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Curricular and Extracurricular Learning among Students with Resilience Potential. Social Inequalities in Higher Education
37-42Views:148Does resilience potential in higher education mature into success or does it remain merely a promise of success due to rising social inequality? We studied curricular and extracurricular learning of students with outstanding academic achievement who entered higher education despite their disadvantage of social background (= students with resilience potential). A student survey database compiled in the research project “Higher Education for Social Cohesion – Cooperative Research and Development in a Cross-border Area” (HERD) (HURO/0901/253/2.2.2.) in 2012 was analyzed. Students of three Eastern Hungarian higher education institutions were surveyed (N = 1205). Students with resilience potential were identified in the intersection of two groups of variables: social background and input academic achievement. We have conducted a cluster analysis, which has resulted in the identification of students with resilience potential and other researched groups: drifters (low social background and low input academic achievement), beneficiaries (high social background and high academic achievement) and indifferent prodigals (high social background and low academic achievement). To sum up our results, the students with resilience potential only use higher education to fulfill curricular requirements, and hit a ceiling, compared to the beneficiaries, when it comes to the student year mining, meaningful extracurricular activities. Thus social inequalities crawl through these invisible channels into higher education and beyond.
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Social Mobility through Education: Lifelong Learning and the Roma-Minority in Selected Central and Eastern European Countries
58-69Views:227Education plays a central role in supporting or impeding social mobility (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1974; Fend, 1980, 2006). The disadvantaged social and economic situation of the biggest part of the Roma minority (not only) in Central and Eastern Europe is usually seen as the main reason for their low educational attainment and success. And vice versa: the poor educational results are considered the main reason for their social deprivations. Therefore, education and lifelong learning have become the main strategy for improving their situation, especially since the ´Europeanization of the Roma issue` (Ram, 2015) through the European Union. Today, Education and lifelong learning are now the centre of EU-policies for achieving political and economic goals, like economic growth and social cohesion (Óhidy, 2008, 2009). This article analyzes the problems faced by and opportunities presented to the Roma people in selected Central and Eastern European countries, problems and opportunities arisen in the years up until 2020, regarding social mobility through education. In its analysis, this paper focused on the similarities. The article is based on 5 country studies from 2019, written by experts from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia (see Óhidy & Forray, 2019). The study uses the evidence from the country studies from Markéta Levínska, Dana Bittnerová & David Doubek, 2019 (Czech Republic), Julianna Boros & Eszter Gergye, 2019 (Hungary), Agnieszka Swietek & Wiktor Osuch, 2019 (Poland), Aurora Adina Colomeischi, 2019 (Romania) and Rastislav Rosinsky, 2019 (Slovakia) to explore the similarities in challenges, to increase the participation and success of Roma people.
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Social Integration of the Former Transcarpathian Students of the Balassi Institute
82-89Views:194In the present study, we examine the social integration of former Transcarpathian students who participated in the university preparatory training of the Balassi Institute. Social integration plays a major role, both among mobile students settling in the destination country and in the sending country. Despite the fact that Hungarian students from Transcarpathia have the same linguistic and cultural background as their motherland, their integration into Hungarian society is often hampered: migration often involves giving up home connections, and the success of building new ones is unpredictable. Successful adaptation to the social environment of the destination country is not always an automatic mechanism. Our research was conducted using a questionnaire method. In the survey, we sought to answer the question of where the former Transcarpathian students participating in the preparatory training of the Balassi Institute settled after completing their studies and how they managed to integrate into the society of their place of residence. We compare the social integration of people returning to Transcarpathia, settling in Hungary and living abroad. In summary, we would like to present the results of the survey.
