Issue, No. 21/2021

Abstract This article examines the place of comparative and international education (CIE) scholarship and practice in teacher education (T.Ed.). In this regard, CIE scholarship is instrumental in revealing the functioning, organization, importance and interconnectedness of teaching, as a profession, and teacher education, as the conduit to that profession, across national and cultural settings. As teacher education programs and teacher educators continue their work in imparting robust and sound pedagogical knowledge, they also need to acknowledge the enriching nature of a comparative perspective in the scholarship and practice on teacher education. Thus, including comparative methods in examining teacher education both within and across a program’s national borders offers teachers-to-be a window into an array of teaching practices in a global setting. Developing an awareness, interest and inclination toward a comparative perspective-taking in teacher education is paramount in forming the new generations of teachers and researchers on teacher education. At the same time, teacher education programs benefit from research collaborations across national and cultural settings, allowing them the possibility to co-learn what approaches may work in meaningfully adjusting their curricular organization to prepare teachers for an interconnected world in which their students truly become global citizens. >> Read the article

Abstract Understanding teachers’ perspective towards inclusive education is seen as a decisive factor in making schools more inclusive. Given the increasing need to prepare pre-service teachers to face inclusion in the classroom as soon as they enter the teaching career, we consider appropriate to assess to which extent a training course can have an impact on the level of pre-service teachers to teach in inclusive classrooms. In this respect, third-year students enrolled in the Education Science BA programme who finalized a study course on the topic of inclusive education were invited to participate into this research by filling in a questionnaire based on the teacher efficacy for inclusive practices (TEIP) scale. Results show that even after taking a relatively short training course, it can bring about some statistically significant changes in pre-service teachers’ knowledge, attitudes and confidence level towards inclusion. Pre-service teachers that have participated in this study are generally in favor of going through training courses to acquire a special set of skills to be able to work in an inclusive learning environment. >> Read the article

Abstract Mobile learning (m-learning) has the potential to vastly change and improve education as we know it. Its main advantage consists in extending the educational contexts to any place and any time. This leads to possibilities of more active and experiential learning. Furthermore, it greatly improves the potential for communication and access to information. All of these improvements, if utilized properly, can lead to more meaningful learning and greater internal motivation for learning. However, these changes are not easy to implement and require the overcoming of several obstacles. This study aimed to investigate the attitudes towards m-learning and its relationships with ubiquitous learning, experiential and active learning, meaningful learning, cooperative learning, internal motivation for learning, and demographic variables. To measure these constructs, 200 participants completed the questionnaires. The results suggest that the youngest generations (15-17 years old) and those who used their mobile phones the most have the strongest attitudes towards m-learning. There were no differences between genders or people with various levels of education. Furthermore, the effects of mobile and ubiquitous learning on meaningful learning were mediated by collaborative and experiential and active learning. Lastly, the effects of mobile and ubiquitous learning on internal motivation for learning were direct. The findings indicate the importance of utilization of mobile learning and its positive consequences on both academic and personal aspects of the students’ lives. >> Read the article

Abstract This article focuses on a case study of primary schools in the northern peripheral region in Israel. Its aim is acquiring insights into the influence of principals as educational leaders of meaningful use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning. The data source in this study is qualitative based on personal interviews with 6 school principals and 9 teachers. The conclusion arising from these interviews was that school principals’ areas of responsibility are anchored in leading teaching, educational and learning processes, moulding schools’ future image – vision and managing change, leading, and professionally developing staff, while concentrating on in individuals, managing links between schools and communities. School leaders do not need to be IT experts, but it is important they have the vision to adopt change reform in the technological era of the 21st century. Principals are role models for teachers when they provide them with support and training to encourage them to employ ICT in planning their lessons. which is likely to improve their teaching and students’ learning. >> Read the article

