Abstract In this study, the conceptions of a number of teachers in the Swedish primary and lower-secondary school about cultural pluralism, the values connected to this pluralism by the Curriculum for the Compulsory School System, the Pre-School Class and the Leisure-time Centre, Lpo 94, and the possibilities for pupils to gain knowledge about these values, were studied. The conceptions of the teachers were regarded and interpreted as ideology, since the study was made from a point of departure containing an assumption about how the content of the curriculum is of importance for the development of relations of power and dominance between different groups in society. The purpose of the study was to interpret the statements of a limited number of teachers about cultural pluralism, values and knowledge, regarding the ontological, axiological and epistemological assumptions and conceptions expressed therein. The empirical data of the study was gathered through qualitative interviews with eleven teachers working in six different primary and lower-secondary schools in the Mid-Sweden region. The conceptions expressed in the statements given by the respondents were categorized. These categories were then interpreted through a typology containing four different types of ideology, here called restorative (implying a return to a social order of the past), transmissive (implying a conveyance of existing values, relations and conditions), moderative (implying short-term adjustments of existing institutions and conditions) and transformative (implying long-term and radical change) ideology. This interpretation showed that only fragmentary parts of the restorative and transformative types of ideology were expressed through the different assumptions and conceptions, while distinct and substantially developed expressions of transmissive as well as moderative ideology could be interpreted. This was discussed with reference to three different themes: the connotations conveyed by the concept of culture, the ideological content of official and semi-official documents of the curriculum – mainly Lpo 94 and the report (Skola för bildning) of the Committee of Curriculum – and the historically strong progressivist tradition in the Swedish school system. Keywords: conceptions, cultural pluralism, curriculum, ideology, knowledge, primary and lower-secondary school, teachers, values.

This article discusses the psychological, methodological, practical and partially administrative communicative competence of teachers at one Vilkaviškis secondary school (SSCH) to educate children with special needs (SN) in integrated teaching conditions. It presents the results of teachers‘ questionnaire, recommendations for national pedagogical studies for BA, MA and qualification courses. The article draws five conclusions: 1.Teachers in Vilkaviškis SSCH do not possess the psychological competence for integrated education of children with SN. Due to the dominating psychological stereotypical bias some teachers are not interested in special education, partially take the individual qualities of children with SP into consideration, do not seek better quality of education, refuse to cooperate, leave education to the competence of a special educator or speech therapist. 2. The methodological competence of teachers in Vilkaviškis SSCH is insufficient since the majority of teachers have not heard a course of lectures on special education, 1/5 of teachers have not been certified, 65,1% of teachers regard their abilities to recognize a pupil with SN as unsatisfactory or insufficient, they do not know the main principles of work with children with SN. 3. The low quality practical competence of teachers in Vilkaviškis SSCH is mainly determined by the negative attitude of the school community to the integrated education of children with SN and by the lack of methodological... [to full text]

It is known that the status with regard to teaching and learning of mathematics in South Africa is below norm. One of the reasons for this situation is the fact that many mathematics educators experience problems in assisting learners to invest effort voluntarily in task performance, as well as in strategic plans to maintain their learning intentions. Since learners' reasons for lack of maintenance of intentions and keeping onto learning agenda can not be addressed well if they are not understood, more research studies directed towards investigating these problems need to be done. It is for this reason that this study was aimed at investigating use of volitional strategies, study orientation in mathematics and learning context in relation to performance. The study was done on selected schools with consistent good performance in mathematics (matric pass rate > 80%) for past three to five years. Also included were schools with consistent low performance (matric pass rate < 30%) in the same period. Mathematics teachers of the affected schools were included. The results of the empirical survey reveal the presence of strong significant link between learner perceptions with regard to use of volitional strategies and study orientation. The positive study orientation and volitional strategy use increased learner attributive effect on performance. Furthermore in particular this study reveals strong negative correlation of emotional perseverance inhibition and emotional perseverance rumination and strong positive correlation between failure control and performance. In addition, this study unveiled significant difference between study milieu and learning context. There was moderate impact difference noticed in attitudes, anxiety, study-habits and information processing between schools. Deduction that a suitable learning context moderately to strongly affects aspects of study orientation was made. Learners at schools with high tests scores most favourably perceived the use of attentional distractibility, emotion control, emotional perseverance rumination, and stress reducing than at other schools. Therefore the deduction is made that learning context induced volitional strategy use, which impacted on learner achievement. These findings are similar to those made by other researchers on these topics worldwide. An important contribution made by this study is that it, in a South African context, sheds light both on the need for use of volitional strategies and also presents contextual differences that impact on study orientation in mathematics and ultimate learner performance. Hence the researcher is therefore persuaded that through training in the appropriate knowledge, skills and use of volitional strategies teachers may be able to create a more favourable learning context in their classes that enhances study orientation in general, particularly in mathematics. Therefore there is need to integrate affective issues in the mathematics curriculum / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Worldwide the teaching and learning of mathematics pose a great challenge to mathematics teachers as learners' performance in the subject leaves much to be desired. This is particularly the case in South Africa where there was a great disparity in the development of teachers in the past. Extensive research has shown that many teachers in South Africa are under-qualified, especially in the teaching of mathematics at secondary schools. Those who are regarded as well qualified for teaching mathematics at secondary schools still experience problems in teaching certain sections of the syllabus, for example geometry, which is not offered at tertiary institutions. It is for this reason that the researcher, together with colleagues at an experimental school, joined forces to share the teaching of mathematics in what they referred to as "collaborative teaching". This work therefore involves a case study, which resulted after three teachers successfully achieved good matric results on employing this approach between 1993 and 1996. The study is based on an experimental design where both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. The aim of the study was to measure the extent to which collaboration between teachers affects the learning of mathematics in Grades 12. Two schools, the experimental school and a control school were involved. Learners from the experimental school were taught according to a collaborative approach whereas learners at the control school were taught conventionally (one teacher teaching all sections alone). This happened over a period of six months in 2001. Learners who were taught collaboratively outperformed those who were taught conventionally especially in the most problematic areas of the syllabus, namely geometry and trigonometry. The teachers who were involved in this approach, that is, collaborators, loved it to the extent that one of them applied it in another school where it improved their Grade 12 results tremendously. Learners who were taught according to this approach greatly appreciated it and wished they had been taught the same way in other subjects. This approach did not, however, significantly influence learners in their problem solving and information processing skills. In addition, one of the most serious limitations of this approach is to find a substitute for a teacher who leaves the team. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

