Our School: Journal for the theory and practice of education

DISCOVERING, NURTURING AND DEVELOPMENT OF GIFTEDNESS IN SCHOOLS: A SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION TO SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT FOR GIFTED STUDENTS

Miloš Kecman — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Book Review: Letić Lungulov, M. (2023). Darovitost u školskom kontekstu. Filozofski fakultet u Novom Sadu.

ROLES OF UNIVERSITIES AND UNIVERSITY STAFF IN PROMOTING CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN A COMMUNITY: DISCIPLINARY DIFFERENCES

Biljana Lungulov, Maja Bosanac, Jovana Milutinović — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past decades, the aspirations for connecting universities and the social community have become increasingly topical as well as the aspirations for civic engagement of university staff. The purpose of this research is to examine the perception of the role of universities and of the role of university staff in promoting civic engagement and education for active citizenship, concerning different disciplinarian cultures of staff and students. The research sample involves 1,048 respondents, of whom 466 are members of staff and 582 are students from the University of Novi Sad (Serbia), utilising the Questionnaire on Civic Mission of Universities and Education for Sustainable Development. The results imply that the role of universities in promoting civic engagement is significant, but not as much as that of the media. Concerning the role of university staff, disciplinarian differences have been established on the student sample, whereby students of soft sciences regard the role of staff as more significant in promoting civic engagement in comparison with those of hard sciences, who consider it as a more private matter of an individual. The results confirm disciplinarian differences in particular aspects of the relationship between the role of a university and that of a member of staff. The respondents of soft sciences mostly hold an opinion that these roles are connected, and the stronger the role of a university is, the more significant the role of a member of staff is. It has been concluded that, besides teaching and conducting research, civic engagement in a community represents the crucial role of universities and university staff, as well as the fact that a university is not a homogenous entity and that professional socialisation within a discipline influences the interests of members of staff and students in various activities of social engagement and in their civic engagement.

STATUS IN A PEER GROUP – FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF TWO DISTINCTIVE DIMENSIONS

Tamara Radovanović, Slađana Zuković — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Peer groups represent a vital context in the upbringing of every child, which leads to numerous theoretical and empirical endeavours aimed at understanding its characteristics. The subject of this research is establishing the fundamental dimensions of peer status. The research includes 280 third-grade elementary school students and utilises two instruments, a socio-metric questionnaire and a questionnaire on socio-demographic characteristics. The aim is to establish the nature of the relationship between the dimensions of perceived popularity and sociometric acceptance, their categories, as well as differences regarding general sociodemographic characteristics among children and families. The research results unequivocally indicate the necessity for a distinction to be made between the two, as socio-metric acceptance relates to the level of a child’s social preference within a group, whereas perceived popularity pertains to the level of their social influence, regardless of their social preference level. Regarding individual categories, the highest degree of correlation is found between non-acceptance and unpopularity, while a notably significant result is a considerable number of students with neglected peer status. Differences arise from the socio-demographic characteristics, particularly regarding the gender of students and family structure. The results hold crucial importance for both pedagogical theory and practice, which, up to now, has interpreted and measured peer status in a one-dimensional manner. Additional research inquiries also arise regarding the exploration of those correlates that more closely determine a child’s status within a peer group.

PERCEPTION OF STUDENTS ON THE EFFICIENCY OF IMPLEMENTING THE MICROSOFT TEAMS PLATFORM IN DISTANCE LEARNING

Tatjana Marić, Dragana Malivuk Gak, Jovana Guskić — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were closed worldwide, and teaching occurred through distance learning. The conducted research aims to identify the perception of high-school students on the efficiency of implementing the Microsoft Teams platform in distance learning, with a focus on its functionality and practicality as a tool for interactive learning, cooperation, and feedback. An analysis of attitudes has been conducted regarding the socio-pedagogical features of students (sex, school, academic achievement, and class). The sample comprises 135 highschool students from the Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The results reveal that students achieve more than average scores according to several salient aspects, and are primarily associated with the functionality and practicality of the Microsoft Teams platform in distance learning. These results indicate that students consider the MT platform functional and practical in distance learning concerning information and resource sharing, group work, simplifying of interactive learning, effective discussions, and stimulation of interaction both between students and teachers and among students themselves. The research outcomes reveal the existence of statistically crucial differences between students’ stands in terms of school and the sex of a student. Additionally, from the stated responses, it could be concluded that the implementation of this platform demands extensive digital competence of teachers and students, as well as an informatic and communicational infrastructure of higher quality.

