Becoming media literate? Media Education in Slovenia after Ten Years

The system of education in Slovenia includes pre-school education; primary education; secondary education (vocational education, technical education, general education [grammar schools]); higher education (university [undergraduate and postgraduate education] and professional type). In this course students develop the ability to analyze and evaluate media messages and to identify for themselves issues of concern, as well as... to discuss, understand, explain and with production through cooperation with student's media their own communication (ZaIa, age 34, media education professor at University of Maribor).

Middle Schooling Teacher Education: Where are we at in Australia?

Commonwealth and State bodies have made substantial investments into curriculum initiatives, research, and reform with a focus on middle schooling. To a considerable degree, the success of middle schooling is dependent upon teachers' preparedness to enact and embrace initiatives and research. Research has shown that the success of school improvement and reform initiatives hinges, in large part, on the qualifications and effectiveness of teachers (Killion, 1999; Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001). While some research and professional development in Australia has targeted the school site, pre-service teacher education is clearly a vital yet under-researched area due to its relatively recent introduction. Recent research that includes middle years teacher education (MYTE) (Killion, 1999; Mertens & Flowers, 2004; NCES 2001; NMSA, 2003) and reports from a system that has been working with middle schooling for some time indicates that teachers need specific teacher preparation before they enter the middle level classroom and continuous professional development as they pursue their careers. In Turning Points 2000, one of the seven recommendations is to staff middle grades schools with teachers who are expert at teaching young people in their middle years, and engage teachers in ongoing, targeted professional development opportunities (Jackson & Davis, 2000). Given there are now two dedicated programs towards MYTE (Edith Cowan University and The University of Queensland), other institutions containing elements of MYTE, and others considering MYTE this symposium will summarise current initiatives and research in MYTE, critique the state and place of MYTE in Australia and begin discussions towards teacher education programs that improve the efficacy of middle schooling.

CONTEXTUALIZAÇÃO E AS PERSPECTIVAS DA EDUCAÇÃO SALESIANA A PARTIR DO DOCUMENTO DAS LINHAS ORIENTADORAS DA MISSÃO EDUCATIVA DO INSTITUTO DAS FILHAS DE MARIA AUXILIADORA

A presente dissertação teve como objetivos contextualizar e analisar as perspectivas da educação salesiana a partir do documento das Linhas Orientadoras da Missão Educativa do Instituto das Filhas de Maria Auxiliadora, tendo em vista aprofundar o contexto histórico e sociocultural da fundação do Instituto das Filhas de Maria Auxiliadora e do desenvolvimento da missão educativa salesiana, com a finalidade de atuar no campo da educação, indicar os fundamentos interdisciplinares que compreendem os fundamentos teóricos para a prática educativa em relação aos aspectos sociológicos, antropológicos, teológicos e pedagógicos, além de algumas experiências práticas da educação salesiana. A pesquisa considera a contextualização da sua prática educativa a partir de diversas contribuições teóricas realizadas em torno da história do Instituto e dos conhecimentos interdisciplinares que integram seus propósitos e seus projetos educativos. Com a perspectiva de analisar as orientações e conteúdos do documento é utilizada a técnica da análise documental que permite interpretar o seu significado, analisar e indicar algumas perspectivas de educação salesiana presentes no documento e que envolvem os seus princípios, propósitos e as suas ações em relação à educação. Por meio da observação participante alguns aspectos práticos das perspectivas da educação salesiana foram demonstrados. Portanto, a investigação permite o mapeamento das perspectivas fundamentais da educação salesiana a partir das Linhas Orientadoras e a possibilidade de aprofundar a significatividade das perspectivas de referência para a prática educativa conforme são indicadas no documento: as dimensões cultural, evangelizadora, social e comunicativa da educação, que são os elementos e princípios fundamentais do Sistema Educativo Salesiano. A concepção de educação salesiana que se constrói a partir de uma visão interdisciplinar, complexa e dimensional, com uma perspectiva de uma estratégia projetual. Os seus princípios integram alguns valores que são considerados como fundamentais para a realização de uma educação integral: a comunidade educativa, o trabalho educativo realizado em equipe, a espiritualidade juvenil, a preventividade e a pedagogia do ambiente. Sobretudo, os núcleos centrais indicados pelo documento orientam as comunidades para a realização de um pensamento projetual, considerando as diversas dimensões da educação, com uma especial abertura para uma contínua projeção das suas intenções e da sua prática educativa. Enfim, encontramos algumas contribuições para a educação a partir do pensamento pedagógico e prático da educação salesiana, especialmente em relação à proposta de pensar a educação de forma complexa e multidimensional.

