We present how gender treatment is envisaged in the formal framework that defines early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Slovenia, with special emphasis on the curricular document, which frames ...the system and concept of ECEC in Slovenia. We present in detail how the latter deals with the issue of gender in individual areas of activities in ECEC settings. In addition, we present the results of the empirical survey we conducted among future early childhood educators where we explored whether in ECEC settings they would be willing to read fairy tales that open up the issue of gender from various perspectives, and if not, what reasons they give for this.
Children in rainbow families Hocevar, Andreja
Ljetopis socijalnog rada,
06/2014, Volume:
21, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This article discusses rainbow families, families formed by one or two same-sex attracted persons raising a child or children. It examines the findings of different research studies undertaken ...internationally (primarily in the USA and Western Europe) focusing on whether children growing up in rainbow families differ from children growing up in other family forms. The research findings demonstrate that there are no statistically significant differences between children being raised by rainbow families and other family forms with regard to the formation of gender identity, gender roles, emotional and cognitive development, or psychological and behavioural adjustments. However, the health and well-being of children growing up in rainbow families does depend on the (fear of) stigmatization and discrimination against these children in society. Adapted from the source document.
The article analyses two defining assumptions about the Reggio Emilia (RE) approach: the absence of a planned curriculum designed in advance as a basis for educational work and children's ...participation in preschools. The authors demonstrate that different approaches to planning preschool education have advantages and disadvantages, which we cannot avoid, even if we decide against curriculum planning. They believe it is more reasonable to insist on the convergent use of the strategies of curriculum planning, which helps maintain their advantages, while providing safeguards against their shortcomings. When discussing children's (and parents') participation in preschool, the authors emphasise that such participation has objective limits, which the RE approach fails to address. In preschools it is not only such rules that apply which have been agreed upon and where it has been possible to reach a consensus. We should not overlook the fact that the preschool is an institution which functions according to the rules and norms whose important elements are imposed from the outside - that is, they do not come from the institution's management, its professional workers or parents. Preschool, therefore, cannot function as if its teachers, parents and children had no limits other than those they decide and agree upon themselves.
In this research study on a representative sample of Slovenian elementary school students (n = 1527), teachers (n = 163), and head teachers (n = 60), we examined how the responding groups assess ...their knowledge about drugs, prevention, drug use, and abuse. The data we gathered are similar to the data of a 1998 study carried out in Northern Ireland, entitled ‘Drugs: what young people know’. In our study, students, teachers, and head teachers state that students acquire most of their knowledge about drug use and abuse in school, especially from teachers and school counsellors. However, a high share of the respondents thought that the emphasis was not strong enough. Almost half of the elementary school teachers in Slovenia (46.5%) believe that individual subject syllabuses do not contain enough goals and didactic recommendations encouraging the consideration of drug issues. In addition, international study results demonstrate that, during their undergraduate education, teachers do not acquire enough knowledge about drug issues (Allot and Paxton 2000). Therefore, it is not surprising that 61.5% of Slovenian elementary school teachers have expressed a need for additional training in the field.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction, preventive programmes and interventions should aim to address drug use in specific settings, such as schools. There are no ...available data about drug use in schools, especially in an international context; therefore, this study attempted to collect data on the availability and use of drugs in schools and in vicinities close to schools, from students attending Slovenian primary schools. The research study consists of a representative sample of students (n = 1527), parents (n = 1259), teachers (n = 163), and head teachers (n = 60) from Slovenia. The data were gathered with a questionnaire, which consisted mainly of opinion and evaluation scales. Findings: The most important finding of this study was that legal and illegal drugs were easily available in Slovenian primary schools and in vicinities close to schools , and students did use them in these areas. Research findings draw attention to the need for teachers and head teachers to pay special attention to drug use in schools and in vicinities close to schools , although they may not initially see it as a problem.
U članku je prikazano vrednovanje kvalitete predškolskih ustanova koje je utemeljeno unutar pedagoškog pristupa Reggio Emilia, a koje odbacuje vrednovanje na temelju empirijskih podataka prikupljenih ...s pomoću metodološki adekvatno pripremljenih instrumenata. Taj bi oblik vrednovanja trebao biti utemeljen na univerzalnim normama koje su oblikovali stručnjaci, pri čemu se pod kvalitetom podrazumijeva sklad usluga i prakse izmjerene prema određenim normama. Tumačenjem putem apstrakcija, kategorizacija i shema, od tog se oblika vrednovanja kvalitete ponajprije očekuje klasifikacija i normalizacija (Dahlberg, Moss, i Pence, 2007). Suprotno tomu, vrednovanje kvalitete predškolskih ustanova treba graditi na analizama i subjektivnim tumačenjima dokumenata koje odgojitelji prikupljaju u svakodnevnom dokumentiranju odgojno-obrazovnog procesa i dječjih aktivnosti u predškolskim ustanovama. Time se dosljedno prate razmišljanja koja odbacuju planirani i unaprijed
strukturirani kurikul, budući da se smatra kako se na taj način prate ciljevi, a ne djeca, čime se djeci onemogućuje da budu u središtu odgojno-obrazovnog procesa. U članku ćemo pokazati da vrednovanje kvalitete predškolskih ustanova koje se temelji
isključivo na iznesenim subjektivnim interpretacijama otvara prostor za selektivna i parcijalna razmatranja; vrednovanje kvalitete – barem što se tiče raširene mreže javnih predškolskih ustanova u Sloveniji – se stoga također treba provoditi uz pomoć odgovarajućih metodološki dizajniranih instrumenata.