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Differences in Foreign Language Choice of Students from Different Social Backgrounds
78-86Views:233According to previous research (e.g. Bernstein, 1971; Gogolin, 2014; Hegedűs et al., 2019), family background plays a decisive role in an individual's mother tongue acquisition and in learning foreign languages. In another study, parents with a high social background (54.0%) chose German for their children, and parents with a low social background (56.9%) chose English in primary school (Sebestyén, 2021). Based on this, in the study I examine what difference can be detected in the foreign language choice of high school students from different social backgrounds. In the study, I analyze the student data (890 people) of my database entitled “German learning and teaching in Hajdú-Bihar and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties” prepared in the 2018/2019 school year, during which I perform cross-tabulation and cluster analysis with the help of SPSS program. The database contains data on 11th grade high school and vocational high school students who studied German and / or English in high school. As the results, there are differences between the learned foreign languages among secondary school students according to family background. Among the clusters related to high school choice, those belonging to the “Higher Education Oriented Local” cluster are most interested in foreign languages, most German-speaking (74.0%) and English (89,0%) students tend to be in this cluster. Overall, the majority of respondents learn English, while students from higher social backgrounds (also) learn German.
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Favouring Middle-and Upper-Class Students? The Structure and Process of Attending China’s Selective Universities
1-16Views:331Research suggests the increasing influence of family socioeconomic status, as measured by parents’ income and occupations, in access to Chinese higher education. Yet, the literature remains inconclusive about the extent to which the social background of rural and urban students is associated with academic and social performance at elite universities. We address this limitation by looking at the academic and social success of representative samples of first- and second-year students enrolled at four Chinese elite universities. Our aim is to understand the characteristics that students from both urban and rural environments bring with them and how those characteristics bear on academic and social performance in university. We found an overrepresentation of students from middle- and upper-class backgrounds in both urban and rural student groups. The fact that the process indicator of cultural capital has a direct association with social success suggests students from urban areas exhibit traits valued in the selective university environment.
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First Generation Students in the Hungarian Higher Educational System
53-65Views:251The first part of the study attempts to summarise the most frequently used and cited theories and empirical findings in the field of first generation students. The specialist literature has identified those factors (cultural background of family, parents’ special attitude toward learning, the features of the time-budget etc.) which can generate a disadvantageous situation within the higher education system for these students. However, the presence of this group is a significant indicator of the openness of a society and social mobility, and a more careful analysis of this population may reduce the drop-out rate, as well. During the empirical analysis two databases were used (Eurostudent VI, Hungarian Youth Research 2012 and 2016). Our results draw attention to the process of social closure and the decreasing chance of attending higher education for young people from lower social groups. This unfavourable shift can mirror the relatively closed features of Hungarian society, but at the same time it can make the distances among social groups more rigid.
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Labour Market Characteristics of Helping Professionals
66-75Views:243In Hungary, considerable efforts have been made in recent years to analyse the career paths of higher educational graduates, which have highlighted the need for field-specific and training-specific analysis. In this context, our research concentrates on a special training segment, focusing on the position of young professionals working in occupations helping the function of the society. Previous research focused only on the professionalization of the different occupations and the recruitment was examined from institutional and regional aspects. However, during the statistical analysis we examined the social recruitment base and the labour market situation of social pedagogy graduates in the Graduates 2012 (Frissdiplomások 2012) national database. The novelty of our work lies in the comparison of those who graduated in social work, pedagogy and andragogy in full-time programs. The most important result of our quantitative analysis is the statement that the differences in the composition of the group are strongly explained by the regional location of the institutions providing the training. In terms of horizontal and vertical congruence, the values of the humanities group are the most unfavourable.
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“Narrating” Bodies. Physical “Reflexive” Activities between Gender Images and Socio-pedagogical Processes - Research on the Yoga’s Representations
21-27Views:182This article intends to offer a reflection on how reflexive physical activities can support a socio-pedagogical approach to educating about gender diversity through media communication. We use the term “reflexive” to refer to all those activities aimed at enhancing the person and his relationships, self-realization, selfknowledge, and self-improvement: in other terms, a circuit of bodily experiences that determine bodily knowledge as a social construction (as described by Connel, 2005). These activities focus mainly on ethical purposes, rather than on performative ones. An example of such disciplines can be considered the practice of yoga which is a currently growing phenomenon both in Europe and in the United States. Yoga is practiced today in the USA by 35.2 million adults, by over 2.5 million people in Italy, and is garnering scientific interest in its contributions to balanced, healthy growth of children and adults. The World Health Organization, in its global action plan on physical activity 2018-2030: More Active People for a Healthier World, calls it a means to improve health. The diffusion of these disciplines responds to a personal and social search for meaning that weighs especially heavily on highly secularized Western culture. This diffusion also portrays a media phenomenon, whose images and messages validate and reinforce capitalist ethics. From this point of view, the “mediated” representation of sports bodies appears to apply to the world of consumers. The images of women practicing yoga, oriented toward alternative values rather than beauty and sexuality, are above all confirmed by the purchase of goods and services that are not related to outward personal appearance. Using the results of an analysis carried out in 2021 of two main international yoga magazines, we are going to discuss the role of yoga as a “reflexive” physical activity and its pedagogical potential oriented to the body as a “primary place of experience”, not just a consumer item, but also a tool for education about gender diversity.