Sources of Information about Dietary Fibre: A Cross-Country Survey

Problem statement: Dietary fibre (DF) has been recognized as a major determinant for improvement of health. Hence the means of information through which people become aware of its benefits are crucial. Research questions: Where do you usually find information about dietary fibre? What means of communication do you consider the most appropriate to encourage the consumption of dietary fibre? Purpose of the study: This work aimed at studying the sources of information about dietary fibre, as a means to educate people about aspects related to healthy eating. Factors such as gender, level of education, living environment or country were evaluated as to their effect on the selection of sources and preferences.   Research Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire, applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants from 10 countries in different continents (Europe, Africa and America), answered after informed consent by all participants. For the analysis were used several descriptive statistics tools, crosstabs and chi square test to assess the relations between some of the variables under study. Findings: Mostly the information about DF comes from the internet, but television is recognized as suitable. Differences were found between genders, levels of education, living environments and countries. The internet (preferred source), got highest scores for Hungary, urban areas, university education and female gender. The radio (least scored source) was preferred in Egypt, for men and with lower education (primary school). Conclusions: People get information through the internet due to easy access. However, it is to some extent a risk given the impossibility to control de information made public on the internet. The role of health centres and hospitals as well as schools should definitely be increased, as a responsible way to ensure correct information.

European primary pupils show their life to African peers

Since primary school pupils lack a common language, primary school pupils from Germany and Africa show a piece of their origin and of their daily live through simple drawings to their peers in a other, distant land. The teachers accompanying the exchange of these drawings communicated in natural language, but helped to transform what their pupils wanted to show by their drawing. Five students drawings are presented in order to explain and illustrate this exchange method.

Sources of Information about Dietary Fibre: A Cross-Country Survey

Dietary fibre (DF) has been recognized as a major determinant for improvement of health. Hence the means of information through which people become aware of its benefits are crucial. This work aimed at studying the sources of information about DF, as a means to educate people about aspects related to healthy eating. Factors such as gender, level of education, living environment or country were evaluated as to their effect on the selection of sources and preferences. For this, a descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire, applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants from 10 countries in different continents (Europe, Africa and America), answered after informed consent by all participants. For the analysis were used several descriptive statistics tools, crosstabs and chi square test to assess the relations between some of the variables under study. The results showed that mostly the information about DF comes from the internet, but the participants recognize that television might be a most suitable way to disseminate information about DF. The results also indicated differences between genders, levels of education, living environments and countries. The internet, the preferred source of information, got highest scores for Hungary, for urban areas, for university level of education and for female gender. The radio, the least scored source of information, was preferred in Egypt, for men and with lower education (primary school). As a conclusion, people get information through the internet due to easy access. However, it is to some extent a risk given the impossibility to control de information made public on the internet. The role of health centers and hospitals as well as schools should definitely be increased, as a responsible way to ensure correct information.

