the scores of the two groups were calculated. Table 3 shows the
results.
Table 3. Means and standard deviations of the scores
of the two groups in the AT
method
N
M
SD
63
5.89
2.496
Experimental group
50
8.36
2.117
Total
113
6.98
2.632
Control group
74
The above table shows that there are differences between the two groups of
the study in the AT scores. To determine the significance of these differences,
ANCOVA analysis was used, whose results are presented in Table 4.
Table 4. ANCOVA for determining the significance of the differences between the
experimental group and the control group in the achievement test
Source
Type III Sum
of Squares
df
Mean Square
F
Sig.
Partial Eta Squared
achiev1
472.437
1
472.437
389.843
.000
.780
method
309.882
1
309.882
255.706
.000
.699
Error
133.305
110
1.212
Corrected
Total
775.965
112
The above table shows that there are statistically significant differences in the
achievement posttest between the two groups of the study due to the method in
favor of the ARCS group.
Discussion
The purpose of the study was to detect the effect of the ARCS motivational
model on AM and AA. The results indicate the influence of the ARCS model on
AM (on the three domains of the AMT; persistence, goals, time), and AA. This
result can be discussed in light of the ARCS model components. The ARCS model
provides a new approach to solving academic problems for both teachers and
students. According to Keller (2000), people like a certain amount of variety and
they will lose interest if the teaching strategies, even the good ones, never change.
Moreover, attracting a learner’s attention by incorporating strategies that maintain curiosity and interest is essential to the effective learning process (Kupritz &
Laszlo, 2003), and the ARCS model used in the presented study did so; the model
drew the students’ attention to lessons and sustained it; this could happen by the
first ARCS model components (persistence). The students found that the ARCS
strategy is related to their interest and cognitive style. Keller (2000) proposed that
connecting the content of instruction to important goals of the learners, their
past interests, and their learning styles could arouse curiosity. The model in this
study provided a chance and expectation of success, which serves the students’
75
personal learning goals. The students were excited when they did the exercises of
the lessons, they felt that the activities related directly to their daily life, and that
confirmed the assumption of Keller (2000), who stated that the positive feelings
about one’s accomplishments and learning experiences led them to receive recognition and evidence of success that support their intrinsic sense of satisfaction, and
they believe they have been treated fairly.
This result was similar to those of some previous studies (Arnone and
Small,1995; Astleitner and Lintner,2004; Song and Keller,1999; Malik. 2014), which
found that the ARCS model motivates students for advanced steps to learning.
The results also show that using the ARCS motivational model will help to
increase AA. Different factors might help to achieve this result. For instance, it
is considered as a novel method for students, and it drew their attention to the
subject, the exercises were relevant to the students’ environment (i.e., most of the
participants said that they had played with magnets when they were children), and
this might help them to interact with each other effectively, solve the problems
easily, and enhance their self-confidence. These results can be supported by other
results (Suzuki and Keller,1996), which revealed the efficacy of the ARCS model
to help teachers to produce a more effective motivational design through their
daily work. Keller (2000) claims that a sense of equity, or fairness, is important,
students must feel that the amount of work required by the course was appropriate, that there was internal consistency between objectives, content, and tests, and
that there was no favoritism in grading, and that will help in improving students’
achievement.
It also seems reasonable to confirm that ARCS instruction increased student
motivation more than a traditional lecture instruction type. In addition, student
time engagement in learning under ARCS instruction was greater than that in
the traditional model. This also confirms and supports our finding that ARCS
instruction can promote student motivation (Johnson, 1996; Sandra, 2002; Broussard and Garrsion, 2004, Skaalvik and Skaalvik , 2006; Beal and Stevens, 2007; Zhu
and Leung, 2011).
Implications, limitations and recommendations
The generalization of the results is restricted by some factors. One unit was
taught with the use of the ARCS model because of the limited time, which was
about two weeks, the period of the manipulation was restricted by the school
administration.
76
In spite of the above limitations, there were some benefits. Teachers may use the
model to improve their methods of teaching science. Also, instruction designers
may design curricula depending on this model.
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Mikhail Kolyada, Tatyana Bugayeva
Ukraine
Grigoriy Kapranov
Russian Federation
Energizing Students in Class on the Basis
of Positional Training Model
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.06
Abstract
The article considers a positional training model as a way to energize students
in class. The research problem is theoretically underpinned, the essence of the
positional training method is revealed and its implementation is presented
through description of its practical realization. Experimental data of the
model efficiency are provided, having chosen the components of students’
culture of thinking. Analysis of the conducted pedagogical experiment specifies primary areas for improving the implementation of complex pedagogical
conditions for creating culture of thinking, regarding interrelations between
its components: knowledge, abilities, motivation, thinking and emotional
intelligence.
Keywords: positional training model, activity approach in training, energizing
students, culture of thinking
Introduction
Terms of Reference
The syllabus update is a defining component of a higher education reform, and
it considers searching for new ways of energizing students in class. So far, the educational process has been carried out under the conditions of different approaches
of future experts’ productive activity. In order to increase the pro-active position
of students in class, such a variety gives a free choice to the teacher at a higher
Energizing Students in Class on the Basis of Positional Training Model
79
educational institution to choose various forms, ways and training methods. At the
same time, the number of new approaches enabling the introduction of effective
techniques into the educational process is not too large.
Research relevance
We have provided a so-called positional training model for future university-educated experts. Positional training allows for learning according to a pro-active
approach, and then the implementation mechanism of students’ active position is
natural and does not need any additional means, which are not always available
for university students.
The purpose of the study was to show the organization in use of a new way of
energizing students’ activity in class through so-called positional training, and also
to prove experimentally the efficiency of its application in pedagogical work.
General Research Background
The model of positional training is based on the theory of activity by L. Vygotskiy (1996) and A. Leontyev (2005), and also on the concept of “culturological
dialogue” by M. Bakhtin (2007).
According to L. Vygotskiy, the development of the highest mental functions of
a person is a mediated process, and “cultural development of any function is such
that during the daily living activity a public person develops a number of artificial
stimuli and strivings. By their means the person’s public behavior is directed, they
become the basic means with which an individual takes control over his/her own
behavioral processes” (L. Vygotskiy 1996, p. 207). Hereto it is possible to add the
idea of “polyphony” by M. Bakhtin, which generally means the substantial part of
an analyzed issue inside the multi-layered dialogue. A dialogue includes various
transferred views regarding the same problem, and also through the same dialogue
they become their cultural property “in forms in which the past is reflexed and the
future is predicted” (Bakhtin 2007; p. 437).
An important condition of energizing students in class is getting to know their
psychological patterns of development. It is displayed in the studies by B. Ananyev
(2005), V. Krutetskiy (1972), V. Kudryavtsev (1999), N. Menchinskiy (2004),
S. Rubinshteyn (1998).
80
Scientific research by these authors considers the issues of activity development, as well as its nature and essence, and then development levels are analyzed.
Unfortunately, the researchers did not provide any particular ways, techniques or
approaches in training actualization in class at a higher school.
Analysis of the national and foreign literature has allowed for defining the basic
types of means through which energizing of the educational process is realized,
namely: concepts in permanent form, diagram images and symbol images. Here
the concepts dominate, as knowledge and skills representation is implemented
through them during the training course, and the culture of thinking is formed.
The particular feature of this category is its known “hidden consistency” through
communication with other concepts, which in turn increase its “importance value”.
The efficiency of mastering the concept system features increases if graphic models are used expressing interrelations between considered concepts. Therefore, we
introduced semantic (basic) lecture notes in class with students. Thus, graphical
schemes reflecting semantic relations between units of a mastered material act as
independent units. In our opinion, the efficiency of application of the specified
means will be more tangible when students master them. Therefore, together
with students in class we organized their activity so that means were a subject of
studying. In one case, this activity was directed to identify concepts available in
discipline, in other – to construct an evident graphic scheme which would express
communications between these concepts. Actually, any of the specified activity
was identified in its position due to the attitude of the subject of training to the
investigated material.
Culture of thinking development is considered through the productive organization of perception of the training material by students, expressed in mastering
professional competence (by revealing interrelations between the phenomena), in
comparison of new information to the already known, and also in a particular definition, generalization, synthesis, classification and estimation of training material
from different points of view.
Research Sample
Pedagogical experiment on checking the model of positional training of future
experts was conducted at three stages, i.e., organizational-prognostic, substantial-procedural (consisting of confirmative and forming stages) and analytic-correcting, throughout 2014 – 2015 in four groups of students of the Engineering and
Computational Pedagogical Department, two groups of students of the Psychology
Department, Donetsk National University (DonNU), and in two student groups
81
of the Theory an Methods of Professional Training Department at School of
Education, Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU).
To carry out the pedagogical experiment, two types of groups of students were
involved: an experimental group and a control one. At the beginning of the experiment, the number of students in the experimental and control groups was from 60
to 65 people, and from 50 to 60 people – at the final stage. At the confirmative stage
of the experiment, an initial (entrance) level of culture of thinking development
was established for the students who took part in the research. The students of the
experimental group studied with the use of a technique directed at the realization
of a certain complex of pedagogical conditions on the basis of the positional
training model.
Instrument and Procedures
The culture of thinking level was defined as readiness of a future expert for
educational activity or as his/her possibility to apply knowledge and skills with
a certain level of thinking to solving various educational-professional problems.
The ability to make a scientific estimation and self-estimation of the culture of
thinking and practical activities, initiative and practicality, readiness for solving
non-standard problems and ability to analyze training material relevance in class
are the major characteristics of an expert of any profile.
It was revealed that the culture of thinking of a future expert is a set of several
components: intellectual (knowledge), active (skills), motivational (motivations),
cogitative (thinking) and emotional (emotions). The following levels of emotional
intelligence correspond to these criteria and indicators: low (recognition), admissible (understanding), sufficient (transferring) and high (estimation).
We defined the culture of thinking level of a future expert according to specially
developed criteria. All the criteria expressed the major signs of intellectual and
informative activity: rationality of actions, independence, flexibility of intellectual
operations and orientation towards solving professional problems, and creativity.
The use of the listed signs allows for characterizing the degree of the culture development of economic thinking of future experts at training material mastering in
class with the use of the positional training model.
It is difficult to present the culture of thinking level of future experts in a quantitative aspect. Therefore, integral quality indicators were used, which indirectly
made it possible to estimate the degree of readiness of future experts for professional work and for application of acquired knowledge, skills according to the
positions chosen by them.
82
Productivity of such development was considered from two aspects. The first
aspect was a product in a material-substance form, which acted as a result of the
future professional’s work. The other aspect was an individual side of a future
expert as a complex of public relations with the inherent level of thinking and
culture.
The culture of thinking was considered as a binding element, which united
productive forces and productive relations, and, accordingly, which resulted in the
professional work of an expert. In the given quality the culture of thinking acted
as one of factors of its development and improvement.
The growth of efficiency of the culture of thinking development of future
experts, namely the necessary development level of professional-significant
knowledge and abilities, should become the result of the use of a complex pedagogical impact; available creative approach to informative activity; a wide cultural,
professional outlook and psychology-intellectual readiness in realization of the
acquired knowledge and abilities; formation and firmness of the motivational
elements of professional orientation.
According to the criteria of the culture of thinking development of future
experts and to the allocated indicators of their efficiency, the system of effectiveness ratio was created, which covered not only the general effectiveness ratio of
professional readiness, but also the effectiveness ratio of mastering of knowledge,
abilities development, thinking development (ability to think effectively), motivations to study the material of professional orientation and emotional development
of culture.
Data Analysis
The technique of the substantiation of indicators of efficiency and finding
these factors included complex application of statistical research approaches. The
techniques described in the studies by G. Valeyev (2002) and E. Sidorenko (2002;
p. 218) were used.
To identify the development rate of culture emotional components, three tests
were used:
1. A test questionnaire on the diagnostics of emotional intelligence according
to M. Manoylova’s technique (2004).
2. A test questionnaire for the definition of the level of emotional intelligence
according to David Ryback’s technique (2007).
3. A test for the definition of the level of emotional intelligence according to
G. Holl’s technique (1913).
83
Research Results
Technology of realization of model of positional training
Already at the first stages of the realization of energizing means for mastering
knowledge and skills, it is particularly necessary to keep the space in which they
exist by which they are created. And at first not every student manages to do this.
Therefore, they need a purposeful activity in order to keep the content (sense) of
a training material when memorizing, to connect and recode the text in a more
compressed form, e.g., in theses or semantic facts. Thereby the content space can
be withheld if formulated in the form of a sequence of semantic facts and actions.
It is important for training because the material which is mastered by students can
appear detached from situations in which it should be applied.
Introducing the term “space”, it is important to emphasize that the position
which is or can be occupied by the student is characterized by substance definiteness, his/her culture of thinking. In other words, any position which the trainee
can occupy is not simply an indifferent attitude, but an obligatory active relation to
something. Thereby the position acts as a means through which the subject sense
is generated as a result of the contradiction permission between the subject and
the object.
The content space of an investigated subject is actually a standard space, also
called a standard subject model of a trainee. It means that the student cannot change
this space but can only seize it as an educational-cultural professional norm. He/
she is artificially (preventively) put into an environment where it is obligatory to
accept and express personal position in relation to the studied material, and at the
same time, the culture of thinking is formed.
In the course of professional competence/culture of thinking development, we
constructed an educational activity for the trainee to express his/her personal attitude to the investigated (studied) material, i.e., to define the position. The technology
of the positional training model was embodied by us in different ways; here is one
of such examples.
First, the teacher holds lectures, and students closely follow the material. After
the lecturer’s consent they unite into voluntary affinity groups to show their position. We present a system of positions developed by N. Veraksa (1993).
The first position (subgroup) is called “Thesis”. The task of students in this
position is a possibility to retell the basic matter of a studied material by means
of several short theses. This position works as short deduction in memory of an
investigated material, the analytical position is not important, according to which
84
the student should carry out the analysis of the heard material, but a position of
curling of its content in a more compact form.
The second position is called “Concept”. The task of students in this position is
to make a list of the basic concepts which open the content of a studied theme of
employment, and then to define to (decipher) each of them. This position belongs
to an analytical category and opens base concepts of an investigated theme. In this
position, the student can make an analysis of the specified content in an implicit
form. For all students of this position, the problem is not of reproductive, but on
the contrary, of analytical character, so that they do not just define or identify
these concepts, but they define their intrinsic content, i.e., how far the presented
content reflects its semantic aspect. Students in these two positions can use the
basic (semantic) abstract in a subject as a support material.
The third position is called “Image”. In this case, students should express the
studied material in the form of a scheme, drawing, pictogram or other visual image.
Representation of structural units, their distinctive functional features, communication between them in the form of a graphic image, the musical overture, a poetic
fragment or mimic representation and gesture is possible. All the three positions are
interdependent and are located in the same educational subject space.
The following two positions represent the second space connected with value
judgment or acknowledgement of the content of a training material. These positions are connected with formalism elimination in studying of a substantial part
of a material.
The fourth position – “Critics”. In this position the student is supposed to find
discrepancies and contradictions in a training material, i.e., to express a critical
attitude to it. This position is characterized by non-acceptance by the student of
the sense (idea) or content which is based on its subjective analysis. In this case, the
student’s activity is designed and directed towards the analysis of discrepancies,
inaccuracies and contradictions in an investigated material.
The fifth position – “Apologist” – is, on the contrary, directed towards acceptance
by the student of the studied content. It expresses the subjective relation to the
content of a material from a position of concordance of the points of view of the
one who estimates it, with the sense of the author (teacher).
The latter two positions represent estimated space with mastering and an estimation of activity of the participants in the educational process.
The sixth position – “Reflection”. The main task facing students in this position
consist in their having to understand the difficulties connected with mastering
of a training material. It in a sense is integrated with the position which connects
space of senses and space of the subject content.
85
The seventh position – “Expert”. In this position, students should estimate the
activity of all participants in the educational process, including the teacher, from
the position of the master-expert. But at first they should ask substantial questions
to all participants of employment on the basis of which answers aggregate and the
verdict about their work is given.
Students choose the listed positions. Rigid fixation of positions for students is
not supposed, but one restriction is entered: in a subgroup there should not be
fewer than three persons. It is important to present all listed positions in class;
therefore, work with the use of a given technique after the conducted lecture can
proceed on the following coupled employment or already in separate student
groups with other teachers (assistants) who would study the heard material of
lecture on seminar or practical employment on this theme.
The mechanism of distribution of positions was very simple: forms were prepared, in which the position name was indicated. After a lecture part of the class,
the form sheets with all named positions were put on a table and each student
chose the form sheet with a suitable position, entered the surname, and on the
same form sheet wrote the results of judgments of a material or activity.
During group work, the students one-by-one showed the results-positions,
answered each other’s questions and handed over the form sheets to the teacher.
For instance, the “Image” group drew a scheme, defined a figurative drawing
both on a form sheet and the blackboard, so that all the participants could see it.
Each group had about five minutes for presentation. In fact, it could take much
longer.
Research material and results
During the pedagogical experiment, except for the definition of particular
professional skills and abilities, the level of development of the students’ thinking
was evaluated with the use of the following parameters:
1. Ability to learn and recreate the studied material without external support,
depending only on memory (recognition level or low level).
2. Ability to retell the training material content with one’s own words (drawing, scheme etc.), to make its interpretation, to prove certain judgment, to
provide results (level of understanding or admissible level).
3. Ability to analyze and identify interdependences and differences between
causes and effects (level of transferring or sufficient level).
4. Ability to give an estimation of value of methods, receptions, the importance
of different results (level of an estimation or high level).
86
The graphic representation of the results of the formation of the students’
thinking is presented in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Levels of thinking development in the students of the experimental and control
groups
According to the results of testing (Figure 2), the development effectiveness
ratio of emotional intelligence of the students (kEI) of the experimental (2.70) and
control (1.66) groups is not so high compared to other criteria of the culture of
thinking. In our opinion, it is explained by the fact that the majority of students
lack the ability to recognize, perceive and regulate personal emotional states
and feelings, and as a result, they are hardly able to manage themselves or their
relationships with people. As the essence of the given component is emotions
of the examined students, who show mental processes and stances connected
with instincts, requirements, motives displayed in the form of direct experience
of significant phenomena under situational conditions, the test results are very
unstable and depend not only on the internal subjective factors of the examined
individuals, but also on many external irritants (uncomfortable environments,
unhealthy sanitary-and-hygienic conditions, etc.). However, the components
development effectiveness ratio of emotional intelligence of the experimental
group (2.70) go beyond the limits of an insignificance zone, which means that the
applied pedagogical impact system even under conditions of poor balance among
the examined individuals shows a positive effect.
87
Figure 2. Levels of emotional intelligence development among the students of the experimental and control groups
The general development effectiveness ratio of the culture of thinking of the
future experts (KKEM) was calculated with the use of the following formula:
K KEM =
kZn + kUm + k Mi + k Mo + k EI
5
Where kZn – effectiveness ratio of mastering professional knowledge, kUm –
development effectiveness ratio of professional abilities, kMi – thinking effectiveness ratio, kMo – motivation effectiveness ratio for studying professionally oriented
material, kEI – effectiveness ratio of emotional intelligence.
The calculated effectiveness ratios of the culture of thinking criteria are presented in Table 1.
The general effectiveness ratio of the culture of thinking (KKEM) in the experimental group (3.08) exceeds the obtained indicator of the same factor in the
control group (2.45) by 0.63 units. Comparing the efficiency of each criterion in
the experimental and control groups, the greatest progress was reached in regulation of the internal and external mental activity of the examined individuals
(difference in ratios of emotional intelligence – 1.04) and in the development
88
Table 1. Effectiveness ratio of the culture of thinking criteria
Culture of thinking criteria
Factor
of culture of
thinking
(KKEM)
Indicators
knowledge(kZn)
abilities
(kUm)
motivations
(kMo)
thinking
(kMi)
emotional
intelligence
(kEI)
Experimental group
3.61
3.29
2.99
2.80
2.70
3.078
Control
group
2.74
2.77
2.79
2.28
1.66
2.448
of knowledge (difference: 0.87). It is necessary to note that the difference in the
indicators of the abilities and thinking development ratios is identical (0.52); it
means that dynamics of their growth is at the same level, which means the level
of the students’ thinking increases with the level of their professional abilities and
vice versa. The lowest efficiency in the culture of thinking development of the
future experts occurred in motivation for learning the educational-professional
material (0.2).
The analysis of the conducted experimental work shows primary directions in
the improvement of using a complex of pedagogical conditions to develop the culture of thinking based on the positional training model, namely: ability to express
the thought; education of professional behavior “being on the position”; motivators,
culture of thinking development of students through personal position (and not just
acquisition of a set of ready professional knowledge).
At the stage of statistical data processing two criteria were used: a parametrical
method c2 (“chi-square”) and nonparametric Fisher’s angular transformation (φ*).
Critical value c2 for a significance value 0.05 and one degree of freedom makes
3.84, (Sidorenko 2001, p. 328). The value calculated by us c2 = 6.88>3.84, therefore,
the difference between two samples (ours are experimental and control groups)
can be considered as true. Having also compared the limit values to the calculated
empirical values of φ* by Fisher’s method, we can also state that the positive effect
is obtained. For two other group pairs which took part in the experiment, the c2
value and φ* are in the same ranges. Thus, the obtained values exceed critical limits,
which means, in mathematical terms, that the differences between the considered
distributions are statistically significant, therefore, the applied complex of pedagogical conditions promotes growth in thtte level of students’ culture of thinking.
89
Discussion
After finishing the pedagogical experiment, we made a comparative analysis
to identify the dynamics of increase in the levels of the culture of thinking development indicators of the students of the experimental and control groups at the
beginning and the end of the experiment. The procedure was chosen on the basis
of considering the final development ratios of the culture of thinking. The research
results allowed for comparing the indicators of distribution of the students at
general levels (high, sufficient, admissible, low) at the end of the confirmative and
forming stages of the experiment (Table 2).
Table 2. Distribution of students at levels of formation of culture of thinking
of future experts
Groups
Development
Levels
Experiment beginning (%)
Experiment end (%)
Experimental
group
Control
group
Experimental
group
Control
group
High
21.1
20.8
77.8
21.3
Sufficient
15.1
15.7
17.0
15.4
Admissible
42.8
42.2
3.0
43.3
Low
21.0
21.3
2.2
20.0
Comparison of the research results allowed for a conclusion concerning the
important positive shifts in the indicators of the experimental group at the end of
the experiment. As shown in the table, both in the experimental and control groups
approximately the same number of students according to the development levels
was at the beginning of the experiment, though there was a considerably smaller
percentage of students with low and admissible levels of the culture of thinking in
the experimental group at the end of the experiment (2.2% and 3.0% respectively),
and a rather big percentage with sufficient and high levels (17.0% and 77.8%),
while in the control group, these indicators remained much lower. Besides, during
the experiment final stage the data were obtained, which testify that the success
rate of training in class where the positional training model was most actively used
also changed: In the control group the success rate changed from 87% to 92%, and
in the experimental one – from 88% to 99%. In the experimental group the quality
of training also essentially increased: from 63% to 80%.
90
By mathematical processing of the results of the pedagogical experiment by
means of criterion c2 and Fisher’s angular transformation, it is proved that the
research results are statistically significant, which confirms the efficiency of the
model of positional training.
The pedagogical experiment made it possible to:
1. Confirm experimentally the developed theoretical model of positional
training of a future expert taking into account interrelations between:
components of knowledge, abilities, motivation, thinking and emotional
intelligence.
2. Define the priority motives of future experts in the development of their
culture of thinking for successful professional work.
3. Confirm the didactic value and efficiency of application of the positional
training model through realization of the active approach in training.
4. Obtain comparative results concerning the levels of the students’ culture of
thinking development in the experimental and control groups, both at the
confirmative stage, and at the stage of experiment development.
Conclusions
The positional model of training removes the formal moments of educational
process, communication failure between teachers and students, between training
material and those who study it. The main thing is that the informative activity
of future experts is effectively concentrating on the development of necessary
professional competences and cultures of thinking. They have to become active
participants in the discussion on the studied material as they know they should
express the position which they have chosen. Such a system is an actual embodiment of an active approach in training, as it strengthens personal interactions of
teachers and students, removes stress arising in the traditional system of studying.
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Matjaž Duh, Jerneja Herzog,
Miroslav Huzjak
Slovenia
Popularity of Art Motifs among Fourth-Grade Primary
School Students in Slovenia and Croatia
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.07
Abstract
The article presents the results of an empirical study, whose purpose was to
identify preferences for art motifs among fourth-grade primary school students
in Slovenia and Croatia. From the viewpoint of the total sample (n=1,467),
the study results have shown statistically significant gender-related differences
in four out of five cases. No differences were observed with regard to social
stratum. With regard to individual countries, statistically significant differences
were noted in three out of the five cases. It was expected that there would be
no differences in preferences for art motifs between Slovenian and Croatian
students.
Keywords: visual arts education, preferences for art motifs, primary school, school
systems of Slovenia and Croatia
Introduction
In primary school education, the subject of visual arts enables students’ permanent creative expression. It introduces them to perception and reception, i.e. evaluation of artwork. Teachers thus use artwork to give students an understanding or
explanation of an art motif, problem or technique. Students’ preferences for works
of art can be observed from two different viewpoints. On the one hand, there is the
student’s natural and innate feeling for artistic order and, on the other, the learned
feeling of what is beautiful and aesthetic. It may be noticed, says Mazepa-Domagała, “that the young audience pays attention to both the objective, perceivable
Popularity of Art Motifs among Fourth-Grade Primary School Students
93
by the senses, qualities as well as to the emotional aspect, which is noticeable but
not leading” (Mazepa-Domagała, 2010 p. 184). This develops their visual abilities,
the skill of organised observation and mental, emotional and other activities (Duh,
Vrlič, 2003). The process of visual arts education thus develops students’ creative
abilities for hands-on artistic work and the ability to observe and assess works
of art. The perception and reception of works of art and their internalisation are
called art appreciation. Today we know that art appreciation abilities are inherent
to all students and that the students’ perceptive abilities are better developed than
receptive ones. The level of art appreciation abilities is somewhat average (Duh,
Korošec Bowen, 2014).
Artists choose different motifs in their work. When observing a work of art,
every individual can identify with the art motif, but only if the motif is close
enough and touches him or her. Höfler (1998) believes that a motif is a fundamental subject of the work of art. An important factor in understanding and
responding to a work of art is the emotional response of students in the perception
of artwork (Duh and Herzog, 2012). Grgurić and Jakubin (1996) classify motifs
into three types: (1) visual motifs, (2) non-visual motifs, and (3) artistic and
compositional elements as motifs. An appropriately chosen art motif represents
motivation for the student resulting in the student’s creativity.
In modern visual arts education, the teacher has the possibility of freely
choosing motifs, as these are not stipulated by the syllabus. At the elementary
level of primary school, human figures, animals, still lives, landscapes, the interior,
different genres such as occupations, scenes from everyday life, fantasy motifs
and decorative and abstract works of art are appropriate motifs (Duh and Vrlič,
2003). Fantasy motifs are appropriate for lower-grade students due to their highly
developed imagination. The teacher should strive to search for extraordinary and
diverse motifs for every subject discussed in art lessons, so as to offer students the
possibility to develop general and spatial artistic abilities.
Existing Studies
From the motivational point of view, choosing motifs in visual arts education is
exceptionally important, as a motif represents the affective part of the artistic task.
Emotional response of students, both in the perception of artwork and in their own
creations, represents an important factor in understanding and responding to art.
Individual studies (e.g., Aissen-Crewett, 1989) have shown gender-related differences in the artistic creation of children. These differences can be noted especially
94
in the choice of motifs, their structure and artistic expression and partially also in
the choice of colours and shapes. These studies show that girls prefer subjects such
as their home and the immediate neighbourhood. Boys, on the other hand, depict
dynamic scenes in their works of art, strength and technical devices. On the other
hand, Kampf-Jansen points out that the art “worlds of girls and boys are coming
closer and in individual places even overlap” (Kampf-Jansen 1990, p. 96). She
mentions the equally eager depiction of individual cartoon characters. Existing
studies on the choice of motifs in Croatia (Kuščević et. al., 2009) have shown that
younger primary school students are more attracted to figural than abstract motifs.
Previous studies conducted in Slovenia (Duh and Herzog, 2010) indicate that there
are statistically significant gender-related differences in the choice of the motif
among ten-year old students. Boys were mostly attracted to animal and fantasy
motifs and girls to genre motifs, portraits and landscapes. A similar study (Duh
and Herzog 2012), on third-grade primary school students, has shown that as
regards preferences for art motifs, the role of gender is more important than social
stratum. Preferences for art motifs among fourth-grade primary school students
were also monitored by a study (Duh, Herzog, Ros, 2013) that established that the
majority are gender-related differences and rarely stratum-related differences. In
order to obtain high-quality results in artistic creation, we have to choose subjects
and motifs that can be internalised by students of both genders.
Methods
Purpose and hypotheses
An empirical study was conducted to establish preferences for art motifs among
Slovenian and Croatian fourth-year primary school students (aged 10 – 11). Five
sets of test paintings were used with each set covering the objectives from the
field of drawing, painting and sculpting for fourth-year primary schools (Syllabus:
Likovna vzgoja, 2011; Nastavni plan i program za osnovnu školu, 2006).
The study derived from hypotheses related to students’ gender, social stratum of
schools and their country of origin.
Gender-related hypotheses.
It was assumed that there were statistically significant gender-related differences
in motif preferences in the first set of paintings (H1.1), the second (H1.2), the third
(H1.3), the fourth (H1.4) and in the fifth set of paintings (H1.5).
95
Hypotheses related to the social stratum of schools attended by the students
who were included in the study.
It was assumed that there were no school stratum-related differences in motif
preferences in the first set of paintings (H2.1). It was further assumed that there
were no school stratum-related differences in the second set of paintings (H2.2),
the third (H2.3), the fourth (H2.4) and in the fifth set of paintings (H2.5).
Hypotheses related to the students’ country of origin (Slovenia, Croatia).
It was assumed that there were no differences with regard to the country of
origin in the first set of paintings (H3.1), the second (H3.2), the third (H3.3), the
fourth (H3.4) and in the fifth set of paintings (H3.5).
Method
The study was conducted using the descriptive and non-experimental causal
method of pedagogical research. In order to establish differences as regards motif
preferences between the students’ nationality, gender and social stratum, the χ²
test was used.
Study sample
The study sample comprised 1,467 fourth-grade primary school students from
Slovenia and Croatia; of those 834 students from Slovenian primary schools, or
56.85 % of the total sample, and 633 students from Croatian fourth-grade primary
schools, or 43.15 % of the total sample. It needs to be mentioned that Slovenian
fourth-grade students are 10 years old and Croatian 11. However, in the fourth
grade both groups have had 4 years of primary school education. With regard
to gender, the sample consisted of 741 (50.5%) boys and 726 (49.5%) girls. With
regard to social stratum, the sample consisted of 1,085 (73.9%) students from
urban schools and 382 (26.1%) students from suburban primary schools.
Data collection procedures
We conducted a lesson in individual primary schools in one class of fourth-year
students, in which the students were asked to individually fill in evaluation sheets.
We used an LCD projector to project reproductions of works of art (photographs).
We showed the students artwork from the fields of drawing, painting and sculpting
with different motifs. The artwork reproductions were classified into five sets of five
works of art, i.e., a total of 25 pictures. The individual sets covered the learning objec-
96
tives with regard to art problems as set out in the fourth grade syllabus. The artwork
reproductions were grouped according to the art concepts that they contained: the
first set points and lines, the second chromatic and achromatic contrast, the third the
relationship between volume and space, the fourth complementary contrast (mostly
red-green) and the fifth painting textures, emphasised spots and strokes.
Table 1. List of shown artwork reproductions according to sets
Sets
the first set
the second set
the third set
the fourth set
the fifth set
No.
Work of art
1
Leonardo da Vinci: Antique Warrior
2
Albert Kinert: Self-Portrait
3
Vincent van Gogh: The Yellow House
4
Giorgio Morandi: Still Life
5
Ante Kuduz: Kadar 5
1
Josip Račić: Lady in White
2
Miljenko Stančić: Interior
3
Pablo Picasso: Harlequin with a Guitar
4
Paul Cézanne: Still Life with Pitcher
5
Ante Kuduz: Graf-COLOR-8
1
Greece: Marching Soldiers
2
Miron: Discobolus
3
A. D. Fernkorn: Saint George and the Dragon
4
Branislav Dešković: Dog in the Square
5
Henry Moore: Reclining Figure: Holes
1
Albrecht Dürer: Barbara Dürer
2
Albrecht Dürer: Paumgartner Altarpiece
3
Giuseppe Arcimboldo: The Librarian
4
Claude Monet: The Poppy Field
5
Victor Vasarely: Vega 200
1
Chuck Close: Self-Portrait
2
Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Irène Cahen
3
Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Moss Roses
4
Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night
5
Ordan Petlevski: Black Furrows
The instrument used to gather data was the evaluation sheet that was filled in
by each of the students individually. The students were first shown a sequence
of five works of art. Each was projected for 10 seconds and the next projection
97
featured all five works of art together. The students compared them and graded
them 1 to 5. They gave five points to the work of art that attracted them the most
and one point to the work that attracted them the least. They could use each grade
only once. When all the students in the class concluded their evaluation, they
evaluated the next four sets of artwork in the same way. We used an instrument
with tested measurement characteristics (validity, reliability, objectivity), which
was developed at the Faculty of Education of the University of Maribor (Likovni
test PR, 2010). The instrument comprises Microsoft PowerPoint presentation of
25 photos divided into five sets and grading sheets.
Data processing procedures
The study employed methods of basic descriptive statistics (f, f %) and inference
statistics (the χ2 test). Data were processed with the use of SPSS 21 software.
Results and Interpretation
A study was conducted to establish motif preferences of Slovenian and Croatian fourth-year primary school students. We were predominantly interested
in whether there were differences with regard to nationality, gender and social
stratum.
Table 2. Works of art that the majority of students favoured in individual sets
Set
Work of art
Total
f
f%
Vincent van Gogh: The Yellow House
708
48.3
2
Paul Cézanne: Still Life with Pitcher
702
47.9
3
Anton Dominik Fernkorn: Saint George and the Dragon
807
55.0
4
Victor Vasarely: Vega 200
717
48.9
5
Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night
663
45.2
1
The results show (Table 2) that in the first set almost a half (48.3%) of all the
students favoured Vincent van Gogh’s The Yellow House. In the second set, again
almost a half of the students (47.9%) favoured Cézanne’s Still Life with Pitcher. In
the third set, more than a half of the students (55.0%) favoured Fernkorn’s Saint
George and the Dragon. In the fourth set, slightly less than a half of the students
98
(48.9%) favoured Viktor Vasarely’s Vega 200. In the fifth set, almost a half of the
students (45.2%) were drawn to Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night.
The study further focused on whether there were preferences for art motifs
conditioned by gender. The results are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Preferences for art motifs of works of art with regard to gender
and the results of the x² test
Sets
Result x²
the first set
the second set
the third set
the fourth set
the fifth set
x² =83.022
x² =55.188
x² =43.068
x² =3.816
x² =13.041
P=0.000
P=0.000
P=0.000
P=0.431
P=0.011
Table 3 shows that in the first set of pictures there were different preferences for
motifs between boys and girls. In the first set, the result of the x² test shows that
there are statistically significant gender-related differences (P=0.000) as regards
preferences for art motifs. This confirmed hypothesis H1.1. In the second set
preferences for art works are more dispersed between the genders, which was also
proved with the help of the x² test. In the second set of paintings, a statistically
significant gender-related difference (P=0.000) was established in preferences for
art motifs. This confirmed hypothesis H1.2. The third set of reproductions shown
to the students were sculptures, i.e., one relief and four full plastics. The diverse
preferences for motifs allowed us again to note statistically significant gender-related differences (P = 0.000) also in the third set of works of art with the help of
the x² test, thus confirming hypothesis H 1.3. In the fourth set, the boys (52.0%)
and the girls (45.7%) again preferred the same work of art among the presented
reproductions, i.e. Viktor Vasarely’s Vega 200 (picture No. 5). The second most
popular work of art from this set in both genders was Claude Monet’s painting
(picture No. 4). These two paintings were preferred by 90.5% of the girls and
74.4% of the boys. The preferences for the remaining three paintings were slightly
more dispersed. Nevertheless, the χ2 test did not note any statistically significant
gender-related differences (P = 0.431) in this set as regards the preference for art
motifs. Hypothesis H1.4 was thus rejected. The preferences for motifs in the fifth
set were also diverse and we again noted statistically significant gender-related
differences (P = 0.011) in this set of works of art with the help of the x² test, thus
confirming hypothesis H 1.5.
The study further focused on the role of social stratum in preferences for art
motifs. The preferences for art motifs among the students of urban and suburban
schools were compared. The results are shown in Table 4.
99
Table 4. Preferences for art motifs of works of art with regard to social stratum
Sets
Result x²
the first set
the second set
the third set
the fourth set
the fifth set
x²=0.613
x²=3.559
x²=4.618
x²=3.816
x²=7.209
P=0.962
P=0.469
P=0.329
P=0.431
P=0.125
Table 4 shows that in all the five sets, the students of urban and suburban
schools preferred the same works of art. In all the five sets, the results of the x²
test do not show any statistically significant differences with regard to social
stratum. This confirmed hypotheses H2.1, H2.2, H2.3, H2.4 and H2.5.
We were further interested in whether there were any differences in preferences
for art motifs with regard to the students’ country of origin. The results are shown
in Table 5.
Table 5. Preferences for art motifs of works of art with regard to the country
Sets
No.
1
1
2
3
Slovenia
Croatia
f
f%
f
f%
219
26.3
156
24.6
2
13
1.6
15
2.4
3
370
44.4
338
53.4
4
185
22.2
100
15.8
5
47
5.6
24
3.8
1
118
14.1
181
28.6
2
38
4.6
30
4.7
3
106
12.7
128
20.2
4
460
55.2
242
38.2
5
112
13.4
52
8.2
1
60
7.2
53
8.4
2
80
9.6
68
10.7
3
450
54.0
357
56.4
4
187
22.4
131
20.7
5
57
6.8
24
3.8
Result x²
x²=17.768
P=0.001
x²=79.893
P=0.000
x²=8.041
P=0.090
100
Sets
4
5
Slovenia
No.
f
Croatia
f%
f
f%
1
19
2.3
23
3.6
2
65
7.8
47
7.4
3
42
5.0
64
10.1
4
245
29.4
245
38.7
5
463
55.5
254
40.1
1
97
11.6
76
12.0
2
278
33.3
202
31.9
3
58
7.0
38
6.0
4
365
43.8
298
47.1
5
36
4.3
19
3.0
Result x²
x² = 42.011
P = 0.000
x² = 3.296
P = 0.509
Table 5 shows that in the first set of shown drawings, the students from Slovenia
and the students from Croatia preferred the same work of art. The motif of Vincent
van Gogh’s The Yellow House attracted the highest number of Croatian (53.4%)
and Slovenian (44.4%) students. The second most preferred motif was that of
Leonardo da Vinci’s drawing, with the Slovenian students showing a slightly higher
preference (26.3%) than the Croatian students (24.6 %). The third, fourth and fifth
position as regards the popularity of the motif were taken by the same drawings in
both countries, however the percentages differed. Regardless of the same order of
popularity among the students from both countries, the x² test proved statistically
significant differences (P=0.001) between the students with regard to their country
of origin due to the different percentages as regards the popularity of individual
motifs. This result disproved hypothesis H3.1.