Abstract The article presents preschool quality evaluation which is established in the Reggio Emilia pedagogical approach and which rejects evaluation on the basis of empirical data gathered through ...methodologically adequately prepared instruments. Such evaluation is supposed to be founded on universal norms formulated by experts, with quality being understood as the harmony of the services and practices measured by the norms. Through interpretations which use abstractions, categorizations and schemes, such quality evaluation is thought predominantly to classify and normalize (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 2007). By contrast, preschool quality evaluation ought to build on the analyses and subjective interpretations of the documents that preschool teachers gather through their everyday documentation of the educational process and children's activities in preschools. It coherently follows the consideration which rejects a curriculum planned and structured in advance, as it is thought to follow goals, not children, thereby preventing children from being in the centre of the educational process. In the article we show that the evaluation of preschool quality which is based only on the presented subjective interpretation opens up a space for selective and partial considerations; quality evaluation - at least as far as the widespread network of public preschools in Slovenia is concerned - thus also needs to be implemented through suitably methodologically designed tools. Key words: documentation; evaluation; pedagogical approach Reggio Emilia; preschool education; quality; Slovenia.---Sažetak U članku je prikazano vrednovanje kvalitete predškolskih ustanova koje je utemeljeno unutar pedagoškog pristupa Reggio Emilia, a koje odbacuje vrednovanje na temelju empirijskih podataka prikupljenih s pomoću metodološki adekvatno pripremljenih instrumenata. Taj bi oblik vrednovanja trebao biti utemeljen na univerzalnim normama koje su oblikovali stručnjaci, pri čemu se pod kvalitetom podrazumijeva sklad usluga i prakse izmjerene prema određenim normama. Tumačenjem putem apstrakcija, kategorizacija i shema, od tog se oblika vrednovanja kvalitete ponajprije očekuje klasifikacija i normalizacija (Dahlberg, Moss, i Pence, 2007). Suprotno tomu, vrednovanje kvalitete predškolskih ustanova treba graditi na analizama i subjektivnim tumačenjima dokumenata koje odgojitelji prikupljaju u svakodnevnom dokumentiranju odgojno-obrazovnog procesa i dječjih aktivnosti u predškolskim ustanovama. Time se dosljedno prate razmišljanja koja odbacuju planirani i unaprijed strukturirani kurikul, budući da se smatra kako se na taj način prate ciljevi, a ne djeca, čime se djeci onemogućuje da budu u središtu odgojno-obrazovnog procesa. U članku ćemo pokazati da vrednovanje kvalitete predškolskih ustanova koje se temelji isključivo na iznesenim subjektivnim interpretacijama otvara prostor za selektivna i parcijalna razmatranja; vrednovanje kvalitete - barem što se tiče raširene mreže javnih predškolskih ustanova u Sloveniji - se stoga također treba provoditi uz pomoć odgovarajućih metodološki dizajniranih instrumenata.Ključne riječi: dokumentacija; kvaliteta; pedagoški pristup Reggio Emilia; predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje; Slovenija; vrednovanje.
For the last 20 years, it is the (secondary) school which has been the central point of education on drugs. However, the age border at which children and youngsters meet drugs for the first time has ...lowered; down to the period when children still go to primary school. Therefore the activities of prevention of drug use and abuse have expanded considerably also on this educational level. In the paper we shall deal with the influence and efficiency of drug education among children and youngsters as well as the influence and efficiency of various concepts of schools' conduct in the case of infringement of the rules concerning drugs in school.
DJECA U »DUGINIM« OBITELJIMA Hočevar, Andreja
Ljetopis socijalnog rada,
06/2014, Volume:
21, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Open access
Ovaj članak raspravlja o djeci u »duginim« obiteljima. To su obitelji koje čine jedan ili oba partnera homoseksualne orijentacije koji odgajaju dijete ili više djece. U radu se analiziraju nalazi ...različitih međunarodnih istraživanja (prvenstveno u SAD-u i Zapadnoj Europi). Autor se fokusira na razlike djece koja su odrasla u »duginim« obiteljima u odnosu na djecu odraslu u drugim oblicima obiteljskih zajednica. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da ne postoje statistički značajnije razlike između djece odrasle u »duginim« obiteljima i djece odrasle u ostalim oblicima obiteljskih zajednica s obzirom na formiranje spolnog identiteta, spolnih pravila, emocionalnog i kognitivnog razvoja ili kod psihološke ponašajne prilagodbe. Međutim, zdravlje i dobrobit djece koja odrastaju u »duginim« obiteljima ovisi o (strahu od) stigmatizacije i diskriminacije te djece u društvu.
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