CREATING A SUPPORTIVE LEARNING ATMOSPHERE FROM A PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVE IN HIGH SCHOOLS

Tatjana Mihajlović, Margareta Skopljak — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The general aim of this research is to describe and comprehend the creation of a supportive learning atmosphere from the perspective of high school educators. For this purpose, a qualitative research has been conducted on a sample of 14 high school educators. In the final version of the code tree, 4 domains and 4 categories with their corresponding dimensions have been formed. The domain of ‘Methods for Creating a Supportive Learning Atmosphere’ encompasses the category of ‘Work and Collaboration of Educators with Teachers, Parents, and Students.’ According to the research data obtained, educators have highlighted the importance of teamwork between teachers and educators in creating a supportive learning environment, as well as the existence of a stimulating and friendly learning atmosphere, responsibility, self-discipline, and respect. The domain of ‘Teacher’s Competencies’ encompasses the category of ‘Pedagogical-Didactic Teacher’s Competencies (pedagogical tact, educational agency, interactive approach in class)’ and the category of ‘SocialEmotional and Personal Teacher Competencies (empathy, collaboration, selfcontrol, tolerance, recognition of emotions, and teamwork skills)’. Within the domain of ‘Student’s Competencies,’ educators attach the greatest importance to socialemotional competencies. The domain of ‘Enhancing Educator’s Competencies’ includes the category of ‘Participating in Diverse Seminars and Training Courses and Cooperation with Other Institutions.’ The responses obtained from educators underscore the significance of reflection and self-reflection in creating a supportive learning atmosphere, as well as cooperation with pertinent institutions. A proposal for further research is to encompass a broader population of educators working in diverse educational institutions. Likewise, the application of a quantitative research, which would aim to establish the effects of specific teamwork models, interactive and cooperative learning, reflection, and self-reflection on the creation of a supportive learning atmosphere would be of great significance.

THE ROLE OF EDUCATOR IN ESTABLISHING THE CONTINUITY IN PRE-SCHOOL MORAL EDUCATION AND EDUCATION

Tanja Glišić — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

The paper deals with an analysis of the continuity in pre-school moral education and education, with focus on the role of educator in establishing a consistent, stable, and supporting social and physical environment in a pre-school institution. The paper highlights the continuity understood as keeping an educator within a group of children for a longer period as a widely accepted practice leading to positive outcomes from the aspect of developing rapport between the educator and children, of organising educational work based on adequate understanding of development and learning of all children, and of encouraging team work between educators and cooperation between educators and parents, that is, the quality of educational process on the whole. The conducted qualitative and explorative research points out that, based on the experience of the interviewed educators, within the context of institutional pre-school moral education and education in the Republic of Srpska, there is discontinuity reflected in the practice of alternating educators designated to particular groups of children for different reasons, such as those regarding administration, personal decisions of educators made on the basis of how they feel at work (regarding efficiency, competence, work complexity, professional reputation, possibility of professional development, affirmation, etc.). In addidtion, the educators state that the continuity model, according to which all educators have an opportunity to work with children of all ages (from the nursery age to the pre-school age), is the best one, since it contributes to the equality of all educators, to the development of quality relationships with children, and to the feeling of professional efficiency. The findings imply that there is a need for a more detailed research and a need to advocate continuity at the level of educational policies and institutional practices.

