This is the English language contents page for E&SD Volume 12(3)
John Cowan, Susi Peacock. Editorial: Treating peer review comments on submissions for publication in educational journals as feedforward 6
Alesha Baker, Tutaleni I. Asino. Impact of Professional Development on Technology Innovation Implementation by Ugandan Teachers: A Mixed Methods Study 19
Martin F. Lynch, Nailya R. Salikhova. Teachers’ Beliefs about the Needs of Students: Teachers as Local Experts (A Qualitative Analysis) 33
Verónica Moreno Oliver. Adaptations on training design and performing to answer the current context: the importance of C*M*A Alignment. 44
Oksana V. Polyakova, Liliya A. Latypova, Dilyana D. Sungatullina. The system of grant support to novice teachers as an impetus for lifelong learning: the case of the Republic of Tatarstan 54
Alina A. Shakirova. Students’ academic mobility provision in Germany in the context of education internationalization 62
Retractions and notices 74
Notes for authors 157
Students in higher education are becoming more mobile, studying in more than one institution. The
aim of this article is to study the regulatory basis and analyze the mechanisms of academic mobility
in Germany as a global education and innovation centre. We used an axiological approach, which
allowed us to consider academic mobility as a socially and personally valuable concept, together with
a systematic approach, which helped us to study a complex of mechanisms of students’ academic
mobility provision. The article presents three main levels of the regulatory basis (federal, regional
and institutional) and two levels of the mobility realization mechanisms in Germany (federal and
institutional). At the federal level institutions are governed by basic law, the law on higher education,
the Federal Assistance Act and internationalization strategy. The second level concerns the activity
of Ministerial Conference on Education and Culture, the Rectors’ Conference and Science Council.
The institutional level is illustrated through the example of Munich University. The article will
be of interest to researchers studying the problems of higher education, foreign and comparative
pedagogics and integration processes in the sphere of higher education. The results may also be used
in teaching pedagogics, comparative pedagogics and foreign pedagogics. The recommendations
based on German experience of academic mobility development may be transferable to Russian
universities.
The age-related imbalance of teachers and the gap between the expectations of young teachers
and the objective reality they face in school make us think not only about the system of adapting
novice teachers to work in school, but also about the quality of teaching in teachers’ training
higher educational institutions. We have to address the increasing numbers of teachers leaving the
profession. There is a need to improve the quality of novice teachers’ training.
Lifelong learning is currently viewed as a way for personal self-development, which helps to maintain
specialisms, particularly those in high demand. This approach corresponds to the strategy of
economic and social development of society and causes a synergetic effect of interaction between the
state and the individual. The role of the state in the existing paradigm is decisive in the development
of adequate measures to support and stimulate the education sphere and influences the formation of
a positive image of the teacher’s profession.
The Republic of Tatarstan can be seen as an experimental platform where novice teachers are
supported by the state through the implementation of educational grant programs, or scholarships.
This study analyzed the grant support for the professional growth of novice teachers implemented
by state authorities in the Republic of Tatarstan in the period 2011-2016, to reveal the attitude of
teachers to such kind of support from the state. It explored how the system of grants stimulates the
desire of teachers to develop throughout their lives, i.e. to see whether they are ready for lifelong
learning. The successful experience of the grant system implementation in education will allow the
Republic of Tatarstan to become a region of advanced economic development, where human capital
and the formation of skills of the 21st century are given priority.
This paper presents a reflection on some key elements that make teaching strategies the keystone of
teaching adaptation to the current training context in higher education. The approach is based on
the consideration of changes in different levels and fields; namely, normative changes (including
law), educational centres’ normative, etc. Social changes also impact on the educational system,
strategies and goals. In this case, it is important to keep in mind how the social model has change in
the last decades in terms of communication, needs, learning processes, motivation, etc. The paper
also analyses the impact of market/job changes, how professional profiles have changed with respect
to the demanded competences, skills and employers’ expectations on junior workers, and how these
requirements are considered at different levels of higher education (for instance, in internships).
The focus of this paper is on how university teachers can design, perform and assess their teaching
with the aim of facilitating the professional integration of our young generation into a global society,
with its specific needs and its demands. Thus, teaching methodology during the teaching-learning
processes is a key element to deal with all these changes and new training requirements. The teaching
methodological approach can help both teachers and students to plan and develop a formative roadmap
including the competences for increasing as much as possible students’ occupability skills, which
will help them be more flexible and versatile. The second part of the paper (based on improvements
on training performance) includes the presentation of different models to keep the coherence
(alignment) between the design of training programmes, teaching methodology and assessment of
learning outputs, paying special attention to the Context Contingent Aligned Model- CCAM.
The link between students’ psychological needs and educational practice is often left unexamined
in teacher training. Also underexplored are teacher beliefs about the needs of students. The present
study asked practicing educators in the Republic of Tatarstan (N = 195), considered to be experts
in the local culture as well as experts in child development, to tell us what they considered to be
vitally important needs for the psychological well-being of students. Whether considered from the
perspective of frequency counts or from the perspective of categories identified by independent
raters, the theme of relationships emerged as centrally important in the teacher-generated responses.
Implications for practice and for research are discussed.
Note: Martin Lynch is also affiliated to the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia.
This mixed methods study examines the impact teacher professional development has on the levels
of concern of nine Ugandan teachers as they begin to use computers in their school environment.
These teachers completed the Stages of Concern Questionnaire before and immediately following
training on the basics of how to use a computer for educational purposes. Additionally, qualitative
data in the form of interviews and written responses were collected and analyzed to look at what
aspects of the training were considered to be most beneficial to the participants. The results of the
quantitative data suggest the teachers’ level of concern in three of the seven levels decreased after
training was provided. The results of the qualitative data show the teachers would like more time to
experiment with the new information they learned through the professional development and want
input into what they will be learning.
We offer a short introduction to those aspects of the publishing process which explain
how and why peer review occurs. We then outline suggestions from an author’s
point of view about how to work with, and benefit from, reviewers’ comments, with due
consideration of the editor’s viewpoint and role. In essence, this editorial sets out to help
prospective authors of educational papers to appreciate where the reviewers and editor
are coming from, and how their comments and suggestions originate and should be handled.
We close by looking specifically at how to cope in a practical way by treating the
comments as feedforward. This piece is written particularly for those scholars who are
new to, or unfamiliar with, submitting drafts for consideration in the peer review process.