1 ABSTRACT The diploma thesis is focused on experience with self-reflection of social workers who supporting foster families. It is divided into two parts - theoretical and empiric. Aim of the thesis was to find out what kind of experience with self-reflection has social workers of organizations supporting foster families. The theoretical part has five chapters. The first chapter shows to readers what profession of a social worker is about - at first it looks at social work in context of helping professions, then it defines expert studies, abilities, and personality of social worker, and it also mentions possible motivation for working in this field. The second chapter brings topic of foster care and a definition of supporting; it describes supporting organizations for foster families and role of social worker in it. In the third chapter there can be found definition of self-reflection (in narrow meaning it brings nearer parts of self-reflection such as self-approach, self-knowledge, or self-regulation); further there can be found consideration of what importance self-reflection has for social workers and which tools to reach it they can use. The fourth chapter is aimed at view of influence which can affect self-reflection, such as emotion of worker, projection, topic of power and powerlessness, work with...

The focus of this dissertation is the pupil's portfolio, primarily in electronic portfolio form, and its use in education. The research study considers that the e-portfolio as a means of support for evaluation has considerable didactic potential and its implementation into learning and teaching could improve the effects of evaluation, as well as fostering pupil's self-assessment and self-reflection. The study deals with the definition of the pupil's portfolio as a didactic means of support for evaluation; the structure and functional specifications are identified, and there is verification of ways of using an electronic portfolio as a tool for pupil's self-assessment and self-reflection. Both practical and theoretical methods were used in this study in order to verify if and under what conditions an electronic portfolio can be used to enhance the quality of evaluation in schools and to support the processes and outcomes of pupil's evaluation, self-assessment and self-reflection within the school environment. By developing further the concept of a pupil's portfolio this thesis seeks to contribute to the development of pedagogy, specifically in the area of didactics and in evaluation in schools.

Title: Problem Posing Process: Comparison of Posers on Various Levels of Experience Author: PhDr. Eva Patáková Department: Department of Math. And Math. Education, Pedagogical Faculty, Charles University in Prague Supervisor: doc. RNDr. Jaroslav Zhouf, Ph.D. Abstract: The aim of the thesis is to compare the problem posing process of problem posers on various experience levels: Novices have no experience, specialists pose problems but not more than their teachers profession requires, experts pose problems profesionally, e.g. for Mathematical competitions. There were two phases of the research - both of them consisting of the pilot phase and the main study. The participants posed difficult and original Mathematical problems for approximately 15-year-old students. In the first phase methods derived from the grounded theory were used to analyze self-reflections, questionnaires and other written materials of problem posers. The second phase was based on qualitative analysis of videotyped problem posing process of respondents. The problem posing process of the three groups of respondents was different. With increasing level of experience the ratio of intentional ideas increased as well as the ratio of posers finding inspiration in the existing problem. Opinion to how a good problem should look like is also different for...

The diploma thesis deals with the obstacles to self-evaluation of primary and secondary school teachers. The aim of the diploma thesis was to find out whether there are any subjectively perceived obstacles that could prevent primary and secondary school teachers in the process of self-evaluation of their working performance. Next aim was to describe such obstacles, find out where they come from and propose measures in order to remove them. The theoretical part is based on the study of professional literature and other available sources. It introduces the basic concepts of the issue, describes the profession of a teacher and shows how self-evaluation is anchored in our legislation. From the point of view of the need for a detailed insight into the issue, qualitatively oriented research and the focus group method have been chosen. The analysis of the obtained data is inspired by the method of grounded theory. The obtained data were first coded and then isolated into categories. Each of the categories has been divided into subcategories for the sake of greater clarity. Through the analysis the four categories were created: the context of the profession, barriers on the teacher's side, lack of support and specific barriers. The category context of the profession includes subcategories such as lack of...

