It is important that young people develop self-determination as they enter into adult life. However,
in practice the mechanism of professional orientation does not provide the reliable choice of their
future profession that is needed and those who provide such guidance need assistance. The article
demonstrates the necessity of using reliable quantitative criteria in evaluating the effectiveness of
professional orientation. It has been suggested that the correlation coefficient can be used and, in
order to verify this assumption, an experiment was designed and conducted. The results confirm the
possibility of using the correlation coefficient as a means of evaluating the effectiveness of professional
orientation.
Journal Articles
Strengths-based professional and career development of teachers
The study of contemporary trends in career development reveals rich opportunities by developing
personal competencies through individuals’ own agency. Analysis shows that there are no clear
strategies and policies for the career development at all ages. This also applies to teachers and future
teachers and this article addresses the development of teachers’ career management competence.
The study aimed to develop a model of teacher’s career development training based on a study
of international experience in the field of contemporary policies, theories and practices for career
development, adult education and strength-based approach in education. The model is competencebased,
and creates the conditions for personality-orientating and motivating learners. It provides
group diagnostics and a flexible set of approaches. Modern adult career development theories are
integrated in the teacher’s career development training. The model will facilitate future actions
for planning, organizing and implementing teacher’s career development training. Conclusions
are drawn about contemporary perspectives on career development and on the proposed modern
strengths-based andragogical model
Teenagers’ vandalism and the importance of parent-child relationships in addressing it
Vandalism in the urban environment is a common phenomenon but is difficult to evaluate. The
scale of damage caused by vandalism is rarely analyzed, and therefore a limited number of scientific
works are devoted to the phenomenon of vandal behavior and the identification of its causes. While
the role of the family in the formation of deviant behavior is indicated by many researchers, the
context of vandalism and the issue of family determination remains open. This article studies the
parents’ styles of upbringing and their preparation for teenagers’ vandal behavior. By identifying
the degree of influence of the family in the formation of such a destructive form of interaction
between teenagers’ and the material environment it is possible to identify a group of teenagers
who are ready to commit acts of vandalism. An attempt is made to correlate child-parent relations
with teenagers’ motivational readiness to commit acts of vandalism. To study the relationship of
child-parent relations and teenagers’ vandal behavior, data was collected (using psycho-diagnostic
techniques) from 60 teenagers and their parents from complete and incomplete families, the
socially well-off and the socially disadvantaged. The results were processed using descriptive
statistics, MANOVA and linear regression analysis. It was found that parental upbringing styles
play a decisive role in initiating vandalism, while the educational effects of mother and father
have their own specific characteristics. The results can be used in the organization of social
support for children from socially disadvantaged families in order to prevent vandalism and its
radicalization.
A differentiated approach for teaching Russian language to foreign students: the example of Arabic-speaking students
The article discusses a ‘differentiated approach’ concept for teaching Russian as a foreign language
to a group of students from Arab countries. Special attention is paid to linguistic and cultural differentiation,
differentiation in the level of training students and differentiation in the interests and
tendencies of students. It offers various solutions for problems related to the implementation of
a differentiated approach in teaching Russian, and practical recommendations for optimizing the
educational process
Electronic portfolio architecture based on knowledge support in senior project design
ePortfolios based on the practice in self-assessment, and self-reflection and self-regulation are viewed
as important tools in facilitating and supporting learner-centered environment at higher education.
This study explains how an electronic portfolio system was designed and used as a useful repository
for learning products to help instructors monitor in-service kindergarten teachers’ progress,
provide feedback and develop in-service kindergarten teachers’ self-assessment, and self-reflection
and self-regulation through the presentation of a detailed and ongoing short-term training program
used as a comprehensive measure to determine degree mastery in the Department of Early Child
Development at Wenzhou University in China. The finding shows in-service kindergarten teachers
can be trained to carry out authentic tasks associated with ePortfolios and reveals that instructors
can improve in-service kindergarten teachers’ skills by enhancing their motivation and inspiring
their positive training in the curriculum, such as building up group cohesiveness and having positive
learning experiences.
