We begin from the current approaches to the multiple self - Bakhtin's concept of polyphony, Mair's community of self and Hermans' dialogical self theory. Polyphony assumes that the self consists of ...multiple different voices, which simultaneously exist and interact in complex dialogical relations. The metaphor of the community of self enables us to perceive how the individual, depending on a specific social context, can use different selves, as subsystems of constructs which are mutually incompatible. Dialogical self theory enriches the idea of the polyphonic self with the idea of the extended I, in which the voices of others appear as simultaneous external and internalized I-positions. Further on this paper proposes that the understanding of the multiple self is complemented by the implementation of the concepts of sociality and relations of domination. Then, a methodological approach is presented for the study of sociality and dominance in the multiple self. The paper also presents a case study of a successful student's community of self as an illustration of the implementation of this methodological approach. The case study shows that the student's community of selves is marked by tension between dominant voices and voices of resistance which always have the potential to change the balance of power, making the sense of self as a student both changeable and inconsistent. The other significant finding is that the role relationships which are established between some voices could serve to either establish or maintain the domination in the multiple self.
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Self-control and self-regulated learning refer to those processes and strategies whereby individuals exert agency in facing educational demands. This study tested a structural model which predicts ...that self-control has direct effect on school achievement, as well as mediated by metacognitive self-regulation, academic self-efficacy, and regulatory motivational styles as the variables related to self-regulated learning. The research was carried out on a stratified random sample of 575 eighth grade students. It was shown that the effect of self-control on achievement is mediated by self-efficacy. In other words, students who have heightened selfcontrol and believe in their own ability to meet school demands will be successful in school regardless of the complexity of their learning or whether they are autonomously motivated. The implications of such a finding were considered, as well as the limitations of the research and the indications for future research. Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 179034: From Encouraging Initiative, Cooperation and Creativity in Education to New Roles and Identities in Society and Grant no. 47008: Improving the Quality and Accessibility of Education in Modernization Processes in Serbia
The paper offers an analytical framework for conceptualization and research of the structure and dynamics of the agonistic self, relying on Hermans’ dialogical self theory and Foucault’s analytics of ...power. In a multiple-case study, 9 teachers participated in a two-phase Agonistic Self Interview. A deductive-inductive thematic analysis of the data yielded an analytical framework comprising 4 categories: Functions of Voices, Power Relations (with two sub-categories: Forms of Exercising Power and Practices for Exercising Power and Resistance), Types of Relations Between Voices, and Institutional Context. The paper offers the analytical concept of a strategic situation along with novel methodological tools for the research and analysis of the self as embedded in interpersonal relationships and sociocultural and institutional context. The psychological relevance of the findings is discussed in terms of relations between dominance and maintaining plurality within the self and relations between the stability and social contextualization of the self.
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The paper explores the ways in which mathematics and science teachers in one
primary school perceive innovations in teaching that they implemented during
inservice training. We started from the ...recent findings pointing to the
prevailing perceptions of obstacles and an anxious and antagonistic attitude
of teachers towards innovations. Hence, the aim of our research was to see
whether we would obtain similar findings with the teachers who attended a
training course for implementing innovations within the Trefoil project.
Research participants were seven teachers. We analysed their conversations,
which took place during the meetings of the expert council, about the
experiences with implementing innovations. The results have shown that the
teachers had the perception that innovations ensured higher quality knowledge
and additionally motivated students. Still, the predominant narratives were
those about the obstacles referring to the lack of time, difficulties in
developing teaching activities and grading system, restrictions in the
curriculum, as well as the lack of readiness and cooperation on the part of
students and parents. A novelty compared to the previous studies was that we
cannot speak about typical reactions. Instead, teachers? attitude towards
innovations changed depending on whether the experiences were positive or
they encountered problems in their implementation. The recommendations for
the practice of in-service teacher training and further research are provided
in the final part.
Building on the Dialogical Self Theory (DST) and the Model of Agonistic Self (MAS), this paper introduces the Model of Agonistic Self Methodology (MAS-M). This approach employs constellations as the ...interpretative framework for the qualitative analysis of data on the self-in-context. Constellations are defined as wider patterns of interactions between voices which follow specific and repetitive scenarios. In order to develop MAS-M, reflexive thematic analysis was performed on individual reports written after interviewing nine elementary school teachers. The data was gathered during two-stage interview process employing the Agonistic Self Interview (ASI), which was introduced into the standard MAS-M procedure. We identified six constellations, whose structure and dynamics were formally described: The King and His Kingdom constellation, Crisis Intervention, Defense of Purpose, Value Conflict, Temporary Inclusion of Sidelined Perspectives, and Reflection. We will discuss the psychological function of each constellation, and their future application as a practical, diagnostic, and research framework.