The results of the analysis of the second set show that both the Slovenian
(55.2%) and Croatian students (38.2%) preferred the same work of art, i.e.,
Cézanne’s Still Life with Pitcher. Josip Račić’ Lady in White was the second most
preferred motif by the students of both countries, however the percentages differed. The percentage is twice as high among the students of Croatian schools
(28.6%) as among the Slovenian students (14.1%). As this is a famous Croatian
author, it is possible that the Croatian students had already seen this work of art
and recognised it. The motifs of other shown works also caused different reactions
from the students of both countries and the x² test revealed statistically significant
differences (P=0.000) in preferences for art motifs with regard to the country of
origin. This result disproved hypothesis H3.2.
101
The results of the third set of shown reproductions of sculptures show that both
the Slovenian and Croatian students preferred the same work of art, i.e. Fernkorn’s Saint George and the Dragon, in similar percentages – the Croatian students
slightly more (56.4%) than the Slovenian students (54.0%). The students from both
countries expressed similar preferences also for other motifs. The x² test did not
show any statistically significant differences (P = 0.090) between the preferences
for motifs of this set from the viewpoint of the country of origin. This confirmed
hypothesis H3.3.
In the fourth set of paintings, the Slovenian and Croatian students preferred
the motifs of the same two works of art. They were the most drawn to Vasarely’s
Vega 200. This percentage was higher among the Slovenian (55.5%) than among
the Croatian students (40.1%). On the other hand, the second most preferred
motif from this set, i.e., Claude Monet’s The Poppy Field near Argenteuil, was more
popular among the Croatian (38.7%) than the Slovenian students (29.4%). The
preferences for other motifs of this set differed. These differences were also noted
with the x² test, which showed statistically significant differences (P=0.000). This
result disproved hypothesis H3.4.
In the fifth and last set of paintings, the students from both countries found the
motif of Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night to be the most captivating. This motif
was slightly more popular among the Croatian (47.1%) than among the Slovenian
students (43.8%). The results of the x² test indicate that there is no statistically
significant difference between the two countries (P=0.509). This result confirmed
hypothesis H3.5.
Conclusion
The study established preferences for art motifs among fourth-grade primary
school students. We were interested in whether there were any differences in
choosing the preferred motif between genders, with regard to the environment
and the country of attending primary school. It was established that the students
mostly prefer realistically depicted motifs, which had already been shown by
previous studies (Kuščević et. al., 2009; Duh et al., 2010; Duh & Herzog, 2012).
It was established that the boys preferred dynamic and fantastic motifs and the
girls predominantly motifs reflecting motherhood and tenderness. Similarly to
previous studies (Aissen-Crewett, 1989, 1992; Duh & Herzog, 2012; Duh et al.,
2013), it was established that the boys preferred energetic motifs, while the girls
102
were more inclined towards calmer motifs. There were no differences noted in the
preferences for art motifs from the viewpoint of social stratum.
The study results pose completely new questions on preferences for artwork
and on the cultural tradition. The study did confirm the set hypotheses regarding
students’ stratum, however, it did not confirm all the hypotheses regarding the
differences between the students of the two countries. A novelty is the realisation
that regardless of their social stratum, students within the same cultural area and
within the same country and of equal age do not show any differences with regard
to preferences for artwork. Such differences were, however, noted between the
students of the two countries, i.e., the students coming from different cultural
environments. Regardless of the similar art education tradition, similar planning,
implementation and evaluation of art educational processes and assessment
of children’s works of art and the relatively small cultural differences between
Slovenian and Croatian students, the study noted differences with regard to the
preferences for artwork between the students from the two countries. However,
the similarity in the ranking is sufficiently high for these results to indicate a tendency towards generalisation of findings, at least for these two countries. This is
undoubtedly a result that poses numerous new questions, to which art education
professionals will have to find the answers sooner or later.
In their artistic and pedagogical work, teachers need to choose art reproductions
with appropriately chosen art motifs, which are interesting, known to students and
preferred by the majority. Teachers should also choose works of art that are created
in an unusual and attractive manner that corresponds to the art concepts that
the teacher has taught their students. The study results can contribute to a higher
quality of visual arts lessons.
References
Aissen-Crewett, M. (1989) Geschlechtsspezifische inhaltliche Unterschiede in Zeichnungen von Schulkindern. In: BDK 24, 1,
Bertscheit R. (2001). Bilder werden Erlebise. Mitreissenden methoden zur aktiven Bildbetrachtung in Schule und Museum. Verlag an der Ruhr.
Duh, M., Herzog, J. (2012). Preference do likovnih motivov pri učencih prvega triletja
osnovne šole [Preferences for art motifs by pupils in the first three years of primary
school]. Didactica Slovenica, 27 (1 – 2), 17 – 32.
Duh, M., Herzog, J., Ros, Š. (2013). Preference for visual motifs in first grades of primary
school. Innovative Issues and Approaches in social Sciences. Vol. 6, No. 3. pp 92 – 116.
Duh, M., Korošec Bowen, A. (2014). The Development of Art Appreciation Abilities of
Pupils in Primary School. The New Educational Review, Vol. 35, No. 2. pp: 42 – 54.
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Duh, M., Vrlič, T. (2003). Likovna vzgoja v prvi triadi devetletne osnovne šole [Art education in the first three years of primary school]. Ljubljana: Rokus.
Duh. M., Herzog. J. (2010). The relation of lower grade primary school pupils to motif in
visual art. In: Arnaut M (ed.) Teacher Education for the future. pp. 873 – 886. Zenica, PEF.
Grgurić, N., Jakubin, M. (1996). Vizualno-likovni odgoj i obrazovanje [Visual-Arts Education]. Zagreb, Educa.
Höfler, J. (1998). Osnove likovne umetnosti [The basics of Fine Arts]. Ljubljana, DZS.
Kämpf-Jansen, H. (1990). Mädchenästhetik und Jungenästhetik. Aspekte einer geschlechtsspezifischen Ästhetischen Erziehung. In: Die Grundschulzeitschrift. Sammelband
Ästhetische Erziehung 2. Seelze
Kruščević, D., Brajčić, M., Matijašević I. (2009). A child and the art in the first and the
second grade of the primary school. Journal of elementary education. Vol. 2 No. 3 – 4,
pp: 121 – 135.
Likovni test PR [Art test PR] (2010). Retrieved on 2 April 2015 http://www.pfmb.uni-m
b.si/index.php?page_id=105&profesor_id=13,
Mazepa-Domagała, B. (2010). From the Issues of Perception of Visual Images in Connection with a Text by the Child at the Pre-Reading Age. Valorisation of Visual Images
Expressed in the Form of Book Illustrations in the Subjective Perspective of a Child
Recipient. The New Educational Review, Vol. 22, No. 3 – 4. pp: 179 – 188.
Nastavni plan i program za osnovnu školu (2006). [The curriculum for primary schools]
Zagreb: Ministarstvo znanosti, obrazovanja i športa. Retrieved on 18 July 2014 from:
http://public.mzos.hr/fgs.axd?id=14181
Učni načrt, (2011). [The curriculum]. Likovna vzgoja [Art education]. Ljubljana, Zavod
RS za šolstvo.
Irina A. Malinina
Russia
Implementing Web 2.0 Tools for Collaborative Work
of Learners Studying English
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.08
Abstract
Web 2.0 provides resources and tools that make the learning process social
and collaborative as they connect students with each other and help to move
from the instructor-centred methods of teaching to more contextual learning and problem-solving techniques (J.West and M.West, 2009). The aim of
the paper is to introduce findings on the project of implementing Web 2.0
resources for collaborative work in the National Research University Higher
School of Economics. The main objectives of the project were to 1) single out
Internet resources aimed at collaboration to suit the purposes of educational
programme; 2) determine how much collaborative learning background
students have and their attitudes to online and face-to-face collaboration;
3) analyse the students’ involvement in collaborative learning activities;
4) research the influence of web-related technologies on willingness to collaborate. The main methods used in the research were questionnaire, interview
and observation as well as analyses of students’ work. The results revealed
a positive attitude to Web 2.0 among the majority of the students. The offered
Internet resources (Tricider.com, MeetingWords.com, TodaysMeet.com)
improved communication and collaboration outside of the classroom, which
is vital as increasingly less time is being allocated for studying a foreign
language. Besides, Web 2.0 resources make it easier for teachers to evaluate
each student’s contribution to task achievement and ensure fair assessment
of each student’s work.
Keywords: collaborative learning, Web 2.0, studying English as a second language
Implementing Web 2.0 Tools for Collaborative Work of Learners Studying English
105
Introduction
The landscape of higher education has been changing for the past few decades
due to the expansion of technology. In the 21st century, the use of technology is “no
longer an activity we engage in but a space that we and our students occupy and
live in” (Gerben, 2010). Application of information technology in many spheres of
human activity including education is not only a distinctive feature of the modern
society but also a necessity participants in the educational process have to face if
they want activities and content to be relevant to the real world (Beldarrain, 2006,
Lightner, 2007, Clarke, 2004). The most significant changes are happening in the
way in which the educational process is arranged. Web 2.0 provides opportunities
which allow students to collaborate, to become actively involved in creating content
and to share information not only with teachers and peers but with everyone from
around the world and, thus, it helps to move from instructor-centred methods of
teaching to more contextual learning and real-world problem-solving techniques
(J.West and M.West, 2009).
Literature review
Web 2.0 in education
Grosseck (2009) claims the necessity to interpret Web 2.0 technologies from
a pedagogical perspective, so that students can become digitally fluent and ready
for the challenges of the knowledge society.
Even drilling can be made more interactive and social if you employ Web 2.0
technology (e.g., www.drawastickman.com), which confirms the words of Hargadon (2008), who called Web 2.0 “the future of education”.
Despite the large number of the definitions of Web 2.0, each of them emphasises
the social use of the Web, which promotes interaction and collaboration of participants in the educational process. Wankel (2010) defines Web 2.0 tools as “any form
of on-line technology or practices through which users create communities to
convey information ideas, independent learning, entertainment, collaboration and
personal messages and thus facilitates communication and interaction between
individuals and groups”.
Internet access means teachers and students can interact and collaborate quickly.
Another benefit is contextual learning, as students always appreciate it when the
106
Irina A. Malinina
content is relevant to the real world, as a result it gives them an additional incentive
to study. In comparison with slower paper-based courses, Web-related resources
provide participants in the educational process with the opportunity to update the
information much faster and more frequently.
What educators especially value about Web 2.0, besides collaboration and
socialisation, are authenticity and creativity (Peachey, 2012). The content is created
and shared by real people all over the world, as anyone can contribute what they
know and exchange it with anyone else. Moreover, relationships built on learning
platforms and websites are genuine, which is very stimulating.
Collaboration work
Barr and Tagg (1995) argued the necessity for a shift in the educational pattern
from the traditional teacher-directed paradigm toward student-centred learning.
Leonard P. & Leonard L. (2001) emphasised the transition from individual efforts
to group work and from independence to community. Thus, a trend toward
collaboration is a remarkable feature of the 21st century (Laal, M., Laal, M., &
Khattami-Kermanshahi, Zh., 2012).
Panitz (1999) noted that “collaboration is a philosophy of interaction and
personal lifestyle where individuals are responsible for their actions including
learning and respect the abilities and contributions of their peers”.
The learners who work together in cooperative teams achieve a higher level
of thoughts, preserve information and keep knowledge more than the learners
who work individually (Johnson, & Johnson, 1986). Samuel Totten et al. (1991)
stated that joint learning and sharing of knowledge give learners the opportunity
to discuss a subject, be responsible for their learning, and therefore lead to create
crucial thinkers.
Individuals increasingly need to think and work together on critical subjects in
societies (Austin, 2000; Welch, 1998).
Silberman (1996) developed an adjustment to what Confucius said and called
The Active Learning Credo, which shows the opinion of further learning by individuals as follows:
 What I hear, I forget
 What I hear and see, I remember some
 What I hear, see, and ask questions about or discuss with someone else,
I begin to understand
 What I hear, see, discuss and do, I acquire knowledge and skills
 What I teach to others, I master.
107
His idea correlates with Vygostsky’s theory of the zone of proximal development
(ZPD), according to which working with others leads to an increase in the level of
a learner’s own capacity, because collaboration with those who know a little more
can boost achievement (Vygotsky, 1978).
Panitz (1999) shares this point of view and claims that learning is “a two-way
street with teaching and learning being two components of the same educational
system.” (Panitz, 1999, p.12)
Many researchers and educators (Johnson, D., Johnson, R., 1986; Laal et al.,
2012, 2013) admit that not every group- or team-learning can be called collaboration. They claim that at least five elements are essential to name some work
collaborative:
 Positive interdependence,
 Considerable interaction,
 Individual accountability and personal responsibility,
 Social skills,
 Group self-evaluating
Collaboration provides a lot of benefits. Laal et al. (2013) followed Johnsons
(1989) and Pantiz (1999), who categorized them into four major groups:
 Social (develops social interaction skills and responsibility among students
for each other)
 Psychological (builds self-esteem in students, actively engages them in the
learning process)
 Academic (encourages diversity understanding, promotes critical thinking)
 Assessment advantages (observation of the group, self-assessment of the
group and individual assessment of its members)
Shift of the teacher’s role
Since the advent of Web-based technology, the role of the teacher has undergone
significant changes. The most evident shift has occurred from a knowledge transmitter to a facilitator who helps students to both discover the larger community
of scholars in a particular topic and evaluate their own beliefs and understanding
compared with the generally accepted conceptions (Kuswara, 2011).
Teaching involves performing several functions: teaching itself, educating,
organizing and researching. Nowadays, the list of professional skills of teachers
include different abilities, e.g., the ability to design their own training technologies, the ability to develop and use non-standard methods of solving educational
problems, and set achievable goals (Malinina, 2012).
108
Irina A. Malinina
The ability to analyze their own teaching activities is also of high priority, as it
helps to correct, improve and adjust them to modern requirements. It is impossible
to imagine a successful teacher who does not implement methods and technologies into the learning process providing constant development of students,
encouraging the growth of their creativity and initiative.
A partial loss of the managerial authority of the learning process is an inevitable
mark of the technology-based educational environment. Learners are gradually
becoming more “self-regulated” and more responsible for managing their own
learning tasks (Collins, 1989; Perkins, 1992).
A lot of attention nowadays is paid to implementing Web-related technologies
into the educational process at all levels (state, regional, university, etc.). However, the
most important thing is not the governmental policy but teachers themselves, their
attitude towards technology in education, their knowledge and skills to work with
it, their willingness to use it and readiness to further their education in this domain.
Research objectives
We decided to implement Web 2.0 tools for collaborative work to provide evidence on their efficiency to foster collaboration among students of Higher School
of Economics.
Our project on introducing Web 2.0 resources suitable for collaboration was
intended to
1) single out Internet resources aimed at collaboration to suit the purposes of
our educational programme;
2) determine how much collaborative learning background students have and
their attitudes towards online and face-to-face collaboration;
3) analyse students’ involvement in collaborative learning activities;
4) research the influence of web-related technologies on willingness to collaborate.
The main methods used in the research were questionnaire, interview and
observation as well as analyses of students’ work.
Organisational Environment
Our project on implementing Web 2.0 tools in the educational process for
fostering collaborative work involved 42 participants. All of them were students
109
of the 3rd course of the Economic Faculty of the National Research University
Higher School of Economics Nizhny Novgorod Campus. Everyone agreed to
participate.
Having analysed different Web 2.0 resources we decided on Tricider.com, MeetingWords.com, TodaysMeet.com.
Tricider is an educational tool for brainstorming and sharing ideas (Peachey,
2012). Besides, it provides an opportunity to vote for or against the suggested
idea and give one’s own arguments. Thus, tricider.com promotes interaction and
collaboration of students and helps to move from the instructor-centred methods
of teaching to student-directed learning.
MeetingWords is a text editing program. The text is stored on the web so it can
be accessed from any computer, up to 32 people can type on the same document
at the same time.
MeetingWords is intended for real-time collaboration between learners. It is not
meant for long-term document storage, that is why pads are deleted if they have
not been used for more than seven days (http://meetingwords.com/).
TodaysMeet is a backchannel chat platform for teachers and learners. Participants can learn from each other and share their insights. The resource is aimed at
improving collaboration and expanding learning practices. Besides, TodaysMeet
enables immediate feedback and assessment (https://todaysmeet.com/).
It must be admitted that all the chosen resources are free and do not need
downloading or installation.
Findings
To determine how much collaborative learning background students have we
asked what percentage of time they spent learning English. The response was
about 82 % of their time; meaning they spent 18% of time working with others.
Open-ended questions revealed that collaboration occurred when making up dialogues (97%) and working on joint assignment (78%). In other words, the students
collaborate only if they cannot avoid it. Another question was about how much
time they would like to spend working with others. The response was 47%, which
implies a significant difference between the observed and desired amount of time
spent on collaboration.
Then students were asked about the benefits and drawbacks of teamwork. The
results are represented in Tables 1 and 2.
Irina A. Malinina
110
Table 1. Benefits of working alone
Response
Table 2. Benefits of collaboration
frequency
Response
frequency
Less distraction
38
More fun
21
Better concentration
31
Help
25
Own pace
27
Time saving
23
Time flexibility
36
Different perspectives
33
Time efficiency
28
Mistake correction
19
No slow-down
39
Sharing responsibilities
23
34
Independence
24
Ideas
No need to share success
29
Better understanding
23
Satisfaction with personal
achievement
27
Communication
29
Fair assessment
21
Less conflict
40
Convenience
34
It is worth mentioning that the students could choose some variants. The
students’ attitude to time is very interesting, as 28 consider working alone to be
time efficient, but at the same time 23 respondents say collaboration helps to
save time.
For tasks involving collaboration, 31 preferred to meet with their peers faceto-face, while only 11 would prefer to participate online. The results were not
surprising, as when similar questions were asked in the research on “Collaborative Learning Using Affordances” (Kuswara, 2011) the results were 63 and
39 (out of 103 respondents) respectively, though the students were learning
computing.
The predicted anxiety among students was the assessment of collaborative work.
But after getting acquainted with the Web resources they changed their attitude, as
they became sure that each contribution can be evaluated separately, because it is
apparent who started completing the task, what amendments and by whom were
made to it, etc. (Figure 1).
After getting acquainted with Web 2.0, the students’ attitudes to using tools for
arranging collaborative work changed, as they became convinced of their advantages. The open-ended questionnaire completed after the project demonstrated the
positive trend. The most frequently given answer was convenience, as there was
no need to decide on a fixed time and place to complete the task. Everyone can do
111
their own part, see the responses of other team members, agree or disagree with
them. What the majority of students admitted while using Web 2.0 was great help
with ideas peers share and comments they provide (Figure 2).
Figure 1. Text-editing in MeetingWords.com
Figure 2. Sharing ideas on Tricider.com
Irina A. Malinina
112
One more interesting fact was discovered during the project: the number of
students unable or unwilling to collaborate was on the increase. A similar questionnaire was carried out 4 years ago and according to the results and observations
only 2 students could not do teamwork (less than 3%). This year the number was
3 out of 42 participants, which means more than 7%.
Very often students name unreliable team members as one of the main barriers
to online collaboration. Other results of the questionnaire are shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Students’ views on online collaboration (after the pilot project)
Response
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Maybe
Agree
Strongly agree
Distraction
Time consumption
High productivity
Fun
Fair assessment
Unreliability (on peers)
Convenience
Help
More ideas
Better understanding
10
6
2
2
1
3
2
2
0
2
14
8
1
4
4
6
1
3
1
6
5
8
9
12
7
5
0
8
4
4
6
12
14
18
18
20
14
11
12
7
7
8
16
6
12
8
25
18
25
23
During the project, the students’ attitudes to online collaborative learning activities were gradually changing from unwilling, through cautious and suspicious to
convenient and effective. Having got experienced in the use of Web 2.0, they saw
their advantages, such as more ideas, brainstorming, and discussion. What many
students really appreciated was fair assessment according to everyone’s contribution, because very often while completing written collaborative assignments
the most responsible students had made the largest contribution, but every team
member got equal results, as it was impossible to determine what part of the task
was completed by each peer. Despite some obstacles (distraction, poor concentration), the students admitted that advantages outweighed these negative aspects.
Conclusion
The conducted project proved a positive influence of web-related technologies
on students’ willingness to collaborate, as their involvement in collaborative learning activities increased during the project.
113
Web 2.0 tools make the educational process
 social, as they help create a collaborative learning atmosphere,
 individualised, as they allow students to study at their own pace, at a convenient time, and in a suitable place.
 monitored, as teachers and peers get access to and can amend, direct and
assess the work done.
Opportunity to combine learner autonomy with collaborative work leads to
increasing the flexibility of the educational environment, which stimulates motivation and encourages development of learners, including professional, personal and
psychological growth (divergent thinking, creativity, information culture, problem
solving skills, ability to work in a team, reliability, etc.).
The most distinctive feature of Web 2.0 (in comparison with Web 1.0) is socialization, which we, teachers, cannot ignore, on the contrary, we should use their
potential in order to build a student-centred system of education aimed at meeting
students’ requirements and needs.
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Social
Pedagogy
Sylwia Szopa,
Krzysztof Sas-Nowosielski
Poland
Family Recreation Zones as a Supportive Environment
for Physical Activity in the Opinion of Its Users
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.09
Abstract
The main purpose of this study was to examine how the relatively new initiative
supporting active leisure of people, i.e., Family Recreation Zones, is perceived
by its users. Data were collected from 215 persons aged 13 to 96 (M=44.19,
SD 18.08). For nearly nine in ten persons Zones are the only space where they
spend their leisure time actively. The main attractors are free access and the
open air. Interestingly, for many respondents the proximity of playgrounds was
not a benefit but rather a barrier to visiting Zones. Other barriers were the
season of the year, a modest range of exercise devices, their damage, poor illumination, a perceived lack of safety and a lack of professional support during
exercising.
Keywords: physical recreation, outdoor gyms, adults
Introduction
Physical activity influences many parameters of physical and mental health,
being a preventive factor of many non-communicable diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, depressive and anxiety disorders, hypertension, osteoporosis,
or type-2 diabetes, to name but a few (Dishman, Washburn, Heath, 2004). Even
though the awareness of many of these benefits is common, many people are
inactive or insufficiently active (Drygas, Kwaśniewska, Kaleta et al. 2009).
The reasons for this reality may be discerned in the quite low dependence
of physical activity on cognitive factors, such as knowledge of or beliefs in the
118
benefits of physical activity (Nahas, Goldfine, Collins, 2003). In fact, it depends
on many factors, some of which are related to the individual themselves, while
others are linked to the environment in which they live. Although the former,
and especially psychological factors, like beliefs, emotional states or values are
important determinants of active leisure, they can only explain a small part of
the variability in these kinds of behaviors (Bourdeaudhuij, Sallis, Saelens, 2003).
What is at least equally important is the environmental context, also referred
to as “behavior setting” (Blanchard et al. 2005), comprising physical and social
facilitations and/or impediments to physical activity.
The physical environment, primarily including community design and recreational facilities, such as parks or cycle lanes, etc., may play an important role in
initiating and consolidating active leisure habits (McElroy, 2002). Some authors
claim that the physical environment may be an even stronger determinant of
physical activity behaviors than cognitive factors (Owen et al. 2004, Spence, Lee,
2003), and as a consequence most interventions aimed at increasing physical
activity should be targeted at modifying the social and physical surroundings
of people, and not the people themselves. Even if such an opinion is somewhat
exaggerated, taking into account that people living in the same area also present
various recreation habits (Ball, 2006), and a small range – usually up to a dozen or
so per cent – of variance explained by environmental variables (Bourdeaudhuij,
Sallis, Saelens, 2003, Duncan, Spence, Mummery, 2005), it is undoubtedly true that
living in a “facility-rich environment” (McElroy 2002), also called an “incentive
environment” (Stahl et al. 2001), facilitates active leisure behaviors.
It is hypothesized that at least two kinds of factors are crucial in that influence.
Firstly, such an environment is a source of “visual reminders that prompt exercise behavior” (McElroy, 2002, p. 28), i.e. constant contact with physical activity
facilities, like footpaths, cycle lanes, outdoor gyms, etc., draws people’s attention
to behaviors related to them and therefore may increase the probability of its
undertaking. Secondly, it reduces a common barrier to physical activity – the lack
of facilities nearby.
Among many initiatives aimed at modifying the environment that could
enhance physical activity in the Silesian Region there is the creation of so-called
“Family Recreation Zones” (FRZ), i.e. areas where playgrounds and exercise facilities such as “outdoor gymnasiums” are placed next to each other. In theory, their
purpose is to enhance or even allow for the practice of physical activity by people
who are insufficiently active because of family obligations related to child care,
distance to other facilities like fitness centers, or lack of finance, etc. The reviews
of studies on environmental characteristics and physical activity, conducted by
119
Duncan et al. (2003) and Kaczynski and Henderson (2008), indicated that proximity to recreation facilities, like public park areas, can have a positive influence
on physical activity.
Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine who makes use of the
facilities in the Family Recreation Zones and how they use them and what the
perceived benefits and shortcomings of that kind of recreation settings are.
Material and Methods
The data for this study were collected at the end of March and the beginning of
April 2014, during a period of fine spring weather with daily temperatures from 14
to 22 degrees Celsius (according to archival data from the service weatheronline.
com). One of the authors made observations and interviewed FRZ users in five
FRZ located in Katowice over a two-week period in two-hour intervals: 1. in the
forenoon 10.00 a.m.–12.00, 2. in the earlier afternoon 1.00 – 3.00 p.m., and 3. in
the later afternoon 5.00 – 7.00 p.m. The interview questionnaire consisted of items
measuring the perception of the usefulness of the exercise devices placed in the
FRZ (assessed on a four-point scale from 1 – unnecessary to 4 – very useful), the
intentionality of using the FRZ, the frequency of visiting the FRZ and the time
spent during an average visit, the perceived benefits and shortcomings of the FRZ.
Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) were used to describe the
data. Differences between males and females and between age groups in respect of
the frequency of visiting the Zones were assessed by conducting Pearson’s χ² or χ²
with the Yates correction, if at least one of the expected frequencies was less than
5. The effect size of the Chi-square test was determined by calculating Cramer’s
Phi (for contingency tables 2 x 2) or Cramer’s V (for contingency tables larger
than 2 x 2). In comparison of the assessments of exercise devices t-tests were used.
Analyses were conducted using the Statistica 10.0 for Windows (Statsoft).
Results
During the period of observation, the FRZ were visited by 231 persons (or about
16 persons a day), 215 of whom agreed to take part in the survey. Their ages ranged
from 13 to 96 (M=44.19, SD 18.08). Most of the park users were categorized as
adults (20 – 65 years of age, n=167), followed by 34 senior adults (over 65 years of
age; including 12 elderly persons, i.e. 75+ persons, two of whom were 80 and 96),
120
and 14 teenagers (13 – 19 years of age). Among all the FRZ users 45.12% (n=97)
were men and 54.88% (n=118) women.
The most frequently visited time periods – as could be expected – were afternoon and evening hours, regardless of the age and sex of the visitors, although
in the case of the former a tendency toward a significant difference between the
distribution of zone users and time-periods of observation was seen. For exact
data see Table 1.
Table 1. Number and percentage of respondents using Family Recreation Zones
within day-time periods according to sex and age
Morning
n (%)
Afternoon
n (%)
Evening
n (%)
33 (15.35)
93 (43.26)
89 (41.40)
Male
13 (13.40)
44 (45.36)
40 (41.24)
Female
20 (16.95)
49 (41.53)
49 (41.53)
Total
χ2
p
Cramer’s V
0.62
0.733
0.054
8.66
0.070
0.146
Sex
Age
Youth
1 (7.14)
3 (21.43)
10 (71.43)
Adults
23 (13.77)
76 (45.51)
68 (40.72)
Seniors
9 (26.47)
14 (41.18)
11 (32.35)
Over a quarter of the respondents reported visiting the Family Zones every day
or nearly every day and a similar percentage reported visiting them 2 – 3 times
a week. Daily or nearly daily visits to the Zones were reported by the adults and
senior adults, but although the difference between the three age groups was statistically significant, the magnitude of the effect was small. Differences between the
males and females were insignificant. For exact data see Table 2.
Table 2. Frequency of using Family Recreation Zones declared by the respondents
n
%
6 – 7x/wk
32
27.1
33
34.0
4 – 5 x/wk
26
22.0
13
13.4
2 – 3 x/wk
27
22.9
30
30.9
1x/wk
22
18.6
18
18.6
First time
11
9.3
3
3.1
Sex
diff.
Youth
Adults
Seniors
n
%
n
%
n
%
2
14.3
49
29.3
14
41.2
7
50.0
24
14.4
8
23.5
3
21.4
47
28.1
7
20.6
0
0.0
35
21.0
5
14.7
2
14.3
12
7.2
0
0.0
Age
diff.
χ2 =22.19; p=0.004;
Cramer’s V=0.0146
Male
%
χ2 = 7.50, p=0.112;
Cramer’s V=0.054
Female
n
121
For 128 (87.07%) persons benefiting from the FRZ facilities these places are the
only places in which they do exercise. The remaining users (12.93%) also attend
gyms (n=59, including 32 women), fitness centers for aerobics and dance classes
(n=12, including 9 women) and swimming pools (n=12, including 9 women).
One in four people regularly exercising in the FRZ (n=39, 26.53%) stated that
the systematic nature of their visits was linked to looking after children playing
in nearby playgrounds. The mean age of this group was 40.87 with more women
(n=27, M age 44.12) than men (n=12, M age 35.17).
The time of exercising in the FRZ ranged from 10 to 120 minutes a day
(M=57.15 min., SD =35.95), with no significant differences between the women
and men (58.86 min. in the former and 55.07 min. in the latter group, t=-0.77,
df=213, p=0.443).
Over 65% (n=140) of the respondents declared that they used every device
in a given FRZ, 12.09% (n=26) used only one favorite device (usually for arm
and leg presses), and the remaining 33.33% (n=49) used two devices (the most
popular devices were arm/chest press devices – 23 indications, seated rower –
13 indications, pull-up bar – 11 indications, stepper – 16 indications, air walker
– 6 indications, air skier – 7 indications, and orbitrek – 5 indications). In the
assessment of practical utility, the most positive indices were obtained by the lat
pull-down (M=3.29 SD=0.53), air skier (M=3.23 SD=0.50), and air walker (M=3.18
SD=0.42). The worst ratings, which may be verbalized as “rather useless devices,”
were given to the steering wheel machine (M=2.13 SD=1.05), the device whose
catalogue name is “klucznik” (M=2.54 SD 0.78) and the bicycle (M=2.67 SD 0.75).
There were some differences in ratings given to individual devices by the men and
women. The former gave significantly higher ratings to such devices as pulling
bars, leg presses, bench presses, and the grinder or arm wrestler, which promote
strength or resistance exercises.
The most important benefits of the FRZ were: free entry (n=114, 53.02%), outdoor location (n=66, 30.70%), home proximity (n=15, 6.98%), playgrounds nearby
(exercising while children are playing (n=11, 5.12%), and health (n=6, 2.80%).
There was a statistically significant difference between the men and women in the
perceived benefits. Free entry was more important for the men (χ²=5.54, p=0.019,
Phi=0.026), and exercising outdoors was more important for the women (χ²=7.60,
p= 0.004, Phi=0.039). However, in both cases the magnitude of the association was
weak.
The most commonly cited disadvantages were weather-dependence (n=150;
69.77%), narrow choice of facilities (n=80; 37.21%), too many small children
nearby (n=37; 17.21%), lack of maintenance of the facilities (being damaged or
122
vandalized) (n=34; 15.81%), poor level of illumination (n=20; 9.3%), fears for one’s
own safety (n=19; 8.8%), lack of professional advice on how to carry out the exercises (n=11; 5.12%), lack of a roof over the facilities (n=10, 4.65%), and too many
people (n=3; 1.39%). There were no statistically significant differences between
the men and women in the disadvantages cited, although in the case of the lack
of professional advice a tendency toward significance was observed (χ²=3.57,
p=0.059), with a relatively higher number of women indicating this disadvantage.
Discussion
The presented study was designed to describe the demographic characteristics
of Family Recreation Zone users, and how they perceive that kind of recreation
setting. In a two-week, six-hour-a-day observation period the Zones were visited
by about sixteen persons. This number might be regarded as far from satisfactory,
but the research was done in the springtime and in fine, sunny weather conditions.
The age of the visitors suggests that this kind of recreation setting is attractive
mainly for adults, irrespective of sex. Considering that nearly nine in ten persons
declared that outdoor fitness areas are the only space where they exercise, it can
be said that they are an important environmental variable contributing to the
physical activity level of adults and older adults.
The factors that make the areas attractive for working out are free access (indicated by over half of the respondents) and the open air. Interestingly, for many
respondents the proximity of the playgrounds was not a benefit, and it should be
remembered that these facilities are supposed to be recreation facilities for whole
families, especially enabling people with small children to work out while their
children are playing nearby. For nearly 20% of the respondents, the presence of
small children was regarded as a shortcoming of the Zones, which runs counter
to the idea serving as the basis for investing in such settings. This does mean
that outdoor fitness areas may be designed as recreation settings independent of
playgrounds, as an alternative for people who prefer to exercise alone or with other
adults rather than in the company of small children.
Another frequently cited barrier to using FRZ was the season of the year,
a modest range of training devices, damaged devices, poor illumination, a perceived lack of safety and a lack of professional support during exercising. A few
conclusions for institutions taking care of zones with outdoor fitness equipment
may be drawn: firstly, the number of exercise facilities should be varied enough
to meet the expectations of the users (some kinds of equipment are chosen more
123
often than others); secondly, safety issues should be carefully taken into account,
especially appropriate lighting and surveillance by police services, and thirdly,
giving consideration to the possibility of hiring an in situ fitness instructor, similar
to the initiative of “housing estate coaches” operating in some cities in Poland.
They could offer exercise advice to persons with little knowledge about how to
exercise properly, how to make plans for health-enhancing physical activity, etc.,
which would make the use of FRZ more rational.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this study revealed that Family Recreation Zones can be a valuable initiative on the map of environmental recreation facilities in urbanized
areas. In particular, they can be a valuable factor initiating and facilitating physical
activity among adults and seniors. However, if the hopes set on such places are to
be fulfilled, they should be safe, well maintained and well managed.
Some limitations of the study should also be mentioned. First of all, the study
was conducted in the springtime and the time of observations only lasted 6 hours
a day. As a result, the number of people visiting Family Recreation Zones was limited and their perceptions about these areas could be biased. However, the authors
believe that the information obtained may be valuable to people and institutions
deciding where and how to structure outdoor recreation facilities.
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Fernando Barragán, José Gómez,
Antonio Llorens, Pedro D. Herrera
Spain
Gender Violence and Prisoners: Action Research and
Pedagogy
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.10
Abstract
Action-Research Methodology and gender sensitivity linked to solve gender
violence expression in prisons. The curriculum negotiation is a principle that
allowed prisoners to engage in the activities in a voluntary way. Six months
of field qualitative implementation – contrary to Blitzkrieg Ethnographyallowed us to get a real change of abilities as team trust, cooperation skills,
decision-making process to avoid violence and to recognize the need the prisoners have to express their sentiments. Results show a success of critical Action
Research and active participation of all the actors as well as the construction of
a peace culture and a new field of work for pedagogues.
Keywords: gender violence, hegemonic masculinities, prisoners education, critical
action research, quadrangulation, peace culture
Introduction
Our educational programme developed in prison experience for the first time
when a long-term action research centred approach innovation educational programme was developed in the Spanish prison. Long term implementation means
six months in prisons and a new function or role for pedagogical professionals and
so the learning results and the change of attitudes are better than when you work
in short-term programmes, for only one or two weeks.
“There were days when the small courtyard – the only place with direct sunlight - literally had a testosterone smell to it, and you could always hear footballs
126
Fernando Barragán, José Gómez, Antonio Llorens, Pedro D. Herrera
bouncing against the walls, and also sometimes people yelling and the constant
interruption of the out-of-tune and coarse PA with information on the working
staff that, however expected, turned into a sort of aggression against tranquillity. In
short, surveillance and peer harassment. This context gives the term “technologies
of self ”, according to Foucault (1978; 1988), its full meaning. This refers to the conceptualization of masculinities as “a set of effects generated in the body, behaviour
and social relations” (Foucault, 1978, p. 125)
(Prison Research Field Diary).
Theoretical framework
Violence, masculinity, and expression of sentiments
Explaining the origin and build-up of violence is no easy task due to the complexity of contextual, cultural, social and experiential factors that may be involved.
Taking into consideration that the social relationships of friendship occur in
prison, as well as in the compulsory periods of stay in the army in some countries,
these are only functional in such contexts. Friendship in the context of prison may
have special and unique connotations. Patriarchal societies generally promote the
use of violence in order to perpetuate themselves as an oppression mechanism for
women and other men. However, we have always preferred calling them cultures
of resistance against the hegemonic model, which can be clearly seen thanks to the
rise and power of homosexual communities, to give but an example.
“The belief that violence is a male thing is not a trait stemming from any chromosome
embedded in the neuronal network of either the right or the left hemisphere, nor is it
originated from testosterone -half of the guys does not engage in fights, the majority
of them do not carry weapons and almost none of them commits murder: Are they
not boys? Boys learn to be violent. “Violence – as written by James Gilligan (1997,
223) – has much more to do with the cultural construction of manhood than it does
with hormonal substrates of biology” (Foster, Kimmel & Shelton, 2004, pp. 218 – 219).
Education fosters boys and girls to use violence to solve conflicts instead of the
construction of a peace culture. The meaning of what a man is changes through
culture, history and even time along their own life.
Gender Violence and Prisoners: Action Research and Pedagogy
127
Methodological approach
Problem and main objective
There is a lack of effective prevention programmes in prisons as they are focused
on short educational practices with no deep changes of attitudes and knowledge.
Analysing and understanding the scope and consequences of using violence in
daily life through the development of basic skills that help enhance communication, respect and cooperation –favouring the resolution of conflicts by means of
negotiation.
Design and Implementation as negotiation
The critical action-research ensures three fundamental principles and concepts:
a practice educational problem that they cannot solve for themselves alone as
educators (as well as prison staff and other professionals groups) and the problems
must be designed by people engaged and living in the problematic situation; to
improve the life context conditions, the place where they are living to be able
to understand their reality better and third, to make them free from oppression
or wrongful practices empowering the research group to the decision-making
process (McKernan, 1999, pp. 52 – 53).
Curriculum Implementation (Snyder, Bolin and Zumwalt, 1992) focused on
working together in the construction and adjustment of the curriculum: “This
implies a certain amount of negotiation and flexibility on the part of both designers
and practitioners” (Snyder, Bolin and Zumwalt, 1992, p. 410). As prisoners become
active actors of the implementation system, their collaboration and expression of
needs was a key to engaging them in the whole process: activities and evaluation.
We want to highlight that we had been doing field work for a long time as we
stayed in the prison for six months (Including preliminary negotiations with the
Head and National Authorities of Home Affairs). This is completely unusual in
prisons.
Contrary to “Blitzkrieg Ethnography,” Rist (1980, p.8), our process of research
included “multiple interactions, visits, contact over a substantial length of time”.
Following the action-research model of Hutchins (1992), there are four phases:
Phase 1: Orientation and Negotiation with the prison group; Phase II: Identification of Needs and Action Planning; Phase III: Implementation, Monitoring and
Adjustment, and Phase IV: Reflection, Review, Evaluation and a new process.
128
Orientation and Negotiation
Our first day of contact with the inmates made us feel a mixture of anxiety,
uncertainty, and oppression; it made us feel odd. Three meetings were held aimed
to negotiate the proposed training work we wanted to do. The first two groups
were heterogeneous in terms of offences committed, cultural backgrounds and age.
