The aim of this research was to demonstrate the effects of cerebral gymnastics as a strategy in the
creativity development from the perspective of the Pro.Seso Creativo 3.0 method in the university
students. The research is experimental with quasi-experimental design. The sample is represented
by 120 students. The research results showed that cerebral gymnastics as the strategy has a positive
influence on the creativity development from the perspective of the Pro.Seso Creativo 3.0 method
in the students of the Communication Career of the UCAL-Universidad de Ciencias y Artes de
América Latina in the academic period II-2020. The research hypothesis was confirmed, and the
null hypothesis was rejected, since when applying the t-Student test in the Study Group, the P-value
was 0.000, which is less than the established significance level (α = 0.05). Indeed, brain gymnastics
becomes a very relevant aspect since it allows developing and enhancing the creative process of
people, and it is through creativity that ideas or conceptions can be created, to produce alternative
solutions to the difficulties that arise.
Journal Articles
The Principles of the Implementation of Gaming Technologies in a Blended Learning Environment in a Technical University
We formulated seven general principles for authors for the implementation of educational gaming
technologies in an engineering university based on descriptions in the literature. The principles
are ordered by their “importance” for the quality of the game model and systemic influence on
the student. These principles provide conditions for mastering educational material by resolving
problematic game situations. Conclusions are made about the effectiveness of the methodology
based on the principles. It was found that the role of the emotional component in the educational
process increases, the students’ independent work is stimulated, the quality of teaching increases,
and the teacher is freed from routine control operations.
Developing Reading Comprehension in L2 with respect to Text Genre and Form
Self-development in terms of reading comprehension in a second foreign language is often practiced
to a small extent in foreign language education. In the L2 (German language) educational process, the
teacher focuses mainly on teaching basic grammatical phenomena and vocabulary. The development
of reading comprehension in L2, as to text genres and forms, provides a new dimension in terms of
self-development, as it mainly supports metacognitive processes and thus self-efficacy and success
in a foreign language text understanding.
The goal of the presented research was to find out connections between students success in reading
comprehension with regard to different categories of text genres (adventure books, historical novels,
fairy tales, poems, legends, and science fiction, and others) and text forms (either printed – magazines,
newspapers, books, textbooks or electronic – e-books, websites, e-textbooks, and others). We were
interested in whether a particular (concrete) genre or form of text does (or does not) contribute to
the success in L2 reading comprehension or whether reading of any genre or form of text does (or
does not) contribute to the success in L2 reading comprehension. The research was carried out in
secondary vocational and grammar schools in Slovakia on a sample of 126 respondents. Statistically
significant correlations were found between specific (concrete) genres and forms of texts and success
in reading comprehension. It turns out that short stories, legends and books about nature predict
better understanding of texts in the German language, and reading of printed books and magazines
promotes success in L2 reading comprehension.
Impact of Two Coronavirus Waves on Higher Education: Comparative Study
The first wave of the coronavirus pandemic caused the largest disruption of education systems
in the history of mankind. All schools and education institutions were forced to shift their
education processes from face-to-face to online forms. Some of them had better conditions
and more experienced staff for this transition, some of them had to start to create appropriate
conditions both for teachers and students. Subsequently, numerous studies and analyses on the
impact of the coronavirus pandemic on education have been done worldwide. The paper deals
with a specific research question of how schools and education institutions used their experiences
from the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic to ensure sustainable quality of education under the
pandemic conditions. In this comparative study the authors present the findings resulted from
two questionnaire surveys. The study has been processed with a focus on three areas: the quality of
teaching, technical equipment used by students and students’ opinions and experiences with online
forms of education, and influence of the home schooling (microclimate of the home environment)
on student’s education. In the paper the authors present and discuss in more detail the first area,
i.e. they analyse how experiences from the first wave of the pandemic were used to eliminate the
negative impact on education and to provide adequate quality of education.