Cross-Cultural Educational Partnerships to Prepare Global Leaders: Training Teachers, Teacher Candidates, and School Principals to Teach Students in the Multi-Cultural Classroom
With the growing incidents of terrorism, war, and warlike situations around the globe, academic
achievements, physical and mental well-being of affected children in schools have become a major
concern for the educational stakeholders. This paper discusses three key issues. Firstly, the article
discusses the emerging role of school teachers and leadership in supporting students affected by war
and terrorism in a cross-cultural context. Secondly, it focuses upon similarities between Canadian
and Pakistani classrooms, and the challenges that school teachers and leaders encounter while educating
students affected by war and terrorism. Thirdly, the article proposes the establishment of a
cross-cultural learning community connecting the school leaders and teachers from both countries
through the train-the-trainer model. This paper also contributes to the existing body of literature on
the role of school leadership in teaching multi-cultural classroom.
Cultivating ‘good’ practice or ‘best’ practice? Moralities for teacher education
This paper engages with the double meaning of ‘good’ in English. ‘Good’ can refer to the morally
correct choice, and it can also refer to high quality. The question then becomes whether these types
of ‘good-ness’ refer to the same thing in teacher education. Theoretical treatments of moral goodness
in education highlight morality as a social fact that changes with the times. In contrast, goodness
as quality is tested and measured through international comparisons which increasingly define
what counts as ‘quality’. In available research accounts of Russian education and Scottish education,
different kinds of ‘good-ness’ emerge, with the risk that they conflict. The conclusion reflects on how
we might and should prepare teachers for different versions of goodness and their contradictions.
Imitative Learning: the Teacher as a Role Model
The knowledge required for teaching can be divided into three groups: knowledge needed for practice,
knowledge used in practice, and knowledge about practice. Knowledge needed for practice is
acquired during academic education. As soon as this process is completed and a person acquires
desired knowledge, he/she proceeds to the next step. The stage titled ‘knowledge used in practice’
promotes professional development of teachers. This process is an integral part of the teacher’s profession.
During this process, it is crucial to constantly acquire subject-specific knowledge, master
skills, develop personal competences, and take part in research activities.
Modern technologies lead to rapid changes in the world in every field. New trends in the development
of the world require schools to follow them. Education requires reorganization and adaptation
to new changes. Consequently, the role of teachers in the education system is changing. The teacher
remains a role model, setting an example for all pupils.
The social role of teachers is crucial when it comes to the development of the pupil’s individually and
the development of the society as a whole. Parents are the most important role models in the earliest
period of childhood development but teachers and peers are becoming increasingly important in the
later stages of children’s lives.
Pupils’ imitation of the teacher’s behaviour is one of the most important forms of learning according
to the opinion of American psychologist Alberto Bandura. The pupil imitates behavior patterns,
social values, attitudes, skills or modifies traditional ways of behavior. Imitative learning has a
great potential, greater than other ways of learning. The emotional connection between a pupil and
teacher is very important in imitative learning.
There are three variations of imitative learning: identification, imitation, and role learning. Identification
is an unconscious mimicking of other people’s behavior patterns. Children usually mimic
parents, teachers, cartoon characters, accept their attitudes and moral norms, and change their behavioral
patterns. Identification implies the adoption of internal characteristics, system of moral
values, personality traits.
The teacher as a role model influences the formation of social identity and personality of children. It
is well known that pupils are eager to learn only when they like a teacher.
According to G. Tarde, the process of imitation presupposes that certain images are created in the
mind of the imitator on the basis of observation.
In order to examine the role of teachers in shaping pupils’ behavior, we conducted a survey among
elementary school teachers and pupils in Belgrade.
Editorial: What’s in my bookcase?
Six years ago I moved house. I moved from a large house with four bedrooms and a
large study, to a much smaller but charming cottage where my study measures just two
metres by two metres. I sit at my desk and can touch all four walls! A consequence of the
move was that I had to reduce the number of books in my library. Instead of over 6000
books I now have a few hundred. That was painful because I love books, but it also made
me think very carefully about which books I would keep. The books on my bookcase are
those that I value the most and I wanted to share those titles with you – together with
the reasons why I have chosen them.