In the evening, the head of the programs suggested we visited what they called
the “therapeutic educational unit”. One of the officers (female), when hearing
about this group, interceded: “Are you going to work with the sissy guys?” The unit
comprised a set of inmates on a re-education programme including, in some cases,
those who were in the process of drug abuse detoxification.
It also included an agreement to work with two groups of volunteer inmates
two days a week -Mondays and Wednesdays- for a period of five months and
approximately sixty hours of direct work. However, the implementation time in
prison was extended up to approximately one hundred and twenty uninterrupted
hours, including holiday periods that do not apply in prison for obvious reasons.
The selection of research group
Identification of Needs and Action Planning
The selected group consisted of 17 inmates, none of whom dropped out except
for a prisoner who completed his service time and another one that was transferred to a different unit following drug use. The multicultural backgrounds of the
prisoners were several countries: Colombia, Cuba, Italy, Senegal, Spain Algeria,
Nigeria, Venezuela, Morocco and Sierra Leone. For ethical reasons we considered
it better not to know their sentence reasons and to solve our own conflict by our
intention to stay in the prisons for a long time. Anyway, we asked the Head of the
Prison to send to our first meeting all the prisoners convicted of gender violence
and sexual aggression and some other harmful practices.
We chose the action-research-education programme Education for a Violence-free Society: Constructing a Peaceful Culture as reference, which had been
designed and successfully tested in Germany, Italy, Denmark and Spain (Barragán
et al., 2006). It included masculinities, gender, homophobia, peace culture, multiculturalism and sentiments education as curricular contents.
Additionally, some contents proposed by the group of men in prison never
ceased to surprise us, due to these being sometimes unusual, idiosyncratic and
129
always a challenge to prepare given their immediacy and the fact that they had
not been anticipated. We started off the programme with activities focusing on
masculinities and violence, but early into the sessions the need for touching
on emotional aspects such as guilt, affective dependence or the loss of affective
autonomy was raised, as well as self-control issues linked to violence and ways of
conflict resolution, which was less of a surprise to us. To be able to understand the
deep meaning of the changes we must explain that the filming was about the last
workshop, called education for pleasure, with activities as dancing, massages, play
with chocolate, caress blindfolded with some coloured Mexican handkerchiefs, lift
and rock in small groups (It was an hour and a half session after a period of nearly
six months and more than some fifty activities).
Evaluation Methods
We chose qualitative methods because prisoners know how to respond to
a traditional or conventional survey and a new approach was necessary. Mckernan (1999, p. 208) suggested quadrangulation, which “is at the same time a data
collection method and a way to monitor such data, so that the key actors in the
environment can consider it through various research approaches”. It holds certain
similarities with the “triangulation” method used by Patton (1990), as well as visual
data collection (Banks, 2008) and qualitative research (Flick, 2002).
“Quadrangulation (Mckernan, 1999, p. 210) can be understood as a four-sided box
[…] the first side or wall representing the external researcher and professor-researcher studying a story video of the action; the second side involves the external
researcher and student researchers discussing the action without the professor;
the third side consists of the projection of the video for other practitioners in the
school or involved in the project, with the professor-researcher explaining what
has happened and what has been learned about the resolution of the curricular
issue data”.
The procedure was filming approximately one hour and a half of the final
sessions of the programme, done by an expert in pedagogy. The professor-researcher, the observers-researchers and prisoners were simultaneously asked:
What changes have occurred since the start of the intervention that can be
noticed in the film? The activities description is crucial to share a construction
view, even to improve the curriculum that we made with the system actors:
researcher teacher, external observers and prisoners. We can compare the quality
130
of this observation tool according to Hook (1985), who talks about the diary,
where you are supposed to express your feelings, attitudes, perceptions, reflections and critical comments.
Results and Discussion
The analysis of the quadrangulation shows here the most relevant and interesting opinions, values, knowledge and attitudes according to the group methodology.
Dimensions created were: the way they arrived at the meeting, atmosphere, space,
expression of feelings, task development, team work, understanding the tasks,
transcending the boundaries, elements of distortion, interpersonal relations, verbal
and non-verbal communication and the prison courtyard.
The way they arrived at the meeting
[They come in groups and smiling]
Prison Research Field Diary, observer 1
[On our way toward the prison we talked about sex education and observed the
deserted landscape surrounding the facilities. We talked about the institution. Every
day we could feel some tension before entering the premises]
[I feel really upset and concerned about the expectations of the possibility of filming.
Entering the building was troublesome as they were not willing to let us film. It is
really hard to restrain myself from telling the official to go to hell. As usual, the
inmates arrived in small groups. It really gets under my skin. Inmates continue to
slowly arrive at the session. Spontaneous and warm behaviour when arriving by car
at the prison]
Prison Research Field Diary, teacher
Atmosphere: the way we feel and live in the prison
[The final scene was very emotional, one could really see the bond that had been
created between the participants in the workshop]
Prison Research Field Diary, prisoner
131
[Despite it being the last day, they had a smile on their faces, but you could see
Fernando’s accumulated tiredness of the activities]
[In contrast to the atmosphere of violence of the courtyard, the classroom-dining
hall is dominated by tranquillity in terms of how we feel and stand. One can feel
“good vibes” in the way we relate to each other. There is mutual respect among the
inmates as well as between the inmates and the external researchers. Happiness,
laughter and good time prevail. All the prisoners engage in all the activities with
great enthusiasm]
[David arrives and blends in. There are seven inmates who are relaxed, joking,
laughing, they become involved in the activities openly. There is an atmosphere of
absolute confidence, I put the silver ring on a table and forgot all about it. Their faces
expressed satisfaction]
Space as an expression of power and the prison courtyard
Control of space and its use and layout is one of the fundamental oppression
functions of patriarchy. Paradoxically, men who control space as a means to oppress
women also use it to punish other men as a form of violence – we refer to men’s
prisons at all times: limiting its use, reducing it as well as preventing privacy. These
forms of power have been reviewed (Buchbinder, 2013).
The relation between space and guilt concerns prisoners.
“I made him aware of the fact it was my first sentence. He replied that the sentence
had however not done away with my sin. I had only been told that I was guilty. I was
guilty, I was paying for it, more could not be asked from me. He then stood up again
and I realized that he could not possibly move about in that narrow cell. One could
only sit down or stand up.” (Camus, 2012, p. 118).
[It seems that the group barely holds any apparent prejudice towards each other,
therefore activities are quite dynamic]
132
[The space for the development of the activities is quite small and not quite appropriate…very uncomfortable, in a rectangular shape that hinders the development of
the activities]
[I felt oppressed because we were in a corridor in a dining hall of the prison unit.
However, throughout the session I forgot where we were]
Expression of sentiments
[It has broken through the shield that we need to put up in order to survive the
prison and not be trampled upon]
[They have come out of that shell they initially were in toward us and the rest of the
inmates and are now showing more feelings]
[One can feel the friendship and/or comradeship between some of the inmates. All of
their faces show a satisfied expression, they leave reality and their problems behind
for a while, whilst the activity is carried out. At these moments it feels as if one was
not in the prison]
Seidler (2006, p. 106) points out that:
“feminism was able to recognize the connection between power and emotional life,
acknowledging through the practice of awareness that women’s individual emotions
must be understood in the context of power and gender relations. But it was harder
for men to notice the implications the radical and transformative concept of “personal is political” had on their own self-understanding.”
However, experience clearly contradicts theoretical assumptions, because men
are indeed able to face contradiction and the cognitive conflict by learning to
“cultivate, control, and express” feelings and use them positively. Breaking “the
shield” is not only possible but desirable. Our analysis shows that Fisher’s (1999)
prejudice about “the silence of men” is not true.
133
Transcending the boundaries
The metaphor of “boundaries” as presented by feminist, mixed-raced and
post-colonial theories transformed in the way in which inmates of diverse cultural
environments accept, negotiate and compare the divergences and convergences
of masculinity characteristic of their own communities (Pallotta-Chiarolli, 1999).
The ability to communicate effectively with different cultural groups and within
them has been called “transcending the boundaries” (Schensul, Schensul, Gonzales y Caro 1981). Given that ethnographers almost always study groups that are
different from their own, the ability to transcend the boundaries is critical to the
success of a research project. Transcending the boundaries resembles, in a way, the
task of the cultural broker, insofar as ethnographers often act as such in several
groups whose actions and motivations need explaining for others” (Goetz and
LeCompte, 1988, p. 118)
[Fernando looks relaxed and is completely calm when talking and joking with them.
He even puts his silver ring away and is not watching over it. None of the inmates
even tries to get closer. Fernando seems to share more things with David than he does
with the rest of the inmates]
[They like dancing music. I took part in the activity as if I were another inmate. The
inmates get moody because the door is not shut – it’s against the rules. Positive communication and total involvement on the part of the teacher as a member of the group]
Elements of distortion
[Inmates would tell other inmates off if they interrupted the activity or were caught
looking through the window. A certain atmosphere had already been created amongst
them and they did not want anyone to disrupt that]
[Distortion, noise, constant PA announcements… It infuriates me, I can feel chaos.
We had not wanted to read about potential side effects prior to the start of the project
roll out. Symptoms such as headaches, insomnia, nervousness, lack of concentration
and irritability gradually appeared and we would discuss them]
134
Interpersonal relations
[Do away with prejudice concerning relations between men. In brief, we have become
more fragile and affectionate in a positive way]
[José was quite close to Yoslen and Cristo, and so they would always be joking, which
created a nice atmosphere. Even the person recording the session seemed to fully
blend in with the rest]
[Intergroup relations – external researchers and the group of inmates - clearly suggest mutual trust that has been building throughout the duration of the relationship
established as researchers]
Verbal and non-verbal communication
[It was surprising to see the toughest guy in the unit turn into an affectionate and
vulnerable person capable of hugging and kissing a prison mate]
[Cristo never lost his smile. You could see in his eyes he was at peace with everything
surrounding him. At the beginning, Yoslen was a little reluctant both towards the
other inmates and to the activities, but towards the end we saw a change in him and
he seemed more cheerful]
[Constant physical contact between the inmates can be seen]
Conclusion
The first conclusion is confirming the efficiency of a continued intervention
programme from the inmates’ perspective, who highly valued the effects it had had
on their changes: group cohesion, violence-free conflict resolution strategies, previously inconceivable friendships as well as the unexpected expression of “feelings”.
135
Secondly, we would like to point out that the qualitative methodology appears
to be appropriate when working in extremely difficult contexts and adverse conditions that we would not normally find in other educational contexts or that would
be seemingly easy to control and handle in a constructive manner, as was the case
in the above-mentioned research.
Thirdly, it is important to highlight the high degree of satisfaction achieved in
all the participating groups; particularly among the prison authorities, who passed
onto us indirect comments of the inmates who took part in the activities and
requested that we continue to carry them out. Critical action research is the best
methodology for prisoners.
In conclusion, we can say that all the prisoners wanted to continue this type of
educational programme as they felt respect and they were active members of their
own peace culture construction. Educational programmes in prisons used to be
made from a technical point of view, which promotes exclusion and invisibility.
One main conclusion is that this significant omission of certain groups (e.g., in
the process of decision making) implies they are of less value, importance and
significance in this society as well as in the world. A new field for pedagogues is
now open.
Acknowledgments
We are deeply grateful to all the prisoners for their cooperation and agreement to publish
any information concerning their work, to the Research Team (José López, José Martín
Gómez, Rafael Rivadeneira and Pedro David Herrera) and the Home Affairs Ministry of
the Government of Spain for the permission as well as to the Head of the Prison (Tenerife,
Canary Islands, Spain).
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Camus, A. (2012) L’Étranger. Buenos Aires: Alianza.
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the World. New York: Ballantines Book.
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Technologies of the self. Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts Press.
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y J. Sears (eds) A Dangerous Knowing: Sexual Pedagogies and the Master Narrative.
London: Cassell.
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Seidler, V. (2006) Masculinidades. Culturas globales y vidas íntimas. [Young Men and Masculinities]. Barcelona: Montesinos.
Snyder, J., Bolin, F., Zumwalt, K. (1992) Curriculum Implementation. In P.W. Jackson,
Handbook of Research on Curriculum (402 – 435). New York: Macmillan Publishing
Company
Andrés J. Muñoz-Mohedano,
Miguel A. Martin-Sanchez
Spain
Reality and Criticism of Giftedness in the Spanish
Education System
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.11
Abstract
The paper tries to be a critical analysis of and a theoretical reflection on
minority students: gifted children in the Spanish education system. To carry
out this study and achieve the objectives set up, we took into account a qualitative methodology, framed within the constructivist paradigm in the social
sciences. Being a gifted child in Spain is a problem because gifted children are
not being adequately addressed, as the Ministry of Education recognizes. An
objective analysis of the current situation can become a way of changing it. In
addition, we have to pay attention to the principles and rights of the awareness
of diversity.
Keywords: law, education, minority, giftedness, Spain
Introduction
This work tries to be a critical analysis and a theoretical reflection on minority
students: gifted children in the Spanish education system from the first third of
the twentieth century until now. The article 27 of the Spanish Constitution of 1978
recognizes that all citizens have a fundamental right to education. This right is also
included in the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights, established in
Strasbourg on 12t December 2007.
The General Education Law 2/2006 of May 3 considered attention to diversity as
a fundamental principle. This General Law states that students with high abilities
need educational services different from the ordinary ones.
138
The General Education Law 8/2013 of 9 December, for the improvement of
educational quality, specifies that students with high abilities have special educational needs.
Therefore, the Spanish Constitution, as the supreme law of the Spanish legal
system guarantees the right to education to students with high abilities, like the
current General Education Law 8/2013, but it does not make it clear if students
with high abilities enjoy this right.
In 2012, the Spanish Ministry of Education published a report on the situation
of the education system for the 2009 – 2010 academic year. According to that
report, the situation had not improved as only 5840 students with high abilities
were identified and experts say there have to be more than 500,000 in the Spanish
classrooms. According to the latest report published by the Ministry, concerning
the 2013 – 2014 academic year, there were only 15,876 gifted students, 10,366 of
whom were men and 5,510 women, out of a total of 8,075,841 students enrolled in
Spain, representing a percentage of only 0.20% of the total. This means that more
than 145,000 gifted students are enrolled in Spain and are not receiving special
education, and, most likely, 50% of these students would swell the numbers of
school failure according to studies by the Ministry itself.
Being a gifted child in Spain is a problem because gifted children are not
being adequately addressed, as the Ministry of Education recognizes. However,
what is the worst is that they are ignored by a system which does not strive to
implement mechanisms for early detection, to identify them through Educational
Administration. Such mechanisms were established by the General Education Law
2/2006 and the current General Education Law 8/2013 to address this untenable
situation of institutional neglect of students who may be considered at high risk
from a socio-emotional perspective, as Fernandez (2006) points out.
Common language does not help these children. It is dangerous to use discriminatory language. It is important to remember that the most important thing
is the sense which is in language, not in reality (Gil, 2011). Thus, we find lack
of coordination between theory and practice, because although there are lots of
rules and legislative arrangements devoted to the right of education based on
language and culture, they have not been applied by education authorities, despite
the importance they have been given (Fuller, 2004).
We have to say that the success or failure of the education system is not marked
by a particular educational practice but it has to be redirected to the student and
it has to be appropriate to the context and to the exception (Pallares, 2014).
An objective analysis of the current situation can become a way to change it. In
addition, we have to pay attention to the principles and rights of the attention to
Reality and Criticism of Giftedness in the Spanish Education System
139
diversity, which has to be suitable for the educational reality if the aim is a modern
and fair education. The General Education Law 8/2013 states this in its preamble,
where it states that no one can imagine a quality education system if eliminating
any trace of inequality is not a priority. The main function of the current education
systems should be to encourage students to acquire the necessary learning to
satisfy their need for knowledge transfer (Pallares, 2013), especially in those cases
where an educational intervention is needed, either because of educational needs
or due to giftedness.
To carry out this study and achieve the objectives set up, we took into account
a qualitative methodology, framed within the constructivist paradigm in the social
sciences. This methodology is normative because it shows the rules of procedure
explicitly. Hence, this will help us to achieve our objectives. However, we must
understand that in the field of social sciences, especially in the educational area,
there are many paradigms which share premises and theories but can totally differ,
too (García Ruiz, 2012).
We will interpret it with the help of common indicators of validation in order to
attain certain objectivity in the educational research (Garcia and Martin-Sanchez,
2013). Therefore, the characteristics of qualitative research in education meet the
interpretation, individual and subjective, occupying a prominent place. Scientific
language and educational research overcome the artificial limits of the more
positivist methodologies since the educational phenomenon “requires intellectual
rigor and its own holistic view of postmodern, qualitative and revisionist method
(Martin-Sanchez, 2014: 86).
Given these characteristics as well as the paradigms where we have fallen under,
we have chosen a hermeneutical approach to this study because it is a political-educational analysis with a historical perspective. This method allows us to bear
in mind those educational events which cannot be studied individually but we
must pay attention to the historical, social and economic context where those
events happened. In addition, it allows us to understand the current educational
problems, as argued by Cohen et al. (2011).
The sources we used were the readings of secondary sources on giftedness to focus
on the sources which interest us, i.e., the legislation in its development. We consulted
books on legislation and we were enriched by them all and we found them by searching them online. In addition, we got the reports from the Ministry of Education.
140
The right to education in the Spanish education system
The right to education is fundamental and it has two dimensions: one is subjective while the other is objective. If we bear in mind the subjective dimension, gifted
children’s right to education could be defined as a subjective public right which
is linked to the status of the person in the abstract which is currently recognized
and guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution and the laws which developed it.
Therefore, anyone can enjoy this right. On the other hand, we can speak of an
objective dimension: Fundamental rights are foundations to political order and
social peace as justified by the Article 10.1 of the Constitution.
The fact that everyone has the right to education is recognized by the Spanish
Constitution of 1978 and by the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights
signed in Strasbourg on 12t December 2007.
The right to education has four essential characteristics: availability, acceptability, adaptability and accessibility arising from the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of the United Nations, which is now ratified
by almost every country in the world.
The Article 13 of this Covenant recognizes everyone´s right to education aimed
at the full development of the human personality and the sense of human dignity.
Therefore, gifted children who have been identified have the right to be educated.
On the other hand, those gifted children who have not been identified have the
right to be identified by the education administration as prescribed by the General
Education Law 2/2006.
The research has been contextualized in the Spanish education system at the
stage of primary education in the 21st century. We must bear in mind that every
socio-cultural context is made up of different people. As Alcon Granado (2005)
states, gifted people contribute to the formation of that diversity. These students
have rights and they are defined as gifted people by the current scientific research.
Fernandez (2006) argues that gifted people are a risk group from a socio-emotional perspective. We cannot forget what Sanchez and Lopez (2012: 18) state
to understand this situation better: “Other emotional problems affecting gifted
people are the lack of understanding by the school and society.”
Gifted students’ education is a challenge because they deserve educational
attention so that they can achieve the maximum development of their personal
capacities. The General Education Law 2/2006 includes and recognizes them as
pupils with special educational needs. The Article 57 of the General Education
Law 8/2013 states that gifted students need an education different from the
ordinary one.
141
From a comparative perspective, Spain must adapt to gifted students’ needs and
guarantee the right to a quality education, a fundamental right of members of any
country, regardless of religion, ethnicity or gender (Arnove, 2009).
Attention to diversity is not only focused on gifted children, it is a fundamental
right for all, enshrined in the International Convention on the Rights of Children
by the United Nations General Assembly on 20t November, 1989. Spain signed
it on 30t November, 1990, so it has been part of the national legal order since
then. Article 29.1 literally reads: “State parties should at all times aim to provide
programmes which develop the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical
abilities to their fullest potential.” This clearly demonstrates the need for state
policies first before government policies, in order to harmonize these two sectors
of development in a longer time frame. In this case, the question is whether the
government and public schools are the most suitable places for creating a positive
identity (Welch, 2001).
As we have pointed out, the Education Administration must care for those gifted
students who have been identified. However, the real problem is detecting them
since they go completely unnoticed in the classroom without being identified as
can be seen in the latest statistics published in 2015.
It is clear that a broad concept of cultural diversity includes the concept of
giftedness. Nevertheless, we do not see the concept of cultural diversity in the legislation and in many cases, there is an emphasis on competitive and discriminatory
aspects through education and legislation (Carnoy y Rhoten, 2002). As a result,
there is a rift between the legislative approaches and the subjects’ diversity and
pluralism within any education system.
Giftedness in the Spanish Education Legislation
At the European level, the Bologna process proposes a new educational model
which puts learners in the center of the process not only as recipients of knowledge. The combination of changes in the educational context is similar to replacing
the traditional teaching model centered on learning.
Salaburu (2010: 54) states that one of the conclusions adopted by the EU
Council of Ministers of Education was that “the level of compatibility was enough
to enable citizens to benefit from their diversity rather than being penalized or
limited by it.”
With the General Education Law 2/2006, the principle of attention to diversity
is a fundamental principle as stated in its preamble. Thus, the principle which was
142
discussed earlier as exceptional will now apply generally. As a result, it will benefit
not only gifted students but all students who will have to be treated according to
their educational needs.
The General Education Law 8/2013 considers that students with high capacities
need attention different from the ordinary one. It also gives importance to attention to diversity, as stated in its preamble (VII).
To prevent problems, the Article 19.1 of the General Education Law 2/2006
states that at the primary stage, the focus is on attention to the diversity of students
and the prevention of learning difficulties, acting as soon as these difficulties are
detected. Therefore, it is clear that attention to diversity is a pedagogical principle
on which legislation is based, and must link teachers’ educational practices for all
students without exception.
And the law is very clear, stating that attention to diversity is a fundamental
principle, as stated in the Article 4.3 of the General Education Law 2/2006. But
the law goes even beyond ideology, stating that when diversity requires it, relevant
organizational and curricular measures will be taken. Thus, it is clear that action
will be taken when circumstances require it to fit all students’ diversity.
Gifted students have special educational needs and the General Education Law
2/2006 ensures they will not be discriminated by applying the principles of normalization and inclusion so that there is effective equality in access to education
and retention.
We can also find in the legislation that the education of gifted students will
not take place in special schools because diversity enriches ordinary classes and
the principle of inclusion and non-discrimination is expanded as needs can be
met in ordinary schools by implementing the necessary measures of attention to
diversity.
The Article 74.2 of the General Education Law makes it clear that the identification and assessment of the educational needs of students with special educational
needs will take place as soon as possible, by personnel with adequate qualifications.
This circumstance is reinforced by Article 76, which deals with students with high
intellectual abilities. It gives responsibility to the Education Authority to take steps
to identify students with high intellectual abilities and assess their needs soon.
The Educational Administration has to adopt action plans to meet the needs of
students with high abilities.
What is more, attention to diversity is a principle which must be stated in the
education project of the school. That is why the Article 121 of the General Education Law 2/2006 deals with attention to diversity as a teaching resource to improve
student learning and as support for teachers to perform their work better.
143
To achieve equity, the Title II of the General Education Law 2/2006 deals with
student groups that require education attention different from ordinary because
they have specific educational needs, as is the case of students with high capacities
(in whom gifted ones would be included). The aim is that all students are subject to
inclusion and are integrated into the education system. The principle of inclusion
must ensure the development of everybody.
The Article 71.2 of the General Education Law 2/2006 considers gifted students
as subjects requiring different educational attention and the Educational Administration is responsible for ensuring the resources needed by students to achieve
the maximum development of their personal capacities.
The realization and determination is guaranteed by schools, which become
organizations where comprehensive care of students is guaranteed, as stated in
Article 72.3. Thus, schools are the ones to meet the needs of students with high
abilities. Moreover, the concept of school is not as abstract as Educational Administration, which can be seen in the Article 76 of the General Education Law 2/2006
and Article 58 of the General Education Law 8/2013. We have to add the slow pace
of the Administration.
Results and Conclusions
The Spanish Constitution of 1978 in its Article 27 recognizes that everyone has
the right to education and classifies it as a fundamental right. Everyone’s right to
education is also included as a fundamental right in the European Union Charter
of Fundamental Rights, established in Strasbourg on 12t December, 2007. In
addition, it is a right recognized in the 1989 Convention on the Rights of Children
of the United Nations, ratified by Spain in 1990.
Gifted students are not receiving the educational attention they need so the
rights under the Article 27 of the Spanish Constitution and the General Education
Law 2/2002 and 8/2013 have been violated.
Gifted students’ right to education could be defined as a subjective public right
which is linked to the status of the person in the abstract and currently recognized
and guaranteed by the Spanish Constitution and by the laws which developed it.
Therefore, anyone can enjoy the right to education.
Although there have been approaches to address the issue of giftedness, the
Spanish educational policies to address students with high capacities have been
postponed. The General Education Law 2/2006 was the first to consider gifted
students as individuals with specific educational needs. In addition, it stated that
144
schools, not the abstract educational administration, would adapt the curriculum
to provide comprehensive care to gifted students. It is obvious that pedagogy
and educational theories and practices cannot accept homogeneous designs of
educational policies, which do not pay attention to individual differences, freedom,
identity or justice (Ferraz, 2012).
Gifted children who have been identified have the right to be educated and those
who have not been identified are entitled to being identified by the Education
Authority as prescribed by the General Education Law 2/2006 and the General
Education Law 8/2013, because firstly they have to be identified so that they can
access the education system, which has to provide the right to education. If they
are not identified, this may involve the partial deprivation of the right to education
by ignorance of their educational needs. This may result in the loss of accessibility
of many gifted children to their right to comprehensive care of their educational
needs, which remain hidden in the shade if they are not identified as gifted.
The General Education Law 2/2006 and the General Education Law 8/2013 try
to ensure that all students achieve the maximum development of their individual,
social, intellectual, cultural and emotional capabilities. In order to do that, they
need to receive quality education adapted to their needs. In the General Education
Law 2/2006 and in the General Education Law 8/2013 general pedagogical criteria
are pursued. Therefore, attention to diversity should be applied to all students.
Gifted students are involved in and benefit from the pedagogy of diversity, which
is considered a necessity and will apply to all students, not just those who have
specific needs for educational support.
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Moh. Muchtarom,
Dasim Budimansyah, Ace Suryadi
Indonesia
The Implementation of Integrated Education
to Develop the Intact Personality of Students
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.12
Abstract
The objective of this study was to describe the implementation of integrated
education in Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior Secondary School of
Sukoharjo, Central Java, Indonesia. It used the analytic descriptive-qualitative
method with the case study approach. There are seven main principles of
integration in the learning process, namely: integration of human potentials,
integration of institutions, integration of curriculum, integration of learning
domains, integration of three centers of education, integration of theory and
practice, and integration of learning activities. The impact of the integrated
education can form intact personality which encompasses religiosity, morality,
intellectuality, high motivation, leadership, healthy lifestyle, self-reliance, work
ethics and discipline, and socio-political awareness. Thus, models of integrated
education can be implemented in senior secondary schools.
Keywords: integrated education, principles, intact personality
Introduction
Integrated education treats the student as a whole human being. The goal is
not only to create a superior human being based on the physical matter ,but
also to develop an integrated personality of a human being. Some aspects that
exist in human beings, such as mind, spirit, emotion, and physicality, should be
developed simultaneously and integrated perfectly in human beings (Fan, 2004).
Whitehead believes that the relation of all aspects of human life is one reality and
148
it is fundamentally interrelated. “Everything in this world is interconnected”; each
is part of the overall (Evans, 1998, p. 12). The idea of integrated education is not
only to educate people to become smart but more importantly to make people
become good human beings. The integrated educational process implies not only
the transfer of knowledge, but also the transfer of values and attitudes.
However, the substance of educational practices is frequently alienated, where
education just becomes an institution which enlightens the intellect and mind but
ignores the potentials of students’ mind or mentality. The learning process is dominated by the memorization method with textual approaches so it can eliminate the
meaning and context of learning itself. Al-Attas (JSIT, 2010, p. x) states that today,
educational models have lost the spirit of inquiry due to the educational models
which are based on the view of the 19t century, based on the reductionist, linear
thinking (non-systemic learning), and positivism (physical emphasis learning),
which makes it difficult for students to understand the meaning and value between
what they learn in their school and what they learn in society (Rubiyanto and
Haryanto, 2010, p. 31).
The decline in this inquiry results in monotonous, boring, and one-way learning
and teaching activities at schools, which make it impossible to develop methods
that train and empower students’ ability. As a result, the learning models are fixed
on the memorization method, and careful listening method, not developing
discussion, seminar, case study, problem solving, experiment, observation, etc.
Students become less skillful in facing various problems and challenges of life.
The impact of the educational process mentioned above produces intellectually
smart students, but they might have less morality, poor spirituality, and they cannot
develop creativity. Therefore, such an education can only create human beings with
split personality, whereas it should create a human being with intact personality
and become a means of developing intellect, creativity, morality, and religiosity.
The presented research used the qualitative approach, which is also known as
a mode of qualitative interactive inquiry, according to Sukmadinata (2008, p. 61).
It used the analytical descriptive method in the form of case study. Its subjects
were: a school principal, teachers, students, students’ parents, and the alumni of
Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior Secondary School Sukoharjo, Central Java,
Indonesia. It researched the impact of integrated education on the formation of
the intact personality of students.
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The researcher acted as a human instrument or a key instrument. Data were collected through (1) observation, (2) in-depth interview, and (3) document study. To
analyze the data, the researcher used three simultaneous and interrelated components of activities, as suggested by Miles and Huberman (Alwasilah, 2011, p.119),
namely: data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing or verification.
Research Results
Integrated Education Principles
The implementation of integrated education at Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated
Senior Secondary School of Sukoharjo involved the seven main principles of integrated education at schools, namely: integration of human potentials, integration
of institutions, integration of the curriculum, integration of learning domains,
integration of three centers of education, integration of theory and practice, and
integration of learning activities.
Table 1. The Main Principles of Integrated Education
Integrated
principles
Description
Activities
1. Human
potentials
The integration of spirit, • included in the vision and mission of schools
mind, and physicality
• included in the curriculum
• Arranging the program of integrated activities
2. Institutions
Management of integrated and sustainable
(hierarchical) education
3. Curriculum
• Classifying the subjects into five groups (Religion,
Integrating national
Mathematics and Science; Social Science, History,
curriculum with Islamic
teaching contents or
and Civics; Language; Information and Computer
Technology)
islamization of curric• Islamization of Standard/Basic Competences (SKKD)
ulum
by developing, equipping, and incorporating the Islamic values in the SKKD which is formulated by the
National Education Standard Agency (BSNP)
• Adding and Completing the Basic Competences
• Islamizing the content and learning materials
• Islamizing the learning process by using materials,
methods, tools media, and learning evaluation by
incorporating the Islamic values.
•
•
•
•
Arranging the integrated and hierarchical curriculum
Fostering the students by mentoring
Managing the centralized finance
Fostering the teaching staff and administration staff
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Integrated
principles
Description
Activities
4. Learning
domains
Integrating the entire
domains of the learning
goal to achieve competences in the cognitive,
affective, and conative
competences
• Applying the learning models that accommodate
multiple intelligences, namely: intellectual, spiritual,
emotional, social, and kinesthetic intelligences
• Appreciating each competence of the students (all
students are champions)
• Applying an integrated evaluation and deleting ranking system.
5. Three
centers of
education
Cooperation among
schools, parents, and
society
• Delegating the socialization of the education system
to the parents
• Developing collective commitment to make the
school’s program succeed
• Delivering the learning result reports in the middle
and at the end of each semester.
• Giving “life report” every month to the students
• Involving the parents in fostering “troubled” students
• Developing a communication network
• Facilitating the parents’ organization
• Involving the parents in social activities, learning, and
events of student creativity
• Inviting the parents to a parenting seminar
• Establishing cooperation with government institutions and security forces
• Conducting social events that involve the community
• Making the environment become a means of learning
and learning sources
• Doing demonstration activities at certain moments
• Tarhib or welcoming a fasting month to give educational intervention to the public
• etc
6. Theory
and practice
The integration of
theory and practice,
textual and contextual,
knowledge and direct
experience in learning
• Praying together
• Eating together
• Administering nights of faith and taqwa development
(MABIT)
• Class outing
• Creating students’ organizations
• Celebrating the national and Islamic holidays
• Social events
• Creating honesty canteen
• Mentoring
• Conducting scouting activities
• etc
Integrated
principles
7. Learning
activities
Description
151
Activities
The learning process
• Intra-curricular activities are done in the form of curis described in the
riculum islamization (objectives, methods, materials,
intra-curricular, co-curmedia, tools, and evaluation of learning); preparing
ricular, and extracurriclearning that can develop cognitive, affective, and psyular activities designed
chomotor abilities; and preparing learning activities
in an integrated manner
that provide theoretical-practical, textual, and contextual foundations: knowledge and direct experiences in
students’ life.
• Co-curricular activities are conducted in the forms
of class outing, scientific visits, praying-together activities, MABIT, outing bond, academic and non-academic competitions, tsaqafah (Islamic organization)
activity, etc.
• Extracurricular activities are administered in the
form of compulsory extracurricular activities (mentoring and scouting), and optional extracurricular
activities (sports, cooking, scientific work, languages,
etc.)
Students’ Personality Development
Students at senior secondary schools are at the adolescent stage. This stage is
a transition from childhood to adulthood. At this stage, students are more susceptible to psychological instability and they encounter several problems in the
formation of their identity. Therefore, effective personality development must
solve their problems.
Senior Secondary School allows for forming the intact personality of its students.
Dealing with the religious spirituality aspect, the graduates of Nur Hidayah Islamic
Integrated Senior secondary School implement worship as the Islamic worship
rules. They intentionally understand the importance of conducting salaat and
sawm, reading Al Quran, giving zakat, and practicing sunna as the implementation
of their obedience to Allah SWT and as the way to develop their faith and piety
values. Moreover, the graduates of this school are always concerned about the
values of akhlaqul karimah, like being respectful to their parents, such as asking
permission wherever they go, having good attitudes to society, respecting the
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teachers of Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior Secondary School although
they have already graduated from the school, and greeting (salaam) other people,
etc.
Intellectually, the graduates of Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior Secondary
School have good habits such as reading books, conducting research, accomplishing their coursework well, joining scientific research competitions and religious or
non-religious discussions, sharing their ideas in the social media or on their own
blogs. In addition, they attempt to master foreign languages, especially English and
Arabic, and other foreign languages to support their study. Furthermore, they have
high motivation. This personality can be seen in their desire to have achievements
not only in their study but also in organizations. Therefore, to obtain their desire,
they try to have a healthy lifestyle and to apply high-disciplined work ethic in their
coursework. Besides, the graduates of Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior secondary School are aware of problems of their people. This awareness leads them to
join social events and actively participate in their campus organizations, including
political and social organizations. Their involvement in those organizations makes
them critical to the socio-political development of their nation.
Discussion
The integrated education implemented at Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated
Senior Secondary School is in accordance with the Indonesian national education
intention to establish the intact personality of the students as intended in the Law
of the National Education System Number 20 of 2003. This act states that the
national education has to develop the capability, character, and civilization of the
nation to enhance its intellectual capacity, and is aimed at developing learners’
potentials so that they become persons imbued with human values, faithful and
pious to one and only God; who possess morals and noble character; who are
healthy, knowledgeable, competent, creative, independent; and as citizens, are
democratic and responsible. This act is similar to the theory of integrated education, which has been discussed for a long time by pedagogues and philosophers,
such as Montessori, Pestalozzi, Miller, Clark, and Rudolf Steiner, or even by ancient
Greek philosophers, like Socrates and Plato. They believe that humans are made up
of intellectual, emotional, spiritual, and physical elements that must be developed
holistically by integrated education (Ismail & Hassan, 2009, p. 231).
Senior Secondary School fulfills the basic principles of the integrated education
153
theory. The principles of integrated education are in accordance with the four basic
principles established by the Northern Ireland Council for Integrated Education
(NICIE, 2009, pp. 3 – 6). These four basic principles are as follows: 1) Equality:
Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior secondary School appreciates its students’
potentials, respects the diversity of students’ culture, and accommodates its students’ multiple intelligences. 2) Instilling faith and values: In implementing the
education system, Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior Secondary School creates
its curriculum based on the religious values in order to instill faith and morality by
using spirituality or religious values in religious activities through intra-curricular,
co-curricular, extracurricular programs, and establishes cooperation with the
religious leaders and figures to participate in school events. The measures taken at
Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior Secondary School to internalize its students’
faith values are: managing the learning process in a real-learning context, which can
be applied inside and outside of the classroom; and benefitting from the school’s
environment (Saparudin & Komalasari, 2015, p. 55).
3) Involving the students’ parents: Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior
Secondary School uses the paternalistic control model (Biedron, 2012, p. 93) as
the way to involve the parents in the educational process at school. One of the
aspects of their involvement is their view about the adolescent stage. They agree
that at this stage their children have reached the individual maturity stage, and
therefore parents should fully trust the teachers to guide them both at the school
and in the school’s dormitory. 4) Social responsibility: The students in this school
are motivated to understand and to involve in social problem solving through
non-violence conflict resolutions. The students are also required to develop their
attitude of tolerance and respect in society, to improve their self-esteem and
self-confidence, to respect people and preserve nature as a result of the interdependence of people and nature, to establish relationships with other schools, to
create partnerships with local institutions including religious institutions, and
to present the school as a common-room for the public. The rule of this social
responsibility is in accordance with the theory of social interdependence, which
is the basic element in the cooperative learning concept (Jablonsky, 2009, p. 21).
Thus, integrated education promotes the idea that education should be fulfilled
with integrated knowledge both religious and scientific knowledge. It should make
students understand that they are creatures of God and so they must obey and
serve God, and carry out the mandate to preserve nature to maintain its benefits
for all creatures (Lubis, et.al, 2009, p. 51). It is in accordance with the result of the
research conducted by Suyatno (2013, p. 364), showing that the Islamic integrated
school is willing to implement the integrated knowledge concept in its curricu-
154
lum. Based on its real implementation, the Islamic integrated school is a school
which applies a school administration approach, which combines both general
education and religious education in its curriculum. Islamic integrated education
also emphasizes the cohesiveness of its learning methods in order to optimize
the cognitive, affective, and conative domains. This school also combines aqliyah,
ruhiyah, and jasadiyah education. In its real implementation, this school combines
the involvement and active participation of its students in their school, home, and
social environment.
At the adolescent stage, the students of Senior Secondary School frequently
encounter personality development problems. Makmun (2012, pp. 136 – 137)
suggests that there are four aspects of problems usually encountered by adolescent
students, namely: (1) the problem of physical and psychomotor development,
such as disproportional growth of body size, voice change and menstruation,
and maturation of the reproductive organs, which potentially decreases their
self-confidence or even makes them develop a dependent personality; (2) the
problems of language and cognitive development, such as difficulties in learning
foreign languages, differences in intelligence levels, and the mismatch between
the major they choose and the competence they have; (3) the problems of social
awareness, morality, and religious development, such as the deviation in their peer
group, conflicts with their parents, and other deviant behaviors which are not in
accordance with the religious norms; and (4) the problems of conative, affective,
and personality development, such as being more susceptible to bad behaviors and
difficulty in being istiqamah with their conscience.
The integrated education principles at Nur Hidayah Islamic Integrated Senior Secondary School are applied through the learning process by the inquiry
approach, where students participate actively in the learning process and get an
opportunity to ask questions in a fun classroom atmosphere. Besides, the school
pays attention to its students’ unique interests and talents. The transparency with
students’ parents, as suggested by Latifah and Hernawati (2009, p. 39), can solve
the problems related to the personality development of teenagers by developing
students’ intact personality in several aspects, including religious spirituality,
morality, intellectuality, foreign language mastery, high motivation, leadership,
healthy lifestyle, independence, high discipline, and care for social and political
issues.