Theodor W. Adorno is both known and criticized for his philosophy of the subject. While his focus on subjectivity by many is deemed an outdated approach, Adorno himself claims that subjectivity must be challenged through the subject itself. What this implies, and how the role of the subject in its transformation can be envisioned, is what I aim to discuss in this paper. My study adresses the subject’s challenge from different angles. The first is an analysis of the subject in relation to its object-part, where I show how the subject can come close to its object, not only through bodily impulses but also, and importantly, through subjectivity itself by self-reflection on its mediation. The second is an investigation of how Adorno uses Freud’s drive theory, and how the drive for self-preservation can be dangerous or utopian depending on the subject’s interaction with it. The third is a comparison of the position of Adorno to those of Jürgen Habermas and Giorgio Agamben, each in their own way sharing Adorno’s diagnosis of subjectivities challenge, but choosing entirely different paths to address it. This comparison shows how Adorno, by insisting on the subject’s role in its own challenge, makes the subject aware of its actual location in the false world, without giving up the idea of its redemption. Habermas and Agamben each try to leave subjectivity behind in ways that for Adorno would not only be false but also dangerous. In doing so, they miss the point that we cannot be anything but subjects, and that the challenge therefore must be addressed from within. My aim with this paper is to show how Adorno’s philosophy of the subject can open critical theory for a bolder utopian thinking than what Habermas’ heritage has accomplished, while at the same time preserving the subject’s power to accomplish change which postmodernists like Agamben seem to have given up upon.

Shifting from traditional face-to-face education to online mode of education (or online learning)  presents several challenges, such as increased difficulty for students to get immediate feedback and  lack of social interaction. To tackle these challenges, supporting learners' self-reflection process is  seen to be crucial to help students achieve academic success. Students in higher academic institutions  are generally not exposed during their education to self-reflection, and it is a skill that teachers  consider many students lack. However, there is a lack of studies that focus on self-reflection in online  environments. In this paper we aim to investigate in what ways can online learning platforms support  university students’ self-reflection. In this study a self-reflection tool was developed for an online  environment and evaluated through a set of iterations in a mixed method approach. A total of three  iterations were conducted, with their respective evaluations. Results show that participants perceived a  clear improvement of their learning process through self-reflection. Findings also show that there are  a few requirements not present in traditional self-reflection tools, which suggest a clear need for  self-reflective methods tailored to learners' needs. / Skiftet från traditionell salsundervisning till nätbaserad kunskapsförmedling innebär många  utmaningar, t.ex. det är svårare för elever att få omedelbar feedback och de saknar socialt utbyte. För  att komma tillrätta med de här utmaningarna anses det viktigt att den som studerar får stöd genom  självskattning, för att målen för studierna ska kunna uppnås. Den som studerar på högre nivå får sällan  tillfälle till kunskapssjälvskattning under sin utbildning och lärare anser att det är kunskaper som  många studenter inte besitter. Samtidigt saknas det studier som fokuserar på självskattning i en  nätbaserad studiemiljö. I den här uppsatsen så undersöks hur utbildningsplattformar online kan främja  universitetsstuderandes självskattning. För undersökningen har ett verktyg för självskattning inom  nätbaserad undervisning utvecklats, ett verktyg som utvärderats genom en serie iterationer och  tillämpning av mixad metod. Totalt har tre olika iterationer genomförts med respektive utvärdering.  Resultaten visar att deltagarna upplevde att deras inlärningsprocess tydligt förbättrades med hjälp av  självskattningen. Svaren visar också att vissa förutsättningar saknas i traditionella  självskattningsverktyg och det i sin tur pekar tydligt på att det behövs metoder för självskattning som  är anpassade efter elevernas behov.

No description available.

This study aims to find out how a selection of upper-secondary Swedish teachers engage their ESL students in critical self-reflection, as well as what their motivations behind these choices are. Specifically, this study aims to provide support for the hypothesis that teachers actively avoid social learning in correlation with critical self-reflection. Through an interview process and analysis, it was found that the interviewed teachers did, in fact, actively avoid social methods and activities when teaching critical self-reflection, due to a variety of reasons. The main motivations behind opting for solitary or individual critical self-reflections were age, group dynamics, student dispositions, and language proficiency.