Modeling the Dynamics of Knowledge Management in Educational Institutes: A System Dynamics Approach
Research problem. Recently, being known as the most vital asset to as well as the capital of
organizations, the issue of organizational knowledge creation has attracted a great deal of attention
in several settings encompassing educational centers and institutions. Not only may a highquality
capital account for the success of a given organization, publishing its success stories, and
consequently both clients’ and employees’ satisfaction, it can result in the escalation of scientific,
human, and financial resources. Knowledge management has been defined as the process of
discovering, acquiring, developing, maintaining, evaluating, and applying the right knowledge at
the right time by the right person in an organization through the creation of a link between human
resources, information technology, and communication while creating a suitable structure for
achieving organizational goals (Afrazeh, 2005). Similarly, Hoffman, Hoelscher, and Sheriff (2005)
described it as the process of creating and sharing knowledge in such a way that the results can
be used effectively in the organization. In educational institutions also, knowledge management is
a systematic and organized process of creating and disseminating information, selecting, refining,
and disseminating explicit as well as implicit knowledge, in order to create a unique value which
can be used to strengthen the learning and teaching environment (Gonzalez & Martins, 2017).
Having probed into the relevant literature, we realize that in many studies (Jashpara, 2004; Messa
& Testa, 2004; Newman & Conrad, 2000) knowledge management includes four general processes:
knowledge creation, knowledge retention, knowledge sharing, and knowledge application.
Purpose of the study: In this research, using the system dynamics method, a model is proposed
to identify the effective factors in the knowledge management cycle in an educational center. Then,
the effectiveness of the identified factors over time is simulated and the changes in the behavior of
the institute, which are the result of the changes in the behavior of the staff as well as capabilities
and tendencies, are observable. This study attempts to identify the most influential factors in the
knowledge management process using the presented dynamic model and by examining the factors.
The levers suggest appropriate operations to focus on these factors. Research method: This is applied
research that is conducted using the system dynamics approach introduced by Sterman (2000). This
approach is used to represent the status quo of a system and its changes in the future. Identifying
and problematizing the main issue through studying related works and interviewing twenty-eight
experts in the field using a semi-structured researcher-made survey; creating dynamic hypotheses
and drawing the cause-effect diagrams and the flow diagram; using Vensim software to simulate the
mod, and finally, sensitivity analysis was the stages followed respectively. The results of this study
showed that by implementing the knowledge management process in the institute, the performance
of the teaching personnel increased in an s-shaped manner; the experience improved exponentially,
and the family-student contentment improved which would consequently result in organization
growth. Finally, the researchers presented and analyzed two proposed policies.
EMI for Universities: How to Benefit from Embodying It into Educational Process
The article considers the role of the English language in global tertiary education (ESP/EAP, Adjunct
ESP, EMI and ICLHE) and use a critical approach to analyze the current state of EMI integration into
the educational process and tensions that arise due to conceptual gap in its adaptation to existing
education policy. Applying a critical theory framework, the authors study the differences between
EMI and internationalization that both instructors and university management adopt to curriculum
design and pedagogy development. The research examines the ways internationalization and the
EMI strategy affect curriculum design in universities; the ways university management incorporates
global trends into curriculum design; the impediments that discourage the implementation of
these programs identified by both educators and students. The researchers examine the EMI
implementation under three dimensions: epistemology, teaching praxis, and ontological elements
of students’ development and use document analysis related to the administration, curriculum, and
course syllabi of EMI programs, followed by interviews with actors of the international classroom
to outline the most challenging issues tertiary teachers, students, and university management face
in EMI programs implementation. Moreover, the article examines evolving EMI perspectives as
a means to boost internationalization and to improve teaching quality via integrating the best
practices into the local context, including the expansion of teaching competence in both English
language and pedagogy, introduction of language prerequisites for applicants, a constant adaptation
of the curriculum to meet competence requirements.