The guidance to the form intact personality of students in religious spirituality,
morality, intellect, and emotional, social, and physical elements through religious,
social, and educational institutions is one of the important parts of personality
development in Islam (Smither & Khorsandi, 2009, p. 84). According to general
155
education perception, Phenix (1964) suggests some characteristics of intact personality as the personality that includes basic values, such as symbolic, ethical,
esthetic, synoptic, and sinoethical ones. The result of the research conducted by
Charzynska & Wysocka (2014, pp. 203 – 204) shows that the concept of integrated
education supported by spirituality has a positive effect on the formation of intact
personality of students in order to adapt to their environment, to develop independent personality and responsibility.
Conclusions
Entering the 21st century, education has changed from mechanist into organist.
Education is not merely viewed as a “factory” which produces “goods” but also as
an institution which has a very important objective, namely: to humanize human
beings. In the Law of the National Education System, the education in Indonesia
basically applies integrated education in order to form intact personality in the
human being. Integrated education contains basic principles, which are in accordance with the functions and objectives of national education in instilling religious
spirituality, morality, intellect, nationality, independence, and physical health. In its
implementation, integrated education is fully concerned about the integration of
human potentials, the integration of management, the integration of the curriculum,
the integration of learning domains, the integration of the three-centers of education,
the integration of theory and practice, and the integration of the learning process.
Acknowledgements
This research is a grant from the Directorate General of Higher Education of the Ministry
of Education of Indonesia. The author would like to express sincere appreciation for all
the support provided
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Abdul Razaq Ahmad,
Mohd Mahzan Awang
Malaysia
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Socio-Educational
Support and Community Engagement for Educational
Development of Aboriginal Students
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.13
Abstract
The article reports on the socio-educational support provided by local community, parents and school teachers for aboriginal students. The investigation
revealed that most aboriginal parents have positive attitudes towards their children’s education. Three main themes identified in this study are: fundamental
support, lack of skills and knowledge to provide socio-educational support, and
culturally responsive pedagogy. Parents are found to be lacking in skills and
knowledge of educational-guidance. It was found that many socio-educational
programmes were carried out at the school level. Providing support for parents
by taking into account culturally-responsive approaches is recomended.
Keywords: aboriginal students, drop-out, socio-educational, parental support,
community engagement
Introduction
Education for aboriginal and marginalized communities is among the main
agendas of many governments in the world including Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, and Malaysia (Bishop, O’Sullivan & Berryman, 2010; Brown & Green,
2009). Rapid urban development has negatively affected the social life of aboriginal people, their traditional lifestyle and wellbeing (Brown & Green, 2009). Official
statistics report that there are 427,094 aboriginal people in Australia (Director of
National Parks, 2007) and a huge number of aborigines in New Zealand, Indo-
158
nesia and Malaysia. There are 178,197 aboriginal people in Malaysia and most
of them live in remote areas (The Department of Aboriginal Affairs, 2011). Past
empirical studies revealed that most aboriginal students are marginalized, living
in hardship and involved in traditional economic activities (Ramle & Faridah,
2011). Statistics show that the majority of the aborigines live in the state of Pahang
Malaysia (N=67,506). Aboriginal population in the Malaysian Peninsula can be
divided into three main ethnic groups, namely Negrito, Senoi, and Proto-Malay
(The Department of Aboriginal Affairs, 2011).
Socio-educational Support
Many initiatives have been taken by most governments to support social welfare and provide better life for people in rural areas. For instance, New Zealand’s
government has supported the Te Kotahitanga project to improve aboriginal
education (Bishop, O’Sullivan & Berryman, 2010). In Australia, serious actions
were taken to support rural and marginalized communities by implementing
short and long-term programmes. Brown and Green (2009) reported that 37% of
Australians live in remote, rural and regional towns. The Department of Aboriginal Affairs in Malaysia has been given responsibilities to manage and organize
a Relocation of Aborigines project. Many empirical studies in the past found
that there is a close link between socio-educational support and educational
achievement (Lopez 2011). Demi, Coleman-Jensen and Snyder (2010) found that
ecological system factors including socio-economic factors and school environment are factors that determine post-school enrolment among rural youth in the
United States.
The factors contributing to low academic achievement among aboriginal
children are: lack of socio-educational support due to socio-economic problems
(Demi, Coleman-Jensen and Snyder, 2010), limited access to modern technology
(Samaras, 2005), laziness and boredom, low self-esteem, lack of initiative, poverty,
and lack of support from community, socio-economic factors and family issues
(Hasan 1998; Kamal & Rahman 2007; Ramle & Hood 2010). Although aboriginal
parents are positive about their children’s education (Kaomea 2012), they lack
socio-educational skills. A special cultural-responsive curriculum for aboriginal
students is supposed to be designed. Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clarke and Curran
(2004) found that parental guidance and engagement in school activities have
a direct impact on students’ educational achievement.
Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Socio-Educational Support and Community
159
Methodology
The presented study aimed at understanding aboriginal communities’ and
teachers’ perspectives on the development of aboriginal education. It explored
aboriginal students’ and parents’ perspectives on the socio-educational support
provided by various local communities and government agencies. It also explored
teachers’ perspectives on socio-educational support provided by aboriginal parents. It also investigated the community engagement in aboriginal education. The
study used a case study research design and it was carried out in one rural area in
Malaysia. The participants in the study were 74 aboriginal students, seven teachers
and 23 aboriginal parents. They were individually interviewed by the researchers.
Individual interview is the best technique as it makes them feel free to talk about
any issues pertaining to the topic studied. The aboriginal participants in the study
were identified as Proto-Malay, Senoi and Negrito. Data was collected via interviews and document reviews. Interview protocols were designed and developed
based on the research objectives. The questions were reviewed by peer experts
and then piloted on a group of adults, children and teachers in Malaysia. The
questions were then revised as suggested by the reviewers and pilot-test participants. The actual data collection was carried out after receiving consents from
all the participants. Getting informed consents from the participants is necessary
in social science research (Slepickova, Kvapilova & Bartosova, 2014). They were
informed of their right to withdraw from the project anytime. Data gathered were
analyzed and coded by two independent coders to gain in-depth information
on the types of support provided by the community and government agencies,
and the involvement of local community, parents and government agencies in
aboriginal education. The inter-reliability score is more than 90%. According to
Graham, Milnowski and Miller (2012), the percentage of agreement that is more
than 90% can be considered as a high degree of agreement.
Results and Discussion
Overall data reveal that most participants gave positive responses regarding
educational support and their engagement in aboriginal education. Some relevant narrative data is presented here as a way to explain their commitment and
engagement. The presented study identifies several themes emerging from the data
collected.
160
Theme 1: Fundamental support
The majority of the parents emphasised the importance of education for better
life. Most parents hoped that having received a good education their children will
stand a better chance for good jobs. Thus, there is a tendency for the aboriginal
students to complete schooling and continue their studies when their parents are
aware of and serious about their future career.
“Yes, I am very concerned about my children’s education. My eldest son is now in college …
He studies pharmacy. My second son is now in Lower 6 … science stream. My third child
has just completed Primary School Evaluation Test. My fourth and fifth children are now
at the primary level. Education is very important to me. It is the key for future life” (IB22)
Many parents realised that the most important concern in providing support is
not only to supply material things, but also to offer psychological support to their
children.
“I have bought some school materials for my child” (IB5)
“I often take my child to school and pick my child up from school” (IB22)
The comments indicate that the parents provide fundamental support to their
children such as transportation and financial assistance. However, most parents did
not mention educational guidance for their children. This implies that although
the parents are very supportive, they have limitation in providing useful support
for their children’s education.
Some students reported that their siblings supported their studies by providing
financial assistance and school uniforms. One student reported that her family
encouraged her to go to school.
“My family members support me in continuing my studies and they encouraged me to
go to school” (P58)
Many parents are found to provide non-academic support for their children’s
education. One student said that:
“I go to school by boat. My mom and dad send me there (school) every day” (P5)
The comments cited above show that there is a close link between socio-economic factors and educational attainment. Our general observation on the over-
161
all aboriginal life and situation reveals that most aboriginal families have limited
resources. It seems that the financial assistance provided by the government has
created a culture of ‘dependency’ in the aboriginal community. Past empirical
studies suggested the following initiatives and projects should be organised
in order to improve educational attainment of the aboriginal students to help
them generate better income: (1) involvement in craft production industry and
business (Trolip & Boshoff, 2001); (2) community self-help projects (Tamuno &
Iroh, 2012) and (3) community development projects (Angba, Adesope & Aboh,
2009).
Theme 2: Lack of skills and knowledge to provide socio-educational support
Although the parents in this study seemed to have high motivation and willingness to help in their children’s education, most of them have limited skills and
knowledge to provide effective educational support. Several strategies that can
be implemented to provide better socio-educational support are: strengthening
family support structures via continuous learning programmes; establishing formal and informal networks with parents and community development projects
(Romanow & Bruce, 2006); developing parents’ understanding and encouraging
their participation in decision making related to their children’s education (Meyers
& Jordan, 2006); establishing guidance and career clubs for marginalised students
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2008); school-community partnership (Henness, 2001); and home-school transition programmes
(Smart et al., 2008). Results of this study illustrate the importance of parental
engagement and participation in their children’s education. Maximizing parental
participation in providing support may increase social capital (Putnam 2000)
among aboriginal communities.
Theme 3: Cultural-responsive pedagogy
Results also indicate that the pedagogical aspect plays an important role in
improving students’ satisfaction and their interest in learning academic subjects.
Two main elements that emerge from the narrative data on effective pedagogy are
fun learning and teachers’ creativity.
The use of music and songs during lessons attracts students’ attention, which
can increase students’ commitment to study. For instance, one student said that:
“I am happy listening to stories, music and songs in class” (P13)
Some students reported that they disliked the teacher-centred approach.
162
“I do not like the Sciences subject because the teacher talks a lot” (P12)
Studies in the past proved that good teaching practice attracts student attention
(Florian 2012). Most students in this study said that they like teachers who are
funny and have a sense of humour.
“He (teacher) is funny. He always makes me laugh” (P17)
The findings of the presented study are consistent with the findings of the
previous research on the effectiveness of teaching strategies which linked students’ enjoyment and happiness with a higher level of their engagement in lesson
activities (Awang, Ahmad, Wahab & Mamat 2013; Das, Dewhurst and Gray 2011).
Results of this study revealed that some teachers use corporal punishment
towards students who break the school rules and regulations.
“Some teachers are so angry when we do not complete our homework and make noise
in the classroom. He always canes students who are noisy in the classroom” (P62)
Teachers need to be creative in order to make the teaching and learning processes enjoyable. Variation of techniques used has been reported as one of the
successful elements in teaching and learning. Experiential learning, for instance,
may make a lesson attractive.
“I was happy when the teacher carried out the lesson outside of the classroom” (P17)
“We feel happy when the teacher conducts lesson outside (as) we will get more data and
information through observation” (P54)
“We feel bored when a teacher teaches us in the classroom … some teachers do not
organise classroom activities” (P60)
Results of this study show that most teachers are committed to helping their
students. Some teachers visit their students at home as a way of motivating them.
“Last time, one teacher visited me at home. He asked me to attend school” (P66)
“Teachers give me a present if I come to school … the teacher gives chocolate and
biscuits” (P71)
163
The use of modern technology, including information and communications
technology (ICT), in carrying out a lesson is another important approach as it
makes students happy and motivates them to participate.
“We also feel happy when our teachers use the computer in the lesson. Using photos and
pictures is also very attractive” (P14)
Students are more likely to be involved in lesson activities if the lesson is organised effectively, fun and enjoyable (Awang 2012). The use of modern teaching aids
encourages students’ participation (Laba, 2015). Utilising traditional materials
for aboriginal children might be also helpful as they integrate the lesson content
with the students’ cultural life. This also includes the use of native language in
social interaction with aboriginal students (Usborne, Peck, Smith & Taylor, 2011).
This approach is in line with the aboriginal education improvement suggested by
Bishop et al. (2010).
Contribution to Pedagogical Knowledge: Culturally Responsive
Pedagogy
The presented study reveals that culturally responsive pedagogy is a must in
improving aboriginal students’ engagement in school activities. Teaching and
learning activities in schools are supposed to include socio-cultural elements
such as their life-style, beliefs, norms and languages. Dei et al. (2000) emphasized
that culturally responsive educators are supposed to understand their position in
carrying out the teaching and learning process. Past studies revealed that cultural
elements play significant roles in determining the successfulness of schooling.
Ockenden (2014) found that four main factors contributing to disengagement
of students from school activities are students’ previous negative experiences
with school; poor teacher–student relationships; racism; poor self-perception of
academic ability; poor transition from primary to secondary school; earlier lack
of educational success. An awareness of how socio-cultural elements impact on
the learning process is essential. Ladson-Billings (2011) stresses the importance of
positive perception of students’ abilities in the learning process. Social students are
considered as assets rather than deficits (Ladson-Billings 2011). As socio-cultural
elements are fundamental for culturally responsive pedagogy, local community
engagement and positive support are essential for improving aboriginal students’ engagement in school activities. Bishop, O’Sullivan & Berrryman, (2010),
164
developed a Te Kotahitanga model, which is based on the Maori students’ cultural
elements and their voices on the human rights and responsibilities in education.
The Te Kotahitanga model aims at developing a cultural-responsive pedagogy. It
was largely used to enhance educational attainment among the Maori community
in New Zealand. The model posits that teaching will be more effective when
teachers integrate ethnic identities and culture within the subject contents. Based
on the data from the presented study as well past literature, it may be fair to state
that culturally responsive pedagogy is one of the pedagogical strategies that are
supposed to be taken into account while designing the curriculum for aboriginal
education.
Conclusions
Overall, this study shows that aboriginal parents have provided various
socio-educational support for their children. As most parents have limited knowledge on educational guidance, specific programmes for help are needed. In order
to promote awareness and instruct aboriginal parents on educational guidance,
a specific programme focusing on both aspects is suggested. Teachers’ initiative to
make the teaching and learning processes effective is also needed. This highlights
the importance of pedagogical content knowledge.
Acknowledgements
Appreciation to the funders: the National University of Malaysia and the Abdulaziz’ Palace
Foundation.
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Poland
School Experiences Retrospectively:
Relationship Between Recall of Bullying Experiences and
Perception of Schools by Pedagogy Students1
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.14
Abstract
The presented study explored the memories of 332 pedagogy students about
the bullying experiences and their former schools. Findings indicate that:
(1) young adults have very different experiences with bullying, (2) time spent
at middle school was assessed as the worst, (3) general judgment of school was
correlated with bullying experiences, especially students who were involved in
bullying problems as a victim or bystander were less positive in their appraisals of school. The study provides a unique account of how young adults view
their school experiences. Data is discussed in terms of its psycho-educational
implications.
Key words: school bullying, prospective teachers, pedagogy students, retrospective
study, school climate, appraisal of school
Introduction
Nowadays, pedagogical and psychological studies focus mainly on subjective
experiences of students and identify them as school climate (Kulesza 2011;
Tłuściak-Deliowska 2014). Therefore, school climate is a reflection of the school
1
The research was carried out as a part of the BSTM 6/14 – I WNP APS project. The presented article is another one in a series of the author’s articles in the retrospective research area
devoted to the school experiences of prospective teachers.
168
environment properties experienced by students. Schools climate is regarded as
a micro subjective category – as the environment in the eyes of units. School climate analysis takes into account a broad spectrum of possible interactions. School
climate contains many variables (dimensions), which interact with each other and
associate with students’ behaviors in many different ways (Tłuściak-Deliowska,
2012). School climate provides a good basis for explaining the formation of the
well-being of students in school, facilitates the interpretation of their accomplishments and attitudes toward various aspects of life.
School climate has recently become an important category in the study of violence and aggression at school. Bullying is a pervasive problem that is estimated
to impact on almost one-third of students and has been found to be the form of
school-based violence that affects the greatest number of children and adolescents
(Craig et al., 2009). Research on school bullying conducted over the past four
decades has contributed greatly to our understanding of the complexity of the
problem as well as the challenges we face in addressing it (Hymel and Swearer,
2015). It has been shown that bullying is prevalent in all schools and has serious
negative consequences during its manifestation and, in the longer term, for the
health and well-being of students who are frequently victimized as well as for
other students (Rigby, 2010). From a social-ecological perspective, bullying exists
within the larger context of school climate (Nickerson et al., 2014).
There were theoretical grounds which confirmed that students involved in
bully/victim problems are less predisposed than others to view their school in
a positive light (Yoneyama and Rigby, 2006). Blaya et al. (2006) suggested that
victimization is reflected in a negative perception of all dimensions of school
climate. Involvement in bullying (both as perpetrator and victim) is associated
with a relatively negative image of the school and class climate regardless of sex. It
is possible that students who are involved in risky or aggressive behaviors may be
more inclined to perceive their school in negative terms (Klein at al., 2012). Also,
a study conducted by Nickerson at al. (2014) registered that students involved in
bullying as perpetrators, victims or both had more negative perceptions of school
climate, however, it varied by specific aspects of climate studied. Chronicity of
victimization was also related to differences in the perceptions of all aspects of
school climate. Cross-national analyses conducted by Harel-Fisch et al. (2011)
showed that children with negative school perceptions experience twice the
relative odds of being involved in bullying as compared with children with no
negative perceptions. The above-mentioned findings highlight the importance of
understanding bullying within the larger aspects of school climate. School climate
could be viewed as a barometer reflecting individual school experiences (Petrie,
School Experiences Retrospectively
169
2014) and as a source of information in helping to highlight children who may be
involved in bullying victimization (Yoneyama and Rigby, 2006).
Consequently, the perception that students have of their school environment is
argued to have an impact on their behavior within the school settings like academic
achievement, learning motivation, school avoidance (Koth et al., 2008; Petrie, 2014).
Thus, from this point of view, it is important to focus on the social and emotional
context of school functioning as well as to utilize school climate measures.
In connection with the cited findings, there are two issues that we need to
consider. In the above-mentioned studies, the researchers focused mainly on
identifying students as the perpetrator, the victim, the bully-victim or without
such experiences and then compared their perceptions of class/school. We have
no information about the perceptions of school climate by students who are witnesses, bystanders of bullying behaviors. Research on school climate and approval
of violence in school life among adolescents, conducted by Tłuściak-Deliowska
(2012), revealed that satisfaction with school is positively correlated with good
relationships between students and negatively correlated with noticing manifestations of violence among peers. Thus, bullying bystanders may also have negative
perceptions of school. Furthermore, the results of Tłuściak-Deliowska’s research
(2012) showed that important predictors of a higher level of approval of violence
in social life are: lack of satisfaction with school, reflection that students’ rights are
not respected at school and perception of school as a place where the intensity
of antisocial behavior among students is high. Aggressive behavior and hostility
in interpersonal relationships may cause the weakening of inhibitions against
aggression because it may seem that aggression is a common and accepted feature
of interaction, hence an increase in the approval of it (Frączek, 1985).
The second point is that empirical research on bullying and perceptions of
school are being conducted now, among today’s students, in the “present tense”,
which is justified because of searching for solutions to this problem and implications for educational and prevention practices. An interesting approach to the
study of school violence and other school experiences is retrospective research.
The research by Craig et al. (2011) showed that pre-service teachers who had personal experiences of involvement in bullying (mainly as a victim) showed greater
sensitivity in identifying different behaviors exhibiting signs of violence. “Personal
history” clearly correlated with a greater interest in intervention in situations of
school violence. Memories of prior experiences operate in ways similar to beliefs,
thus influencing attitudes and, subsequently, behavior. Autobiographical memories
of schools, former classmates and their behaviors, relations with teachers, as well as
other school experiences – are an important part of personal identity of people and
170
the sense of self (Haugh et al., 2015). Recalls of the past allow us to determine if past
school experiences were important for a person. From this point of view, individual
school experiences of pedagogy students become important and interesting.
Study Aim
The purpose of this study was to examine (1) young adults’ personal past experiences of school bullying, (2) general perceptions of their former schools and
(3) the relationships between bullying experiences and the individual appraisals
of schools. It was hypothesized that (1) respondents had sporadic experiences with
school violence, (2) pedagogy students tend to evaluate their previous school well
and (3) perceptions of school would be less positive among adults who had more
victimization and bullying bystanders experiences.
Research Sample
Participants in the study included 332 students attending educational (pedagogical) studies in the Faculty of Education Sciences. The study was carried out in
2015. The socio-demographic characteristics of the studied sample are presented
in Table 1. The average age of the respondents was 22.69 years (SD = 4.44, min.=18,
max.=48). Most of the participants were women (317; 95.5%), which is characteristic of the teaching profession in Poland.
Table 1. Demographic and individual characteristics
of participants
Some characteristics of pedagogy
students
Gender (N=332)
Stage of the study (N=332)
Frequency
Percentage
Female
317
95.5
Male
13
3.9
N/A
2
0.6
Beginning
150
45.2
Ending
145
43.7
Postgraduate studies
37
11.1
171
Some characteristics of pedagogy
students
Study program (N=332)
Type of graduate secondary
school (N=332)
Frequency
Percentage
56.3
Full-time day program
187
Evening-weekend program
108
88.9
Postgraduate (weekend)
37
11.1
General
279
84.0
Specialized
27
8.1
Technical
26
7.8
Instrument
The Retrospective Bullying Experiences Questionnaire (Tłuściak-Deliowska,
2015) was used in this study. The quantitative part of the questionnaire was divided
into three periods of school: primary school, middle school and high school. Each
period consisted of overall assessment of school and different experiences associated with peer violence. First, the participants were asked how they assessed the
time spent at school, with the use of a 5-point response scale from “very bad” to
“very good”. Next, the respondents were asked to indicate how often (from 1-never
to 5 – very often) each type of behavior (1) they witnessed (bystander), (2) they
experienced (victim), (3) they manifested (bully). At the end of the instrument, there
was an open-ended question asking the participants to provide any other comments
about bullying or best remembered bullying occurrence from school days.
Data analysis
The IBM SPSS Statistics version 23 was used for data management. Analysis first
considered the descriptive statistics of the main variables (appraisals of schools,
recollections of bullying experiences), some of which are reported here, then it
investigated differences between appraisals of school levels and finally relationships
between the major variables. According to the last, open-ended additional question,
a data source was free written statements, therefore the most appropriate way to
analyze them was content analysis. Taking into account the issues of this text, statements were selected in which the respondents expressed an opinion about their
former schools2. These statements will be cited as a supplement of quantitative data.
2
Respondents’ statements discussing various aspects of school bullying are the subject
of article: Tłuściak-Deliowska (2016), Retrospektywne spojrzenie na przemoc rówieśniczą
w szkole (Retrospective view on peer violence at school), Kultura i Edukacja (in press)
172
Results
Recollections of bullying experiences
At the beginning, the prevalence of bullying experiences during school days of
pedagogy students was established. Results were divided in terms of the type of
bullying experiences. The table below presents the frequency of bullying behaviors
experienced by the respondents as a witness, victim and perpetrator at different
school levels.
Table 2. The frequency of bullying experiences during school days
by pedagogy students
Types of bullying
experiences
Experiences of being
a bystander
Primary School
Middle School
High School
M
SD
M
SD
M
SD
3.08
.73
2.89
.91
1.84
.74
N = 324; α = .892
N = 307; α = .933
1.65
1.43
a victim
N = 326; α = .869
a bully
N = 324; α = .815
1.34
.57
.36
.55
N = 303; α = .902
1.20
.23
N = 303; α = .745
N = 313; α = .917
1.16
.29
N = 321; α = .827
1.13
.21
N = 319; α = .774
The higher the mean score, the higher the frequency of particular bullying
experiences. The estimates presented in Table 2 suggest that a relatively small
proportion of pedagogy students was involved in bullying problems at school.
The mean scores are in many cases slightly higher than 1 (at 5-point scale). Nevertheless, it is evident that the participants were more often bystanders of peer
violence than bullies. Furthermore, the mean scores are dropping with school
level.
Retrospective evaluations of time spent at schools
The next investigated issue was perceptions of former schools by the pedagogy
students. The main results are presented in Figure 1 and in Table 3.
To sum up, the above data show that the time spent at middle school was
assessed by the respondents as the worst (M = 3.74; SD = 1.08). In relation to
this school, there were the most negative appraisals (very bad – 5%, bad – 8%,
173
Figure 1. The overall assessment of three school levels by pedagogy students (N=332)
Table 3. Means, standard deviations, t-student values and levels of statistical
significance of differences between retrospective appraisals of schools
Compared categories
Mean (SD)
t
5.658
PS
4.12 (0.96)
MS
3.74 (1.08)
MS
3.74 (1.08)
HS
4.21 (0.95)
PS
4.14 (0.93)
HS
4.21 (0.95)
df
p
306
p < 0.001
-6.064 304
p < 0.001
-1.100 325
n.i.
PS – Primary School, MS – Middle School, HS – High School
neutral – 21%). Average appraisals of middle schools differ significantly from both
the primary and high school assessments (p < 0.001), and there were no significant
differences of comparison between the appraisals of primary and high schools.
Relationships between bullying experiences and overall
assessment of schools
The last stage of the analysis involved relationships between the main variables.
Results of correlation analysis between bullying experiences and overall appraisal
of schools are presented in the table below.
174
Table 4. Correlation coefficients: bullying experiences
and appraisals of schools
Type of experiences
Overall appraisal of primary school
Experiences of being a bystander PS
-.36**
Experiences of being a victim PS
-.44**
Experiences of being a bully PS
-.11
Overall appraisal of middle school
Experiences of being a bystander MS
-.31**
Experiences of being a victim MS
-.51**
Experiences of being a bully MS
-.08
Overall appraisal of high school
Experiences of being a bystander HS
-.12*
Experiences of being a victim HS
-.18**
Experiences of being a bully HS
0.01
PS – Primary School, MS – Middle School, HS – High School
*correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)
** correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
The conducted analysis determined that overall evaluations of schools were
correlated with two types of bullying experiences. There are negative correlations
between experiences of being a bystander and being a victim of bullying. Correlation coefficients were the highest in relation to primary and middle schools.
School experiences based on pedagogy
students’ free statements
On the basis of their own experiences, the respondents formulated statements
which express their attitude to their former schools. Unfortunately, the statements
express a negative opinion of schools. Some examples are presented below:
“(…) I was a laughing-stock because I had no «trendy» clothes. My parents could
not afford them. After this experience, I believe that school uniforms in schools are
a very good thing, but some consisting of shoes, socks, and shirts, trousers, skirts.
(…) I think that middle school is the worst period in each child’s life” (Female, 20
years old, 8PEP)
175
“I think that the system of eight grades of elementary schools should be restored and
middle schools should be removed, or attention should be paid to this institution,
because it is a place where all «pathologies» occur in the students.” (Men, 20 years old,
26PE)
“Absolutely I must condemn schools, because “educators” washed their hands off the
matter” (Victim in the middle and high school; Female 27 years old, 53PEPn.)
“(…). If I become a teacher one day, I will never let it happen to my students! (…)
(wrongly accused of abusing another girl; Female 19 years old, 46PEPn)
Discussion and conclusions
The presented study explored the memories of pedagogy students about their
bullying experiences and schools. The study provides a unique account of how
young adults view their school experiences. Findings indicate that: (1) young
adults have very different experiences with bullying, (2) time spent at middle
school was assessed as the worst, (3) general appraisal of school was correlated
with bullying experiences, especially the students who were involved in bullying
problems as victim or bystander were less positive in their appraisals of school.
The results of the presented study suggest that watching and participating in
bullying in childhood is not easily forgotten. The respondents reported a higher
level of witnessing and victimization in primary school compared to higher
education levels. The results of the presented study also confirm a significant
relationship between school bullying past experiences and perceptions of school.
In particular, those respondents who experienced bullying in schools assess and
recall school as the worst thing. Also, the negative appraisals of school correlate
with being a witness of bullying behaviors. It does not, however, establish causality. Nevertheless, it may be concluded that involvement in bullying problems as
a victim and bystander at school is likely to be associated with relatively negative
perceptions of the school. We can speculate that victimised students are inclined
to dislike the school because their school is likely to contain students who have
bullied them. Victimized students may also be comparatively negative in their
appraisals of school environment because they feel that they are not well regarded
by others in the class (Yoneyama and Rigby, 2006). Moreover, students may feel
that the school had not helped them, despite the fact that it had been one of the
176
main tasks of the school institution, and such insights were revealed in the free
statements of the respondents of this study.
Interestingly, despite the fact that the higher frequency of aggressive behaviors
was associated by the respondents with primary school, the time spent at middle school was evaluated as the worst. Furthermore, in this case the correlation
coefficient between experiences of being a victim and appraisal of school was the
highest. To explain that fact, at least two things must be pointed out. It should be
noted that there is a qualitative change of aggressive behaviors with age (Craig et
al., 2009). Physical aggression is replaced by verbal and relational, hidden violence.
It is obvious that physical aggression is much easier to see than hidden violence,
therefore there is a higher incidence of this type of experiences in primary schools
than at later stages. Relational bullying is regarded as a more sophisticated form, it
leaves no visible traces but inner pain. Therefore, despite the fact that the frequency
of this type of experiences at this school level is lower, it may have more influence
on the student’s functioning and development. Victimization at this school level
is more serious than at primary school (Schafer et al., 2004). Unpleasant experiences have a strong emotional appeal and are easily available in autobiographical
memory (Fijałkowska and Gruszczyński, 2009). The second issue, which may be
important for the overall appraisal of middle school level, is student – teacher
relationships or school organizational culture. These issues were raised by the
respondents at the end of the questionnaire in free statements. Further research,
complemented by these elements, could provide interesting results and explain
to a greater extent the negative retrospective appraisals of middle school. Earlier
research (Tłuściak-Deliowska, 2012) conducted among adolescents showed that
students are satisfied with their middle schools in comparison with different kinds
of high schools, despite the presence of inner aggressive behaviors. Thus, maybe
some other school factors play a protective role.
The existence and functioning of middle schools (3-year Junior High School) in
Poland has been often analyzed recently. Junior High Schools are negatively judged
by public opinion. Ongoing discussions concern the elimination of this school
level and return to the “old/past” solution (before 1999), which includes 8-year
primary schools and 4-year secondary schools. What is also discussed is the severity of aggressive behaviors among schoolchildren and other problems connected
with student functioning. It should be noted that middle school is a difficult school
because young people who attend it are at a difficult age (13 – 15-year-old schoolchildren). The pedagogical sense of middle schools was to gather, in one place,
young people in a difficult period of adolescence in order to apply appropriate,
relevant to their needs, methods of educational influence. Therefore, it should
177
be concluded that if the current methods fail, we have to look for better ones to
improve teaching and educational methods, as well as to improve school culture
and climate, regardless of school level.
The presented study has limitations which are typical of retrospective studies
(Schafer et al., 2004). Nevertheless, the obtained results are interesting and significant because the study was conducted among students of pedagogy. It could
be expected that prospective educationalists’ own experiences from school days
impinge on current attitudes and a sense of “mission” as a future educator.
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Pedeutology
Czech Republic
Motivation to Become a Preschool Teacher
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.15
Abstract
The purpose of the presented research was to find out which external and
internal considerations and life experience motivate students for acquiring
university education for the teaching profession to major in preschool
teaching. Data collection was based on the method of unstructured interview
on a given theme. Evaluation was based on coding. The presented factors
are external factors of the “people” category. Every category is divided into
sub-categories and the subcategories are further subdivided to subgroups on
the basis of the nature of the incentive. Young people were mainly affected in
their decision-making by their mother, her professional and private behaviour,
by positive stimuli from their grandmothers, aunts and children. Fathers were
not mentioned as actors in making this kind of decision. The most frequently
mentioned human factor was represented by female teachers on different
levels of education and from different school types. The discouraging factors
included schoolmates. Children and schoolmates were newly identified considerations.
Keywords: student, factor, teaching profession, incentive, stimulus
Introduction
The student’s motivation to study a selected subject is crucial for continued
study, successful progress of education and development of a positive approach
to the future profession. Motivation differs from individual to individual and
needs to be brought to the surface, analysed, understood and supported from the
beginning of study.
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Human life does not provide enough time to try individual professions the
young person is inclined to choose in life, to find out what they have to offer.
Adolescents, however, are governed by the need to fulfil a particular purpose or
intention in life (Čáp, 1997, p. 84) and by interest in a certain reality or activity as
an acquired motive, focus of attention in a particular direction. They get to know
the activity they are interested in and learn how to perform various activities that
are related to it (Čáp, 1997, p. 86). This is also accompanied by certain emotional
experience.
General Background of Research
The teaching profession is a profession every individual comes into contact with
in their childhood. Young people completing their secondary education can assess
it from the viewpoints of a child/pupil or on the basis of mediated information.
Personal experience only reveals external, noticeable human or material aspects
of the teaching profession (Čáp, Mareš, 2001), which they rate in relation to their
potential future study and performance of the teaching profession in future on
a scale ranging from excellent, through acceptable, to unacceptable. The aspects
of the teaching profession assessed as excellent or acceptable can become activating or supporting motivations orienting the individual towards the teaching
profession or application for admission to study for this profession. The aspects
of the teaching profession seen as unacceptable, on the other hand, attenuate
interest in this type of university course. Mediated statements and assessments
of the preschool teacher university course and profession presented by people
from the social environment of the young person can become external incentives
stimulating the individual’s interest in study of this subject as an internal motive
encouraging and supporting this decision, or on the other hand, suppressing or
attenuating this stimulation. In addition to external stimuli, the personality of the
future student of the preschool teaching profession might also have been shaped
by inner motives stemming from the very personality of the student – feelings
related to the individual factors, emotions experienced in relation to teaching and
learning and gained experience.
While many professions, at least in Europe, represent a uniform kind of work
(doctor of medicine, lawyer) and the same uniformity can then be seen in the
content and demand for the study and social recognition of the profession, the
preschool teacher profession and its status are strongly affected in individual countries by the economic level of individual social classes, social, national and cultural
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tradition, history of preschool education, current objectives of the education
system, or social status of the institution of preschool education. For that reason,
motivation for study for the preschool teacher profession is country-specific.
Research on students’ motivation for teacher education in general in our country
was done, e.g., by Havlík, R. (1995), Hřebíček, L. (1998), Kloknerová M. (2010),
or in Slovakia by Káriková, S. (2004), Kasáčová, B. (1996), in Poland by Skibska, J.
(2012), while students’ (teachers-to-be) motivation for preschool teaching courses
was analysed by Burkovičová, R. (2004), Faltýnková, M. and Smetanová, V. (2015,
p. 142).
Methodology
The purpose of the presented research was to find out which external and internal considerations and life experience motivate students for acquiring university
education for the teaching profession to major in preschool teaching. The factors
presented in this article are external factors of the “people” category.
Data collection was based on the method of unstructured interview on a given
theme. The theme was formulated as follows: Write who or what and how (by
what) inspired your interest in study for the preschool teacher profession, related to
the main research question formulated as What is the structure of considerations
and the incentives they represent which stimulate young people to acquire education
for teaching at preschool level? This theme is part of a compulsory subject of the 1st
semester course, its processing is a requirement for successful completion of the
course and the students were informed about this task in the course of the second
session.
The respondents included 172 students of the Bachelor’s course in preschool
teaching in the academic years 2010/2011 to 2014/2015 in day study in the
abovementioned year and semester. The research population included one male
student; the remaining ones were female. Student responses were numbered from
S1 to S172.
The statements extracted from the freely formulated responses of the students
were further subject to qualitative analysis in the sense of the paradigmatic model.
In the open coding (Švaříček & Šeďová; Strauss & Corbinová), some codes were
named in vivo, using one of the names used by the students, while other codes
were created. The coding revealed two categories of external factors: the “people”
category and the “material” category, and a separate category of “internal consideration”.
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The coding within the “people” category distinguished between direct and
indirect external stimuli. Direct stimuli resulted from direct expression in active
mutual communication. With regard to the stimulation of the students for study of
the preschool teacher profession, the stimuli were classified as excellent, acceptable,
of activating, encouraging nature, or unacceptable with the effect of attenuation.
Indirect external stimuli were dimensioned as manifested by behaviour or action,
with subcategories of inadvertent, hidden, and the nature of activating, encouraging
or discouraging, or attenuating. A characteristic statement of a student is given as
an example in each subgroup.
Results
The article presents the found factors of the people category, as external considerations by which the students were motivated in their previous lives to choose the
preschool teacher profession and take the relevant university course. The students
mentioned an individual or individuals from their surroundings who motivated
them in this respect and specified them. These motivating people were further
subdivided (Pravdová, 2015, p. 167) into: a) family members, b) female teachers, c)
other. The categorised statements were analysed again and sorted into subgroups
on the basis of the defined criteria of categorised stimuli.
Subcategory “family members”
Family members as a factor stimulating young people into taking a university
course for future teachers were also mentioned by M. Kloknerová (2010, p. 177).
The most frequently mentioned family members in this context included mothers
(37 = subgroup frequency) of the students. Considering the answers to the question of how (by what) mothers stimulated their children for the teacher profession,
the following characteristic subgroups were distinguished:
 Impact on the student by their overall external activating indirect stimuli, by
their expressed behaviour and acting, with inadvertent, hidden relation to the
subject of study: “I was stimulated by my mother; she has always taken good
care of me, being my mother and friend at the same time.” (S15 = student
whose answers are identified as S15) The identified motif can be defined
as care – scored as excellent, together with the motif of role. The statements
also reveal the motif of the relationship of the students to their mother as
the ideal, a strong supportive motif.
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 The statement: “My mother, who is a teacher, influenced me as a teacher but
never forced me to choose her profession,” (S92) already mentions a stimulus towards the particular study, which the student is aware of, as a motif
of teacher profession effect and hidden positive assessment of the profession,
both supportive in nature. The external indirect incentive by manifest behaviour and actions of the mother/teacher is rendered acceptable by the student.
 Mothers, however, also act as a factor providing external direct stimulus
expressed in direct mutual communication, whose nature is (regarding
university course for preschool teachers) attenuating: “Mum, a preschool
teacher, discouraged me: Never be a preschool teacher.” (S111) The statement of the student does not include the mother’s justification of her discouragement. Here the absolutely unacceptable, negative incentive towards
the teaching profession ended up with the opposite of what was intended,
i.e. positive result (if meant seriously).
 Just one unacceptable stimulus directly and actively expressed in mutual
communication, including indirect negative assessment of the profession by
both parents with attenuating, discouraging nature was analysed: My parents discouraged me, telling me that I would ruin my life and that I should
choose a more prestigious profession.” (S26)
 The students most frequently stated indifference of their mother (or both
parents) in relation to their study subject selection, usually justified by the
parents with the sentence: “It is your life”. (S18, S29, S44 and others) Parents’ expressions represent external direct stimuli expressed in direct mutual
communication with the nature discouraging the student’s interest in the
university course for teachers.
Another activating family member is represented by grandmothers (14), who used
to work as preschool teachers. The students were in contact with their grandmothers,
who became their ideal. Grandmothers affected students with external direct activating stimuli expressed in direct mutual communication. The stimuli include:
 Orientation towards the future: “She used to say that children were the
purpose of life.” (S17)
 Positive approach to the profession: “My grandmother spoke about people
who despised her profession adding: But what would they do without
nursery? Nursery and preschool is one of the basic public services.” (S37)
 Positive feelings: “My grandmother is glad that I am studying to be a preschool teacher, asking about my study success, being proud of me.” (S43)
This suggests the motif of family tradition. Family tradition as motivation
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for the selection of the teaching profession was also confirmed by research
done by R. Havlík (1995, p. 156), with positive assessment of the profession
and as one of the few motifs supporting success in studies.