Integrative Medicine (IM) is a care approach that focuses on the overall well-being and healing process of patients rather than solely on their disease. IM educates and empowers people to be active players in their own care, emphasizes the therapeutic relationship, and makes use of all appropriate evidence-based approaches. The health-oriented foundations of IM are in line with the recently posed concept that describes health as ”the ability to adapt and to self-manage”. Due to the shared underpinnings of both IM and the new concept of health, incorporation of this new concept of health may serve as a facilitator for the development and implementation of IM. From a practical viewpoint, working from an integrative care approach requires specific competences from healthcare providers, such as socio-communicative and self-reflective skills, and reflexivity towards a holistic perspective on health. Previous studies have shown that a Mind-Body Medicine (MBM) course can potentially foster these competences among future healthcare providers. This thesis intended to gain increased insight into the prerequisites and tools for implementation of IM. Therefore, in the first part it aimed to explore the attitudes and practice of IM among Dutch nurses and the support for the new dynamic concept of health as ”the ability to adapt and to self-manage” among main stakeholders within the Dutch healthcare community. Furthermore, in the second part it aimed to evaluate the possibilities of an MBM course among medical and nursing students as a tool to foster an integrative care approach. Methods Both quantitative and qualitative research designs were used. Attitudes and practice of IM were assessed in a semi-structured survey study among 355 Dutch nurses (study I). Support for the new concept of health was explored in a mixed method study, where in the first step data from interviews and focus-groups among 140 stakeholders were investigated by use of manifest content analysis, and in the second step a cross-sectional survey was performed among 1938 stakeholders to verify the findings of the first step (study II). The MBM course was evaluated by a controlled, quasi-experimental intervention study (74 participants / 61 controls among medical students and 47 participants / 64 controls among nursing students) in which validated questionnaires were used (study III). Furthermore, in-depth interviews with 11 medical and 15 nursing students were employed and analysed by a Phenomenological Hermeneutical method to obtain an in-depth understanding of the meaning of the MBM course for the participants (study IV). Findings Study I showed an overall positive attitude towards IM among nurses. Patient-centeredness and a focus on individuals’ own resources and responsibility to promote health met the most support among both nurses and other stakeholders. These elements were considered to be the main positive aspects of the new dynamic concept of health among stakeholders as well (study II). Use of evidence-based and safe complementary therapies and a healing environment received some support from the nurses, but lack of knowledge and lack of evidence seems to hinder further incorporation in the current healthcare practice (study I). Additionally, study II revealed that health was perceived to comprise six dimensions: bodily functions, mental functions &amp; perception, spiritual / existential dimension, quality of life, social and societal participation and daily functioning. In line with patients, nurses had a more broad conception of health in comparison to other healthcare professionals. Study III showed long-term beneficial effects of the MBM course on two dimensions of empathy (personal distress and empathic concern) among medical students, and on perceived stress and empathy (personal distress) among nursing students. Study IV brought forth that the MBM course can be understood as a pathway to inner awareness and a support to connecting with others as well as the outside world. The following themes were identified: “ability to be more present”, “an increased perception and awareness of self”, and “connecting on a deeper level with others”. Conclusion It can be concluded from the results in the first explorative part of this thesis that the observed positive attitudes and perceptions among healthcare professionals toward IM and the newly proposed health concept can serve as important facilitators for further implementation of IM within the Dutch healthcare system. Furthermore, the increased ability to deal with stress, improved empathic abilities and more openness toward different perspectives on health and new treatment options among medical and nursing students following a MBM course, as reported in the second part of this thesis, suggest that this course might be a suitable tool to foster an integrative care approach among future healthcare professionals. / IM (Integrativ Vård mer adekvat term på svenska) är ett vårdkoncept/vårdansats som mer fokuserar på patienters välmående och läkeprocesser än enbart deras sjukdom. IM överlämnar makten och utbildar individen till att själv bli aktiva i sin vård, den framhäver