Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Reflection and Development [1 ed.] 9781443879361, 9781443870528

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Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Reflection and Development

Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Reflection and Development Edited by

Vasile Chis and Ion Albulescu

Proceedings of the International Conference on Education, Reflection and Development Edited by Vasile Chis and Ion Albulescu This book first published 2015 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2015 by Vasile Chis, Ion Albulescu and contributors All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-4438-7052-8 ISBN (13): 978-1-4438-7052-8

CONTENTS

Part 1: Theoretical and Conceptual Reconsiderations in Educational Sciences: Focus on Contemporary Research Chapter One ................................................................................................. 2 Debates on the Educational Ideal in Contemporary Pedagogy Vasile Chis, Olga Chis and Musata Bocos Chapter Two ................................................................................................ 7 A Study on the Effects of Private Education: Institutes of Science Education in Turkey Omer Cakiroglu Chapter Three ............................................................................................ 16 Investigating Human Rights in Contemporary Greek Language Textbooks in Primary Education Ioannis Fykaris, Eleni Pramantioti and Lito-Vera Fouki Chapter Four .............................................................................................. 24 Preparatory Classes in the Romanian Educational System: Challenges and Syncopes Ion Albulescu and Mirela Albulescu Chapter Five .............................................................................................. 39 The New Image and Presence of the Child in Contemporary Educational Approaches (From Early Childhood throughout the School) Sorin Tigareanu Chapter Six ................................................................................................ 50 Excessive Tolerance, Verbal Violence and Lies: Or the Beginning of Lack of Communication in the Teaching Act Ramona Radut-Taciu Chapter Seven............................................................................................ 59 Psychopedagogical Guidelines for Gender Education Cornelia Stan

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Chapter Eight ............................................................................................. 69 “Courage to change”: Educational Reform as an Opportunity and Leverage for Professional Development Taub Ronit and Vasile Chis Chapter Nine.............................................................................................. 79 Variations in Undergraduate Students’ Motivation: Mastery and Performance Motivation and their Associated Emotional Costs Catalin Glava and Ionut-Dorin Stanciu Chapter Ten ............................................................................................... 88 The Socio-Political Context and its Influences on Romanian Culture in the Reign of Charles II Niculae Cristea Chapter Eleven .......................................................................................... 94 Early Communication Skills Assessment of Israeli Ethiopian Toddlers: A Preliminary Stage of Implementing a Culture Sensitive Intervention Noa Gouri Guberman Chapter Twelve ....................................................................................... 103 Self-Efficacy and Well-Being Increase with Israeli Single Mothers through Systems Coaching (SC) Sunny Gordon Bar Chapter Thirteen ...................................................................................... 117 Combating Violence in Schools: A Way to Improve the Quality of the Educational Climate Cristian Stan and Ioana Elena Beldean-Galea Chapter Fourteen ..................................................................................... 126 Mathematics: Processes – Results – Applications Teodor Dumitru Valcan Chapter Fifteen ........................................................................................ 136 School and Professional Orientation Factors during Adolescence Maria Claudia Cuc and Simona Macarie Chapter Sixteen ....................................................................................... 148 “Open Studio Model”: Process of Artist’s Creation for Developing Learning Abilities in Primary School Children Anat Heller

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Chapter Seventeen ................................................................................... 156 The Influence of a Teacher Training Program on the Classroom Climate Ramona Iulia Herman Chapter Eighteen ..................................................................................... 168 The Development of Role Perception in the Framework of an Aerobic Dance and Body Program Michal Zaltsman Chapter Nineteen ..................................................................................... 178 The Inclusive School: The School of the Third Millennium Adriana Denisa Manea and Cristian Stan Chapter Twenty ....................................................................................... 185 How Flowers Drink Water: An Introduction to Scientific Inquiry in Early Childhood Classrooms Diana Anghel Chapter Twenty One................................................................................ 195 The Impact of the Programme “The Voice of the Other” Zahava Barkani and Musata Bocos Chapter Twenty Two ............................................................................... 203 Aspects Related to the Implementation of Sustainable Development Issues in Romanian Pre-primary and Primary Education Gabriel Gorghiu, Ana-Maria Suduc and Mihai Bizoi Chapter Twenty Three ............................................................................. 211 Contextual Factors of Learning: The Influence of Music in Primary School Students’ Learning Process Ionut-Dorin Stanciu and Anca-Georgiana Simion Chapter Twenty Four ............................................................................... 221 The Phenomenon of Migration: Social-Educational and Religious Dimensions Ramona Radut-Taciu and Ilie Radut-Taciu Chapter Twenty Five ............................................................................... 227 Internet Use: A Challenge for Education Ciprian Baciu and Cristina Baciu

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Chapter Twenty Six ................................................................................. 232 Factors Influencing Teachers’ Attitudes regarding the Inclusion of Children with Mild and Moderate Disabilities Ana-Maria Baiescu Chapter Twenty Seven............................................................................. 240 Paradigms of Contemporary Education: Guidelines and Trends Ioana-Aurelia Axentii and Victor Axentii Chapter Twenty Eight.............................................................................. 248 Inclusive Problems and Prospects in Education in the Republic of Moldova Maria Barbă Part 2: Theoretical and Practical Developments in the School Curriculum Chapter Twenty Nine .............................................................................. 258 Through the Path of Value “A Key to the Heart” and “Heart to Heart”: Innovative Programmes in the Social-Value-Related Curriculum in Israel Hinanit Loyfer Peled Chapter Thirty ......................................................................................... 270 Blogging: From a Personal Experience to a Space of Collaborative Learning Constantina Catalano Chapter Thirty One .................................................................................. 277 Curriculum in Greek Primary Schools: Ideological and Didactic Dimensions Ioannis Fykaris and Vassileios Zagkotas Chapter Thirty Two ................................................................................. 284 Contemporary Approaches to Competence-based Curriculum Design Daniel Andronache Chapter Thirty Three ............................................................................... 297 Classroom Management Competences Based Programme Alina Boja

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Chapter Thirty Four ................................................................................. 306 Adapting the Educational Process to the Level of Public/Mainstream School Integration of the Children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) Anca-Maria Mărginean Chapter Thirty Five ................................................................................. 313 Introducing a New Method of Developing Functional Communication in Children with Autism: Language and Communication Stimulation Method in Autism (LCSMA) Claudia Crisan Chapter Thirty Six ................................................................................... 323 Curriculum Development in Preschool Education: A Comparative Perspective – Germany and Romania Alexandra Bolboaca Chapter Thirty Seven ............................................................................... 331 Developing Literacy Skills in Kindergartens by Using Computer Programmes Warda Sada Gerges Chapter Thirty Eight ................................................................................ 343 The Role of Mediation in Developing Students’ Motivation for Learning: Training Programs for Teachers Delia Muste Chapter Thirty Nine ................................................................................. 357 How Can We Improve Body Posture and Quality of Life? Iris Gil and Musata Bocos Chapter Forty ........................................................................................... 367 The “Winning Couple” Program for Young Children in Israel: Body– Mind Coping Skills for Stress Reduction and Enhancing Resilience Meirav Tal-Margalit and Judith Spanglet Chapter Forty One ................................................................................... 381 Teaching Sex Education to Girls in Arab Society in Eastern Jerusalem Rula Kurd Badarneh

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Part 3: Contemporary Trends in Didactic Methodology Chapter Forty Two .................................................................................. 394 The Dynamic of Differentiated Teaching as a Contemporary Instructive Prospect Ioannis Fykaris and Polyxeni Mitsi Chapter Forty Three ................................................................................ 401 Approaching Differentiated Instruction via Alternative Teaching Applications through Fairytale and Information Communication Technology in Primary Education Ioannis Fykaris, Ioanna Giannakou, Konstantina Kitsiou, Aikaterini Mitraki and Ioanna Paraskeva Chapter Forty Four .................................................................................. 410 Integrated Didactic Activities Design: An Operational Model Vasile Chis, Olga Chis and Musata Bocos Chapter Forty Five ................................................................................... 427 The Classroom Used as a Stage: Teaching Spanish Grammar through Drama Activities Alin Titi Calin Chapter Forty Six .................................................................................... 434 The Complementary Methodological Relation between Moral and Aesthetic Education Cristian Stan Chapter Forty Seven ................................................................................ 443 Investigation of Several Dimensions in Teaching and Learning: IWB Omer Cakiroglu Chapter Forty Eight ................................................................................. 453 Strategies for the Development of Mathematical Abilities (Conceptual Understanding, Procedural Knowledge and Solving Problems) Maria-Cristina Truta Chapter Forty Nine .................................................................................. 462 Contribution of an Informational Platform to Optimizing of Teaching and Learning of Sciences Viorel Dragos

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Chapter Fifty............................................................................................ 471 Methods and Techniques Used in the Activity of Forming the Mathematical Representations at Preschool Age Emilia Circeie Chapter Fifty One .................................................................................... 484 Art Education as a Strategy for Developing Cognitive Abilities in Young Children Miki Kuffler Yair Chapter Fifty Two ................................................................................... 491 Individual Studying among High School Students: A Diagnostic Study Dana Jucan Chapter Fifty Three ................................................................................. 499 Multiple Intervention as a Strategy for Promoting Preschool Children Development Yeshayahu Bick Chapter Fifty Four ................................................................................... 508 Memories Do Not Freeze: Autobiography Program – A Personal Journey Empowering Arab Female Students Dorit Dror Hadar Part 4: Systems, Projects and Practical Approaches to Didactic Evaluation Chapter Fifty Five.................................................................................... 516 Integration of Dynamic Assessment Procedures in First Grade English Elementary Classroom: An Action Research Case Study Diana Cojocnean Chapter Fifty Six ..................................................................................... 534 Methods of Evaluation in Project-Based Learning Adina Glava

PART 1: THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL RECONSIDERATIONS IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: FOCUS ON CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH

CHAPTER ONE DEBATES ON THE EDUCATIONAL IDEAL IN CONTEMPORARY PEDAGOGY VASILE CHIS, OLGA CHIS AND MUSATA BOCOS BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: The educational ideal, the finality of the utmost generality and synthesis of the whole educational system in Romania, has been defined in the National Education law, in the following terms: “the educational ideal of the Romanian school consists of the development and formation of free, full and harmonious human individuality and personality in a system of values, that are necessary for the fulfilment and personal development, entrepreneurship development, for active citizenship, participation in society, social inclusion and employability on the labour market” (National Education Law No. 1/2011 article 2.3).

Keywords: educational ideal, education system in Romania, principles governing the education system, lifelong learning According to the text quoted above, the educational ideal can be synthesized by designing a desirable personality portrait of the contemporary Romanian citizen, namely: x free, full and harmonious personality; x autonomous personality, driven by a system of values, such as personal, civic, social and professional values. Thus, the educational ideal defined by the National Education Law expects the future adult to be completely trained, to be prepared for a full psychosocial adaptation and social insertion. The educational ideal of the

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Romanian school system does not only refer to the inner perfection of personality. It also takes into account ensuring the vocational educational process. The National Education Law stipulates that it is the responsibility of society to provide the framework for the development of human personality, because individuals should be trained to engage in a creative manner in social development and to contribute actively to ensuring progress in the cultural, economic, scientific and technical fields. The question that arises here is whether the content and the recently defined meanings of the educational ideal can provide guidance for access to education for disadvantaged groups and whether it proposes flexible structures of education and training, learning experiences adapted to the diversity of needs and educational opportunities. In our opinion, the way the educational ideal is defined fails to overcome fully the spirit of maintaining traditional phrases (for example, full and harmonious personality). We believe that the educational ideal does not imply flexible approaches in the educational system or in contemporary pedagogy. Any list of traits attached to a desirable personality drives by default (but also explicitly) the trend of homogenization of educational society members and of the educational practices of exclusion and discrimination. Recent works (such as Siegel, 1997) reconsider the concept of an educational ideal. Siegel switches to broader categories of educational philosophy: rationality, critical thinking and multiculturalism. The same perspective is met in the approaches of university pedagogy. For example, at the Danube Rectors’ Conference, organized in Novi Sad, Heinrich Kern pointed out that the Humboldtian educational ideal is that universities should be “neutral”, free from any ideological influences or private interests (http://www.drc-danube.org/). Wijnad Mijnhardt (2010) explains that the Dutch society considers that the educational ideal is represented by the “new citizen”. This ideal was founded by the US Declaration of Independence in 1776 (“the preservation of life, liberty and happiness of every citizen”). Soon, the newly defined ideal was propagated in all francophone cultures as well as in Britain and the USA. The question addressed to the educational ideal analysts is: Were all citizens equal and able to ensure personal happiness? Or, in other words, who was included as a citizen and who was excluded? De Jong and Braster (in Waldorf and Pickering, 1998) noted that, until late in the eighteenth century, Dutch society made a distinction between populus,

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meaning a privileged, important person, and multitudo, meaning an uncontrollable mass of people that had nothing to lose. The decline of the Dutch Republic in the 1970s led to the conclusion that development of the country was possible, only if there was a certain level of intellectual and moral training provided for everyone. Thus, the population defined before as multitude should become an important category in society. The concepts of citizen and citizenship had, for Dutch society and for other European communities of the eighteenth century, a strong inclusive meaning. Even if once they were considered unworthy of notice, individuals began to be educated; following objectives of the educational system which are still current: x Every member of society is a human being and a citizen. The first important thing to know is the national language of the country. x Everyone needs to know how to communicate his thoughts in writing. x All citizens must be sufficiently prepared in arithmetic calculation, to manage their own affairs. x Each person must be aware of their obligations towards the deity. x Each person must be prepared regarding the laws governing society and act as a good citizen. The document mentioned above reveals an inclusive educational concept for a very advanced world of the eighteenth century: it is the will of the people that Dutch education, in its civic, moral, scientific, artistic and various practical skills, is accessible to all. Recent studies note that the focus on the educational ideal includes the heritage of the ancient world, then the influence of classic humanism. In modern society it seems impossible to apply the dynamics and diversity of modalities and values to the education levels and features of contemporary schools. On the basis of comparisons between educational systems, we believe that the educational ideal is a concept with limited applicability. For example, alternative education, inclusive or special structures all promote non-traditional educational methods, emphasizing a different educational ideal. We find that the educational ideal is no longer part of the foreground in education. In Australia, the United States, England etc. the place of the ideal goals of education is taken by specific groups. For example, education in England is facing consolidation of values, meaning important values for optimal development of society and of the school. There are four groups of values that inspire the school curriculum and learning

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experiences: the self, the other, interpersonal relations, society and the environment (National Curriculum, 2004). These proposed values enrich the diversity of young generations, provide choices and respond to the needs and educational opportunities for all students. In our opinion, these values structure the background, which ensure opportunities for social inclusion and implementation of professional development, necessary for the rewording of the educational ideal. This framework is complemented by the inclusion in the same document, under the set of principles governing the education system and of lifelong learning, of the following non-discriminative principles that facilitate school inclusion: x the equity principle – under which access to learning is achieved without discrimination; x the principle of guaranteeing all citizens’ cultural identity and intercultural dialogue; x the principle of recognition of the rights of persons belonging to national minorities, their right to preserve, develop and express their ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity; x the principle of ensuring equality of opportunity; x the principle of school and social inclusion. Principles and value commitments at the national level have been largely adopted through legislative documents and have been applied in educational establishments through programmes conducted to serve disadvantaged communities. The reflections mentioned above suggest that the Romanian education system needs to be reconsidered by providing specific values that foster educational inclusion.

References De Jong, M-J., Braster, J. (1998), Educating for social cohesion in a pluralist society, in Waldorf, G., Pickering, W.S.F. (1998), Durkheim and modern education, London and New York: Routledge Heinrich, K. (2010), Humboldt’s educational ideal and modern academic education, 26th Annual Meeting of the Danube Rectors Conference, Novi Sad, Serbia.

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Mijnhardt, W. (2010), Urbanization, culture and the Dutch origins of the European enlightenment. BMGN – The low countries historical review, (125), 141-177 National Curriculum (2004). The National Curriculum: handbook for secondary teachers in England: Key stages 3 and 4. Revised ed. London: Department for Education and Skills; Qaulifications and Curriculum Authority. National Education Law (Law No. 1, 2011), Monitorul Oficial No. 18, 10 January 2011 Păun, E. (1999), ùcoala – o abordare sociopedagogică. Iaúi: Editura Polirom Siegel, H. (1997), Rationality redeemed?: further dialogues on an educational ideal. Routledge. Sjaak, B. (2011), The people, the poor, and the oppressed: the concept of popular education through time, Paedagogica Historica 47(1–2), 1–14

CHAPTER TWO A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF PRIVATE EDUCATION: INSTITUTES OF SCIENCE EDUCATION IN TURKEY OMER CAKIROGLU ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY - ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Abstract: The present study is conducted at 2 primary public schools and 4 Private Education Institutes (PEI) in Istanbul, Turkey. The participants in this study were 300 students attending 8th grade. Students’ attitudes are investigated during the science education classes held in the public schools and PEIs. The questionnaire administered to participants had 33 questions about overall assessment for the force topic in the science lesson. Qualitative data were also collected. The results are evaluated quantitatively using SPSS. Results indicated a Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient ranging from 0.713 to 0.821. Contributions of the PIE in elementary science are examined. Keywords: Private Education Institutes, qualitative, science education

Introduction Originally Private Education began as a tutoring activity (Private Schooling; Carpenter & Kafer, 2012). This system has gradually evolved into the concept of a special classroom (Kennedy, 2011). The system has evolved in time and formed the Private Education Institution (PEI) (Buyukbas, 1997). Turkey places great emphasis on the idea that education may improve peoples’ lives. The current context (the examination system, the rapid population growth, the unemployment rate) sustains this approach. Because high schools and universities started to

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accept students through a central examination system, these contributed to PEI’s rapid growth (Tansel & Bircan 2005; meb.gov, 2012). In Turkey, PEIs function as an additional component of schools. PEIs are official institutions. However, they are not authorized to offer diplomas. They are very common in the Far East, as in Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. PEI has different names in different countries. The most widely known are “yobiko” in Japan (Tsukada, 1988), “cram school” in Taiwan and South Korea (Yang, 2012; Basturk & Dogan, 2011), “shadow school” in the USA (Ozoglu, 2011). The goals of these schools are to help students to pass high school or university examinations. The common feature of all PEIs is that they rank students better. Turkey is one of the countries that needs PEIs (Gok, 2006; Ozoglu, 2011). The numbers of students and PEIs have increased gradually in the last years (see Figs 2-1 and 2-2). The PEIs prepare students for high school and university entrance exams and provide support for common lessons and vocational courses.

Fig. 2-1. Number of PEIs in Turkey (egitimekrani.com).

Fig. 2-2. The number of students in PEIs (egitimekrani.com).

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Fig. 2-3. Disciplines in the SBS exams in Turkey (meb, 2012).

Among them, the most prominent ones are university and high school entrance preparation courses (Basturk & Dogan, 2010, Figs 1 & 2). The common feature of these two examinations is that they contain multiplechoice tests. Since the curriculum and the education system are not conducive to learning, PEIs compensate for the lack of preparation for the examination process. PEIs are also available in other countries with nearly similar characteristics (Ozoglu, 2011; Turkay, 2013). In the last four years, according to the results of the SBS exam, Mathematics and Science scores have been inadequate in Turkey (see Fig. 2-3). Students’ attitude towards science education can be found in the available literature on the comparison of science education in schools and PEIs (Chin & Brown, 2000; Tsai & Kuo, 2008). This study investigated eighth grade students’ attitudes towards science education in public schools and PEIs in Istanbul Province, Turkey.

Purpose of the study Different studies about PEIs are available in the literature (Bray, 2010; Basturk & Dogan, 2010; Claudia, Condron, & Roscigno, 2010; Yang, 2012; Turkay, 2013). Research on Science education and contributions in the PEIs could not be found. This study has targeted a) the function and

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purpose of PEIs, b) the attitude of the participants towards formal school teaching and PEIs, c) the perception of the participants concerning formal science education in schools and PEIs, d) the attitude of students towards science education in the formal secondary schools as opposed to PEIs.

Methodology The qualitative study was based on a survey. The study targeted different stages: the development of an attitude scale, data collection and data analysis.

Participants The questionnaires were administered to 150 eighth grade students from three state schools and to 150 students from four PEIs. Schools and PEIs were randomly selected. The number of male and female participants is almost the same.

Data Collection The participants answered several questions: five questions targeted the students’ reasons for attending PEIs, eleven questions targeted the catalytic effects in science education as opposed to PEIs, ten questions reflected on the students’ social and personal development within PEIs, and seven questions targeted the general science education in PEIs. The used language was Turkish.

Instrument Development Initially, the survey questions aimed to investigate the students’ attitudes on science education in schools and PEIs. The questionnaires were applied after getting an expert opinion. The questions were applied to participants from schools in the same conditions and at the same time intervals. At PEI the questions were applied after explaining the subjects for 12 hours. After the data were collected, the results were converted to five level Likert scales and grouped as: Strongly Disagree + Disagree=DA, Agree+ Strongly Agree=A.

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Data Analysis SPSS 16 was used for analysing the data. Standard deviation, frequency, arithmetic mean and percentages were calculated for each question.

Results Students had to answer 33 questions that are indicated in Table 2-1 below. These questions targeted 1) the students’ reasons for attending PEIs, 2) the contribution of science education to students attending PEIs, 3) the contribution of schools to the personal development of the students, and 4) the comparison of science education delivered in schools as opposed to PEIs. Students reported that it is a tradition to go to PEIs in order to obtain higher scores at the central test exams. PEIs improve students’ personal and social skills. Participants responded that science education in PEIs is perceived better than in formal schools (Ministry of Education, 2006; Tansel & Bircan, 2008; Tsai, & Kuo, 2008). Table 2-1. Students’ attitudes about PEIs Į=,821 N=300 % of students Agreeing/Disagreeing with each statement M Q Statements Students’ reasons for going to PEIs 1 It is a tradition to go to PEI in Turkey 1.37 2 I started with my parents’ force to PEI 1.40 3 Since my school is inadequate for preparing the test exam, so 1.11 I attend to PEI 4 If a student does not attend to PEI, it is very difficult to be 1.26 successful in test exams in the existing system 5 As long as the current education system exists in Turkey, 1.18 PEI will maintain the importance. Į=,71 PEI ……… in science courses 6 increases my motivation, and willing 1.10 7 makes lesson more interesting 1.19 8 helps me grasp concepts of topics 1.42 9 makes me more contribute, competitor, argumentative and 1.34 participant 10 makes me creative and generate 1.38 11 makes me more concentrate on lesson 1.21 12 makes teacher and student more interactive 1.10 13 makes lesson more enjoyable, fun and game-like 1.19 14 makes instant feedback between student and teacher 1.19 15 makes learning easier and without stress 1.20 16 makes reviewing the past subjects 1.19

SD

A

DA

.48 63.0 .49 60.3

36.9 39.7

.31 89.1

10.8

.43 74.3

25.6

.38 82.3

17.7

.39 89.7 .39 80.7 .47 58.3

10.2 19.2 41.6

.47 66.3

33.6

.48 .40 .39 .39 .39 .40 .39

37.6 20.9 13.6 09.2 11.6 19.9 19.2

62.3 79.0 86.3 90.7 88.3 80.0 80.7

12

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Chapter Two Į=,801; PEI improves my…….better than school personal skills critical skills social skills presentation skills practical thinking different teaching/learning styles test experiences test technique accelerates my learning increase my exam scores Į=,79; General overview of education in the PEI Science teaching in PEI is more qualified than school Science teachers in PEI are more experienced than schools Test documents in PEI are more various and useful than in school The topics in the curriculum are explained in more details at PEI than schools. Science teaching in school based on memorizations, whereas in PEI, it is based on the concepts and logic Since freedom of speech is much better in private course school, I have better chance to express myself. There is no difference in the education between schools and PEI

1.24 1.21 1.32 1.29 1.35 1.26 1.14 1.19 1.23 1.23

.43 .40 .47 .45 .47 .43 .35 3.7 .42 .42

75.7 79.3 68.3 70.7 64.7 74.0 88.3 86.7 76.7 77.8

24.3 20.7 31.7 29.3 35.3 26.0 11.6 13.2 23.2 22.1

1.29 1.22 1.33

.45 74.3 .41 77.8 .47 67.1

25.6 22.1 32.8

1.71

.45 70.6

29.3

1.39

.48 61.1

38.8

1.34

.47 69.3

30.6

1.21

.40 78.8

21.1

Findings and discussions PEIs are an alternative solution for reinforcing and preparing students for exams in order to improve their success. The perceptions of students about PEIs were investigated according to several aspects. The first area of interest targets the students’ general attitudes towards PEIs (questions 1 to 5 (Į=0.821)). These attitudes are strongly positive as seen in Table 2-1 (especially Q3, which has the highest average (A: 89.1%)). According to the responses provided by the participants, PEIs have various positive effects on the education of students. In Mathematics and Science participants provided the lowest number of correct answers as compared to other main core disciplines such as Turkish and Social Studies. PEIs play an important role in increasing knowledge about Science. In the second area of interest, the positive scores were very high, especially for Q13 (90.7%) that had the highest value. The findings are presented in Table 21. PEIs had positive roles in improving the students’ personality and their social development. According to participants’ responses, the highest score is obtained for Q23 (88.3%). According to the findings, we acknowledge that the most important goal of PEIs is to prepare students

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for test examinations such as high school entrance exams. Therefore, the teacher’s role in education has been proven to be extremely important. In our opinion, the establishment of PEIs represents an evidence of the poor quality of education in formal schools. Several factor can accounted for this influence: intensive curriculums, examination systems, fear of the future. Likewise, PEIs are complementary to formal schools.

Conclusion The purpose of this study resided in investigating education and science education in schools and in PEIs. The survey questions intended to examine the PEI contribution to science education, while analysing the pool data. The findings demonstrate that PEIs have contributed significantly to improving education and Science courses, and high school entrance exams rates. According to participants, education and Science courses in schools are inadequate for high school entrance exams. It has become a necessity to attend PEIs if students intend to be familiarized with different testing techniques and to improve their chances for entrance exams. According to the participants, PEIs positively affects students’ social and personal development skills. Participants claim that teachers are more experienced in PEIs as opposed to formal schools. PEIs are complementary to formal schools in Turkey.

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the University of Istanbul, Scientific Research Centre (BAB) for the support that has been provided. Project No: UDP33398.

References Basturk, S., and Dogan, S. (2010), Investigating high school teachers’ views on cram school, International Journal of Human Sciences 7(2), 135–157 Basturk, S, and Dogan S. (2011), Evaluations of cram school mathematics teachers on cram schools, International Journal of Educational Research 2(3) Bray, M. (2010), Researching shadow education: methodological challenges and directions,’ Asia Pacific Education Review 11, 3–13 Buyukbas, N. (1997), Private courses and aims of the Turkish education system, Journal of Contemporary Education 229, 23–25

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Carpenter, D., and Kafer, K. (2012), A history of private school Peabody, Journal of Education 87(3) Chin, C., and Brown, D. E. (2000), Learning in science: a comparison of deep and surface approaches, Journal of Research in Science Teaching 37, 109–138 Cladia, B., Condron, D., and Roscigno,V. (2010), Shadow education, American style: test preparation, the SAT and college enrolment, Social Forces 89(2), 435–461 Gok, F. (2006), Üniversiteye Giriste Umut PazarÕ: Özel Dershaneler (Expectations Market in the Entrance to Universities: Private Tutoring Centres), Egitim, Bilim, Toplum 8, 102–109 Kennedy, R. (2011), A timeline of private school events and history, Private School Review, www.privateschoolreview.com KÕral, B., and KÕral, E. (2009), Comparison of primary education system in Turkey and Japan, Dicle Üniversitesi Ziya Gökalp E÷itim Fakültesi Dergisi 12, 53–65 Ministry of Education (2006), General Directorate of Teacher Training, General Qualifications of the Teaching Profession, http//oyegm.meb.gov.tr Ozoglu, M. (2011), Private education institutions: facing the shadow education system, Seta Analysis 26 Private schooling – what is a private school? History of private schools in the United States, http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2334/Private-Schooling. html Tansel, A., and Bircan, F. (2005), Effect of private tutoring on university entrance examination performance in Turkey, Economic Research Forum WP No. 0407, Cairo, Egypt and IZA Discussion Paper No. 1609, 1–43 Tansel, A., and Bircan, F. (2008), Private supplementary tutoring in Turkey, recent evidence on its various aspects, Social Science Research, 1–43 Tsai, C.-C., and Kuo, P.-C. (2008), Cram school students’ conceptions of learning and learning science in Taiwan, International Journal of Science Education 30(3), 351–373 Tsukada, M. (1988), Institutionalised supplementary education in Japan: the Yobiko and Ronin student adaptations, Journal Articles; Reports Descriptive 24(3), 285–303 Turkay, N. T. (2013), The shadow education system: private courses, International Journal of Social Science and Education 3(3), 619–634

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Yang, H.-M. G. (2012), Cram schools in Taiwan, Supplementing Education http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/utef20 www.egitimekrani.com/haber.php?haber_id=42305,2013 www.meb.gov.tr/sinavlar/dokumanlar/2012/SBS_SayisalBilgiler/ogS_sayisal

CHAPTER THREE INVESTIGATING HUMAN RIGHTS IN CONTEMPORARY GREEK LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS IN PRIMARY EDUCATION IOANNIS FYKARIS, ELENI PRAMANTIOTI AND LITO-VERA FOUKI UNIVERSITY OF IOANNINA – IOANNINA, GREECE

Abstract: The European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission solemnly proclaimed the “Charter of fundamental rights” of the European Union. These rights were made for every living human in the European Union to follow and obey. The textbooks for Contemporary Greek Language embody this set of values and attempt indirectly to promote them. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the textbooks used to teach Contemporary Greek Language in Elementary School in order to assess their contribution to the education and promotion of human rights.

Keywords: human rights, Greek language textbooks, primary school

1. Human Rights Education in Primary Schools It is a historical fact that consistent denial of human rights1 leads to socio-political conflicts that damage relationships between members of the same society and of the wider community (United Nations, 1980). The same consequences can be seen in educational practice. It is evident that teaching Human Rights (HR) can be the benchmark of education. We believe that adults will be able to understand HR only if children develop HR awareness of each individual’s rights. Human Rights Education2 should be part of the school’s culture and curriculum. EHR can constitute 1 2

From now on, human rights will be referred to as HR. From now on, Human Rights Education will be referred to as EHR.

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a fundamental core which will create a conscious society, as its principles are based on dignity, tolerance and peace (Flowers, 2004). Its goal is “to develop understanding of mutual responsibility in making HR a reality in every community at large. It contributes to longterm prevention of HR violations, promotion of equality and sustainable development and to increase participation in processes of making decisions in a democratic system” (United Nations, 2005). The new social reality raises major theoretical shifts and leads to changes within the educational systems, which can be described as follows: I. School’s functional relationship within the community in the way “people can stand towards life”. II. Formation and cultivation of national identity via an ethnocentric perspective. However, education is called to fulfil a diametrically opposite goal: to reduce, if not to eliminate nationalism and ethnocentrism and promote respect for difference. Owing to the fact that circumstances are different in each country and region, teachers have used many different tactics to integrate HR into their curriculum. The formation and implementation of educational programs as well as continuous development represent basic criteria of EHR. An educational programme needs to target the following objectives: I. HR knowledge, based on information and understanding of HR categories, international legal texts, democratic function and the role of the citizen. Students do not learn concepts out of context and their knowledge is associated with their life experiences. In other words, the school enables the transmission of knowledge through HR. II. Skills for action development in order to protect and promote HR, such as expression, resistance to peer and group pressure, refusing guilty of silence and eventually a “culture of silence” (Mayo, 2008). III. Building HR culture that reflects the values in teaching and learning methods, in teachers’ and students’ relationships. To achieve Teaching Human Rights3 in primary education the following methods can be used. The most appropriate teaching method involves the use of debate, acting, singing, dance, writing and talking and generally whatever helps individuals to develop. Another method is the project, in which students have the opportunity to take the initiative and develop freedom of action, cultivate critical ability, develop an independent personality and the ability to intervene efficiently. An alternative method is role play, in which students can either take on roles or operate in simulated environments in order to “develop and practice their ability of action and decision-making in situations which are 3

From now on Teaching Human Rights will be referred to as THR.