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How Do University Students Get Relevant Information?
67-79Views:228The web and learning have evolved parallel as technological changes have influenced teaching and learning processes. In this study, I intend to extend this parallel with two other dimensions, namely, human 1.0-3.0 and influencer 1.0-3.0. The concepts are closely related to how the online world became popular abroad and what their impact is on learning and education. Thus, the question, “what is the significance of social media, and of its latest, most popular actors, of the “work” of influencers (which can be interpreted as fake news) in the lives of students in higher education?”, is also a very pertinent issue to touch on. Its involvement in our lives is ever growing and very often influences our media literacy. This gives us even more reason to look into social media’s impact.
However, our main goal is to find answers to the following questions:
• What opportunities does the digital toolkit give to students? What kind of digital literacy do students think they need to thrive in the job market?
• To what extent does the ICT literacy of pedagogical students differ from that of other students (lawyer, economics, doctor, technical)? What form of cognitive development is used for lifelong learning?
• To what extent are students’ IT literacy influenced by cultural, material, and family capital?
• How is information acquisition implemented in education? How conscious is the use of media among university students, and what is their critical attitude?
• To what extent does online media penetrate the medium of formal-informal and non-formal learning? How does the influencer activity of professional opinion leaders help students to think critically and thoughtfully?The sample of the survey is made up of students from the University of Debrecen. From the results we can see, that university students behave differently in the online space, on social media platforms and on messengers than they would elsewhere, thus this affects how they get information. The current situation, the pandemic, clearly demonstrates that advanced digital competence is essential for a confident presence in the online space and advanced critical thinking. Problems of digital inequality and division have surfaced, and the constructed reality mediated by the media is becoming increasingly distorted. During this period, the relationship between the media and media consumers has changed greatly, and the interaction has intensified.
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Students in Hungarian Higher Education and Their Perception of Dificulties During Their Studies
101-113Views:268Our research aims to examine the recruitment of students who experience difficulties with learning during their higher education studies and the motives behind their career choices, as well as the correlation of these factors with student persistence. The topicality of the problem stems from the diversity of students as a result of the expansion of higher education, as well as the increasing proportion of reading comprehension and other learning difficulties that can hinder individuals' progress in the labour market. Previous research has linked problems in learning in higher education to underdeveloped skills. However, we hypothesize that the occurrence of difficulties during students' studies and careers is determined by career choices, which are influenced by social background. While in higher education the social status differences of the family background already seem to disappear, the origin also affects the higher education career. To test the viability of this assumption, statistical methods were used to analyze the CHERD-Hungary database PERSIST -2019. In the case of difficulties and low persistence, we found a relationship with the career choice patterns of the students studied, especially with family factors influencing career choice and students' interest in their current education. One of our most important findings is that students who experience difficulties during learning can be divided into two groups. One group is characterized by low social status indicators, participating in low prestige and high risk fields of education, and there are specific cultural disadvantages in the background of their difficulties. The other group includes students who come from a higher-status family and concentrate on higher-risk but more prestigious courses, characterized by above-average selectivity and a higher risk of dropping out.
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Specific Needs of Families of Deaf Parents and Hearing Children
39-45Views:3575The aim of the paper is to describe specific aspects of deaf parenting of hearing children, based on an interpretation of research findings concerning the target group. Deaf parents, isolated from the verbally communicating majority by their sensory disability, face the challenge of raising and preparing hearing children for life. Our research based on semi-structured interviews with both deaf parents and hearing children demonstrates, however, that these parents do not primarily describe their parenthood as difficult or complicated. They are reconciled to their handicap and its consequences and use tools in the social environment to overcome the disadvantages of deaf parenting. Some “children” (all our respondents were adults reflecting on their childhood) describe, in contrast, their experience as a gradual reverse of natural family roles, with children eventually navigating their parents around the hearing world. These results indicate the need for further activities with these target groups in social work.