SUMMARY Nowadays everyone must learn and his (her) learning process goes on all life long. So teachers should give pupils good skills for learning and living qualitative way of life. The survey made in Aukštaitija district in 2003 and the survey made by KTU scientists in 2005 showed that teachers haven’t got skills how to organize learning process. ICT is not in use in lessons in common as often as it is possible to do. The object of this work is distance education at secondary schools. The aim of the work is to analyze the real situation at secondary schools, identify the real problems and give some solutions for solving these problems as well as give advices. The problems: • Few teachers are capable to create courses for distant education. Courses that teach this subject are almost unreachable for them; otherwise they are too short and it is hard to get the right skills; • There are many gifted children that are given too little attention. This is the reason for their less motivation to learn; • Schools have problems with missed lessons. Distant education as a method to solve such kind of problem is almost unknown. The goals: • Analyze theoretical aspects of distant education in secondary schools; • To make survey that will show pupils and teachers’ experience in using ICT in lessons; • To create a course for teachers that will show how organize learning process using virtual learning environment (VLE) ATutor. The subject is – the situation in applying ICT and distant... [to full text]

Indrulėnaitė R. Bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų finansavimas Panevėžio apskrityje: situacijos analizė ir prognostika Magistro darbas. Vadovas Prof. Dr. Vincentas Lamanauskas. Šiaulių Universitetas, Edukologijos fakultetas, Edukologijos katedra. Šiauliai, 2007 m. Temos aktualumas. Nors Lietuvos švietimo įstatyme teigiama, jog valstybinis finansavimas užtikrina normalias bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų veiklos sąlygas, tačiau dažnai kyla nepasitenkinimas, kai kalbama apie šių veiklų finansavimą: vieni tvirtina, kad lėšos naudojamo neskaidriai, švaistomos, o kiti skundžiasi nepakankamu finansavimu. Ši pasirinkta tema aktuali, nes nuo finansavimo priklauso ir ugdymo kokybė. Todėl šiame darbe analizuojama finansavimo situacija bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose Panevėžio apskrityje, apžvelgti švietimo finansavimo teoriniai ir praktiniai aspektai, atskleista finansavimo būklė išryškinant jos tendencijas, atlikta lyginamoji analizė tarp atskirų apskrities savivaldybių, suformuluota prognostika. Problema – nepakankamas bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų finansavimas Panevėžio apskrityje. Tyrimo objektas: bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų finansavimo situacija ir tikėtina kaita Panevėžio apskrityje. Hipotezė – galima manyti, kad bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų finansavimas Panevėžio apskrityje yra nepakankamas. Tyrimo tikslas – išanalizuoti bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų finansavimo būklę Panevėžio apskrityje, atlikti lyginamąją analizę tarp atskirų apskrities savivaldybių ir atskleisti finansavimo būklę išryškinant jos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Reda Indrulėnaitė. Financing of General Secondary school in Panevėžys Region: analyses of the situation and prognosis. The work for the Master’s degree. Supervisor professor Dr. Vincentas Lamanauskas. Department of Educology Faculty of Educology of Šiauliai University, Šiauliai, 2007 The importance of the subject. In the Law of Education of Lithuania it is stated that the state financing creates normal conditions for the activity of general secondary schools, but when the questions of financing are discussed dissatisfaction is expressed: some say that the money is not always used transparently or not for the due purposes and others claim that the state financing is not enough. The chosen topic is very important as the quality of education depends on its financing. The financial situation in the general schools of Panevėžys region is analyzed in this paper, theoretical and practical aspects of financing are discussed, the status of financing and its tendencies are revealed, comparative analyses of different parts of the region is made and prognoses formulated. Problem: insufficient financing of general secondary schools in Panevėžys region. The object of the investigation: financial situation of general secondary schools and expected changes in Panevėžys region. Hipothesis. It can be thought that financing of general schools in Panevėžys district is insufficient. The aim of the investigation. To analyze the status of financing of general secondary schools in Panevėžys... [to full text]