Development of Inclusive Culture among Teachers in Educational and Sanatorium Type of Institutions
The relevance of the research on this problem is driven by the fact that currently, the Republic of
Belarus is actively implementing the ideas of inclusive education. The inclusive approach gives every
child, including those with special needs, the right to be included in the general education system at
all levels: to research together with their agemates in kindergartens and schools, to attend clubs and
studios, to rest in recreation camps. One of the key problems in the organization of inclusive health
improvement is that teachers are not prepared to work with children with special needs. Therefore,
the preliminary work on the development of an inclusive culture among teachers is the prerequisite
for the successful implementation of inclusive practices in summer recreation camps. The aim of the
paper is to determine the possibilities of using the diagnostic method “Inclusive culture of a teacher
of an educational and sanatorium type of institutions” to research the features of the development
of inclusive culture among teachers of educational and sanatorium type of institutions. The
ascertaining experiment was the leading method in the research of this problem. The experimental
base of the research was represented by the teachers of the National Children’s Educational and
Health–Improving Center “ZUBRЕNOK” distributed into two groups: the first — the experimental
group included 46 teachers who in 2018-2019 took part in a series of training seminars on the
development of inclusive culture, conducted by the staff of the Institute of Inclusive Education of the
Belarusian State Pedagogical University. The control group consisted of 24 teachers who did not take
part in the training. The research was conducted in 2019-2020. The paper presents the analysis of the
obtained results of the research on the peculiarities of the development of inclusive culture among
teachers of educational and sanatorium type of institutions. The materials of the paper can be used
when organizing monitoring research at different stages of implementation of inclusive practices in
educational and sanatorium type of institutions when developing technology for the development of
inclusive culture among teachers and other subjects of inclusive education.
Pre-Service Social Educators’ Professional Competences: An Inclusive Education Context
The quality of education is increasingly a priority area for state development. In the context
of globalisation, the mission of the education system has become to create conditions for the
achievement of greater stability in society, by ensuring equal rights and opportunities for all
citizens, including individuals with disabilities. Amid efforts towards fully inclusive education, the
professional competences of specialists addressing the needs of those with learning disabilities are
crucial. High-quality training is required for qualified educator –particularly for social educators
– in this field. It aimed the research at identifying the necessary professional competences and
personal qualities of pre-service social educators to work in an inclusive education, as well as to
identify the difficulties university lecturers face in the training of social educators. A qualitative
research design was applied in the study. Fifty-one respondents-university lecturers participated
in it. Its results showed that, alongside central competences, emotional-volitional qualities have
played a significant role in the social educators’ engagement in inclusive education. The research
enabled to identify that the professional difficulties have the highest indicator among the difficulties
that lecturers face when training pre-service social educators. It can be assumed that these findings
will advance improvements in the development of social educators’ professional competences and
solutions to obstacles during their university-level studies.
Collaborative Learning Environment in the Professional Training of Future Teachers
The importance of this study is linked to the topic of increasing the quality of future teacher
professional training by creating a collaborative learning environment.
The purpose of this research is to conduct a theoretical analysis of the effectiveness of creating a
collaborative learning environment in university and demonstrate its impact on the successful
professional activity of future teachers. The paper presents the data of the experimental research in
the form of Action Research, conducted among 1st and 2nd year students of pedagogical specialties
in the natural sciences (chemistry, biology, physics, computer science).
The core requirements of the personality-oriented, activity-based, systemic, environmental,
axiological and competence-based approaches form the methodological foundation for building
a collaborative learning environment. Students who are immersed in a collaborative learning
environment have the opportunity to reflect on the level of formation of their own professional skills,
the success of achieving educational goals, and the processes of self-realization, self-development,
and self-actualization on a regular basis.
This study examines the impact of collaborative learning on students’ communication skills,
knowledge quality, assessment of educational achievements, and study time savings.
The research findings are linked to the use of Action Research in the educational process, involving
students in the process of professional self-improvement. The novelty of the research is characterized
by the identification of developmental effect of a collaborative learning environment based on the
concept of a zone of actual student professional growth.
The practical significance of the research is the development of positive experience in structuring the
educational process, with the prospect of applying this experience in future professional activities,
such as working with students.
Emotional Intelligence as a Predictor of Professional Activity of Future Naval Officers
There is a need to determine a wider range of factors to anticipate officer behavior in situations of
complex interpersonal interaction together with guidelines for self-knowledge and self-development
of professional competencies. This study examines the emotional intelligence of future naval officers
during probation on ships as a predictor of their success in military service. The article shows that
it is possible to predict the results of internships of cadets of a military university on ships through
the partial elements and the overall characteristic of their emotional intelligence. One hundred
cadets were examined using the N. Hall methodology “Diagnosis of emotional intelligence (Fetiskin,
Kozlova and Manuylova variant), the “Progressive Matrices” test by J. Raven, and expert evaluations
of the results of professional internships. The study evaluated the reliability of the distribution of
indicators of the components of emotional intelligence “Emotional awareness”, “Managing your
emotions”, “Self-motivation”, “Empathy” and “Recognizing the emotions of other people” and
correlation analysis of the relationship of the integral level of emotional and non-verbal intelligence
with the success of the training of future officers on ships. It concludes that psychological predictors
of emotional intelligence and its partial elements predicts the results of professional activity due to
self-regulation, self-control, and management of the emotional states of naval officers with fairly
high reliability. The predictors identified contribute to the development of targeted corrective and
preventive programs for the development of emotional intelligence among naval university cadets.