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Secondary School Biology Teachers’ Knowledge and Practices of Formative Assessment in Tanzania
10-19Views:98Using formative assessment (FA) practices in teaching and learning is essential to understanding students’ learning and making informed decisions about students’ academic performance. This study examined secondary school biology teachers’ knowledge and practices of FA in Tanzania. Using a mixed-methods research approach and convergent mixed-methods research design, the study employed simple random and purposive sampling techniques to select the study area and teachers, respectively. A questionnaire and observation checklist used to collect data from 55 teachers in secondary schools. The Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26.0 was used to compute descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that though teachers had theoretical knowledge of FA practices, they failed to implement them, particularly Socratic questioning, portfolios, and constructive feedback. This study concludes that teachers did not implement FA practices in the surveyed schools. Thus, there is a need of regular in-service training to develop teachers’ practical competences in FA practices to enhance classroom teaching and students’ learning in biology.
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The Differing Effects of Symbolic Interpretation and Inclusion of Transcendence on Life Goals and Mental Health in Hungarian Adults
61-75Views:342This study aimed to investigate the influence of religious attitudes, namely Inclusion of Trancendence and Symbolic Interpretation on life goals and different aspects of mental health.
Participants (N = 604) filled in an online questionnaire including the Post-Critical Belief Scale (Martos et al., 2009), the short version of Aspiration Index (Martos et al., 2006), and the Mental Health Test (MHT; see Oláh et al., 2018).
We investigated the relationship between religious attitudes, life goals, and the subscales of mental health using path analyses. The Symbolic Interpretation of religious content predicts support for intrinsically motivated life goals, while the Inclusion of Transcendence predicts the refusal of extrinsic aspirations. Positive effects were revealed between the Inclusion of Transcendence and global well-being, strategies aim at creating and enchancing happiness, and resilience. Symbolic Interpretation was positively related to creative, executing individual and social efficiency, while negatively influenced resilience.
The Inclusion of Transcendence and Symbolic Interpretation separately predict different aspects of life goals and mental health, and jointly support a higher quality of life. -
Students with Special Needs and Their Parents – Informal Participation of a Parent in the Education of an Adult Child
44-51Views:98The article presents the issue of participation of adult students’ parents in their academic life. There are many examples in the literature of how important is the support of students’ with disabilities parents at the universites. This determines academic success. Disability (its depth, type, cause, limitations resulting from it) is a determining factor for independence, and consequently for the parent’s participation in the student’s academic life. The parent’s attitude towards their own child’s disability is also related to the parent’s participation in the study. The main questions of presented research is: how do students, parents and university staff see the participation of parents in their adult chilredn higher education? This study was qualitative in nature and the individual in-depth interviews were conducted in the course of the study. Two female students with disabilities and their mothers, as well as a member of staff from the one of Polish university’s disability office, were invited to participate in the study. The results show that students, parents and university’s staff can present different opinions about parental suport. The fact is that parental participation cannot be permanent. Each time this type of support should be considered on an individual basis, with particular regard to the welfare of the the student. The results of the survey are relevant to the university’s process of planning support for students with disabilities so as to work with parents with the students’ consent.