Abstract The university learning process must be self-planned, self-directed, self-initiated, and frequently completed individually. To be able to achieve these goals, students must have certain knowledge and skills. One of these is the reflective ability, developed through different modalities and using different tools. This article presents a qualitative interpretation of the students' responses written in a reflective journal, at the end of a semester, as a tool for self-assessment and self-reflection and feedback on the educational activities in which they were involved. We present anonymously the dominant answers for each item grouped in reflective dimensions about the teaching and learning process. Based on these responses, we tried to identify characteristics and/or difficulties in the teaching and learning process, not only to summarize and analyze but to value and/or optimize them in the future university educational process. >> Read the article

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of the contexts and implications of the industrial revolution for education and family, especially in its early stages. The main defining social aspects for the period after the development of the industry were the increase in the living standard, the development of transports and communications, the acceleration of the urbanization. All of these have experienced successive stages of increase or progress, based on the development of technology in developed countries, but an analysis of the implications they have had for family education and in terms of relationships between family members is all the more necessary since many problems from the previous stages remain current. The accelerated industrialization also brought with it the need to travel to different jobs, which led to a gradual decrease the time children could spend with their parents. In the current social context, marked in the world by an increasing rate of labour migration and implicitly by new challenges regarding education and relationships between family members, we have identified recurring hypostases and we synthesized a set of possible research topics able to offer data relevant to support the family in exercising its educational function. >> Read the article

Abstract The use of humor by teachers can have a positive effect on improving the level of academic self concept and implicitly on motivation and academic results. The present research aimed to investigate to what extent the humor styles practiced by teachers influence the level of academic self-concept (ASC) of students. A number of 117 students who were enrolled in the master's programs in the field of public administration within the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences (FSPAC), Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca answered a questionnaire. Our research shows that there is a link between the humor styles practiced by teachers and the level of ASC of students. Also, the findings indicate that the use of humor in the educational process can play a greate role, namely it can increase or decrease the level of ASC among students. In this sense, although the influence of students' humor styles on the ASC level of students is relatively weak, the connection is still significant. >> Read the article

Abstract The present study aims to investigate the adaptive coping strategies and mechanisms of students-future teachers in combating the stress caused by the pandemic. The subjects of the investigation were 58 master students, from the Faculty of Letters, University of Craiova, who are also studying to become teachers. The tool we used was an opinion questionnaire, through which we investigated the opinion of the subjects on the stated issue and we inventoried the ways they used to manage stress. We aimed to identify the most frequent emotional reactions of the students to the effects generated by the measures and restrictions imposed during the pandemic period, which the students critically analyzed, from the perspective of the caused shortcomings, but also the offered opportunities. We also investigated the students' opinion about the specifics of the teaching activity, carried out online, compared to the one face to face. The results obtained from the application of the instrument confirmed the research hypotheses. >> Read the article

Abstract The present study analyzes the contribution that teachers, as important pedagogical factors, have in achieving success in the academic learning of students. With age, there comes a greater autonomy of the educated, and during the university studies, a maximum of the students’ level of acquisitions is reached. Even if the most important factors in attending and completing studies are internal, and success is a relative, difficult situation to quantify, it is necessary to analyze it objectively, identifying the students' perceptions of the external support from the teachers. From an applicative point of view, our contribution consisted in verifying the extent to which the communication and didactic evaluation components are valued, by organizing focus groups, by applying appreciation scales to a sample of students preparing to become teachers, at the University of Craiova. The subjects responded to the request to perform reflective-appreciative exercises on themselves and on the activity of their teachers in the academic year 2020-2021. They indicated the degree of satisfaction they attribute to the way they were helped in: conducting didactic communication, experiencing the feeling of belonging to the university environment, applying a correct evaluation, heading towards academic success. The ways in which teachers contribute to the success of their students have proven their usefulness and can be transformed into directions of action. Teachers make it easier for young people or adults in the university environment to make the most of their potential, both through quality teaching and through encouraging evaluation. >> Read the article