Instructional Leadership Models in Modern Schools
The tool developed by Hallinger (PIMRS) has been widely used to identify the level of involvement
of a school principal and his/her management team in instructional leadership. PIMRS unfolds the
domains which principals delegate to their team, domains that are of a priority for the leadership
team when drawing up the school’s instructional leadership profile. However, no studies have been
conducted aimed at identifying instructional leadership models based on the profiles obtained by
applying PIMRS. Cluster analysis (Ward’s method) was carried out to identify the instructional
leadership patterns of 120 schools in one of the megacities of Russia. Four instructional leadership
models were identified, and recommendations were provided.
Psychological Well-Being of Teachers
Psychological well-being is widely recognized an essential component of human life. Numerous
studies have looked at the significance of teachers’ well-being for effective professional activity and
self-efficacy. However, little is known about how a teacher’s personal and professional characteristics
influence their psychological well-being.
The purpose of this study was to explore possible determinants of teachers’ psychological wellbeing,
such as professional activity motivation, personal orientation, thinking style, terminological
competence, and reflection. A total of 224 secondary school teachers from the Arkhangelsk area
took part in the study. Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-being (SPWB) were used to assess the level
of well-being.
The teachers are found to have a moderate level of psychological well-being. It has shown that
professional activity motivation has the most important role. Inner motives such as cognitive
motives, activity motives, and self-realization goals promote psychological well-being, while external
incentives such as communication and confession decrease it. The differences in professional and
personal characteristics between teachers with various levels of psychological well-being were
identified. Teachers with low levels of psychological well-being reported a greater importance for
social approval. However, for those with the highest psychological well-being scores, it is more
important to pursue professional development.
Vocational Education with Social Distancing: Data from Online Platforms
This is a study of how vocational education was transformed to deal with social distancing due to
coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation. Data was taken from online delivery platforms such
as Coursera, Timepad, and Edumarket. The demand for educational courses in Russia increased by
2.5 times in the first half of 2020 due to the spread of COVID-19. Despite this only 19% of learners
are prepared to continue their learning after the quarantine measures are lifted. In the first half of
2020 programs on these platforms were focused on soft skills. There was an increase in programs for
stress resistance, leadership, productivity, business, hobbies and art, parent-child relationships, and
foreign language learning. The proportion of programs reliant on social communications decreased
significantly. However, there was an increase courses in IT (blog / website development, machine
learning), and medicine (ensuring safety in case of coronavirus infection, prevention of COVID-19,
etc.). The study is of interest to the heads of regional educational departments, specialists of the
continuing education in universities, professional educational organizations, non-governmental
organizations of continuing education, labor exchange and those who are involved in continuing
education and self-learning.
Classification of Sciences and Systematization of Knowledge for the General and Professional Integrative Education Content Design
The article highlights the need for a new classification of scientific knowledge in order to reform
the educational doctrine in modern Russian society. Several reasons explain this position. First,
the constantly increasing volume of information leads to the “lag effect” of educational programs
in comparison to scientific achievements; the effect of “redundancy” of knowledge cannot be
envisioned and learned within the school year. Second, the post-non-classical stage of science is
marked by the interdisciplinary nature of any knowledge and a focus on its object, which limits its
representation within the framework of classical scientific differentiation and results in the loss of
a holistic view of the world, which is unproductive in the context modern man’s cognitive styles.
Third, modern education has evolved to a practice-oriented system that helps students adapt to
world situations, but it has not altered considerably. The article examines prior classifications of
sciences and puts forward a new conceptual model of systematization of knowledge that takes into
account society’s educational demands.
