Neutralność płci w szwedzkiej polityce edukacyjnej

The Author discusses the concept of gender neutrality in the context of the Swedish education system. The article is based on critical analyses of the international press discourse, studies of Nordic scholars and on a small-scale empirical study carried out in Stockholm in the autumn of 2014. The study involved non participant observation, interviews with academics associated with the subject matter, interviews with head teachers of schools and nurseries in Stockholm and a number of openquestion, questionnaires completed by teachers and students enrolled in specialist teaching courses at Stockholm University at the time of the study. This triangulation of qualitative techniques allowed the building of an in-depth understanding of what gender neutrality means in educational practice.

Piłka nożna, mulatyzm i tożsamość narodowa w Brazylii

The article is devoted to the social functions of soccer in Brazilian society. The first section analyses the elitist and working class origin of soccer in Brazil. Next, the author attempts to describe the role of soccer in advancing social mobility of people from the working class. In the third, most important section the role of soccer in creation of the Brazilian national identity is considered. Here, the concept of a “tropical hybrid” as well as the ideology of mulattism is presented together with a detailed analysis of the Brazilian soccer style as an expression of the Afro-Brazilian, genetically determined talent.

Edukacja w/dla wielokulturowości. Casus Singapuru

Singapore brings together representatives of different cultures. Currently, 76% of the Singapore population is Chinese, 14% - Malay, 8% Hindu. All of them (with the rest 2%) have a possibility to participate in one of the best education models in the world. However, education and other political institutions are assessed in an ambivalent way. The article will address these controversies, including the Confucian thought of self-improvement and Peranakan Chinese as an example for the hypothesis.

Edukacja obywatelska w Anglii – założenia, perspektywy, wyzwania

Britain is exceptional among modern Western democracies in having had citizenship education in public schools. British people have regarded themselves as “subjects” rather citizens. It has been changing recently. Due to social transformations, especially growing multiculturalism and associated social tensions, citizenship education became the core of social and political debate. After 1997, when the Labor Party came to power, the discourse of citizenship as well as citizenship education developed. The main aim of citizenship education in state schools is to build social cohesion and reduce social tension through dialogue. School curricula pay more attention to identity and cultural diversity. The aim of the paper is to present and analyse the main premises of educational policy in the context of citizenship education in public schools in England. I will also attempt to reconstruct the social and political debate on the consequences of introducing citizenship education to state schools.

Zmiany w programach kształcenia w zakresie edukacji obywatelskiej w Kanadzie

The aim of this article was to examine how the currently dominant neoliberal and neoconservative discourse is present in the sector of education. The subject of research was to show the influence of a certain ideology on the process of reformulating secondary schools curricula in Canada, especially in Ontario, and the program materials designed for adult immigrants preparing for a citizenship test. This paper explores the relationship between the neoliberal ideology present at the provincial level, where individual development and economic rationales are dominant, and the neoconservative ideology at the federal level, which recovers imperial roots of Canadian citizenship, grounded in the Anglo-Saxon tradition and colonial history.

PISA Tests and their Impact on Georgian Education System

The article discusses the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tests and their impact on the Georgian Education System. It analyzes the deplorable results of Georgian 15-yearolds in PISA 2009 and investigates the reasons based on different reports. The article also discusses the reasons for the temporary suspension of the project on the Georgian side. Since certain participatory countries are dissatisfied with the attitudes of this program, the article also refers to the criticism of PISA. The conclusion is that PISA and other international tests contain considerably important information. If these data with a diagnostic feature are used for working out the education policy in an appropriate way, they can become the key instrument for obtaining favourable results in reforming the Education System. Therefore, PISA appears to be essential for Georgia too, as such assessment gives an opportunity to concentrate on the national core curriculum and content analysis. In order to estimate all the strengths and weaknesses of the Education System, it is quite reasonable to conduct such surveys in every country. The article concludes with recommendations for PISA 2015 as to how to use the reports for further progress.

Analyzing Stories from Canadian Academic Writing Instructors: A Collaborative Autoethnography

Writing instruction in Canadian universities takes a variety of forms. While there are few formal departments for writing studies, many institutions do have a writing centre – a place that offers writing instruction to varying degrees. The writing centre may be housed within a department, a library, or within a student services unit. Its position within a university may indicate the degree to which writing is valued by the administrative body. The goal of our paper is to share insights into the ways that writing professionals perceive, work in, and adapt to current demands for writing instruction in higher education. Using a collaborative ethnographic approach, three scholars at different career stages explore their experiences with writing centre work. Using data consisting of individually written reflections, our analysis revealed four major themes: (a) initial experience with writing centres, (b) community, (c) frustrations and tensions at work, and (d) mentorship. In this paper, we discuss our findings within the framework of positioning theory in order to understand how we position ourselves as scholars, mentors, and educators, and how we are positioned by others within the fields of writing studies and higher education. This study raises awareness about the value of writing centre professionals’ contributions, the place of mentorship within higher education, and the support required for continued writing centre work.