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discharged of tension despite being similar to those in real life” (Flechsig, 1996, pp. 200–212). Finally, the method of the argument can be applied to school learning processes. This method refers to the classic academic verbal confrontation. In Articles 26 and 28 of the Declaration of HR, EHR is the first right which leads to individual development. According to EHR, creating attitudes is the most important knowledge. EHR is not a panacea for human sufferings. However, EHR provides tools for conflict resolution and support so as to achieve peace among nations and people. A basic element of EHR that needs to be examined is represented by textbooks. One of their main functions is to present students with reality, to activate learning motivation and socialization. They contribute to ameliorating the presentation of reality, offering educational assistance in order to implement projects, augmenting the mobilization of student learning and evaluating educational process (Kapsalis-Charalambous, 1995, pp. 127–147). HR can be taught within each course, as EHR needs to introduce a new dimension in education that should be present in each course. Among the courses offered for THR is the Contemporary Greek Language4 course which covers nearly 50% of the total teaching hours (more in first and second grades). CGL’s main purpose is to help students absorb CGL’s wealth and mechanisms so as to facilitate both their spiritual formation and effective communication with the environment. Through the study of texts found in textbooks, students’ perception of cultural evolution and respect for other people is strengthened. Finally, it is noted that the History course, the Religious Education course, “Emeis kai o kosmos (Physical Education)” course and Social and Political Education course contribute to THR, as they provide information which sustains EHR and children’s rights.

2. Area of investigation, Methodology, Aim and Bias of research The main purpose of this research is to investigate CGL textbooks from Primary Education. We intend to approach the issue of HR and theoretical evaluation of HR’s contribution in education. Furthermore, a correspondence of HR references in textbooks and in Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union it is expected to be identified. The main objective is to investigate the contribution of textbooks in 4

From now on, Contemporary Greek Language will be referred to as CGL.

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updating students about HR. More specifically, we have studied the dimension of direct and indirect HR references. Our investigation resources are represented by the CGL textbooks targeting the fourth, fifth and sixth grades. The analysis technique used in this study is the content analysis. According to Berelson (1952, pp. 114–146), content analysis is a research technique suitable for objective, systematic and quantitative description of the contents of written and oral communication. The unit of analysis (before being classified for material indexing) is the topic (through words and phrases in the text), which is considered the most appropriate unit of analysis when it comes to study attitudes, values and rights. Content analysis is based on correct, suitable and specifically adapted categories of choice. Berelson has indicated that there are those categories that examine “what is being told” and those that examine “how it is being told”. This research is about those categories that investigate “what is being told” and have been formed as follows: First Category: Dignity (Articles 1–5), Second Category: Freedoms (Articles 6–19), Third Category: Equality (Articles 20–26), Fourth Category: Solidarity (Articles 27–38), Fifth Category: Citizens’ Rights (Articles 39–46), Sixth Category: Justice (Articles 47–50).

3. Results Having analysed all the texts from textbooks we have obtained the following results: for the fourth grade, the first is the Freedoms Category with 47.45% with the other categories being Equality (21.34%), Solidarity (14.01%), Dignity (13.38%), Citizens’ Rights (3.82%) and Justice (0.00%). For the fifth grade the results are Freedoms (52.58%), Equality (22.90%), Dignity (15.16%), Solidarity (8.39%), Citizens’ Rights (0.97%) and Justice (0.00%). In the sixth grade, first comes Equality with 55.41% and the rest of categories follow: Equality (22.36%), Dignity (12.86%), Solidarity (6.01%), Citizens’ Rights (3.37%) and Justice (0.00%) (Table 31). Considering the total number of indexed words, the categories are classified as follows: first comes Freedoms with 51.39%, then Equality (21.98%), Dignity (13.44%), Solidarity (9.98%), Citizens’ Rights (3.21%) and Justice (0.00%) (Table 3-2).

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Table 3-1. Categories Dignity Freedoms Equality Solidarity Citizens’ Rights Justice

Third Grade 13.38% 47.45% 21.34% 14.01% 3.82% 0.00%

Percentages Fifth Grade 15.16% 52.58% 22.90% 8.39% 0.97% 0.00%

Sixth Grade 12.86% 55.41% 22.36% 6.01% 3.37% 0.00%

Table 3-2. Categories Dignity Freedoms Equality

Percentages 13.44% 51.39% 21.98%

Categories Solidarity Citizens’ Rights Justice

Percentages 9.98% 3.21% 0.00%

More specifically, the articles presented in textbooks target human dignity, right to life, right to the integrity of the person, prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, prohibition of slavery and forced labour, right to liberty and security, respect for private and family life, right to marry and right to found a family, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and information, freedom of assembly and association, freedom of the arts and sciences, right to education, freedom to choose an occupation and right to engage in work, freedom to conduct a business, right to property, right to asylum, equality before the law, non-discrimination, cultural, religious and linguistic diversity, equality between men and women, rights of the child, rights of the elderly, integration of people with disabilities, fair and just working conditions, prohibition of child labour and protection of young people at work, family and professional life, social security and social assistance, health care, environmental protection, right to vote and to stand as a candidate at municipal elections and freedom of movement and residence. Furthermore, it is noted that protection of personal data, protection in the event of removal, expulsion or extradition, workers’ right to information and consultation within the undertaking, right of collective bargaining and action, right of access to placement services, protection in the event of unjustified dismissal, access to services of general economic interest, consumer protection, right to vote and to stand as a candidate at elections to the European Parliament, right to good administration, right of access to

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documents, ombudsman, right to petition, diplomatic and consular protection, right to an effective and fair trial, presumption of innocence and right of defence, principles of legality and proportionality of criminal offences and penalties and right not to be tried or punished twice in criminal proceedings for the same criminal offence are not detected in the negotiating texts. Having analysed every textbook targeting different grades, the total quantitative estimation shows that the right to education is the dominant right (10.46%). This article occupies the first position in the fourth and sixth grade, whereas in the fifth grade it is situated some positions further back in classification standings. Probably, students in the fourth grade are deemed to be at an ideal age for understanding and exercising their right to act in school life. The rights of the child occupy the second position in all three grades (10.08%). Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (8.16%), freedom of expression and information (7.39%) and freedom of the arts and sciences (6.05%) follow (Table 3-3): Table 3-3. Article 14 24 10

Percentage of direct references 10.46% 10.08% 8.16%

Article 11 13

Percentage of direct references 7.39% 6.72%

Both the number of indexed words and the way in which HR are presented in CGL textbooks prove a quite satisfactory HR presence, a prominent position of the right to education, a sufficient reference to solidarity rights and finally, a cultivation in respect and tolerance, as students’ respect towards HR is reinforced, while fundamental values such as understanding, friendship, peace, love and brotherhood are promoted. Concrete concepts of life goods, such as life itself, freedom, law, the right to education and literacy, culture, peace, information and art are projected. Furthermore, equality, freedom of opinion, expression and religion, assembly and association, elimination of discrimination, statements rejection and condemnation are accentuated. Notable contemporary problems – both social and ecological – are projected, creating this way a fertile environment of debate and prompting students in understanding the importance of struggling for HR. A characteristic feature in all examined textbooks is the presentation of conflicts’ impact on human beings and society itself. These references

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tend to create an anti-war climate, demonstrating values and virtues, which are necessary to be adopted by students: compassion, love, solidarity, brotherhood, cooperation and diversity acceptance. In addition, the presence of children’s rights and parental responsibilities visualize parents’ position in a child’s life. In most cases, mothers take care of their children, because the father’s image is not specified. However, despite the Charter’s recommendations, state and public authorities are not shown as assisting in the exercise of parental responsibility. A marked impression is formed for the right to education, both as providing unhindered access and having a mandatory character in textbooks. Thus, discrepancies between the Charter and textbooks can be identified. In particular, state welfare in shaping vocational training is omitted. Freedom of expression, conscience and religion is widely noticed in texts, while children are able to express themselves without boundaries. References to religion lead to unconditional faith and opinion expression. Despite the fact that references about people with disabilities exist, their occupational integration and participation is not emphasized at all. Promotion of rights in an indirect way is important, as teachers are capable of leading students, through methodical questions, to reflection, critical response and acceptance of HR. THR objectives are achieved satisfactorily, as textbooks contribute in forming a field of interest in HR. It is not realistic to be alleged that each THR goal is fulfilled, since appropriate stimulation is not always present in educational surroundings. By building a virtuous environment, teachers can play an important role in EHR and along with contemporary textbooks, success is yet possible. Last but not least, it is necessary to stress that CGL textbooks are permeated with the spirit of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, as respect towards HR is enhanced at national, European and global levels.

References Andreopoulos, G., and Claude R. (1997), Human rights education for the twenty-first century. Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press Bajaj, M. (2011), Human rights education: ideology, location, and approaches, Human Rights Quarterly 33(2), 481–508 Bell, C. (2006), Libraries and human rights education, Catholic Library World 77(2), 112–120. Berelson, B. (1952), Content analysis in communication research, New York: Hafner Press.

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Flechsig, K. (1996). Kleines Handbuch didaktischer Modelle. Eichenzell: Neuland-Verlag für lebendiges Lernen Flowers, N. (2004), How to define human rights education? A complex answer to a simple question. In Georgi, V. & Seberich, M. (eds), International Perspectives in Human Rights Education. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann, pp. 105–128 Kapsalis, A. & Charalambous, D. (1995), School Textbooks: Institutional Evolution and Contemporary Problem. Athens: Ekfrasi (in Greek) Kilpatrick, W. (1918), The project method, Teachers College Record 19(4), 319–335 Knoll, M. (1997), The project method: Its vocational education origin and international development, Journal of Industrial Teacher Education 34(3), 59–80. Lenhart, V. (2006), Human rights pedagogy. Athens: Gutenberg McCowan, T. (2012), Human rights and citizenship education: repositioning the debate, Cambridge Journal of Education, 67–81. Mayo, P. (2008), Liberating praxis: Paulo Freire’s legacy for radical education and politics, Westport, Connecticut: Praeger; Rotterdam and Taipei: Sense. Osler A., and Starkey, H. (2010), Teachers and human rights education. Trentham Books Richards, J. & Rodgers, S. (1999), Approaches and methods in language teaching: a description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Torney, J. (1980), The social studies should include more discussion of international human rights, Social Education (May), 399–403 United Nations (1980), What are human rights? New York: United Nations United Nations General Assembly (2005), United Nations Revised draft plan of action for the first phase (2005–2007) of the World Programme for Human Rights Education, A/59/525, Rev.1. 3–5 Watson, J. S. (1999), Theory and reality in the international protection of human rights. Ardsley, NY: Transnational Publishers

CHAPTER FOUR PREPARATORY CLASSES IN THE ROMANIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: CHALLENGES AND SYNCOPES ION ALBULESCU AND MIRELA ALBULESCU BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: The introduction of the preparatory class in Romania (i.e. children starting school at the age of 6) raised countless controversies. This decision was based on two major arguments: 1) to offer a gradual, easy and pleasant transition from kindergarten to school and 2) to offer a better educational opportunity to children coming from disadvantaged social environments, especially those who did not attend kindergarten. The hastily implementation of this decision and, especially, the insufficient preparation for the conditions to provide good functioning generated critical reactions related to the optimum arrangement of the school areas, the pupils’ effort schedule, the curriculum and the teachers’ training. This article makes a brief analysis of the impact of curricular changes and the efficiency of teachers’ training in order to meet the prospective challenges of teaching in a preparatory class. Keywords: preparatory class in Romania, curricular changes, beginning of the instruction period

Introduction The stipulation of the Romanian Law of National Education (2011) according to which children begin school at the age of 6 with the preparatory class, raised a lot of controversies.1 According to the new 1

In the preparatory class may also be enrolled children who did not turn 6 at the beginning of the school year but will turn 6 during the first semester, if a board of specialists assess the psychosomatic development of the child as adequate.

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regulations, the fundamental reason for this measure was to provide early socialization, in an organized school environment, which is considered beneficial for the development of the child’s personality. In fact, starting school as early as age 6 is a common practice in several countries from the European Union. Those countries base their decisions on the consideration that children have a better evolution if they integrate in the school system earlier in life. The transition from kindergarten to school may sometimes be abrupt, difficult and even traumatizing for the child. This is the reason why the introduction of the preparatory class must provide a gradual and pleasant transition. On one hand, the preparatory class has the role of consolidating the knowledge, abilities and skills already acquired in kindergarten. On the other hand, it has the role of socialization and child adaptation to change. Moreover, the preparatory school will offer better educational opportunities to children coming from disadvantaged social environments, especially to those who did not attend kindergarten. The adaptation to school life norms and conditions and to the exigencies of the instruction process is more difficult for children who did not attend kindergarten. The lack of such experience is indicated by the subsequent school performance indicators. Yet, the preparatory class offers children the chance to develop in an organized environment which some of them might not have at home thus providing all children equal educational opportunities. The hastily implementation of this decision and, especially, the insufficient preparation for the conditions to provide good functioning, generated critical reactions, regarding the optimal arrangement of school areas, the pupils’ effort schedule, school hygiene, the curriculum and the teachers’ training.

Curricular challenges The preparatory class was effectively introduced in the Romanian education system as of the academic year 2012–2013. The curriculum for this class was published by the Ministry of Education a few months before the beginning of the school year, without a sufficient prior public debate and without the decision being submitted to the careful analysis of specialists in education. Such an analysis was all the more necessary because, on one hand, the Curriculum for the preparatory class represented a novelty for the teachers and, on the other, the said curriculum has to provide for continuity in the transition from preschool education to primary education. Such a transition is not easy to perform especially under the terms in which preschool education functions according to a

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certain type of curriculum and the school education according to another type of curriculum. Then we need to ask to what extent the curriculum for the preparatory class provides for such a transition under optimum conditions. One of the main challenges in the field of modern school education is curricular integration. In Romanian preschool education, the curriculum is one in which experiential domains are integrated; the preparatory class also has an integrated curriculum, as the disciplines that appear in the Framework Plan promote integrated teaching. Multidisciplinary curricular integration means the juxtaposition of diverse knowledge domains, sometimes without apparent relations between them. Experiential domains are true integrated cognitive fields which transcend the borders between disciplines and correspond to the traditional domains of preschool child development: the cognitive domain, the language domain, socio-emotional development and the psycho-motric domain. Teaching is mainly thematic, in other words; while teaching contents belong mainly to one domain, reference is made to knowledge or resources belonging to other domains. For example, in approaching the mathematical content “the number and figure 7” (the Science Domain) the teacher calls up literature – the story of Snow White and the seven dwarfs (the Domain of Language and Communication), music – the Dwarfs’ Dance (the psycho-motric domain), etc. Thus teaching in an integrated manner presumes the synthesizing and didactic organization of information from different domains with a view to the construction of an integrative vision of reality (Ciolan, 2008). The correlation of contents within the thematic teaching is an optimum solution for the harmonious development of the preschool child’s personality. In kindergarten, there is a freedom of decision related to the types of contents which the teachers offer the children and autonomy concerning their teaching methodology. In acquiring profound and solid knowledge, the qualitative gain is obvious: the children identify more easily the relations between notions, ideas and themes. Learning is anchored in real life contexts, present dayto-day matters, child-specific preoccupations and needs, presuming the harmonious articulation of the various aspects of knowledge and of the action in integrative nuclei like fundamental notions, themes and problems. For example, the activities developed by children in learning centres presume a juxtaposition of knowledge belonging to experiential domains more or less related to the aim of the achievement of a final synthesis. In the development of such activities the teacher starts from a theme (situation, problem) which pertains to several domains at the same time, and the suggested answers highlight its multiple facets.

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The framework plan for Romanian school education (grades 1–12) offers a solution for the integration of the knowledge which the pupils will gain by grouping the study disciplines into seven curricular areas: Language and communication, Mathematics and sciences, Man and society, Arts, Technology, Physical training and sports, Counselling and orientation. The curricular area represents a grouping of disciplines which share certain training objectives. At their level, contents integration aims at the establishment of close relations between elements like concepts, abilities, value belonging to certain distinct disciplines. According to the Framework Plan established by the Ministry of Education, the preparatory class will study the following disciplines: Communication in Romanian (the curricular area Language and Communication), Mathematics and environment exploration (curricular area Mathematics and sciences of nature), Education for society (curricular area Man and society), Religion (curricular area Man and society), Visual arts and Craftwork (curricular area Arts), Music and movement (curricular area Arts), Physical training (curricular area Health and motility), Personal development (curricular area Counselling and orientation). In the preparatory class and 1st and 2nd classes the discipline Visual arts and Craftwork is studied in an integrated manner with a single syllabus which cumulates the number of hours allocated for the disciplines Visual Arts (curricular area Arts) and Technological education (curricular area Technologies). In the framework plan for the preparatory class appear also disciplines which promote the integrated teaching of certain contents. Thus, the curricular areas Arts and Technologies were reunited into a single one, containing the discipline Visual Arts and Craftwork. Another integration intended to be achieved at the level of the discipline Mathematics and Environment exploration as it was considered that by the capitalization of the real contexts from the near environment, the mathematical concepts gain depth and concreteness for the children, becoming more easily accessible for them. Mathematics is combined with environment exploration. The authors of the syllabus justified the combination of mathematics with environment exploration by the fact that a holistic learning is much more interesting for the children. The fragmentation of the curriculum for the preparatory class into distinct study disciplines, just as it happens from the 1st class up to the high school classes, does not allow for integration at the interdisciplinary level. Or, the assimilation of multidisciplinarity with interdisciplinarity is an error as they represent methodological levels which are not reducible one to another (Resweber, 1981). The curriculum for the preparatory level, just like that for grades 1–12, stipulates the achievement of teaching and

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learning by study disciplines. Content integration consists of the interaction between two or more disciplines. So that this may be possible it is necessary to design and achieve the activities within the perspective of the connections which are possible and necessary between the discipline’s epistemology and its pedagogy. Such an approach attempts to merge the objectives, contents and proposed applications so that the barriers between the disciplines are transcended. The application of the curriculum to the preparatory level causes a series of concerns. Most of the teachers who teach at this level were selected from those who had previously taught at primary level. These teachers do not have sufficient knowledge of preschool curriculum to support the smooth transition of the children from one level of studies to another. Moreover, we may ask whether they managed to understand the exigencies of the new curriculum for the preparatory level in such a short time.

Teacher training Training teachers to teach at preparatory level was achieved in haste as it started not long before the beginning of the school year. The solution identified by the Ministry of Education was circumstantial as it offered teachers a special training programme which started during the summer holiday with brief face-to-face meetings and continued during the school year mainly online. Of course, it is only natural to ask whether such teacher training, done in haste and without prior methodical clarification, is sufficient. In order to see whether, according to the teachers’ opinion, the training which was provided for them was adequate and sufficient, between October and December 2012 we conducted an investigation based on a questionnaire. The investigation was performed with a random group of 74 teachers who taught in the city of Cluj-Napoca. In what follows we will introduce the structure of the group according to the teachers’ qualification and professional experience.

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Fig. 4-1. The structure by level of education

Fig. 4-2. The structure according to the continuous training of teachers

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Fig. 4-3. The structure according to the teaching experience of teachers

At preparatory level teachers have a different initial training. Most of them graduated in higher education studies, at the level of university degrees and master’s degrees, but there are quite a large number of teachers with secondary education, high school or post high school. As a matter of fact this situation is characteristic of the entire Romanian preschool and primary education system. Also, the teachers who teach at preparatory level are at various stages of professional training, both continuous training (didactic degrees obtained) and teaching experience assessed by the number of effective years of pedagogical practice in school. We took these realities into account when selecting our group of participants. The items of the questionnaire that applied to the teachers who teach at preparatory level were grouped into two categories. A first category of items sought their opinion concerning the training which was provided for them for the performance of the school activities with the pupils and the second category sought their opinion on the curriculum for the preparatory class. In what follows we introduce the results that have been obtained.

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Fig. 4-4. Assessing the quality of training provided to teach pre-school class

A large number of teachers (79.7%) believe that the training which was provided for them by the Ministry of Education and by the County School Inspectorates was sufficient to successfully teach at preparatory level though one cannot ignore the number of those who feel that training was insufficient (18.9%). If we extrapolate from the number who answered negatively to the total number of teachers who teach at preparatory levels in the Romanian educational system, we see that too many teachers feel that they do not have the necessary training. This will have a negative effect on the results they obtain with the pupils they teach. Several explanations may be found for such a large number of teachers not having their training needs satisfied: the limited time allocated to training; the difficulty of working with online educational platforms; the limited opportunity to ask the trainer about problems.

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Fig. 4-5. Teacher’s self-appreciation regarding necessary conditions for teaching in pre-school class

We estimate that these were the main reasons why the quality of the training done largely online and with just brief face-to-face meetings was considered good or very good by only 66.2% of the respondents. It is alarming that 9.5% of the respondents say they have little knowledge of the pedagogical (particularly curricular) conditions necessary to teach in a preparatory class. Even if the total number of respondents may seem small we should still remember that a large number of pupils do not benefit, as they should, from the best pedagogical resources; this means they do not have equal opportunities for education. Teachers who teach at preparatory levels feel, more or less, the need for psycho-pedagogical counselling, mainly curricular counselling: 10.81% in the greatest measure, 17.57% in a great measure, 24.32% average, 28.38% low, 18.92% very low. Curricular counselling, and psycho-pedagogical counselling in general, needs to be a significant dimension of the school educational process. Given that in Romanian schools the number of persons qualified to offer it is limited, many schools even lacking such persons, teachers are obliged to find a solution on their own. Obviously, they may invoke the support of the so-

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called Methodical Board (Mentors Committee) which we find in each school but even their members find the preparatory school curriculum a novelty.

Fig. 4-6. The need for pedagogical counselling felt by

The curriculum for the preparatory levels is intended to facilitate the transition from preschool to primary school. To what extent this happens, to what extent its scope is adequate and, above all, the children’s development raised a lot of contradictory discussions.

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Fig. 4-7. The perception of continuity between preschool curriculum and curriculum for the class.

Fig. 4-8. Perception of teachers on facilitating the preparatory class of the transition from pre-school to primary

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Fig. 4-9. Perception of teachers on learning tasks adapted to the age of pupils

Fig. 4-10. Perception of teachers on students’ effort regime

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Most of the respondents believe that there is, more or less, continuity between the preschool curriculum and the preparatory curriculum: 16.22% to the greatest extent, 52.70% to a great extent, 24.32% average and just 5.76% to a low extent. We need to be cautious about such perceptions because teachers at preparatory level are either beginners or have taught until now at primary school level. The adequacy of their knowledge of the preschool curriculum is arguable; it is probably a purely theoretical knowledge as there is little effective teaching of pre-schoolers. For the same reason we must be cautious about the answers concerning the facilitation of the transition from one educational level to another. It is worth underlining that a significant number of teachers do not believe anything like that is achieved in an optimum manner: 12.16% of the answers to the respective item were “to a small extent” or “to a very small extent”.

Fig. 4-11. Observing the difficulties of learning.

As for the learning tasks required by the preparatory curriculum appropriate to pupils’ age, some teachers were critical: 36.49% of the respondents believe that such adaptation was achieved to an average extent and 9.46% just to a small extent. Also, a relatively large number of

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respondents, i.e. 35.14% of the questioned group, believe that pupils are being overloaded by a curriculum which is run even without textbooks or homework. Moreover, 22.97% of the respondents say that, in the classes where they teach, they have pupils who have difficulty with the curriculum because of overloaded syllabuses, knowledge of a too high complexity, and excessive teaching hours. A curriculum drawn up in a haste, insufficiently analysed and validated by specialists or school communities undergoes the risk of not responding as it should to pupils’ needs and put the pupils, as well as the teachers, in difficult school situations. If the preparatory class includes children who did not attend kindergarten then we may expect such negative situations. Improved curriculum and better training of the teachers are necessary so that preparatory schooling fulfils its purposes.

Conclusions The successful introduction of the preparatory level in the Romanian education system depends, to a great extent, on the teachers’ professionalization. Training must be adequate for the construction of a flexible professional identity. The various types of training – initial, continuous, informal – are not cumulative: teachers’ professional development means building on personal history and is not a matter of a mere acquisition. It is a mechanism for achieving professional progress and not a way of filling in some gaps in the initial training, though this is exactly what is needed by preparatory teachers, due to the manner in which they were trained. They did not receive sufficient training because preparatory classes were intoruduced recently, in haste, and the curriculum was made public only a few months before the beginning of the school year. Of course, the aim was continuous training but the manner in which it was conceived raises questions over its efficiency. We believe that enrolling of children at preparatory level at age 6 is a good idea but its hasty application, without a sufficient preparation, risks failure. The introduction of the preparatory level in Romanian primary schools poses a challenge which schools will face with difficulty: lack of space, insufficient funds, teachers trained in haste, a curriculum mired in controversy. Under such conditions, many ask what the long term consequences of such a measure will be for the personal development of children. With no prior experiment on a limited number entering this system, we can only wait for to see what assessments and adjustments of the process are needed.

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References Bocoú, Muúata, & Chiú, Vasile (2013), Management curricular. Piteúti: Paralela 45 Chiú, Vasile (2001), Activitatea profesorului între curriculum úi evaluare. Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeana, 2001 Ciolan, Lucian (2008), ÎnvăĠarea integrate: fundamente pentru un curriculum transdisciplinar. Iaúi: Editura Polirom D’Hainaut, Louis (ed.) (1981), Programe de învăĠământ úi educaĠie permanentă, Bucureúti: Editura Didactică úi Pedagogică Iucu, RomiĠă (2005), Formarea cadrelor didactice: sisteme, politici, strategii. Bucureúti: Editura Humanitas EducaĠional, 2005 Landsheere, Gilbert de (1992), Dictionnaire de l’evaluation et de recherche en education, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France NegreĠ-Dobridor, Ion (2008), Teoria generala a curriculumului. Iaúi: Editura Polirom Resweber, Jean-Paul (1981), La méthode interdisciplinaire. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France Ungureanu, Dorel (1999), Teoria curriculumului. Timiúoara: Editura Mirton

CHAPTER FIVE THE NEW IMAGE AND PRESENCE OF THE CHILD IN CONTEMPORARY EDUCATIONAL APPROACHES (FROM EARLY CHILDHOOD THROUGHOUT THE SCHOOL) SORIN R. ğIGĂREANU BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract. School-aged children are pictured differently from generation to generation. During the past 20 years the profile of school-aged children has changed and educational sciences have to question which profile of the child should be used to design educational programmes. Recent psychological, pediatric and neurological studies provide data for this approach. The paper compares the features and describes the new picture of the child. It also indicates some of the consequences of it for the present and future education, from early childhood to the younger adult. Keywords: anthropological foundations of education, absorption and polarisation, growth-development-metamorphosis, becoming human, inner and outer pictures, education is self-education. Nowadays changes occur more frequently than before, which leads to an increased gap between generations. Each generation looks for improvements but approaches are often only either radical, or conservative or moderate (Steiner, 1987). In educational contexts, especially in societies undertaking radical changes, as in the so-called emergent countries or in those recently coming out of the doctrinarian frames of the twentieth century, discussions marked by political partisanship are often lacking any conceptual basis. In these countries there are partial or illogical legislative actions. The main actors of the educational approach are not taken into

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consideration, the general vision is ignored, and economic or political interests influence educational actions. The unfolding space of the educator is no freer, but subject to the interests of different individuals. Due to such incoherent measures, the educator has only one encouraging perspective left, namely the child. The author of this paper intends to offer an optimistic perspective since the child’s being is revealed to those who learn to look at it carefully, within the educational and teaching process. The goal of this transdisciplinary approach is to create an accurate image of the child’s being, so that we manage to see it better. The views of the child we are picturing this way could provide a more adequate management of the educational approach, especially within the accelerated processes of change around us and would offer support to the would-be educator or to the one who is already active in this field. The resources used belong to different realms of life, but the approach itself remains mainly anthropological.

Legal frame The National Law of Education in Romania states in its introductory articles: Art. 2. - (1) The Law has as its vision to promote a value-oriented education, creativity, cognitive capacities, willing capacities and action capacities, basic knowledge and knowledge, competencies and abilities of direct use, in profession and in society. (Law no. 1/2011)

This presupposes the existence of a vision encompassing values, creativity, capacities, knowledge, competencies and abilities and refers to “sustainable generating of a human national resource, highly competitive, capable to function efficiently in the actual and future society”, all these “within the context of globalization” and of the European Union. The particularity of this vision is described through the affirmation of an educational ideal of the Romanian School that: consists in the free, integral and harmonious development of the human individuality, in forming the autonomous personality and in the commitment to a system of values that are necessary to the personal fulfilment and development, to the development of the entrepreneurial spirit, for the active citizen participation in the society, for social inclusion and for engagement on the work market. (Law no. 1, Art.2. (3), 2011)

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The tendency of legislative documents is to make concepts operational, to bring them down to forming and designing the didactic approach, and the National Education Law is no exception. But to enlarge the perspective we should add the themes of the European directives, the way they were proposed in the fundamental report for future developments and perspectives for education in the twenty-first century (Delors, 1997). They are the main theme of any pedagogical approach: learning. The report to UNESCO speaks through the structuring of its contents itself, about “multiple facets of the global interdependency, in a world more and more unsure, whose understanding is bound to the understanding of the other person” (Delors, 1997). Delors and his collaborators set in balance education and exclusion, a polarity carried by the extreme inequality of economic growth. The sad finding is the inequitable distribution of knowledge, to which there could be opposed only the hopeful necessity of education towards the development of the human being. In this respect, the authors describe four pillars of education: “to learn to know, to learn to do (following the directions: from skill to competence, the dematerialization of work and the growth of the sector of servicing, the work within an informal economy), to learn to live together, to learn to live with the other (discovering the other one, work towards common objectives), to learn to be” (Delors, 1997). A first preliminary conclusion affirms the necessity of learning through life, unfolding along the force lines of a multidimensional education and through looking for “educational synergies” (Delors, 1997). Another development consists in describing the dimensions of education, starting from basic education, seen as a “passport for life”, up to university. Consequently, early education regains recognition for its importance for the whole of life, and the principle of integration adds to the perspectives of development, as a supplementary if not a complementary dimension. To become adult requests the implementation of a basic education too, not only a final goal. The appropriate directives for that are the experiences of participation in community life and the commitment to assume responsibilities. Secondary education has to offer an orientation for choosing ways in life, and the principles to follow would be offering educational diversity and vocational guidance. For higher education, the report uses the concept of lifelong learning, where university is seen as a space for learning, a source of knowledge, a cultural and learning one, open to everybody. The versatility of the work market brings new tendencies in academic organization, among them the need for international cooperation and compatibility, and compels us to

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strive continuously for improvement in the conditions for self-realization as a whole human being (to learn to be). Chapter 7 of Delors’ study, “Teachers in search of new perspectives”, describes the premises for any educational approach – “the world comes into the classroom” – and formulates the dimensions of the educational act: education as art and science. In the perspective of the near and middle future, Jacques Delors says accurately that “education means self education”, and sets in the foreground the qualities of the teacher, the need they have to learn ‘what and how to teach”, and pleads for involving the teacher in decision processes concerning education matters, needed to achieve favourable conditions for efficient teaching and learning. The perspective opened by this document is a multidimensional, since human beings are capable of receiving education. Accordingly the title of the report brings a change of perspective: Learning: The Treasure Within. Within the context, our approach will need to head towards an accurate description of the being of the child and the young adult, outlining the treasure within.

Anthropological perspectives The observation of human behaviour (Skinner, 1976) at different ages could bring important aspects for the approach of the knowledge of the child’s being. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the pedagogies of reform brought the child to the centre of educational concerns, and established an education more suitable to the age-profiles of the students. The development of psychoanalysis and of analytical psychology set in the centre of behavioural developments the steps of unfolding of the human and brought to discussion the multiple configuration of the human being. Consequently almost all the contemporary juridical and curriculum documents contain the cognitive, psychological and operational directions for unfolding education. Hence the implication of such models of cognitive development (Piaget), moral development (Kohlberg), development of the self (Kegan), development of character (Peck), epistemological development (Perry, Piaget) or multi-dimensional development (Jane Loevinger) in educational design. The basic aspect of developmental processes of the human being found its expression in the development steps and in the development goals specific for six steps in the evolution of the human being, as they were described by Robert J. Havinghurst. The twentieth century was paradoxically proclaimed the century of the child, the problems of education being accorded crucial importance, particularly with regard to such exceptional situations as those

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of collective trauma due to war or mass repression or totalitarian regimes. The process of increasing individualization, as revealed within these nontypical and extreme contexts, highlighted the problem of the further applicability of those development models. The “development windows” and the long-term effect of missing them (due to traumata and repression), as well as the fundamental role played by the contact persons within educational processes (and the difficulties resulting from the lack of such education partners – see for example the successful experience of Dr Emmi Pickler in Budapest (Pickler, 2002)) brought to discussion an approach to educational processes from the perspective of different agespecific anthropologies. Important contributions studied the complex experience resulting from the pedagogies of reform and their followers, the so-called alternative pedagogies (mainly Maria Montessori and Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner). The matter of integrating children in need of special care refined the anthropological approaches, including the dimension of individual development (Köhler, 2009). Also, the organic aspects of the development of the human being came in for fresh attention, for example by Goethe in his pedagogical novels (1986), by Richter (1963), by Pestalozzi in his pedagogical experiment or by Fröbel through his model of the kindergarten. Thus the pedagogical experience and the practice of cultivating competencies of those educating the children, led to an extension of these anthropological foundations, as in the case of describing anthropologies determined by age-levels (Kranich, 1999), or out of observation of different dynamics in the physical, psychical and individual development and their entanglement in human biography (Lievegoed, 1996). Accordingly, we can speak of three fundamental processes characterizing the human being: growth, development and metamorphosis. These processes are subject to different dynamics according to age levels, but also according to the individual evolution of the child’s or young adult’s being. These age-specific dimensions call for specific pedagogical approaches. In this respect we can speak about supporting absorption and polarization (Montessori, 1949) or about specific educational models for the first three periods of seven years of life: model and imitation (first septenary), authority and following (second septenary) and striving and discernment (third septenary) (Steiner, 1987). The experience gathered in the last hundred years in Montessori and Waldorf/Rudolf Steiner kindergartens and schools all over the world, designing their educational programmes on anthropological foundations, are supported by results of the research on the psychology of learning done by J. Chilton Pearce (imitation and resonance processes with contact

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persons result in 90% of learning up to the ground school, and the socalled “instruction” does not go beyond 5–9%; also the education of the child as a whole being). The multiple intelligence theory of Howard Gardner (1993, 1999) as well as the perspectives of emotional, social and ecological intelligences as outlined by Daniel Goleman (1996, 2006, 2009) calls for such educational approaches as well.