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Higher Education Choice in China: Social Class, Gender, Parental Involvement and Educational Inequality
97-100Views:503Bibliography of the review book: Sheng, X. (2014). Higher Education Choice in China: Social Class, Gender, Parental Involvement and Educational Inequality. Routledge. 173 pp., ISBN: 978-0-415-84309-6. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315814254
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Third Culture Kids: Growing Among Worlds by David C. Pollock & Ruth E. Van Reken
161-163Views:548Bibliography of the reviewed book: Pollock, D., & Reken, R. (Revised Edition 2009). Third Culture Kids: Growing Among Worlds. Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
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Teachers’ Practices in Fostering Children’s Critical Thinking at Pre-Primary Level in Kongwa District
1-9Views:79Critical thinking skills is one of the most important 21st century skills and one of the most vital indicators of the quality of education children are receiving. In enhancing these important skills, it is very important to unfold teachers’ practices in fostering children’s critical thinking skills. Therefore, this study investigated teachers’ practices in fostering children’s critical thinking skills in pre-primary level in the Kongwa District of the Dodoma Region, Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative research approach with a phenomenography research design. The total sample of the study was 35 respondents, selected through the criterion purposive sampling technique. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and classroom observation. Data analyses were done through the thematic analysis framework of Braun and Clarke (2021). The findings revealed that teachers’ practices which include teachers’ preparations, the use of instructional strategies, social activities, teaching and learning materials, and creating classroom learning environment helps children to think critically. The study recommends the quality assurers should maintain monitoring and supervision of teachers’ classroom practices in promoting the critical thinking skills of children.
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Non-completed Studies: What Factors Affect Academic Success or Failure?
79-89Views:284The ratio of early school leavers is 12.5 in Hungary, which means 22nd place within the EU28. Early school leaving is an important issue in all European countries, because those who finished their studies after primary education are more likely unemployed and it causes problems for both them and the society. Higher educational drop-out also an important issue, although for other reasons than early school leaving. It is even more difficult to find precise data on this: we don’t know what proportion of the students is affected by this in Hungary. In this study I analyze the database of the Hungarian Youth Research 2016. This survey was conducted on a representative sample of 15-29 year olds, questioning 8,000 people, therefore, early school leavers and higher educational drop-outs should be found among the interviewees. The results show that early school leavers have significantly worse status both financial and cultural. Some of those who had finished only primary school think that they have successfully completed their studies. They answered that despite 18.3 percent of them have started a vocational training, which didn’t finish. Despite the expectations, not much is known about the higher educational drop-outs. 4.5 percent of the interviewees did not answer the question of whether they had completed their studies: they are probably the drop-outs, but we can just assume that. The results show that they have better cultural status than the others.
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Characteristics of Teaching Community Capital - Focus on Teachers in Reformed Public Education Institutions
48-55Views:269The issue of the effectiveness of teaching is constantly at the center of research. "Teachers count", presents the OECD report (2005), which confirms the research of the day that the work of the teacher contributes significantly to the performance of students. The question is how to capture the factors that influence school performance. The focus of the examination of the theoretical background is on the professional capital theory, with the emphasis on the examination of social / teaching capital in addition to the human capital and decision capital components. Our research is based on a secondary analysis of a questionnaire among teachers working in Calvinist institutions in 2017. The focus of our interest is on identifying the characteristics (frequency) and content (agreeing with norms) of staff capital and the need for teachers to develop collaborative networking opportunities for future professional development.
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Reading Assessment for Diagnosing Acquired Reading Disorders in Adults: Theoretical and Practical Aspects of its Development
70-83Views:154The study of reading processes is of particular importance in the assessment of cognitive-linguistic functions in both atypical development and acquired disorders of the adult developmental skills system. A comprehensive assessment of cognitive processes allows the selection of the appropriate therapeutic techniques, which in turn contributes to the best possible quality of life following rehabilitation. A common leading symptom of cognitive dysfunction in adult acquired neurological impairment is a deficit in reading. Our aim was to develop a reading assessment procedure based on national and international theoretical and empirical research to allow a complex assessment of reading processes. In order to investigate the reliability of the test and to develop an assessment system for it, a large-scale survey was organised. During the analyses, an evaluation system was developed which would allow us to objectively describe not only the fact of impairment but also its extent. Based on our results, the design of the Adult Acquired Reading Assessment and the comprehensive assessment system associated to it have resulted in a complex test procedure that is not only well applicable in clinical diagnostics but also in exploratory empirical work.
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Correlation Between Educational Performance, Family Background and Settlement Type in Covasna County, Romania
62-69Views:265In social sciences, a more sophisticated way of examining students' school performance, based on the combination of school and family factors, is becoming increasingly popular. Important indicators of schools operating in a given territorial and societal context can be obtained both at student and institutional levels if territorial characteristics are included. In our research we examine the correlation between family background and performance, and investigate the settlement type where the proportion of students from low SES schools is the highest. At the same time we are also curious whether there is a greater chance of resilience in smaller communities. Our results show that the majority of students from low SES schools study in small settlements, but resilience is clearly not more typical in smaller communities.