E&SD 13(3) September 2018
This is the English language contents page for E&SD 13(3)
Roza Alexeevna Valeeva
Editorial: The International Forum on Teacher Education 2018 9
Nick Rushby
Colin Latchem obituary 12
Maria Popa
In Search of the Ideal Teacher – Students’ perspective 16
Elena Revyakina & Conor Galvin
Values, Imaginaries and Policy-Making for Teacher Education: insights from researching the Russian Federation context of reform, 2000-17
25
Errol Thompson
Teaching Computational Reasoning Through Construals 40
Doncho S. Donev
Emotional exchange in pedagogical communication using interactive methods 53
Мarinella I.Grudeva, Yordanka St. Dimitrova
Strategic guidelines for increasing the professionalism of lecturers in higher educational institutions 59
Lyubov A. Kochemasova
The social status of teachers in modern teacher education 66
Vladimir N. Mezinov, Svetlana V. Markova, Marina A. Zakharova
Development of personal responsibility in early years teachers in a competitive environment 78
Notes for authors
Editorial: The International Forum on Teacher Education 2018
This special edition includes works of international standing presented at the IV International
Forum on Teacher Education held on 22-24 May, 2018 in Kazan (Volga region)
Federal University (IFTE-2018)1. The changes taking place in the modern education
system make it necessary to improve the skills and professionalism of the teacher. The
main goal of modern education is to meet the current and future needs of an individual,
society and the state, and to prepare a diversely developed personality of a citizen capable
of social adaptation in society, self-education and self-improvement(Bolotov, 2014). A
free-thinking teacher, capable of predicting the results of their activities and modeling
the educational process is the guarantor of the achievement of these goals. Thus, the demand
for qualified, creatively thinking, competitive teachers, able to educate a person in
a modern, dynamically changing world, has increased sharplyKalimullin, 2014; Valeeva
& Gafurov, 2017).
Colin Latchem obituary
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Colin Latchem, a key and
influential member of the Editorial Board of Education & Self Development. He died
peacefully on 3rd July 2018 after a very short illness.
In Search of the Ideal Teacher – Students’ perspective
The role of the modern teacher is nuanced by a series of attributes. He is now asked to be a specialist,
a guide, a friend, a counselor, an expert, a leader, a supporter, a facilitator, and, last but not least, a
model. Not only does he need all these roles, but also has to calibrate their proportion in the individualized
interaction with each student. In this study, we highlight the expectations of future education
professionals regarding the ideal teacher and the personal perceived characteristics that endorse
students’ intention of being a teacher. In this research, 40 student of education were involved. The
participants are enrolled in a one year Teacher Training Program. Most of them have no teaching
experience, and their specialization fields are diverse. In a questionnaire and an argumentative essay,
they were invited to find a minimum number of five features that the ideal teacher needs in order to
generate efficient learning, to rise the well-being state of students and to aim future work performance.
The group chosen for the study, although unrelated through their work activity and formal
education, has a common binder: they all want to become teachers. Their perception is not only
an evaluation of the ideal teacher, taking in consideration their own school experience, but also an
exercise of reflection of their own capacities regarding their disposal to be a teacher. The conclusion
shows a narrowing of the ideal teacher characteristics and an aware realistic exposure of personal
self-evaluated features and fears in relation with the desired possibility of being a teacher.
Values, Imaginaries and Policy-Making for Teacher Education: insights from researching the Russian Federation context of reform, 2000-17
The paper presents insights drawn from researching the discursive construction between 2000 and
2017 of new values-systems that guide, and force, change in Teacher Education within Higher Education
in the Russian Federation. It considers particularly the imaginaries and values that underpin
official policy documents related to Higher Teacher Education within the broader field of educational
policy across this time scale of almost two decades. The central focus rests on the challenge of
researching the construction of a driving discursive context for change, subsequently consolidated
through the activities of the Modernisation of Teacher Education Project (MoTEP) which was officially
launched by the Ministry of Education and Science in 2014. It is not the intention of this
paper to discuss in any great detail the nature and practice of Russia’s Teacher Higher Education in
itself; for this we suggest Sobolev’s (2016) excellent account. Rather, we focus on what can be learnt
from researching an aspect of one of the most intriguing and grand-scale policy-led projects of our
time; the rehabilitation of Russia as a global power. The research underpinning the paper draws on
Critical Discourse Studies (CDS) to explicate the nature and detail of the changes being promulgated
and the construction of these through policy work. It does so by evaluating a series of key policy
documents and discursive events that seek to redefine discursively the values-base of teacher education
in the Federation. For this, a discourse historical approach (DHA) is used, drawing primarily
on the ideas of Krzyżanowski (2010) and Reisigl and Wodak (2001; 2017). Sitting within the critical
discourse studies tradition this approach provides our guiding theoretical perspective and informs
the research methodology. Our analysis suggests that the values-system and imaginaries of teacher
education are strongly reliant on a unique and highly contextualised discursive construction and a
legitimation of policy-actions by means of references to strategies and visions for the ‘competitive,
innovative and leading economy’, and that the imaginaries and values that underpin Higher Teacher
Education in the Russian Federation, are challenging to research because they are considerably more
complex and multifaceted than much of the reform activity assumes.