Skirtingose šalyse naudojami saviti vadybinio kompetentingumo modeliai. Pavyzdžiui, modelis vadovų kompetencijai vertinti (Jucevičienė, 2001), modelis vadovų rezultatyvumui matuoti (MCI modelis), vadybinės kompetencijos modeliai smulkių ir vidutinių organizacijų vadovams (Boyatzis, 1982), pedagogų vadybinio kompetentingumo modelis (Rodzevičiūtė, 2006). Tačiau profesijos patarėjo vadybinis kompetentingumas apima specifinius profesijos ypatumus, atspindinčius profesinio informavimo veiklos sudėtingumą. Todėl svarbu sukurti naują profesijos patarėjo vadybinio kompetentingumo modelį, kuris atskleistų specifinius šios veiklos aspektus bei būtų pagrįstas pačių profesijos patarėjų požiūriu. Vadinasi, bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų profesijos patarėjų vadybinio kompetentingumo turinys ir struktūra yra aktuali mokslinė problema. Sprendžiant šią problemą, ieškoma atsakymo į svarbų tyrimo klausimą: Koks turi būti bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos profesijos patarėjo vadybinio kompetentingumo turinio ir struktūros modelis, kurį galima būtų rekomenduoti rengiant profesijos patarėjų kvalifikacijos tobulinimo programas ? Tyrimo objektas - bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos profesijos patarėjo vadybinis kompetentingumas. Tyrimo tikslas - teoriškai ir empiriškai pagrįsti bendrojo lavinimo mokyklos profesijos patarėjo vadybinio kompetentingumo turinį ir struktūrą. Atliktas kiekybinis tyrimas – apklausti Vilniaus apskrities bendrojo lavinimo mokyklų profesinio informavimo taškų (PIT) 156 profesijos patarėjai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / A professional advisor is a person who gives high quality imformation to aimed groups about professions, qualifications and career possibilities. Seeking to acquire neccessary qualities in the sphere of advisability specific skills are especially needful. The Standard of Giving Professional Information (2006) does not underline the aspect of wanted abilities in the management of professional advisability. Furthermore, the question of management competence of the advisor in choosing a profession was not analysed in scientific resourses available in Lithuania. Summarising common atittudes about competent management, theoretically it is proved that the conseption of an advisor in choosing profession is obviously tied to the ability to use all competences to reach effectivness and quality in giving information. To solve the problem of today it is urgent to answer the main question: What kind of structure and content as a competent manager has to be acquired by a professional advisor to help to prepare programmes for his/her improvement ? The object of the research – competent management in a position of a professional advisor in a secondary school. The aim of the research – theoretical and empiric approach to base content and structure of management competence of a professional advisor. In the quantative research 156 ( PIT ) Professional advisors of secondary schools in Vilnius district surveyed. The concusion is made on the backgound of the empiric investigation: the... [to full text]

Mokymasis šiame amžiuje yra reikšmingas ne tik tuo, kad apima mąstymą ir jausmus, bet šis etapas labai reikšmingas tolimesnei gebėjimo mokytis sėkmei. Tai etapas, kuriame individas siekia atskleisti savo pažintines, dvasines galias ir gali rengtis tolimesniam savo gyvenimo įprasminimui. Tyrimo problema - didėjantis nelankančių mokyklos ir neturinčių motyvacijos mokytis moksleivių skaičius. Tyrimo objektas – paauglių mokintis mokykloje motyvuojantys veiksniai. Klausimas. Kokie bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje pobūdžio veiksniai, daro poveikį paauglių mokymosi motyvacijai ? Tiriamojo darbo tikslas yra atskleisti ir aprašyti pagrindinius veiksnius, turinčius įtakos mokymosi motyvacijai. Uždaviniai:  Atskleisti mokymosi motyvacijos sampratą.  Apibrėžti veiksnius galinčius turėti įtakos paauglių mokymosi motyvacijai.  Įvertinti veiksnių turinčių įtakos paauglių mokymosi motyvacijai bendrojo lavinimo mokykloje svarbą.  Nustatyti 13-15 m. paauglių mokymosi motyvaciją lemiančių veiksnių poveikio stiprumą ir charakteristikas.  Išryškinti mokytojo asmenybės reikšmę mokinių mokymosi motyvacijai. Šiai problemai spręsti buvo pasirinktas koreliacinis tyrimas. Koreliacinio tyrimo pagalba buvo nustatyti ryšiai tarp vidinių veiksnių (mokymosi motyvų raiškos) ir išorinių veiksnių (pedagoginių, psichologinių, socialinių teiginių). Koreliacinio tyrimo procedūra buvo atlikta remiantis C.M.Charles aprašytomis tyrimo metodikomis (Charles, 1999). Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad paauglių mokymosi... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Learning in our life is important not only for including intellection and feelings. This stage also is very important for further success of learning ability. This is a stage where a person has a possibility to develop his cognitive and mental power and is able to prepare for giving a sense for his further life. The problem of research – the number of students without learning motivation and with non - attendance is on the increase. The object of research – learning motivating factors of students at school The Question What factors at the secondary school influence the learning motivation of the students? The purpose of research – to develop and describe the main factors which influence for leaning motivation. The goals: • to develop the conception of learning motivation • to determine the factors which can influence learning motivation of the students • to evaluate the importance of the factors which can influence learning motivation of the students at school • to define the power and characteristics of influence for learning motivation between the teenagers of 13 – 15 years old • to emphasize the meaning of the teacher’s individuality for the learning motivation of the students Correlation research was chosen for solving this problem. The research helped to cleared up the relations between inner (expression of learning motivation) and outer (pedagogical, psychological and social affirmations) factors. Correlation research was performed with reference to C.M... [to full text]

Denna uppsats redovisar en beskrivande fallstudie som gjordes på en svensk högstadieskola och som gick ut på att undersöka vilken plats Wikipedia har på högstadiet idag. För att ta reda på det gjordes enkätundersökningar bland elever och lärare och textanalyser av elevuppsatser. Geografiämnet användes som exempel på skolans undervisning. De huvudsakliga källorna som studien utgick ifrån var olika granskningar av uppslagsverkets kvalitet, likande undersökningar av Wikipedia i undervisningen och Skolverkets rapporter. Studien visar att det finns olika attityder bland både lärare och elever som belyser olika fördelar och nackdelar. Eleverna tycker att Wikipedia är bra samtidigt som de misstror informationen som potentiellt kan redigeras fritt av vem som helst. Lärarna tolererar Wikipedia men vill att eleverna jobbar med den källkritiskt. Majoriteten av elever redovisar inte Wikipedia som källa i inlämningsarbeten. Bättre undervisning i hur man använder hemsidor av Wikipedias slag behövs på skolan. / This thesis presents a descriptive case study of a Swedish secondary school that sought out to investigate what status Wikipedia has at secondary schools today. In order to do that surveys answered by teachers and students were used and student essays were analysed. Geography was used to illustrate the school’s education. The mainly used sources were examinations of the encyclopaedia’s quality, similar studies of Wikipedia in education and reports from the Swedish National Agency for Education. The study shows that there are different attitudes toward Wikipedia both among teachers and among students that focus on different advantages and disadvantages. Students consider Wikipedia to be good while they also distrust the information that could potentially have been edited by anyone. Teachers tolerate Wikipedia but emphasise that students must use source criticism while using the information. A majority of the students do not disclose Wikipedia as a utilized source in essays. Better education in using websites of Wikipedia’s kind is needed in schools.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur gymnasieelever översätter mellan tre matematiska språkformer (symbolspråk, matematiskt språk och vardags-språk). Studien använde ett slags test, en kunskapsdiagnos, för att undersöka detta. Gymnasieelever från samma program i tre olika årskurser fick möjlighet att delta i studien. Diagnosen var uppdelad i tre översättningsområden: från matematiskt språk till symbolspråk, från symbolspråk till matematiskt språk och till sist från symbolspråk till vardagsspråk. Resultatet visar att gymnasieeleverna, oavsett årskurs, har problem med översättningarna. Bland annat använde eleverna fel operationstecken, missade att sätta ut väsentliga parenteser och blandade i vissa fall de olika språkformerna i samma mening. Eleverna lyckades bäst med översättningen från symbolspråk till matematiskt språk, och de allra flesta kände till symbolen för ”mindre än”. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how upper secondary school students translate between three mathematical language forms (symbolic language, mathematical language and everyday language). The study used a test (a diagnosis), to investigate this. Upper secondary school students belonging to the same program in three different grades were given the opportunity to take part in the study. The diagnosis was divided into three translation areas: from mathematical language to symbolic language, from symbolic language to mathematical language and finally from symbolic language to everyday language. The result shows that upper secondary school students, regardless of grade, have problems with the translations. Among other things, the students used the wrong operation signs, missed writing crucial parentheses and in some cases, they mixed the various language forms in the same sentence. The students were most successful with the translation from symbolic language to mathematical language, and the vast majority had knowledge of the "less than" - symbol.