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At the Crossroad of Cultures: Education and Identity of Hungarian Deaf Learners in Romania
68-78Views:206Deaf people living in ethnic-national minority situation form a social group whose members have multiple cultural backgrounds. Starting from interpretations which are viewing the deaf child as a member of a distinct cultural and linguistic minority, I studied the education of Hungarian deaf pupils in Romania graduating from the Hungarian Special School in Cluj/Kolozsvár/Klausenburg, with particular regard to the relationship between formal and informal language use in school, communication culture and identity. Methodologically the research is based on life path interviews with Hungarian Deaf Special School graduates, family case studies of two or three generation deaf families and structured interviews with experienced educators. The research results reveal that the educational practice of the concerned educational institution strengthens the pupils' identity awareness and sense of belonging to the Hungarian nation in two distinct, still interconnected ways: on the one hand, through oral language acquisition, nursing the oral Hungarian language skills, and on the other hand through cultivating the Hungarian Sign Language embedded in the deaf culture within the learner community. Nowadays, the conditions and modalities of exercising this role are changing in several respects. The positive educational effects achieved so far can be reinforced and strengthened by educational policies based on the recognition and cultivation of cultural diversity, in all its complex and multifaceted manifestations, including the peculiar needs of ethnic minority deaf learners.
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Migrating From Face-To-Face to Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Experiences of Psychology Students at a Private Higher Education Institution in Gauteng
11-21Views:484Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an accelerated migration from face-to-face to online learning. This article aims to explore and describe how psychology students experienced the migration from face-to-face to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. It entailed a qualitative research design with an exploratory and descriptive approach. The participants were 28 purposively sampled psychology students from a Private Higher Education Institution in Gauteng. An online survey method was employed to gather the needed information which was then subjected to a thematic analysis. It emerged that the challenges experienced by students were internet connectivity issues, insufficient computer literacy, reduced class time, anxiety, physical impact, and communication issues. Moreover, some benefits related to flexibility, the convenience of online studies and safety from infection with COVID-19 were identified. It was also noted that having certain attributes such as independence, time management skills, having support and being tech savvy improved the online learning process. Some opportunities for Higher Education Institutions to improve the experiences of students included creativity in module delivery as well as providing guidelines on how to use these online platforms.
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Transformation of Slovakian Youth Religiosity
27-37Views:192Some sociologists of religion think that countries in Central and Eastern Europe are expected quick and rapid secularization. Therefore it is interesting to continuously search out, how the religiosity of Slovakian youth is transformed against the background of continual social and culture changes. The main goal of the presented paper, based especially on its own empirical researches of 2006 and 2016, is a description related to the transformation of youth’s religiosity in Slovakia (an example of Spiš Diocese). The presented work is situated in the area of religion sociology and shows also the typology transformation of the sought out youth’s religiosity that is very useful. Empirical analyses are based on, linked to or compared with main models of changes in religiosity in the contemporary world.
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Linguistic Socialization and Identity in Ethnic Hungarian Deaf Families in Romania
46-54Views:204Ethnic minority Deaf people form a social group whose members often share complex and multiple cultural backgrounds. This research explores linguistic socialization and identity development in ethnic Hungarian Deaf families living in a multi-cultural region of Romania, examining the identity related aspects of the family formation and the transmission of identity to children in ethnically homogenous (Hungarian) or heterogeneous (Hungarian-Romanian) families founded by Deaf spouses. Methodologically the research is based on survey among members of the ethnic Hungarian Deaf community in Bihor County and their ethnic Romanian spouses, career interviews with Hungarian Deaf Special School graduates and family case studies of two or three generation Deaf families. The research results reveal that the ethnic homogeneity of Deaf family partners is a key factor in handing down to children the Hungarian ethnic-national identity and the Hungarian sign language / oral language knowledge. The research findings also highlight the fact that within family interactions involving three generations where Deaf and hearing, ethnic minority and ethnic majority family members are present, specific, multifaceted communication models may prevail, and pathways and modes of identity transmission with particular characteristics may occur.