Medical approaches Another field of refined knowledge of the child’s being is the paediatric one. Statistic items of information from this field are difficult to obtain but where the health condition of the pupil comes to the foreground of public interest, data can show the real state of the capacity of pupils to face the educational process. One of those pleading for an education appropriate to the real character of the children is Dr Remo Largo, longtime leader of the Department for Child Development at the University Clinic of Zürich. The phenomenon referred to here is also known from the research of Pearce (2002), namely the tendency, more or less conscious in adults, to pass on to children the values for which their own generation has strived lifelong, to develop the autonomy of children. Accordingly, a massive transfer of values of the past takes place, the descendants being compelled to build their own values later, often with much effort and little efficiency. Facing a world more and more complex and unsure, adults manifest a tendency to overload children with teachings they judge necessary, but are as a matter of fact continuously changing and rapidly obsolete. The result, less known to the public, is the increasing number of psychosomatic diseases, sleep and nutrition disturbances, and growth of unrest and decrease of concentration power by the children (Largo, 2010). It comes finally to interventions of the psychologist and to psychotropic remedies, with side effects and reminiscence. There is a tendency to try and standardize educational activities as much as possible, but this is in opposition to the differences we observe in the development of children. Curiosity and powerful learning, particularly during the first 3–5 years of life, are already placed under too much stress in kindergarten and this leads ultimately to demotivation and weakening of the will to learn. Small children comply indiscriminately with almost everything we ask them to do. Our attitude here is important: do we wish to stimulate children or to weaken them altogether? It is necessary to investigate what children really need and to educate the whole of their being.

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Another feature of the situation of the child in our times consists of the weakened position of many parents, who try hard to compensate for it through different stimuli, which all end up proving ineffectual. Relations between parents and children have changed and parents promote a socalled emancipation of children, for whom they no longer set limits, so the children react by revolting and becoming tyrants (Winterhoff, 2008). Psychic stability however builds upon other foundations, such as respect for childhood, promoting conscience and diversity of parental relations. Participation of parents in the education of their children is suffering for various reasons (professional, familial, economic). School–parent partnerships could be conducted in the first place by parents fulfilling their educational role within the family. Undoubtedly, the numerous instances of parents living temporarily apart from their children, working away from home in other places or even countries, constitute the most frequent problematic cases of misbalanced family dynamics. Accordingly, never before was the child’s relationship with the parent or carer as difficult as it is now. Institutions could take over some of the compensatory actions needed to correct such imbalance, if there is a reformulation and reformation of their responsibilities, objectives and methods for promoting the development of the children as whole beings, according to their age and potential. Winterhoff (2008) speaks of the development of the personality of the children and of directing the scrutiny of the educators towards the plenary formation of the human being, including psychic and will development, not only cognitive and behavioural development. The salutogenetical approach should be added here, to enlarge the perspective of the child’s education and to imply also the personality of the educator, as an important contact person and as a partner in educational processes. Antonovsky (1987) inverted health research towards the ways different states of vitality occur in people and could uncover the ways health comes into being (salutogenesis, instead of pathogenesis). Starting from extreme cases of Holocaust survivors who presented unbelievably good states of health, Antonovsky researched the generating factors of such states. The central concept of salutogenesis consists of the feeling of coherence, being the living dynamics of actions, experiences and rational thought. In the measure that subjects practise these three attitudes in life, they are able to create health (Antonovsky, 1987). This approach becomes essential for the educators, from the perspective of the imitation principle and from their position as contact person, since by practising these attitudes within educational processes, they contribute to health creation in children. From the point of view of the pedagogical training, discovering and educating these virtues make up a

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fundamental part of the training process of any educator. Upon this foundation procedural and methodological competencies of educators could be appropriately developed.

Neurological researches Neuronal mapping and research on the physiology of nervous processes in the brain offer more and more clues about learning processes, as well as about the lifelong conditioning of the human being. In other words, how the contact persons treat the child could activate neuronal frames which, through repetition and strengthening, could generate stable patterns in the brain. Any trauma, shock or powerful event could leave traces within the patterns of neuron activation. These results present a pattern for the relations between our representations (inner pictures) and the neural-physical conditioning. In other words, by continuously creating inner pictures (Hüther, 2007), we learn, but also become conditioned, if such patterns are stabilized. Our behaviour, our learning, can be conditioned by such patterns constituted throughout childhood, as the plasticity of processes is greater. Thus long term influencing of psychical processes through certain behaviours and attitudes determines the building of similar patterns in the children whom we influenced (“educated”) in these ways. Hence the importance of the model offered by the contact person, a fact considered in the design of educational processes in kindergartens with Montessori and Waldorf/Steiner pedagogy. The relatively recent discovery of so-called “mirror-neurons”, which constitute the neurological ground of empathic and generative-cognitive processes, brings another reason for a well thought through educational offer with the aim of building up model educators to work in schools, with the children of today. In this respect, the quality of the experience transferred to the children through enthusiasm, cultivation of ideals and virtues can stimulate the child’s being up to the level of physiology and neurological configuration, i.e. it influences the long term harmonious development of the child. In contrast, inducing stress and fear response soon influences the child who submits to them; in the long term the configuration of neuronal patterns and the behaviour of the child will stabilize to types of reaction of fear and stress, ultimately narrowing his range of human attitudes.

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An extended view The multiple approaches above give a more differentiated image of the child. The child’s being appears as a building up of individuality, through complex processes of growth, development and metamorphosis. Growth and development can be followed regarding the physical organism and its physiology, unfolding through the successive age levels with specific dynamics and necessities. Regarding metamorphosis, its manifestations require a different scrutiny through specific emotional and relationship dynamics that develop through experiences implying contact persons and partners of different kinds, in different situations. Imitation is the main activity almost directly after birth, and the models given by persons from the environment of the child are the main source of learning. In the first three years of its existence, the child learns, in the presence and through the imitation of the adults, with a diligence and intensity that will never be found again throughout the rest of its life: coordination of movements, becoming conscious of and operating with its own body, standing up, walking bipedally, using arms and hands with more and more confidence, acquiring the mother language and the gradual and more and more differentiated awareness of inner pictures (representations), with which the child begins to operate. One can follow the activation of different kinds of intelligence, gathering as in a concert of qualities and talents which the child discovers and moves step by step. Play is the main way to learn. The competences building up take advantage mainly of the activation of the will and of the benevolent company of adults of the environment. These competences are: body and motricity, sensory and perceptive, linguistic, imaginative and creative, social, motivational and of concentration and the competence of ethical and moral values (Lang, 2000). By following the life cycle one can distinguish the metamorphosis of these competences throughout the whole of life, starting with the building up of basic confidence and security, which are vital for learning. Schooling years become thus a road to acquire knowledge, skills, communication and learning to perceive the personal “life-project” (Antonovsky, 1987), the development of individuality (Maslow, 1970). The educator has this possibility of acquiring a large view over the development of life and individuality of the pupils entrusted to him/her, but to be able to do this, he or she needs to acquire for himself/herself the necessary abilities to match these processes in a healthy way (Antonovsky, 1987). In doing so, the educator can interweave pedagogy with art and science and create deep links with the processes of the world, in all its dimensions and levels of reality (Nicolescu, 2007). In this way education

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becomes in the first place self-education, and consequently approaches will need to be conceived globally and implemented locally at every level. The training of educators (teachers) therefore is decisive and needs to be extended and made more flexible towards developing the multiple abilities needed for performing education and instruction.

References Antonovsky, Aaron (1987), Unravelling the mystery of health: how people manage stress and stay well. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Delors, Jacques et al. (1997), Learning: the treasure within: report to Unesco of the International Commission on Education for the TwentyFirst Century. Paris: UNESCO Press Gardner, Howard (1993), Frames of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences. London: Fontana —. (1999), The disciplined mind (beyond facts and standardized tests, the K-12 education every child deserves). New York: Simon & Schuster Goethe, J. W. v. (1986), Wahlverwandschaften. Stuttgart: Reclam —. (1986), Wilhelm Meisters Wanderjahre, Stuttgart: Reclam —. (1986), Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, Stuttgart: Reclam Goleman, Daniel (1996), Emotional intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ. NewYork: Bantam Books —. (2006), The new science of social relationships. NewYork: Bantam Books —. (2009), Ecological intelligence: how knowing the hidden impacts of what we buy can change everything. Broadway Business, 2009. Huether, Gerald (2007), Die Macht der innere Bilder: Wie Visionen das Gehirn, den Menschen und die Welt verändern. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Köhler, Henning (2003), Von Wunder des Kindseins. Stuttgart: Freies Geistesleben —. (2009), Von ängstlichen, traurigen und unruhigen Kinder. Stuttgart: Freies Geistesleben Kranich, Ernst-Michael (1999), Anthropologische Grundlagen der Waldorfpädagogik. Stuttgart: Freies Geistesleben Lang, Peter (2000), Was Kinder brauchen: Erziehung und Bildungsziele in der Waldorfpädagogik für Kinder bis zur Schulfähigkeit. Stuttgart: IVW Largo, Remo (2010), Erziehung geht anders: Bildung und Erziehung vom Kind her denken. Hamburg: Edition Körber-Stiftung

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Legea EducaĠiei NaĠionale (2011), Monitorul Oficial al României, Anul 179 (XXIII) — Nr. 18/ Luni, 10 ianuarie 2011. Lievegoed, Bernard (1996), Entwicklungsphasen des Kindes. Stuttgart: J. C. Mellinger Maslow, Abraham (1970), Motivation and personality. NewYork: Harper & Row Montessori, Maria (1949), The absorbent mind. Adyar/Madras: Theosophical Publishing House Nicolescu, Basarab (2007), Noi, particula úi lumea. Iaúi: Junimea Pearce, J. Chilton (2002), The crack in the cosmic egg: new constructs of mind and reality. Vermont: Park Street Press Piaget, Jean (1978), Das Weltbild des Kindes. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta Pickler, Emmi (2002), Miteinander vertraut warden. Budapest: Arbor Verlag Richter, Jean Paul Friedrich (1963), Levana. Bad Heilbrunn/Oberbayern: Julius Klinkhardt Skinner, B. F. (1976), Beyond freedom and dignity. NewYork: Pelican Books Steiner, Rudolf (1987), Erziehung des Kindes vom Gesichtspunkt der Geisteswissenschaft. Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag Winterhoff, Michael (2008), Warum unser Kinder Tyrannen warden. München: Goldmann —. (2009), Tyrannen müssen nicht sein. München: Gütersloher —. (2011), Persönlichkeiten statt Tyrannen. München: Goldmann

CHAPTER SIX EXCESSIVE TOLERANCE, VERBAL VIOLENCE AND LIES: OR THE BEGINNING OF LACK OF COMMUNICATION IN THE TEACHING ACT RAMONA RĂDUğ-TACIU BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: Traditional pedagogical literature and contemporary research in the science of education expresses concerns for the quality of didactic communication. In reality, the legal and managerial framework in schools results in a lack of balance and harmony. Identification of this problem and establishing procedures for overcoming bottlenecks, rebalances teaching. Otherwise, false teaching communication or lack of such communication can be supported by excessive tolerance, verbal violence and/or lying. Several factors influence human behaviour, and may predispose to it. Keywords: communication in teaching act, verbal violence, excessive tolerance Pedagogical literature includes terms and phrases characterizing various communication situations, from loaded positivity, through maximum efficiency to the level of the less fortunate, but still real. Thus, it is common knowledge that when we communicate, we start from a set of data/images received directly or mediated, understood exactly or deformed. In the latter case it is derived lying, verbal abuse or excessive tolerance. To identify an answer in the teaching focus, we propose to analyse situations found in teacher–student interrelations.

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With a high enough frequency, lying “covers” the pedagogical relationship, without being necessarily justified. Not doing homework, elucidation of conflicts or similar situations bring lies into focus lies. Basically, lying, according to dictionaries, means making statements that intentionally distort the truth, to deceive someone, to cheat. Lying is defined as the habit of lying, cheating, deceit, fiction, and figment, a claim which deliberately distort the truth, lie or fable. Often students are accused of lying. But we know that there are many factors that influence human behaviour and that may predispose a person to lie; depending on the frequency, purpose and extent of the lying, the mind may or may not be regarded by specialists as being characteerized by mendacity (the name given by psychiatrists and psychologists to one who "is suffering from the sickness of lying". The extreme form of deceit, known as “fantastic pseudology”, is a tendency of intelligent people to lie, who, suffering an attention deficit, seek to be featured in a story they also come to believe. Regarding these people, experts say that it is not a “diseased brain”, but an immature behaviour that can worsen and can get to create a false life. To reduce as much as possible these unfavourable conditions of didactic communication, some middle school students were asked to answer the question: “What do you suggest to your teachers in order to achieve good communication between you and them?” These students have made the following “Ten Commandments” for teachers: 1. Do not lie! 2. Do not punish without reason! 3. Be close to the students! 4. Be patient! 5. Do not be indifferent! 6. Be objective! 7. Appreciate your value! 8. Encourage your students! 9. Be bossy! 10. Be a role model for students! If we talk a bit around the students’ “Ten Commandments” for teachers, we could say that lying destroys any didactic communication. Penalties paralyse the imagination, but not every imagination leads to the desired behaviour or avoiding lies. Empathy is necessary to understand the student in any situation. Patience and self-control should exist, especially in crisis situations. Most important, however, is for the teacher to gain his students’ trust just by his behaviour, the way they communicate with both them and their families. There are parents who think that the more children are being held by them in the house, next to their grandmother or mother, the more disciplined they will be, excessive supervision eliminating the wandering around. “Don’t go there, don’t do that!” are formulae always used by some parents and educators who have no sense of proportion in the discipline, in the freedom. Asphyxiating children with bans reveals in their restless souls

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the need for escape, for insubordination. These children begin to be reserved in front of their parents and begin to entertain thoughts of escape – and often their plans work. Their imagination will be capable of inventing all kinds of lies and excuses to escape from this prison. Later on, they will do the same with their teacher, with work colleagues, with their husband/wife, being pestered all the time with questions like: “Where were you?”, “Who were you with?” Some people try to hide the truth even when they are in difficulties, even to some people who would be able to help. Other people hide their failures and personal troubles not out of discretion or timidity but out of pride. They will not admit defeat, difficulties and obstacles. There are known cases, especially among children, where they think that their parents or guardians do not show as much affection as they think they deserve. They want to be pampered, to be talked to more warmly, and to stay around longer. Studies done on these children note that some of them long so much for this condition that pretend they are sick. They do this to get more time under the eyes of parents, being comforted, spoiled. Later, taken by surprise, a man realizes that he cannot tell the truth, as we know, because often it hurts, or is shocking, or it is difficult to find the right words. You are resorting to a tactic. Parents resort to certain lies when talking about their children, if they are underperforming in school or making mistakes. But how do teachers proceed when they are analysing and present the performances or failures of their own students?! What does excessive tolerance or verbal violence mean in the context of teaching? How to manage different situations loaded with negativity, lack of responsibility, aggression etc.? Sometimes people resort to lies in the desire to do well to others, personal interests remaining in second place. Of course, it is not only happy events that happen. Sometimes we are put in the position of finding out or having to communicate sad news. We have to admit that sometimes it is so hard that every word spoken or heard hurts. Used as a weapon of self-defence, lies have become some kind of justification in the intimate consciousness of each person. In a school counselling session bringing up the concept of secret/mystery, middle school students were asked: “Under what circumstances do you lie the most?” Here are some of their responses: (1) when someone insists on disclosing a secret; (2) when asked with indiscretion about things that concern us personally; (3) in some cases, telling the truth, we can be misunderstood; (4) when we prevent our responses from being twisted, when we cannot provide explanations; (5) when it is a secret that concerns

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me personally; (6) when asked to say certain things about a friend; (7) when you do not want public opinion to disapprove; (8) when you keep a secret and lie at the same time in order to get a favour. Who has not once been tempted to lie? Who has not wondered if it’s better to lie or tell the truth? Who has not hesitated? To be respected as you are, to be neither stronger nor more capable and more beautiful than you are, the ones around you have to be powerfully anchored in reality, because you, as a human, must admit that your people are humans, and they respect you in your primordial quality as a human being.

Verbal violence and its impact on the child The child’s self-image depends, first, on the important adults in his life: parents, grandparents, what they tell the child and how they behave with the child. A positive self-image paves the way for transformation into a balanced adult without major relational or emotional problems. Parents are the ones who interact most with small children and play an overwhelming role in the formation and the harmonious development of his identity and personality. We must not forget that children imitate their parents, whom they take as models, and do basically what they see others do, not what they are told to do. If children meet verbal or physical aggression in the family, they in turn will act aggressive too, either as self-harm or in aggression against others. If your children are respected for themselves, are not forced or bullied, are loved and are shown this through hugs, caresses, beautiful words and the limits imposed on them, but with warmth and gentleness, they are likely in turn to use these positive behaviours themselves and not give trouble to their parents. Parents should look at their children more often, helping them to see each skill, developing their inclinations for this purpose, thus obscuring faults without the need to explore and highlight them. Analysis of errors and their effects is beneficial, so it is not meant to be removed, or they will fall into the extreme of not punishing them when it is needed, but the typology of the penalties has to be addressed constructively. Otherwise they can turn into the enemies of the training of their own children. Criticism is imprinted deeply in children’s emotional memory. If parents are unhappy with the child and tell him this often, forgetting to express their love and appreciation first, the little one will become dissatisfied with himself, will experience a state of emptiness, will think

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himself bad or unwanted and will begin to behave in a manner not very favourable to himself or to others. Parents often call their own child bad. An example that is often heard in playgrounds is where the adult accompanying the little one says to him: “Why are you mean to him, can’t you see he’s smaller? Give him your toy for a little too!” But at the moment when parents note the selfish attitude of their child, they should think of where this attitude comes from. The two pillars of responsible attitude are the example noted above, the model provided by adults and the accepting formation of the child specific to his age. But adult minds seldom think of this; they very easily exclaim “You’re bad!” without even thinking about the impact on the child’s self-esteem, or its formation. From this it turns into an aggravating one like “If you don’t give the little baby the toy, I’ll take it from you too” or “If you’re not nice to him, then . . .” and so verbal aggression takes the form of threats. Parents’ threats to their children, often repeated to exhaustion, bring into play the powerful parent posture, the excessive authoritative attitude, making rules for the child who appears as weak, submissive and helpless. Children feel weak in front of adults anyhow. It is important for them to be treated with respect, as they have rights and are different from their parents; they should not be threatened if they deviate from the rules and the path traced by the parents. It can be illustrated by a real case of a girl who was often threatened by parents: “If you won’t eat, we’ll give all your toys to other children!” This repeated threat created in the mind of the four-year-old girl a real fear of other children; when she saw them, she fled from them, because she thought they would take her toys. She became isolated, did not want to interact with other children, found it very hard to adapt to kindergarten and had little appetite. Parents were amazed by her behaviour and labelled her as unsociable. Another form of verbal aggression is known to consist of high-pitched screaming. Screams could have the effect of creating an emotional imbalance in children. Adults need to understand what impact these verbal aggression have on children: the younger ones are unable to manage this attitude and are burdened by it. This only spreads negativity: the child in turn can scream or become withdrawn. Repeated screaming associated with threats and insults can lead to serious disruption of children’s emotional balance or psychosomatic problems (digestive problems, nightmares, insomnia, enuresis etc.).

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A conscientious parent should educate themselves for this job. Being concerned about the good of the child, looking around at the negative impact of modern society, they must try to create a secure world for the child in the family, based on trust, respect and harmony. Therefore, attitudes recommended to create a positive self-identity and healthy child can be: x accepting children as they are, with their flaws and qualities – parents’ patience and tolerance provide the key to the mental health and emotional balance of the little ones; x unwanted behaviours may change over time if parents give the little ones time and have patience with them, as the children want to make his parents happy and to be appreciated by them; x expressing positive feelings towards the child, both verbally and nonverbally, by caresses, smiles, hugs, can do wonders and help the little one; x setting limits is a good thing, provided the child is given an explanation, firmly and gently, why it is not allowed to do certain things and what would be the consequences if he does them nevertheless; x when parents feel bad physically, suffering tension or conflict or getting demoralized or angry, it is better they wait to be calm before they interact with the child, or if problems beyond their powers overwhelm them, ask for the help of a psychotherapist. All the things mentioned above are included in the ideas of Dorothy Nolte Lavo, who concludes that children learn from what they live. If a child lives in praise, he learns to appreciate, if he lives in fairness, he learns justice, if living safely, he learns to trust, if a child lives in approval, he learns to self-appreciate, if a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world. Over time, children get older, resulting in the transfer from the family to school education, with the good and bad of that. Although school-age children or teenagers do not use words like empathy or intimacy to describe their friends, in their minds, these concepts make friends different from others who are considered only “acquaintances”. Above all, friendships are equal, the starting point being the same level of interest. Reciprocity is total, friendships being structured between same-age children, symmetrically or horizontally, in contrast to adult–child relationships, which are structured asymmetrically or vertically. Friends are at similar stages of development, mainly engaging each other in play and the socialization concerns of their age. Communication binds everything together.

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Studies could highlight some features of friendships (regarded as socio-emotional connections between individuals), as follows: ƒ emotional resources, both for fun and for adaptation to stress; ƒ cognitive resources for problem solving and gathering of new information; ƒ contexts in which basic social skills are learned and developed (e.g. social communication, cooperation and group membership); ƒ the basis for future relations. As emotional resources, friendships provide children with safety for exploring new lands, meeting new people and addressing new problems. Friends are those who set the emotional exploration environment, in a manner similar to the way in which those who care for children serve as secure bases for young children. These relationships are bases for processes related to entertainment too. Researchers concluded that the duration and frequency of laughing, smiling, looking and talking are greater between friends than between strangers, and friends mimic each other to a very large extent. Moreover, mimicry is the basic glue of the beginnings of friendship, the personality of each changing after their friends’ and vice versa; they need valuable communion, not just strict socialization. Friendships can protect children and adolescents from the adverse effects of negative events, family conflicts, disease, parents’ unemployment and school failures. Some studies suggest that friendship decreases the stress associated with divorce, although differently for girls and boys. School age boys turn readily to friends, seeming to distance themselves from problems at home. Girls make friends, but they need the support of their mother. From the perspective of cognitive resources, it is known that in many situations, children learn from each other and usually do so successfully. This learning process consists of four types: ƒ learning, representing didactic transmission of information from one child to another, usually from an expert to a novice; ƒ collaborative learning, demanding combination of support from children in order to solve problems fully and share results and rewards; ƒ collaboration, which occurs when novices work together for the fulfilment of tasks that none of them can do alone; ƒ modelling, representing the transfer of information by imitation. It was investigated whether friends are better tutors than non-friends and the manner in which friendship affects collaborative learning and modelling. Collaboration, both among friends and non-friends has been studied some more. The results show that, normally, friends have the same

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motivations and develop the same verbal and motor scripts to allow combining their talents to achieve a goal, recent studies showing that in the case of collaboration between friend’s results are much better than non-friends collaboration. Friends communicate more, spend more time to work out differences in understanding the rules and get much easier to compromise than non-friends. This suggests that friendships are a unique context for transmitting information from one child to another, avoiding lying, verbal abuse and excessive tolerance. Cooperation and conflict occur more often in friendships than in any other context, due to long hours spent with friends, unlike time spent with non-friends, who are reduced to strictly necessary collaboration. Preschoolers engage in more collaborative and more frequent exchanges with their friends than with neutral associates or children they do not like. Conflicts occur more often among friends than non-friends, but friends have a much greater objectivity and fairness in conflict management than non-friends. Scientists confirm that children’s relationships with their friends based on cooperation, reciprocity and effective conflict management. Therefore, children’s friendships are considered as models for future relations; they prepare children for an easier adaptation to new social challenges due to age requirements, also imposing a vision of conduct in their relations with others. New relationships are never exact copies of old ones, but the organization of behaviour in the new relationship is a generalization of the old, evolving according to more complex values shown in the individual personality. Like any interpersonal relationship, friendship needs to develop in stages. Socialization occurs first (communication, networking), developing, in particular cases, into friendship, of short or long duration. Studies may show its resources, characteristics, psychosocial substrates, but the highlighted reality is linked, inextricably, by the sensitivity of the human soul and the human need to “cheat” loneliness. Friendship is undoubtedly the most precious human possession, in a world where fierce competition can be tackled, at the level of moral wear that this sometimes blind competition involves, by the soul-bonding that people, especially friends, can offer each other. It remains for the protagonists of teaching to work out the educational specifics of each instructive-educative situation, in order to intervene promptly where there is lying, verbal abuse or excessive tolerance.

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Further reading Barnes, J. A. (1998), Sociologia minciunii. Bucureúti: Institutul European Chelcea, S. (2008), Ruúinea úi vinovăĠia în spaĠiul public. Bucureúti: Humanitas Collet, P. (2003), Cartea gesturilor. Bucureúti: Curtea Veche Drăgan, I. (2007), Comunicarea, paradigme úi teorii. Bucureúti: RAO Gough, T. (2002), Nu te învinui úi nu-i învinui nici pe alĠii. Bucureúti: Polimark Peck, S. M. (2004), Psihologia minciunii. Bucureúti: Curtea Veche

CHAPTER SEVEN PSYCHOPEDAGOGICAL GUIDELINES FOR GENDER EDUCATION CORNELIA STAN BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: Structural characteristics of society and culture reflect and shape the social roles of individuals, but also their gender roles. Societal expectations regarding behaviour assumed by men and women and their abilities manifested in various social frameworks have always produced social pressures so that people felt the need to comply with them. The interest in achieving an education that takes into account gender-specific needs has been stimulated by tendencies of historical, sociopedagogical and psychological reconsideration of gender issues. So, specialists who monitor the effects of gender education consider that it offers an alternative to improving school performance and optimal social integration of all pupils, both girls and boys. Keywords: gender education, gender roles, equal opportunities

Introduction Gender differences should be perceived in terms of behaviour and specific skills and not in terms of superiority of one gender over another. Behavioural differences between men and women are the result of social learning. Early childhood acquisition of gender roles occurs through social and environmental factors. The first thing that helps the child to understand gender differences is the family. Sometimes adults do not realize that their behaviour is determined by gender differences in relation to their children. This can be explained by the fact that society, as a whole, makes distinctions between individuals based on their gender. This phenomenon is pervasive and can

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be seen in all its operating sectors: professional, cultural, commercial, entertainment etc. Besides the family, school is an important factor in the shaping of student’s gender. Based on how learning experiences are organized, their contents or implied models, cognitive activity and social interaction, may exert significant influence on gender awareness and exteriorization of the ownership or operation of gender roles. Therefore, analysed from a psychological perspective, the strategies for teaching, learning and assessment that focus on knowledge, compliance and recovery characteristics of individual students, both girls and boys, favours the awareness and internalization of gender. Analysed from a sociological perspective, learning activities that involve students in various forms of social interaction, in contexts close to the real ones, promote gender construction processes. In this context the strategies for teaching, learning and assessment using equally models, practices and life experiences, both male and female, have a higher respect for the principle of equality in terms of gender education. In our country, gender has undergone a process of acquisition and adaptation, representing a challenge to the gender dimension of education. Thus, we have sought guidelines to achieve a differentiated education according to gender-specific needs.

Theories of gender roles In sociology, gender roles have been approached from different perspectives: 1. Functionalist perspective (Durkheim, Parsons) – emphasizes the complementarity of gender roles in order to maintain balance, stability and smooth functioning of the social organism taken as a whole; 2. Structuralist constructivism perspective (Bourdieu) – develops conflicting theories that replace the functionalist premise of the horizontal social structure and social consensus by that of the vertical structure/hierarchy and social conflict to occupy higher social positions. Social relations appear as relations of power and the underlying basis of this are gender roles and gender inequalities built mainly in the family; 3. Perspective of symbolic interactionism (Mead) – highlights the importance of interactions between people in small groups, which constitute reality. Development of the child itself is a process of transition stage to assume roles and attitudes isolated by the example of another significant person;

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4. Feminist perspective – emphasizes the significance of gender and gender relations, which are considered problematic because they are closely related to inequality and constraint (Lindsey, 1997). In the literature, various theories of gender identity formation are listed: Social learning theory considers that formation of gender identity in children occurs through socialization by observing the gender behaviour of those around, whether adults or other children, encouraging or punishing experiences of gender-specific or gender-nonspecific. Children’s patterns of learning gender-specific or gender-nonspecific behaviours may be real (teacher, parent, another child and so on) or symbolic (cartoon characters or stories, movies etc.). The cognitive theory was originally developed by Kohlberg. It talks about several stages in the development of gender: a) gender identity: when children identify the sexes on the basis of physical characteristics; this type of identity occurs around the age of 3 years; b) stability of gender: children become aware that a person’s gender does not change over time; c) gender constant (formed around the age of 5–6 years): children perceive gender as constant over time and in different contextual situations. Gender schema theory, developed by Bem in 1983, states that an individual’s behaviour and attention are guided by socio-cultural standards of gender and stereotypes. Domnica Petrovai (2004) argues that gender role is defined as a set of behavioural expectations that provide prescriptions for women and men and gender stereotype is defined as a set of social or cultural prescriptions of gender roles. These gender stereotypes change as the child grows. At the same time, gender differences are the result of interaction between the biological (sex differences), psycho-behavioural (cognitive, emotional and individual behaviour) and socio-cultural environment characteristics (roles and statuses of women and men social context). Based on these ideas, we present below some of the main categories that highlight gender differences between girls and boys: In the cognitive skills, differences between girls and boys are due to the different needs arising in the learning process. Regarding the general ability of the two genders, is estimated that there are no marked differences. However there were differences in verbal abilities, logical reasoning, problem solving, memory and spatial skills.