Abstract The current study aimed to collect relevant feedback on teaching practice effectiveness in relation to the tutors, students’ engagement in teaching practice, as well as self-reflection regarding necessary competences for a primary school teacher. Pedagogical activities within the teaching practice have considered: students’ online attendance to the classes held by the primary teacher, filling in an observation form regarding the lessons taught, mentorship session for analyzing the lessons along with the teachers, drafting a psycho-pedagogical record for a pupil, filling a form on reviewing the student’s performance and implication in the teaching practice. Having concluded the study’s results, we can now state that the teaching practice’s way of planning in the second school semester has proven efficient. The mentor-student / inter-student interaction has contributed to developing competences that a primary school teacher does require, through the feedback provided by the observation forms, as well as by involving students directly in the didactic activities, encouraging initiative and self-reflection. Objective analysis of results, suggestions, proposals, as well as difficulties encountered has made it possible to build a solid reference for future teaching practice – both online and in the classroom – and working towards improving it and all its partakers. >> Read the article

Abstract Working in a challenging academic environment as mathematics professors for the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, we thought to find a teaching strategy that, in addition to the required standard, but also has the standard of attractiveness and accessibility. Why? This is due to the fact that our students have a very nonhomogeneous level of knowledge and logical-mathematical skills. That's how we came up with the idea of organizing each lesson in our courses in a gradual way, and completing them with an informal part. On the other hand, we set out to collaborate with professors working in the departments of other natural sciences or in engineering departments, enriching the mathematics courses with technical applications. This has led to write several didactic works, which also include such applications. Proving the usefulness of this courses, our new work offers two such technical applications for the mathematical analysis course, taught in the first semester and dedicated to the differential calculus of functions having one or several variables. More precisely, we present in a gradual way, two applications solved by using the mathematical modelling: a problem belonging to electricity and then, the cruising speed problem. The gradual presentation begins, for each of these problems, with the necessary notions (organized in the form of two dictionaries, for Math and for Physics, respectively), continues with the statement of the problem, with the solution methodology, and finally, with the solution itself. Our presentation will provide students with a model of logical (mathematical) approach, useful to them in the courses of other natural sciences and of engineering disciplines that they will study later. In addition, it will prove them why mathematics is a fundamental discipline for the engineering education. >> Read the article

Abstract This study investigates in a qualitative manner the psychosocial benefits perceived by the parents of children enrolled in a private Aftershool (AS) program in Romania. The theoretical background includes aspects of school-family-community collaboration and characteristics and legislative frames supporting Afterschool programs in Romania and in the EU space. By using an online focus group approach, the objective was to identify the dimensions of the children-related benefits of the Afterschool program perceived by the parents (6 participants) at social, emotional and cognitive levels, as well as to identify their needs and suggestions regarding the compassion-based educational activities that the AS program might offer to their children. The results indicate a general satisfaction with the AS program, as well as the readiness of the parents to get involved in activities oriented towards community together with their children and the personnel of the AS program. >> Read the article

Abstract Starting from the premise that teaching is an act of communication, which is currently being done online, the main concern of education specialists is to optimize the process of online communication so as academic learning to be effective, meaningful and profound. As there is an interdependent relationship between communication and learning, this study is an investigative approach that aims to provide some data on students' perceptions of online communication. Effective and persuasive didactic communication, especially in the online environment, raises a number of difficulties and questions. How can the online communication process be optimized so that learning could be made more efficient? How can a challenging climate in the digital environment be built, what methods are more effective for stimulating interest and activating students? How do students relate to online training, what are the difficulties they encounter, the advantages and disadvantages they perceive? These are only a few questions that we are trying to find answers to in this study. In order to conduct our investigation, we used a sample of 126 participants, and as a research method we used the questionnaire-based survey and the interview. Following the processing of the results obtained, we were able to formulate conclusions relevant to virtual communication. Among them we mention: training students in the online didactic activity is more difficult, their involvement and participation being strongly influenced by the stress caused by technology. As for building a disinhibiting, stimulating environment, students have high expectations from the teachers. >> Read the article

