Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal

Editorial: Discrimination of Children in Vulnerable Situations in Education: The Current State of Affairs and Strategies for Overcoming It

Sunčica Macura — 2024-12-20

The Approach of Schools to Ethnic Diversity: The Perspective of Majority and Minority Pupils

Karmen Mlinar — 2024-12-20

The growing multiculturalism in schools in most European countries, including Slovenia, poses new challenges for both teachers and pupils. Although the Slovenian school system relies on numerous strategies and guidelines for the inclusion of minority pupils, discrimination is still an everyday issue, especially when it comes to pupils from former Yugoslav countries and Roma. The aim of the present study was to investigate how pupils (N = 897) from minority groups (Albanians, Bosniaks, Hungarians, Roma, Serbs) perceive the approach of schools to ethnic diversity in comparison to the majority group (Slovenians). Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on a self-developed scale, resulting in a twofactor solution: schools’ efforts to embrace distributive equality (F1) and to foster diversity recognition (F2). For each factor, the perceptions of minorities were compared with those of the majority. The results show statistically significant differences in the perceptions of Bosniaks and Slovenians within F1, and of Hungarians and Serbs and Slovenians within F2. Furthermore, an analysis of the differences in the perception of F1 and F2 for each ethnic group show statistically significant differences for all ethnic groups except for Hungarians. The results suggest that the Slovenian school system needs to re-evaluate its practices by making more effort to foster the recognition of diversity. By recognising and valuing diversity alongside equality, schools can better address discriminatory practices and promote inclusion, which leads to the uniqueness of each identity being respected, valued and appreciated. Possible strategies to achieve this goal are discussed.

Young People with Complex Needs as a Particular Challenge for the Education System

Špela Razpotnik — 2024-12-20

One of the phenomena that predicts poorer educational outcomes for young people, as well as poorer outcomes in other areas, is certainly the phenomenon of complex needs, i.e., challenges that cut across different domains, often combining psychosocial wellbeing, physical and mental health, socioeconomic background, the burden of different challenges on the young persons’ family, a non-dominant ethnic background, learning difficulties and other aspects. A key challenge with complex needs is the inability of systems (educational and others) to respond appropriately to them, resulting in young people being sent from door to door and being excluded, as well as other adverse responses for both parties (young people and services, educational and others). In order to understand the emergence of complex needs or multiple vulnerabilities, we need to analyse them using an intersectional perspective. In this paper, data from a national Slovenian study entitled Support Networks for Young People in Psychosocial Distress are analysed using a subsample of 32 young people from the overall sample of 203 interviewees. The subsample represents young people whose interviews show the greatest clustering of distress in various contexts of life. The interviews with the selected participants are qualitatively analysed using content analysis based on a scheme of key social systems: school/education, family, peer networks, local community and other (formal) support services. All of these systems are analysed in terms of being supportive or threatening according to the perception of the young person. In all of the systems, more threatening than supportive aspects were reported by young people with complex needs. An analysis of both kinds of factors can help us to think about the changes needed in educational and other systems in order to make them more responsive to the needs of particularly vulnerable young people.

The Uncertainty of School in a Time of Uncertainty: Perspectives of Different Coalitions in the Aftermath of the School Mass Shooting in Serbia

Sanja Stojiljković — 2024-12-20

On 3 May 2023, the first mass school shooting occurred in Serbia, positioning children as a particularly vulnerable group in need of further support. Subsequently, the government needed to create policies to help restore a sense of security, stability and trust in the community. The main dilemma was regarding the questions: Should we continue schooling? If so, how? Employing narrative policy analysis, we examine the interplay between education policies, policymakers, parents and teachers to discern the varied interpretations of policies and their impact on students’ roles within the education system. The aim is to understand the different meanings policymakers and institutional stakeholders find in the same policy and the implications of the policy’s meaning for students in the education system. The analysed documents include 16 official educational documents and 53 newspapers and blog articles featuring stakeholders’ responses. The main findings indicate how different understandings of the same policy, as well as changes in the power dynamics between stakeholders, influenced subsequent decision-making of the government regarding school life. Most importantly, the study demonstrates the potential harmful effects of inconsistency in policies on student wellbeing and academic life. We conclude that the main question should not be whether schooling should stop or continue, but how to create a line of consistent and stable recommendations aligned with the created policy.

Challenging Divisions Through Teacher Education and History Teaching: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Larisa Kasumagić-Kafedžić — 2024-12-20

Educating teachers to teach language, culture and history in a post-conflict country such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is still deeply divided and fragmented, implies enormous social and moral responsibilities. These endeavours represent continuous challenges where the processes of healing the wounds in such vulnerable situations, so deep and irreparable, are discussed and contextualised within the long-term social recovery in which the education of children and young people takes on a primary transformative role. The present paper examines the education policies and divisions in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past twenty years, which reflect the segregation, politicisation and fragmentation in the post-war society. It also focuses on the role of educators in teaching for peace, antidiscrimination and intercultural understanding by addressing the issues of social exclusion, injustice, prejudice, privilege and violence across the curriculum. It problematises the construction and representation of historical and cultural knowledge, which is usually ethnocentric in orientation. Special emphasis is placed on the role of universities, i.e., university teachers and teacher educators, in promoting critical thinking and universal humanistic values among students in Bosnia and Herzegovina in general, and those studying at the English Department, University of Sarajevo, in particular. Drawing on the theories and resources of critical and intercultural pedagogy and peace education, the paper explores the possibilities of discussing stereotypes and prejudice with first-year BA students at the English Department within their Introduction to British Studies course, and with MA student teachers within their Interculturalism in Language Education course, which deals with peacebuilding and intercultural sensitivity in teaching English from a cultural perspective.