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It is considered that girls learn to speak earlier than boys, with a richer vocabulary. This is explained by the fact that girls use language more than boys, being attentive to the form it takes (verbal or nonverbal expression). Boys are less expressive but address specialized language forms rather than daily forms. In terms of written language girls prefer to write and read narrative texts, while boys opt for symbolism: graphs, diagrams, and symbolic texts. Regarding the ability to use various forms of logical reasoning, boys have developed more deductive and abstract reasoning while girls have developed more concrete and inductive reasoning. These features have led to the appearance of certain particularities regarding problem solving: there is evidence that boys use wider concepts, are more curious and less conservative in risk-taking situations correlated with problematic situations. This gives them more freedom to solve problems in mathematics or science. By comparison, girls get better results in solving problems regarding human relations, using verbal and emotional qualities. In mnemonic skills, it has been proven that there are certain differences regarding memorizing and storing information, depending on the characteristics of the material. So, girls store a larger amount of unstructured material, while boys store better organized material that has special meaning for them. Visual-spatial skills appear to be more developed in males, who use space and movement when learning more than girls do. This leads to a different development of motor skills: in fine motor skills girls are stronger than boys, who develop more gross motor skills, which make them more involved in physical tasks that will develop spatial skills. Girls are more involved in social activities and tasks that will allow further development of verbal skills. Regarding gender differences present at an emotional level, most recent research has shown that they depend more on education, socialization and background, rather than gender. Emotions appear and can be decoded very early in both sexes. Gradually, however, social rules are the ones that guide the expression of emotions and their intensity or the best moment to express certain emotions or not. Again, it has been proven that family and school or society as a whole, especially through the media, influence the evolution and expression of emotions. Emotional manifestations may be correlated with the different behaviour of girls and boys. For instance it is considered that boys are more aggressive than girls, but the fact that this difference usually occurs after five years has led to the conclusion that these differences are caused

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by environmental factors shaping gender roles, rather than by biological characteristics. Girls are perceived as more conformist and suggestible than men, which is associated by some scholars with some weakness and dependency on boys. Connected with this is girls’ preference for learning or performing tasks in a group. Boys are more individualistic and when they work in a group their performance is in strict relation to their position or status in the group hierarchy. Differences between men and women are recorded in terms of orientation towards certain occupations: orientation towards economic, political and theoretical values for men and orientation towards literary, social, aesthetic and religious activities for women, although these differences tend to be weaker today. Social interactions have a different impact on girls and boys through the social comparisons they make. Girls are more self-critical and tend to assessment of their own performance unfavourably. There is no selfconfidence in their abilities, unlike boys who are very confident in their own abilities and have much higher expectations of success than girls, a difference which is maintained through adulthood. In addition to the conduct described above, girls have greater selfbehavioural skills than boys, who present a more impulsive behaviour. For this reason girls are more likely to accept and even prefer structured activities with rules imposed by others, while boys prefer independent activities that allow them to create their own structures, which will have major implications for the future personal development of girls and boys, as adults.

Compensation methods of gender differences and ensuring equal opportunities Generally it is considered that gender differences can be compensated for by a more flexible learning environment, enabling optimal development of the individual potential of each child, in accordance with the particularities of gender. This can become achievable provided that adults (parents or teachers) engage collaboratively in the efforts of the cognitive, motor, affective-emotional and sexual development of children. The main elements of differentiation in education in relation to gender focus mainly on issues such as access to education, learning content, forms of work organization and professional training curricula that promote gender patterns or stereotypes.

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Such situations can be avoided in many different ways. In terms of access to education, though studies in recent years (e.g. the project “Gender in Education” conducted by UNICEF Romania in conjunction with the Institute for Educational Sciences) show that the degree of inclusion of children in preschool and primary education has recorded an ascending trend, some problems are still present. A relatively small difference in terms of school attendance by girls and boys maintained throughout compulsory education, but from optional education levels, participation of boys in education and training is lower compared to girls. As a consequence of this phenomenon, is recorded an occupational predilection routes associated with the female population. To encourage increased participation in education, measures are necessary to increase awareness of the importance of education and professional qualifications, especially for the male population. Such an objective can be achieved through a closer relationship between schools and families to reduce the phenomenon of child labour, still encountered quite frequently in rural areas and associated especially with boys. At the same time, it is important to strengthen the relationship between school and other social institutions with responsibilities in support of the social protection measures for vulnerable families of children who leave school prematurely. In order to avoid a high proportion of professional orientation toward areas that are mainly associated with females, a campaign must be initiated to eliminate gender prejudices and professional stereotypes present at the level of teachers and parents. Thus, one must take into consideration the skills and capabilities of students, regardless of their gender. Both teachers and school counsellors must constantly promote career counselling, neutral in terms of the students’ gender, to identify the real barriers (and other personal stereotypes regarding the exercise of certain professions) that prevent personal, family or social professional achievement. In terms of content learning, analysis of the written curriculum and of textbooks (mainly text, images or learning tasks) raises some questions: • Educational contents promote a static model of gender relations, thus being more likely to induce gender segregation rather than collaboration; • roles and jobs assigned to the two sexes are traditional, anachronistic and not updated, where men are more often associated with occupations in the public domain and women are associated with occupations in domestic sphere; • textbooks promote especially male characters that dominate quantitatively – as presented in the text and images.

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In regard to learning tasks, we notice: • individual type activities are associated with male individualism; the sporadic presence of group activities, considered more feminine, shows a relatively low potential of textbooks regarding the value of the gender dimension in learning; • the obvious focus on cognitive learning tasks suggests a tendency to stimulate the conformism; • a high percentage of reproductive-type tasks show little interest in developing critical thinking and asserting students’ own personality in the learning process; • the majority of the learning tasks do not make any reference to concrete experiences of life, a fact that leads to excessive theorizing in education. If we want the written curriculum to meet gender equality, through its content, several actions are required: • introduction to school curricula of units with explicit messages about gender, with objectives/skills, examples of learning activities with appropriate methodological suggestions to guide teachers in promoting gender equality; • a gender-balanced representation in images and textbooks or auxiliary materials; • development of learning tasks varied in terms of gender, associated with texts that present learning contents; • proposing optional subjects at school, to be included in whole-school programmes, including themes related to gender education. Learning situations that are not used in the spirit of partnership and active participation of girls and boys in the same activities, as well as sporadic use of methods based on cooperation and group work or team, may induce explicit gender discrimination. For this reason, an optimum shift towards the objectives of gender education should aim to: • stimulate dialogue about genders in the lessons, focusing on promoting gender equality and partnership; • organize clubs or extracurricular activities that provide students with the opportunity to capitalize on various special skills or talents regardless of their sex, and to perform traditional activities associated with either gender; • promote gender cooperation and partnership by resorting to methods based on cooperation and solving tasks in mixed groups; • avoid gender bias in student assessment activities by using common criteria evaluation;

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• provide attention and encouragement to all students equally, creating similar expectations for girls and boys in terms of the success of learning activity; • diversify learning by recommending literature or other sources covering different perspectives on gender issues; • experiment in the context of lessons as varied tasks and responsibilities, avoiding selection in relation to gender role. If we consider the curricula of vocational training schools, we can identify other aspects that illustrate the particularities of gender education. These largely relate to matters affecting the vocational orientation of students. Analysis of students’ career choices highlights significant differences between girls and boys, which seems to support the idea of specific occupational stereotypes in society. Boys are oriented especially toward more dynamic occupations that involve competition, performance and risk, and the girls toward occupations that focus on communication, interpersonal relations, support to various groups of people etc. These options can be either independent or the result of social, unconscious pressure toward traditional patterns internalized by both men and women (Neimanis, 2001). Even teachers sometimes offer advice on careers according to gender criteria. This proves that it is difficult to make a clear distinction between innate and learned behaviours and the extent to which stereotypes influence individual perceptions of gender differences behavioural or cognitive. To change the opinion of young people or teachers on vocational guidance the following steps are recommended: • review curricula, programmes, textbooks and activities aimed at developing technical and manual skills, for both genders; • adapt business information, advice and career guidance in order to achieve equal career opportunities; • organize information activities with parents, focusing on various aspects of gender issues in the educational and vocational guidance of children. It is possible that such interventions do not fully achieve the objectives since young people’s career choice is influenced by a number of other factors over which the school cannot intervene: the social class to which students belong, their parents’ jobs, the state of the family, belonging to an ethnic minority group which is advantaged or disadvantaged by educational policy etc.

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Conclusions Considering the above aspects, the objectives that must be achieved by integrating gender issues in education include a series of interventions in the curriculum, organizing the educational process, but also teacher training in order to treat boys and girls equally. In the central institutions that coordinate the educational process as a whole, a gender policy should be implemented monitoring the dynamics of class and levels of support and attention given to students regardless of their gender (Desprez-Bouanchaud et al., 1987). This means that inspectors and school managers should be aware of the relevance of gender perspectives in education, involving themselves in promoting improvement strategies by disseminating examples of good practice on gender in education at the local, county and national level, as well as inclusion in institutional development plan of schools, and projects dedicated to gender issues. Even teachers should be assisted in identifying and combating gender prejudices in school space. Because education for gender discrimination must be an explicit objective of the school curriculum design, it is necessary to develop additional materials related to the development of gender perspective in all subjects through specific content as well as methodological approaches. In the continuing training of teachers it is recommended that training modules be introduced focused on theoretical and practical aspects of gender education, including strategies to avoid gender discrimination in education. Cleverly exploited in education, gender perspective can have a significant positive impact on gender relations. Without this education, young people manifest prejudice against the other sex, creating differences that will be reflected in their professional, personal and even family life.

References Desprez-Bouanchaud, A., Doolaege, J. & Ruprecht, L. (1987), Guidelines on gender-neutral language, Paris Lindsey, L. L. (1997), Gender roles: a sociological perspective. 3rd ed. Prentice Hall. Neimanis, A, (2001), Gender mainstreaming in practice: a handbook. UNDP Regional Gender Programme of the United Nations, Development Programme’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS (UNDP RBEC), New York: UNDP.

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Petrovai, D. & Bursuc, B. & Tătaru, R. & Nistor, M, (2004), Cum să ne dezvoltăm un stil de viaĠă sănătos – ModalităĠi de integrare a dimensiunii de gen în educaĠia pentru sănătate, http://www.cpe.ro/resurse/.../77-cum-sa-ne-dezvoltam-un-stil-de-viatasanatos Institutul de ùtiinĠe ale EducaĠiei Bucureúti, Unicef (2004), Perspective asupra dimensiunii de gen în educatie. Bucureúti http://www.unicef.org/romania/ro/STUDIU_de_GEN.pdf

CHAPTER EIGHT “COURAGE TO CHANGE”: EDUCATIONAL REFORM AS AN OPPORTUNITY AND LEVERAGE FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT TAUB RONIT AND VASILE CHIù BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: The article presents the importance of educational reforms, providing the political, institutional and pedagogical perspectives. The article also presents the “OZ Le’Tmura” (Courage to change) high school educational reform implemented in Israel since 2011. It includes goals, characteristics, the teachers’ professional development and wellbeing. Finally, the paper presents difficulties in implementing the new reform and the chances of its success. Keywords: educational reform, “Oz Le’Tmura”, motivation, perception of the teaching profession, teacher’s status.

I. Introduction In the literature we can find many definitions of educational reforms and the reason why they are needed. Shmida (1997) and Cuban (2006) argue that educational reforms are directed towards generating inherent and comprehensive changes in education systems and in schools. The reforms cope with education’s most fundamental issues, redefine the educational process and its goals after a thorough examination, determine its main contents and propose ways to achieve the goals. According to Robinson (2011), most educational reforms in the world seek to improve the status quo while ignoring the fact that the education

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system in its present state suits a different era and it is planned according to the needs and circumstances of the Industrial Revolution. Thus a reform in education is a top-down change, meaning it starts from policy makers and leads its way down to the operating level, where the participants are pressured to make changes in the system and adjust it both to the expectations of those in charge and to the environment.

II. Educational Reforms – What For? Shoshani (2007) argues that reform in education is required in order to resolve many problems arising from the combination of the demand for excellence and the social demand of equality. He maintains that a state wishing to maintain its advantage and ability to compete with its neighbours and the western world has to place education at the top of its agenda and acknowledge the fact that education budgets are long-term investments. Volansky (2011) refers to the rapid takeover of public education systems in the course of the twentieth century, the infinity of the development of knowledge, the changing environment and reality, technological innovations, the decline in parental authority, the school’s authority and even the government’s authority in some states, globalization, dissatisfaction with the products of the education systems all over the world – all those connect to the crises in education systems. These crises led to a search for ways to advance and improve education systems in the face of the constant changes.

II.1.The Political Angle: Reform, Government, Capital and Legislation Erez (2000) adds that the state of Israel suffers from acute problems arising from the social, economic, ethnic, religious and political splits in the population, which constitute a threat to the state and its society. Alienation, value voids, drugs and violence among youths in general are but a few phenomena arising from the deep social fracture. The key to healing this fracture on the one hand and the conditions for socialeconomic thriving on the other, lie in the state’s willingness to practically invest in its human capital, which means first and foremost investment in the education system. Dror (2006) adds that politics and education are embedded in the application of reforms. The political and personal agenda of each Minister

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of Education has been a catalyst for the reforms he/she initiated and maintained and their dosage. Furthermore, local authorities have played a significant, often buffering, role in the introduction of reforms. The more they understood the significance of education for parents as consumers and as voters, the more they encouraged the reforms and helped their implementation, and when the reforms did not suit them – they buffered. Teachers’ unions have been known to object to proposed reforms and have suggested their own reforms, seeking to make their statement, introducing reforms initiated by them rather than by the state.

II.2. The Institutional Angle: changes in the Structure, Management and Supervision of Schools According to Hopkins (1994) and McChesney (1998), reforms of the new generation, which began in the 1990s, are motivated by the perception that for a reform to succeed it has to be holistic, meaning the change has to take place in all aspects of school life, from school attitudes, beliefs and culture to leadership, parents’ and community involvement, curricula, facilities and funding. The current era of standardization, claims Harpaz (2007) leads the education system to a more centralized type of management, which decreases the school’s pedagogical freedom. School based management seeks to enhance the teachers’, principals’ and schools’ freedom. This requires the transfer of authority from the Ministry of Education, and leads to resistance. The question is who knows best what the students need – the school staff in daily contact with the students, or senior stakeholders in the education system?

II.3. The Pedagogical Angle Harpaz (2007) argues that a reform focused on the teacher and the student is preferred. Changes in teaching methods due to information technology and communication advents, allow for turning teaching and learning into a significant experience which is enjoyable to both teachers and students. Adjusting teaching and learning to the youngsters’ cultural patterns will upgrade the teachers’ status, and they will feel they are making new, significant contacts with their students. The reform in teacher–student relationships will enable the teachers to manage diversity, encouraging learning among students who differ from each other in their capabilities and ambitions. It will allow for smaller

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classes and a personal approach, including supporting the weak students. The reform in question is a profound pedagogical reform that will change the essence of schools, the schools’ and the teachers’ status, and will lead to achievements of which the Israeli education system can be proud.

III. “Oz Le’Tmura” (Courage to change) Reform According to Erez (2000), the “Oz Le’tmura” reform is a reform of revolutionary value-based and structural changes in the education system, which will lead to a breakthrough in the status of schools and the status of teachers in society. Shoshani (2011) argues that the reform seeks to improve the quality of teaching. On the one hand it is a first-class pedagogical reform seeking to allow for teacher–student personal interaction, allowing for maximum attention to each student in the education system. On the other hand, the raised salaries allow for attracting quality young teachers, who regard education as a mission for which there is decent remuneration. The reform even introduces a new organizational culture, emphasizing output rather than just input. The great hope is that this reform and the improved environmental conditions provided to teachers in time, the system will be able to reach the expected results and become one of the leading education systems in all of its parameters. The reform refers to four aspects: 1. Career routes and teacher remuneration according to role, performance and achievement 2. Changing the structure of the teacher’s schedule 3. Decreasing the number of students in class 4. Improving the physical conditions and changing the structure of the school

III.1. Reform Goals Tamir (2011) states that the “Oz Le’Tmura” reform promotes the interests of Israeli society towards a quality education system which manages to reach the level of the individual student. Peleg et al. (2011) argue that the reform constitutes a breakthrough and will turn the teaching profession into a career. This reform will pave the way to advancing secondary education both in content and in the structure of the new organizational culture, which will turn schools into worthy workplaces, and teaching into a respectable demanded profession,

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which many good people will wish to join, as it is a most important mission. According to Applebaum (2012) and Pas (2012), the reform’s main contribution will be that of creating an opportunity for a different, quality pedagogy, enabled by the new time resources created in the school system, directed at the teacher’s professional development, the teacher’s work on his/her daily tasks, work with the staff and obviously, time for significant quality work with the students. The reform is directed at the empowerment of the educator, improving the condition of his/her employment, extending his/her ability to professionally develop within the school, enhancing feedback and professional development processes and expanding the teacher’s ability to reach each of the students for academic support and improved personal relationships. The premise is that all those will empower the educator and his/her experience of significance and self-efficacy, and constitute better conditions for the educator to succeed in the educational mission. On the students’ level, the reform will allow for academic, social and personal growth, and serve as a platform for developing the students’ creative thinking, enhanced sense of belonging and self-efficacy. All of the above will allow the school system to provide the conditions for narrowing academic gaps, providing answers for student diversity, improving achievements and developing an ultimate discourse in a quality school climate.

III.2. Reform Characteristics Pas (2012) states the “Oz Le’Tmura” reform constitutes an opportunity to introduce significant changes in high schools: (1) on the pedagogical level; (2) on the management level; (3) in teacher employment conditions. Furthermore, the reform will promote the achievement of the system and improve the teachers’ status: • a significant rise of 42% in teacher’s wages; • changes in the teachers’ work schedule – a transition to a 40 hour working week (before the reform a full time teacher worked 24 hours a week) consisting of 24 frontal teaching hours (in class), 6 individual instruction hours (individual students or groups of 3–5 students), 10 teaching support hours (in-service courses, staff meetings, meetings with parents, correcting papers and tests, preparing teaching materials, talks with students and/or parents); • excellence in teaching – advancing and rewarding teachers on the basis of excellence;

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• rewarding all teachers who excel in academic, social and value based achievements; • strengthening the principal’s status and authority; • improving the teachers’ working environment and adjusting it to the new schedule. 1.

On the students’ level • developing a sense of self-worth and belonging to the class and the school; • increasing the level of academic achievement; • developing personal responsibility for learning and advancing domains of excellence and self-realization; • nurturing leadership skills for promoting social influence and involvement in school and in the community. 2. On the teachers’ level • developing a significant, meaningful discourse between teachereducator and student for promoting students’ performance in the personal, social and academic domain; • managing the group and the class as a social framework allowing for personal expression and supporting ongoing processes of growth for the individual student and the group; • professionalization and employing a variety of teaching and assessment tools. • professionalization towards a specific role including personal empowerment. 3. On the school level • increasing cooperation and responsibility of the staff, the parents and other factors in the community so as to promote educational processes and enhance life quality and wellbeing in school and in the community; • addressing student diversity; • narrowing gaps and improving achievements; • developing school discourse; • developing an ultimate educational climate and reducing violence; • developing organizational learning processes and teamwork.

III.3. Teachers’ Professional Development Erez (2002) and Rosner (2012) maintain “Oz Le’Tmura” acknowledges the significance of teachers’ professional development as

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part of enhancing the status of the teaching profession. Professional development means developing a culture of ongoing learning throughout one’s professional career, as an advantage to improving teaching quality and advancing the students in the various domains (academic, social and values) to excellence. This process takes place in a structured, methodical manner of applied learning which develops accountability and commitment to the role. Professional development in the “Oz Le’Tmura” reform emphasizes the following issues: • ongoing learning throughout the career and emphasis on specializing in teaching subjects; • whole school professional development for the creation of a learning organization culture; • pre-role training and in-service training of stakeholders; • improving teaching-learning-assessment processes. The following are the main principles of professional development in the pedagogical domain of high school education: • Professional development will be based on programmes developed by the professional units in the Ministry of Education – these courses will constitute the professional development guidelines. • Each course will assign an applied performance task, meaning applied-reflective documentation of the relevant teaching and learning educational process. • The school principal is an educational leader, in charge of each teacher’s professional development as an individual and as a member in the school’s community. The principal will plan with the teacher his/her route of professional development. • The professional development programme will include the following domains: the subject matter, a didactic-educational domain, a management-organizational domain and personal empowerment. • Professional development will be done via academic institutions and the professional development institutions of the teachers’ association. According to the “Oz Le’Tmura” agreement, it was decided that each teacher who wishes to be appointed as a stakeholder will have to take a training course prior to starting the role, and also learn during performing the role. Underpinning the theory is the understanding that the development of a management “spine” in high school education creates career routes and an advancement horizon, providing adequate and relevant training for each stake holder. Professional development will focus on the construction of a professional identity and developing ways of ultimate performance as pedagogical leaders. Professional development

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processes will help shape stakeholders’ role perceptions and expectations regarding their role definition, so as to be able to meet the role’s requirements. Hence, the goals of training and professional development of stake holders are: • developing role perception and professional identity of the stakeholders as main partners in the school’s pedagogical leadership; • developing a holistic view adjusted to the role construction in a dynamic environment characterized by conditions of uncertainty; • improving personal and interpersonal skills and management and pedagogical skills by expanding the professional “toolbox” of understanding educational, teaching and learning processes and learning to improve the students’ achievements, and applying the skills in management and pedagogical processes; • construction of the perception and understanding of staff development and management processes and applying it in pedagogical management work at school: the goal is for teachers in secondary education enrich their knowledge and improve the quality of their work.

III.4. Teachers’ Well Being In the period of transition to a 40 hours’ week, it is better to make sure the teachers do their work only in the school framework, and leave no work to take home. In this way, working habits will develop in the hours allocated for it. Sitting side by side at workstations will cause teachers to consult each other and engage in joint planning and preparation, and results in greater social cohesion, thus increasing teachers’ involvement and accountability. There is a need to care for providing emotional support to teachers in staff meetings and personal conversations. Experience shows that in schools where the principal made time to listen and comment, while expressing empathy, the reform has been a great success. The “Oz Le’Tmura” reform requires management and teaching staff to adjust to many changes: physical changes (such as spending many hours at school, balanced eating, relaxation); emotional changes (such as managing personal conversations); organizational changes (such as close team work, and a different schedule); personal changes (such as correcting tests and making lesson plans in school) and more.

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IV. Conclusion Erez (2000) believes the “Oz Le’Tmura” reform will bring about revolutionary changes in the status of school and the teaching profession in Israel. Not only will the teachers’ output and quality of work improve significantly, not only will their salaries double, not only will teaching become a respectable, desirable profession, but the school in its entirety will become a place where it is safe and good to learn. The school will serve its purpose in the best way: educate, nurture and enrich the students, who are the important reason why schools exist, and for whom it is important to improve the system. Vidislavski (2011) adds that, to guarantee a quality application of the reform, there is a need to be aware of the factors that hinder the reform and the introduction of changes as a structured aspect of the process, along with the need to take the appropriate steps so as to cope with these obstacles and create the conditions necessary for the reform’s success, as long as the reform is a comprehensive quality reform: there should be a correspondence between the pedagogical changes and the required work processes and between the necessary structural-organizational changes supporting them and the appropriate ideas and resources. Additionally, it is important to regard the reform’s implementation as a process which calls for constant formative assessment, on the grounds of which adjustments and improvements will be made. After three years of implementation, a structured discussion will be held with all interested parties (Ministry of Education, Association of Secondary School Teachers in Israel), decisions will be made and amendments will be made to the collective work agreement signed with the teachers.

References Applebaum, L. (2012), The Courage to Create a Change. Jerusalem: Ministry of Education. (In Hebrew) 3–66. Cuban, L. (2006), International and historical perspectives on national reform programs. In Inbar, D. Towards an Educational Revolution? Following the Van Leer Conference on the Implementation of the Dovrat Report (pp. 22–34). Jerusalem: Van Leer Institute; Ra’anana: Hakibbutz Hameuchad. (In Hebrew) Dror, Y. (2006), Past reforms in the Israeli education system. In: Inbar, D. Towards an Educational Revolution? Following the Van Leer Conference on the Implementation of the Dovrat Report (pp. 35–59). Jerusalem: Van Leer Institute; Ra’anana: Hakibbutz Hameuchad. (In Hebrew)

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Erez, R. (2000), “Oz LeTmura” in the education system: The Secondary School Teachers Association’s program for value and structure changes in thee ducation system. Secondary School Teachers Association. (In Hebrew) Harpaz, Y. (2007), The reforms have reached their rightful place. Interview with Ami Volansky, Hed Hachinuch – Into the 21st Century – All Talk 8(30), 26–30. (In Hebrew) Hopkins, D. (1994), School improvement in an era of change, Eric Digest: School Development Series, 1–230. Pas, Y. (2012), Oz Le’Tmura reform: pedagogy, organization and learning. Jerusalem: Ministry of Education, pp. 1–81. (In Hebrew) Peleg, Z., Tamir, I. & Miara, R. (2011), “OZ Le’Tmura” for teachers: teaching willb ecome a career. http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L4074756,00.html (accessed 11 December 2012) (In Hebrew) Robinson, K. (2011), Give us the revolution in education! TED conference http://www.amalnet.k12.il/AmalNewsLetter/Letters/06.02.2011/TED.h tm (accessed 10 February 2012) Rosner, M. (2012), Professional development in the “Oz Le’Tmura” reform. Jerusalem: Ministry of Education http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PituachMiktzoie/oz (In Hebrew) Shmida, M. (1997), Reform in education. In Kashti, I., Arieli, M. & Shlasky, S. Teaching and education lexicon (pp. 323–327). Tel Aviv: Ramot, Tel Aviv University. (In Hebrew) Shoshani, S. (2007), Time for daring: proposal for improving the Israeli education system. Herzliya: Interdisciplinary Center. (In Hebrew, presented at the conference in Herzliya, http://www.herzliyaconference.org/eng/?ArticleID=1750&CategoryID=223) —. (2011), “Oz Le’Tmura Reform. What do Panel Members Think? Education Conference, Haifa (In Hebrew) Tamir, Y. (2011), Staying in control; or, what do we really want public education to achieve?, In: Educational Theory, 61: 395–41. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2011.00411.x/ abstractb Vidislavski, M. (2011), Reforms in the education system. Jerusalem: Ministry of Education (In Hebrew):1–11. Volansky, A. (2011), Changing Trends in the World of Education – Where Does Israel Stand? Mofet Institute Conference: Education in Israel, 9 December 2012. http://portal.macam.ac.il/ArticlePage.aspx?id=453 (In Hebrew)

CHAPTER NINE VARIATIONS IN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION: MASTERY AND PERFORMANCE MOTIVATION AND THEIR ASSOCIATED EMOTIONAL COSTS IONUğ-DORIN STANCIU AND CĂTĂLIN GLAVA BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract. Academic motivation is the key driving force for academic achievement, but individuals have different ways of activating their achievement-related goals, favouring either performance-oriented goals or mastery-oriented goals. However, immersing in, and maintaining one’s involvement in, academic tasks comes with associated costs, amongst which some can be viewed in terms of stress and emotional strain. Our research investigated and recorded such relations between achievement motivation dimensions (mastery and performance) and their associated costs in terms of perceived stress and depression symptoms in undergraduate students. The results showed a significant and negative correlation between mastery motivation, on the one hand, and the perceived stress and depression reports, on the other hand. Further statistical analyses refined the results into a conceptual predictive model of achievement motivation and stress and depression in undergraduate students. A promising door for future research opens with respect to clarifying the influence potential of mastery versus performance goal formulation on the emotional consequences for the students. Moreover, in accordance with the existing body of fundamental research, our results supported the pedagogical importance of helping and guiding the students in their differential formulation of academic goals. Keywords: academic achievement, motivation, undergraduate students, emotional stress, differentiated academic goals

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1. Introduction Today’s students are subject to more pressure to perform at high academic standards than ever before. A vast array of changes, ranging from societal to educational system and labour markets, confronts the undergraduate students. The student must carefully balance his or her personal life and professional objectives towards the schools’ curricular programmes and standards. As such, maintaining a high level of academic motivation is imperative in order for the student to remain engaged in the multitude of academic tasks and to perform at expected levels or academic proficiency. Academic motivation was an extensively studied topic in fundamental and theoretical research, for all sciences touching upon education, from educational psychology to pedagogy and didactics. The reason for this extensive focus in contemporary fundamental research is straightforward: motivation and learning are so interdependent and intrinsically related that it is impossible to understand learning without understanding motivation (Pintrich et al., 1993). Moreover, the highly motivated students are also more likely to accomplish academic achievements than those with lower levels of motivation to learn (McDermott et al. 2001; Wang et al. 1993; Weinstein 1998). Traditionally, researchers adopted a dichotomist view on motivation, differentiating between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation types. Intrinsic motivation was defined as that type motivation that drives the individual to be involved in activities for the sake of performing those activities (e.g. the pleasure that accompanies a doing sports, or performing music, or drawing, or playing chess, etc.) without explicit regard for the external rewarding outcomes (Pintrich and Schunk 2002; Schunk et al. 2008). Conversely, extrinsic motivation drives the individual in and during the performance of certain activities in specific relation with certain external outcomes that function as incentives, or simply put, as a means to an end. A more recent approach to motivation, drawing from the cognitive paradigm, furthered the intrinsic-extrinsic view on motivation, emphasizing the need to promote the intrinsic motivation rather than the extrinsic type. One such cognitive theory of motivation, namely, the goal theory, explained motivation in relation with formulation of mastery and performance goals (Elliot & Thrash, 2001). According to the goal theory, the mastery goals are authentic learning goals. This type of goals directs the person toward improvement and increased understanding of their tasks, including, specifically, academic activities (Midgley 2001; Pintrich 2000). On the other hand, performance goals are formulated so that they reflect

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the person’s desire to achieve external contingencies (e.g., a good grade, a scholarship, social or professional recognition, etc.). The traditional dichotomist view of intrinsic-extrinsic motivation perspective was attenuated by the cognitive approach of goal theory. However counterintuitive it may appear on occasions, intrinsic and extrinsic goals are often formulated simultaneously, that is, the person may associate the execution of a certain task with both types of objectives (Covington and Mueller 2001; Harackiewicz et al. 2000). Initiating, participating in, and remaining involved in academic tasks require the individual to constantly engage and disengage various shortterm or long-term goals, as well as to summon various cognitive and emotional resources in order to manage the tasks at hand. According to the cognitive-transactional model of stress developed by Lazarus and Folkman (1984), the individual’s resources directed towards balancing between internal and external factors of stress is key to the efficient coping to stress. As such, it is to be expected that the individual’s involvement in academic tasks would come with a person-specific cost in terms of perceived levels of stress and their more adverse correlates, depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the costs of prolonged, and sometimes, chronic, stress are widely accepted today as leading to a series of deregulations in the psychological and emotional wellbeing of the person. Depression is one of the possible consequences of a prolonged exposure to distress. From the seminal works of Lazarus and Folkman (1984) to today’s view in psychopathology prolonged stress was clearly linked to depression, construed as a pathological deregulation in the person’s mental health (American Psychiatric Association 2000). Not in the least, the distress in itself is a source for potential problematic behaviours. According to the cognitive-transactional approach, the sources of stress are twofold— internal, referring to a person’s cognitive processes, and, respectively, external, which refer to environmental or outside stimuli. Also, according to Swanholm et al. (2009), a demanding curriculum is one of the sources of academic stress with which an undergraduate student has to cope with. Given the burden of achieving increasingly higher academic standards, and the costs that the student may face when confronted to stressful situations, a relevant question arises as to how is the academic motivation related to the perceived levels of stress and the possible symptoms of depression. More specifically, we were interested in learning if favouring one type of academic motivation (i.e., performance motivation versus mastery motivation, or vice versa) varies significantly with the perceived levels of stress and depression.

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2. Methodology 2.1. Design A one-time, cross-sectional correlational study was conducted, proposing the dimensions of achievement motivation (performance and, respectively, mastery motivation) as predictor variables, and perceived stress and the reported perceived depression as dependent/outcome variables.

2.2. Measure instruments Academic achievement motivation was measured using two 4-item, 7step Likert scales adapted from Hall (2006) and originally developed by Pintrich et al. (1991). The two scales of the instrument measured the two motivation dimensions conceptualized in our research as predictor variables, i.e., performance motivation (PAM), and, respectively, mastery motivation (MAM). The internal consistency of the scales was determined to be above acceptable thresholds, varying from good (PAM) to moderately good (MAM): DCronbach = .80 for PAM and .70 for MAM. The predicted observed variables were recorded using a perceived stress, and, respectively, a perceived depression scale, which recorded the participant responses concerning their overall psychological adjustment. A 6-item, 5-point Likert scale, measuring the general perceived stress, developed by Cohen et al. (1983) allowed the participant students to report their level of perceived stress (STRESS). The internal consistency for the perceived depression scale was good with a computed DCronbach = .83 for STRESS. The depression (DEP) scale developed by Ivan Goldberg in 1983 (as cited in Hall 2006) was a 17-item, 6-steps Likert scale, with remarkable internal consistency—D Cronbach = .90 for DEP.

2.3. Participants A number of N participants = 213 undergraduate students (N female = 190; Nmale = 23) enrolled in 2nd-year courses at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences took part in the research. The mean age of the participants was Mage = 21.87 years (Mage female = 21.67; Mage male = 23.57).

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2.4. Procedure The participants completed one session of paper-pencil self-reported questionnaires at the end of their first semester of the 2nd year of studies. The recorded data was checked for normality and consistency, including outliers and missing values, and a sample of 213 sets of responses were kept from a total of 221 sets of responses (8 cases of missing values, 0 cases of outliers).

2.5. Hypotheses According to the research question and consistent with the study design, we expected to find significant correlations between the dimensions of achievement motivation and the dependent variables. As such, the null hypotheses negate the existence of such statistically significant correlations.