Abstract The article highlights according to the concept of social capital, the changes generated by the COVID-19 pandemic in the educational system. This research identified the attributes of social capital at the level of the adults involved in the educational process (parents, students), the impact of the current period on them and the opinion of the respondents regarding the education reform. The conclusions of the study prove an activation of the intentions of involvement and participation in the management structures and in the educational projects at the level of the school organization, along with a low degree of confidence in the way the reform of the educational system is designed and implemented. Change management in recent years has highlighted the need for school involvement in the development of social capital and also the need to increase the role of social stakeholders in solving the challenges facing school organizations. >> Read the article

Abstract Communication in the online environment represents a real evolution for the whole society, hence for the educational system but because the whole change took place in a short span of time, the education has faced an unencountered challenge up to now. Component of the informational society, the educational dynamic and open system promotes nowadays ways of achieving the instructional educational process, offering to the teacher a multitude of organisational and functional variants. However, in the case of children with special educational needs, there are many barriers in the way of achieving their right to education in the virtual space. The present study consisted of achieving an inquiry-based questionnaire, applied to the teaching staff who works in inclusive education centres and to those who have students with different deficiencies and special educational needs in their class. The results of the study highlight both the difficulties and the opportunities of achieving a didactic activity in the online environment for students with special educational needs. >> Read the article

Abstract The increased use of the Internet and digital communication platforms has facilitated the emergence and development of the phenomenon known in the literature as cyberbullying. This research aims to examine the perception of the interviewees about the phenomenon of cyberbullying in the period marked by the Covid 19 pandemic. In this research the method of sociological survey based on questionnaire was used. The research was attended by 541 people, mostly young people (83.5% of the interviewees are under 30 years old). The findings showed that the interviewees know to a large extent the phenomenon of cyberbullying; respondents believe that this phenomenon spread during the Covid 19 pandemic; half of those surveyed witnessed the phenomenon of cyberbullying, while 44.7% say they know people who have been victims of cyberbullying. The present study analyzes the way in which the interviewees position themselves in relation to different acts specific to cyberbullying. The study also highlights the opinions of the interviewees on effective action strategies to combat cyberbullying. >> Read the article

Abstract The purpose of this study was to establish the main strategies that teachers could apply during preschool education in order to facilitate the transition from kindergarten to school. Data were collected using an online questionnaire designed by us. 238 preschool education teachers have filled in the questionnaire. The main strategies used in order to facilitate the preschoolers’ adaptation to the school demands are visits to other educational institutions from their hometown, organizing workshops, in collaboration with primary school teachers, organizing meetings with pupils and primary school teachers, organizing didactic activities or educational workshops for parents and preschoolers, as a context for parents to present various school experiences or reading stories about school and the pupils’ life. We have also discovered that in the opinion of most of the teachers, school adaption is an easy process for most preschoolers. For some of the preschoolers, this process could be difficult, and the actions of parents, teachers, and school counselors could be very helpful. The results of this study are useful for primary school teachers, teachers for preschool education, or researchers in the educational field interested in optimizing the transition of children from kindergarten to school. >> Read the article

Abstract Social-emotional development represents a main developmental domain proposed by the current curriculum for early education in Romania. The main aspects related to this domain are the proper initiation and maintenance of social interactions, the ability to identify and express emotions, to react adequately to the emotions expressed by others, and the self-concept development. Thus, in kindergarten, children learn what solidarity and responsibility for their own actions and for their own behavior mean and that they can control their behavior towards others. All these are essential for the individual wellbeing and learning outcomes, as well as for his future social integration. The Romanian curriculum for early education describes behavioral indicators related to the social-emotional development of children, which can be followed by educators within daily didactic activities. The current study describes the main highlights related to this developmental field found in the main document of the regulatory framework for the Romanian preschool education system. Taking the pandemic context into consideration, we can affirm that educators are required to reconsider the implications of the proper development of social-emotional skills more than before. >> Read the article