Teaching Computational Reasoning Through Construals
Can construals be used to teach computational reasoning? This paper outlines some of the issues of
teaching computational reasoning and then endeavours to show how it might be possible, through
using the principles of variation theory to design teaching sequences and consequently construals
that open the learner up to the computational reasoning ideas being considered
Emotional exchange in pedagogical communication using interactive methods
The article examines the proportion of teachers who are willing to overcome their traditional approach
when working with students and actively interact with them. The study follows the willingness
of teachers to engage in emotional exchange with their students, the frequency of application
of interactive teaching methods and the assessment of the effectiveness of their use towards
pedagogical aims. Emotional teacher-student exchange is seen as an important part of pedagogical
communication and a determining element in the use of interactive teaching methods in secondary
school.
Strategic guidelines for increasing the professionalism of lecturers in higher educational institutions
The article examines the problem of establishing a modern higher education institution as a lifelong
learning institution by forming a creative and flexible educational environment in which the individual
profile of the trainees is fully disclosed. It follow the guidelines in two key documents: The
National Lifelong Learning Strategy (2014-2020) and the Strategy for the Development of Higher
Education in the Republic of Bulgaria (2014-2020). The search for adequate solutions to this problem
highlights the need to constantly increase the professionalism of the teachers in higher schools.
This is primarily achieved through the formation and development of their pedagogical and andragogical
culture, as a guarantee of the high quality of the education process.
The social status of teachers in modern teacher education
The article reports on a sociological study which measured teachers’ changing social status in modern
teacher education. A survey was carried out of teachers’ satisfaction with their social status in
the Orenburg region of southwest Russia. The results illustrate the problems of transforming the
attractiveness of the teaching profession and discusses the factors that characterize the current status
of the teacher, the reasons for the professional instability, the low motivation for achieving career
growth and relevance in a highly competitive labor market.
Development of personal responsibility in early years teachers in a competitive environment
Development of theoretical principles to the problem of teacher’s decision-making in preschool education
are impacted by the contradictions of modernization of the education system the humanization
of education (the strengthening of the Humanities and social changes in modern society). This
involves a transition from the paradigm of rigid formative education to personal development, the
need to address the humanitarian tasks of the young generation. These are linked to an interdisciplinary
understanding of change in pedagogical education and an increased growth of competition
in the field of education. The authors aim to provide simple and clear answers to frequently asked
questions aimed at improving the quality of teacher education with respect to professional choices
facing the teacher.
E&SD 13(2) June 2018
This is the English language contents page for E&SD 13(2)
Nick Rushby
Editorial: Standing on the shoulders of giants 6
Helena Amaral da Fontoura
Narratives by initial teachers: stories about experiences and challenges 10
Milicia Krivokapic
Learning after a model: the position of a teacher in practice 19
Galya Mihaylova Kozhuharova
Educational clusters – the new opportunities for improving teacher training qualifications 31
Daniela Todorova Kozhuharova
A didactic model for managing the application of information and communications technologies for teacher training and qualifications in Bulgaria 38
N.L.Selivanova, P.V.Stepanov
Preparation of a future teacher as a social and moral educator: a theoretical underpinning 45
A.K. Tsenkova, L.K. Yordanova, G.G. Kiryakova,
Intercultural competencies for contemporary teacher 53
Notes for authors