2.6. Results Prior to investigating a regression model of achievement motivation predicting perceived stress and perceived depression, a series of t-test for independent samples were conducted in order to investigate the impact of gender on the measured variables, and no significant differences were recorded with respect to performance motivation, mastery motivation, perceived stress or perceived depression (the data is reported in Table 9-1, below). Table 9-1: T-test for equality of means for the measured variables Measured variables

t

Perceived Stress Perceived Depression Mastery Motivation Performance Motivation

df

p

Mean dif.

2.215 211 .05 2.40 -.973 211 .33 -2.64

Std. Error Dif. 1.09 2.72

95% C.I. of the Dif. Lower Upper .264 4.541 -8.009 2.714

-.639 211 .52 -.50

.80

-2.073

1.058

-.232 211 .82 -.27

1.14

-2.515

1.985

Note for table 9-1: Where df represents the degrees of freedom, p is the bidirectional significance threshold, and C.I. is the Confidence Interval. Consequent to determining that gender doesn’t influence significantly the scores on any of the measured variables, a predictive regression model was investigated using the dimensions of achievement motivation as predictor variables and

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perceived stress and perceived depression as outcome variables. Since depression was constantly linked to stress as dependent variable in fundamental and theoretical research, the perceived stress mediates partly between the predictor variables of our model and perceived depression. Figure 9-1 depicts the prediction pathways and their corresponding statistical indices.

Fig. 9-1. Regression model for mastery motivation predicting perceived stress and perceive depression

3. Conclusions A valid predictive regression model incorporating the two dimensions of achievement motivation (mastery, and respectively, performance) as predictor variables for perceived stress and perceived depression, as predicted variables, with perceived stress acting as mediator variable between perceived depression and the achievement motivation dimensions was constructed. The model confirmed partly the initial hypotheses, with only mastery motivation being able to predict stress and depression in the undergraduate participant students. A rather small, but significant, percentage of explained variance in the observed variable perceived stress was recorded (R2 = .03), complemented by a significant and large percentage of explained variance in depression (R2 = .28). Certain limitations specific to the intrinsic nature of one-time, crosssectional, correlational studies, on the one hand, and pertaining to the

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nature of the participants’ sample, on the other hand, must be observed. As such, the recorded data must be interpreted with care with respect to generalizing the conclusions towards larger populations. Further studies, incorporating more numerous and more diverse undergraduate student participants can provide further clarification with respect to the ecological validity of the results as well as to the nature and number of the eventual confounded variables. The use of self-reported questionnaires brings about another specific limitation, which may be approached using a test-retest procedure, in order to assess the stability of our findings. Most importantly, the most relevant limitation encountered referred to the nature of the relation between the modelled predictor and predicted variables. Although our study highlighted significant negative correlations between mastery motivation, on the one hand, and stress and depression, on the other hand, a valid inference regarding the direction of influence between the modelled variables can be developed only after using experimental designs. Further experimental designs should also consider the small percentage of variation in the outcome variables explained by the model, as well as the magnitude of the regression coefficient between predictor and dependent variables. The results are consistent with some of the most up to date fundamental research regarding the relation between academic contingencies and stress and depression. Our results showed a significant negative correlation between mastery motivation and perceived stress and depression symptoms, without any significant correlation between performance related goals and the outcome variables, or influence from the gender, confirming, at least partly, similar results from recent fundamental research (Lavasani et al. 2011). The relevance and usefulness of our findings is twofold. From an educational perspective, the teacher should, first, be aware of the negative correlation between mastery motivation orientation and undesired correlates such as stress and depression and, secondly (with the necessary caution regarding the underlying connecting psychological mechanism), emphasize and help creation of mastery goals, which, according to our data and other fundamental research, are likely to be accompanied by decreased levels of stress and depression. Moreover, the educational programmes should take into consideration that the associated psychoemotional wellbeing costs for academic tasks, in terms of stress and depression, are likely to be smaller in those cases in which students display higher levels of mastery motivation. From an epistemological standpoint, the results show the need for further research which should clarify the eventual impact of mastery versus performance orientation on the associated psychological wellbeing

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costs, including stress and depressive symptoms, as well as with a view towards clarifying the role of other potential mediating variables.

References American Psychiatric Association (2000), Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders : Dsm-iv-tr. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Cohen, S., Kamarck, T. & Mermelstein, R. (1983), A global measure of perceived stress. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 24(4), 385– 396 Covington, M. V. & Mueller, K. J. (2001), Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation: an approach/avoidance reformulation. Educational Psychology Review 13(2), 157–176 Hall, N. C. (2006). Optimizing primary and secondary control in achievement settings: an examination of Rothbaum et al.’s (1982) congruence hypothesis. PhD NR12262, University of Manitoba (Canada). Harackiewicz, J. M., Barron, K. E., Tauer, J. M., Carter, S. M. & Elliot, A. J. (2000), Short-term and long-term consequences of achievement goals: predicting interest and performance over time. Journal of Educational Psychology 92(2), 316–330 Lavasani, M. G., Khezriazar, H., Amani, J. & Malahmadi, E. (2011), The role of academic self-efficacy and achievement goals in level of stress, anxiety, and depression of university students. Journal of Psychology 14(4), 417–432 Lazarus, R. S. & Folkman, S. (1984), Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York: Springer McDermott, P. A., Mordell, M. & Stoltzfus, J. C. (2001), The organization of student performance in American schools: discipline, motivation, verbal learning, nonverbal learning. Journal of Educational Psychology 93(1), 65–76 Midgley, C. (2001), A goal theory perspective on the current status of middle level schools. In Urdan, T. C. & Pajares, F. (eds), Adolescence and education pp. 33–59. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing Pintrich, P. R. (2000), Multiple goals, multiple pathways: the role of goal orientation in learning and achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology 92(3), 544–555. Pintrich, P. R., Marx, R. W. & Boyle, R. A. (1993). Beyond cold conceptual change: the role of motivational beliefs and classroom

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contextual factors in the process of conceptual change. Review of Educational Research 63(2), 167–199. Pintrich, P. R. & Schunk, D. H. (2002). Motivation in education: theory, research, and applications. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Pintrich, P. R., Smith, D., Garcia, T. & Mckeachie, W. J. (1991), A manual for the use of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (mslq). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, School of Education Schunk, D. H., Pintrich, P. R., & Meece, J. L. (2008), Motivation in education: theory, research, and applications. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall Swanholm, E., Vosvick, E. & Chng, C.-L. (2009), Pessimism, trauma, risky sex: covariates of depression in college students. American Journal of Health Behavior 33(3), 309–18. Thrash, T. M. & Elliot, A. J. (2001), Delimiting and integrating achievement motive and goal constructs. In Efklides, A., Kuhl, J. & Sorrentino, R. M. (eds), Trends and prospects in motivation research., pp. 3–21. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers Wang, M. C., Haertel, G. D. & Walberg, H. J. (1993), Toward a knowledge base for school learning. Review of Educational Research 63(3), 249–294 Weinstein, R. S. (1998), Promoting positive expectations in schooling. In Lambert, N. M. & McCombs, B. L. (eds), How students learn: reforming schools through learner-centered education, pp. 81–111. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association

CHAPTER TEN THE SOCIO-POLITICAL CONTEXT AND ITS INFLUENCES ON ROMANIAN CULTURE IN THE REIGN OF CHARLES II NICULAE CRISTEA MINISTER OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION - BUCHAREST, ROMANIA

Abstract. Charles II undoubtedly represents the most controversial character of Romanian royalty. In the cultural field, he aimed at becoming a Maecenas of Romanian culture. The King represented a dual personality, both in public and private life. For this reason, the public image of the monarchy was eroded. Despite his fascinating personality, with inborn qualities and acquired mannerisms, Charles II did not live up to Romanians’ expectations. However, his contribution from a cultural perspective to Romania’s heritage is unprecedented. Keywords: King of culture, dual image, psychological enigma, the Encyclopaedia of Romania. Charles II sought, like all of his royal predecessors, to validate a title which could define him as “the King of Culture”. In order to achieve this aim, he did not spare any effort. He sought to finance a major work, the Encyclopaedia of Romania. He set up foundations, inaugurated scientific research institutes, supported Romania’s participation in international exhibitions and fairs, encouraged the printing of major works by famous Romanian writers, and sponsored the building of social-cultural and industrial establishments (Scurtu, 2001, 261–262; Nicolescu, 2007, 90), All with one aim: his recognition as a Maecenas of Romanian interwar culture. Charles II undoubtedly represents the most controversial character of Romanian royalty. Charles II was an unfortunate combination of elements. As

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Crown Prince he received neither a rigorous intellectual education, nor a social education. The name of the college he attended is unknown and he did not attend any higher education institution, “because of the war and many other circumstances”.1 According to some malevolent commentators, Charles II inherited only his mother’s “bad” genes. He was endowed with an above average instinctual intelligence, not necessarily cultivated in formal education institutions. He let himself be led by instinct. Enslaved to pleasures, supporter of an authoritarian leadership style, Charles II acted in accordance with the international political context. Full of good qualities, but also gnawed by vices, Charles (first as Prince Charles, then as King Charles II, then after abdication Citizen Charles Caraiman) acted permanently at the border between duty and passion. In his vanity, he aimed at royal accomplishment, to be better than the exemplary Charles I and the loyal Ferdinand I. He was dominated by passions, among which the predominant one was for his mistress, Elena Lupescu. Charles II followed through his political aims thoroughly. A first step was the dethroning of his son, Michael, and the removal of the High Regency, the Act of Restoration being considered by some historians a real coup d’état (Neagoe, 2003, 140). Undoubtedly, an important role in his enthroning and self-proclaiming as King of the United Romania was played by Iuliu Maniu. The political compromise devised by this National-Peasant leader and put into practice by the king’s shrewd interpretation allowed the annulment of the Act of 4 January 1926. After his enthronement on 8 June 1930, he tried to put into practice the idea of the authoritarian regime, which would counter the compromised parliamentary policy of the political parties. Charles II acted obstinately to weaken the influence of political parties, aiming to produce divisions within them and bring to power governments of national union or unrepresentative governments, outside parties. He removed independent leaders who were not amenable and were not to the royal camarilla’s liking. Charles’ II arrogance towards politicians was characterized by his removal of politicians who had served him faithfully, without thanks; they were removed without explanation, without justification, at the king’s whim. Charles made a fatal mistake, according to some analysts, when he removed Nicolae Titulescu from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a 1

The statement belongs to the Minister, present at Capúa, in a dialogue with the British journalist Duranty (Jurgea-Negrileúti, 2002: 263).

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government reshuffle. Titulescu had twice been president of the General Assembly of the League of Nations and through shrewd politics and efficient diplomacy, had managed to sign at Montreux, together with the Soviet minister Maxim Litvinov, on 21 July 1936, a Romanian–Soviet protocol which laid down, in principle, the necessary elements of a Treaty on Mutual Assistance between Romania and the USSR (Nicolescu, 2007, 87). The restoration of relationships, which had started in 1934, allowed Titulescu to initiate a new policy towards Romania’s eastern neighbour. But on 29 August 1936 Titulescu found out on the radio that another minister of Foreign Affairs, Victor Antonescu, had been sworn in, while he still believed himself to be the minister (Jurgea-Negrileúti, 2002, 264). Charles’ demotion of Titulescu changed the direction of foreign politics, determining the Soviets to ignore the text of the protocol. Charles II encouraged the formation of a new centre of power, the royal camarilla. This forum of people interested in climbing the social ladder and in becoming richer (political people, oligarchs from the industrial and financial world, business people, journalists, officers and learned people, led by “Madam” Elena Lupescu) acted as a decision-making factor in current political affairs, and created many problems for the king. Charles II carried out a policy of marginalizing members of the Royal family (Nicolescu, 2007, 86). He forbade them to get involved in political issues,2 forced them to live mostly abroad3 and forced his brother Prince Nicolae to renounce his princely rights and prerogatives.4 Charles had not inherited his father’s affability and tolerance; he was hated by the butlers and cooks of the Palace, while his parents Ferdinand and Maria were revered. So much violence, incivility and contempt lay in him that no one ever dared to contradict him (Jurgea-Negrileúti, 2002, 259). Permanently preoccupied by the material state of the Royal House, whose representative he was, Charles II pursued and acquired a personal, influential shareholding in the main wealth sources of Romanian economy, holding shares, securities and deposits with the main banks, companies and factories, thus gaining an interest in the dynamics of economic life. The kings of Romania were immortalized in a portrait that was used by 2

Charles forbade his mother, Queen Maria, to interfere in public and political affairs of state and advised her – through go-betweens – to move to the Black Sea resort of Balchic. 3 In accordance with the Act of 17 February 1932, between Charles and his ex-wife, Elena, the Princess pledged to live no longer than four months in the country (Scurtu, 2001, 122). 4 Because Prince Nicolae contracted a morganatic marriage with Ioana Săveanu Doletti, refusing the dissolution of the marriage, Charles II obliged him to move abroad.

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Charles II to create an effective image of the monarchy. Thus, Philip de Laszlo, of Hungarian origin, a famous painter in the pre- and inter-war period at the royal courts of Europe, was also in the service of Romanian monarchs Maria and Charles II. In 1936 he was brought into the country (with difficulty because of Hungary’s resentment at the loss of Transylvania) and painted, to a commission from Charles II, the portraits of King Ferdinand, Queen Maria and King Charles II. Charles wanted to add it to the existing ones (King Charles I and Queen Elisabeth) and to paint a set of portraits designed to be placed in the Throne Room in Bucharest. Charles’s gesture may seem extremely sensitive and full of respect for his forerunners, but it was, foremost, a powerful move to consolidate the image of the permanence and legitimacy of the monarchy. King Charles II intended to rebuild in all fields: economic, military, cultural, legislative and political. Out of this mixture of personal interests and political purposes there resulted – because he had not chosen the right means – a complex reign, full of contrasts and exaggerations: in a nutshell, destructive. Consequently, the public image of the monarchy was eroded continuously during his reign. Nobody denied his patriotism, hopes were high, but he was prone to the blind weakness of passion (Neagoe, 2003, 141). Charles II did not live up to the Romanian nation’s expectations. He was revered thanks to the efficient propaganda used by the royal camarilla (and loathed) and due to the fact that he was on the throne of Romania at the moment of territorial invasions in the summer of 1940. He wanted and managed to remain in the memory of posterity. The monarch adored the playwright and political commentator Caragiale. “He was my teacher of politics,” the King used to say to his friend, Radu Irimescu (Jurgea-Negrileúti, 2002, 258). The writer Ion Vinea, though not a fan of Charles, promoted a more objective approach to Charles’ personality. This is how he characterized his political action, after ten years on the throne: “If he had been only stingy, lacking the sense of ridicule, egoistic and cruel, he could have not kept the throne. He saddled Romania and rode it the way he wanted. Do you think that’s easy? . . . In order to describe a personality as great as Charles’s, we would need a Balzac” (Jurgea-Negrileúti, 2002, 266). The well-known British journalist Walter Duranty, a connoisseur of Soviet Union realities and of totalitarian regimes but also conversant with Romanian realities, characterized Charles II as “the man who held nothing sacred. He is disrespectful of laws, conventions, rules and other ‘fetishisms’ that paralyse a gentleman. For him, for a Stalin, there are only necessities almost temporary, which could possibly be raised to the rank of law” (Jurgea-Negrileúti, 2002, 262).

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On the contrary, on analysing sources, Charles II tried to cultivate the public image of a man full of virtues, an image that he enjoyed until the end of his reign. A picture of the character and institutional duality of the sovereign, imposed by the Restoration, is offered by Barbu Cioculescu, in a collection of interviews, titled România care a dispărut (The Romania that disappeared). “King Charles II, who was a born orator and who was loved by the majority of Romanian society (at least until 1940, when catastrophe hit: because he was a handsome, stately man, who loved uniforms, loved writers and helped them, had exquisite literary tastes, always took part in the Day of the Book events, and not everybody knew all those dirty political dealings, that marked the corruption at the Palace, according to the adage “Fish rots from the head”), he was for a long time a popular King” (Rhea, 2002, 45). Constantly, the masses were neither informed, nor interested, according to the opinion of the same interviewee: “Charles II . . . kept his vices under cover and many were not interested in the fact that he lived with Elena Lupescu or that he had adventures at the Palace. People shrugged and never questioned the monarchy as an institution” (Rhea, 2002, 45). King Charles II was a fascinating personality. One of those who claimed that they knew all facets of the man, a friend of his “as no one else in this world had ever been”, Mihail Manoilescu (1993, 96) revealed the paradoxes of his personality in this way: “I hardly believe that the Charles enigma would ever be solved, in its all hidden aspects, psychological rather than historical enigma. Contemporary observers will testify either completely against Charles, depicting him as a devil, or completely for him, turning him into a misunderstood hero. Both will be right, because he was both a demon and a hero, an embodiment of the powers of darkness and an enlightening apparition, an opener of better ways. Charles cannot be caught and expressed in simple, standard formulas, as a melodramatic character, who embodies either all evil or all good” (Rhea, 2002, 95). A critical view of Charles II is provided from inside the Romanian monarchy. Detached, with hindsight, looking back on the events he had lived through, bearing as a mark the cruellest destiny that a monarch can have – forced abdication, forced exile, suppression of basic rights and an intensive and profoundly negative disparaging of the monarchy’s image – who returned amongst a people still looking for landmarks and who refers differently to what this institution represented in its own history, against the background of divergent information, attitudes and convictions, King Michael underlined, with exquisite finesse, the huge mistake made by his father, Charles II: “They wanted to be both the elite of the country [this refers to Charles II, but also to Prince Nicolae, who made the same mistakes], but also to behave like all

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people without responsibilities. They never accepted that the place they occupied in the country’s hierarchy obliged them to behave as in a house with walls of glass. A member of the royal family can long for the liberties enjoyed by the commonest man, but can have none of them” (Ciobanu, 1994, 96). And elsewhere the son adds: “Even if [Charles II] was a gifted man, his vulnerable side prevented many of his qualities from emerging, sometimes even stifling them. I rather believe that he was weak by nature, unable to dominate his passions” (Buzatu, 1992, 39). In conclusion, it is noteworthy that his most important contribution during his life as a monarch is the Encyclopaedia of Romania, a monumental work in four volumes that mirrors all the realities of Romanian life and is an unprecedented cultural work, unparalleled until now.

References Buzatu, Gheorghe (ed.) (1992), Mihai I al României, Cuvinte către români, proclamaĠii, interviuri, declaraĠii selectate, comentate úi editate de Gh. Buzatu. Iaèi: Editura Glasul Bucovinei Ciobanu, Mircea (1994), Regele Mihai úi exilul Românesc. Iaèi: Editura Princeps Jurgea-Negrileúti, Gheorghe (2002), Troica amintirilor: Sub patru regi. Bucureúti: Editura Cartea Românească Manoilescu, Mihail (1993), Memorii. Bucureúti: Editura Enciclopedică. Neagoe, Stelian (ed.) (2003), Enciclopedia istoriei politice a României 1859– 2002. Bucureúti: Editura Institutului de ùtiinĠe Politice úi RelaĠii InternaĠionale Nicolescu, Nicolae C. (2007), Enciclopedia úefilor de stat ai României. 1862– 2007. Bucureúti: Editura Meronia Rhea, Cristina (2002), România care a dispărut (carte de interviuri, cu prefaĠă de Alexandru Zub). Bucureúti: Editura Curtea Veche Scurtu, Ioan (2001), Istoria românilor în timpul celor patru regi (1866–1947), vol. III. Carol al II-lea. Bucureúti: Editura Enciclopedică

CHAPTER ELEVEN EARLY COMMUNICATION SKILLS ASSESSMENT OF ISRAELI ETHIOPIAN TODDLERS: A PRELIMINARY STAGE OF IMPLEMENTING A CULTURE SENSITIVE INTERVENTION NOA GOURI-GUBERMAN BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: The objective of this study was to explore the assumption that verbal delay among Israeli Ethiopian children is rooted at the preverbal stage. Previous research has found that Ethiopian-Israeli children at school age exhibit significant deficiencies in their verbal and literacy knowledge. This study examined the development of early communication skills among forty 18–30-month-old Israeli Ethiopian toddlers. Four categories of communication skills were measured: Responsive and Initiated joint attention and Responsive and Initiated behavioural requests. Results indicated that participants showed low results on initiated joint attention and behavioural requests behaviours. These results demonstrate that the intervention programmes should be applied at the preverbal stage. Keywords: early communication skills, common attention, culturally sensitive intervention.

Introduction The formation of early social communication skills is one of the infant’s major tasks. The infant’s innate capacity to be an active partner in the socialization process requires frequent social interaction with adults and peers in order to achieve its full potential (Adamson et al., 2009;

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Tomasselo & Carpenter, 2007). Early socio-emotional interactions establish the foundation for the child’s linguistic development. Even though the fundamental role of early interaction in the process of language acquisition is widely accepted, too little research has been done regarding early communication skills of Israeli Ethiopian children under the age of three. Most of the research on this subject was focused on school-age children (Shany 2006; Shany & Geva 2011). Early childhood communication skills develop in the extensive context of emotional relationship. It is important for a child to have a reciprocal interaction with the others in order to develop both emotional security and communication skills. Bruner and Sherwood (1983) defined the usual social interactions as communication formats; the usage of gestures and words through these daily formats prepares the infant for the future use of linguistic symbols (Farrant, 2012; Rudd, Cain & Saxon, 2008).

Joint attention-definition and characterization One of the main components of mutually focused and reciprocal forms of interaction are joint attention skills. Joint attention involves the triadic coordination of attention between self, others and an object, event or symbol (Tomasello & Carpenter 2007; Vaughan Van Hecke et al., , 2007). The function of Joint Attention (JA) behaviour is to share attention with the interactive partner or to observe the partner’s attention (Mundy et al., 2003). Early indications of JA behaviour begin to emerge between 3 and 6 months and evolve into complex and differentiated behaviours towards the age of 18 months. JA behaviours can be divided into two basic forms: responsive and initiated. Initiated behaviours (IJA) involve the infant’s ability to use eye contact, to point and to show gestures. Responsive joint attention behaviours (RJA) involve the ability to follow the direction of gaze, head turn and/or pointing gesture of another person (Nichols, Fox & Mundy, 2005). Behavioural Requests (IBR) behaviours are often observed when the child directs his attention to toys that are out of reach and points it, or gives an object to an adult in order to receive some help. Responding to behavioural requests means that the child showed the ability to follow orders.

JA behaviours and language development Extensive research evidence argues that there is a strong link between the early development of joint attention and the acquisition of language. When adults attach verbal labels to objects, the infant will turn his

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attention to the object; thus, repeated and coordinated joint attention anticipates the onset of spoken language (Adamson et al., 2009; Charman 2003; Kaiser & Roberts 2011). The ability to follow the gaze, in the first year, was correlated with the receptive vocabulary and the number of object words produced by 14 months. (Morales, Mundy & Delgado, 2000; Slaughter & McConnell, 2003) The levels of RJA were related to vocabulary acquisition (Mundy et al., 2003). The more children who had low levels of JA in infancy were significantly more likely to have a poor vocabulary development at time of school entry (Farrant & Zubrick, 2011). The discovery regarding the significant relations between early nonverbal communication skills and language acquisition suggested that increasing the levels of joint attention opportunities through early intervention programmes might improve children’s early vocabulary development (Bjorn et al., 2012; Farrant, 2012).

Aspects of language development among Ethiopian community toddlers The Ethiopian community came to Israel in two large immigration waves: one during 1984 and the other during 1991. Since then, the number of Ethiopian immigrants coming to Israel has reduced. Shany (2006) observed that Israeli-Ethiopian children showed lower achievements in communication skills, sentence forming and vocabulary tests in comparison to Israeli children from equivalent socio-economic background (Shany & Geva, 2011). It appears that Israeli-Ethiopian parents have abandoned the use of their proficient oral skills such as story-telling, word games and riddles, but did not adopt western acceptable literacy skills such as shared book reading and mediated discourse among parents and children (Shany, 2006). Not much research has been done regarding JA development in Ethiopia and other non-western societies. A research study done in rural Nigeria proved that infants and toddlers are often carried on the carer’s back (facing the back), thus they may not be able to follow the gaze of the carer. Despite frequently reported, loving, physical proximity between mothers and infants in Ethiopia, infants are not regarded as communication partners, face to face contact is rare and there is little or no verbal interaction between mothers and young children. Children are trained to learn through passive observation of adults’ actions (Akinsola, 2013; Klein & Rey, 2004; Lohaus et al., 2011). The disturbing findings regarding late and impaired language acquisition among Israeli-Ethiopian children led the ORR to programme a

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multidimensional intervention exploring the possibility that the onset of delayed verbal skills of Israeli Ethiopian children begins at the pre lingual stage and requires a profound culturally sensitive early intervention based on adult–toddler interaction (Howes & Wishard Guerra, 2009; Spivak & Howes, 2011).

Objectives The objective of the current study was to identify the characteristics of joint attention behaviours among Ethiopian immigrant children, aged 18– 30 months.

Hypothesis Participants will demonstrate low joint attention skills, at preintervention assessment, compared to a sample of a 100 typically developing 18-month children presented by Mundy (Mundy et al., 2007).

Method Participants Forty 18–30-month-old children of Ethiopian origin (26 boys, 14 girls) participated in this study. All children were in their first year of attending the ORR intervention programme and did not participate in any other form of intervention. The children attended five day-care centres in Israel. The children came from low socioeconomic status families. At the time of immigration, 38 mothers had been aged 10 or older and 2 between the ages of 5 and 9. Table 11-1

Mother Age (years) Mother Immigration Age

M 34.5 13.5

SD 5.72 5.16

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Measures Early Social Communication Skills – ESCS (Mundy) The Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS; Mundy et al., 2003) is a structured 20-minute assessment designed to measure the development of nonverbal communication skills during the 6- to 30-month period. Observations of the experimenter–toddler interactions yielded scores for joint attention and behavioural requests. Reliability for ESCS measure has been well established in previous studies (Smith & Ulvund, 2003; Sheinkopf et al., 2004). The inter-rater reliability was re-examined in Mundy et al., 2007 the inter-rater reliabilities were IJA5.95, IJA –EC5.97, IJA –PS5.32, IBR5.77, IBR–ECR5.95, IBR–PG5.59, RJA5.97, and RBR5.88. All of these coefficients were significant (po.005). The adult-child interaction was coded during observation and through video analysis post observation. Encoding was conducted by two professionals.

Procedure The ESCS-Early communication scales tasks were administered by the ORR program mentors pre intervention. Each assessment was carried out in a separate playroom in the day-care compound.

Results Table 11-2

Total _ija Total_rja Total_ibr Total_rbr

N 40 40 40 40

Range 29 100 30 100

Max. 29 116.33 30 100

Mean 9.6154 67.647 10.205 58.035

SD 6.8 38.4 7.95 28.271

To check whether the findings that were gathered in the current study differ from those of a sample of 100 typically developing 18-month-old children, presented by Mundy et al. (2003), one sample test was necessary. The results yielded a statistically significant difference between the sample mean and those presented by Mundy et al. (2003; 2007)

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Fig.11-1. Comparison with 18-month data. The mean IJA found in the current study (M=9.61) is significantly below Mundy’s sample (t (38)=-7.24, p.050

E-C

3.87–3.57

8.229

.001

Regarding the control group, no significant differences between the average of pre-experimental results and post-experimental results are seen. Therefore, all these aspects combined demonstrate that the teacher–student relationship was not perceived and referred to by the students belonging to the experimental group of teachers as modifying significantly compared to the students belonging to the control group of teachers. However, as mentioned above, we notice that there is a change in the way the teacher uses teamwork to facilitate students’ learning as a result of the experimental intervention conducted with teachers in primary school. Figure 17-2 shows graphically a slightly upward trajectory of the experimental group average in the pre-experimental stage and the postexperimental stage. This shows minor and statistically insignificant changes in the students’ perception of their relationship with the primary school teacher.

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Figure 17-2. Students’ opinions of the teacher–student relationship in preexperimental and post-experimental stages

As to students’ understanding of the role of the classwork and homework, as part of the classroom environment, in this paper we wanted to study the relationship between them and the teacher’s class management skills developed in the context of formative training proposed by us. Based on empirical data resulting from the preliminary stage, we noticed that many teachers are facing major discipline problems. These difficulties are created by students during educational activities organized individually, in groups or whole class. Consequently, this leads to disruption of work in class and the way the teacher selects and explains the significance of classwork and homework can have an important impact on class climate. Thus, we believe that the students’ perception of classwork and homework is strongly influenced by the way the teacher organizes the activity and manages to successfully approach the behaviour problems among students. For testing this hypothesis we used the statistical processing of data obtained from the questionnaire administered before and after the test. Table 17-5, shows that there are significant differences between the averages of the experimental group results and control group results in terms of students’ perception. But this occurs only for the item referring to the stimulating character of work in the classroom and homework (p=0.06). Therefore, it seems that the proposed programme for training teachers in classroom management strategies did not change significantly the students’ perception of the role of classwork and homework.

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Table 17-5. Post-experimental comparative data referring to students’ perception of their classwork and homework Items For me the classwork and the homework are: not very difficult and not very easy stimulative (helps me to learn) new and interesting useful provocative

Research groups

Means

t

p

E-C

3.64–3.53

0.034

>.050

E-C

3.75–3.50

2.441

.006

E-C E-C E-C

3.89–3.60 3.87–3.77 3.74–3.42

1.474 0.035 1.024

>.050 >.050 >.050

Figure 17-3 completes the pictured outlined above: in the experimental group, significant differences are observed at the level of the items stating that work in the classroom and homework are new, interesting and challenging. In the control group the situation is different: there is a great variety of scores without significant changes between the averages of preexperimental and postexperimental results. One possible explanation concerns the lack of transfer of knowledge and skills acquired by the experimental group teachers on the class students so that the students to perceive significant restructuring of teacher’s behaviour and attitude aimed at influencing the class students including how to relate to specific aspects of work in the classroom and homework.

Figure 17-3. Comparative graphic representation of the students’ opinions referring to classwork and homework in pre-experimental and post-experimental stages

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Furthermore, Figure 17-3 shows minor differences at the level of the two groups of students. They are statistically significant only in terms of the stimulating character of classwork and homework. The impact of educational intervention on the development of students’ perception and on the way the students understand school work was not our goal. All things considered, we can state the effectiveness of educational intervention programme developed by us in terms of positive changes in the classroom climate observed by the students, and also the favourable impact on some components related to teacher-students relationship and the character of classwork and homework as revealed in the previous analysis.

Conclusions Taking into account the recorded results, we can conclude that training teachers to develop self-management and class management strategies makes a significant contribution to stimulating class climate. This leads us to believe that the hypothesis concerning the implementation of a training programme with an impact on personal management and class management skills, and on dealing with behaviour difficulties in class, helps to optimize class climate, is confirmed. We are therefore able to assert the effectiveness of the intervention programme developed by us in terms of positive changes in class climate, as component of educational environment, a favourable impact on the teacher–student relationship and a particular character of classwork and homework. Considering all these aspects in conjunction with reference literature recommendations, we suggest teachers consider creating an climate characterized by mutual support and trust, building the mechanisms to ensure social support for both teachers and students, setting options for achieving the objectives, involving students in decision-making in the classroom, promoting individualized learning and feed-back, using a variety of strategies both to prevent and to combat problems, building an attractive and healthy physical environment to stimulate students’ learning.

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References Bessoth, Richard (1989). Verbesserung des Unterrichtsklimas: Grundlagen, Aufbau und Einsatz von Instrumenten. Neuwied: Luchterhand Blank, M. A., Kershaw, C. (1998). Designbook for building partnerships: school, home and community. Boston, Maryland: Scarecrow Press Inc Marzano, Robert J., Marzano, Jana S. & Pickering, Debra J. (2003). Classroom management that works: research-based strategies for every teacher. Virginia, USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Alexandria Olsen, Jerry & Nielsen, Thomas, W. (2009). Noi metode úi strategii pentru managementul clasei. Bucureúti: Editura Didactica Popenci, ùtefan, Fartuúnic, Ciprian & Târnoveanu, Nadia (2008). Managementul clasei pentru elevii cu ADHD. Bucureúti: Editura Didactica Seeger, Rita & Seeger, Norbert (2007). Was Lehrer stark macht. Donauwörth: Auer-Verlag Veronn, Ann (2006). Dezvoltarea inteligentei emoĠionale. Cluj-Napoca: ASCR

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ROLE PERCEPTION IN THE FRAMEWORK OF AN AEROBIC DANCE AND BODY PROGRAMME MICHAL ZALTSMAN BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMÂNIA

Abstract. The paper refers to a mixed-methods research engaged for the development of instructor’s role perception. It accompanies 40 participants in an Aerobic Dance and Body Shaping Instructor’s programme and investigates the process they undergo during one academic year. Research Goals: Developing a model of the proper role perception development; investigating situations in which role perception develops; assess the fitness level and its development. Conclusions: Include an optimal Aerobic Dance and Body Shaping instructors’ programme model that can contribute to the development of teachers and instructors in other fields. Keywords: Aerobic Dance, Body Shaping, Role Perception, Instructors. Instruction Model

1. Introduction Many people enjoy physical exercise in general and aerobic dance and body shaping in particular. For some people, physical activity is a passion. There are those who choose to turn this love into a profession and take certification courses. The three main reasons for enrolling in the programme are: love of sport, rhythm and dance; an easy way to make some extra income; and the wish to add enjoyable fun work to one’s routine. Candidates join the programme expecting it to be a nice, light fun course and realize it is about a serious profession which requires many skills and instruction/guidance.