ANALYSIS OF A LITERARY CHARACTER IN INDIVIDUALISED JUNIOR GRADE CLASSES

Mira Laketić — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Ever since the second half of the 20th century, scientific research has identified rather large individual differences in the psychophysical development of children and youth. The results of research provide grounds for a more pronounced need to fully individualise the teaching of all subjects and curriculum areas as much as possible (including the analysis of a literary text) by adapting to cognitive abilities, prior knowledge, cognitive needs, and personality traits of each student. The interpretation of literary texts based on literary theory and modern didacticmethodological concepts requires a systematic approach to the analysis of literary characters, since literary works are mostly remembered for the characters who were the bearers of the cognitive, aesthetic, emotional, and ideological core of their sign structure. The paper presents the results of an experimental research that show that, concerning a literary character analysis, statistically significantly better results are achieved by means of individualisation of junior grade classes of literature than by means of traditional class teaching. The obtained results can represent an extremely significant contribution to solving the current and important issue of efficient analysis of a literary character in literature class teaching, as well as theoretical basis and experimental verification of new models of individualised classes whose aim would be a more efficient analysis of a literary character.

SYNTACTIC CROSSLINGUISTIC INFLUENCE IN SUBORDINATE CLAUSES

Srđan Šućur — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper deals with syntactic crosslinguistic influence of the Serbian language on the word order in subordinate clauses, in the learning of English as a foreign language. The word order in Serbian is relatively free, whereas in English, given that it is an analytical language, the role of elements within a sentence depends on their order. In subortinate clauses in Serbian, which take the form of reported questions, there is an inverted word order, common in questions, while there is (usually) no inversion in corresponding clauses in English (subordinate Wh-interrogative clauses and subordinate Yes-no interrogative clauses). Through a contrastive analysis of subordinate clauses in the two languages, and error analysis, we have tried to determine whether errors student make in word order in subordinate clauses in English could be ascribed to the negative transfer from Serbian. The results have shown that syntactic crosslinguistic influence is the source of errors in all the examples we have singled out. In seventeen examples, syntactic crosslinguistic influence is recognised as the source of errors in Wh-interrogative clauses, while there are two examples where it is the source of errors in Yes-no interrogative clauses.

INTEGRATING ACTIVE LEARNING: ANALYSING TOOLS AND MATERIALS IN ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES TEXTBOOKS FOR ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

Polona Jančič Hegediš, Urška Doberšek, Monika Mithans — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This research analyses the tools and materials essential for facilitating operationalpractical learning through elementary environmental studies textbooks. The school curriculum for environmental studies is based on constructivist learning and teaching theory, the main idea of which is that it is necessary and important for students to be active in the classroom. Teachers are encouraged to use practical teaching methods. Our study highlights the importance of selecting textbooks and supplementary materials that encourage active student participation and provide opportunities for hands-on learning experiences. The aim of the study is to identify the tools and materials that students often need to complete tasks that emphasise practical learning methods when working with textbooks. Using a descriptive, non-experimental pedagogical research approach, textbooks from four publishers approved by the Slovenian Council of Experts since 2011 were examined. The results show that the most frequently required resources for operational-practical tasks in textbooks include pens, workbooks, and various everyday objects such as packaging waste and kitchen utensils. Digital devices such as computers, tablets and phones are rarely mentioned, indicating a possible gap in the integration of modern technologies into environmental studies.

STUDENTS’ ASSESSMENT OF STRUCTURAL DETERMINANTS OF SCHOOL CLIMATE REGARDING GENDER AND AGE

Milica Kandić — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

One of very important indicators of the quality of educational work as a whole is the construct of school climate. Theoretically, this construct is based on the perception of all members of the institution while simultaneously affecting their respective ways of behaviour and activities. This points to the variable that school climate is also characterised by latent connection to the numerous indicators of children’s behaviour, and, as a result, it becomes a common point of interest of numerous researchers and practitioners. Therefore, this research aims to examine the differences of students’ assessment of structural dimensions of school climate from the aspect of gender and age. The obtained results confirm that girls express more negative assessments regarding school (t = 2,58, p < 0,01) and that the ninth grade students display lower figures as regards assessment of education (t = 2,11, p < 0,05) and school relations (t = 2,58, p < 0,01). These results direct us toward the need for repeating the research on a larger pattern, since different perception of school relations may indicate that there is no common purpose, with the unity on the path towards a common goal is necessary for the quality realisation of educational process.