vikten av en god vårdande relation och använder alla tillämpliga evidensbaserade metoder. Den hälsofrämjande grunden i IM är i linje med ett nyligen utvecklat hälsobegrepp, som beskriver hälsa som ”en persons förmåga till att anpassa sig och hantera utmaningar”. Utifrån den liknande grunden och förutsättningarna hos IM och det nya hälsobegreppet så kan en integration av dem vara en understödjande faktor för utveckling och implementering av IM. Utifrån en praktisk synvinkel så innebär en integrativ vårdansats att den som vårdar måste inneha specifika kompetenser och förmågor relaterade till bland annat socio-kommunikativ och självreflektiv förmåga, såväl som en reflektiv öppenhet till ett holistiskt perspektiv på hälsa. Tidigare forskning har visat att en Mind-Body Medicine (MBM) kurs potentiellt kan understödja utveckling av dessa kompetenser bland framtida vårdare. Denna avhandling avsåg i första hand att uppnå ökad insikt i förutsättningar och verktyg för implementering av Integrativ Vård. Mer specifikt syftade den till att beskriva attityder till, och utövande av IM bland Nederländska sjuksköterskor, samt undersöka stödet för det nya dynamiska hälsobegreppet (”en persons förmåga till att anpassa sig och hantera utmaningar”) bland intressenter inom Nederländsk Hälso- och Sjukvård. Vidare i andra hand, avsåg avhandlingen också att utvärdera förutsättningarna för att använda en MBM kurs som ett verktyg till att understödja och fostra ett mer integrativt förhållningssätt bland läkar- och sjuksköterskestudenter. Metod Både kvantitativ såväl som kvalitativ forskningsdesign tillämpades. Attityder till, och utövande av IM undersöktes i en semistrukturerad enkätstudie bland 355 Nederländska sjuksköterskor (studie I). Stödet för det nya hälsobegreppet undersöktes i en studie som genomfördes med mixad design, där i det första steget data från individuella- och fokusgruppintervjuer bland 140 intressenter genomgick en manifest innehållsanalys, och i det andra steget genomfördes en tvärsnittsstudie bland 1938 intressenter för att validera fynden från det första steget (Studie II). MBM kursen utvärderades i en kontrollerad, kvasi-experimentell interventionsstudie (71 deltagare/61 kontroller bland läkarstudenter, och 47 deltagare/64 kontroller bland sjuksköterskestudenter) med validerade frågeformulär (Studie III). Vidare även i en Fenomenologisk-Hermeneutisk ansats via individuella intervjuer med 11 läkar- och 15 sjuksköterskestudenter för att uppnå en djupare förståelse över MBM kursens betydelse för deltagarna (Studie IV). Fynd I studie I framkom att sjuksköterskorna övergripande hade en positiv attityd till IM. Patientcentrering och fokus på individens resurser, samt deras egna ansvar för att arbeta hälsofrämjande var områden som hade mest stöd bland både sjuksköterskor och andra intressenter. Dessa element ansågs också av intressenterna vara den mest positiva aspekten av det nya dynamiska hälsobegreppet (Studie II). Användandet av evidensbaserade komplementärmedicinska metoder och hälsofrämjande miljöer stöddes till viss del av sjuksköterskorna men brist på kunskap och brist på evidens förefaller vara hinder för integration i nuvarande vårdpraxis (Study I). I studie II framkom att begreppet hälsa uppfattades som att bestå i sex olika dimensioner; ”kroppslig funktion”, ”mental funktion och perception”, ”spirituell/existentiell dimension”, ”livskvalitet”, ”social-samhällelig inklusion” samt ”daglig funktion”. I samklang med patienter, så hade sjuksköterskor en bredare syn på hälsa än andra hälsoprofessioner. I studie III framkom långsiktiga positiva effekter av att delta i MBM kursen avseende i två dimensioner av empatisk förmåga (Personal distress och Empatic concern) bland läkarstudenterna, samt avseende upplevd stressnivå (perceived stress) och empati (personal distress) bland sjuksköterskestudenterna. I studie IV framkom att MBM kursen kan ses som ”en väg till inre medvetenhet och stöd till att knyta an till andra och den omgivande världen” vidare identifierades temana: ”en förmåga till en mer medveten närvaro”, ”en ökad uppfattningsförmåga och inre medvetenhet” samt ”att knyta an till andra människor på en djupare nivå”. Slutsats Utifrån resultaten i avhandlingens explorativa (I, II) del är slutsatsen att de observerade positiva attityderna, och uppfattningarna bland vårdgivare avseende IM och det nyutvecklade hälsobegreppet kan ses som viktiga facilitatorer för ytterligare implementering av IM i det Nederländska hälso- och sjukvårdssystemet. Vidare, den ökade förmågan att hantera stress, utveckla empatisk förmåga och mer öppenhet för nya perspektiv på hälsa och behandlingsalternativ hos läkar- och sjuksköterskestudenter efter deltagande i en MBM kurs (implementeringsdelen i denna avhandling, III, IV), stöttar antagandet att kursen kan ses som ett användbart verktyg för att understödja en mer integrativ vårdansats bland framtida vårdpersonal. / <p>Vid tidpunkten för disputationen var följande delarbeten opublicerade: delarbete 3 i tryck, delarbete 4 inskickat.</p><p>At the time of the doctoral defence the following papers were unpublished: paper 3 in press, paper 4 submitted.</p>