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In this paper, we present an exploratory study on tensions in teacher
professional identity based on the Model of Agonistic Self. The sample
comprised nine class and subject teachers employed at two ...primary schools in
Belgrade. The research was conceived as a multiple-case study in which
thematic analysis was used as an auxiliary method for analyzing the data
obtained via a semi-structured interview. The criterion for the selection of
tense situations was the presence of one of the four types of tense
relations in the agonistic self: acceptance with critique, productive
tension, acute conflict, and permanent conflict. These relations were
interpreted as different forms of psychosocial dynamics and ways of
resolving psychological tension among participants. Subsequently, we
thematically categorized the selected situations. We identified nine themes
in relation to which our participants had professional dilemmas. Our
findings indicate that the same professional dilemma within a teacher?s self
can manifest itself in different kinds of tense relations. This suggests
that it is not sufficient to direct research attention towards the content
of the narratives about professional dilemmas, but that it is also necessary
to explore different mechanisms of psychosocial dynamics through which these
tensions develop and get resolved. This perspective on teachers?
professional dilemmas represents a contribution to the creation of new
models and the refinement of existing models of teacher professional
development.
This study examines how students' absenteeism moderates the relationship of math self-concept and motivation to learn math on one side and the achievement in the TIMSS 2015 math test on the other. ...The stratified random sample consists of 4036 fourth grade pupils from 160 primary schools in Serbia. Separate regression models were made for four levels of frequency of students' absenteeism. The results show that self-concept makes a positive contribution to the prediction of achievement, and motivation a negative one. Additionally, with the increase of absenteeism the importance of self-concept drops and that of motivation grows. The analysis of variance confirmed that along with the increase of absenteeism, students express lower levels of self-concept, while the level of motivation does not change. The most important conclusion is that regular class attendance contributes to the students' math self-concept and consequential achievement by developing their experiences of success in math. The usefulness of the motivation scale for predicting math test performance is discussed.
The COVID-19 pandemic could be considered as a career shock for employees in different industries around the world. The aim of this research was to gain insight into the dynamics of Serbian small ...business owners' career shocks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic by using personal construct psychology (PCP) as a theoretical framework. We conducted 18 semi-structured interviews with 9 small business owners on two separate occasions and analyzed their personal stories. The data were collected during the most restrictive lockdown in Serbia in April 2020 and again at the end of June 2020 when the number of the people infected was on a rapid rise. The reaction to the career shock caused by the pandemic can be understood by analyzing transitions (how people perceive career shocks), people's coping strategies and the way in which their dependencies were dispersed. This study contributes to understanding the career shock issue by viewing it through the lens of the personal construct theory.
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9.
Needs, problems and competencies of school principals in Serbia Teodorovic, Jelena; Sevkusic, Slavica; Dzinovic, Vladimir ...
Zbornik Instituta za pedagoška istraživanja/Zbornik - Institut za pedagoška istraživanja,
2020, Volume:
52, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Open access
Educational leadership has an impact on school climate, teachers? practices
and student outcomes. Having in mind its importance, in this paper we wanted
to examine the barriers that school principals ...in Serbia face in their
everyday work, solutions that they propose, leadership tasks that they deem
important, as well as those competencies which they feel they need to
improve. To those ends we conducted a mixed-method study in which 107
principals, teachers, school counsellors, and representatives of school
authorities participated in focus groups and interviews, and 200 elementary
and high school principals responded to a questionnaire about leadership.
Our findings indicate a myriad of barriers, predominantly related to
ineffective education policies, imprecise legislation, unprofessional
behaviour of teachers and principals and problematic relationship with
parents. We also found that the principals felt that they needed to greatly
improve their competencies from all six areas of the Standards of the
competencies of principals of educational institutions. The paper offers
recommendations to policy makers about the needed improvements.
The starting point of the paper is the importance of developing the skill of
cooperation and the undisputed significance of cooperative work for the
outcomes of the learning process. We examine the ...effects of teacher training
conducted in order to encourage the teachers to implement work methods and
forms aimed at developing cooperation. Cooperation is operationalised through
the following components: cooperative learning, exchange of opinions with the
aim of accomplishing the goal and prosocial behaviour that includes
understanding and empathy. The data were collected by repeated observation -
before and after the conducted training. The sample included 72 classes
realised by 20 teachers of one primary school. Using variance analysis, we
determined the effects on two out of four cooperation indicators: the teacher
encourages group activities with the common goal and cooperative learning and
the teacher encourages the students to talk and exchange opinions in order to
achieve a certain goal together. There were no effects on the indicators that
referred to including the teacher in the exchange process and encouraging
understanding and empathy in students. The lack of effects was ascribed to
the way in which teachers perceive their role in relation to students, as
well as to the limited number of the observed classes. Research findings
point to the efficiency and usefulness of this way of improving teaching
practice as well as to the changes that can be implemented to enhance the
presented training programme.
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