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The research engages in the process of students on the “Aerobic Dance and Body Shaping” instructors’ course and focuses on the change and development of the students’ role perception as they gradually become instructors. The research also examines the role perceptions of instructors who have already graduated from the course and coordinators training the students. The theoretical part of the research includes four main theories in addition to other terms related to the topic of this research. The theories are from the field of sociology, psychology, education and physical education. This research will engage in the development of role perception hence calls for a definition of the term “role perception”. “Role perception” seems to include one’s beliefs, perceptions and expectations of oneself regarding the “role”, and the way in which it influences the individual and others in the environment (Bitman, Marom, Ben-Atar and Lahav, 1993, Immanuel, 2005). Dueck (2008) argued that role perception is the person’s vision of the role; hence each person has to have a role perception. Role perception derives from understanding the role and thinking about it, and it can help a person set priorities and cope with routine dilemmas. Avneyon (2010) defines role perception as a variety of views, attitudes, insights or expectations about the role which has to do with the person’s status and a specific position in the organization. The researcher believes role perception is a combination of all of the above – in a nutshell: understanding, perception and vision expressed subjectively towards the role and its application, while considering what is expected by society.

1.1. Main Theories Role Theory engaging in the various roles in society, and the way in which roles are created and developed (Moreno, 1946; Blatner, 1997). Social Learning approach – imitation Aerobic dance and Body Shaping rely on imitation as part of the learning process (Bandura, 1977; Cohen & Friedman, 2002). Social Cognitive Theory – self-regulation in learning, according to which a person actively controls learning and reinforces self for behaviour (Bandura, 1977; Lichtinger, 2011). Constructivism in learning a process whereby the learner’s knowledge is constructed gradually in the course of active learning (Piaget, 1952; Vygotsky, 1962; Brooks & Brooks, 1999).

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1.2. Concepts Instruction includes such concepts as guidance, counselling, training, personal development and group development (Oliva & Pawlas, 1997). Body Image is a set of perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and sensations, which an individual holds in relation to his or her body (Treger, 2009). Body language is non-verbal communication; a set of movements and gestures constituting a behavioural ensemble expressing the individual’s internal experiences and occurrences, affecting the climate and the surroundings (Halperin, 2012). As an academic issue, role perception development of aerobics and body shaping instruction training has not been sufficiently studied. Most aerobic dance and body shaping research considers the participants and the benefits generated by physical activity. Newly published research examined the influence of aerobic dance and body shaping on various populations, and emphasizes aerobic dance’s contribution to physical, mental and cognitive development. Research conducted in Japan indicated improvements in the cognitive performance of adults (ages 65–75) who participate in an aerobic dance exercise programme (Hozumi & Kimura, 2012). Research by Leelarungrayub et al. (2011) found that six weeks of aerobic dance exercise improves blood oxidative stress status and increases interleukin-2 in previously sedentary women. Another piece of research examined an aerobic programme combined with body shaping by using weights; this followed men and women for three months. The results indicated an improvement in both strength and endurance tests, before and after engaging in the activity. Additionally, the psychological questionnaires indicated that participants’ well-being improved (Schiffer et al., 2009). In contrast, earlier research studied damage and injuries caused by aerobic dance. Researchers discussed the voice strain experienced by aerobics instructors. They examined 54 aerobics instructors, who were found to experience hoarseness and even loss of voice as a consequence of strenuous use of their voice (Long et al., 1998). Earlier research examined the prevalence and types of injuries among those engaging in aerobic dance and found that people aged 40 and younger reported a larger number of shin bone injuries, while participants aged 41 and older reported a greater number of lower back injuries (Rothenberger et al., 1988).

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No reference to the aerobic dance’s instructor’s role perception is found in the literature, hence the significance of this research.

1.3. Research Aims 1. To develop a model of a proper aerobic dance and body shaping instructors’ role perception. 2. To explore the ways in which the instructor’s role perception develops. 3. To assess the fitness level and its development during the programme.

1.4. Research Questions 1. What are the main characteristics acquired in the programme which contribute to the aerobic dance and body shaping instructor’s role perception? 2. How does the aerobic dance and body shaping instructor’s role perception develop? 3. To what extent does the level of fitness level develop during the programme?

1.5. Research Hypothesis Through the aerobic dance and body shaping programme we expect to identify characteristics which develop and improve the students’ role perception as they gradually become instructors.

1.6. Methodology This mixed methods research was conducted in the framework of a Wingate Institute Aerobic Dance and Body Shaping instructor’s programme, which took place in Jerusalem, Rishon LeZion and Ashdod, in October 2010. The research stemmed from the need to understand the characteristics of the optimal aerobic dance and body shaping instructor. The researcher is a coordinator in the instructor’s programme, and expert in the field of aerobic dance and body shaping, who has deemed it right to investigate the process which the students undergo and understand it. The research population included 40 students participating in an annual Aerobic Dance and Body Shaping Instructors’ Programme, examined at the beginning of the programme, in its middle and at the end. Additionally, 10 instructors, programme graduates, working for over a year and 4

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coordinator training instructors on behalf of the Wingate Institute participated in the research. The research includes an intervention programme which is an addition contributed by the researcher and approved by the Sports Administration. The programme’s curriculum is good, but highly technical. The intervention programme seeks to contribute to the programme participants and help them pass the programme and acquire the role perception required of a professional instructor in a smooth manner. A personal approach (being a role model, creating group interaction, conducting workshops, sharing personal stories and real life examples) creates a supportive, pleasant climate so as to advance the students to their new role.

1.7. Research Tools Quantitative tools: questionnaires and two physical fitness tests. Qualitative tools: semi-structured interviews. The questionnaires and the interviews were especially devised for this research with the help of a statistics expert while using preliminary interviews with programme candidates and a conversation with the programme coordinator. The two physical fitness tests rely on familiar tests reported in the literature.

1.8 Research Stages in Chronological Order x Stage 1 – Qualitative – interviews with 8 programme candidates before the programme; x Stage 2 – Quantitative – questionnaires to 40 students and two physical fitness tests to 14 students in the beginning of the programme; x Stage 3 - Quantitative – questionnaires to 40 students in the midprogramme stage; x Stage 4 – Quantitative and Qualitative - Quantitative – questionnaires to 40 students, two physical fitness tests to 14 students and interviews with 8 students at the end of the programme. x Stage 5 – Qualitative – interviews with 10 instructors and 4 programme coordinators after the programme.

1.9 Data Analysis The quantitative and qualitative data were collected separately by the researcher. Quantitative data were collected via questionnaires, and two physical fitness tests. Their results were written on pages collected by the

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researcher. Qualitative data were collected via interviews which were recorded by the researcher. Each type of data was analysed separately. The quantitative analysis includes statistical measures such as ANOVA and t-test, and was conducted with the help of a statistics expert. Qualitative data analysis included transcriptions of the interviews and content analysis. The analysis stages which served for eliciting the themes followed the following analysis stages: (1) Holistic reading of the data; (2) Organizing and minimizing the data; (3) “Breaking” the data into smaller units of analysis; (5) Reconstructing the data and conceptualizing; (6) Holistic rereading of the data; (7) Verifying the data (8) Writing (Kacen & Krummer-Nevo, 2010). The researcher also integrated the analyses to reach an ultimate model and conclusions.

2. Findings The research yielded three major findings corresponding to the research questions: 1. In the quantitative part, five main characteristics were found to contribute to instructors’ role perception: high instruction level, pedagogical capabilities, good musical hearing, acquaintance with body anatomy and physiology and technical acquaintance with body shaping equipment. The level of physical fitness hardly changes after the programme. It appears that these characteristics are those which develop the most in the course of the instruction programme. 2. In the qualitative part of the research, three main themes were identified from the three sources of information: students, instructors and coordinators. x Development in the instructor’s characteristics and skills – combination of charisma and energy with high technical skills, the ability to educate for physical activity in a variety of perspectives, knowledgeable, sense of rhythm and listening to music. x Development regarding the profession – seriousness, professionalism and commitment to hard work, ongoing learning and professional development. x Development regarding the exercising audience – attention and communication with people, influencing their lives, personal attitude and being a role model. 3. The findings of physical fitness tests show that the physical fitness level has hardly changed, meaning the improvement in physical fitness level is not significant.

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3. Discussion and Conclusions If we begin with the third research question which examined the level physical fitness improvement, we can see that this research question was not confirmed as the programme is an instruction programme emphasizing the development of instruction competence and specific skills rather than improving physical fitness. The programme is conducted once a week, and even if it includes physical activity, it is not enough for improving physical fitness. The first research question seeking to find the main characteristics acquired in the programme and contributing to the role perception of aerobic dance and body shaping instructors found five main characteristics, as can be seen in the findings and the figures. The second research question seeking to find how the instructors’ role perception develops yielded three main themes. The first and second research questions yielded an array of characteristics and variables, which together influence and create the ultimate role perception of aerobic dance and body shaping instructor. The literature presents an educational model by Altman and Katz (2001). The model includes five factors comprising the teacher’s role perception: personality traits, teacher’s past experience, formal role definition, school’s organizational culture and the environment’s expectations. According to that model, the role perception depends on five factors, and hence it changes if one or more factors change. Deep thinking and organization of the data while relating to the research data, theories and concepts underpinning this research yielded a model which consists of four major links, the components of the optimal instruction model, contributing to the desired aerobic dance and body shaping instructors’ role perception: characteristics and general instruction skills, characteristics and specific instruction skills, attitude to the profession and attitude to the exercising audience. Each of the four parts is detailed. Contrary to Altman and Katz’s model, the four aspects here interconnect. In the newly formed instruction model all factors pertain to what the instructor ought to do in order to be the best, whether they are skills or characteristics, or in the attitude to the profession or to the exercising audience. In Altman and Katz’s model (2001) reference is also external and includes the school and the environment’s expectations. This model constitutes the components of the “basket” which an ideal aerobic dance and body shaping instructor has to carry. The four links are significant and if one of them does not exist, the instructor will not be “optimal” as she ought to be. “Damage” to one of the links will result in a

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less worthy instructor. Can each aerobic dance and body shaping instructor be the best in all four components? Reality shows each instructor has her strengths and weaknesses, but the desired situation calls for each instructor to make an effort in all four domains and spire for the optimal performance.

Figure 18-1. The Optimal Model of the Desired Role Perception of Aerobic Dance and Body Shaping Instructors

This research is innovative and unique as this is a pioneer model in the domain of role perception in the instruction of aerobic dance and body shaping. If we attempt to contribute to the various instructors’ programmes, we might be able to change the component of specific instruction skills components pertaining to another specific programme we can modify the model and adjust it to other fields, leaving the rest of the model as it is. Thus it can be used in other instruction fields. The research may enable instructors and coordinators in other programmes understand the major instruction characteristics and components to reach a state of optimal instruction. Instructors may learn and self-develop in the model’s domains and coordinators will be able to better lead their students through training and into their new role.

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References Altman, A., & Katz, T. (2001), Leadership and leadership development in practice. www.leadersnet.co.il (in Hebrew) Avneyon, E. (ed.) (2010), Role perception. In Maort – Online Economics and Business Administration Dictionary; http://www.maot.co.il/lex1/glossary/g_3160.asp (in Hebrew) Bandura, A. (1977), Social learning theory. New York: General Learning Press Bitman, I. Marom, R., Ben-Atar, O. & Lahav, Z. (1993), Personality: theory and research – principles and methods of personal assessment and measurement. Tel Aviv: Open University (in Hebrew) Blatner, A. (1997), Acting-in: practical applications of psychodramatic methods. London: Springer Brooks, M. G. & Brooks, J. G. (1999), The constructivist classroom: the courage to be constructivist. Educational Leadership, 57(3), 18–24. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/nov99/vol57/num03/The-Courage-to-BeConstructivist.aspx Cohen, O. & Friedman, D. (2002), Learning – social learning theory. Virtual Educational Technology Library: http://lib.cet.ac.il/pages/item.asp?item=13577 Dueck, R. (2008), Guide for analyzing my role. http://www.sheatufim.org.il/website/modules/database/PoolItemPage.a spx?PoolItemType=3&PoolItemID=8 Halperin, H. (2012), Aerobic dance and body shaping instruction: basic topics and exercises. Booklet of Aerobic Dance and Body Shaping Instruction Programme. Netanya: The Wingate Academy (in Hebrew) Hozumi, N. & Kimura, K. (2012), Investigating the acute effect of an aerobic dance exercise programme on neuro-cognitive function in the elderly. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 13(5), 623–629. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1469029212000489 Immanuel, D. (2005), The pedagogical instructor’s role perception from three perspectives. In Zilberstein, M. & Reichenberg, R. (eds), Rereading Specialty Studies of Pedagogical Instruction. Work Paper 2. Tel-Aviv: Mofet Institute, 69–106. http://portal.macam.ac.il/ArticlePage.aspx?id=818 Kacen L. & Krumer-Nevo, (2010), Data Analysis in Qualitative Research. Beer-Sheva: Ben Gurion University Publishing Leelarungrayub, D., Saidee, K., Pothongsunun, P., Pratanaphon, S. YanKai, S. & Bloomer, R. J. (2011), Six weeks of aerobic dance

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exercise improves blood oxidative stress status and increases interleukin-2 in previously sedentary women. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies 15(3), 355–362. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1360859210000471 Lichtinger, E. (2011), Self-regulation in learning. Hed Hachinuch 7(85), 82–84 Long, J., Williford, H. N., Olson, M. S. & Wolfe, V. (1998), Voice problems and risk factors among aerobics instructors. Journal of Voice 12(2), 197–207. Available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0892199798800398 (accessed 12 June 2005) Moreno, J. L. ([1946] 1985), Psychodrama, vol. 1. New York: Beacon House Oliva, P. F. & Pawlas, G. E. (1997), Supervision for today’s schools (5th edition). New York: Longman Piaget, J. (1952), The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press Rothenberger, Lee A., Chang, June I. & Cable, Thomas A. (1988), Prevalence and types of injuries in aerobic dancers. American Journal of Sports Medicine 16(4), 403–407 Schiffer, T., Kleinert, J., Sperlich, B., Schulte, S. & Struder, H. K. (2009), Effects of aerobic dance and fitness programme on physiological and psychological performance in men and women, Fitness 5(2), 37–46 Treger, T. (2009), Body image – introduction. Psychological Service website, Online magazine 25. http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/Shefi/Hitpatchut/Dim ueiGufHakdama.htm [Accessed 18 February 2011] Vygotsky, L. S. (1962), Thought and Language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press

CHAPTER NINETEEN THE INCLUSIVE SCHOOL: THE SCHOOL OF THE THIRD MILLENNIUM ADRIANA DENISA MANEA AND CRISTIAN STAN BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: The inclusive school answers the challenges of a permanently changing society. It focuses on the personal value of the individual and on the harmonious development of the student, at his or her own pace. The inclusive school is an institution which promotes diversity, equal rights for all individuals involved in the educational process. At the same time, it represents an educational holistic concept (a school that teaches and where individuals are taught, a school for everybody and for the community, a school without barriers in education, participation and learning) and a dynamic process, marked by permanent changes dictated by the individuals’ needs on one hand, and by those of society on the other hand. Keywords: educational system, community, inclusive school, diversity, individual needs, special needs, interactivity The inclusive school represents the school of the third millennium. The school addresses the needs of all children and supports their desired development. Thus, children acquire a range of skills that are intended to make them independent and to familiarize them with different knowledge about the world. The inclusive school’s curricula can help every student understand correctly the basis of human culture and civilization. The learning strategies are adapted in order to meet diversity, and their high level of flexibility and dynamism correspond to the demands of individual development and learning, on one hand, and to those of society’s development on the other hand. The goal of any educational institution is to be efficient. The inclusive school promotes its efficiency through the development of the potential of

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every individual in the learning process. In school, children are trained in a system focused on student centred activities, a system which is both synchronic and concentric. Here, individual training comes before group training and they progress together. In its attempt to eliminate stereotypes, conservatism and dogmatism, the school takes its own initiatives in order to establish strategies of action, in both the internal environment and the external one, strategies that are meant to ensure its development. The inclusive school is rightfully considered a living organism due to its transforming dynamism and flexibility, and to the permanent changes initiated and applied in order to meet the needs of individuals in the education process. The inclusive school is based on the respect and implementation of fundamental ideas such as making it possible for all students to reach their maximum potential, by considering their individual demands and needs, the guaranteed support based on providing the necessary resources throughout the learning experience, the appreciation of the value of the individual learning methods and experience of the people who learn, the equal respect and appreciation of society for every person, the education of the children and young people together, in the community, in conditions of equality, understanding the idea that inclusive education is incompatible with segregated units, either inside or outside the general educational system. At the same time, we observe the key principles of inclusion such as: x the right to be respected; x the valorization of individual potential and of diversity; x the dignity of the human being; x individual needs seen as rightful individual demands and not as favouritism; x organization, planning and evaluation; x collective responsibility; x developing positive relations between individuals, in order to support and help each other; x developing a professional culture, continuous and qualitative training and professional development; x equal opportunities. The defining aspects that are considered responsible for the transformation of an education establishment into an inclusive school are based on the following four dimensions of value: a. A school based on community: the inclusive school reflects the social community as a whole, finding and anticipating the answers to the problems that it deals with;

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b. A school without barriers: the inclusive school is accessible to all the students, both physically and in curriculum, by using systems of emotional support and activities of communication and learning; c. A school that promotes collaboration: an inclusive school promotes on one hand the collaboration with other schools instead of competing with them, and on the other hand the collaboration with other institutions and organizations, through educational partnerships that are initiated and established; d. A school that promotes equality: an inclusive school is democratic, and all its members have both rights and responsibilities, according to the humanistic principle (each person is unique and important, but at the same time he/she is responsible for his/her actions). We deduce from the above ideas that inclusive education, supported by and performed in inclusive schools, is not a marginal subject but represents a necessity in providing a qualitative education for everybody. Thus, a school establishment, being an institution that provides educational services, makes a direct contribution to the development of society. The elements that characterize an inclusive school, and which differentiate it from a traditional school, are presented in Table 19-1. Table 19-1. Comparison of the traditional school and the inclusive school Traditional school * focus on uniformity * teaching process including teaching-learning-evaluation, according to the curriculum and the national standards of performance * unitary standards of school achievements * lack of interest in the socioprofessional integration of graduates * promoting competition between schools and inside the school (between students, between teachers) * focus on initial training; * little social involvement.

Inclusive school * diversity seen as a reality; * flexibility of the curriculum, of the learning situations and of the evaluative process; * individualized standards for school achievement; * concern with identifying methods for the social-professional integration of all graduates; * promotes cooperation and exploits all resources to the maximum through an efficient valorization of the human and material potential and establishing the right terms in collaboration between its members; * promotes and supports continuous improvement; * high level of social involvement and concern with building inclusive communities.

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Unlike the traditional model in which school is considered to be the place where the learning process takes place, without differences in the volume of knowledge which needs to be acquired unquestioningly and reproduced at a later stage, the inclusive school is open to stimulating situations, and is more flexible and more diverse from the point of view of learning patterns; the learning act is no longer regarded as something compulsory and rigid; on the contrary, the values of the learning act are due to the selection of contents and to the types of learning methods which are adapted to the demands and potential of each student. Another dimension promoted by the inclusive school is that all the individuals involved in the educational process learn, change and are transformed. An essential aspect of the teaching and learning process is understanding the interactivity of learning and development, in the sense that every participant learns and evolves by interacting with others, and this process ensures a continuum of beneficial transformations for all the students, teachers, school managers and parents and other members of the school community. The sources of learning for each individual lie in interpersonal relations as well as experience of objects, other people and oneself. Thus, school represents an inexhaustible resource, being at the same time a place of academic knowledge, of practical experience and of interpersonal relations. In an inclusive school, the rules, rewards and sanctions are elaborated within the culture and norms of that school, and can represent important means in efficient teaching and interaction between trainers and trainees. In general, children and young people accept sanctions as long as they are familiar with them and understand that they are not applied unfairly, knowing that their achievements will be recognized positively. Every school needs to set its own rules, rewards and sanctions, respecting the following basic principles: • Rules and expectations must be clearly intelligible, must have a positive basis and give opportunities for rewards, must respect the norms and the culture of the school, must be fair and acceptable by the whole school community (teachers, students, parents/tutors), must be coherent, elaborated and put into practice after wide debate in which the majority express their approval. • Sanctions must be applied immediately, enabling the school to react in the right way to inappropriate behaviour; they must include clear and transparent procedures that are known by everybody and must be put into practice when students act inappropriately; they must be fair and in accordance with the nature of the action, must be applied in a

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consistent way but taking into account the individual circumstances, and must avoid humiliating the students. • The rewards with positive effects are those that approve, recognize and encourage appropriate behaviour and real results, that reflect and contribute to the consolidation of the school’s norms, that recompense and motivate students, that encourage students to assume responsibility for their own behaviour and achievements, and at the same time offer an opportunity for parents to get involved. The inclusive school is at the same time a democratic school. It tries to consolidate mutual respect between all members of the school community and their different approaches and life experiences. The inclusive school demands that all the staff work together in a creative way, so that they know and stimulate every student’s potential. A comprehensive approach to the inclusive school reveals the directions of action, at the level of policies: • From an educational perspective, the necessity of inclusive schools to ensure the education of all the children means that these schools must develop teaching methods that recognize individual differences, and consequently, that all children can benefit from. • From a social perspective, the appreciation of inclusive schools that are capable of changing attitudes towards diversity, by teaching all the children in the same framework, to create the basis for a fair society that rejects discrimination. • From an economic perspective, the support given to the activity of the inclusive schools, bearing in mind that it is more economical to establish and support schools that educate all children together rather than creating a complex system made up of different types of schools which are specialized in diverse groups of children (N. Burnett, 2010). From the perspective of inclusive education, any plan to alter a school must pay attention to the following aspects: the creation of an inclusive culture, the elaboration of inclusive culture and the application of inclusive practices. Every school that wants to apply the principles of inclusion must give evidence, through its management, of the presence of these aspects: • recognizing and promoting the relation between inclusive education and the valorization of human diversity; • encouraging a climate of unconditional and flexible support, and offering appropriate solutions to individual demands in the framework of the education curriculum of the school; • supporting the involvement of the local community in the development of programmes and educational agenda;

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• encouraging access by teaching staff to opportunities for professional development in support of the development of inclusive practices. Inclusive education represents a holistic concept that differs from formal education in that it extends education to include the family and the community. At the same time, it is a dynamic process that evolves continually, according to the specific and objective needs and the culture of the target group, and which is a component of a larger political strategy of promoting and building an inclusive society. Inclusion is regarded as the essential element of a comprehensive educational system, specific to a society whose objectives are the valorization and promotion of diversity, equal rights, and the significant element of the inclusive school is its placement in the community of people that it educates. The necessary principles for building an inclusive society are applied in the case of an inclusive school: lack of discrimination, equal rights and opportunities, the dynamic evaluation of people’s a potential, the evaluation of individual and group needs, people’s right to understanding and toleration, and access to resources. The inclusive school makes it possible to implement in educational practice the values expressed in the Declaration of Human Rights: All humans are born and remain free and have equal rights.

Further reading Albulescu, Ion (2008). Pragmatica predării-activitatea profesorului între rutină úi creativitate. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Paralela 45 Andruszkiewicz, Mead & Prenton, Keat (2008). Inclusion guidebook. Basel: Assistant Director-General for Education Booth, Theodore & Ainscow, Maxim (2007). Indexul incluziunii úcolare. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Presa Universitară Clujeană Burnett, Nicholas (2010). Incluziunea în educaĠie – Ghid de politici. Basel: Assistant Director-General for Education Chiú, Vasile, Manea, Denisa, Stan, Cristian & Molnar, Paula (2013). Abordări curriculare: aplicaĠii în învăĠământul incluziv. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Eikon Manea, Denisa (2013). Managementul organizaĠiei úcolare: implicaĠii ale managementului democratic-participativ la nivelul unităĠii úcolare de tip incluziv. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Eikon Popovici, Doru (2007). Orientări teoretice úi practice în educaĠia integrată. Arad: Editura UniversităĠii Aurel Vlaicu

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Stan, Cristian & Manea, Denisa (2012). Noi orizonturi în educaĠie: paradigme ale educaĠiei integrate úi incluzive. Sibiu: Editura Tehno Media Unesco (2002), Dosar deschis al EducaĠiei Incluzive, materiale – suport pentru directorii úi administratorii de úcoli, Bucureúti: UNESCO, RENINCO Ungureanu, Dorel (2000). EducaĠia integrată úi úcoala incluzivă. Timiúoara: Editura de Vest Unicef (1999), Dezvoltarea practicilor incluzive în úcoli. Bucureúti: Ghid managerial, MEN úi UNICEF —. (2008), Paúi spre educaĠia incluzivă în România, Bucureúti: RENINCO úi UNICEF —. (2010), Incluziunea úcolară a copiilor cu cerinĠe educaĠionale speciale. AspiraĠii úi realizări, Bucureúti: RENINCO úi UNICEF Vrăúmaú, Traian (2001). ÎnvăĠământ integrat úi/sau incluziv. Bucureúti: Editura Aramis

CHAPTER TWENTY HOW FLOWERS DRINK WATER: AN INTRODUCTION TO SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY IN EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOMS DIANA ANGHEL BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: The challenge for early childhood educators is to provide appropriate learning experiences and an engaging environment within early learning centres. The aim of this paper is to describe the concept, process and skills of scientific inquiry, and to outline the basic principle of nurturing this curiosity by providing opportunities, in a safe and caring environment, for preschoolers to explore, question, observe, discover and share their wonder of the world a preschool (four-year-old) classroom as a form of guided scientific inquiry. We proposed an experiment in which children predicted the relations between the distinct stages of growth (seed, plant, flower, and fruit). Implications of inquiry-based learning are discussed. Keywords: inquiry-based learning, experiment, scientific investigation, preschoolers, plant seed.

1. Review of the literature Before the nineteenth century, many educators viewed science as a body of knowledge to be presented to the students through direct instruction (Tatar, 2012). In the latter part of the nineteenth century, some eminent scientists, such as Herbert Spencer and T. H. Huxley, urged that science be taught through students’ experiences (Ionescu, 2007). Recent literature has considered the relationship between research and different modes of learning sciences (e.g. Dulamă, 2010; Dulamă 2011).

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Inquiry-based learning is considered important in the learning process (Mui, 2010). The reciprocal nature of science inquiry and reading is made explicit in the US National Science Education Standards definition of inquiry, which “involves making observations, posing questions, examining books and other sources of information see what is already known, planning investigations, reviewing what is already known in light of experimental evidence, proposing answers and explanations and communicating results” (National Research Council, 1996). Science is a part of our everyday life, so it should be integrated throughout children’s everyday curriculum (Eliason & Jenkins, 2003). Best Practices for Early Childhood Education Years provides educators with guidance for constructing an appropriate science curriculum for 3- to 5-year-olds so that “curriculum content from various disciplines such as math, science, or social studies, is integrated through subject, projects, play, and other learning experiences, so children develop an understanding of concepts and make connection across disciplines’’ (Ministry of Education and Research, 2008). The value of inquiry in education has long been recognized. Its early development has been attributed to the American philosopher and educator John Dewey (1859–1952). He wrote widely on the links between thinking, reflection and experience and promoted “learning by doing” or active learning (Spronken-Smith et al., 2008). Specifically, inquiry-based learning must constitute “active” learning as assumed in previous research (Bocos & Jucan, 2008). Teachers tend to teach in the way they were taught. Many pre-service teachers were taught science in a didactic manner and were unsuccessfully required to learn scientific facts, concepts and theories through texts and worksheets (Fall, 2005). In this case, we have some research findings which show that the documented use of inquiry-based learning in early classroom settings is limited when compared with traditionally taught (i.e. lecture-based) degrees (particularly in science subjects) (Anghel & Bosioc, 2013). How cand we ensure that inquiry-based learning takes place? Giving learners opportunities to construct arguments and counterarguments can be an effective strategy both for developing children’s reasoning abilities and for enhancing their conceptual understanding (Chiú, 2005). Teachers may build spaces for different activities in the classroom – role play, reading, manipulating earth or blocks, etc. (Bocoú & Ionescu, 2009). Each such “learning centre” can offer opportunities for exploration of the sciences. Recent studies have suggested that 3- and 4-year-olds distinguish living things (including plants) from non-living things by several

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biological properties, including growth (e.g., Hickling & Gelman, 1995), and regrowth (e.g. Backscheider, Schatz & Gelman, 1993). The authors have speculated that the value of biological knowledge for survival may be the original basis of biological beliefs (Toyama, 2000). Therefore, we consider they refer to plants as if they are animate (e.g., “Plants do not have mouths, but they drink”). The importance attributed to the role of pretend play in young children’s social and cognitive growth has ensured that it remains a constant focus of research in developmental psychology (Anghel, 2012).

2. Methodology 2.1. Subjects Sixty preschoolers (52% girls – M = 54 months; range = 48–61 months) from a kindergarten in Cluj-Napoca city were randomly assigned to one of three activities during our experiment called “How do flowers drink water?” We obtained the necessary permission from their parents to record and picture them during the experiment. Table 20-1 provides background information about the children who participated in this and the other experiment: Table 20-1. Descriptive characteristics of participants Family characteristics Child’s gender (%) Child’s age in months Mother’s education (%) Child’s living arrangements (%) Number of children in family Timing activity per day

Male Female Mean in months ± SD Completed high school Tertiary education Single parent Two parents Other Mean± SD Mean minutes ±SD

Child participants (n=60) 122.4 34.2 67.1± 22.2 35.4 64.6 30.8 65.4 3.8 5.1±0.8 62.1±37.4

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2.2. Materials The novel objects were water cans, food colour and white tulips (see Figure 20-1) and other natural materials used in the final activity based on our experiment. To facilitate the children’s understanding of the ongoing experiment, they were grouped into one of four teams. Teaming up was personalized by creating opportunities for the children to choose team names like bees or ants.

2.3 Design We developed a quasi-experiment to understand the difference between the inquiry-based model of learning and traditional teaching. One of the groups served as a control/comparison, with the experimental task called “How do flowers drink water?” presented using inquiry-based model learning, whereas the other group were assigned to the traditional learning activities using only observation method and worksheets. All three groups had approximately equal numbers of participants (N traditional method= 30 participants in the comparison group, N inquiry = 30 participants in the inquiry based learning group).

2.4 Objectives We examined preschoolers’ conceptions of plant growth by focusing on developing an understanding of seeds and their place in the growth cycle. Our objectives were: ƒ to determine a pattern of diversity of flower colour among different plants; ƒ to recognize certain patterns of plant seeds; ƒ to gain insights into the reaction between flowers and environmental pollution.

2.5 Hypotheses Our study had two simultaneous hypotheses. The first research question was whether children realize that this remarkable biological process takes place without previous human intervention (Hickling & Gelman, 1995). Secondly, we expected to find significant differences in learning efficiency, measured as qualitative and quantitative parameters during the experiment, between the two groups. Consequently, the null

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hypotheses negated the existence of such statistically significant differences between the two groups.