Abstract The goal of this paper is to explore how the use of the popular Norwegian web-based TV series SKAM (SHAME) can enhance cultural awareness by exposure to authentic language and to diverse discourse practices that have both a multilingual and a multicultural dimension. English, through the use of anglicisms and code-switching in SKAM, acts as a cohesive factor that reflects the changes within the Norwegian society while building bridges between different cultures because of its global influence, particularly upon the younger generations. These generations no longer perceive English as a foreign language, but rather as an essential part of their personal and collective identity, and this is reflected in their discourse practices. The analysis of the teenage informal discourse in the series SKAM provides insights into the benefits of using authentic resources to acquaint BA students with the Norwegian contemporary culture. >> Read the article

Abstract One of the main changes that occurred after the coronavirus outbreak and that represents one of the main measures taken in order to limit the virus spread refers to the conversion of the educational activities conducted conventionally into activities implemented by means of online platforms. The transition was sudden, unexpected and it still can be indefinitely prolonged. The main approaches encountered in the context of online education are asynchronous and synchronous ones. Our paper contains the results of an interpretive analysis of the opinions expressed by a group of 37 undergraduate students on asynchronous and synchronous online educational activities. We considered their opinions relevant due to the fact that since they started their studies at the university in October 2020, they conducted exclusively online activities. We explored students’ preferences and limitations of the both approaches, but also their wishes for the next period. Students expressed their interest in keeping online asynchronous and synchronous activities for the future academic years, at least for part of their subjects. >> Read the article

Abstract In this article, fostering the German language using digital learning games plays the central role. The endless possibilities of digital media and tools for language acquisition offer teachers and learners the opportunity to learn a foreign language creatively, playfully, in a fascinating way and with a certain degree of facilitation in teaching. Through our research we tried to prove the priority of digital media in the field of education and formation. We selected as the target group of the research the pupils of two fifth grades, who learn German as a foreign language in a Romanian school. The use of the chosen learning game led to a considerable increase in the participation of the students in German lessons, created a suitable learning atmosphere in the room and increased the motivation of the participants. The results of this research prove what we expected for the relationship between German lessons and the use of digital learning games in the classroom. >> Read the article

Abstract Effective communication involvement in the decision-making process of kindergarten of all members at each level of management, which leads to interactions, teamwork, exchanges of good practice, initiative. A complex tool that can be used at the level of educational organization, and that involves all levels of management, refers to the documented procedures. Am efficient communication will allow the revision of the procedures, the regulation of the institutional approaches, so that the assumed objectives and performance indicators are permanently taken into account. Thus, the purpose of the presented study aimed to establish the efficiency of documented procedures specific to managerial activities in kindergarten on the optimization of internal communication. The research involved the application of an online questionnaire that addressed the components of internal communication and documented procedures at the level of kindergartens in Cluj County. The intervention within the formative experiment, by implementing the documented procedures, had as a positive impact the highlighting, in the post-experimental stage, of some positive effects on the communication, from the perspective of the relationship with them. Documented procedures, as working tools, represent a vector for establishing and maintaining communication relations at kindergarten level, given their complexity in terms of their development and, subsequently, their implementation. The strategies used (creation of inclusive work teams, development of cooperation actions between management levels, taking responsibility for those involved by valuing their professional expertise) led to the harmonization of the manager-teacher relationship for preschool education, identifying a common vision that can be supported only by optimal internal communication. >> Read the article

Abstract Promoting an intercultural perspective in education must rely on a certain vision upon society. Given the special significance in educational approaches, the intercultural approach is a new way of designing and implementing the school curriculum and a new relational attitude among teachers, students and parents. The intercultural perspective opens new avenues for the manifestation of diversity and differences. Intercultural positioning is not reduced to a cumulative presentation of knowledge about the values of others, but it means cultivating attitudes of respect and openness to diversity. This attitude is born through a permanent communication with others and through a careful and optimal decentralization towards one’s own cultural norms. Therefore, the management of the intercultural conflicts made in the context of school learning experiences must be related to the dynamic perspective on the changes that characterize the educational reality in terms of educational innovation. As a consequence, a pertinent analysis of this phenomenon is required, in order to bring the necessary restructuring in order to optimize school activity and prevent conflict management between students belonging to different cultures, being known the fact that the more elaborate the interaction, the more effective and productive it becomes. >> Read the article