The anthropic principle underpins the proposed model of classification of sciences and knowledge
systematization. This model can be used to create new educational programs based on the logic of
integrative education, define constant academic disciplines for general and professional education,
the order in which they should be studied, and the possibility of constant modernization of
knowledge without expanding the number of academic disciplines. The provided methodology
of scientific classification and knowledge systematization is thought to be useful in addressing the
pressing issues in current education.
Text as a Goal and Outcome in the Teaching of Native Languages at the Primary General Education Stage (Comparative Analysis of Russia and Bulgaria)
The capacity to work with text is becoming increasingly vital in the modern world. Text skills are
now seen as ubiquitous, influential, and intellectual. This article analyzes the educational standards
and curricula used in Bulgarian and Russian schools at the elementary general education level as
they relate to the formation of textual skills for students in primary school. Additionally, the paper
presents the results of a study that looked at the development of text skills among younger students
from Bulgaria and Russia. The authors employed a variety of methods, including theoretical
analysis, experiment design, and qualitative and quantitative analysis of the experiment outcomes.
One-hundred and two Bulgarian and Russian primary school children participated in the study.
The research findings may be of interest to scientists and practitioners in the field of teaching native
languages and literature.
Characteristics of Social Sector Managers with Different Attitudes towards the Pandemic and Its Consequences
This article explores the attitude of managers towards the COVID-19 pandemic, providing an
overview of their opinions on its consequences and potential impact on the country’s future socioeconomic
development. The study is important since it provides insight into how management styles
may be effective in times of uncertainty and crisis. The research involved 661 managers, including
383 from the social sphere. The study utilized the management potential assessment questionnaire
(PMO, version 5.0, Sinyagin, 2018), as well as a specially developed questionnaire. The participants
were differentiated on two grounds: their attitude towards the pandemic either as a mobilizing
challenge or as a serious not always surmountable difficulty in actual management. The findings
reflect that the managers’ attitudes about the prospects for the country’s development after the end
of the pandemic, commonly referred to as “optimism-pessimism”, have profound effect on their
management strategies and performance indicators. It is revealed that readiness for learning and
social mobility are key characteristics associated with optimistic future expectations. Internality,
personality strength, a clear strategic life idea, and managerial experience are most associated with
overcoming current circumstances. The paper concludes that developing and enhancing these
qualities is a significant task that managers have in today’s uncertain world.
Designing New Educational Programs in Special Education
The growing number of children with disabilities studying in various institutional settings has made
it necessary to analyze educational programs for special needs teachers in terms of their relevance.
In the field of special psychology and correctional pedagogy, traditional specializations (speechlanguage
therapy, oligophrenopedagogy, surdopedagogy) cannot adequately meet society’s needs
for psychological and pedagogical support for all types of students with mental and physical health
disorders. The authors identified general trends in the training of special education teachers while
studying educational programs for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in special education offered by
higher education institutions under the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation. Persons
with disabilities, whose education and psycho-pedagogical assistance are not given by professional
workers, were identified. The factors that influence the development of new educational programs,
as well as their validity and importance for providing correctional and pedagogical aid to students
with special educational needs, are investigated.
A New Approach to Pedagogical Local History in the Professional Development of the Teacher of the Future: From Comprehension to Translation
The importance of the problem under study stems from the rising demands of the state and modern
society for a teacher’s professional growth. The objective of this paper is to establish a new format of
pedagogical local history as a strategic resource for professional development of the teacher of the
future. The notion of pedagogical local history has been explained from the standpoint of a branch of
pedagogical science that investigates the past and current situation of education in the country and its
areas. Through the generalization of sources, clarification and interpretation of formulations, a new
approach was proposed to understanding pedagogy as it relates to the professional readiness of the
future teacher to independently manage his or her career, to determine the trajectory of profession,
and to set desirable goals to promote the cultural heritage through the interaction of times, the
development of a new one, and the preservation of the past. By incorporating the main principles
of digitalization into pedagogical practices, regional pedagogical traditions were articulated in the
context of the cultural heritage of generations of the Orenburg region. Regional factors have been
found as having a novel quality to the seemingly well-known processes of professional evolution
of the future teacher due to their “territorial” nature. The influence of pedagogical local history on
the construction of a distinctive individual-creative style of a new evolution teacher, as well as the
enrichment of historical and pedagogical heritage, was assessed analytically. The authors conclude
that evaluating the strategic resources of pedagogical local history, which could play a certain
reinforcing role in preparing a teacher for innovative pedagogical activities, based on the traditions
and historical experience of studying the region and understanding the modern problems of its
development, is of current importance. The Google Forms tool was used to conduct an online survey
of 235 instructors.