2.6 Procedure All children were tested in a private room in their preschool. The warm-up period was designed to familiarize the child with the stimuli and to reduce any novelty. The experiment consisted of 3 condition activities (Table 20-2). Table 20-2. Descriptions of the three learning situations during our experiment Activity 1st

Time 8 min

Objectives Guided observation

Task included Multiple choice Short answer

2nd

15 min

Autonomous & reflective observation

3rd

35 min

Extended inquiry

Multiple choice True-false Constructed response Constructed response Trial and error

Feedback Correctness & factual information Correctness & artefacts support Scoring survey for constructed responses

In the first activity we used little pop-up pyramid plant information cards to help kids learn how plants respond to gravity and light. To tap preschoolers’ conceptions of the plant growth, the experimenter asked children to place photographs depicting successive levels of growth within the pyramid. In this way, we wanted to ensure that the stages of plant growth are ordered in a hierarchical manner in the child’s mind consistent with inter-hierarchical model-level (Cottan et al., 1977). We reasoned that, if children view plant growth hierarchically, they should consistently order the pictures in a correct sequence (i.e., seed – plant – fruit). The experimenter used questions with predictable answers. The experimenter told the child: “Plants do not have mouths, but they drink. How?” Together responses on the “They use their roots” tasks suggest that preschoolers partially grasp the place of seeds in the botanical domain. To examine how plants drink water, the experimenter (see Fig. 20-1) poured some food colour into a test tube or glass etc. and put some white flowers into it as if it was a vase. Then asked children to do the same thing. They

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discovered that flower greedily soaked up the liquid and, after a few minutes, the colour can be seen in the flower’s tiny veins. Finally, they had to move to the ‘nature table’ where they had to plant seeds. In order to discover the development of the flower, preschoolers placed the pots in a light, warm position. After this activity the children had to complete a comprehension worksheet about plants (see Fig. 20-2).

Fig.20-1. Demonstration of experiment

Fig. 20-2. Seedlings growing

2.7 Results In the following tables, PreTest/Pre stands for an initial assessment given on the first day of the experiment which measured preschoolers’ familiarity with the course subject. Initial knowledge assessments and final examinations were compared using a t-test (assesses only whether the means of two groups are statistically different), and demonstration of plant seeds and final assessments (worksheets) were compared using an ANOVA (compares the means of multiple groups). For significance, the critical p value was p < .05. Table 20-3 shows the descriptive statistic for regulations and procedures for the control group (30 preschoolers) and the experimental Demonstration of plant seeds (30 preschoolers). The mean of the scores

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obtained for each group is shown, with standard deviation and other descriptive statistics for the group’s exam scores. These descriptive statistics were used for further testing in an Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) below. Table 20-3. Anova – Plant seeds

Pretest: Between groups Within groups Total Seed demonstration Between group Within groups Total Post test: Between groups Within groups Total

Sum of squares

Df

4.82 3273.97 3278.80

1 59 60

352.659 895.86 1143.47 161.08 505.41 665.50

Mean square

F

Sig.

4.82 116.92

.041

.010

1 59 60

352.65 59.55

.001

.018

1 59 60

161.08 18.01

8.94

.006

The result in Table 20-3 shows there was a significant difference between the pretest (p=.010) and Plant seed common activity p=.018. Also, there was a significant difference between the final exams (p=.006). Table 20-4 shows and independent sample test for the experiment class. The results table from the t-test shows that there was no significant difference between pretest results (p=.202 or .190) but there was a significant difference between the final exams (p=.037 or .036). Using the inquiry-based learning model to our experiment, preschoolers demonstrated substantial progress in both quantity and quality aspects of plant life. The correct percentages for the two aspects of the three inquiry-based model learning phases are provided in Table 20-5 show a noticeable learning progress (from 0.47 to 0.76) for the participants.

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Table 20-4. Independent Sample T-Test

Pre Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed Post Equal variances assumed Equal variances not assumed

Mean diff.

Std. Error Diff.

95 % Confidence of Interval of the Difference Lower Upper

F

Sig.

t

df

Sig. (2tail)

3.77

.057

1.29

60

.202

5.58

3.54

-2.52

11.68

1.32

59.4

.190

5.58

3.45

-2.34

11.50

-2.15

59

.20

-3.35

1.56

-6.5

-.216

-2.15

57.5

.03

-3.35

1.55

-6.4

-.234

.199

.657

We categorized the children’s learning profiles into different progress levels: great (n=13) and less (n=6) progress (see Table 20-5). Table 20-5. The percentage correct of preschoolers’ performance of the three phases of the experiment requiring inquiry-based learning model Experiment “How do flowers drink water?” Guided observation

1 phase N=23

2 phase N=22

3 phase N=15

0.39

0.49

0.69

Relationship

0.55

0.64

0.83

Extended inquiry

0.47

0.56

0.76

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3. Conclusions The aims of this study were to explore how children conceptualize how plants drink water. If early biology is established around taking food/water and growth, as stated by Inagaki and Hatano (1996), it is important to determine whether children appreciate that plants share with animals and humans some core attributes of living things. All the preschoolers responded accurately to the research question. Besides illuminating children’s understanding of causation (i.e., mechanisms of growth) in plants, the present findings also point to develop beliefs about the discrete stages of plant growth (water, seed, plant, flower, fruit, air) and the relations among them. We paid particular attention to children’s conceptualization of one stage, the seed, and its place within the pyramid. Our study has some limitations. The small sample sizes, lack of longitudinal assessment and also demographic limits in the samples may limit the applicability of the conclusions. Finally, the two classes measured are inherently different and no conclusions can be drawn from their comparison. In sum, the goal of early childhood science education is to enable children to investigate phenomena so they can construct their own valid conceptualizations to learn how to do science. The process-oriented inquiry method of teaching science is a constructivist way of making this possible.

References Anghel, Diana (2012), The development of theory of mind in children with congenital visual impairments, Journal of Humanistic Studies 7, 229–235 Anghel, Diana & Bosioc, Georgiana (2012), Learning geography situations through group cooperation, in the Primary Grades (paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for International Contemporary Trends in Teaching and Learning Geography, ClujNapoca, Romania, November 17–18) Backscheider, A. G., Schatz, M., Gelman, S. A. (1993), Preschoolers’ ability to distinguish living kinds as a function of regrowth. Child development 64, 1242–1257. Bocoú, Muúata & Jucan, Dana (2008), Fundamentele pedagogiei. Teoria úi metodologia curriculumului. Pitesti Bocoú Muúata & Ionescu, Miron (2009), Trends in didactics. Pitesti

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Cotton, W. John, Gallagher, P. John & Marshall, P. Sandra (1977), The identification and decomposition of hierarchical tasks: latent-class models, Educational Research 14, 189–212 Chiú,Vasile (2005), Contemporary pedagogy: pedagogy for competencies . Cluj-Napoca Dulamă, M. Eliza (2010), Population and urban geography: activity lesson plans. Cluj-Napoca —. (2011), About competencies. Cluj-Napoca —. (2012), Science and science didactics for preschoolers and primary school. Cluj-Napoca Eliason, Claudia & Jenkins, Loa (2003), A practical guide to early childhood curriculum (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Fall John (2005), Process-oriented inquiry: a constructivist approach to early childhood science education: teaching teachers to do science, Journal of Elementary Science Education 17, 13–26 Hickling, K. Anne & Gelman, A. Susan (1995), How does your garden grow? Early conceptualization of seeds and their place in the plant growth cycle, Child Development 66, 856–876 Inagaki, K., Hatano, G. (1996), Young children’s recognition of commonalities between animals and plants, Child Development 6, 2823-2840 Ionescu, Miron (2007), Instruction and education (3rd ed.). Arad Ministry of Education of Romania (2008), Best practices for early childhood education years: an educational guide. Bucharest Mui Ma So (2010), Experiencing clay: inquiry-based learning and assessment for learning, International Journal of Art & Design Education 29, 244–256 National Research Council (1996), The National Science Education Standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press Spronken-Smith, R.A. et al. (2008), Inquiry-based learning. Prepared for the New Zealand Ministry of Education, July 2008. http://akoaotearoa.ac.nz/projects/inquiry-based-learning (accessed August 3, 2010) Tatar, Nilgun (2012), Inquiry-based science laboratories: an analysis of preservice teachers’ beliefs about learning science through inquiry and their performances, Journal of Baltic Science Education 11, 248-266 Toyama, Noriko (2000), What are food and air like inside our bodies?: Children’s thinking about digestion and respiration, International Journal of Behavioural Development 24, 222–230

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE THE IMPACT OF THE PROGRAMME “THE VOICE OF THE OTHER” ZAHAVA BARKANI AND MUùATA BOCOù BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract. This paper aims to show that it is possible to raise the awareness of social/moral defects of a non-equal society, and provide the ability and desire to educate and learn to implement social change through “The Voice of the Other”, a programme based on critical pedagogy, democratic education, experiential learning, the concept of the other and dialogue. The research found that students reported greater awareness and responsibility for the “other”, as well as seeing more clearly the relationship between the “other” and education. There is also a very high impact of experiential learning on the development of insights, awareness, empathy, tolerance and awareness of the “other”. Keywords: moral development, empathy, social learning, the programme “The Voice of the Other”, democratic education

Introduction “The Voice of the Other” is an intervention programme developed in response to the distress and social needs that arose in Israeli society as a result of neo-liberal politics. At the base of the programme is the perception that encourages educators to be trained activists equipped with a vision, a mission and professional and intellectual self-confidence. The programme’s aim is to extend the student teacher’s political consciousness and social awareness (Bashir-Ali, 2011); to create opportunities for the student-teachers to meet with the social “other” and in a parallel process with his own otherness and later on with the “other”’s in the class (Yuval-Davis, 2010); to assume responsibility for the other as

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part of basic human responsibility (Levinas, 1978); To influence the student to be an active educator who holds the hope for positive social changes in society (Green & Ballard, 2010–2011); to expose students to different voices hidden in the cultural context, the voices of minority groups who don’t have a proper expression to date in the hegemony cultures (Smith & Knapp, 2011; Kamel & Huber, 2012).

Objectives x To examine the impact of the programme “The Voice of the Other” on student-teachers and the process that they undergo during the programme. x To examine if the programme develops awareness of the social other and the students own otherness. x To examine if the programme develops critical thinking towards today’s reality. x To examine if experiential learning contributes to the student’s perception of the above.

Hypothesis By literally exposing student-teachers to the Other in personal as well as social aspects, the programme “The Voice of the Other” – based on the theories of critical education and experiential learning, will influence both the professional and personal identities of the student-teachers: x They will become more critical of today’s reality. x They will be more aware of the Other, both socially and inwardly as well as feel a responsibility for the Other. x They will see the connection between experiential learning and the changes they experienced during the programme.

Methods and Approaches The programme “The Voice of the Other” uses three educational aspects as tools. In order to develop awareness and the characteristics of empathy and tolerance in student teachers relations it is necessary to be able to broaden the concept of learning: A. Critical pedagogy – The programme is based on critical pedagogy that fosters educators as trained activists equipped with a vision, a mission and professional self-confidence. Critical education seeks to remove the

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traditional authority and the hierarchy that is accepted at schools and to change them to a pattern of liberating authority as a condition of school democratization. B. Democratic education – The programme is also based on democratic education that sees the teachers as facilitators; they need to balance intellectual and emotional components of learning, and to be able to share feelings and thoughts with learners without dominating. C. Dialogue – Learning through dialogue serves democracy, generates a relationship between differences and enables new forms of knowledge and understanding. Dialogue represents a way to bridge differences and encourages empathy and sympathy (Smith & Knapp, 2011); it is a form of joint reflection; it is a discourse that bridges the differences in public policy; it contains a therapeutic involvement of the self, and is the basis for stabilizing the social and political consensus. The following are the primary methods and tools of experiential learning used in the programme. Experiential learning - In the “Voice of the Other” programme, the teaching and learning builds on the work of John Dewey, Carl Rogers and other adult educators. Brookfield (1983) explains experiential learning as that which involves a direct encounter with the phenomenon being studied rather than merely thinking about the encounter, or merely considering the prospect of action. Many researchers see experiential learning as a way of learning that develops internal processes and drives the learner to action (Howden, 2012; Cowart, 2010). The success of experiential learning in teacher training presents a strong argument for embracing more adult and experiential learning methods in teacher preparation so that all students become change agents for life (Green & Ballard, 2010–2011). The following are the primary methods and tools of experiential learning used in the programme. Learning in the streets: “The outside world” exposes the studentteachers to “real life” without the masks and defences. The street tells the “social story” in its own way. Schools create an artificial environment that is isolated from life. But learning in an artificial environment in classes and using articles about social issues is not as effective as learning in the authentic environment. Watching films as an educational tool: Film as an educational tool has a very significant influence. The programme uses the process of transference and identification with representative figures that appear on screen, to see a reflection of the student-teachers’ “self”, and the reality

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that the students contend with. Film is able to touch social problems in an emotional and personal way. Through the films the students are exposed to many social contents that strongly stimulate a variety of feelings by using local cinema. Protest music – My Voice: Every meeting in the classroom starts with a protest song that one of the students chose to bring. The music arouses feelings and creates identification. The music reflects the social and political reality. It is the only art that has the strength to bring many people together where, for a while, they become one unit of feeling and identification. Art as a means of expression: Art enhances creativity, imagination, and self-esteem. Art encourages cognition, critical thinking and learning. Combining art with academic subjects in the classroom is very challenging because art is not the student-teacher’s “native language”, and their uncertainty causes a natural resistance to exposing themselves to the emotions that art arouses. “Studies have shown that arts teaching and learning can increase student’s cognitive and social development. The arts can be a critical link for students in developing the crucial thinking skills and motivations they need to achieve at higher levels” (Harris & Lemon, 2012).

Research Methods Quantitative research: Examination of attitudes towards the “other” by questionnaires before and after the programme The questionnaires examine and test a number of quantitative parameters and objective changes in patterns of thinking and attitudes of the students about the social “other” and the “other” within them. It also examines their ability to be critical of the phenomena that occur in society, as well as their ability to make a connection between social phenomena and their own responsibility. The questionnaires are t-tested for correlated samples. Qualitative research: Reflective diary analysis The qualitative research complements the quantitative research by examining different aspects of the same research. The character of the data is such that you can not quantify them. For example: the process that the students undergo during the programme and the programme highlights. The qualitative research occurs at the end of the programme – each student creates a summary project in which he documents the activities undertaken during the programme and his insights from them.

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In the qualitative research there are major themes that arise from these personal projects: the students’ self-identity, the highlights of the programme that influenced them, the students’ perception of the contribution of the programme in terms of content and programmespecific tools.

Results Evaluation of the programme is a combination of quantitative research and qualitative research. The qualitative research: reflective diary analysis. The students describe in their writing the process they underwent from the decision to learn in the programme until the end of the programme. The students write about the expectations they had from the programme The students describe the complex feelings they had at the beginning of the programme The students write about the social issues they were exposed to that shook them:

The students discover their racism:

The students describe the moment of change at the point of no return

The students write about their change of attitudes:

“I did not think that the programme would affect me so deeply, in a way that would challenge me to examine my beliefs, my fears, my judgment and critic towards society and in general.” “I felt the need to escape, to not hear, to not know. Sometimes I cut myself off from what was happening.” “During the programme, I was exposed to things my parents tried to protect me from all my life, such as prostitution, refugees, drugs and drug addicts. This Exposure hit a nerve which left me hurt, scared, angry, confused, and mostly helpless.” “We are all racists. I’m racist. How easy is it to speak out against racism and know in my head occur racist thoughts. I judge people by the colour of their skin, by appearance, that I unconsciously create racism against people who are unfamiliar, who scare me, it’s awful.” “Slowly, slowly, the more we got into the streets, we met people from the margins of society, saw movies that show more and more stories, we talked about things in the classroom. All of the sudden I realized that I need to know, I need to be exposed.” I understand that you cannot be humane and prevent humanity from someone else, my humanity depends on my attitude toward the others.

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To support the qualitative part of the research a quantitative analysis of the differences was administered through questionnaires that students completed before and after programme participation (Figure 21-1). Fig. 21-1.

Fig. 21-2. Frequencies and percentages of the variables relating to the contribution of experiential learning to the development of awareness and understanding in the students.

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As shown in the findings, there are significant differences in students’ attitudes before and after participation in the programme. It was found that after participating in the programme students reported greater awareness and greater responsibility for the “other”, as well as seeing more clearly the relationship between the “other” and education. The study also found that in general participants reported very high impact of experiential learning on the development of insights and awareness. The results show that learning in the streets and meetings with the “other” has the highest contribution as part of experiential learning, and that film and protest music made high contributions.

Conclusions x The programme “The Voice of the Other” fosters educators to be trained activists equipped with a vision, a mission and professional self-confidence and intellectual. x In a learning process that enables internal growth it is possible to cultivate in the student teachers characteristics of honesty, trust, empathy, understanding and tolerance. x It is possible to develop the student teacher’s political consciousness and social awareness. x The student-teacher feels responsibility for the other as part of the basic human responsibility. x As shown in the findings, there are significant differences in students’ attitudes before and after participation in the programme based on theories of critical pedagogy, democratic education, experiential learning (learning in the streets, watching films, listening to protest music and making art as a means of self expression), the concept of the other and dialogue. x It was found that after participating in the programme students reported greater awareness and greater responsibility for the “other”, as well as seeing more clearly the relationship between the “other” and education. x The study also found that in general, participants reported very high experiential learning impact on the development of insights and awareness.

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References Bashir-Ali, K. (2011), Socio-cultural theory and its place in the development of the teacher education programme at the Higher Colleges of Technology, Education, Business and Society: Contemporary Middle Eastern Issues 4(2), 106–113 Brookfield, S. D. (1983), Adult learning, adult education, and the community. Philadelphia, PA; Milton Keynes: Open University Press Cowart, M. R. (2010), Growing and funding experiential learning programs: a recipe for success. In Qualters, D. M. (ed.), Experiential education: making the most of learning outside the classroom. Wiley Periodicals Green, G. & Ballard, G. H. (2010–2011), No substitute for experience: transforming teacher preparation with experiential and adult learning practices, SRATE Journal 20(1), 12 Harris, A., & Lemon, A. (2012), Bodies that shatter: creativity, culture and the new pedagogical imaginary, Pedagogy, culture and society 20(3), 413–433 Howden E. (2012), Outdoor experiential education: learning through the body, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education (134) Kamel, L. & Huber, D. (2012), The de-threatenization of the other: an Israeli and a Palestinian case of understanding the other’s suffering, Peace & Change 37(3), 366–388 Levinas, E. (1978), Otherwise than being: or beyond essence. Translated by Alphonso Lingis. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers Smith, T. & Knapp, Clifford (eds) (2011), Sourcebook of experiential education. New York: Routledge Yuval-Davis, N. (2010), Theorizing identity: beyond the “Us” and “Them” Dichotomy, Patterns of Prejudice 44(3), 261–280

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO ASPECTS RELATED TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ISSUES IN ROMANIAN PRE-PRIMARY AND PRIMARY EDUCATION GABRIEL GORGHIU, ANA-MARIA SUDUC AND MIHAI BÎZOI VALAHIA UNIVERSITY TARGOVISTE, ROMANIA

Abstract. Aiming to improve the quality of education and training under the umbrella of sustainable development, the two-year Comenius Multilateral project Sustaining Development in Early School Education – SUSTAIN, code 518321-LLP-2011-TR-COMENIUS-CMP – in which Valahia University Targoviste is partner, has as its main goal to provide the teachers with the methodological support necessary for conceiving training activities that transmit to students the knowledge and capabilities that allow them to make informed choices, respectful of both society and the environment. This paper illustrates some facts and particularities of the implementation process in Romanian kindergartens and schools, in the context of the SUSTAIN project. Keywords: pre-primary and primary education in Romania, education quality, sustainable development, early Romanian education

Introduction In the last decade, under the cover of the Education for Sustainable Development concept (UNECE, 2005), a series of particular issues were included and performed in the teaching and learning process, in order to develop students’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours for shaping a

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sustainable future. Moreover, the programmes of Education for Sustainable Development tried to bring the students near the major global problems relating to the quality of the environment and access to natural resources. In this respect, self-efficacy, critical thinking, designing further scenarios and working collaboratively in decision-making were encouraged and supported. At a European level, Education for Sustainable Development represents a core subject, and several projects oriented to that theme were proposed in the last decade. One of those projects, starting in December 2011, is the two-year Comenius Multilateral project Sustaining Development in Early School Education – SUSTAIN (http://www.sustain-project.eu/).

The SUSTAIN Project Exploiting the Sustainable Development topic, the SUSTAIN project aims to gather and share good practice from partner countries, encouraging best results and innovative products for improving the quality of education and training through local workshops, online classroom implementation and face to face International Teacher Training Courses. Practically, the proposed project activities and outcomes of the project, target to offer solutions for supporting the development of key competences for lifelong learning, relevant to the social and environmental aspects of sustainable development at an early school age. Thus good teaching practices are created and implemented in order to raise the importance of the education for sustainable development and to support the related key competences of young learners in various classroom applications. In Romania, the National Law of Education, art. 68, paragraph (1) stipulates that the national curriculum for primary and lower secondary school education should address eight key areas of competences that determine the training profile of the students: (a) mother tongue, (b) foreign languages, (c) maths, science and technology, (d) digital competence, (e) learning to learn, (f) social and civic competence, (g) initiative taking and entrepreneurship, (h) cultural awareness and expression. The Romanian pre-primary and primary teachers who participated in the SUSTAIN project had been involved initially in two days of local seminars that offered the orientation and knowledge required for designing lesson plans that target as much as possible key competences for lifelong learning and themes of sustainable development. Following the seminars, the teachers designed more lesson plans which are recorded in a special database ready for testing in the classroom. Finally, the tested and refined lessons are integrated in a Database of Good

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Practice which constitutes a real support for guiding teachers in the implementation of sustainable development issues.

Implementation In Romania, the process has been implemented in 15 kindergartens and primary schools (1 rural kindergarten, 3 urban kindergartens, 5 rural schools and 6 urban schools), by testing 27 distinct lesson plans proposed by the teachers from the project partners’ countries: Bulgaria, Italy and Turkey. Table 22-1 shows a list of the implementations in Romania, and the country that proposed the implemented lesson plan. Table 22-1. Implementation in Romania Lesson title

Ants and Ladybirds

The Water Cycle

Kindergarten / School “CăsuĠa fermecată” Kindergarten, Gherla 17th Kindergarten, Targoviste “CăsuĠa fermecată” Kindergarten, Gherla

Level

Lesson owner (Country)

PreBulgaria primary Preprimary

School No. 4 “Elena Donici Primary Cantacuzino”, Pucioasa

Bulgaria

In the World of Plants

“Dumbrava Minunată” Kindergarten, Fieni

PreBulgaria primary

Respect

Ghineúti Kindergarten

PreTurkey primary

Air, Air Everywhere!

“Tudor Vladimirescu” School, Targoviste

Primary Bulgaria

Colourful Seasons

“Tudor Vladimirescu” School, Targoviste

Primary Turkey

Community Mapping Different Houses, Different Lifestyles

“Diaconu Coresi” Gymnasium School, Fieni “DomniĠa Bălaúa” High School, Targoviste “Tudor Vladimirescu” School, Targoviste

Earth – My Favorite Blue “DomniĠa Bălaúa” High Ball! School, Targoviste

Primary Italy

Primary Turkey Primary Bulgaria

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Lesson title

Kindergarten / School

Level

From Geometric Shapes to Geometric Objects

“DomniĠa Bălaúa” High School, Targoviste

Primary Turkey

From Geometric Shapes to Geometric Objects

Cricov Gymnasium School, Valea Lungă

Primary Turkey

Geometric Figures

“I. Al. Brătescu-Voineúti” School, Targoviste Tudor Vladimirescu School, Targoviste

Primary Turkey

Health and Environment

“Diaconu Coresi” Gymnasium School, Fieni

I Love My Home, My School

Viúineúti Gymnasium School Primary Turkey

Let’s Learn Matter!

“DomniĠa Bălaúa” High School, Targoviste

Primary Turkey

Primary Turkey

“Diaconu Coresi” Let’s Visit and Learn the Gymnasium School, Fieni World of Living Beings! “Coresi” Gymnasium School, Targoviste

Primary Turkey

Let’s Draw a Sketch of Our Classroom!

“Diaconu Coresi” Gymnasium School, Fieni

Primary Turkey

Let’s Play with Food!

“Diaconu Coresi” Gymnasium School, Fieni

Primary Italy

Let’s Recognize Matter!

School No. 4 “Elena Donici Primary Turkey Cantacuzino”, Pucioasa

Let’s Taste Nature!

Cricov Gymnasium School

Primary Italy

Math Is Joy!

Adânca School

Primary Bulgaria

Our Cultural Values

“Mihai Viteazul” Gymnasium School, Pucioasa

Primary Turkey

Our School Yard – One School Year in One Minute

Cricov Gymnasium School

Primary Bulgaria

The Bridge of Cultures

“DomniĠa Bălaúa” High School,Targoviste

Primary Italy

The City of Children

School No.4 “Elena Donici Cantacuzino”, Pucioasa

Primary Italy

Sustainable Development Issues in Romanian Education

Lesson owner (Country)

Lesson title

Kindergarten / School

Level

The Variety of the Flora in Our Country

“Mihai Viteazul” Gymnasium School, Pucioasa

Primary Bulgaria

“Diaconu Coresi” Gymnasium School, Fieni

Primary Italy

School No.4 “Elena Donici Cantacuzino”, Pucioasa

Primary Italy

Try Walking in My Shoes!

207

“DomniĠa Bălaúa” High School, Targoviste We Are Able Together!

Cricov Gymnasium School, Valea Lungă

Primary Italy

Ulmi Gymnasium School

Results and Discussions All the Romanian teachers selected the lesson plans from the lesson plan database available on the project website. The lesson plans that were provided in English were initially translated and then discussed and/or consulted on with the project local experts and with a colleague, to be sure they were clearly understood. The teachers were fully supported in the implementation process not just by the project experts but also by heads of schools and parents. The role of local experts in administering the test can be summarized as follows: • to guide the teachers in the implementation process; • to answer the teachers’ questions (about the content of the lessons, the necessary translations, the implementation process etc.); • to assure the necessary logistics for taking photos and/or recording the key moments of the lessons; • to disseminate related project information to the audience (pupils, invited teacher-colleagues, school staff, school representatives). None of the teachers reported major difficulties implementing the test although two issues may be underlined: • a sensible low base of selection for the lesson plans – in this respect, the number of lesson plans provided for each specific level is not too high, and not all the proposed lesson plans include massive details related to the learning process;

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• most of the teachers needed the translation (in Romanian) of the selected lesson plans (due to the lack of time or language barriers). All the teachers, however, expressed a real enthusiasm for this kind of non-formal lesson, emphasizing that non-formal activities are welcomed by the pupils – they are open to those activities having a strong specificity related to sustainable development, and respond very well to implementations that produce immediate results. Unfortunately, the activities take a lot of time, and in the actual Romanian curricula, not enough time is allocated for non-formal activities. Practically, as a result of the test-implementation phase, adapted or even new lesson plans were produced. The teachers started to implement the original (proposed) lesson plans, but many of the learning objects have been adapted or changed, considering: • adjustments related to the allocated time (e.g. from an initial allocation of 2 × 40 minutes, to a 50 minute lesson); • involvement of the new resources (e.g. other educational video clips or auxiliary didactic materials); • different tasks proposed for being included additionally (e.g. to create and use any object related to the lesson instead of a given one); • implementation in a different class level than the lesson plan’ author proposed, taking into account curricular differences, but also the pupils’ level; • the use of the computers during the lesson, connected with a beamer instead of the using of an interactive board. Some teachers significantly adapted the lesson plans by changing major parts and including new lesson sequences. Two teachers considered the implementation starting from the original lesson plans (as those ones are included in the database) and producing new lessons. But the main adjustments to lesson plans were made by the teachers in collaboration with local experts. As sustainable development topics covered during the testimplementation phase, Figure 22-1 illustrates the percentages of various themes introduced and discussed in the classrooms, in accordance with the selected lesson plans. Here, it can be easily observed that topics like “local and global responsibility” and “Preservation/management of natural resources and renewable energy” were the most popular. In addition, “Biodiversity” and “Production and consumption” are frequently selected subjects due to the fact that they are closely linked to everyday life and have great potential for raising pupils’ social-scientific knowledge. On the other hand, it is noticeable that even though “Waste materials and

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recycling” is a real actual problem for humanity, the subject was not so commonly adopted by Romanian pre-primary and primary teachers. “Rural and urban development”, “Healthy life” or “World citizenship and democracy” also represent important subjects for young pupils to know and understand.

Fig. 22-1. Rates for sustainable development topics introduced and discussed in the classroom by Romanian pre-primary and primary teachers

Figure 22-2 shows the sustainable development key competences, as they were considered and developed in the selected lessons. In this case, major importance has been accorded to learning to learn, communication in the mother tongue and social and civic competences. Even those rated at 19%, digital competences and communication in mother tongues, are important for the pupil’s own knowledge.

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Fig. 22-2. Rates for sustainable development key competences implemented in the classroom by Romanian pre-primary and primary teachers

Conclusion In respect of the SUSTAIN project objectives, the pre-primary and primary teachers involved designed lesson plans that included sustainable development issues. Closely targeting specific related key competences and issues, most of the lesson plans have the potential to become good practice as relevant models for promoting sustainable development concepts in Romanian pre-primary and primary education.

References Council of the European Union. (11/2010). Council Conclusions on Education for Sustainable Development. 3046th Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council Meeting. Brussels. Romanian National Law of Education (1/2011). Bucharest. SUSTAIN Project. http://www.sustain-project.eu/ (accessed May 2013). UNECE (3/2005). UNECE Strategy for Education. Vilnius.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE CONTEXTUAL FACTORS OF LEARNING: THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC IN PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ LEARNING PROCESS IONUğ-DORIN STANCIU AND ANCA-GEORGIANA SIMION BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract. To date, no clear consensus has been established as to the role and impact of auditory background on learning, in general, and of musical background, in particular. Most research suggests that learning tasks performed against a musical background can be beneficial for information recollection. Our experimental research contrasted three groups of primary school children and analysed the impact on recalling the presented information against the auditory background. The results were consistent with the mainstream of research and provide clear evidence that certain musical backgrounds are more effective than others in terms of solidity and accuracy of information retrieval in these types of simple learning tasks. Keywords: using music in learning, primary school, auditory background on learning.

1. Introduction Learning, as the behaviour of acquiring semantically significant knowledge, is a pervasive psychological phenomenon that can occur in any environment. However, by virtue of their educational objective, schools are interested in developing not only the best knowledge content but also the most adequate methods and contexts of delivering it. Also, music is a ubiquitous presence in our lives; we are surrounded by music

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either by our own choice or unwillingly. Various studies and reports indicate that it can contribute to academic achievement, motivation and the development of creativity (Eady and Wilson 2004). However, the existing body of research is by no means consistent in its supporting or disproving the beneficial effects of music on learning. Research reports range from recognizing the existence of beneficial effects (Dosseville et al., 2012; Purnell-Webb & Speelman, 2008), to not interfering with learning (Cauchard et al., 2012) and finally to no effect at all (Jäncke & Sandmann, 2010). Another cohort of studies concentrated on the effects of music experience on various types of pathology, and the majority of these studies reported results in support of the beneficial effects of music on verbal memory, for instance, in individuals with Williams Syndrome (Martens et al., 2011) or Alzheimer’s Disease (Moussard et al., 2012). More specifically, existing research suggests that there are differences regarding the learning-related factors (e.g., allocation of cognitive resources), such as those between listening to different genres of music – high pitch and high intensity music affecting these factors more detrimentally than does a slower and more paced type of music (Chou, 2010). As such, our research question targeted the potential influence of two types of music (pop and classical respectively) on learning by young students. Our working hypotheses took into account the principle that a structured and familial context facilitates the transfer (Phye, 2001), which, in turn, implies the activation of learned information. Accordingly, our research focuses not only on the effect of music on learning, but on the combined effect of musical background during learning considered alongside the musical background during the recall of learned information.

2. Methodology 2.1. Participants A number of N participants = 60 primary school students (N female = 24; Nmale = 36) enrolled in 3rd-grade courses at a school in Cluj-Napoca took part in the research. The mean age of the participants was Mage = 9.25 years (Mage female = 9.25; Mage male = 9.29).

2.2. Materials The learning material for the learning task represented a series of 12 images, constructed in such manner as to present one physical object (sun, fish, bird etc.), and one semantic task corresponding to each object (“The

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sun shines and warms”, “The fish swim in the water”, “Gingerman has a green bow tie”, “On Christmas Day, the child gets a present” etc.), presented as a short linguistic statement (proposition). Both components (object and statement) of the learning task were accessible to the participants’ level of intellectual development. The images presented and the corresponding statements were confirmed for semantic accessibility with the participants’ teachers. The musical background of the learning tasks – presented only to the experimental groups – was selected from two mainstream music genres, pop and classical music. The former was a popular song from artist Brian Adams (Summer of 69), while the classical music song was Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune. Both songs are available for listening online on music-on-demand radios and other music broadcasting stations, including YouTube, and free of copyright restrictions for non-commercial listening.

Fig. 23-1. Examples of items depicting objects presented during the learning task.

