Collaboration among different teacher profiles is one of the most important factors in meeting the needs of pupils with special needs. In a study of 138 teachers from different regions of Slovenia ...(57 special education teachers and 85 visual art teachers), we investigated how they collaborate when working with pupils with severe specific learning difficulties and how this collaboration relates to their professional development. The online questionnaire survey found that most participating professionals felt that collaboration was necessary, and 25% had not yet collaborated. Those who have collaborated most often consult informally in hallways and work as a team in expert groups for individualised programmes. The most common team teaching approach is for the visual arts teacher to lead the art class and the special education teacher to assist the teacher by providing support to the pupils with and without learning difficulties. They also see many benefits for the pupils and themselves in this type of collaboration and follow the desirable - positive - side of the S model of professional development. An analysis of the situation in practise can form the basis for recommendations on how to promote professional development in collaboration between these pedagogical professionals.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
To achieve the goals of modern science and technology teaching, it is vital to organize student-centred instruction (SCI). The organization of SCI requires the teacher’s ability to organize ...cognitively challenging teaching in a stimulating environment. The fundamental purpose of the study was to determine whether the teacher’s organization of SCI was
related to factors at the school level (organizational context) and factors at the
individual level (individual context). We designed a model comprising four sets of factors. The results show a statistically significant correlation between SCI and all four sets of factors.
For pupils to obtain high-quality and permanent knowledge, it is important that the teaching of scientific and technical contents is based on cognitive constructivist approach. We carried out a ...research, during which we asked three research questions, on a sample of 167 class teachers in the Republic of Slovenia. We wanted to find out: how often class teachers included elements typical of cognitive constructivist approach; was the frequency of using elements of cognitive constructivist teaching model linked to the teacher’s concern for their own professional development, and was the frequency of using elements of cognitive constructivist teaching model linked to the factors, such as the teacher’s estimated importance, difficulty and necessity of Science and Technics, the assessment of their own competence and professional enthusiasm. Data were collected with three scales: ways of teaching scientific and technical contents; attitude to scientific and technical contents and teaching and components of professional development. Data were processed according to descriptive and inferential statistics. The research showed that the formulation and verification of hypotheses, two important elements in view of cognitive constructivist teaching model, were less often represented. With statistically significant higher frequency they were organized by teachers, who rated their competence higher, were more enthusiastic and cared more about their professional development.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In the present study, we were interested in the appraisal by teachers who have had experience with an individual form of differentiation of the efficiency of grouping learners into homogenous or ...heterogeneous groups. In the study, seven aspects were thus considered: (1) the learning performance and motivation of learners, (2) the learners’ activity, (3) didactic ways of adapting teaching to diverse learners, (4) the impact on the formation of learners’ personality, (5) cooperation among learners, (6) opportunities for professional development, and (7) cooperation with parents. The research has shown that there is a statistically significant difference between the teachers who teach in homogeneous groups and the teachers who teach in heterogeneous groups in all the seven aspects of the appraisal of the efficiency of grouping learners into homogenous or heterogeneous groups. Regarding most of the assertions, teachers belonging to both groups perceive the way of teaching they perform as having the most advantages.
Aim/Purpose: This paper addresses the effectiveness of flipped learning and teaching as a didactic innovation in math instruction. We are interested in comparing traditional and flipped learning and ...teaching in terms of acquired knowledge and retention and students’ perceptions of flipped learning and teaching.
Background: Traditional lessons, in which frontal instruction prevails, cannot sufficiently address all students, especially in more complex subjects where it is necessary to follow the didactic principle of learning differentiation and individualization. Flipped learning and teaching is a didactic innovation with a high potential for implementing the said didactic principle, as it can be adapted to the students’ needs to a greater extent. There is no single mode of implementation for flipped learning and teaching, which means that the effects depend largely on the specific learning activities, resulting in the fact that previous research does not report conclusive results. Thus, it is important to continue to examine this innovation to provide a better and more detailed understanding of it.
Methodology: We present a study in which 13-year-old primary school students took part in a pedagogical experiment in mathematics instruction. In the control group (n = 26), lessons were taught in the traditional way, while in the experimental group (n = 26), lessons were taught according to the principle of flipped learning and teaching. After the experiment, the same posttest was administered to both groups to assess the students’ knowledge of the subject matter after the treatment. Another posttest was administered after three months to determine whether the knowledge acquired through flipped learning and teaching was permanent. All three tests consisted of 13 tasks, with the first 6 tasks relating to the perimeter of polygons and the second 6 tasks relating to the area of polygons. The last task focused on the perimeter and area of polygons. A short survey was also conducted to find out how the students in the experimental group perceived this didactic innovation in terms of motivation to learn, interest in the subject matter, level of knowledge acquired, and so forth.