“My grandmother’s gladness drives me forward even at the hard moments of
my study, and focus on the future”. (S71)
 Responsibility: “I might otherwise have already terminated my study.” (S22)
(Strange that the student speaks about the possibility of premature study
termination as soon as in the second week of the 1st semester and 1st year
of study.)
In addition to the motif of teaching the statements also include the motifs of
child and student.
The subcategories of family members overlapped in some cases. The statement:
“Most of my aunts on my grandfather’s side are teachers” (S62) shows an overlap
of the subcategories family member and teacher.
Also the statement: “My aunt, a teacher, was always very welcoming, fair, nice
and strict at the same time, and always managed everything, enjoying natural
respect and was able to get through to everybody” (S28) includes two subcategories of considerations, at the same time revealing the motif of positive assessment
of personal properties, very closely connected with the teaching profession and thus
acting as an activating incentive.
 “One of my aunts – a preschool teacher – was nice, friendly, loved children,
was an excellent cook, and would do anything in the world for children”
(S53). This statement, in addition to including all the three subcategories
of factors, also includes a positive assessment of personal properties of the
model expressed by the motivated student. “I visited my aunt in the summer, we made various decorations together, painted pictures, she taught me
to play the piano and bake treats. She has already passed away” (S2). The
student was in contact with her ideal. And her statement: “I want to follow
in her footsteps” reveals the motif of focus of the student on future (S88).
The expressed behaviour and actions of aunts as another type of family member
also act as an external activating indirect excellent stimulus with the nature in relation to the subject of study being inadvertent, or hidden. The clear motifs include
the teaching profession, child and appreciation of personal properties belonging to
the personality of a teacher.
Subcategory of “female teacher”
Teachers as factors stimulating students to become teachers are mentioned,
inter alia, by M. Kloknerová (2010, p. 177) or R. Havlík (1995, p. 156). Within the
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general subcategory of teachers (98) as considerations stimulating to take up the
profession of teacher for preschool the students mentioned a teacher at higher
elementary education level; a secondary school teacher; a piano teacher at music
school; the “fantastic teacher of the first form”; a teacher that praises and also
a preschool teacher. These human factors stimulated the students towards the
teaching profession in general, with just one case of direct stimulation to teaching
in preschool.
The next step of the analysis following the aspect of how (by what) the stimulation worked identified the following characteristic subgroups:
 The statement: “Teacher – very welcoming, fair, nice but strict, enjoying natural respect” (S11) includes positive assessment of personal properties as well
as professional assessment, where the teacher estimated which profession
would be most suitable for the student and directed her towards study at the
teachers’ grammar school. Just in this sole case the motif is also supported
by activating, supporting action.
 “Class teacher at secondary school – a young miss with the values of
a teacher with 30 years of experience – when she felt it appropriate she
talked to us as her friends but as soon as a problem emerged her authority
reached up to the ceiling and nobody dared to even speak up, let alone
oppose her” (S74). This is, again, an example of positive assessment of
personal properties combined with professional skill appreciation in the
dimension of manifested behaviour and action with the nature in relation
to motivation to study in the field of external indirect stimulus.
 In some cases teachers formerly viewed negatively by the students eventually receive a positive final judgement: “Then I realized that the stupid
teacher (negative personal and professional assessment), who was against
me throughout my attendance (negative feelings of the student), was in fact
a nice lady (positive personal assessment) and it is only thanks to her that
I still remember fractions or diagonals (positive professional assessment).
I realised that the old witch (negative feelings of the student), who hammered
Czech language grammar and spelling into my brain contributed a lot to
how I express myself today (final positive professional assessment (S72). On
the basis of the dimension of manifested behaviour and action an external
activating indirect stimulus is diagnosed here in relation to the field of study
in question.
 Another identified subgroup is based on the motif of the teaching profession,
which is mediated. This is the case of external incentive expressed in mutual
communication not focused on the students. The students assessed the
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



incentive as acceptable and activating for study to become a teacher for
preschool profession. At the same time, the students accepted the positive
assessment of the profession mediated to them. There is also the motif of
child. “A family acquaintance, who is a preschool teacher – always spoke
nicely about her profession, mentioning varied activities, and sharing stories
with the children; I came to believe that this work was no stereotype and
might be fulfilling” (S48).
Another subgroup is defined as external incentive as a directly stimulating
contact with a teacher, which was long-term, with a positive effect. Observation of activities of the teacher in contact with children resulted in a positive
assessment of the profession, positive assessment of the personal properties of
the teacher, indirect evaluation of the results of pedagogical activity of the
teacher with a prevailing motif of children.“ Fantastic first form teacher
– welcoming, beautiful work, although often with risk, you must think of
thousands of things at the same time, do everything at full steam, think of
how to entertain the children, make them enjoy what you are just doing
with them” (S113).
Excellent activating external stimulus expressed in direct communication,
represented by direct praise of a teacher for the student’s decision to study
the profession of teacher for preschool including the motif of child is analysed in the context of another subgroup. “The teacher who praised me for
my decision, telling me: I am glad when the teaching profession is selected
by somebody who I know likes working with children and does it with
enthusiasm” (S145).
Direct observation of professional activity when the student realises the
related secondary aspects of the profession not from the viewpoint of
a former pupil but as a potential teacher, expresses them and renders their
positive professional assessment as acceptable, with supporting nature with
regard to stimulation for the teaching profession.“ My relative is an elementary school teacher. I watched her work with the eyes of a person other than
a pupil at the school bench – a quiet, good profession with relatively short
working hours and a long holiday.”
Personal experience of student S119, reflected in her expression of assessment of personal properties of her teacher, positive professional assessment
with identified major positive motif of child. This stimulus became a positive
indirect excellent expressed incentive with activating nature. “My maths
teacher – a young and unspectacular person, understanding her subject
well, strict when you did not obey, capable of being very angry if she had
189
a reason. She properly explained every topic, practised everything with us,
and if this was insufficient, she took us one by one for another detailed
discussion. A best friend, a proud woman, loving her subject and her profession, overcoming obstacles to achieve our knowledge and satisfaction.”
 Another group of statements focuses on an active teacher for preschool,
whose activity acted as external indirect stimulus of the nature of model,
or ideal. This is an analysis of the motif of the teaching profession, child,
and excellent professional assessment. New elements brought by this analysis include identification with a professional team and appreciation for
untraditional rendering of the profession of preschool teacher. “A preschool
teacher who has founded a private company and organised various events
and performances for her children across the country; I am a member of
her team” (S159).
 A teacher as an activating external factor in many cases only acted through
positive feelings, necessarily also involving implicit positive assessment of
human and professional personality pointing towards ideal, or model; and
the child motif in connection with the assessed teacher. (S143, S148, S153,
S166, S168) “I will cherish positive memories of my teacher for the rest of
my life” (S3, S50, S76, S117).
 Another identified group includes teachers indirectly but strongly motivating for the teaching profession through the motif of child as a bridge to the
motif of teacher. “Teachers greatly contribute to the development of a child’s
personality” (S45).
 Just in a single case, the stimulus for selection of preschool teacher as
a professional study course in the teacher subcategory was represented
by a standard preschool facility teacher. Professional assessment: “She is
a heroine, able to involve dozens of children and not get mad” (S33). The
positively realised subcategory of ideal, i.e. positive assessment of profession,
means admired, respected.
In all the identified subgroups, teachers stimulated by external, indirect incentives with the dimension of expressed, and the nature of activating, were assessed
by the students as excellent. This involves the motif of the teaching profession
in general and the motif of child. The analysis reveals the teacher personality as
positive motivation: “The teacher is a model for her pupils” (cf., e.g., S14, S34, S38,
S41, S54), with positive assessment of personal properties: of the teacher who is
“kind, welcoming” (e.g. S1, S75, S111). What can be diagnosed: a) the attitude of the
student to her ideal: “That old witch”; b) the relationship of the ideal to the student:
“The teacher…managed to get through to everybody”, c) ideal assessment by the
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student: “The teacher …very welcoming, fair, nice but also strict, always managing
everything, enjoying natural respect”. With apparent focus on the future: “She met
teachers who evoked the idea: This is what I would like to be” in the aspired-to self.
Subcategory “Other”
Other factors motivating young people for the profession of preschool teacher
also include children (14), representing the following stimuli, divided into the
following characteristic subgroups:
 “Children add energy and strength to work on myself as teacher, to learn
new things all the time” (S131). The most outstanding motifs include “child”,
“focus on the future” in the context of the motif of the “teaching profession”
and the motif of “teacher personality”. The child is the direct external activating stimulus.
 The student observed and took care of twins with Asperger’s syndrome
since their birth, could consult their medical records (?)…(S67). This represented a long-term unique and extraordinary external activating stimulus
deserving appreciation with the prevailing motifs of child and care. This
category merges with the material category, subcategory of practical teaching experience with children in the first place.
All the students defined behaviour and actions of children and children as such
as positive excellent acceptable external stimuli with activating and encouraging,
supportive nature.
Another identified factor was represented by schoolmates.
 The clearly attenuating, suppressing external manifested stimulus acting
directly and assessed by the students as unacceptable and discouraging them
from the teaching profession was “observed behaviour of her schoolmates
at school – killing her dream of becoming a teacher” (S122).
Discussion
External factors of family members, most often mentioned by the respondents
as stimulating them to become preschool teachers, were mothers. However, the
most significant stimulus still seems to be represented by grandmothers, whose
behaviour and actions activated awareness of the family tradition of the teaching
profession and stirred responsibility for continued study and study success in
heading towards the acquisition of professional education and generally towards
the future. Fathers did not play any role whatsoever in stimulating their children to
191
become teachers. In one case engagement of both parents was analysed as an unacceptable directly actively expressed stimulus with indirect negative professional
assessment as a discouraging stimulus. What is surprising is the indifference of
parents in relation to study subject selection by their children. Aunts complement
the family member subcategory with positive stimuli.
Generally, the most frequently mentioned external human factor focusing
interest of young people on studying for the teaching profession was represented
by male/female teachers on different levels of education and from different school
types with a relatively varied range of direct and indirect stimuli. The effect of their
influence is mainly exerted by the long-term nature of the contact with them also
related to their authority as a teacher.
What is very positive is the finding that children themselves motivate a certain
small group of young people to become teachers. On the other hand, schoolmates
often represent the attenuating factor with their behaviour in the course of school
attendance often discouraging young candidates for the teaching profession from
pursuing this career. The last two subgroups of the “other” subcategory are newly
identified factors in the motivation of students to select a teacher course of university study in general.
Conclusions
Regarding the uniqueness of the obtained data, the results cannot be generalised. The content of the student statements represents great informative value,
though. With regard to future research, a question emerges as to which of the
identified external factors are most relevant for continuation in the selected course
of study and how and by what means they act.
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Research. Boskovice: Nakladatelství Albert.
Švaříček, R., & Šeďová, K. a kol. (2007). Kvalitativní výzkum v pedagogických vědách. Qualitative Research in Educational Sciences. Praha: Portál.
Krzysztof Rubacha, Mariana Sirotova
Slovakia
Mariola Chomczyńska-Rubacha
Poland
Educational Self-Efficacy in Teachers
of Various Ethical Orientations.
The Slovak Research
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.16
Abstract
The article provides an empirical analysis of a relationship between ethical
orientations and educational self-efficacy. Ethical orientations are defined in
the theoretical system of K. Gilligan, whereas self-efficacy is viewed through
the social-cognitive theory. The results of the analysis of variance demonstrate the existence of statistically significant differences in self-efficacy
between teachers who prefer the ethics of justice and those who prefer the
ethics of care, in favour of the former. However, the Eta coefficient shows
that the relationship strength is not very large. In conclusion of the result
interpretation we explain what our research explicates and what lies beyond
its capacity.
Keywords: teachers, ethical orientations, educational self-efficacy, care and justice
ethics
Issue
Self-efficacy is considered as one of the key variables that account for acting
(Bandura 1994). It is also the case with the educational self-efficacy in reference
to teachers. The area of this random variable is filled by a number of factors. Our
research concerns one of them, namely ethical orientation preferred by teachers.
Both abovementioned variables have a solid theoretical tradition, which we will
analyse before the problematization of the presented research.
194
Self-efficacy is conceptualized in two ways: personality disposition and
situational variable. In the former case it constitutes personal resources of the
individual, i.e., cognitive and motivational, which are used to predict the success
of acting. These resources create the following: an ability to defer gratification,
confidence, developmental motivation, perseverance, an ability to translate objectives into an action plan, immunity to frustration and stress, feeling of authorship,
inner-direction (Schoda, Peake 1998, Pervin, John 2002). The higher the intensity
of these dispositions is, the higher the self-efficacy is. The second approach, represented by A. Bandura, without contradicting the meaning of disposition, defines
self-efficacy as an individual’s variable judgement over the capability to rise to the
objective challenges of a given situation (Bussey, Bandura 1999, p.691). Based on
the previous experience of situations similar to the task at hand one may anticipate
the likelihood of solving that task with success. Both conceptualizations constitute attractive ideas for the operationalization of the variable. The dispositional
definition allows for the formation of a test that measures respective resources of
the individual (Chomczyńska-Rubacha, Rubacha 2006). A. Bandura’s approach is
often referred to as a micro-analytical approach and it allows for the formation
of such a research situation in which a given person under examination forms
a judgement on the extent to which he/she will be equal to the formulated task. It
is more adequate to employ the micro-analytical approach that derives from the
social-cognitive theory in testing educational self-efficacy.
The issue of ethical orientations derives, on the other hand, from the discussion
that C. Gilligan had with L. Kohlberg on orientations that steer us into making
moral decisions (Gilligan 1998). Kohlberg’s theory focuses on justice as a criterion
for making mature moral decisions (Kohlberg 1984). In the author’s conceptual
system this relates to the decisions that constitute solutions to moral dilemmas.
As Kohlberg’s dilemmas were so designed that their post-conventional solution
was based on Kantian ethics of justice, C. Gilligan saw a gap in that reasoning.
By quoting the results of her own research, she indicated that women use a norm
of care and responsibility for others rather than a norm of justice in solving
moral dilemmas (Gilligan 2003). In addition, considering the fact that the moral
dilemmas present in her research were real, i.e., they were real experiences of
respondents, whereas Kohlberg’s dilemmas were abstract, she found yet another
empirical argument in favour of her approach. In consequence, she took into
account both orientations in the course of building the theory of moral reasoning.
The orientation towards justice is based on using external standards, on forming
expectations that are considered objective and applying them while judging others,
and solving moral problems in everyday life. It is a macrosocial orientation, typical
Educational Self-Efficacy in Teachers of Various Ethical Orientations
195
of institutional life. Orientation towards care, on the other hand, is focused on
empathy, relying on feelings and emotions, as well as responsibility for others
in everyday life and in solving moral dilemmas (Rest, Narvares, Bebeau, Thoma
1999). The precedence of personal attitudes towards others over external standards
that are considered objective makes us consider this ethics as microsocial and
useful in interpersonal relations (Czyżowska 2012). Such a division into micro and
macro-worlds obviously works only in theory, and people reveal both orientations
in different situations, in accordance with their own preferences in this respect.
Heading towards the problematization of our research, what should be emphasised is that dealing with ethical orientations as a variable that works in teachers’
area of educational self-efficacy is justified in the ethical nature of individual
educational situations, but also in the context of the functions of the education
system, as it is an emanation of the social system. Thus, teachers’ ethical orientation creates a climate for assessment, pupils’ behaviour at school, the interaction
between teachers and pupils, as well as between pupils themselves. This climate
might provide a reverse modification of teachers’ self-efficacy, which is based on
their previous experience. This is why we would like to enquire about the relationship between variables.
Methodology
The demonstrated empirical research was conducted in the quantitative strategy, in the quasi-experimental design, as theoretical and exploratory research.
We have been deliberating about the differences in the average results of the
test that measures teachers’ educational self-efficacy, depending on their ethical
orientation demonstrated and revealed in the test. We placed the research with
such problematization in the one-way ANOVA model (with the estimation of
ETA variance), in which the role of the fixed variable was played by the result in
the test of ethical orientations, whereas the random variable resulted from the
teachers’ self-efficacy result. From a group of respondents with a diagnosed ethical
orientation we selected 51 people who clearly represented orientation towards care
and justice, only to compare their results in a test measuring self-efficacy.
The collection of data was facilitated by the Slovak language and psychometric
version of the Ethical Orientation Test (TOE). The original Polish version was created by M. Chomczyńska-Rubacha and K. Rubacha (2013 p.241, 2014 pp.79 – 86)
from five stories of ethical conflicts in which their protagonists were involved.
The respondents select solutions to those conflicts from a pool of possibilities
196
and their choices contain coefficients of orientation towards care and justice. The
Slovak adaptation, which is of temporary and working nature, was prepared by the
authors of this article. The discriminatory power of all test positions, which was in
the range of 0.74 – 0.9, was verified (estimated on the basis of 126 measurements).
We used the same data to calculate the Spearman-Brown correlation coefficient,
as an indicator of the test reliability. We obtained r tt=0.75. We do not know the
accuracy of the Slovak version of the test yet. For this reason we are temporarily
drawing on the accuracy of the Polish TOE (Chomczyńska-Rubacha, Rubacha
2013, p. 241). The brackets indicating a given orientation were determined with
the median test.
We measured educational self-efficacy with the use of the Slovak version of
a Polish tool composed of three tasks with a four-level answer scale. The tasks
contained descriptions of an educational situation based on a difficult disciplinary
problem. The respondent was expected to make a judgement on how to positively solve a given problem. They had a four-level answer scale at their disposal.
The average result from all positions was the basis for qualifying a respondent
for a given level of educational self-efficacy. The tool had a verified diagnostic
accuracy based on the coefficient of the concurrence of competent judges. The
discriminatory power of individual positions, measured with the biserial coefficient amounted to: 0.53; 0.67; 0.79. This method is one of the situational testing
methods and is a classic micro-analytical test in the Bandurian sense.
Results
All respondents were asked to fill in a self-efficacy measurement questionnaire.
Their results, as demonstrated in Table 1, are similar to the normal distribution
with minimum asymmetry towards low results. The mean is variable in its structure, which makes it more reliable.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics for self-efficacy
Random
variable
N
Min.
Max.
Mean
Standard
deviation
Obliquity
Obliquity
standard error
Self-efficacy
102
1.00
3.00
1.9902
.78972
.017
.239
Source: own study.
It points out to the fact that teachers do not constitute a group of very low
self-efficacy, but on the other hand, they do not decisively anticipate success of
197
their own actions. This probably follows from internal complexity and external conditions of their professional role. Without clearly defined criteria for
perfection in the situation of conflict of many expectations, including parents,
pupils, and social organisation, it is difficult to maintain self-efficacy on a high
level, even if it is based on a positive self-assessment and rewarding professional
experience. Similarly, the measure of success is not entirely unambiguous, as the
complexity of nearly all educational situations leads to an ambivalent acceptance
of each professional success. However, this characteristic is inherently ingrained
in the role of the teacher. The maintenance of discipline may, on the other hand,
cause disappointment with pupils’ decreased creativity. Conversely, by focusing
on stimulating creative activity, one may experience an inability to maintain discipline in class. However, does the dominant ethical orientation in the teacher’s
reasoning differentiate self-efficacy? The results of the discussed study prove
that the answer is affirmative, but in favour of the orientation towards justice.
Tables 2 and 3 authenticate (homogeneity of variances) the conducted analyses
which indicate that the F coefficient is statistically significant at the adopted level
(alpha=0.95).
Table 2. Homogeneity of variances test
Levene’s test
df1
df2
Significance
.036
1
100
.849
Source: own study.
Table 3. One-way ANOVA
Between groups
Sum of squares
df
Mean square
F
Significance
2.833
1
2.833
4.710
.032
.602
Inside groups
60.157
100
Total
62.990
101
Source: own study.
The teachers who follow the ethics of justice obtained the average self-efficacy
of 2.16 (deviation of 0.78), whereas the average of those oriented towards care was
1.82 (deviation of 0.76), which is demonstrated by Graph 1.
In an attempt to interpret the obtained results, we will refer to the conceptualisation of both variables which constituted a basis for the study, as well as to
the knowledge of praxeology, which attempts at the explanation of the reality of
198
Graph 1. Ethical orientations versus self-efficacy
Source: own study.
school interactions. Ethical orientations, which may be interpreted on the basis
of how teachers act, especially in problem-solving situations or solving pupils’
moral dilemmas, constitute the climate of the school’s everyday life. If teachers
follow the norm of justice, the climate of school relationships that they create may
be viewed by pupils as predictable. Predictability, on the other hand, is one of the
elements of the sense of stability and certainty which accompany the everyday
school assessment. Perhaps this feeling accompanies not only the beneficiaries of
just evaluation, but also those who have little reason to rejoice. It is such behaviour
of the teacher which contains feedback whose significance is supported by the
norm of justice. The teacher’s assessment, behaviour, and interactions that teem
with justice contribute to the formation of an environment in which everyone
knows what to do in order to be accepted. The reason for the loss of acceptance
is also known. A school climate in such a delineation describes democratic, but
probably also egalitarian environments for education and discipline. On the other
hand, the ethics of care, from the same point of view, is linked to unpredictability,
uncertainty and the lack of clearly defined criteria of pupil perfection. In this
situation also weaker pupils who cause discipline problems may be appreciated.
Teachers who apply the ethics of care are more inclined to reward in a way that
199
is dependent on emotional attitudes, and on criteria that are not communicated
to everyone. These criteria are surprising and they do not generate the feeling
of acting in a clearly defined disciplinary situation. The outlined vision is not
complete, but yet we should stick to it for the sake of preserving the clarity of our
interpretation. Moving now to the conceptualisation of teachers’ self-efficacy, let
us look into what is formed in their consciousness and emotions as a result of
the formation of an environment based on justice and care. In the former case,
we may expect that the climate of justice and clarity of teachers’ acting and evaluation allows the teachers themselves to have emotional and cognitive comfort.
The conceptualisation of our random variable shows that such experiences build
strong self-efficacy (Bussey, Bandura 1999). However, experiencing the effects of
the dominance of the ethics of care may weaken self-efficacy, as teachers become
‘victims’ of an unpredictable educational environment (Łukaszewski, 1984). This
in turn generates negative perception of one’s own professional experience, and as
a consequence it enfeebles self-efficacy.
As we have above defined the idealisation of school reality which follows from
the conceptualisation of ethical orientations and self-efficacy, let us now try to
move to the practice of school interactions. It perhaps cannot be claimed that
environments based on the norm of justice generate educational effects which
are only positive, whereas environments based on the norm of care create only
negative environments. Nor can we state that there exclusively exist environments
that are pure in terms of this dimension of teachers’ ethics. School is a place where
many teachers work. Norms of justice may not account for complex educational
cases, because they are general in nature. Being just may in some situations mean
being insensitive and ruthless. On the other hand, being caring may have to mean
being unjust in some cases, but sensitive and empathic at the same time. From
the point of view of praxeology, it is only this peculiar mixture of consequence of
both orientations that builds the climate of the school and the interactions within
it. However, our study results show that for educational self-efficacy, orientation
towards justice seems to be more valuable. Perhaps we have achieved this effect on
account of a theoretical location of self-efficacy, or perhaps, which may be beyond
our consciousness, as an effect of a larger number of more subjective factors than
those which our research method was sensitive to. In a nutshell, as is always the
case with a quantitative strategy, when trying to determine regularities we do not
reach that part of the result which is not corroborated by the variance of regularity.
Our Eta amounts to 0.21 and this is the true strength of this relationship.
200
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moralnych przez kobiety i mężczyzn. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.
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Gilligan C. (2003) In a different voice. Psychological theory and women`s development.
Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England.
Kohlberg L. (1984) , The psychology of moral development. San Francisco CA, Harper &
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Pervin L.A., John O.P. (2002) Osobowość – teorie i badania. Wydawnictwo UJ Kraków.
Rest, J.R., Narvaez, D., Bebeau, M. & Thoma, S. (1999). Postconventional Moral Thinking:
A Neo-Kohlbergian Approach. Mahweh, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
South Korea
Investigation into the Desirable Character of Korean
Teachers Using the Delphi Technique
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.17
Abstract
The study explored the desirable character attributes of teachers and provided
specific behavioral guidelines for being a good teacher in Korea. The Delphi
method was used. Ten virtues and 88 behavioral guidelines were created from
three rounds of surveys involving 22 Korean panelists. Results indicated that
most of the virtues identified in this study were consistent with the results of
Western studies. However, a sense of humor regarded as a desirable characteristic
of teachers in previous studies did not emerge as a virtue from Korean panelists.
Morality rarely mentioned in Western research was included in this study. The
characteristics required of a Korean teacher seem to be based on Confucianism.
Keywords: character, virtue, teacher, Korea, Delphi technique
Introduction
The teacher’s character is critical to the quality and effectiveness of education
because it has a significant impact on students’ cognitive, moral and character
development (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005). The Korean Ministry of
Education has recently reformed the teacher recruitment system to place more
emphasis on the character required of the teacher. The reforms have included the
introduction in teacher training institutions of a Personality Inventory, which
evaluates pre-service teachers’ characters. Pre-service teachers must complete this
Inventory, or a similar test, twice and only those who pass them can qualify to
become a teacher.
202
Although the personality traits considered as essential for being a good teacher
are diverse, previous studies generally agreed that a good teacher should be witty
(Ghasemi & Hashemi, 2011; Ramazani, 2014), flexible (Heydari, Abdi, & Rostami,
2013; Hotaman, 2010), and honest (Ahn, 2007; Sockett, 2006). Responsibility (Carr,
2007; Stronge, 2007), self-understanding (Sockett, 2006; Ulug, Ozden & Eryilmaz,
2011), emotional stability (Heydari et al., 2013; Sockett, 2006), kindness (Ahn,
2007; Bhargava & Pathy, 2011), and confidence (Bhargava & Pathy, 2011; Khodabakhshzadh & Shirvan, 2011) also have been identified as required characteristics
of a good teacher.
Prior studies also emphasized the importance of the teacher’s ability to form
good relationships with students, most suggesting that teachers must love and
respect their students (Bhargava & Pathy, 2011; Carr, 2007), be fair to students
(Ghasemi & Hashemi, 2011; Sockett, 2006), pay attention to students’ needs
(Ramazani, 2014; Ulug et al., 2011) and be patient with students (Hotaman, 2010;
Khodabakhshzadh & Shirvan, 2011).
Prior studies have contributed to identifying the virtues teachers should have.
Unfortunately, most of these studies are based on Western culture which is quite
different from Asian culture. While Western culture is generally regarded as an
individualistic and low-context society (Rosenberg, 2004), Asian culture, including
China and Korea, is considered as interdependent, collectivistic and high-context
(Gao & Liu, 2013). The cultural background affects the teacher’s attitude and
character (Joseph, 2010). Gao and Liu (2013) found that Chinese pre-service
teachers valued teachers’ patience, agreeableness, caring, and friendliness more;
whereas American pre-service teachers attributed more importance to teachers’
adaptability, sense of humor, and responsibility. Teacher-student interactions are
somewhat hierarchical and in China teachers usually supervise their students
(Chan & Chan, 2005). Based on Confucianism, which has controlled the spirit of
Korean people since the Joseon Dynasty from 1392 to 1910, the Koreans expect
that teachers should have authority and benevolence and be a role model for their
students (Park, Cheong, Kim, & Park, 2012). It can be inferred from these studies
that desirable teacher characteristics in Korea might be different from those in the
West. However, there are few studies regarding the character attributes required of
a good teacher in Korea.
Specific guidelines, or a detailed explanation of each virtue, are needed in order
to enable pre-service teachers to put these virtues into practice and to test whether
their character is suitable for the teaching profession. Although some researchers
have tried to suggest behavioral guidelines for being a good teacher, they have not
described them fully and have failed to systematize them hierarchically.
Investigation into the Desirable Character of Korean Teachers
203
Research Focus
The objective of this study was to explore desirable teacher characteristics in
Korea and to provide specific behavioral guidelines for each virtue
Research Sample
We selected a 25-member panel, 22 of whom remained involved throughout
the consultation. The panel comprised nine professors and five lecturers with
doctorates in education, who had experience with teacher education, six in-service teachers with more than ten years of teaching experience, and two school
commissioners with experience in research on educational administration and
teacher evaluation as well as more than ten years of teaching experience in middle
schools. All of the participants gave informed consent. There were 13 men (59%)
and 9 women (41%) on the panel. The ages ranged from 34 to 64 years (M = 47,
SD = 9.25).
Instrument and Procedures
The Delphi method, a structured, iterative consultation and survey process that
typically includes two or more rounds or stages (Hanna & Noble, 2015), was used
to collect opinions and compile a consensus on the required character of a good
teacher. All questionnaires were distributed and collected by electronic mail.
In the first round, an open-ended questionnaire was used to elicit opinions
about the desirable character required of a teacher at several levels: virtues and
behavioral guidelines.
The second round questionnaire was based on the results from the first Delphi
round. We asked the panelists to evaluate the importance of each virtue and behavioral guideline drawn from the first survey, using a five-point Likert scale (1 = not
important to 5 = very important). Information about the number of panelists who
had mentioned the item in the first round was presented next to that item.
The third round questionnaire was modified on the basis of the results of the
second round survey. As in the second round, the panelists were asked to rate the
importance of each virtue and behavioral guideline, using the same five-point
Likert scale. The panelists were given information about other panelists’ opinions in
the form of the mean, standard deviation, and interquartile range for all the items.
204
Data Analysis
Data from the first survey were subjected to content analysis. Repeated or
similar words and phrases were grouped into categories and this categorical
organization was reviewed by two educational psychologists and an educational
evaluation expert. Frequencies of responses to each item were also calculated in
the data.
Data from the second and third round were analyzed using descriptive statistics, such as means, standard deviations, interquartile ranges and frequencies, to
estimate the degree of consensus among the panel.
The Content Validity Ratio (CVR; Lawshe, 1975) was used to construct a list of
items based on the data from the second and third surveys. In Lawshe’s formula,
ne represents the number of panelists who rated the item as ‘important’ (score of
4 or 5) and N represents the total number of panelists. When the number of panelists is 20~24, the minimum value of CVR is 0.42 (Lawshe, 1975). Therefore, only
items with a CVR ≥ 0.42 were accepted. The reliability of the items was confirmed
with Cronbach’s α.
ne – N/2
CVR =
N/2
Research Results
Data from the first round survey identified 12 virtues and 700 behavioral
guidelines representing the characteristics required of a good teacher. After similar
or repeated items had been merged and unclear items eliminated, the list was
reviewed by three experts. This resulted in a list of 12 virtues and 235 behavioral
guidelines.
In the analysis of the second round responses, the content validity of items
was calculated. According to the criterion of CVR minimum value, the following
items were accepted: 10 out of 16 items in diligence (CVR = – 0.39~1.00), 10 out
of 14 items in responsibility (CVR = – 0.39~1.00), 2 out of 10 items in intimacy
(CVR = – 0.57~0.65), 7 out of 14 items in physical and emotional stability (CVR
= – 0.57~0.91), 2 out of 11 items in self-understanding(CVR = – 0.13~0.91), 6
out of 8 items in a sense of community (CVR = – 0.57~0.65), 1 out of 4 items in
cooperation (CVR = 0.39~0.74), 21 out of 33 items in communication skills(CVR=
– 0.48~1.00), 40 out of 57 items in educational beliefs(CVR= – 0.39~1.00) and
40 out of 44 items in a passion for students(CVR= – 0.30~1.00). All 20 items in
morality (CVR = 0.57~1.00) and 4 items in positive mind (CVR = 0.74~0.91) were
205
accepted. As a result, the opinions of the panel were represented by 12 virtues and
163 behavioral guidelines. Some virtues and behavioral guidelines were integrated
and rephrased on the basis of the panelists’ comments, resulting in a final list of 10
virtues and 88 behavioral guidelines.
The same procedure was followed for the analysis of third round responses. The
CVR values of all items were over 0.42. The 10 desirable virtues of a teacher were
diligence (CVR = 0.91~1.00; α = 0.79), responsibility (CVR = 0.82~1.00; α = 0.70),
morality (CVR = 0.55~1.00; α = 0.77), a sense of community (CVR = 0.55~1.00 ;
α = 0.70), physical and psychological health (CVR = 0.82~1.00; α = 0.64), self-understanding (CVR = 0.91~1.00; α = 0.75), teacher efficacy(CVR = 0.91~1.00 ; α
= 0.79), communication skills (CVR= 0.64~1.00; α = 0.80), educational beliefs
(CVR= 0.73~1.00; α = 0.82) and a passion for students (CVR= 0.82~1.00; α =
0.89). The final items are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. The final list of the desirable character of teachers
Virtues
Sub-concepts
Diligence in teaching
Diligence
Diligence in class
management
Responsibility in
student guidance
Responsibility
Responsibility in job
performance
Behavioral guidelines
1 Develops professional expertise by subject content research and preparation for class
2 Endeavors to devise effective teaching methods
3 Instructs students enthusiastically
4 Has an interest in character education
5 Offers students guidance in broader aspects of lifestyle
6 Takes charge of everything that happens in the classroom
7 Is aware of a teacher’s roles and responsibilities
8 Makes an effort to teach knowledge, attitude and skills
9 Completes work on time
10 Does not accept unfair benefits
Morality
Honesty
11 Adheres to a stricter ethical code than the general population
Information security
12 Keeps students’ information confidential
Political neutrality
13 Does not attempt to influence students’ political opinions
14 Does not accept any valuable gifts from parents
Integrity
Obedience to the law
15 Does not discriminate against students and parents based
on their background
16 Keeps promises made to students, officials and others
17 Observes the code of conduct for teachers
206
Virtues
Sub-concepts
Social skills
Sense of
community
Development of
a sense of community
Physical
and
psychological
health
Mind and body
health
18 Is agreeable and maintains friendly relationships with
other people
19 Greets colleagues in a friendly manner
20 Cooperates effectively with colleagues
21 Has a service ethic
22 Makes decisions in a democratic manner
23 Cooperates in creation of a school culture with a strong
sense of community
24 Tries to maintain good physical and mental health
25 Controls his or her emotions and expresses them appropriately
26 Controls negative emotions
Emotional control
27 Relieves his or her negative emotions effectively
28 Is aware of his or her emotions
29 Identifies the causes of his or her emotions
Reflection
Self
UnderInfinite self-develstanding opment
30 Reflects on his or her teaching
31 Strives for personal improvement
32 Thinks about his or her personal life and happiness
33 Has self-respect and confidence
Confidence
34 Is confident about teaching
35 Is confident in his or her professional knowledge and skills
36 Acknowledges that teachers can change students’ lives
37 Has a sense of pride in dealing with people
Teacher
efficacy
Pride
38 Takes pride in the teacher’s role in societal change in
changing society
39 Is proud and happy to be a teacher
40 Perceives difficulties as a challenge to be overcome
41 Believes in his or her ability to teach effectively
Positive mindset
42 Is able to deal with the most difficult students
43 Believes that a competent teacher depends more on
attitude than technique
44 Listens to students without prejudice
Communication
skills
45 Spends sufficient time listening to students
46 Listens attentively to colleagues
Listening carefully
47 Listens to parents’ comments and communicates effectively with them
48 Makes students feel comfortable talking to teachers,
while maintaining authority
Virtues
Communication
skills
Sub-concepts
Accepting others’
opinions
Using appropriate
language
207
49 Embraces and responds to students’ opinions
50 Accepts advice and criticism from colleagues
51 Uses I-message rather than you-message
52 Uses positive vocabulary and expressions
53 Uses appropriate language
54 Believes that teachers’ vocabulary and behavior affect the
student’s words
Trust about the
value of the teaching
profession
55 Believes that teachers should and can change students
56 Believes that teachers can and should be positive role
models
57 Believes that teachers should practice the values and
beliefs they teach
58 Regards teaching as his or her vocation
59 Believes that the best way society can show its appreciation for teachers is by trusting and respecting them
Sense of duty
60 Enjoys teaching and believes that teaching is the most
valuable thing
61 Believes that teaching is more significant to him or herself than others
Educational
beliefs
62 Has established his or her professional identity
63 Does not disregard students even if they are young
64 Respects students’ social, cultural and religious background
65 Respects students’ privacy
66 Respects students’ dignity
Respect for students
67 Considers students as active participants and respects
their autonomy
68 Evaluates and treats students fairly, without discriminating against them based on their background
69 Recognizes individual differences between students
70 Gives all students equal opportunities
71 Does not use corporal punishment
Passion
for students
Attitude to public
education
72 Recognizes the importance of public education
73 Treats students with love
Affectionate attitude
74 Thinks about students’ pursuits of happiness
75 Gives enthusiastic and frequent compliments
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Virtues
Sub-concepts
76 Discovers positive non-academic characteristics in
students
Trust and expectation about students
77 Values each student’s potential as well as his or her
achievements
78 Encourages students to pursue their interests
79 Has positive expectations of students
Passion
for students
80 Makes an effort to solve students’ problems
81 Tries to guide students’ broader development
Attention to students
82 Is interested in students’ personal lives
83 Is interested in students’ development
84 Is interested in students’ careers
85 Cares for isolated students more
Care for students
86 Does not suppress students
87 Empathizes with students
88 Understands students’ situations and environment
Discussion
This research investigated the personality traits required to be a good teacher in
Korea and suggested specific behavioral guidelines on the qualities desirable in the
teacher. Our results showed that good teachers should possess characteristics such
as diligence, responsibility, morality, a sense of community, physical and emotional
stability, self-understanding, teacher efficacy, communication skills, belief in the
value of education and a passion for students. Most of the virtues identified in this
study were consistent with the results of previous studies: diligence and responsibility (Carr, 2007), morality ( Bhargava & Pathy, 2011), a sense of community
(Dahlgren & Chiriac, 2009), physical and emotional stability( Heydari et al., 2013),
self-understanding (Stronge, 2007), teacher efficacy (Bhargava & Pathy, 2011),
communication skills (Ulug et al., 2011), belief in the value of education (Fullan,
2007) and a passion for students (Reed & Bergemann, 1992) as necessary characteristics of a good teacher. The finding partially supports the study of Liu and
Meng (2009) who found that Chinese perceptions of effective teacher personalities
were similar to American perceptions.
However, interestingly, a sense of humor, which was often mentioned in Western research and regarded as a top personality trait that contributes to teacher
209
effectiveness (James, 2007), did not emerge as a virtue from our Korean panelists.
It is consistent with the study of Gao and Liu (2013). This might be so because
the concept of a sense of humor was not perceived by our panelists as an aspect
of character which is defined as the sum of the moral and mental qualities, or
it might be due to the belief in Korea that teachers should be serious-minded.
According to Park et al. (2012), Korean teachers are expected to be authoritative
rather than witty.
On the other hand, the study indicated that morality, which has rarely been
regarded as a desirable character attribute of teachers in Western studies, was
one of the virtues which Korean teachers should have. It might be influenced
by Confucianism; this philosophy advocates the basic concepts of benevolence,
righteousness, propriety, wisdom and sincerity. Righteousness, which is one of the
basic concepts of Confucianism, may have a strong effect on the teacher’s morality.
As role-models for students, teachers are expected to be morally perfect in Korea
(Park et al., 2012).