Between Stimulation and Overwhelming: Reflections on the Usage of Videos for Teacher Training in Tanzania

The article reflects on a pilot teacher training programme in Tanzania, where videos are used for implementing new teaching methods, but also for initiating a discourse about corporal punishment. The culture of instruction in Tanzania is strictly based on a teacher-centred approach which leaves all activity to the teacher and turns students into passive listeners. In most cases, teachers deal with up to 80 students in one classroom. Therefore, discipline is an important matter of instruction and many teachers still use corporal punishment that is widely accepted in Tanzania. The launched training programme has the aim of implementing learner-centred teaching methods without using corporal punishment and offers Tanzanian teachers the possibility to participate in a workshop that connects these methods with subject-related topics. In the English teaching workshop, the facilitator used filmed English lessons from a German school to discuss with the participants both the application of learner-centred methods and the absence of corporal punishment. The use of these German videos shows advantages but also limitations that are strongly related to the European versus African setting. The article discusses these dimensions on the basis of data that are generated by ethnographical observation and audiotranscripts of the piloted workshop.

University Reforms in the Context of the Bologna Process

Georgia, a former Soviet Union state, has undergone a lot of political, social, economic and of course educational changes. This article shows how Georgia’s higher education system has developed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As an independent country, Georgia has started developing a free nation with a new type of the education system. The government of Georgia chose the European system of higher education and their major aim was to become a part of the Bologna process. Reforms made in Georgian higher education system have been essential for the country and indeed a lot has changed since the starting period. Georgia managed to hold unified national entry exams and has implemented the ECTS system; there are modern curricula that meet the requirements of European standards. etc. But still, even though a lot is being done, a lack of funding, outdated teaching methods and old facilities in some universities are still unresolved problems.

Specific Features of the Education of Muslim Children in the Czech Republic

The paper tackles the requirements of the Muslim children’s parents on a change of the form of their teaching in various types of schools in the Czech Republic and the way in which the schools cope with these requirements.

NORBERT G. PIKUŁA, Poczucie sensu życia osób starszych. Inspiracje do edukacji w starości, Oficyna Wydawnicza Impuls, Kraków 2015, ss. 218

Recenzje i noty

Sprawozdanie z Seminarium Naukowego „Kompetencje nauczyciela wobec współczesnych problemów wychowawczych” Poznań, 15 stycznia 2016 roku

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Sprawozdanie z III Międzynarodowej Konferencji “The Educational and Social World of a Child” Poznań, 3 marca 2016 roku

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Uzasadnienie szczególnej ochrony ubezpieczonych na gruncie III filaru emerytalnego

Reforma systemu emerytalnego polegająca na zmianie systemu zdefiniowanego świadczenia na system zdefiniowanej składki spowodowała zmniejszenie wysokości otrzymywanych świadczeń przez przyszłych emerytów. Działania takie zmusiły zainteresowanych do poszukiwania dodatkowych źródeł utrzymania. Jednym z takich źródeł może być uzupełniający system emerytalny, określany mianem trzeciego filaru emerytalnego. Jego cechą charakterystyczną jest dobrowolność. Dla jego rozwoju niezbędne jest zapewnienie wzmożonego poziomu ochrony ubezpieczonych. Środki te dotyczą zarówno ogólnej polityki konsumenckiej, jak i regulacji cywilnoprawnych oraz administracyjnoprawnych. W praktyce można wyróżnić dwa poziomy ochrony ubezpieczonych w ramach trzeciego filaru. Poziom pierwszy jest właściwy dla wszystkich ubezpieczonych, natomiast drugi poziom zawiera regulacje ograniczone do uzupełniającego systemu emerytalnego.

Kwestia niekonstytucyjności roszczenia informacyjnego z art. 2861 p.w.p. – wybrane zagadnienia

Roszczenie informacyjne jest instrumentem prawnym, przy pomocy którego uprawniony z tytuł prawa do patentu, prawa ochronnego na wzór użytkowy, prawa z rejestracji wzoru przemysłowego czy też prawa ochronnego na znak towarowy może domagać się, aby sąd zobowiązał określony podmiot do ujawnienia informacji, które są niezbędne dla skutecznego dochodzenia roszczeń przed sądem. Niejednokrotnie bowiem ze względu na niematerialny charakter praw własności przemysłowej ustalenie naruszyciela tych praw oraz skali samego naruszenia jest znacznie utrudnione. Wokół tytułowego roszczenia informacyjnego na gruncie ustawy Prawo własności przemysłowej powstało szereg kontrowersji, którego zwieńczeniem było wniesienie skargi konstytucyjnej w 2015 roku, oczekującej obecnie na rozstrzygnięcie przez Trybunał Konstytucyjny. Realizacja roszczenia tego rodzaju powoduje bowiem, że ochrona praw podmiotu uprawnionego prowadzi nieuchronnie do ograniczenia praw innego podmiotu – zobowiązanego do udzielenia informacji. Wobec tego szczególnie istotne jest respektowanie zasady proporcjonalności przy ustanawianiu ograniczeń praw i wolności obywatelskich. W niniejszym opracowaniu została rozważona zasadność zarzutów niekonstytucyjności omawianej instytucji prawnej i jej zgodności m.in. z prawem do sądu oraz wolnością działalności gospodarczej w zestawieniu z zasadą proporcjonalności ograniczenia praw konstytucyjnych. Na tle wątpliwości co do zgodności z Konstytucją roszczenia informacyjnego przedstawione zostały także kwestie dotyczące wadliwości implementacji dyrektywy unijnej w zakresie roszczenia o udzielenie informacji. Wszystkie zagadnienia zostały omówione na tle stosunków gospodarczych, w jakich uczestniczą podmioty uprawnione do żądania udzielenia informacji, a także zobowiązane do ich udzielenia.