Dropout From the Primary Education System of Roma Children from Substandard Settlements in Serbia: The View of Pedagogical Assistants

Stefan Milutinović — 2024-12-20

A large number of Roma in the territory of the Republic of Serbia live in substandard settlements, where poor living conditions have a detrimental effect on the education of children. Pedagogical assistants maintain almost daily contact with children who live in such settlements. In addition to direct pedagogical work, their job also involves cooperating with the children’s families. The present research explores the perspectives of pedagogical assistants in Belgrade’s primary schools on the dropout rates of Roma children from substandard settlements, focusing on individual, school and family factors that contribute to school dropout. The sample consisted of 40 pedagogical assistants and was gender balanced. All of the research participants were interviewed individually. The main findings of the thematic analysis are that girls drop out of the primary education system more often than boys, and that the main contributing factors to dropout are related to the attitudes of parents, especially fathers, towards children’s education, parental participation in children’s school life, and the school’s response to the child’s needs, including the response of pedagogical assistants. The results are discussed within the context of potential solutions to reduce dropout rates among this group of primary school children.

The Role and Effect of Profanity in Children's Literature

Sabina Višček — 2024-12-20

The controversy about using inappropriate language in children's literature is constantly debated and repeatedly attracts the attention of the public. In Slovenia, this happened when the novel Na zeleno vejo by Andrej Predin was assigned as the text for the Cankar competition, a Slovenian language competition. Several reading mentors and other readers, specifically adults, were bothered by its use of profanity and vulgar phrases. However, no literature is immune from the use of profanity and cursing, not even children's literature. As seen in various picture books and short illustrated stories, there are instances of adults, children, and even animals using profanity. Through the analysis, synthesis, and comparative method of mostly modern literary Slovenian texts, suitable for the first six years of Slovenia's nine-year primary school, it was found that profanity and expletives are stylistically and semantically diverse, and their pragmatic nature must be considered. It was established that, in most cases, profanity and insults are justifiably placed in Slovenian literary works for children. Most often, they appear as a motif; less often, they are used as the central theme (or motif) in the text. A significant role is played by the reading mentor, who must alert the readers to the function of profanity in the text.

Rural Teacher Competencies: An International Comparative Study on the Territorial Dimension of Rural Schools

Juan Lorenzo Lacruz — 2024-12-20

This article presents the results of a descriptive study carried out within the framework of the FOPROMAR project, obtained after administering a questionnaire regarding competences related to the territorial dimension of rural schools among teachers working in rural schools in Spain (Aragon and Catalonia), France (Aquitaine) and Portugal (Alto Alentejo). The questionnaire included three parts (professional profile, competences on the territorial dimension of the school and knowledge about the territory), but only the results referring to the competences section are presented, showing the level of relevance and the degree of mastery that teachers express in relation to these competences. According to the results, the competences with the greatest mastery are those referring to the design and development of programmes, followed by professional competences and school-community relations. This order is also found in the assessment carried out, indicating that they are more valued than mastered. One of the conclusions is the need to reinforce competences not included in training plans, but considered more necessary and important for working in rural schools.

What is the Role of Science in Post-Socialist Education and Society? Insights from a Survey of Preschool Teachers from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia

Željka Ivković Hodžić — 2024-12-20

The paper presents the results of a survey conducted among preschool teachers in Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, the aim of which was to investigate the attitudes of the participants towards the role of science in education and society. Recent global trends in economic development have introduced new educational concepts in national curricula worldwide, one of which is scientific literacy. Preschool teachers have been encouraged to introduce scientific activities with children into their practice and adopt a new outlook on the role of the natural sciences in education. Social change within the post-socialist context implied that adopting the new outlook required a value shift for all members of the education community. We therefore wanted to explore whether this process was actually taking place, and whether it was impacting the perception of science amongst preschool teachers. We applied Inglehart's modernisation theory of materialist and postmaterialist values. The results showed that preschool teachers in all three countries were inclined to a postmaterialist view of science, but that it was possible to distinguish between two value-orientations, which we named "post-materialism" and the "materialist image of the child". Older teachers accepted the "materialist image of the child" more than younger teachers, confirming a certain intergenerational value change, which we have interpreted as a shift from a collectivist to an individualistic approach to education.

Laboratory Use Self-Efficacy of Turkish Pre-Service Science Teachers Trained in Different Teacher Education Programmes

Oktay Kızkapan — 2024-12-20

In Türkiye, the science teacher education programme changed in 2018. While physics, chemistry and biology courses were taught through theoretical and laboratory applications in the previous programme (Programme-I), the course hours of these courses were reduced and laboratory hours were abolished in the new programme (Programme-II). The present research, which adopts a causal-comparative design of quantitative research, aims to compare the laboratory self-efficacy of pre-service science teachers who attended these two science teacher education programmes. The research data was collected from 289 pre-service science teachers educated in Programme-I and II through the science laboratory use self-efficacy scale and then analysed using the independent samples t-test. The results show that the total scores of laboratory use self-efficacy of pre-service science teachers trained in Programme-I is significantly higher. The scores of the pre-service science teachers from Programme-I were also found to be significantly higher than those from Programme-II in terms of the sub-dimensions using the physical environment and equipment, working independently, and crisis management. On the other hand, there was no significant difference between the two programmes in the sub-dimension applying scientific process skills. These results and their implications are discussed in the light of current literature.

Sara Ahmed, Complaint!, Duke University Press, 2021; 359 pp.: ISBN: 978-1-4780-1771-4

Nina Perger — 2024-12-20