Other virtues might also be based on Confucianism. Benevolence is likely to
affect the teacher’s passion for students. With humanity as the foundation, Confucian scholars focus on love between the teacher and the student (Park et al.,
2012). Propriety also seems to influence a sense of community and communication skills; ‘greet colleagues in a friendly manner’, one of the guidelines of a sense
of community, which has not been mentioned in previous research, is related to
this ethical idea. Sincerity seems to have an influence on the teacher’s educational
beliefs, diligence and responsibility. A teacher should believe in the integrity and
value of the teaching profession and work hard for students. The results indicated
that, although times have changed, people’s perception of teachers in Korea is still
conservative and expectations are perhaps unrealistically high.
The study had some limitations. First, we did not include students or their
parents in our panel. Future Delphi surveys of teachers’ desirable characteristics
need to use a more diverse panel. Second, the acceptability of the behavioral guidelines was not considered in this study. An instrument for evaluating the teacher’s
character needs to be developed in the future.
Conclusions
Overall, the results of the study imply that, although many of the desired personality traits required of a Korean teacher are the same as in Eastern and Western
cultures, there are distinct characteristics required of Korean teachers. In order to
210
fulfill these requirements, the behavioral guidelines of each virtue identified by the
study might form a useful and concrete tool to enable pre-service and in-service
teachers to reflect on and develop themselves.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a research grant from Seoul Women’s University.
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Elena V. Kostareva,
Tatyana M. Permyakova
Russia
The Study of EFL Teachers’ Instruction Formalization
in LMS
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.18
Abstract
The paper focuses on the formalization of English as foreign language teachers’
instruction in LMS eFront. Instruction is considered as a minimum teaching
method unit with (in)variable parameters in relation to the knowledge object,
students’ activity, and control. The two approaches, i.e., information-centered
and student-centered, are studied in its formalization. The paper provides the
results of a two-stage analysis: 1) semi-structured interviews with EFL teachers at the tertiary level, and 2) teachers’ and students’ survey evaluating EFL
instruction. Important findings include advantages of instruction formalization
in technological simplification and quality control in course development, and
also serve to enhance further research agenda.
Keywords: teachers’ instruction, EFL, formalization, educational environment,
information- and learner-centered approaches
Introduction
The presented paper deals with the problem of formalizing teachers’ instruction.
As a key element of learning, it requires researchers’ attention when the questions
of automation of course development (Rukavishnikova, 2007) and unification of
educational outcomes arise in the context of global learning community growth,
migration, academic mobility, etc. Also, standardized assessment of course effectiveness adds up to the importance of teacher instruction research (Marin-Diaz,
2014; Schwier, 2010).
The Study of EFL Teachers’ Instruction Formalization in LMS
213
The purpose of this paper was to define teachers’ instruction from the methodological perspective and in view of formalization to approach the issue of
English as foreign language teachers’ instruction in LMS. We argue that only with
regard to the conceptual structure of the educational environment and the theory
of learning objects (Wiley, 2000) can instruction be formalized to be effectively
automated and optimally used.
Literature review shows that researchers and practitioners refer to the term
‘instruction’ without manifesting its content (Tabbers, Martens, van Merriënboer,
2004; Bourdeau, Mizoguchi, 1999). It is often referred to as ‘task’ and ‘assignment’
(Schneider, 2010). However, in EFL textbooks, per se, teachers’ verbalized assignments are presented as tasks given in a written form. If we want to limit ourselves
to formalizing instruction, neither ‘assignment’ (“how it is said”), nor ‘task’ (“what
is to be done”) is helpful. Another question with ‘task’, however, is that being
synonymous to ‘problem’ it may also be confused with the unit of problem-based
learning (Hmelo-Silver et al, 2007), while the latter may include instructions
a teacher gives. A learning task (Van Merriënboer, Clark, De Croock, 2002) cannot
stand the test of frequency of use among scholars, mainly because it presupposes
the learner’s perspective only, thus, typically is not referred to teaching.
Making a distinction between the learner’s and the teacher’s perspectives, an
instructional task comes into sight where instruction is a part of the educational
process, and each instruction is specific in education, e.g., in Gagne’s theory (1985)
or in Merrill’s theory (2002).
As far as our working term is concerned, we operate the term ‘teachers’ instruction’ to highlight teachers’ impact and their accountability for outcome.
Methodology
Since our focus is the formalizing of instruction, we turn to educational environment formalization experiences and the theory of learning objects. The applied
analysis includes two stages: 1) semi-structured interviews with EFL university
teachers, concerning educational environment formalization practices, and 2)
teachers’ and students’ survey evaluating and commenting on particular EFL
teaching instructions. The second stage is carried out with the purpose to identify
key variable parameters in an attempt to formalize EFL teachers’ instruction.
There are two main dimensions for instruction to be formalized within the
educational environment approach (Anstrand, Kirkbird 2002; Educational environment, 2010): participants (learners, teachers, and the environment itself) and
214
environmental functions (teaching, administration, pedagogical communication,
content delivery, and assessment) (Rukavishnikova, 2006 – 2007). Therefore,
teachers’ instruction is a crucial point of interaction between participants and
functional applications of the educational environment.
Firstly, let us turn to the information-centered approach in the starting point
of learning. From this angle, instruction is the information for learners which
activity they are to perform. In its turn, describing this instruction may aim not
to include new information; this means description is based on learners’ existing
skills and knowledge. As a result, the model for an activity in instruction may be
given explicitly (algorithm for performance or example of the result) or implicitly
(international instruction coherence with the objective or external instruction
coherence with the course or ontology).
Secondly, let us consider the learner-centered approach. Learners’ activity in
instruction has several characteristics (Rukavishnikova, 2006 – 2007):
a) instruction may indicate a stage in knowledge acquisition (recognition ->
understanding -> acquisition);
b) relative complexity of the task classified according to B.S. Bloom’s taxonomy
(knowledge, understanding, application, analysis, synthesis, evaluation);
c) cognitive load [though being hard to identify, attempts to measure cognitive load can be made] in the factors such as the number of pages to read,
proximity/distance of task from its theoretical ground, illustration design,
text–illustration ratio, learners’ independence at accomplishing a task, etc.
(Sweller, 1988).
Results
Stage One: Teacher interviews
As the educational environment is described by two parameters, considerations
for formalizing instruction would not be complete without addressing further
four functions of the environment. For this, we also conducted semi-structured
interviews with 12 EFL teachers at university level, asking questions like: “While
writing instructions, do you write some part/s of them mechanically, without giving it much thinking?”, “Do you write instructions in some particular way because
authorized sources recommend to do so?”, “Can you think of instructions of yours
that you regarded as especially effective?”, “Have you ever had difficulties in writing
instructions? What kind?”, etc.
215
Teaching. Teachers’ instruction is a starting point towards the objective.
Administration. Administrative function may include a new element of
information and, thus, incorporate motivation, which is not directly related to
the educational process. As such, the administrative function does not deliver
education but may ‘push’ participants to work harder and/or with higher results.
Obviously, this is a redundant and optional element of the teacher’s instruction
and a matter of preferred choice depending on learners, teachers, and environment. In addition, motivation created in the administrating function can be both
positive and negative.
Example 1: In a distance English course for students of physics forums were
engaged. The teacher allowed the students to acquire forum moderator
rights if some particular tasks were accomplished.
Example 2: In a class of students of finance I used additional bonuses while
instructing for a correct answer in a high difficulty level activity, for the
number of pages translated in home reading, and for doing extra tasks.
Example 3: I do not know if it relates to the question or not. But one of the highest motivators is time. Every time I tell students that when they complete
the written test and they may be free to go, there are students who do the
test in 20 minutes instead of 40!
Example 4: I had a class of adult learners, and surprisingly, ‘the young learners’
factor – “you cannot have ice-cream before you had your meal” translated
as “you will not be able to study this grammar construction before you
learn this well” – worked very well.
The pedagogical communication function presupposes reaction to educational
activity. This poses the question: Can teachers’ communication and comments in
interaction provide motivation? Intuitively, designers see sense in incorporating it.
Example 1: We all saw how it works in computer games, right? Sound effects,
applause when the game is over, even when the player did not pull it to the very
end. But he was just so eager to hear it. As a teacher, I always say “Right” before
I explain the problem.
Example 2: With time I noticed that my students feel especially proud if I make
individual appointments for consultations with them in front of the
216
class, obviously, they feel privileged: other students simply do not have
questions to discuss and the teacher’s time is valuable.
Content delivery. Under current circumstances, researchers do not find this
function beneficial (Cooper, 1998). But this does not automatically render all
circumstances.
Example 1: I know many students would do a lot to get access to rare sources
of information, unfortunately, this kind of motivation does not last long.
Example 2: Advanced technology is still the issue with Russian students. If they
learn there is a better CD-ROM or something like this, the word spreads
out before you know it.
The assessment/control function does not directly relate to instruction within
this research framework because it does not add new information to the teacher’s
instruction. The teaching function is supposed to comprehensively include the
information needed while the assessment/control function ‘covers’ the intersection
of all educational environmental functions.
The result of this analysis is that, having a complete description of teachers’
instruction, we can determine what elements of it can be reduced. Any instructional element can be considered redundant depending on the educational context.
Therefore, contexts should be systematically described to automate redundancy
identification. Following the above conclusion, teachers’ instruction automation
is possible as long as educational contexts are systematized.
Furthermore, judging by analytical results including teachers’ interviews,
a higher level of generalization of motivation within educational environment
functions is observed. Each teacher spoke of an individual ‘set of tricks’ to motivate
students. Projected study of the choice among motivation theories (Huitt, 2001;
Konrad, 2005; Manninen, 2003; Ruohotie, 2000) also supposes redundancy, i.e.
elimination of unsuitable motivators for instruction performance.
Stage Two: Students’ and Teachers’ Survey
One of the conclusions of the above-mentioned analysis is that a systematic
description of motivation regarding the educational environment is needed. This
will bring us closer to the answer to the following questions: 1) What elements of
instruction are redundant and what are not; 2) What is proper timing for instruc-
217
tion reduction – start-term, mid-term, or end-term; 3) What are the objects and
criteria for reduction, i.e., What can be implied in the course and what cannot; 4)
Can instruction be “transparent” for all teachers and similarly rendered by them?
To answer these questions, a survey on understanding teachers’ instruction was
designed. Its aim was to clarify to what extent the instruction was “transparent”
to teachers and students. The survey contained three instructions from three
different EFL university teachers and covered three different aspects of language
learning each: listening, writing and reading. Originally, instructions were developed for LMS e-Front automation courses and were chosen for the survey out of
LMS pool. While choosing the instructions for the survey, to avoid biased results
we considered the following criteria: 1) they focus on teaching different language
skills – listening, writing and reading, 2) they are designed by teachers with different levels of expertise – years of experience at university, 3) they are developed for
students with different majors, 4) they are developed for students with different
competence levels in EFL.
The survey included multiple-choice questions (“Is the instruction clear to you?
Yes/No/Not everything is clear” or “When is it better to deal with this instruction?
Start-term/Mid-term/End-term”) and open questions (“Would you like to change
anything in this instruction? If ‘yes’, then what is it and in what way would you
like to change it?” or “Do you consider this instruction to be ‘transparent’ to all
students? If ‘not’, then who and why will experience difficulties in understanding
this instruction?”). 15 teachers and 30 students of Higher School of Economics,
Perm, Russia, were asked to fill in the same questionnaire about three selected
instructions. Having analyzed the teachers’ and students’ answers, we revealed
essential differences between their opinions.
Instruction 1 on listening appears to be clear to 70 % of the teachers, the same
number of them do not find any redundant information in it. At the same time,
the remaining 30% are not sure about the types of questions asked and partially
about the meaning of some instruction points. They consider questions 1 – 4 to be
over-generalized (10 %), and do not have ideas about how to “organize notes” or
“take more notes”. The teachers are not consistent in their approach to the timing
for this instruction reduction – start-term (30 %), mid-term (60 %), or end-term
(10%). 40% of the respondents would like to change the instruction. Although they
have not produced any definite structure, still all of them have mentioned “putting
more specific questions”, “terms clarification” and “giving more precise instructions”. As a result, 80 % of the teachers believe this instruction is not “transparent”
to groups of beginners, to those unfamiliar with economics, having low skills in
writing and having missed some previous classes.
218
As for the students, most of them (86.6%) understand the first instruction.
The same number does not find any redundant information and feel ready to
accomplish the task. The only thing that they would like to improve is to leave out
“more” in “take more notes”. The students are even less consistent in choosing the
part of a term for this instruction (40% - start-term, 40% - end term, for 20% there
is no difference).
Out of three evaluated, instruction 2 on writing appears to be the vaguest for
the teachers. It is clear only to 60% of them and 30% find redundant information,
considering the phrases “topic vocabulary” and “vocabulary essential for understanding the topic” to mean quite the same. The same 30% of the respondents are
certain that Step 3 in this instruction is unnecessary as it rewords the information
given at the very beginning of this instruction. The teachers are mostly consistent
in their approach to the timing for this instruction – mid-term (30%), end-term
(70%). 40% of the respondents would like to change the instruction adding more
details to it. Practically all of these 40% mention that the example of “Lexical set”
and sources to find an essay structure should be given. Surprisingly, 30% of the
teachers have a question about the type of essay although it is definitely mentioned
in this instruction. The term “Lexical set” is unknown to 40% of the teachers, but
only 20% of them think that students will find it difficult to understand. As a result,
nobody considers this instruction to be “transparent” to all students. 20% of the
teachers think it will not be clear to beginners, 30% – to those unfamiliar with
essay structure, 20% – to those having low skills in terminology. The remaining
30% feel that the instruction should be completely changed but do not propose
in what way.
The students, in contrast, are very optimistic about this instruction. 86.6% consider it to be clear and are ready to start with it just at once. 20% of them mention
that “Step 3” and “vocabulary essential for understanding the topic” are redundant
information but it does not impede their understanding and accomplishing the
instruction. Nobody would like to change the instruction, and only 10% have not
found the type of essay in it. 66.6% claim everything will be clear to all students,
13.3% hesitate about beginners and 20.1% are not sure that the term “lexical set”
is known to learners. As for the part of the term to accomplish this instruction,
the students again were not consistent (13.3% – start-term, 26.6% – mid-term,
46.6% – end-term, for 13.3% there is no difference).
The analysis of the teachers’ answers regarding Instruction 3 on reading reveals
that it is clear to 70% of the respondents. Only one of them finds mentioning the
source of the article to be redundant in this instruction and 70 % would like to
change some things. Of these 70%, more than a half is not sure about the terms.
219
There is even a surprising question “What is a synonym?” (the teacher assumes that
students probably do not know this term). The rest of the teachers need examples
of “collocations”, “terms” and “synonyms” built within the instruction, sometimes
in the form of a table. The teachers’ opinions on the timing of this instruction are
the least consistent of all. 30% will deal with it in start-term, 30% – in mid-term,
40% – in end-term. As for the “transparency” of this instruction, all the teachers
believe that students will experience difficulties with the terminology (50%) and
lack of language skills for its accomplishing (50%).
The students, however, again demonstrate more confidence and readiness to
deal with the instruction. 73.3% of them understand everything and 93.3% do
not need any additional information to accomplish the task. 26.6% are not certain
about the meaning of “collocations”, but do not identify this word as completely
unknown. 80% would not change anything in this instruction and 20% would like
to have some examples of “terms”, “synonyms” and “collocations” in it. 66.6% of the
respondents consider this instruction to be “transparent” to all students, 20% find
it to be too complex for beginners and 13.4% consider it to be “overloaded” with
terminology.
A method such as a survey on “understanding” formalized EFL instruction
helps to describe not only motivation in the educational environment, but also to
address poorly identifiable problematic issues of instructions in a learner-centered
approach. Firstly, there is certain discrepancy in understanding terminology and
its appropriateness in instructions. Secondly, instructions may lack logical consistency. The evidence of this is the absence of formal tip markers that point timing
of the instruction in the term, the level of complexity, especially for students with
language competence level the instruction is developed. Thirdly, there still may be
no clear algorithm for performance.
The teachers and learners approach these problems in a different way. The teachers’ expectations of formalization are much higher. Fewer of them “completely
understand” the instructions and practically nobody can improve them. The
students demonstrate an advanced level of preparedness to work in a situation
where some information is beyond their skills or knowledge. However, they are
more concentrated on the assessment of their results. For instance, they ask questions about the number of words they are supposed to use while writing an essay,
demonstrating an awareness of essay assessment criteria. Another example is that
220
the students try to find out if it is possible or not to use subtitles while listening.
That means they are trained to deal with different assumptions at the level of
complexity.
Detailed survey results emphasize the need to describe learners’ existing skills
and knowledge, or EFL competence level in teachers’ instruction and often the
need to explicitly provide algorithms for performance or models of outcomes.
Indication of task complexity and variability as well as the degree of learners’
independence at accomplishing a task is found desirable. Optional and, therefore,
redundant elements in instructions are implicit coherence with the objective or
with the course. Although the assessment/control function does not directly relate
to the instruction within this research framework, the survey results show students’
need to comprehensively include information about assessment in instructions as
it presents a certain level of motivation.
The survey results also demonstrate relative insignificance of instruction timing
for the students while the teachers perceive timing for instructions as a sequence of
particular linguistic skills: reading comes before writing, listening before writing,
etc. Finally, “non-transparent” reading of instructions by EFL teachers is mainly
attributed to differences in terminology.
The conclusion of the analysis of teachers’ formalizing instruction is that key
parameters and their variability in the educational environment have not been
thoroughly studied yet. The advantages of instruction formalization are as follows:
technological simplification, quality control in course development through: a)
formal criteria like availability of elements, sequences; and b) semantic verification
of instruction content in relation to exercises, tasks, etc. The overall conclusion
is that EFL teachers’ instruction automation is possible as long as educational
contexts are systematized.
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Media
Pedagogy
Anna Brosch
Poland
When the Child is Born into the Internet:
Sharenting as a Growing Trend among Parents
on Facebook
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.19
Abstract
Parents actively share information about their children on Facebook, but
little research has explored the extent of this issue. The goal of this paper is
to theorize a new type of parents’ online activities concerning their children,
especially the problem of sharenting, which is increasingly common in contexts
where social media such as Facebook play a significant role in relationships and
interactions. This paper explores what kind of baby pictures parents share on
Facebook and what are the likely causes of doing it. The presented research was
conducted with the use of social media ethnography among 168 Polish parents
using Facebook. The findings have shown that the phenomenon of sharenting
is common practice among parents.
Keywords: children exposure, digital risks, Facebook, online privacy, social media,
sharenting
Introduction
Today’s parents are raising children in a digital-first culture, facing more
unique parenting problems than previous generations. But as a new generation
of adults joins the ranks of parents, Facebook seems to be a very easy platform
to dealing with new or difficult challenges associated with their children – even
for parents whose time is a scarce commodity. Therefore, they share the joys and
challenges of parenthood and document children’s lives publicly with increasing
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Anna Brosch
frequency, which has almost become a social norm. Consequently, many children
have a plethora of pictures, posts and updates about their lives on social media
before they can even walk.
This kind of activity is called sharenting and has been defined by Collins Dictionary as “the practice of a parent to regularly use the social media to communicate a lot of detailed information about their child” (Sharenting, as cited in: Collins
Dictionary). The phenomenon of sharing and disclosure of intimate information
about children by their parents through social media is growing rapidly. Therefore,
it has become a subject of research by increasing numbers of scholars worldwide.
At the end of 2014, the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital
National Poll on Children’s Health conducted research among 569 parents of
children aged 0 – 4 (Davis, 2015). According to the survey, 56% mothers and 34%
fathers share information related to parenting in social media. Over 70% parents
who use social media know of another parent who has given information that
might embarrass a child (56%), offered personal information that could identify
a child’s location (51%), or photos of a child perceived as inappropriate (27%).
Another research has been conducted by Hart Research Associates on behalf of
Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI) using data from an online nationwide survey of 589 parents of children aged 6 to 17. According to the “Parents, Privacy &
Technology Use” report, released in November 2015, among the parents who have
a social networking account, nearly 20% share information online about a child,
which he/she may find embarrassing in the future. What is more, one out of ten
parents was asked by their own child to remove some information about him/her
that was posted online by the parent (Family Online Safety Institute, 2015, p. 22).
Undoubtedly, in the era of camera-phones the most common practice on
social networking sites is sharing photographs. Every 60 seconds 136,000 photos
(zephoria.com) are uploaded on Facebook. Today’s parents willingly share photos
of their children. In some research the number of parents who post pictures of
their children on Facebook reaches even 98% (Bartholomew et al., 2012). However,
mothers are more willing to post photos of their children. Perhaps they prefer
sharing photos online because communication via photographs is easier and faster
than telling a story (cf.: Jomhari et al., 2009).
Parents post online an enormous number of pictures to chronicle almost every
moment of their children’s life – from the birth through the first steps and starting
school to teenage years. The research conducted in 2010 by AVG Technologies
found that, on average, children acquire a digital identity by the age of six. But
in many cases, these online practices start even before the birth of a child, when
expectant mothers share sonogram images of their unborn children (AVG Tech-
When the Child is Born into the Internet
227
nologies, 2010). In that way, Facebook has become a “modern day baby book”
(Kumar & Schoenebeck, 2015), where children are becoming micro-celebrities in
their communities (Marwick, 2013, p. 10). There is no doubt that Facebook offers today’s parents a unique opportunity to
exchange experiences and happiness about their parenthood or search for help
with parenting issues. But the problems arise when they share embarrassing or too
personal information about their children and therefore run a risk of breaching
children’s privacy.
Another serious issue related to sharenting is a phenomenon called “digital kidnapping”, where strangers steal baby photos and repost them across the Internet as
if the child was their own (O’Neill, 2015). As a result, the child is given a new name
and a new story to start a completely new online life. But it should be emphasised
that kidnapping is a crime independently of where it is committed. Sharenting may
also expose children to ridiculing by strangers. An extreme example was the secret
Facebook group consisting of mothers who were taking photos of children from
other Facebook accounts before re-posting them online and making fun of the children (Parker, 2013). More importantly, the victims were children with disabilities.
Unfortunately, sometimes parents do not think about how the information they
share might be interpreted by others, especially in the case of sharing embarrassing
stories or inappropriate photos and, what is more, they never know where these
contents might end up someday. As Richard Follett argues, something posted online
now may not be appropriate in the future : “Not only might these images be used
to embarrass them in their delicate teenage years, they could also be accessed by
potential employers or university admissions departments” (Daily Mail, 8.02.2014).
In Poland, there are currently nearly 12.5 million Facebook users, with the largest age group being 19 – 25-year-olds (27%), followed by 26 – 33-year-olds (23%)
(Fanpage Trends, 11.2015). Given that over a half of active Facebook users are
in prime childbearing years, it is likely that a considerable portion of users are
undergoing the transition to parenthood or have already been parents.
Methodology
Data collection was conducted from September to December, 2015 among
Polish Facebook users. The main goal of the research was to learn about parents’
habits with regard to their children on Facebook, especially how much and what
kind of information about the children they share. Therefore, this study was guided
by two main research questions:
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Anna Brosch
1. What types of information concerning children are shared by parents?
2. What are the likely causes of these digital practices?
The research was carried out by using social media ethnography, which is one of
the online research methods, such as virtual ethnography (Hine, 2008), netnography
(Kozinets, 2010) or digital ethnography (Murthy, 2011), which have evolved from
classical ethnography. In general, all these online ethnographic methods focus on
“conducting and constructing an ethnography using the virtual, online environment
as the site of the research” (Evans, 2010, p. 11). Accordingly, the research field of
social media ethnography involves the digital platforms transited by users, as for
example Facebook. From this perspective, the concept of virtual communities
becomes the central point for social media ethnography through studying users’
strategies of self-presentation and online social identity and therefore creating their
own role within a confined community. Thus, this method allows for exploring the
various types of users’ online practice and behaviour on social media, which constitute the natural ecosystem for their daily interactions. According to Helen Morton
(2001, p. 6), there are two possible ways of conducting research online – involved or
distanced. Involved research includes, inter alia, interviewing respondents via chat
rooms, e-mails and other synchronous ways of computer-mediated communication.
However, this study uses distanced research, which consists in the evaluation of
material sources such as texts or images and the observation of social interactions.
As the members of population were difficult to locate, exponential non-discriminative snowball recruiting was used. This non-random method allowed for
selecting the final sample including 168 participants. Each of them had at least
one child under the age of 8 and had posted some photos of his/her own child
on a Facebook profile. In addition to the photo analysis data, for each Facebook
account the following data was recorded: the date of creation of a Facebook profile,
Facebook privacy settings, the number of friends, the total number of pictures, the
number of photos of children, and the content of posts and comments. Analysis of
this data allowed for working out whether it was possible to determine children’s
identity by using publicly available information.
Research Results
One of the key research objectives was to examine the usage of Facebook among
parents, which was measured on two dimensions: how long the participants had
had their Facebook account and how many people were listed as “friends” in their
Facebook profiles.
229
The research has shown that the growth of Facebook usage among Polish
parents began accelerating in 2010. Most of the surveyed Facebook profiles were
created between 2010 and 2012 (73%) and the median year of joining the Facebook community was 2012. It means that the large majority of the parents have
been active Facebook users for several years.
In the profiles studied on Facebook, the number of friends ranged from 17 to
1537, with an average of 388.9 friends per account. The majority of the parents
(71.4%) had 200 or more friends, with only 2.4% of the respondents having a number of friends in the range of 100 and fewer. It should be emphasized that only
7.7% of the parents changed Facebook privacy settings but mainly to hide their
friend lists. Taking into account that parents in general do not use privacy settings
to limit their audience, it indicates that they share their photos and comments with
a large number of people.
In order to determine the level of sharenting, two main data sets were established. Firstly, the posted photos were analyzed, including the number and type
of pictures. Secondly, commentaries about the photos on Facebook profiles were
studied. This allowed for determining the amount and kind of available information about the children and finally to identify particular stories that were
communicated. Photobased stories were categorized according to the dates they
were taken, background of the pictures and also the text description which can be
seen in the sequence of stories.
The total number of the posted pictures by the parents is 25,727, including
19,431 (75.5%) photos containing a child between zero and eight years old, for
an average of 116 baby photos per account (range from 7 to 936). Every third
parent shared fewer than 50 photos of their child, but nearly 40% of the parents
posted over 100 photos of their child. What is more, the parents also willingly
shared private information about their child. Of these 168 accounts, 90.5% had
posted or received a comment mentioning the child’s first name, and 83.9% had
also revealed the child’s date of birth. Many parents (23.2%) made this information
available by reporting their child’s birthday party in the public photo albums. In
addition, 32.7% of them uploaded their baby video and other documents relating
to the child, such as a birth certificate, kindergarten diploma or the child’s art.
Table 1. Information concerning children posted on Facebook profiles by parents
Name
N
%
Age
Date of birth
Films
Other documents
152
141
52
55
12
90.5
83.9
30.9
32.7
7.1
Anna Brosch
230
The research has shown that all of the participants regularly post digital content on Facebook. Posts containing the child’s name and date of birth are most
common among the parents in the first month after the child’s birth by recording
almost every moment of her/his life (48.2%), sharing photos taken in the hospital
(4.8%) or simply posting this information on the parent’s profile or timeline. In
some cases, the parents created a digital footprint for their unborn child by posting
a sonogram image (10.7%) or sharing photos of the expectant mother (8.3%).
Types of baby photos shared on Facebook
Similarly to other studies on photo sharing practices, the participants surveyed
in this study basically tend to post happy moments of their life. Analysis of the
posted photos of children allowed for defining five photo categories as shown in
Table 2.
Table 2. Types of baby photos
Daily life
Outings
Special
events
Embarrassing
Professional
N
8736
5629
4209
710
147
19431
%
45.0
29.0
21.7
3.7
0.8
100
Total
The participants shared a variety of stories by posting photos of their children.
The three top categories are Daily life, Outings and Special events (95.6%). Daily
life pictures relate to spontaneous moments of a child’s life, e.g. playing with toys,
sleeping or meal-time often with other family members. Many pictures in this category also focus on the baby’s face and body movements. Outings include photos
which were taken outside or during holiday. Examples of Special events include
baptism, Christmas Day, the first day at kindergarten, birthday party and other
celebrations. A relatively small group comprises pictures taken by professional
photographers – only 0.8%. However, embarrassing photos should be paid more
attention to. This is all the more significant because 113 (67.3%) parents shared at
least one photo of their child that may be considered as inappropriate. Therefore,
among the embarrassing photos four subcategories have been identified. The
overall results are presented in Figure 1.
The most popular type of embarrassing pictures of children shows them nude
or semi-nude. However, of these 113 accounts, 77.9% of the parents posted, in
Total number of photos
231
The number of parents sharing photos
]
117
117
nude
45
37
nude
semi -nude
182
semi -nude
funny
294
grimy
funny
61
51
grimy
Figure 1. Types of embarrassing photos of children
fact, 411 photos of this kind. Admittedly, they were usually taken during bath
or on the beach and basically concern children under 3 years of age, but even
then they should not be exposed to public viewing. Consequently, the child might
be at great risk if these photos fall into the wrong hands, such as those of child
pornographers. Other photos of children that the parents willingly shared can
be described as funny photos. Every second parent shared photos of their child
that seemed to be amusing. But in most cases, these pictures showed children in
disturbing situations, e.g. sitting on a potty, crying, sleeping in a strange position
or pulling faces. The last type are photos of grimy children, which were taken
usually after meals. Thus, the participants posted pictures of their children with
porridge, chocolate, and other food on their faces. These photos were often widely
commented on, but always in an inappropriate manner.
In view of the above, sharenting remains a worrying problem. Firstly, parents
tend to spread on Facebook the information about their children that might
include things like the date of birth, the child’s full name, or post photographs
and contents which might embarrass the children in the future. Secondly, parents
never know who might use this information for purposes other than intended.
Thereby, they make their own children a potential target of child predators.
The likely causes of sharenting
Virtual communities, such as Facebook, are usually strongly influenced by the
number of users they have and can provide sociability, information, a sense of
belonging, social identity and support of non-hierarchical communication (Well-
Anna Brosch
232
man et al., 2002). Furthermore, it allows individuals to express their identities and
to create and maintain social relations online. Therefore, parents may feel validated
by the numerous likes and comments they receive on their baby photos, even if
they come from users they have weak ties with. What is more, the popularity of
Facebook has grown steadily in Poland since 2010 and hence it has the relatively
long history of using. Controlling the length of Facebook usage is also important,
because many-year users might be more likely to succumb to the norms established
among Facebook users. Statistical analyses are therefore presented only for two
hypotheses:
H1. The number of Facebook Friends is positively correlated with the number
of photos of children shared by parents on Facebook.
H2. The length of Facebook usage is positively correlated with the number of
photos of children shared by parents on Facebook.
Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses and
investigate the impact of the number of Facebook friends and the length of Facebook usage on the number of photos of children shared by parents (Table 3).
Table 3. Results of hierarchical regression analyses
b
t
p
β
The number of Facebook friends
0.12
2.68
0.008
0.21
The length of Facebook usage
-0.44
-0.06
0.95
-0.004
The analysis shows that the number of Facebook friends significantly affects
sharing information about children on Facebook, as expected (b = 0.12, t = 2.68,
p < 0.01). Thus, hypothesis H1 is confirmed. In other words, the number of online
friends moderated parents’ online activity and therefore was a significant predictor
of sharenting. However, the interaction between the length of Facebook usage
and the number of photos of children shared by parents on Facebook was not
significant (b = -0.44, t = -0.06, p = 0.95).
Discussion
The research has shown that Facebook provides another form of social behavior,
closely related to voyeurism, and occurs due to the social control and the need for
monitoring other users. It demands a new type of reflexivity about the creation
233
of virtual identities and the management of personal information, resulting in
increased transparency. Therefore, today’s parenting is becoming a digitally shared
experience.
Undoubtedly, sharenting can satisfy parents’ need for self-realization and social
approval. Moreover, the early period of parenthood might cause social isolation
and the digital era gives a possibility to make this time more comfortable. Therefore, they are leaving scores of digital footprints online, which tell stories of their
children’s private lives. In many cases parents excessively share intimate details of
their children and then this practice reaches a stage where sharenting is associated
with oversharenting, e.g. by posting 100 of baby pictures or even more.
On the other hand, sharenting might be a form of social comparison. It was
indicated by the positive correlation between the number of Facebook Friends
and the number of photos of children shared by parents on Facebook. Generally
speaking, the number of friends determines the number of shared photos. Moreover, by sharenting parents declare that they are able to fulfil the parental tasks and
Facebook seems to be the modern equivalent of sending a letter with a snapshot
enclosed. In this way, parents share their happiness about their parenthood with
their friends. Another possible reason for these findings is that Facebook provides
parents with a possibility to compare themselves with others on a broad range of
dimensions, such as social status and life experiences.
However, problems arise when parents share pictures of moments that might
embarrass their child now and in the future. According to these findings, it is
rather common practice among Polish parents, who post inappropriate photos of
their children, especially naked and semi-naked or showing them in an unfavorable situation.
On the subject of sharing photos of children, the research has also shown that
many of them compromise children’s privacy and expose them to public viewing
without their consent. Thus, children have digital images already created by their
parents before they themselves are ready to use Facebook. It is a serious problem,
bearing in mind that actions today shape children’s online experience tomorrow.
Apart from present security risks and permanence of online contest, it may cause
other consequences in the future. Due to sharenting, children grow up with an
entirely different concept of privacy. Thus, it might seem to be normal to them
that everything is in the public domain. In this way, the idea of privacy is quickly
disappearing.
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Anna Brosch
Conclusion
The age of social media has given rise to a new hobby among Polish parents –
sharenting. The debate on its morality has been raging since the term was coined
and is still open. Although it can be argued that parents have the right to do so,
the privacy of the children involved should be taken into account. By exposing
children on Facebook or in other social media, parents are creating a generation
of kids born under media glare and public attention. Therefore, children grow
up with a sense that a world where what is private is public and sharing personal
details is common practice is normal. When they become parents, the young
generation might be even more open.
Otherwise, parents tend to share content about children which may put them
at risk, including things like the date of birth, the child’s full name, or posting any
photographs that may be embarrassing for children. It should be emphasised that
by posting content about children, parents create their digital footprint, which
could have unforeseen consequences now and in years to come. All the more,
because nobody knows how this information will be used to shape children’s
online experience, like social development and school or job prospects. Eric
Schmidt predicts that every young person one day will be allowed to change their
name in order to disown embarrassing digital past (Holman & Jenkins, 2010).
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Rajko Pećanac, Biljana Jeremić,
Zivorad Milenović
Serbia
Digital Media in the Teaching of Music Education
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.20
Abstract
The paper examines the contribution of learning with the help of digital media
to the quality of students’ knowledge when getting acquainted with the basics
of musical literacy in the teaching of Music Education in lower primary school
grades (school year 2013/14, a sample of 78 fourth grade students from Serbia
E = 39; C = 39). The research results have shown that the students from the
experimental group (M = 4.05; SD = .972) achieved better results in musical
literacy in the final test by learning with the help of digital media, for this kind
of work compared to the students from the control group (M = 3.15, SD =
1.309), who learned in the traditional way: t (78) = -3.438; average difference =
-0.897; 95% CI: from -1.418 to -0.377; η = 0.134.
Keywords: educational technology, innovative teaching, musical literacy
Introduction
In an era of advancing science and technology, digital media have an important
place in the teaching process. Modern technology has changed the way and quality
of life, but the situation in schools has remained the same. There are very few
schools that are equipped with modern teaching aids including digital media,
which enhance the very process of learning and teaching. One of the ways to
achieve this is through the use of cognitive tools for building knowledge, whereby
students are given an opportunity to be creators, through their own interpretation
and organization of knowledge (Reeves, 1998). In this paper, the term digital
media refers to all types of information in a digital format, including computer-generated text, graphics and animation, as well as photographs, animation,
237
sound and video. The mode of communication between students and digital
media is simple and straightforward and can be accomplished in various ways
(practicing, teaching, dialogue, information search, simulation, educational games,
problem solving). The communication model used in teaching is perhaps the most
important segment that largely determines the outcome and effectiveness of the
process (Pećanac, Lambić & Marić, 2011: 62). The combination of text, sound,
images and animations ensures students’ motivation for learning about the basics
of musical literacy through the use of digital media. The textual information must
be clear and tailored to the student and it must explain the essence of what is
taught (Milenović, 2012). It should be accompanied by an appropriate image,
photograph or illustration. The image must reflect reality, in order to satisfy the
principle of obviousness. Information can also be given in such a way that by
reading and watching, the student combines or reorganizes it and comes up with
new knowledge by doing so (Tobias, 1989). The presence of computer games with
levels for children is particularly stimulating, these games level the playing field
when it comes to children with developmental disorders and learning disabilities,
i.e. lower-ability students and students with special needs (Hill, Reeves, Grant,
Wang, & Han, 2002).
Digital media have a variety of uses in education: from teaching programs
for learning and practicing, from databases and tools, through learning games,
experiments and simulations, to complex communication and cooperation
environments. The application of digital media in education is in itself neither
good nor bad, and the results of such application will depend primarily on how
they are applied in learning and teaching. It is noticeable that the question is not
whether learning with the help of digital media is feasible, but to consider the
most appropriate ways of effective integration into the educational program.
This means that music technology, exemplified in computer-based music, music
software, digital audio software, the digital piano, music notation software, laptops,
personal digital players like Apple’s iPod, MIDI keyboard etc., must find its place
in the teaching and learning of music education (Webster, 2002). Musical literacy
includes the concepts of time – the duration of tones, tempo and musical meter,
rhythm, symbols (treble clef, line system) and the dynamics (symbols for volume).
The teaching of musical literacy refers to the process in which students are trained
to consciously observe and reproduce rhythmic and melodic flows. This actually
means consciously recognizing sound and singing and playing from sheet music.
It aims to bring students to an understanding of music and its laws through basic
means of musical expression – rhythm, melody, harmony, tempo, dynamics and
articulation (Jeremić, 2013).
238
The new approach to adopting the basics of musical literacy with the help of
digital media, presented in this paper, is oriented towards planning, realization
and evaluation of student achievements. It is reflected in the innovation of the
methodological approach of the traditional education process with an aim to
improve and enrich it. The practical contribution of the conducted research is the
conception of teaching units, design, production and possibility of use of digital
media in the teaching area of gaining musical literacy.
With regards to the possibilities of the application of digital media, a problem of
this research was set out: an insufficient use of the possibilities and application of
digital media in the teaching of Music Education, aimed at examining the possibilities of improving the teaching process, a higher quality of intellectual enrichment
of students, their higher achievements, conditioned by adequate preparation
and application of digital teaching contents in the teaching process. The subject
of the research is the study of the possibilities of realization and organization of
teaching by introducing modern teaching trends in regular classes, through the
implementation of a variety of digital media in the teaching process, presented
through modern media means, such as: a desktop computer, laptop, video beam
projector, DVD and CD player. Depending on the method of teaching, empirical
research was carried out, and through direct educational work and work with the
use of digital media, the results of students’ knowledge were obtained by applying
the final test. The experimental research presented in this paper was conducted in
the school year 2013/14, on a sample of 78 fourth grade primary school students
from Serbia (E = 39; C = 39).
The aim of the research was to determine the influence that the application of
digital media has on the students’ knowledge in the teaching of Music Education.
The tasks of the research were to determine whether teaching Music Education
through the use of digital media, in the adoption of the basics of musical literacy,
has a positive impact on increasing the level of knowledge acquisition in relation
to the realization of teaching following the traditional model, and to examine the
experimental group students’ evaluations about the application and possibilities
of digital media in the teaching process of the subject of Music Education. The
research starting point was the general hypothesis that digital media contribute
significantly to the efficiency of teaching Music Education in lower primary school
grades but that they are insufficiently used by teachers in their work. The special
239
hypotheses that the students from the E-group will achieve better results when it
comes to the degree of knowledge acquisition through the use of digital media
in acquiring the basics of musical literacy in relation to the C-group and that the
students from the E-group will have positive evaluations about the application of
digital media in the acquisition of musical literacy knowledge, were also starting
points of the research.