Hacia la construcción de un diagnóstico de educación para la paz en el colegio IED José Joaquín Castro Martínez

El presente proyecto se enmarca como un informe diagnóstico sobre la educación para la paz en el IED José Joaquín Castro Martínez. Es importante resaltar que este informe no pretende abarcar aspectos investigativos sobre el conflicto, la violencia escolar o la educación para la paz; lo que se busca es a partir de un diagnóstico del colegio posibilitar un posterior diseño de una estrategia de intervención para esta institución educativa ubicada en la localidad de San Cristóbal en la ciudad de Bogotá. Este diagnóstico pretende ser una avance en este tipo de experiencias en el colegio, el cual se espera propicie un impacto positivo en las dinámicas del conflicto que viven día a día los estudiantes de la institución educativa reseñada, y propiciar así un mayor conocimiento de las problemáticas de los y las estudiantes en relación a una cultura de paz, entendida esta desde 4 aspectos: primero el respeto a sí mismo, al otro y a su entorno; segundo, resolución y resignificacion positiva del conflicto; tercero, prevención del consumo de SPA; y cuarto convivencia escolar.

Teacher leadership : interns crossing to the domain of higher professional learning with mentors?

Over the last two decades, the notion of teacher leadership has emerged as a key concept in both the teaching and leadership literature. While researchers have not reached consensus regarding a definition, there has been some agreement that teacher leadership can operate at both a formal and informal level in schools and that it includes leadership of an instructional, organisational and professional development nature (York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Teacher leadership is a construct that tends not to be applied to pre-service teachers as interns, but is more often connected with the professional role of mentors who collaborate with them as they make the transition to being a beginning teacher. We argue that teacher leadership should be recognised as a professional and career goal during this formative learning phase and that interns should be expected to overtly demonstrate signs, albeit early ones, of leadership in instruction and other professional areas of development. The aim of this paper is to explore the extent to which teacher education interns at one university in Queensland reported on activities that may be deemed to be ‘teacher leadership.’ The research approach used in this study was an examination of 145 reflective reports written in 2008 by final Bachelor of Education (primary) pre-service teachers. These reports recorded the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their professional learning with a school-based mentor in response to four outcomes of internship that were scaffolded by their mentor or initiated by them. These outcomes formed the bases of our research questions into the professional learning of the interns and included, ‘increased knowledge and capacity to teach within the total world of work as a teacher;’ ‘to work autonomously and interdependently’; to make ‘growth in critical reflectivity’, and the ‘ability to initiate professional development with the mentoring process’. Using the approaches of the constant comparative method of Strauss and Corbin (1998) key categories of experiences emerged. These categories were then identified as belonging to main meta-category labelled as ‘teacher leadership.’ Our research findings revealed that five dimensions of teacher leadership – effective practice in schools; school curriculum work; professional development of colleagues; parent and community involvement; and contributions to the profession – were evident in the written reports by interns. Not surprisingly, the mentor/intern relationship was the main vehicle for enabling the intern to learn about teaching and leadership. The paper concludes with some key implications for developers of preservice education programmes regarding the need for teacher leadership to be part of the discourse of these programmes.

Preservice teachers’ perceptions of their middle schooling teacher preparation

The middle schooling movement in Australia has gained momentum in the past 10 to 15 years (Pendergast & Bahr, 2005) with much of the literature recognising that preservice teachers need to graduate with theoretical and pedagogical knowledge to engage middle years students (Education Queensland, 2004). This qualitative study analysed the responses of preservice teachers towards their completion of a four-year Bachelor of Education primary degree that included a middle years pathway (or electives). The study aims to investigate the final years’ perceptions of their confidence and preparedness to teach in the middle-school context as a result of their university learning. Data were gathered using open-ended one-to-one interviews of approximately 45 minutes duration. Seven of the twenty-two final-year preservice teachers were involved in the study that represented 32% of the cohort. Results indicated the need for increased school-based units, the importance of pedagogical approaches employed by the lecturer and the preference for further linkages between middle school theories and middle school teaching practices. Those who provide teacher education courses need to consider the importance of how they deliver middle years courses as well as the content of the course. Furthermore, teacher education institutions need to evaluate and re-shape their courses to ensure preservice teachers are provided with real-world experiences related to both the literature and the profession.