Contribution: Our research on flipped learning and teaching focusing on primary schools is significant as previous research on the topic has often been conducted on a sample of high school students and even more often on university students. Our particular contribution is the fact that we tested not only the students’ immediate knowledge after the intervention but also the retention of knowledge after a period of three months, which provides an additional perspective on the effectiveness of flipped learning and teaching.
Findings: With this research, we have answered three research questions. First, we found that there are no statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of acquired knowledge. Thus, we found that both the traditional approach and the flipped learning and teaching approach were equally successful in transferring knowledge to the students. In addition, we found that there were differences between the two groups in terms of retention of knowledge. The group taught with the flipped learning and teaching approach showed higher levels of knowledge retention than the group taught with the traditional approach. Finally, it was found that the students were quite satisfied with this approach and would like to see such innovations in the future.
Recommendations for Practitioners: The results suggest better knowledge retention when using flipped teaching and learning, so based on our findings, we recommend teachers try this innovation in their classrooms. However, all innovation should be implemented with thorough consideration and gradually; thus, we believe that training courses on flipped learning and teaching should be organized for teachers to learn about this innovation, find out about its effectiveness, and reflect on how they can incorporate it into their own practice.
Recommendation for Researchers: We recommend that research in the future focus more on primary school students, with particular attention to experimental design. We suggest that researchers focus on investigating the contribution of the different learning activities with the flipped instructional design to the overall effectiveness of the innovation.
Impact on Society: The results of our research thus represent an important contribution to the field of pedagogy and general didactics at primary and lower secondary levels. Based on our findings on knowledge retention in the experimental group, we consider flipped learning and teaching to be an effective innovation that could contribute to a higher quality of teaching and, thus, to better student knowledge.
Future Research: Future research would be important to determine which factor ensures a higher level of knowledge retention in a flipped learning and teaching approach than in a traditional learning and teaching approach. It would also be important to determine the effects of flipped learning and teaching in other subject matters in the mathematics classroom, in other age groups of students, and in other subjects in primary school.
In this paper, we present a study in which we developed a self-assessment model based on students’ self-questioning, and investigated its impact on improving the accuracy of students’ ...self-assessment. The impact of the model was determined on a sample of 164 Grade 7 students in the instructional and practical phases of mathematics learning. It was found that the use of the model resulted in improved accuracy in students’ self-assessment in both phases and, for low- and high- achievers.
The deep economic, social, technological and cultural changes in Europe represent a real challenge for teacher education. The teacher’s role is becoming more complex and demanding, while the ...expectations of society are rising. Teachers are expected not only to enable optimal development of increasingly heterogeneous groups of pupils, but also to mitigate the effects of social inequality. All this requires qualitative changes in pre-service and in-service teacher education. In this regard, the transition from school/university to professional life — the induction period and early career years — requires special attention. In this phase, a fruitful synthesis of theory and practice can occur if novices are systematically introduced and supported by good mentoring in the transition from study to school life and culture, but a ‘practice shock’ is also possible during which many positive effects of pre-service education are lost. Our aim is to identify some principles and optimal solutions that would foster teacher's professional development in this important phase of their career.
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BFBNIB, DOBA, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Every preschool teacher’s activity results in changes in the preschool teacher as well as in the practice. In situations where we have a limited number and form of professional training offered to ...preschool teachers, whose attendance is not always subject to the personal plan of preschool teachers’ professional development, informal learning adds great value to teacher development. This paper aims to examine the involvement of preschool teachers in certain forms of informal learning and their reflection on the impact these forms have on their professional development. The empirical part of the paper presents the results of a survey conducted among preschool teachers. 110 preschool teachers from the Republic of Croatia responded to the questionnaire and we got answers to two research questions. The results show that preschool teachers are most often involved in a form of informal learning which includes agreeing on how to work with a colleague from the group and documenting the children’s activities.
Studying motivations of teaching professionals for their profession is an important area of research. Knowing motivations is relevant to both school policy and teacher educators in order to tailor ...initial and further training accordingly, thus enabling individuals to be best equipped to meet the challenges of their careers. In the present article, we were interested in why Slovenian and Serbian preschool teachers choose their profession, how the preschool teachers with different motivations for their choice perceive their profession as a career, what factors they consider to have an impact on their career development, and what expectations they have in relation to it. The study was based on a survey approach and included 289 preschool teachers from Serbia and Slovenia. The results show that among preschool teachers in both countries intrinsic and altruistic motives prevail in their choice of the preschool teaching profession and that their importance increases as the importance of motives of a simplistic view of studies and work decreases. The results indicate that the predominant motivation for choosing preschool teaching as a career plays an important role in the preschool teachers’ views of their profession, their identification of the career development factors, and their career expectations and plans. The implications of these findings for preservice and inservice preschool teacher education are discussed.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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