The basic methodological procedure in this experimental research was based
on a model of an experiment with parallel groups (E and C). In the realization
of the project of this research it is possible to distinguish several phases: the prephase, consisting of the development of the experimental program, the first phase
– the initial survey involved the testing of subjects (E and C), i.e. the assessment
of the level of students’ musical literacy by using the Scale for assessing vocal
abilities – SPVS (Serb. Skala za procenu vokalnih sposobnosti), subtests I and IV
(Jeremić, 2011), a Likert type scale with answers ranging from 1 to 5, modified for
the purposes of the research, where degrees are equivalent to the number of points
1 = 0 – 5; 2 = 6 – 8; 3 = 9 – 10; 4 = 11 – 13; 5 = 14 – 16. The testing was conducted
individually with each student respondent, with questions about music that had
pre-standardized content. This initial testing was conducted in September 2013.
The second phase was the introduction of an experimental factor in the experimental class. The third phase was final testing. The fourth phase consisted in data
collection with the help of tests and a survey questionnaire (assessing students’
evaluations about the application and possibilities of digital media in the teaching
process, i.e. in the education process) given to the respondents from the E group.
The following research methods were used: a descriptive-analytical method,
a causal method (experimental method) and a comparative method. Techniques
for testing and surveying were used in the research. Among them, as research
instruments the tests (initial and final tests) and the survey questionnaire. The
goal of testing students in the initial test was to determine the students’ level of
knowledge in the teaching area which was taught during the previous school year,
which allowed for the formation of the experimental and control groups. What
was assessed was, therefore, the level of already acquired knowledge. The teaching
area in question was the basics of musical literacy, according to the curriculum for
the fourth grade of primary school. The goal of the final test was to determine the
extent to which the students had acquired the teaching contents that were taught,
i.e. the importance of the application of digital media in the teaching process.
All tasks included the concepts from the field of music theory according to the
curriculum for the fourth grade of primary school– (1) characteristics of the tone
(length, height and strength), writing notes in a line system, solmisation names of
240
tones, (2) melodic – aligning tones in the C major scale and (3) rhythm – duration
of tones (whole, half, quarter and eighth notes).
Teaching with the help of digital media was applied in the realization of contents (1) characteristics of the tone – length, height and strength (processing the
teaching unit with the use of educational computer software implemented via the
Flash MX 2004 computer program); (2) line system, writing notes in a line system,
solmisation names of tones, (processing the teaching unit realized with the use of
Sibelius 6.0: Professional music notation software); (3) melodic – aligning tones in
the C major scale (processing of teaching units with the implementation of various aspects of digital media presented through modern media means, presenting
PowerPoint slides with the use of graphics, animation and sound sequences) and
(4) rhythm – duration of tones, whole, half, quarter note and metrics – types of
pulses 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 (processing of the teaching unit with the use of Sibelius
6.0: Professional music notation software). Because of the fact that the students
did not have much experience with learning with the help of digital media, as well
as the fact that these are students at a younger age (10 years old), they worked in
groups of three, with verbal instructions from teachers and a written instruction
in the form of an instructional (teaching) pamphlet. The instructional pamphlet
comprised steps which helped the students to follow and understand the slides
that appeared on the monitor screen. The survey had the purpose of assessing the
perceptions of the students from the experimental group about the application
and the possibilities of the use of digital media in the teaching process, i.e. in
the education process. The survey was conducted upon the completion of the
research.
Results
Testing of differences between the respondents from the control and experimental groups in the initial test was conducted first.
Table 1. Achievement of students from the experimental
and the control groups in the initial test
N
M
SD
Mean
Rank
Sum
of Ranks
C-group
39
15.67
4.858
39.49
1540.00
E-group
39
15.64
4.858
39.51
1541.00
241
The mean score of the respondents from the control group obtained in the
initial test is 15.67, with a standard deviation of 4.858. The mean score of the
respondents from the experimental group obtained in the initial test is 15.64, with
a standard deviation of 4.859 (Table 1). This indicates that the students studied the
content related to the field of musical literacy in the traditional way.
Table 2. Correlation between respondents from the control
and the experimental groups
C-group
Score of the
C-group
r
.156
p
N
Score of the
E-group
E-group
1
.344
39
39
r
.156
1
p
.344
N
39
39
The correlation coefficient for the control and experimental groups, r = .156, did
not reach the level of statistical significance (p = .344), indicating that there is no
statistically significant difference between the results on the initial knowledge test
between the respondents from the control and the experimental groups (Table 2).
To test the significance of the difference between the rank level data, the Mann
Whitney U test was performed.
Table 3. Results of students from the experimental
and the control groups in the initial test
Achievement in the initial test
Mann-Whitney U
Wilcox on W
760.000
1540.000
z
-.005
p
.996
The Mann-Whitney U test did not reveal a statistical significance regarding the
students from the experimental and the control groups in the initial test, so it can
be concluded that the experimental and the control groups are equal: U = 760.000,
z = -.005, p = .996 (Table 3).
242
After completing the experiment, testing of differences between the respondents
from the control and the experimental groups was conducted in the final test.
Table 4. Achievement of students from the experimental
and the control groups in the final test
N
M
SD
Σ
C-group
39
3.15
1.309
.210
E-group
39
4.05
0972
.156
Number of respondents
The final testing of the students’ knowledge was carried out after introducing
the experimental program of the subject Music Education for the fourth grade of
primary school. The final testing of knowledge was done through a final knowledge test (experimental group, control group). The tasks in the final test included
the new teaching content that had been taught. The results of the final test in its
entirety, for the control and the experimental groups, are shown in Tables 4, 5 and
6 and in Chart 1. It is possible to note that the respondents from the experimental
group obtained significantly better results in the final measure than the control
group respondents. The mean score of the respondents from the control group
in the final test is 3.15, with a standard deviation of 1.309. The mean score of the
experimental group in the final test is 4.05, with a standard deviation of .972.
18
15
12
9
6
3
0
1
2
3
4
Grades
Experimental group
Chart 1. Achievement in the final test
Control group
5
243
The link between the achievements of the control and the experimental groups
of students in the final test was explored with the use of the Pearson coefficient of
linear correlation (Table 5). The estimated value of the magnitude of the correlation coefficient for the achievements of the control and the experimental groups
in the final test shows a strong positive value of r = .904. The two observed features
depend on one another to a very low degree. The high value of their coefficient
is derived from some third feature that directly and simultaneously affects both
of these features. Given that the value r=0.904 is close to 1, we can conclude that
there is a strong positive relationship between these variables. It may be concluded
that this relationship is real and not a coincidence, as shown by the value of the
reliability test, which is statistically significant (p = .000).
Table 5. Correlation results for the control and the experimental groups
(Pearson’s linear correlation)
C-group
Achievement of
the C-group
r
E-group
1
.904**
p
Achievement of
the E-group
.000
N
39
39
r
.904**
1
p
.000
N
39
39
Data show (Table 5) that there is a positive correlation between the achievement
of the students from the experimental and the control groups in the final test
(r = .904), which is indicative of a high correlation when using Cohen’s criteria.
Table 6. Achievements in the final test by applying t-test
Levene’s Test
for Equality
of Variances
F
p
t-test for Equality of Means
T
df
p
M
σ
95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
Lower
Upper
Equal vari6.779 .011
ances assumed
-3.438
76
.001 -.897
.261 -1.417
-.378
Equal variances not
assumed
-3.438
70.142 .001 -.897
.261 -1.418
-.377
244
Data show that the students from the experimental group obtained a significantly better result in the final test compared to the students from the control
group. According to the results of the t-test, it can be seen that a statistically significant difference was found between the values of the achievement of the students
from the E-group (M = 4.05; SD = .972) in the final test compared to the students
from the C-group (M = 3.15; SD = 1.309): t (70.142) = - 3.438 (Tables 4 and 6).
The difference between the mean values per group (mean difference = -.897, 95%
confidence interval extends from -1.418 to -.377) expressed as the indicator eta
squared is high (η = .134).
Assessing the evaluations of the students from the experimental group was carried
out with the use of a questionnaire. The results were obtained by answering openended and multiple choice questions. Honesty in the respondents’ responses was
achieved by the anonymity of the survey questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted
of 8 questions grouped into following categories: (a) an evaluation of classes, in
questions 1 and 2; (b) students’ interest in this type of teaching, in questions 3, 4 and
5; (c) understanding of the teaching material, 6 and 7; (d) pedagogical implications,
question 8. The aim of the survey was to determine how the students from the
experimental group perceived the application of the experimental program, their
attitude towards teaching in which digital media are used, their motivation and
desire for such a method of work. The survey questionnaire was therefore conducted
with the students from the experimental group, i.e. from the group in which an
experimental factor had been introduced, and it was conducted immediately upon
the completion of the research. Chart 2 shows that the majority of the students are
of the opinion that classes realized with the use of digital media were very interesting
(75.55%) and interesting (17.74%), while 6.71% of the students considered this
method of teaching as usual. The high percentage (93.29%) of the students who
positively evaluated teaching in which digital media are applied is very encouraging.
100
75.55%
80
60
40
17.74%
20
6.71%
0
Very Interesting
Interesting
Usual
Chart 2. Evaluation of classes in which digital media were used
245
A high motivation for learning was observed in the students during teaching
with the help of digital media. Teaching with the help of digital media develops
students’ sense of control over a part of the teaching process and, related to this,
a sense of safety and satisfaction with what is achieved. In primary school, at
a younger school age, reading sheet music is a part of musical literacy, which takes
place gradually, starting with images and symbols all the way to written sheet
music. An American psychologist, Jean Bamberger (2000), outlines two phases on
the basis of studies on the development of early musical literacy with the help of
colourful notes (image notation): the figurative phase of graphic representation
(symbols next to one another, ranging symbols one next to the other) and the
phase of metric representation (where the sounds and duration are expressed in
symbols). Teaching with the application of digital media, therefore, appears as an
innovative teaching tool, which contributes to the efficiency of teaching Music
Education in lower primary school grades (Garcia, Mirra, Morrell, Martinez &
Scorza, 2015; Ranker, 2015). All of this has been confirmed in this research, whose
results show that the students who attended classes in which digital media were
used had significantly better academic achievements compared to the students
who attended traditional classes, which confirms the first specific hypothesis of
this research.
The students who had experience in teaching realized by using digital media
positively evaluated its significance. For them, digital media have become a means
of motivation for independent research in classes (Gleen, 2015). Besides, they also
developed an interest in new knowledge in classes, which is not directly related to
the teaching contents that are taught (Fawns, 2015).
The obtained research results show that learning with the use of digital media
contributed to a greater quality of the students’ knowledge in the field of musical
literacy in the subject of Music Education than learning in the traditional way,
which confirms the main hypothesis. The students from the experimental group
obtained better results than the students from the control group in the final test.
They managed, in a larger number, to solve the tasks in which they needed to
apply the knowledge and perform music by singing and playing by following sheet
music. This is also confirmed by different achievements of two primary school
students of the fourth grade who are a part of the model of education for all, i.e.
inclusive education. Both students with developmental disabilities and barriers
to learning and participation, i.e. with special educational needs, attend regular
classes, and were included in the research. This research confirmed the importance
246
of both digital media and educational technology in working with children with
special educational needs. This is also indicated by numerous research studies
conducted all over world, in which the importance of educational technology,
primarily assistive technology in inclusive classes, was determined (Schwartz,
2015; Nowell, 2014; Oravec, 2012). What we wish to emphasize is the difference
in the achievements of the two students in the final test. The student from the
experimental group obtained grade three (3), while the student from the control
group obtained only one point. It is believed that the experimental method of
work performed with the use of digital media greatly assisted the experimental
group student in mastering the teaching material.
The analysis of the student survey questionnaire results showed that the
surveyed students appreciated the method of work performed with the use of
digital media, and that most of them would like to learn in this way more often.
The digitalized information can be more easily assembled with the use of images,
animation and sound; they simultaneously affect more than one of the senses
providing more complete information. Teaching accomplished in this manner
can facilitate learning and understanding of teaching contents. Digital media not
only contribute to the efficiency of teaching, as confirmed by the results of this
research as well, but they also represent a factor of creativity and innovativeness
of students in class (Hoban, Nielsen & Shepherd, 2013). Also, they contribute to
the increase in general digital literacy, including music literacy (Park & Burford,
2013). Regardless of the undoubted importance of digital media, they are insufficiently used in teaching even in countries with developed education systems (Fry,
2015). This confirms the general hypothesis which was the starting point of this
research that digital media significantly contribute to the efficiency of teaching
Music Education in lower primary school grades, but that teachers do not use
them sufficiently in their work.
The results of this research provide a basis for further research which would
be oriented towards students as the users of digital media in classes of Music
Education, in terms of their need and motivation to use such a form of education,
as well as towards teachers as the organizers of the teaching process.
References
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Fawns, T. (2015). Lessons from Personal Photography: The Digital Disruption of Selectivity
and Reflection. Tech Trends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning, 59(1),
50 – 55.
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Media Literacy Education, 6(3), 65 – 70.
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Using Student-Created Blended Media. Teaching Science, 59(1), 32 – 35.
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learning (pp. 416 – 439). Oxford University Press.
June Lee, Yangmi Koo,
Mi Hwa Kim
Korea
Enhancing Problem Solving Skills
in Science Education with Social Media
and an e-Collaboration Tool
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.21
Abstract
This study aimed to explore a collaborative problem solving case using social
media and an e-collaboration tool, and analyze its educational implications in
a qualitative research method. For achieving the research goal, a case study was
conducted in a middle school class. Two rounds of one-to-one interviews with
a teacher and written interviews with students were conducted. In addition,
relevant class resources and the students’ final reports were also collected as
data. It was shown that using social media and an e-collaboration tool could
encourage students’ scientific inquiries and enhance problem solving skills as
well as set up a healthy communication culture among teachers and students.
Keywords: problem solving, social media, e-collaboration, collaborative learning,
science education
Introduction
Many educational professionals emphasize the enhancement of problem solving
skills as a core competence in public education in the 21st highly advanced technology society (Rychen & Salganik, 2003).
Collaborative activities help promote problem solving skills of participants by
enabling them to work together on problems that are difficult to solve individually
(Alves, Marques, Saur, & Marques, 2007). In order to solve problems, it is required
to select sub-problems after considering all aspects of a specific problem, to check
Enhancing Problem Solving Skills in Science Education
249
all information available, and then analyze them to figure out the best answer
among the possible options. The process is established as problem solving can be
effectively achieved when ensuring the cognitive diversity of various people (Page,
2008). From this perspective, collaborative learning that encourages socio-cultural
interactions among students should be integrated into the curriculum for actualizing the public education enhancing problem solving skills.
Application of technologies is another useful way to promote learners’ collaboration (Karkkainen & Vincent-Lancrin, 2013). Collaboration through technology
can facilitate individual and small group learning (Thompson and Ku, 2010; Kelly,
Baxter and Anderson, 2010). For instance, technology can help students collaborate and learn together at their own pace without physical limitations (Resta and
Laferriere, 2007; Zhu, 2012). In online collaboration, learners can structure their
knowledge collaboratively as communications keep articulating (Bonk et al., 2007),
and create knowledge and meanings of learning, enhance higher cognitive thinking
abilities, such as critical thinking and communication skills, while attempting to
achieve their common goal (Palloff & Prat, 2005; Tutty and Klein, 2008).
However, a collaborative environment with technology does not guarantee an
enhancement of problem solving skills (Wang, 2010). Keeping both the quality and
quantity of learners’ interactions at a certain level is more important. In particular,
interactions based on emotional support are helpful in increasing problem solving
skills (Cole, Sugioka, & Yamagata, Lynch, 1999; Grant & Berry, 2011; Reeve, 2006)
Therefore, accessibility that allows learners to participate in educational activities is important to increase the frequency of learners’ interactions (Roper, 2007).
When considering teachers’ and students’ accessibility and convenience, social
media (i.e., Facebook) and e-collaboration tools (i.e., Google Drive) are considered to be useful and attractive technologies in educational settings. Due to the
widespread use of the smart phone and the tablet PC among youth in their daily
life, these social media can be used as a convenient tool for promoting students’
communication. Dabbagh and Kitsantas (2012) note that social media encourage
collaborative learning and help learners generate collective knowledge. E-collaboration tools are also known for being effective to learners’ collaborative knowledge
generation (Forte and Bruckman 2010; Glassman & Kang, 2011). E-collaboration
tools also facilitate the collaboration of students, as they can use their personal
devices without difficulty.
In science classes, fostering inquiry-based learning and developing problem
solving skills are the most important learning goals (Jonaasen, 1997). There
have been many attempts to increase problem-solving skills using technology in
schools. Despite the effort, however, current science education, the one enhancing
250
scientific inquiry ability and innovative problem solving skills using technology,
is still under way in real educational settings.
Even though many researchers have revealed that collaboration based on
technology can contribute to effective learning, there are only a few studies that
analyze teaching strategies, the learning environment, and teaching effects that
ensure both the quality and quantity of interactions in actual science education
settings except in experimental special circumstances. To this end, this study
investigates the effect of collaborative problem-based learning with social media
and an e-collaboration tool on enhancing students’ problem solving skills by
furnishing communication not only among students but also among students and
teachers. This study is a case study that adapts a qualitative research method. It
analyzes the case of a middle school science class that applies the problem-based
learning approach, and discusses the result.
Overview of Problem Solving with Social Media and an
e-Collaboration Tool
Sequence of learning
Technology in the science classroom is helpful in promoting the learning and
study of basic scientific concepts. By exploring scientific phenomena happening
around them via individual and collaborative activities, students can cultivate
scientific manners and communication skills, and have positive attitudes towards
solving social problems originated from natural phenomena (Schraw, Crippen, &
Hartley, 2006).
Problem solving activities in this study focus on generating and sharing creative
ideas for solving problems. The specific class management rules are: first, study
a scientific concept by investigating a phenomenon that can be easily accessible in
daily life; second, learn the scientific inquiry method for solving science problems
by performing inquiry activities (i.e., observation, experiment, investigation, and
discussion); third, provide opportunities of solving scientific or social problems by
applying knowledge and the inquiry method; fourth, encourage students to learn
a self-directed learning method, a sense of cooperation, and communication skills;
fifth, use social media that facilitate active interactions in the classroom and run
online and offline connected classes for providing a more effective collaborative
learning environment. The class procedure developed under such construction
principles is shown in Figure 1.
⇨
– Presenting problem situations
– Identifying questions
– Brainstorming
problem solving
ideas
– Gathering problem related information
Whole/Collaboration
Problem Identification and Problem
Solving Planning
⇨
Figure 1. Class procedure of problem solving project
– Setting up the
learning environment
– Assigning
collaborative
groups
– Building safe
and sound
communicative
culture
Whole/Collaboration
Project Preparation and Pre-session
– Completing
final report
– Reflecting
on learning
activities
– Creating problem
solving ideas
– Searching for and
collecting resources
– Conducting an
experiment and
understanding
concepts
– Finding out solutions
– Planning practice
strategies
⇨
Collaboration
Completing
Final Report
and Sharing
Collaboration/
Individual
Problem Solving
⇨
– Sharing
what
they have
learned and
discussion
– Peer review
and feedback
Collaboration
Presentation
and Evaluation
[251]
252
Use of Social Media and e-Collaboration
The teaching strategies used for applying social media and an e-collaboration
tool in this study are to increase the frequency of interactions for problem solving
by connecting offline activities and online activities. These media usage strategies
are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. Strategies of using social media and e-collaboration
Stage
Procedures and Strategies of Using Social Media and e-Collaboration
Project Preparation
and Pre-session
Creating each collaborative group’s space in the social media and encouraging students to join in (T)
Proceeding pre-session about expressing emotional support among students using SNS per each group (T)
Problem Identification and Problem
Solving Planning
Announcing the problem solving assignments and the procedure of class
and in SNS (S)
Organizing each student’s role in a collaborative group in Google Doc (S)
Problem Solving
Brainstorming through SNS, searching for and collecting resources, and
sharing, summarizing scientific concepts, finding out solutions and planning practice strategies (S)
Completing Final
Report and Sharing
Completing final report using Google Doc collaboratively (S)
Sharing opinions about the reports (S)
Revising the reports (S)
Presentation and
Evaluation
Sharing the collaborative learning outcomes as a whole class via SNS (S)
Peer reviewing the other groups’ learning outcomes using SNS (S)
Providing the teacher’s feedback (T)
* T : Teacher, S : Student
Problem Solving Task
Social media were used for the project that was titled “Global Warming Prevention Project”. It consisted of four missions and the missions and assignments
were released on Google Drive before the class started. The whole class consisted
of three sections: preparation for searching for required materials to perform
missions, class activities such as discussion, experiment, presentation, and post
activities wrapping up the procedures of mission performance and content.
253
Participants
32 middle school students participated in the Global Warming Prevention
Project. As science classes in middle school mainly focus on transferring knowledge to students rather than performing practical operations and explorations,
students do not show much interest in this subject. In this project, both personal
computers and smart devices were used to access the Internet and mobile environment. Most of the students had a computer and a mobile device that were
connected to the Internet. Personal smart phones were used for students’ individual activities and two smart devices were used for each group’s collaborative
activities.
⇨
⇨
Collaborative activities in
the classroom
Problem situation
Summarizing their mission
activities
Figure 2. Procedures of the Global Warming Prevention Project
Social Media and an e-Collaboration Tool
There is a social media that is originally developed for educational purposes
in the area of public education, exemplified in Classting (http://classting.com)
in Korea. In this study, Classting, along with Kakaoagit (http://agit.kakao.com)
were used for learning activities. Google Drive (drive.google.com) was used for
collaboration and making out a final report. The students used social media in
their daily life, but no one had a prior experience of using Google Drive. Thus, the
students learned how to use Google Drive at the beginning.
254
Data Collection and Data Analysis
To analyze the effect of the problem solving project using social media,
2 one-on-one interviews with a teacher and a written interview via e-mail were
performed with 22 students (11 female and 11 male). Unstructured questionnaires were distributed for the interviews with a teacher, and the questionnaires
consisted of items concerning the purpose of the project and its achievement
level, the link between offline class and online class among IT technology, class
activities, and online learning activities, and educational implications of the project on students’ ability and their learning attitude, classroom atmosphere, and
the teacher himself, etc. Aside from the interview with a teacher and students, the
learning materials and students’ final reports were collected. The collected data
were analyzed under categories of changes from the class in which the transmitted knowledge is one way, improvement of scientific ability, and suggestions for
future research.
Research Results
Changes: Sharing, Participation, and Collaboration
During the project period, social media and an e-collaboration tool allowed
for prompt communication of the teacher–student and student-student type and
offered the students a collaborative environment for sharing resources, discussing,
and writing up a report without any limits in time or space. Especially, the students
learned how to share their own materials in order to achieve the common goal.
The students tried not to share their own know-how and learning resources with other
students in the past; however, their attitude has changed to the one of sharing what
they had and they participated in the collaborative problem-solving process after using
social media. (Teacher)
Most of the students felt responsible for their group and actively participated in
the problem solving process and noted the positive effect of using social media and
Google Drive as learning aids. In addition, the teacher prevented students from
free loading by assigning their roles based on each one’s ability, and encouraged
the application of social tools in the learning environment.
Through performing the project based on teacher-student and student-student
communication, the students could discover their peers’ abilities and understand
255
each other better. By sharing not only learning resources but also their personal
lives in the social media space, they became more interested in their classmates,
and further in their class. As a result, shared interests, understanding, and responsibility for each other served as a stepping-stone for collaboration and unity
towards achievement of the common goal.
Social media and Google Drive facilitated student-student interactions and
student-teacher communications. The students could feel closeness and unity with
the teacher through consistent communication. Trust that was built in and outside
of the class via social media influenced the class atmosphere in a positive way.
Direct and instant communication with the teacher was really helpful as I was able to
ask questions whenever I had ones. The formal relationship with the teacher formed
space of the classroom developed closer and more connected one. I felt like I am working
‘with’ my teacher. (Student 1)
Improvements: Scientific Inquiry and Enhanced Problem Solving Skills
This project increased students’ interests in science and scientific inquiry, as
well as helped them to gain problem solving skills and acquire the knowledge
related to the topic. Many students participating in the project used to think that
science was boring. However, since they started to use SNS and Google Drive to
explore their daily lives in a scientific manner, they were able to understand the
importance of science and become more interested in the subject. In addition,
the students acquired a broad spectrum of knowledge not limited to textbooks
but from encyclopedias, academic journals, or dissertations, and they figured out
various ways of solving problems.
I searched for the resources with my friends through various ways and shared them
via SNS, and discussed which would be the most appropriate. Then we could make the
final decision. This collaborative learning was more helpful for me to learn not only the
knowledge in the textbook but also in a variety of ways (Student 17).
The students could enhance their capabilities of task commitment, problem
solving, and creative inquisition through the process of applying scientific principles to find effective and useful solutions via social media and Google Drive.
I got the habit of delving into the problems through discussion with friends, and could
reflect on how to solve them. We could draw a newer and more creative conclusion that
is not typical or included in the textbook. (Student 29)
256
Limitations and Solutions: Obstacles, Negative effects, and Solutions
Even though the students learned how to use SNS and Google Drive in
a pre-session, there were students who had difficulty, as they were not familiar with
the entirely new applications. Moreover, a few students still admitted that they had
felt uncomfortable when participating in the activities as there were limitations in
accessing the Internet.
Most students pointed out fatigue as a negative effect resulting from the longtime usage of smart phones. Playing games or other irrelevant applications was
another side effect. The students noted cyber-bullying, infringement of copyright,
and abuse as negative effects, too. For solutions to avoid the negative effects, they
suggested using smart phones only in class and with a limited allocated time, and
emphasized the importance of pre-session and teacher discipline. Meanwhile,
there was an opposition to the limit of time and usage of smart phones as it might
offset the advantages of using the SNS and Google Drive such as participation,
sharing, collaboration, and communication. The students who brought forth
the counterargument suggested a prevention education program as the most
appropriate and applicable solution to decrease the negative effects of using them
without losing their positive effects. However, they also insisted that a prevention
education program could not be the solution to all problems and emphasized
that it was necessary for the students to control themselves in order to gain the
advantages of learning with SNS and Google Drive. In contrast, the teacher had
faith that the students could set up the environment for using social media in
a proper way and foster healthy communication culture through the experience
of learning activities with them. The teacher’s belief was reflected in the students’
comments.
Conclusion
This study explored a collaborative problem solving case using social media and
an e-collaboration tool, and analyzed their educational implications in a qualitative
research method. The result shows that a learning environment for problem solving
with social media and an e-collaboration tool facilitated communication among
students, enabled them to build unity as a group, to share opinions and ideas, and
promoted active participation and collaboration. In addition, the communicative
environment helped the students to build a collaborative community and enhance
unity and cooperation to achieve their common goal, and contributed to problem
solving experiences and to ultimately conceiving new and creative conclusions as
257
a group. Thus, it reveals that social media and an e-collaboration tool can facilitate
learners’ knowledge sharing activities based on the trust built among the learners
(Hsu et al., 2007; Yu et al., 2010), and learners can acquire knowledge via social
interaction (Chiu et al., 2006). Therefore, this study confirms that problem solving
can be processed more effectively based on interactions. It also shows that social
media and an e-collaboration tool are not just simple communication tools but
also effective tools for creating common knowledge and they can be used to
enhance scientific inquiries and problem solving skills.
The teacher attempted and supported a new way of teaching by applying SNS
and an e-collaboration tool. This trial brought out a shift from lecture-based
traditional teaching to communicative and participative learning, and facilitated
the students’ scientific inquiries and problem solving skills. In order to prevent
the students’ distraction, the teacher adopted the strategy of assigning roles to the
students based on their capacity. The teacher built a sense of intimacy and trust
in the students by communicating with them directly in and out of class through
social media and an e-collaboration tool; the strategy worked well and resulted in
creating an active and alive learning atmosphere.
However, there were several obstacles and negative effects. A few students had
difficulty in learning with the use of new tools despite the pre-session. In addition,
fatigue was pointed out as a negative effect of using the smart devices. Using
applications irrelevant to learning, infringement of copyright, cyber-bullying, and
emotional abuse were also noted as negative ones. These results were consistent
with the research findings revealing that social media could be used for ditching
or bullying classmates (Cantanzaro, 2011; Siegle, 2010). In order to decrease these
negative effects and increase the merits of using SNS and an e-collaboration tool,
it is necessary to introduce a prevention education program and to equip students
with an ability to control them.
The study showed that social media and an e-collaboration tool could be used
to shift the way of traditional education to a new one. It encourages students’
scientific inquiries and enhances problem solving skills as well as sets up a healthy
communication culture among teachers and students. More practical research
into the ways of encouraging learners’ scientific inquiries and enhancing problem
solving skills with social media and e-collaboration and development of specific
instruction-learning strategies should be conducted in the future.
258
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Some
Aspects of
Psychology
Slovakia
Adolescent School-Related Self-Concept in Relation
to Adolescent Personality
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.22
Abstract
The aim of our study was to examine adolescent personality in relation to the
adolescent school-related self-concept, in particular to its cognitive aspect
according to W.U. Meyer’s conception. In addition to selected personality
dimensions, our paper focuses also on gender relations of the adolescent
school-related self-concept. The research sample was made up of grammar
school and university students (N = 100). The five-factor model of personality
NEO-FFI (P.T. Costa, R.R. McCrae) and SCEA-M questionnaire (U. Engler,
W.U. Meyer) were used as research tools. The results show a statistically significant relationship between neuroticism and fear of social consequences. There
is also a statistically significant relationship between conscientiousness and the
self-concept of ability. Statistically significant gender differences in favour of
women appear in the dimension of fear of social consequences.
Keywords: self-concept, self-concept of ability, fear of social consequences, neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness
Self-concept is “a perception of oneself, thus how an individual sees him/
herself. It has an evaluative and a descriptive dimension. It is also referred to
as an “integrating gyroscope of personality” (Hartl & Hartlová, 2000, p. 524).
P. Macek (2008) states that it is the most frequently used term in the psychology
of self. “Self-concept is a hypothetical construct, used in the effort to describe
the content of the consciousness related to Self ” (ibidem, p. 96). The author
explains self-concept as cognitive content or as a structure of self-reflection,
264
knowledge of self. M. Blatný (2003) interprets self-concept in a more complex
way, as a whole comprising various aspects. He distinguishes three aspects of
self-concept: cognitive, emotional and conative. The three aspects of self-concept
have no clearly defined borders between them. They intertwine and influence
one another. P. Říčan (1970, p. 209) specifies self as “a carrier of the identity and
unique value of individual personality”. R. Marčič and D. Kobal Grum (2011)
understand self-concept as an organized set of characteristics, traits, feelings,
images, attitudes, abilities, and other psychological elements that a person attributes to him/herself.
On the basis of our review of professional literature we are of the opinion
that self-concept comes to its real and more stable form at the transition from
adolescence to young adulthood. Since the place of an adolescent’s self-realization
is still primarily school, we focus on his/her self-concept in the context of school
and school setting. Such an approach can be found in W.U. Meyer’s self-concept
of ability. W.U. Meyer (as cited in: Steinsmeier-Pelster & Schöne, 2008) considers self-concept of ability exclusively as a description or evaluation of one’s
own abilities in terms of a descriptive concept. When an individual imagines
his/her own abilities, this may be a description as well as evaluation of abilities.
Cognitive evaluation is often assigned affective-evaluative representations of the
self-concept of ability. Such representations, however, are a consequence of the
self-concept of ability. For illustration, the authors give the following example:
the statement: “I am a gifted student” is assigned to the self-concept of ability. It is
a pure description meaning nothing. The statement “I am proud that I am a gifted
student” is attributed to self-esteem, where affective-evaluative components are
in the foreground. Thus, the self-concept of ability is generally understood as
a summary of cognitive presentations of one’s own abilities. This concludes
the idea about the level, structure and stability of the self-concept. Descriptive
evaluation of one’s own abilities (ibidem) applies also to the level - “I am a very
gifted student”, structure and differentiation - “I have no problems with math, but
I simply have no gift for languages”, as well as to its variability and influenceability - “I simply lack the gift for physics and nothing can change it”. How much
a person values him/herself depends mostly on two kinds of information: on
one’s own experience in problem solving, as well as direct or indirect information
from a relevant relational person.
Adolescent School-Related Self-Concept in Relation to Adolescent Personality
265
Research aim and hypotheses
Our research problem was defined on the basis of theoretical analysis of the
subject, which were publications of personality psychology, developmental
psychology, and social psychology (Říčan, 2007; Vágnerová, 2000; Blatný, 2003;
Macek, 2003, 2008). It was also based on results of research studies (Ramsdal, 2008;
Gašparíková, 2011; Marčič - Kobal Grum, 2011; Pajares - Schunk, 2001, Ďuricová,
2005) on self-concept, personality traits and gender differences. On the basis of
the above sources, our own research aim was formulated to verify relationships
between personality traits and the adolescent school-related self-concept, and also
gender differences, if any, in the studied variable.
In line with our main goal we then defined the following research objectives:
1. Investigate whether there is a relationship between the selected personality
traits from the Big Five concept (extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness) and adolescent school-related self-concept, in particular Meyer’s
self-concept of ability, or fear of social consequences, as the case may be.
2. Verify the influence of gender on the adolescent school-related self-concept.
The theoretical analysis of the problem and the existing knowledge from the
self-concept study enabled us to formulate the following hypotheses assuming
that:
H1: There is a statistically significant positive correlation trend between
extraversion and the self-concept of ability.
conscientiousness and the self-concept of ability.
neuroticism and the fear of social consequences.
H4: There is a statistically significant difference in the self-concept of ability
between men and women in favour of men.
H5: There is a statistically significant difference in the fear of social consequences between men and women in favour of women.
Research methods and sample
In order to obtain data from respondents to verify our research hypotheses,
two research tools were used. The first method, NEO - FFI inventory, was chosen
with the aim to follow up the study by L. Ďuricová (2005), who had examined the
266
school-related self-concept according to W.U. Meyer in relation to personality and
had used Cattell’s 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire.
NEO-FFI / Neo Five – Factor Inventory (abbreviated version of the 5-factor
personality inventory by Costa and McCrae)
I. Ruisel and P. Halama state that in Slovakia mostly the abbreviated version of
the NEO inventory is used, this NEO-FFI (as cited in: Hřebíčková, 2011, p. 200).
SCEA-M / Self-Concept of Ability Questionnaire (Engler - Meyer)
The version of SCEA-M (Self-Concept of Ability Questionnaire) was translated
to the Czech language and validated by F. Man and P. Blahuš (1998). This concept
concerns awareness of one’s own abilities and means to tackle tasks in a school
setting. The questionnaire examines two factors: self-concept of ability and fear of
social consequences, or social appraisal.
Our research sample was made up of 100 students selected by convenience sampling, in the range from 18 to 22 years of age. The average age of the respondents
was 19.8 years. In terms of gender, it consisted of 66 women and 34 men, students
of a secondary school and university in the town of Banská Bystrica.
Research Results
Data were processed by means of the statistical program SPSS. They were
checked for normality by means of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality.
Since the individual variables in our research sample did not fulfil the condition
of normal distribution (Table 1), non-parametric procedures were used to analyze
the data. It was Spearman’s correlation coefficient in the case of correlations and
the Mann-Whitney U-test to test gender differences.
Table 1. Normality of data distribution, variables examined
at the significance level of p=0.2 (N=100)
Kolmogorov - Smirnov
P
Neuroticism
0.162
Extraversion
0.056
Conscientiousness
0.066
Self-concept of ability
0.000
Fear of social consequences
0.003
267
At the beginning of our research data analysis, we present the descriptive characteristics of all the variables examined (Table 2).
Table 2. Descriptive indicators of the variables examined (N=100).
AM
Mdn
Min
Max
SD
NE
31.72
31.00
16.00
52.00
8.12
EX
41.05
42.00
16.00
55.00
8.16
CON
42.76
43.50
22.00
60.00
8.76
SCA
29.06
28.00
21.00
42.00
3.81
SCAnx
14.05
14.00
6.00
21.00
3.56
NE – neuroticism, EX – extraversion, CON – conscientiousness, SCA – self-concept of ability,
SCAnx – fear of social consequences, AM – arithmetic mean, Mdn – median, Min – minimum,
Max – maximum, SD – standard deviation
Also, it is necessary to present the descriptive characteristics of the research
sample in terms of gender. The results are presented in the scales of self-concept
of ability (SCA, Table 3) and fear of social consequences (SCAnx, Table 4).
Table 3. Descriptive characteristics of the research sample in the scale of selfconcept of ability (SCA) by gender
Gender
n
AM
Mdn
SD
Men
34
29.82
29.50
3.37
Women
66
28.67
28.00
3.99
100
29.06
28.00
3.81
Total
N – absolute number, AM – arithmetic mean, Mdn – median, SD – standard deviation
Table 4. Descriptive characteristics of the research sample in the scale of fear of
social consequences (SCAnx) by gender
Gender
Men
Women
Total
n
AM
Mdn
SD
34
12.65
13.00
3.81
66
14.77
15.00
3.23
100
14.05
14.00
3.56
N – absolute number, AM – arithmetic mean, Mdn – median, SD – standard deviation
268
The results are presented by the research hypotheses.
extraversion and the self-concept of ability.
conscientiousness and the self-concept of ability.
neuroticism and the fear of social consequences.
Within the first hypothesis, we attempted to verify the relationship between
the self-concept of ability and the personality dimension of extraversion. Based
on the results of Spearman’s correlation analysis, we can state that there is no
statistically significant relationship between extraversion and the self-concept of
ability in our research sample (Table 5). The next selected personality trait studied
in relation to the school-related self-concept was conscientiousness. Based on the
results (Table 5), we can state that there is a moderate positive statistically significant
relationship (at the level of 0.01) between conscientiousness and the self-concept
of ability. In accordance with our research aim we also examined the connection
between the personality trait of neuroticism and the dimension of the fear of
social consequences, or social appraisal. Results of the Spearman correlation analysis as a non-parametric method (Table 5) show that there is a moderate positive
statistically significant relationship (at the level of 0.01) between neuroticism and
the fear of social consequences.
Table 5. Correlation analysis (Spearman) of relationships between selected
personality traits and adolescent school-related self-concept (N=100)
SCA
EX
CON
NE
r
0.080
p
0.428
r
0.262**
p
0.009
SCAnx
r
0.281**
p
0.005
EX – extraversion, CON – conscientiousness, NE – neuroticism,
SCA – self-concept of ability, SCAnx – fear of social consequences, ** p ≤0.01
H4:
There is a statistically significant difference in the self-concept of ability
between men and women in favour of men.
H5:
269
There is a statistically significant difference in the fear of social consequences between men and women in favour of women.
Based on the result of the Mann-Whitney U test, we can state that there is
no statistically significant difference in the medians of the self-concept of ability
between men and women. On the contrary, the result of the same test confirms
that there is a statistically significant difference in the fear of social consequences
between men and women in favour of women (Table 6).
Table 6. Gender differences in adolescent school-related self-concept
Mdn
SCA
SCAnx
Men
29.50
Women
28.00
Men
13.00
Women
15.00
U-test
p-value
913.50
0.127
757.00
0.008
SCA – self-concept of ability, SCAnx – fear of social consequences, Mdn – median, U-test –Mann-Whitney U test
Discussion
The aim of our research was to examine the connection between the adolescent
self-concept and specific personality traits from the Big Five personality model.