E&SD 17(1) March 2022
Contents
Nick Rushby
Editorial: Recent references 6
Elina B. Khobotova, Maryna I. Ihnatenko, Inna V. Hraivoronska, Iuliia S. Kaliuzhna
A Competency-based Approach to Environmental Education: Learning About “Radioecology” 10
Galina I. Simonova, Anastasia O. Luchinina
Study of Educational Needs of Applicants with Disabilities 28
Musa Nushi, Amirpooya Dayani
Instagram-Assisted Learning of Collocations and Colligations: The Case of EFL Learners 44
Shahyad Mohammadnia Afruzi, Mehdi Vaez-Dalili, Bahram Hadian
Investigating the Effects of Written Corrective Feedback and Revision on EFL Learners’ Production of Grammatical Structures 62
Branka Radulović, Maja Stojanović, Milanka Džinović, Oliver Zajkov
Students’ Opinion of Gifted Education and Teaching Profession 80
Michela Freddano, Valeria Pandolfini
Teacher Training on Data Literacy for School Evaluation and Improvement: A Teacher Professional Development Experience in Italy 89
Nežka Sajinčič, Anna Sandak, Andreja Istenič
How do Slovenian Educators feel about Gamification? Interested to Know More 99
Alexey M. Polyakov
The Use of Symbols by Elementary Schoolchildren and Adolescents with Learning Disabilities as Tools of Awareness of Subjective Reality 110
Oksana O. Gorshkova
Implementation of Modular Engineering Programs in Collaboration with Employers 120
Nadezhda V. Sivrikova, Elena V. Moiseeva, Nadezhda A. Sokolova,
Tatyana G. Ptashko, Elena G. Chernikova, Natalya P. Artemeva
Analysis of Nominal Pedagogical Experimental Data Using the Example of the Development of Conflict Competence 136
Alexander A. Litvinyuk, Svetlana A. Ledneva, Ekaterina V. Kuzub
Target Characteristics of Creative Young Professionals in the Field of Science and Higher Education 153
Elena V. Borzova, Maria A. Shemanaeva
Multifunctionality as a Feature of Modern Education: Evidence from University Language Education 164
Anna V. Bakina, Snezhana M. Sityaeva, Olga A. Orlova, Valeria I. Ambrosova, Elena N. Katkova, Alexander A. Shumeyko, Andrey A. Bazilevsky
Students’ Subjective Well-Being as a Criterion for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Children’s Centers: Evidence from All-Russian Children’s Center “Ocean” 179
Anastasia Pesha
The Development of Digital Competencies and Digital Literacy in the 21st Century: A Survey of Studies 201
Mariya A. Stupnitskaya, Svetlana I. Alekseeva, Anna N. Nalobina
A Toolkit to Assess the Level of Universal Competencies (Soft Skills) of Pedagogical University Students 221
Veronika B. Veretennikova, Olga F. Shikhova, Yuri A. Shikhov, Agzam A. Valeev
Diagnostics of Student Teachers’ Pedagogical Thinking Based on a Competence Approach 233
Editorial: Recent references
In addition to editing Education & Self Development I am on the reviewer panel for
other journals in the field. I never begrudge the work involved in reviewing: it gives me
insights into what other researchers are thinking, long before their work reaches the stage
of being published. It also gives me a way of moderating the reviewing activities of E&SD
so that we are matching the standards of other journals.
This piece was prompted by a discussion between the authors and reviewers of an
article submitted to one of these journals. It concerned the recency of the references and
I recalled that on several occasions over the past few months, submissions to E&SD had
been criticised because many of the references were ‘old’ – that is, published more than
ten years ago. It is a simple matter to read through the list of references and count the
number that are more than, say, ten years old, but that does not necessarily mean that
they do not have value. In contrast to high energy particle physics, our field of education
and psychology moves relatively slowly.