Syftet med denna studie har varit att undersöka hur olika socialarbetare, verksamma inom det sociala arbetets fält, upplever sig påverkas emotionellt av och i sitt arbete med klient, till följd av mötet med klienten. Vidare hur de hanterar eventuell påverkan och upprätthåller en sund balans mellan arbete och privatliv utifrån krav, återhämtning, och professionalism. Vår metod är kvalitativ och nio socialarbetare har blivit intervjuade. De teorier som har använts för analys är copingteori, interaktionism, KASAM och begreppet stress. Studiens resultat har visat att i interaktionen med klient tenderar socialarbetare i större utsträckning bli negativt påverkade. Däremot finns också en tydlig positiv påverkan som härstammar ur klienters visade uppskattning och tacksamhet vid lyckat stöd. Den negativa påverkan kan visa sig genom olika stressymptom som leder till att informanter har svårt att släppa arbetet. Gällande hantering av mötet med klient har resultaten visat att erfarenheter av olika slag utgör en viktig faktor i hur socialarbetare hanterar mötet. Andra faktorer är socialt stöd från chef, kollegor och handledare, samt stöd i privatlivet. Meningsfull fritid har också varit en viktig faktor. Den kanske viktigaste faktorn som resultatet har visat på är vikten av en ständig självreflektion för att öka medvetenheten om egna behov, problem och förmågor. / The purpose of this study was to investigate how different social workers working in the field of social work feel emotionally affected by and in their work with clients as a result of the meeting with the clients. Furthermore how they handle possible impact and maintain a healthy balance between work and privacy based on demands, recovery, and professionalism. The method has been qualitative where nine social workers have been interviewed. The theories used for the analysis of the material were copingtheory, interactionism, KASAM and the concept of stress. The results of the study have shown that in the interaction with the client, social workers tend to be more negatively affected. On the other hand, there is also a clear positive impact that comes from clients' appreciation and gratitude for successful support. Negative impact can be manifested by different stress-symptoms, which causes the participants difficulty in focusing, away from their work. When it comes to the managing of the meetings with clients, our study has shown that experience of different kinds is an important factor in how social workers handle the meeting. Other factors are social support from the boss, colleagues and supervisors, as well as support from friends and family. Meaningful time off work has also been an important factor. The perhaps most important factor that the outcome has shown is the importance of constant self-reflection to raise awareness about individual needs, problems and abilities.