We chose three personality variables that could have, with regard to previous
research results, some connection with self-concept. We focused on the adolescent
school-related self-concept, since at that age mostly the school setting is a basic
reference frame for an individual. That is why we used the SCEA-M inventory
mapping especially the cognitive aspect of a respondent’s school-related self-concept. The method examines two dimensions of the school-related (academic)
self-concept: self-concept of ability (positive self-image) and fear of social consequences (fear of social appraisal).
The H1hypothesis assumed a statistically significant positive correlation trend
between extraversion and the self-concept of ability. According to M. Hřebíčková
(2011), extraverted individuals are usually social, self-assured, active, energetic,
cheerful and optimistic. They are often perceived as full of energy by people
around them. In a group, they like to talk and to attract attention. Correlation
analysis did not confirm a statistically significant relationship between the two
270
variables. On the basis of this result, it can be inferred that extraversion as a personality trait is not a prerequisite for a positive adolescent self-image in the school
context. This result does not correspond with the result of L. Ďuricová (2005), who
found Cattell’s factors H (spontaneity, social boldness even light-mindedness) and
O (complacency, self-assurance, optimism), two of three factors that significantly
fed favourable school-related self-concept of adolescents. The discrepancy in the
research results may be a result, among other things, of the different personality
inventory used and should be verified in further research.
The H2 hypothesis assumed a statistically significant positive correlation
trend between conscientiousness and the self-concept of ability. Correlation
analysis showed a moderate positive statistically significant relationship between the
variables. Thus, it can be assumed that conscientiousness, interpreted as responsibility, planned behaviour, self-discipline on the track to reaching goals; persistent
resistance to disturbance (Říčan, 2007) is positively related to the self-concept of
ability, thus the awareness of one’s own abilities (Man-Blahuš, 1998). The result
corresponds with the study by Ďuricová (2005), whose research results concerning
the connections between self-control, willpower, self-discipline (Factor Q3), being
a dimension close to conscientiousness, and the self-concept of ability reached
a statistically significant value. The positive relationship between conscientiousness and self-efficacy (conative aspect of self-concept) was confirmed also in the
research by I. Wang et al. (2014) on the relationships between the Big Five concept,
self-efficacy and depressive symptoms. The study by E. Nábělková and N. Ledajová (2013) showed, for a change, a negative relationship between self-esteem of
university students and their tendency to procrastination that may be perceived as
a certain type of anti-motivation connected also, among other things, with a low
subjectively perceived academic capability.
Within the H3 hypothesis, a statistically significant positive correlation trend
between neuroticism and the fear of social consequences was assumed. Correlation
analysis showed a moderate positive statistically significant relationship between the
variables. The result indicates that there is a relationship between the dimension
of neuroticism and fear of social appraisal. Similar results were obtained also by
L. Ďuricová (2005), examining the personality profile of university students with
a positive self-concept. Her results showed a moderate statistically significant
relationship between emotional stability and the fear of social consequences:
particularly a negative correlation trend between emotional stability (Factor C)
and the fear of social consequences. In connection with these results, a study by
B. Žitniaková Gurgová (2012) confirmed a relationship between neuroticism and
perfectionist cognitions including also social comparison in university students.
271
The H4 hypothesis was formulated on the assumption that there is a statistically
significant difference in the self-concept of ability between men and women in
favour of men. The absence of a statistically significant difference in the self-concept of ability in terms of gender could be explained by the current social situation,
where there are high demands on an individual regardless of his/her gender, due to
which differences in the perception of oneself and one’s abilities and possibilities
are somehow blurred. A study by G.H. Ramsdal (2008) also found no statistically
significant gender differences in independent self-concept. G.H. Ramsdal stated
that women could be at a similar level as men in abilities and achievement of their
goals. M. Vágnerová (2000) mentions that a professional role is for women in
particular a kind of confirmation of their abilities and competences. Thus, we can
infer that for male and female adolescents study and preparation for their future
profession is such confirmation, and they no longer show any differences in this
area at present.
Within the H5 hypothesis, a statistically significant difference in the fear of
social consequences between men and women in favour of women was assumed.
The result in our research sample showed a statistically significant value. Research
by L. Ďuricová (2005) also found a statistically highly significant difference in
the fear of social consequences between men and women in favour of women.
Women are more anxious and probably more sensitive to appraisal by others and
attribute a higher value to it. In their study of self-concept, R. Marčič and D. Kobal
Grum (2011) proved that women were more critical in their self-assessment when
their physical appearance was concerned and they scored higher also in the social
dimension of self-assessment, however, there were no significant differences. The
authors explained the similarity in self-assessment between the genders also by
contemporary equal opportunities for men and women.
Conclusion
The results of our research analysis suggest that personality variables could be
a source of an individual’s self-concept. Out of the assumed three dimensions
of the Big Five concept, two show a statistically significant relation to the adolescent school-related self-concept. The personality dimension of neuroticism is
characterized (Říčan, 2007) as a fear of the new, proneness to excessive worrying,
susceptibility to panic. Adolescents scoring higher in the personality dimension of
neuroticism scored higher also in the fear of social consequences representing the
fear or apprehension of social appraisal, comparison in a school setting in Meyer’s
272
conception. Increased neuroticism is not conducive to the adolescent positive
self-concept, since it correlates with the factor opposite to the self-concept of
ability. The self-concept of ability appears to be in relation with conscientiousness,
responsibility, self-discipline, which are desirable personality traits appreciated by
people around the individual during his/her ontogenesis. In accordance with the
Mirror Self theory by Ch.H. Cooley, they later project also to his/her self-evaluation or self-concept, as the case may be.
Although we are aware of the limits concerning our research sample, our results
do suggest that there are certain connections and maybe an incentive for further
exploration of self-concept. Naturally, we are aware that there are a number of
other variables participating in self-concept formation also entering this relation,
such as intelligence, school achievement, dispositional affectivity of respondents,
etc. Self-concept is formed also through the social contacts and cognitive development of an individual, as well as by the influence of family setting, parenting style
in family, influence of social groups which the adolescent is a member of.
Research results indicate also significant gender differences in the dimension of
the fear of social consequences (social appraisal) manifested in favour of women,
which is not so surprising due to the proved higher anxiety and sensibility of
women. It can be assumed that girls, even in adolescence, respond much more
sensitively to social appraisal and criticism of their persons and derive their
self-concept to a greater extent from the assessment of people around them. Thus,
gender can also moderate the adolescent self-concept (at least the academic one).
Although the adolescent self-concept is, to some extent, conditioned by personality, it can still be shaped, it has no final form. In addition to family (e.g. parenting
style applied) it is school that plays a considerable role in the self-concept development of pupils and therefore necessarily assumes great responsibility. Since one
of the main goals of education should be to help uncover one’s own individuality,
thus self-knowledge, we consider it important for school to focus not only on
the area of knowledge but also on the non-cognitive parts of pupil personality. It
is necessary to use all possibilities of the education programme and institutions
(at the level of teachers, educational counsellors, school psychologists, etc.) to
encourage the development of self, thus the factor that decides whether children
will mature into constructive and socially adapted beings.
273
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Dagna J. Kocur
Poland
The Phenomenon of Fifty Shades of Grey:
the Role of Sexual Satisfaction and Motivation
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.23
Abstract
In recent years we have been able to observe the phenomenon of Fifty Shades
of Grey. This poses questions about why the primary, female target audience
liked the book. In the presented study we asked what aspects of the book attract
female attention, what they despise and how the book assessment relates to sexual satisfaction or motivation. 217 respondents participated in the study. The
variables analysed in the study included book assessment, sexual motivations,
satisfaction and other features characterising individual sexuality. A positive
assessment was negatively correlated with the respondents’ emotional satisfaction. The respondents who read similar books assessed Fifty Shades of Grey
higher and reported lower emotional satisfaction compared to those who did
not read such books.
Keywords: sexual satisfaction, sexual motivation, erotic literature, Fifty Shades
of Grey
Introduction
The role of sexuality in human life can be assessed, e.g., based on broadly understood culture, i.e., art, film, media, advertising, Internet or literature. Literature
depicting various love affairs has been popular for ages. Today, it generates higher
sales than any other type of books. This literary genre (Romance-erotic novels)
makes up a market worth over one billion dollars. In 2004 this was 55% of all
paperbacks sold in the U.S. (Meston, Buss, 2009). In recent years we have been able
The Phenomenon of Fifty Shades of Grey: the Role of Sexual Satisfaction and Motivation
275
to observe the phenomenon of the sales of Fifty Shades of Grey. This is an English
erotic novel by the author publishing under the pen name E.L. James (her real name
is Erika Mitchell). It describes the relations and sexual intercourses with slightly sadomasochistic touches between a university graduate, Anastasia Steele, and a young
businessman, Christopher Grey. The book is addressed primarily to women. It has
sold over 90 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 52 languages. The
dimension of this success should promote reflection on the reasons for it.
In reference works, there are some analyses of Fifty Shades of Grey in the
context of promoting Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) (Bonomi, Altenburger,
2013). Some psychologists believe that some women’s finding the descriptions of
forced sexual submission exciting is a negative phenomenon. Others perceive it
as an indication of psychopathology or internalised scripts of gender roles which
make some women associate sex with submission to men (Meston, Buss, 2009).
However, empirical studies by Patricia Hawley and William Hansley (2009) failed
to confirm such assumptions. They studied a group of over eight hundred women,
asking them about their fantasies related to forced sexual submission. The results
showed that the women who had such fantasies did not suffer from mental problems and were not submissive. What is more, those women were more dominant,
self-confident and independent than the rest. The respondents with the lower
social impact had more rare sexual fantasies of that type. The study authors put
forth a hypothesis that the phenomenon in which female erotic fantasies related
to sexual submission are attractive for some women is a result of female strength
rather than weakness. This is thought to stem from the fact that in such a fantasy
the partner cannot disregard the charm and appeal of the woman (Hawley, Hansley, 2009; Meston, Buss, 2009).
There are numerous studies devoted to the impact of erotic threads in literary
works, with some of them being especially interesting. For instance, in the studies
by G. Anderton (2010), 75% of respondents confirmed that reading erotic novels
affected their sexual life, making them more eager to engage in sexual activities
and/or try new ones. Studies by J. Carroll et al. (2008) demonstrated a connection
between watching pornography and displaying risky sexual behaviours among
adult women. Pornography turned out to be connected with frequent casual sexual
relations and a higher number of partners. Also the media provide information
on the impact of erotic contents on the audience. Studies by M. Reese-Weber and
D. McBride (2014) provided important information on the impact of reading Fifty
Shades of Grey. The women who strongly identified themselves with the protagonist reported increased sexual desire, while the women who had read the book but
did not identify themselves with the protagonist did not report such an increase.
276
Dagna J. Kocur
Based on a review of the literature, the objectives of this study were determined.
The primary objective was to find an answer to general questions related to the cultural phenomenon of the popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey. The specific objectives
referred to analysing the dependencies between the book assessment and sexual
satisfaction, sexual motivation, gender and selected sexual preferences (inclination
to initiate sexual activity, to accomplish sexual fantasies and to dominate). Other
specific objectives referred to analysing dependencies between reading romantic
and erotic literature and the above-mentioned sexuality variables.
The study was carried out with the use of a traditional paper (n=125) and
on-line (n=92) survey. The study using the paper version was conducted using
the snowball qualification method among students and their friends. The study
using the on-line version was conducted by means of www.ebadania.pl. The study
included people based on their knowledge of the book Fifty Shades of Grey.
Sample group
The sample group consisted of 217 people, including 194 women and 23 men.
The average age of the respondents was 25.72 (SD = 6.61). The oldest respondent
was 67 and the youngest 18. 2% (n = 5) of the respondents had a primary and
secondary vocational education, 51% (n = 111) secondary, and 47% (n = 101)
university education. 13% (n = 28) of the respondents came from cities with over
500,000 inhabitants, 16% (n = 34) from villages, 28% (n = 62) from a town with
10,000 – 100,000 inhabitants, while 43% (n = 93) from a city with 100,000 – 500,000
inhabitants. 14% (n = 30) of the respondents were in an informal relationship
shorter than one year, 44% (n = 96) in an informal relationship over one year, 23%
(n = 50) were married, 16% (n = 35) described themselves as single, while 2% (n
= 6) said that their status was different at the time (widow/er, divorced, separation
pending). 94% (n = 204) of the respondents described themselves as heterosexual,
5% (n = 10) as bisexual and 1% (n = 3) as homosexual.
Instrument
·Survey concerning the assessment of Fifty Shades of Grey and other romantic
and erotic literature. This tool included 6 questions: 1. Have you read Fifty Shades
277
of Grey? (yes, no); 2. If yes, indicate your assessment of the book (I liked it very
much; I liked it; I have no opinion; I disliked the book; I disliked the book very
much); 3. What did you like most about the book? (open-ended question); 4. What
did you dislike about the book most? (open-ended question); 5. Have you read any
books similar to Fifty Shades of Grey? (yes, no); 6. If yes, what books and what did
you think of them? (open-ended question).
·Sexual Satisfaction Scale (Davies, 2006). It is composed of three sub-scales:
Physical satisfaction (11 items) related to the assessment of sex quality in a relationship, partner’s sexual skills and satisfaction of one’s own sexual needs. Another
scale refers to emotional satisfaction (4 items) and measures satisfaction based on
affective feelings towards sex and one’s partner’s behaviour as well as one’s feelings
towards the partner. The last scale refers to satisfaction related to the sense of control (6 items). It is related to the satisfaction derived from the assessment of one’s
impact on when, how and if sexual intercourse takes place at all. The tool reliability
was satisfactory: the Physical Satisfaction scale α=0.86; Emotional Satisfaction scale
α=0.87 and Scale of Satisfaction related to the sense of control α=0.78.
·AMORE Scale (Hill, Preston, 1996). This is a questionnaire related to the emotional
and motivational orientation related to sexual arousal. It is composed of 8 scales:
Experiencing Partner’s Strength (10 items), Recognising Partner’s Value (8 items),
Stress Alleviation (10 items), Procreation (6 items), Improving Sense of Power (10
items), Sense of Being Appreciated by the Partner (7 items), Caring (6 items), Pleasure
(5 items). The reliability of the method was satisfactory (from α=0.78 to α=0.93).
·Gender Inventory (Inwentarz Płci Psychologicznej, IPP) developed by Alicja
Kuczyńska. This is a Polish adaptation of the Sex Roles Inventory by Sandra Bem
(Bem, 1975). It is composed of 35 items describing human properties, which the
respondents answer based on the five-tiered scales (1 – I am not like that at all,
5 – This is exactly what I am like). The inventory is composed of two scales: Femininity scale (α=0.80) and Masculinity scale (α=0.82) (Kuczyńska, 1992).
Research Results
One of the main questions was related to the assessment of Fifty Shades of Grey.
The respondents could choose from I disliked it very much (1) to I liked it very
much (5). The average was 3.69 (SD = 1.1). The detailed numbers are presented in
Table 1. A negative attitude to the book was displayed by 19% of the respondents,
a neutral one by 13%, while 68% were positive about it. Tables 2 and 3 present
the parts of the book that evoked the greatest liking and antipathy of the readers.
Dagna J. Kocur
278
Table 1. Assessment of the book
Answers
N
%
8
3.69
I disliked it
33
15.21
No opinion
28
12.90
I liked it
98
45.16
I liked it very much
50
23.04
I disliked it very much
Table 2. The parts the readers liked most in Fifty Shades of Grey
Parts
Sexual aspects
N
77
%
35.48
The figure of Grey
41
18.89
Story
37
17.05
Relation between the protagonists
28
12.90
Breaking the taboo/Perversion
23
10.60
Style, language
21
9.68
Book quick and nice to read
20
9.22
Nothing
17
7.83
Opens up new possibilities
11
5.07
Sadomasochistic threads
10
4.61
The reader is taken to a different world
10
4.61
9
4.15
Characteristics of protagonists
Anastasia
7
3.23
Breaking stereotypes
6
2.76
Everything
4
1.84
* 100% = 217 people.
Table 3. The parts the readers disliked most in Fifty Shades of Grey
Parts
N
%
Primitive language, poor vocabulary
46
21.20
No comments
36
16.59
Too many detailed, repeated and exaggerated erotic descriptions
34
15.67
Unrealistic, exaggerated threads
34
15.67
Story
27
12.44
Parts
N
%
26
11.98
Anastasia
22
10.14
Long, boring descriptions
15
6.91
Naive, simplified, shallow descriptions
13
5.99
Objectification, ill treatment, brutality
towards a woman
13
5.99
Predictability, repetition of scenes
Protagonists together
12
5.53
The figure of Grey and his behaviour
10
4.61
Part 2 and/or 3
7
3.23
Ending
7
3.23
Relying on stereotypes
6
2.76
Shocking descriptions
5
2.30
Similarity to Twilight
5
2.30
279
* 100% = 217 people.
Table 4 presents the results of correlation between the book assessment and
other variables. Positive correlations were noted solely for femininity while negative correlations occurred with the emotional satisfaction stemming from sexual
relationships. On the level of a statistical trend, positive correlations between book
assessment and overall sexual satisfaction were also noted.
Table 4. Correlations of the book assessment and other variables*
Variables
Overall sexual satisfaction
Emotional satisfaction
R – Spearman
t(N-2)
P
0.115
1.704
0.090
-0.154
-2.280
0.024
Femininity
0.188
2.784
0.006
Inclination to dominate sexually
0.118
1.745
0.082
* Only significant correlations
Table 5 presents a comparison of the group of people who have read similar
books and those who have not with respect to the assessment of Fifty Shades of
Grey. Those who have read other books devoted to similar topics assessed Fifty
Shades of Grey higher. A significant difference was observed also with respect to
the emotional satisfaction scale. Those who read romantic and erotic books had
a significantly lower sense of emotional satisfaction. No differences between the
Dagna J. Kocur
280
groups were observed with respect to overall sexual satisfaction, sexual motivation,
inclination to initiate sexual activity, or inclination to dominate or act out sexual
fantasies.
Table 5. Comparison of the groups of people who have not read similar books and
those who have read them with respect to book assessment and sexual satisfaction
People who have not
read similar books
(n = 144)
People who have
read similar books
(n = 73)
t
p
Cohen's
d
M
SD
M
SD
Assessment of the
book
3.569
1.075
3.917
1.115
-2.227 0.026
0.30
Physical satisfaction
3.580
0.755
3.474
0.764
0.975
0.330
0.13
Emotional satisfaction
3.229
1.160
2.818
1.107
2.500
0.013
0.34
Satisfaction related to the sense of
control
3.515
0.810
3.502
0.878
0.106
0.915
0.01
Discussion
The numerous negative reviews of Fifty Shades of Grey did not exert any significant impact on the readers’ assessment. Almost 70% of the respondents who have
read the book gave it a positive assessment and only 19% of the respondents disliked it. It is worth paying attention to certain aspects of the book that aroused the
most positive and negative emotions. The same aspects appeared in the answers to
the question of what they liked most and what they disliked most about the book.
For instance, sexual threads were most frequently quoted as the aspect the readers
liked and also as one of the greatest drawbacks of the book. Another example is
the plot, which was a frequently given answer to both questions. Interestingly, the
style and language of Fifty Shades of Grey were also assessed as both a quality and
a drawback of the book.
Another important answer to the question of what they liked about the book
was “the reader is taken to a different world”. This shows some women escaped
from their everyday life into the realm of the book, which is a frequently reported
motivation for choosing erotic books (Radway, 1991). Going into the world of
make-believe has its bright and dark sides. Some readers escape to the imaginary
281
world to compensate for the deficiencies in real life they would not be able to
make up for otherwise. For instance, a study by Wu (2006) showed that the readers
of romantic fiction had fewer sexual partners than those who did not. On the
other hand, some women reading the description of Christian Grey may develop
excessive expectations towards their current or prospective partner. This may have
an effect similar to the one observed by sexologists in relation to the popularity
of pornography for many years. This frequently leads to high and unrealistic
expectations about their own sexual activity and appeal, which in turn leads to the
lessening of sexual satisfaction or to sexual dysfunctions. The growing popularity
of labiaplasty, which is usually justified solely by the wish to resemble porno film
actors (Rogers, 2014) is also a result of the popularity of a specific type of film.
Studies by Kenrick et al. (1989) presented interesting findings, this time related to
men looking at photos of attractive women in erotic magazines. Having looked
at such photos, men rated photos of ordinary women lower than did men who
had not looked at the magazine photos beforehand. Other studies showed that
men had a worse opinion of their own relations when they had been exposed to
physically attractive women (Kenrick et al., 1994).
The readers’ answers to the question of what they disliked most about the
book also provide interesting information. For instance, the answer “excessive
number of detailed, repeated and exaggerated erotic descriptions” shows that the
pornographic aspects of the book were not an attraction for all the readers. The
group of answers that included “Objectification, ill treatment, brutality towards
a woman” showed that not all the readers liked the BDSM aspect. In this context,
the result of studies by Reese-Weber and McBride (2014), where a decrease in
sexual behaviours was observed in women who did not identify themselves with
the female protagonist, is interesting. It is possible that the women who did not
identify themselves with the female protagonist could judge her or have a negative opinion about her sexual behaviour. This could have resulted in the lower
frequency of their own sexual behaviour.
The book’s correlation with femininity is equally interesting. It can be connected
with the female protagonist of the novel, who embodies many stereotypical
feminine features. These include, e.g., tenderness, thoughtfulness, gentleness and
submission. This can be related generally to the stereotypical femininity in Western
culture, according to which a woman should be modest, submissive and have no
sexual experience, which is the case of Anastasia Steel. The male protagonist also
displays many important aspects of stereotypical masculinity in Western culture. It
is he who initiates the woman into the world of sex, being an expert, guide, teacher
and the main initiator of sexual activity (Mandal, 2008; 2012; Brannon, 1999). The
282
Dagna J. Kocur
more the respondents’ picture of themselves matches the cultural stereotype of
femininity, the higher they assess this book, which presents highly stereotypical
protagonists, in terms of sexual and gender roles. It may be that women who
identify themselves more with the stereotypical role of the woman find the stereotypical masculine features displayed by Christian Grey more attractive.
The negative correlation between the assessment of the book and the emotional
satisfaction of the respondent is worth stressing. The higher the book assessment
was, the lower was the reported emotional satisfaction in the respondent’s sexual
relationship. Perhaps those with lower emotional satisfaction in their current
sexual relationship treated the book as a substitute. While reading, they escaped
to a world where their needs were satisfied. This is suggested by the answers to
the question of what they liked about the book. This is a significant result which
further emphasises the difference between those who have not read other books of
that type and those who have. Namely, those who habitually chose such literature
had a significantly lower reported level of emotional satisfaction than the remaining ones. Studies by John Bancroft (2009) reveal that the factor most important for
the sexual satisfaction of women is the sense of emotional intimacy with partners.
Presumably, by reading romantic and erotic literature people with lower levels of
emotional satisfaction meet their needs which cannot be satisfied in the real world.
This is why they choose this genre.
Another factor contributing to the success of such literature and this book is
the female readers’ identification with the female protagonist, who appears to be
a powerful and fascinating object of male desire inasmuch as the male protagonist
devotes so much effort and trouble for her sake. The female protagonist controls
the man in sexual terms, as his unrestrained passion is a guarantee of his sexual
faithfulness. The male protagonist becomes dependent on the female, who controls
him in the sexual realm but also in other ways (Ellis, Symons, 1990). What is more,
the power held by the heroine is strengthened by the features of the man who loves
her, such as his handsomeness, his strong, masculine body, his high social position
and great wealth. He can be said to possess all the virtues important for women
throughout the history of human evolution (Buss, Meston, 2009). These postulates
are evidenced by the low assessment given to the female protagonist by most
female readers. Some readers could be irritated by the female protagonist because
they would like to imagine themselves in her shoes or because they suppose they
could do better and be better partners if they were her.
283
Conclusions
The majority of the reader-respondents judged the book positively. The elements of it that most appealed to them were the erotic scenes, the plot, and the
character of Grey. The aspects that seemed to be least appealing to them were the
clumsy language, the prevalence of detailed, repetitive and overdrawn descriptions
of erotic encounters, and also plot contrivances that were improbable and unrealistic. A positive assessment of the book was negatively correlated with reported
emotional satisfaction and with femininity. The respondents who reported reading
more literature of a similar type assessed Fifty Shades of Grey higher, but also
reported lower levels of satisfaction in their emotional life, than did the respondents who did not report reading similar literature. It remains to further investigate
the connections between the reading of erotic-romantic literature, chosen psychological and sexological variables, and their effect upon readers.
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Methodology
of Research
Zuzanna Zbróg
Poland
Collective Biography Writing – Theoretical Foundations,
Methods and Outline of the Research Procedure
DOI: 10.15804/tner.2016.43.1.24
Abstract
The article describes the innovative method of qualitative research, Collective
Biography Writing (CBW), which is not well known or not known at all in the
pedagogical research of the region of Central and Eastern Europe. This method
is especially useful in the re-exploration of issues connected with being, becoming, development, and learning in the context of education and pedagogical
research. The article presents the theoretical foundations of the CBW method
and its basis in the notions of being as emergent within the encounter, intra-action, entanglement of agencies, and the significance of matter. An outline of the
scientific procedure is also presented.
Keywords: Collective Biography Writing, qualitative research, educational
research
Introduction – on poststructuralist thought polyphony
Recently, there has been a revival of the ideas of post-structuralism. Poststructuralists are known for having drawn attention to the fact that schematic interpretation of texts results in the generation of fossilized, unilateral analytical models.
This in turn conceals the entire meaning-creating space, particularly in terms of
individual impressions and understanding. The key theses of poststructuralism
became the basis of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of intertextuality, which focused on
the necessity of opening education to polyphony, to a multiplicity of voices and to
an equal treatment of ideas. Bakhtin campaigned to introduce thought polyphony,
288
Zuzanna Zbróg
suggesting that it is “the prerequisite for opening to cultural polyphony” (Witkowski, 2007, p. 88).
Poststructuralist analyses do not concern wondering whether something is
described correctly or incorrectly, i.e., whether it changes one apparent truth for
another. The problems are not examined in dualistic categories consisting in distinguishing between good and evil, or in judging what is true or false. Instead, they
concern acknowledging that it is possible to see other ways of constructing narratives by seeing the subject-in-process with the destabilization of stable, rational
and unified notions. This is achieved through the examination of functions and
the correctness of a given process (Wihlborg, 2015)1.
Andrzej Szahaj (1993) critically analyses the poststructuralist approach and
emphasizes that, although the existence of many possible interpretations cannot
be discredited, the variation of possible interpretations faces many limitations.
According to him, it is impossible for a poststructuralist researcher to interpret
a private text because the language used is unique. Cultural communication
requires engaging other members of a given community in the process of text
interpretation, using their communicative skills to create a text which is intelligible
for all the members of that community. A response to this type of criticism of
poststructuralist assumptions can be found in collective biography writing.
Collective Biography Writing as a new/innovative method
The main sources of conceptual inspiration according to Bronwyn Davies and
Susanne Gannon, authors of the most recent CBW methodology, comprised
research reports about the strategy of memory-work created by German philosopher and sociologist Frigga Haug (1987), as well as the research of American
philosopher Judith Butler (1997), French philosopher Gilles Deleuze (1994) and
American feminist studies theoretician Karen Barad (2007).
According to Davies and Gannon (2012, p. 358), “analysis of the paradoxical
space of collective biography” should begin with these basic concepts:
– being as emergent within the encounter,
– intra-action or the entanglement of agencies
– significance of matter.
They will be discussed in turn.
1
I thank Monne Wihlborg, PhD, from Lund University, for sharing many interesting materials on collective biography writing with me.
Collective Biography Writing – Theoretical Foundations, Methods and Outline
289
Theoretical Foundation of Collective Biography Writing
Being as emergent within the encounter
The basis for research conducted according to the CBW method is Barthes’
concept of decomposition as well as Davies and Gannon’s concept of mo(ve)ment.
Based on this concept, “[we] will unravel - through focused collective work - the
rational choosing subject of our individual biographies, necessitating a shift from
the rational possibilities of deconstruction to the embodied subject decomposing
itself ” (Davies & Gannon 2006b, p. 172). This can be achieved through focused
collective work:2 “We focus on the specific remembered moments and on the
movement that becomes visible in the particular mode of memory-writing”
(Davies & Gannon 2006b, p. 172).
The subject in CBW is conceived as “emergent in each moment, moments that
are simultaneously discursive, relational, and material. Each subject is one facet
of a whole much greater than individual selves and much bigger than human
lives alone” (Davies & Gannon, 2012, p. 358). Life constantly evolves. On the one
hand, it simply flows; on the other, it drastically changes under the influence of its
interactions. A subject becomes a subject only during an interaction. Everything
happens in collective cooperation. In such circumstances, the (research) encounter
does not assume the form of a meeting between individual subjects and discourse,
but rather an intensive, joint project which deeply moves each member of the team
and causes them to “relocate” to the memories of the “teller” or narrator.
Intra-action or the entanglement of agencies
The neologism “intra-action” created by Karen Barad is explained as “signifying
the mutual constitution of entangled agencies. That is, in contrast to the usual “interaction,” which assumes that there are separate individual agencies that precede
their interaction, the notion of intra-action recognizes that distinct agencies do
not precede, but rather emerge through, their intra-action. It is important to note
that the “distinct” agencies are only distinct in a relational, not an absolute, sense,
that is, agencies are only distinct in relation to their mutual entanglement; they don’t
exist as individual elements” (Barad, 2007, p. 33).
2
Embodiment can be understood as a material representation of an idea, its visible form
such as feeling or emotion.
290
Zuzanna Zbróg
Karen Barad introduces the concept of intra-action in order to clarify the idea of
the individual. She understands it as the subject-as-entity, whose agency is a matter
of individual will. In describing our necessary interactions with others, such as
when people who work collectively on a CBW project meet, Barad refers the notion
of intra-action to the movement generated in an encounter, in which two or more
subjects (according to Barad – bodies) are in a process of becoming different.
According to Davies and Gannon, “this is an important conceptual innovation,
bringing together distinct entities (subjects, concepts, landscapes, and so forth)
and the fact that their distinctiveness emerges in an entanglement of agencies –
their own and others” (Davies & Gannon, 2012, p. 361).
If we jointly work on memories during CBW, “we intra-act with each other’s
memories of being and with the language in which they might be written” (Davies
& Gannon, 2012, p. 361). We examine then the entanglements of matter and
meaning through which we are co-implicated in the generation and evolution of
knowing and being (Davies & Gannon, 2009). The aim of the work with memories
is not to gain knowledge about oneself. During the physical, relational and discursive entanglement of an encounter we explore “this through which we are made
and go on making ourselves human, not in isolation, but in intra-action, and not
in generic sense, but in our particularities” (Davies & Gannon, 2012, p. 362).
Significance of matter
The main focus of Barad’s writing (2003) was to oppose the obstinate emphasis on
the significance of discourse at the expense of matter (problem, case, issue) through
proposing a poststructuralist understanding of meaning. The researcher states
that the mutual relations are not to be found in pre-existing human entities, or in
discourse, but can be understood through numerous, repetitive encounters, during
which we can observe and feel the emergence of various entanglements. “Matter
and meaning are not separate elements. They are inextricably fused together, and no
event, no matter how energetic, can tear them asunder” (Barad, 2007, p. 3).
The outline of the research procedure in Collective Biography Writing
Davies and Gannon emphasize that during CBW workshops the main task “is
not to find the truths of individual entities that pre-exist the collective work with
memories”, but to experience the process of transformation resulting in liberation
from boring schemes and repetitive and stereotypical explanations “that go to
make a story of “me” and my life” (Davies & Gannon, 2012, p. 369). CBW is about
291
recapturing precise details from memory by remembering key images from our
past, fleeting glimpses and scents. As highlighted by the researchers, the sensual
meticulousness of the description leads to the result that, according to the domino
effect, the members of a group will present the same feelings (cultural community
of feeling patterns). CBW asserts that subjects “have language, and are constituted
within the social in a multitude of contexts, including the contexts of the research”
(Davies & Gannon 2006b, p. 3). It is assumed that “embodiment and sociality is
a crucial dimension as life experience is remembered” (Davies & Gannon 2006b,
p. 3).
CBW consists of several stages. A simplified methodological procedure follows3:
1. Selecting a group of respondents (usually students, teachers and academics)
and choosing a leading topic (e.g. becoming someone, being recognized
as someone or not being recognized as someone, subjectivity, intolerance,
alienation, labour culture etc.);
2. Creating work schedule for the duration of the process (usually two semesters) together with homework, for which e-mails are the most convenient
means of sharing opinions;
3. Initiating CBW through talking about memories connected with the chosen
topic and choosing 1 – 3 stories for further (collective) work;
4. Writing down the memories with help from other participants in the workshop.
The story can be initially formulated through questions directed at its “teller”.
The sentences are read consecutively. During the reading, the “teller” tries to
imagine exactly the same feelings he had when the situation took place. He tries
to evoke the same pictures and feelings, say the words which created those feelings,
and relive that experience. The same feelings/emotions should be shared by the
people who listen to his story. If this does not happen, it is necessary to stop and
return to the essence of the meaning of particular words and (through enquiry)
jointly choose those which cause the others to experience the “teller’s” feelings–
in effect, “tuning” all team members in to the same experience. The aim of this
process is to touch upon “the collective life” or “collective soul” and disclose how
the main strain of research (e.g., our subjectivity) may be constituted in a social
context (Wihlborg, 2015, p. 264).
Focusing on the details of the story leads to credible presentations of experiences (memories). Researchers ask profound questions, look further for nuances
3
The following articles were used in its formulations: Onyx & Small, 2001; Davies & Gannon, 2006a; Davies & Gannon, 2012; Wihlborg, 2015.
292
Zuzanna Zbróg
revealing parts of the text in which the description of the subject’s experience is
unclear or untrustworthy. At these moments it is helpful to suggest other words or
tell one’s own stories that are connected somehow with what the “teller” presents.
It is also important to exemplify the story and illustrate it with the emotions it
evokes and the impressions left on the senses (e.g., scents). This can be achieved
by answering questions such as: How did you feel, when this happened? What scents
accompanied this? What impressions? Focusing on one’s own feelings and emotions
ensures that the memories are somehow embodied and, as a result of this way of
referring to one’s own experiences, are easier to imagine and more intelligible to
other group members.
Re-editing the story
After the activities described in point 4, the story, which had initially been written from memory, is edited once again, accounting for the details noticed by the
CBW participants. As a result, the rewrite contains descriptions of emotions which
have been elaborated on by the group and then linguistically refined according
to the way the members personally experience the moment or event being
described. In this phase, the memory of each CBW participant begins to register
the joint experience and resonate affectively in the bodies of the listeners. The
memory-story is, then, both intensely real and de-individualised. In such moments
a real “agitation” of the body may occur such as trembling, nausea, physical fear,
sadness or happiness.
Analytical memory read-outs
At this stage, it is visible how and to what extent we are always entangled in
repetitive practices (particular ways of doing something, perceiving a given
situation). Understanding this allows participants to grasp the strains of private
and public discourse which show examples of ambivalence or ambiguity. We then
have to do with “seeing, at the same time, the usual ways of seeing as ways of
seeing, and seeing against the grain of those usual ways. The particular details of
specific subjects are interesting only insofar as they can be used to make visible
the ways in which bodies/emotions/desire/ memories become the inscribed
(and re-inscribed) public/private, inner/outer depth/surface to be read against
the grain of dominant/humanist discourses and practices” (Davies & Gannon,
2006a, p. 100).
293
Interpreting the results of work in categories
At this stage, CBW looks for answers to the most commonly asked questions,
such as what?, how?, where? Depending on the topic, other questions may include:
What constituted the subjectivity? How? How does..... represent itself? What caused
the decision ….? What caused this and not another course of the story?
The focus should be on the deeper sense of the story, on the forces which created the given situation. Participants should ask what caused that exact situation to
happen; what external (politics, economy, power, knowledge, situational context)
or internal (e.g. personal characteristics) conditions influenced the course of the
story.
Summary
CBW is an example of a new approach in narrative research which varies from
traditional methods of biography research. Memories are treated as “data” which
are generated in the course of joint work. The major advantage of CBW is the fact
that this methodology allows participants to explore the unknown, elements that
would remain veiled without more detailed analysis. The aim of analyses is not
to expose hidden “truth” “but to disturb what is taken for granted and which is
taken for a stable and unquestionable truth” (Wihlborg, 2015, p. 272). CBW allows
participants to see that not everything is obvious. Prior to participating in such an
analysis, it seems that all of our experiences are real and undisputed. As a result of
CBW, we can see that perception of oneself, as well as one’s actions and emotions,
are both entangled in and created by discourses. Our perceptions are entangled
in the noose of circumstances and cultural conditions and their untangling is the
essence of CBW.
Barad, Davies, Gannon, and Wihlborg show that human bodies are not “storage
sites for memory”, but “mobile-affective site of writing” (Davies & Gannon, 2012, p.
374). The author of the text has no power over it and the story written by him is not
an “anchor for truth”. The important moments of a participant’s biographic story
should not be interpreted in isolated categories of specific elements of being, but
as an emergent force within a web of agencies (material, affective, conceptual, and
ideological) which interrupts the course of the event described in the biographic
episode. As a result of going into “molecular” detail to discover the complicated
conditioning and context in which the individual functions, we may begin to
294
Zuzanna Zbróg
answer questions about what we really know about ourselves and our reality. The
methodology of collective work with memories starts by the deconstruction of
the terms used in a narrative by the subject / “teller” but the aim is to reveal what
“life” looks like, how the world works, what reality is like, and what happens in
it; the aim is to understand. CBW methodology allows for critical analysis of the
research process. For these reasons it may be viewed as significant for education
and educational research.
References
Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of
matter and meaning. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Butler, J. (1997). Excitable speech: A politics of the performative. New York: Routledge.
Davies, B., & Gannon, S. (2006a) (eds.) Doing collective biography. Maidenhead, UK: Open
University Press.
Davies B., Gannon S. (2006b) Constituting the feminist subject in post-structuralist discourse.
In: B. Davies, S. Gannon (eds.). Doing collective biography (pp. 167 – 181). Maidenhead:
McGraw Hiil Education, Open University Press, pp. 167 – 181.
Davies, B. & Gannon, S. (2009) (eds.). Pedagogical encounters. New York: Peter Lang.
Davies, B. & Gannon, S. (2012). Collective Biography and the Entangled Enlivening of
Being, International Review of Qualitative Research, Volume 5, Number 4, pp. 357 – 376.
Deleuze, G. (1994). Difference and repetition. New York: Columbia University Press.
Haug, F. et al. (1987). Female sexualization: A collective work of memory. London: Verso
Press.
Onyx J., Small J. (2001). Memory-Work: The Method, Qualitative Inquiry, Volume 7 Number 6, pp. 773 – 786.
Szahaj A. (1993), Teksty na wolności (strukturalizm – poststrukturalizm – postmodernizm). Kultura Współczesna, no. 2, pp. 5 – 13.
M. Wihlborg (2015), An Awareness of the Feminist Subject: An Example of Collective
Biography Writing in Poststructuralist Discourse Practice, In:P. Smeyers, D. Bridges,
N.C. Burbules, M. Griffiths (eds.), International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research. Springer: Dordrecht-Heidelberg-New York-London, pp. 257 – 280.
Witkowski L. (2007). Edukacja wobec sporów o (po)nowoczesność. Warszawa: IBE.

2016 Vol. 43. No. 1 - The New Educational Review

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