2.3. The research design A three-group experimental study was designed in order to compare the influence of music background on recall tasks. One of the groups served as control/comparison, with the learning task presented without music background, whereas the other two groups were subjected to the bimodal experimental condition – with background pop music and with background classical music. All three groups had approximately equal numbers of participants (N comp = 17 participants for the comparison group,

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N pop = 20 participants for pop music background and N classic = 23 participants for the classical music background). Since the selection and distribution of participants was not completely randomized, we used the name comparison for the group presented with no background music during the learning task. The experimental condition had two independent sub modalities, corresponding to the two experimental groups. One modality was the pop music whereas the second modality was the classical music. The null experimental condition was the absence of background music during the listening task, to which the comparison group was subjected. Altogether, there were three modalities of the independent variable: a) lack of auditory/musical background during the learning task, b) the pop music background during the learning task, and, c) classical music background during the learning task (presented in Table 2-1, below). Table 23-1. The experimental design with the three modalities of the independent variable and their corresponding experimental groups and group notations Independent variable Intervention modality (presence) Lack of auditory background during NO learning task Pop music background YES during learning task Classical music background during YES learning task

Group (function)

Group notation / designation in the study

Comparison Group 1 Experimental Group 2 1 / Pop Experimental Group 3 2 / Classical

The outcome, and in this case the dependent variable, was the recall proficiency, measured along three parameters relevant to the quality and quantity of memorization. The first parameter, the recall duration (measured in minutes and minute fractions) needed for each student to complete the recall task construed the readiness or the rapidity of information recall. The other two parameters were the volume of identically recalled components for each item (both the object and the verbal assertion reproduction accuracy). As such, the three dependent variables were duration, number of precisely reproduced objects, and the number of precisely reproduced verbal assertions.

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2.4. Hypotheses According to the research question and consistent with the study design, we expected to find significant differences in the learning efficiency, measured as qualitative and quantitative parameters of the recall task, between the three groups. Consequently, the null hypotheses negated the existence of such statistically significant differences between the three groups.

2.5. Procedure The experiment consisted of two phases: a presentation phase and a recall phase. The presentation of the learning task took place, for each of the groups, during one of their morning classes, and took 12 minutes for each group (1 minute per item). Each of the groups was shown a card depicting one of the 12 objects, and a statement was presented, accompanying the presentation of each card. The students were told that they would later be asked to recall as precisely as possible the items (objects and statements) they were shown, but they were not told when the recall task would take place. Recall was tested after two days, in similar conditions for all three groups. The students were asked to write down as precisely and as accurately as possible the items they had been shown two days earlier. They were asked to try to recall the objects and the statements as accurately as possible, and also their order of presentation. All information obtained was quantified as recorded data with respect to the three outcome/dependent variables. The dependent variables were continuous and discrete (i.e., 10 out of 12 correctly recalled objects from the 12 series of presented items, or, 9 out of 12 identically recalled verbal assertions/linguistic structures presented in the series of 12 items of the learning material).

2.6. Results A one-way between-groups multivariate analysis of variance was performed to investigate group differences in memorization efficiency. Three dependent variables were used: recall duration, object recall accuracy (number of correctly recalled objects) and semantic recall accuracy (number of correctly recalled phrases/verbal assertions). The independent variable was auditory background. Preliminary assumption testing was conducted to check for normality, linearity, univariate and

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multivariate outliers, homogeneity of variance-covariance matrices, and multicollinearity, with no serious violations noted. There was a statistically significant difference between each of the three modalities of the independent variable on the combined dependent variables, F (6, 110) = 6.65, p < .001; Wilks’ Lambda = .54; partial eta squared = .27. When the results for the dependent variables were considered separately, all three independent variables modalities produced differences which reached statistical significance. We used a Bonferroni adjusted alpha level of .01 (because having three modalities), and obtained the following parameters: recall duration, F (2, 57) = 7.09, p = .002, partial eta squared = .20; object recall accuracy, F (2, 57) = 11.64, p = .000, partial eta squared = .29; semantic recall accuracy, F (2, 57) = 18.40, p = .000, partial eta squared = .39. An inspection of the mean scores indicated that group 3 (classical music background) performed better for both object and semantic recall accuracy than groups 2 (pop music background) and 1 (no auditory background), and that group 2 performed better than group 1 in both respects mentioned above. With respect to the recall duration, group 3 (classical music background) performed better than groups 2 (pop music background) and 1 (no auditory background), but group 1 performed better than group 2 with respect to the recall duration. Table 2-2 and Figures 2-1 to 2-3, below, depict graphically the reported results: Table 23-2. Results of marginal mean test performed during the multivariate analysis of variance for the three groups Dependent Variable

Group

Comparison Pop Classical Object recall accuracy Comparison (number of correctly Pop recalled items) Classical Semantic recall accuracy Comparison (number of identically Pop recalled linguistic Classical structures /phrases) Recall duration

Mean

Std. Error

10.59 11.40 8.04 5.47 7.00 8.91 2.29 4.10

.74 .68 .64 .55 .50 .47 .54 .50

95% Confidence Interval Lower Upper Bound Bound 9.105 12.072 10.032 12.768 6.768 9.319 4.375 6.566 5.990 8.010 7.971 9.855 1.208 3.380 3.099 5.101

6.57

.47

5.632

7.499

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Figures 23-2, 23-3 and 23-4 present the mean scores recorded for the three groups for each dependent variable.

Fig. 23-2. Plot depicting the mean comparison for recall duration the three groups

Fig. 23-3. Plot depicting the mean comparison for the object recall accuracy (number of correctly recalled objects) for the three groups

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Fig. 23-4. Plot depicting the mean comparison for semantic accuracy (number of verbal assertions/linguistic structures recalled identically) for the three groups

3. Conclusions Our research designed and implemented a straightforward investigative approach to determining the influence of background music on a learning task, with the specific aim of determining the proficiency of information re-actualization for primary school children. The measured parameters (recall duration, object recall accuracy and semantic accuracy) were relevant both for the quality and for the quantity of the learning outcome in terms of information re-actualization. The results obtained confirmed the initial working hypotheses and provided a clear answer to our research question regarding the influence of musical background during learning tasks on the proficiency of learning measured in terms of accuracy and rapidity of information recall. The classical music background proved to be a contextual/external influence on learning with better and stronger effects than the pop music background or learning without any auditory background. Somewhat unexpectedly, but relevant for the complexity of the factors involved in learning, the lack of auditory background proved to be more beneficial than pop music background with respect only to the duration of recall. More importantly, the magnitude of the effect which can be attributed to the independent

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variable modalities manipulation (classical music background, pop music background and lack of auditory/musical background) was impressive (the explained variances covered 20% for recall duration, 29% for object recall accuracy and 39% semantic recall accuracy). A first limitation of our study resides in the rather small, although otherwise balanced, numbers of participants in each group (17, 20 and 23 participants respectively) which calls for caution in interpreting both the generalization of our results and the significance of the effects’ magnitude. A second limitation concerns the evolution in time of the effects of the musical background – our study involved a recall task after only two days from the learning task. A legitimate research question arises with respect to what would happen in terms of the outcome measures variation with time (how stable is the effect). Not in the least, the dependent variables do not, by any means, cover the complexity of what learning proficiency means. We measured duration and volume of recall. However, relevant and common for measuring the results of a learning task, these are not the only dimensions of analyses with respect to the effects of learning. However, given the current state of fundamental research, as well as the importance for the didactic practice and theory of finding new methods of improving the learning contexts and optimizing the existing ones, the reported results are both useful and relevant. These results are consistent with the data reported by the fundamental research in this study area, and open the door for a more context-aware approach to teaching at young ages, as well as for future research concerning the influence of the contextual factors in the learning process.

References Cauchard, F., Cane, J. E. & Weger, U. W. (2012). Influence of background speech and music in interrupted reading: An eye-tracking study, Applied Cognitive Psychology 26(3), 381–390 Chou, P. T.-M. (2010), Attention drainage effect: How background music effects concentration in Taiwanese college students, Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 10(1), 36–46 Dosseville, F., Laborde, S. & Scelles, N. (2012), Music during lectures: Will students learn better? Learning and Individual Differences 22(2), 258–262 Eady, I. & Wilson, J. D. (2004), The influence of music on core learning. Education 125(2), 243–248

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Jäncke, L. & Sandmann, P. (2010), Music listening while you learn: No influence of background music on verbal learning. Behavioral and Brain Functions 6(3) available at http://www.behavioralandbrainfunctions.com/content/6/1/3 Martens, M. A., Jungers, M. K. & Steele, A. L. (2011), Effect of musical experience on verbal memory in williams syndrome: Evidence from a novel word learning task. Neuropsychologia 49(11), 3093–3102 Moussard, A., Bigand, E., Belleville, S. & Peretz, I. (2012), Music as an aid to learn new verbal information in Alzheimer’s disease. Music Perception 29(5), 521–531 Phye, G. D. (2001), Problem-solving instruction and problem-solving transfer: The correspondence issue, Journal of Educational Psychology 93(3), 571–578 Purnell-Webb, P. & Speelman, C. P. (2008), Effects of music on memory for text. Perceptual and Motor Skills 106(3), 927–957

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR THE PHENOMENON OF MIGRATION: SOCIAL-EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS DIMENSIONS RAMONA RĂDUğ-TACIU BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

AND ILIE RĂDUğ-TACIU

Abstract. The defining notes of migration, as a religious and socioeducational process in Romania, and especially in Europe, generated a series of events both positive and negative. The analysis of this phenomenon poses a significant problem related to the situation of children left behind (or temporarily abandoned), a social outbreak of a crisis. Along with these children, even the family becomes vulnerable in many respects. Public opinion has formed an opinion about this, but school and church were entitled to expert opinion, restructuring and recovery benchmarks even axiological, endangered or reduction of error. Keywords: religious dimensions of the migration’s phenomenon, population mobility, migration phenomenon Recent Romanian regulations and the liberalization of the population’s mobility, especially across Europe, generated a series of positive and negative phenomena, the most powerful (occurring in almost every country) being the migration of some very disparate groups of people from Romania to jobs abroad. The effects are multiple: some affect the personality, mostly of the temporarily abandoned child. The solution of migrating to jobs in other countries was preceded in the ’90s by local attempts to solve the problem, like “employer initiatives” and

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“the agricultural weekend” (agricultural migrations of townspeople to villages at the end of the week). However, Romanian society was not used to such migration and was not prepared for the dangers. Family is the most affected institution, because usually only one of the spouses migrates, causing great damage to inter-familial relationships and also to the functioning of society’s basic group. Children are the most affected both in family relationships and in their school status, in public perception and especially in their emotional state of mind (rupture from a parent causing stress, deprivation etc.). At the social level, there is a belief that its is impoosible to ensure acceptable life conditions in this country, so kids aspire to emigrate too. This phenomenon can be seen in the process of globalization or in the trade of persons and goods between countries and continents. It’s getting worse, unfortunately; social polarization takes place in the communities affected by emigration, between families with migrants (getting richer and richer with their modern villas or houses, luxurious cars and Western goods) and the families of non-migrants (who are getting progreesively poorer). This situation gives rise to a reaction of nonmigrants against migrants, whom they label and despise. The biggest problem caused by the external migration is linked to the situation of children who are left at home, temporarily abandoned. In this context, the next questions are raised: What happens to the temporarily abandoned children? Who is going to supervise them or help them grow up in “normal” conditions? Can anyone actually replace their parents? Romanian public opinion reacts almost daily to these things. Some investigations showed that the migrant parents’ role is taken on by relatives, especially grandparents, or, in smaller percentages (estimated at between 15 and 20% of the total number) the kids have been placed under the state’s protection (professional maternal assistants, foster care). Anyhow, migrants who succeed and settle down in their destination countries take their children with them to their new home and in this way Romania is losing annually an important number of children and, with them, important social values. The effects of emigration include the following: 1 At the Romanian social level, migrants play the role of catalyst in the process of integration in the international labour market. 2 Diminution of social discontent because of the existence of the job alternatives. 3 Social responsibility and the culture of work.

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4 The building of international migratory systems: Italy–Spain–Portugal; Germany–Austria–Hungary; France–Belgium–England; USA– Australia–Canada. 5 In the “receiving” countries, migrants take especially the jobs refused by the local workers. Most of the Romanians, for example, are hired in agriculture (the famous “strawberry pickers”), in construction, in services (trade, restaurants, hotels) and in social assistance. 6 Such external migratory waves ameliorate the effects of the drop of the growth rate of population, on the one hand, and of ageing demography on the other hand. 7 There are also waves of highly qualified migrants who are attracted to the developed countries by the higher wages on offer, mostly to counteract the shortage of scientific staff. 8. International migration promotes human trafficking, especially in the case of illegal migrants (with no documents), those persons being the most vulnerable. 9 The most powerful effect of emigration on families takes the forms already visible in Romania: • misunderstandings, intra-familial tensions; • under-control of children, juvenile delinquency; • inability of the remaining parent to supervise the children; • the situation of a grandparent with no authority or with “too much love”; • skipping and failing school, alcohol, smoking, drugs; • family breakdown, divorce.

Social characteristics of Romanian emigration The post-communist transition of Romania to the market economy has led to a shrinking of the industrial sector, resulting in waves of emigration in search of work. Realism has required this social phenomenon from the beginning of the twenty-first century in Romania. According to projections released by the National Institute of Statistics, Romania will continue to register a decrease in population, so it’s possible that in 2020 we will get to 20 million people (from a peak of over 23 million in 1990). External circulatory migration is a phenomenon which has shown a constant rise in recent years in Romania. Temporal “displacements” followed by returning to the country have increased considerably, especially since 1998. In May 2001, within an international representative survey, 34% of the respondents have declared their intention of leaving the country for a while for tourism, temporary work,

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completing of education/qualification or emigration. If external tourism can be overlooked as an element of the lifestyle, “dislocations” for work are part of a life strategy, with major effects on people and households and, while the phenomenon is increasing, with not at all insignificant effects at the national level. An investigation by the International Organization for Migration at the level of rural areas and small towns (under 20,000 people) at the end of 2001 showed the main destinations for Romanian migration and its predominantly circular character. The most important six routes were Italy, Spain, Germany, Hungary, former Yugoslavia and Turkey (France and Israel were more of secondary routes). An important event linked to the migration issue is obtaining the right of free entry to the Schengen Area, starting in January 2001. At that time, the Romanian area intensified all its efforts towards the exchange of labour contracts; a few bilateral agreements have been signed with certain countries and the effort of regulating the outputs for work is simultaneous with one of international construction –2002 saw the establishment of the Office for Labour Migration inside the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity. Reality proved that the external migratory phenomenon had social implications: • positive for the emigrants from Romania (finding a job, getting bigger salaries) and also for the poor social and economic activities in the labour force in the countries they migrate to; • negative for Romania (depopulation of certain zones, generation gap, loss of professionals and part of the young labour force) and for the destination countries (export of crime, begging, prostitution, organized crime, etc. that have resulted in the repatriation of the offenders and a negative effect on Romania’s reputation in the world). Most of those involved in final migratory movement from Romania come from urban areas, especially from the cities affected significantly by economic and social consequences of transition to a market economy. In general, villagers who have travelled abroad, being the main agents of temporary migration, have returned to the country. Regarding the type of migration, young men choose international travel. Besides the effects on the labour market and of foreign remittances, migration has complex effects, perhaps the most “painful” being on the structure, dynamics, family functioning in general and children in particular.

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Researching the effects of international migration on remaining minors in Romania revealed a number of specific issues such as: • both parents deciding to emigrate, leaving children in the care of others; • separation of children from one or both parents working abroad for an extended period of time, which generates feelings of abandonment with repercussions on their personality; • main problems for these children in school being how to relate to peers and, in particular, how to fulfil school requirements. To prevent complex malfunctions caused by parental emigration, Order no. 219 of 15 June 2006 requires the identification, intervention and monitoring of children who are deprived of parental care during the period in which they are working abroad: • Public social services organized in towns and cities, people in charge of social services within the local communal councils and the General Directorates for Social and Child Protection will identify cases of children whose parents are working abroad; • Romanian citizens who care for children and wish to obtain employment contracts abroad are required to notify their intention to go abroad to work and nominate the person designated to support and care for the children. Optimal familial system functionality is provided by the distribution and proper exercise of roles in the family. Faced with migration, families suffer structural changes and face difficulties as they must ensure that the same needs are met, but in a context fundamentally altered. For example, if a family member leaves to work abroad, it creates an imbalance in the family system in terms of roles and dysfunction that must be solved through the redistribution of specific tasks. A family member’s leaving may make it easier to satisfy primary needs (food, clothes, better living conditions etc.) but there is a possibility of loss in the emotional area and, in this case, the most affected members of the family are the children. Dysfunction at this level is not only emotional and can be identified by an analysis of the process of socialization (with both primary and secondary dimensions) in both within and outside the family. Shortcomings in terms of socialization due to incorrect redistribution of roles in the family environment have effects at the level of individual interactions with other socializing instances.

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References Potot, S. (2001), Mobilités en Europe: Etudes de deux réseaux migratoires roumains. In Sociologie românească. Miftode, V. (1978), MigraĠiile úi dezvoltarea urbană. Iaúi: Junimea Voicu, B. (2005). Penuria pseudo-modernă a postmodernismului românesc. Iaúi: Expert Projects

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE INTERNET USE: A CHALLENGE FOR EDUCATION CRISTINA BACIU AND CIPRIAN BACIU BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: Nowadays, the Internet offers a part of reality that can hardly be ignored. Educators have to acknowledge this fact for the benefit of the educational process, overcoming the general fear for the risks involved on Internet use for children and adolescents. For this goal they have to be concerned to find answers to the question: how can we make the Internet a safer learning place for everyone? Keywords: Internet, education, e-learning, safe net As Webanywhere White Paper, From training to Twitter: the social evolution of e-learning (2012, 1) suggests that today much information is “acquired socially/informally by searching the internet” but it is not easy to assess the quantity and quality of the information. Although nowadays the Internet represents one of the most important areas in teenage life there are still many Internet specialists who suggest that parents should prohibit their children from social networking and other online spaces where dangerous people may assault them. D. R. Hughes, who launched the National Internet Safety Awareness and Parental Empowerment Programme in the USA, considers that parents should forbid chat rooms, limit instant messaging and monitor teen online behaviour (Tynes, 2007). From another angle, Tynes (2007) stated that we may do adolescents a disservice when we curtail their participation in these spaces, because the educational and psychosocial benefits of this type of communication can outweigh the potential dangers. The importance of the Internet in education is well reflected in the Eurostat data collected over the years.

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For instance, the EU Commission Report on 2006 shows that 49% of EU residents (and 88% of users up to 17 years old) access the Internet. The 2009 Report showed that 31% of the population aged 16 to 74 used the Internet to seek information for learning purposes. Similarly, Redecker et al. (2010) underlined that in the last few years the Internet seems to have had a considerable effect on the private and professional lives of citizens from Europe through increased opportunities to access information for learning purposes. Tynes (2007) considers that adolescent participation in social online environments can foster learning that reinforces and complements traditional teaching, many spaces offering training in how to develop critical thinking and argumentation skills, usually through informal training delivered through peer interaction. Teens can also ask their online friends for help with their homework. This may be important for teens who do not have older siblings or parents who can help them with their schoolwork (Baciu et al., 2010). To protect their children, there are parents who use filtering software such as CyberPatrol, NetNanny and IPrism to block unwanted sites. Some parents insist that the computer be located in a space at home where they can physically monitor their child’s online behaviour or ask their teens to agree on using the Internet strictly for school-related purposes. The reality is that even if parents succeed in denying access to a particular site at home, adolescents may find alternative ways, for instance by using the computer at a friend’s house. This is why parents and teachers must use the teens themselves as a defence. They may allow and encourage teens to use the Internet for educational purposes and make them aware of the risks of online socializing and help them to develop their own strategies for staying safe in cyberspace (Baciu et al., 2010). For this purpose the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education made a very important proposal in March 2011. They stated that Media Education has to be introduced in school curricula and it has to contain netiquette – the ability to behave properly on the web, being polite to peer users – and safety – in terms of privacy, security and avoiding being scammed or hacked, another topic being the prevention of addiction to games (UNESCO, 2011). Cole (in Strom et al., 2009) reports that adolescents consider the internet to be the most important information resource, surpassing all other media including TV, radio, newspapers and books. Lenhart et al. (2008) found, in a national survey conducted by Pew Internet and the American Life Project, that the Internet is a primary source for research done at or for school. 94% of teens (12–17 years old)

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use the Internet at least occasionally to do research for school, and nearly half (48%) report doing so once a week or more often. Lenhart & Madden (2007) found that most students (87%) go online daily after school and describe the Internet as a virtual reference library that helps them quickly locate information, communicate with friends and satisfy curiosity. Responses from adolescents in another study stressed the idea that “the school quest to increase student engagement could more often be met through online assignments that facilitate self-directed learning” (Strom et al., 2009, 111). A more recent study found that when students were asked to evaluate their college-level learning experience, they considered the most valuable ones those that took place outside of the traditional classroom: internship, study-abroad programmes, capstone projects etc. (Young, 2011). We consider that traditional learning models based on classroom teaching are still important, as Fairhurst and Miller (2011) also noted, mainly for a core skill set, but they have to be combined with modern learning models like distance education through online learning, because nowadays information comes in many ways including eBooks, DVDs, YouTube videos etc. As Fiedman & Friedman (2012, 17) also stated, educators who are obstinately using only face-to-face methods will find themselves “hopelessly obsolete”. Because of the rapid changes in all domains we can easily observe that the knowledge required for many professions also changes very rapidly and becomes more dispersed and interdisciplinary so it’s not efficient at all to help people to learn everything that they need through “chalk and talk” methods. We need to think about the “evolving concept” – as it was called by the European Commission (2008b) – of e-Learning which is “a learnerfocused approach to the use of new multimedia technologies and the Internet to improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources and services, as well as remote exchanges and collaboration” (European Commission, 2008b, 4) If we agree that the Internet is an important educational space another important issue in children’s Internet usage is, as already pointed out, the thorough control of it mainly by parents and teachers. Data from the European Commission (2008a) showed that half of the parents participating in this survey answered that they had installed filtering software on the computer that their child used at home. The monitoring software was used by almost four out of 10 parents (37%) but there was considerable variation across countries in the use of monitoring

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and filtering software: more than half of the British parents used such software compared to only 5% of the parents in Romania and Bulgaria. In a study conducted in 2008 in Romania1 one of the goals was to clarify if this control (rules and restrictions concerning Internet use) is also affecting the purpose for which children are using the Internet, more specifically if those rules increase the time spent on desirable actions like homework preparation. Data suggests that there is no statistically significant relation between rules imposed (by parents and teachers) and usage of the Internet for school purposes or for general use of it (Baciu et al., 2010). These don’t signify that we cannot control and ensure safe Internet use in the future but, maybe, the fact that most parents find themselves hopeless in this area – most of them can only control the amount of time spent on the Internet not the content of their children’s activity – led to these results.

Conclusions The Internet is a day to day reality. Do we allow children to explore reality? We think that the key question on this matter is not if the Internet is a safe place for children but if the Internet is a good/efficient place for learning. If the answer is yes, then the next question/challenge is making the internet a safer learning space.

References Baciu, C., Muller-Fabian, A. & Domokos, D. (2010), Risks and positive effects of Internet use in education, Bulletin of UASMV, 447–453 European Commission (2006), Special eurobarometer 250 “Safer Internet”. Retrieved 18 July 2013 from http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/sip/docs/eurobaromet er/eurobarometer_2005_25_ms.pdf —. (2008a), Flash Eurobarometer Towards a safer use of the Internet for children in the EU – a parents’ perspective. Retrieved 16 July 2013 from http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_248_en.pdfdinarticolul Learning 2.0 1

Results from the research project Teens Online: Impact of Internet on Teens: Risk and Effects of Internet Use among Children and Adolescents; the Perspective of Evolution towards the Knowledge Society sponsored by the Romanian Ministry of Education under a type A CNCSIS grant scheme (no. 1494/2007)

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—. (2008b), Commission Staff Working Document. The use of ICT to support innovation and lifelong learning for all: a report on progress. Retrieved 12 July 2013 from http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelonglearning-programme/doc/sec2629.pdf —. (2009), Commission Working Document. Consultation on the Future “EU2020” Strategy. Retrieved 18 July 2013 from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat-general/eu2020/docs/com_2009_ 647_en.pdf Fairhurst, P. & Miller, L. (2011), Creating social networks for learning and sharing ideas, Institute for Employment Studies Review, 44–66. Retrieved 19 July 2013 from http://www.employment-studies.co.uk /pdflibrary/480.pdf#page=48 Friedman, L. W. & Friedman, H., H. (2012), Using social media technologies to enhance online learning. Retrieved 19 July 2013 from http://www.thejeo.com/Archives/Volume10Number1/Friedman.pdf From training to Twitter: the social evolution of e-learning: a Webanywhere White Paper (2012). Retrieved 18 July 2013 from www.webanywhere.co.uk/workplace Lenhart, A. & Madden, M. (2007), Social networking websites and teens. Retrieved 19 July 2013 from http//www.pewinternet.org Lenhart, A., Arafeh, S., Smith, A. & Macgill, A. (2008), Writing, technology and teens. Retrieved 26 June 2013 from http//www.pewinternet.org Redecker, C. et al. (2010), Learning 2.0 – the impact of social media on learning in Europe. Retrieved August 2013 from http://ftp.jrc.es/EURdoc/JRC56958.pdf Strom, P., Strom, R., Wing, C. & Beckert, T. (2009), Adolescent learning and the Internet: implications for school leadership and student engagement in learning, NASSP Bulletin 93(2), 111–121 Tynes, B. M. (2007), Internet safety gone wild?: sacrificing the educational and psychosocial benefits of online social environments, Journal of Adolescent Research 22(6), 575–584 UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education (2011), Social media for learning by means of ICT. Retrieved 18 July 2013 from http://iite.unesco.org/files/policy_briefs/pdf/en/social_media.pdf Young, J. R. (2011), Actually going to class, for a specific course? How 20th century, Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 27 June 2013 from http://chronicle.com/article/Actually-Going-to-Class-How/126519/

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX FACTORS INFLUENCING TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES REGARDING THE INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH MILD AND MODERATE DISABILITIES ANA-MARIA BĂIESCU BABEù-BOLYAI UNIVERSITY - CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA

Abstract: The objective of this study is research into the impact of socioprofessional factors on the attitudes of pre-school teachers regarding the inclusion of the children with mild and moderate disabilities. The starting theoretical hypothesis is that the most important factors that generate positive attitudes towards inclusion are: experience in teaching children with disabilities, personal contact with them and the level of teachers’ inclusion training (Avramidis & Norwich, 2002). Our research results revealed (based on the adequate statistical procedures used) significant differences between the groups of attendants, generated by two factors: personal contact with children with various disabilities and the training on inclusion topics the teachers have attended, as detailed in the present paper. Keywords: inclusion, disability, children with special educational needs, teachers’ attitudes regarding child’s inclusion

Introduction “Inclusive education as a reference to an education dedicated to all is the need of our century. It depends on each and every teacher, on all our responsibility and dedication so that it becomes a reality from which everybody can learn and develop” (Vrasmaú, 2012).

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Inclusive education means supporting pre-schools and schools in order to overcome all barriers, so they can progress and welcome the learning needs of all children. Children learn all the time, both in a learning environment and outside the school. Children with learning disabilities need other methods and other learning rhythms compared to other children. When a child has difficulties in the process of learning, we have to find out if there isn’t something in the kindergarten or the school which stops him from learning. The approach is different from the traditional one which assumes that if a child has learning difficulties, the child is the problem and he should change, not the normal school. The inclusive approach states that pre-schools and schools must focus their attention on the children and appreciate the differences between them, adapting themselves to these differences. A problem still open to research in the field of special education remains the nature of teachers’ attitudes and the way different social and professional factors, together with the school environment, contribute to the differences between these attitudes. As Forlin et al. showed (2009), disabled children’s school success depends largely on the desire of teachers to work with them. Generally, researchers found a variety of attitudes in teachers regarding school inclusion, from the less favourable one to the most favourable ones, this result being explained through a theoretical model which focuses on a relatively large number of variables that influence in some way the teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion. Factors that influence the attitudes are grouped into three large categories: the specifics of teachers, the specifics of disabled children and the specific of the school environment (after the model created by Salvia & Munson (1986) updated by Avramidis and Norwich (2002). According to Stoiber et al. (1998), the voices of those directly involved in the change should be listened to, as they offer valuable inside information. In order to obtain more information about these voices, the researchers in the field focused more and more on investigating the attitudes towards school inclusion. This study offers a representative image for the school context in which teachers are in the early stage regarding school inclusion and their direct experience with disabled children is scarce, while their professional training is often inadequate or insufficient in the field of school inclusion. This framework can represent a starting point for future research where school inclusion can become an everyday practice.

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Research objectives and hypothesis The general objective of this study is to investigate the nature of teachers’ attitudes and the impact that the social and professional environment has over the normal kindergarten teachers’ attitudes towards the school inclusion of disabled children in normal pre-schools. General hypothesis: the social and professional teachers’ features have a significant impact over their attitudes towards school inclusion of disabled children in normal pre-schools. Specific hypothesis 1: Previous experience in teaching disabled children determines differences in attitude regarding school inclusion of children with mild and moderate disabilities. Specific hypothesis 2: Direct contact (special education experiences) with children having different types of disabilities determine differences in the attitude levels regarding school inclusion of children with mild and moderate disabilities. Specific hypothesis 3: Participating in special training in the field of inclusive education determine differences in the attitudes levels regarding school inclusion of children with mild and moderate disabilities.

Materials and Method In order to conduct this study we selected a number of participants (N=232), consisting of teachers in normal pre-schools of Cluj County. The research was conducted in the spring of 2012 in Cluj-Napoca. For investigating the teachers’ attitudes, we used ATTAS-mm, “Attitudes Towards Teaching All Students”, designed by Lori A. Noto ((University of Bridgeport) and Jess L. Gregory (Southern CT State University), in 2011. This instrument measures the attitudes of pre-school teachers towards the inclusion of children with mild and moderate disabilities, along with their perceptions regarding different issues of the inclusion process. The ATTAS-mm is composed of 9 items, grouped into three sub-scales. The first subscale was labelled, believing all students can succeed in general education classrooms (A1). It consists of items 1, 2 and 3. The second subscale titled developing personal and professional relationships (A2), through items 4, 5 and 6. The third subscale (A3) is titled creating an accepting environment for all students to learn with items 7, 8 and 9.

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According to the notes of Noto, Gregory (2011), a highly unfavourable attitude (sample size N =48, means =34,67, standard deviation =4,92).

Results Because ATTAS-mm was used for the first time in Romania on a sample of participants from pre-schools, with little or no experience in school inclusion, the results obtained by the researchers can’t be compared to those obtained through the present study. Nonetheless, the indications offered by the scale’s authors allowed us to calculate the maximum and minimum scores, along with the means and the standard deviation for the entire scale and each subscale, so we could verify the participants’ tendency towards a more or less favourable attitude towards inclusion. The ATTAS-mm consists of 9 items with direct quoting and score calculation towards favourable attitudes as follows: very strongly disagree =1, strongly disagree =2, disagree =3, neutral/don’t know =4, agree =5, strongly agree =6, very strongly agree =7. For the teacher sample, at the ATTAS-mm, in general, the scores vary between 17 and 63 (among the possible values for this scale, which lie between 9 and 63) and a mean and standard deviation (m =46.94 and standard deviation =8.26). The participants’ tendency towards a generally favourable attitude towards the inclusion of disabled children in normal pre-schools is easily observable. The scores obtained at the A1 subscale – believing all students can succeed in general education classrooms – vary between 3 and 21 (among the possible results for this scale, situated between 3 and 21) with a mean of 19.91 and standard deviation of 3.42. The scores obtained for the A2 subscale – developing personal and professional relationships – vary between 5 and 21 (among the possible values for this subscale which vary between 3 and 21) with a mean of 17.28 and standard deviation 2.99. The scores obtained for the A3 subscale – creating an accepting environment for all students to learn – vary between 6 and 21 (among the possible values for this subscale which vary between 3 and 21) with a mean of 16.6 and standard deviation 2.95. The results presented showed generally moderately favourable attitudes towards the inclusion of children with mild and moderate disabilities in normal pre-school, along with a general tendency of teachers to accept more easily that all included children in the normal pre-school can have school success by activating their actual psychological potential; they admit the importance of developing personal and professional

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relationships and the creation of an accepting environment for all the children. In order to verify the proposed hypothesis, we continued, depending on the identified means for each independent variable, to analyse the differences between the means obtained at the teachers’ lot level, using the parametric test t for independent samples and selected a significance coefficient alpha (p