e-Pedagogium, 2015 (vol. 15), issue 2

Editorial

Introduction

Editorial board

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):5-6

Original articles

Didactic Principles by Comenius and 21st Century Skills

Alena Jůvová, Froukje Bakker

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):7-20 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.013

21st Century Skills in University and Primary Education Curricula in the Czech Republic

Alena Jůvová, Štefan Chudý, Pavel Neumeister, Jitka Plischke

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):21-32 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.014

This review study concerns and presents the basic skills (needed) for the 21st Century, and the possibilities for their implementation into the current education concept of the Czech Republic. The content analysis of the basic curricula documentation part will focus on models that affect the concept of teaching in primary schools as well as how the current situation reflects concepts relating to the professional education of teachers.

Evaluation of Quality of University Education Exemplified by the Faculty of Physical Culture, Palacký University, Olomouc

Iva Dostálová, Zbyněk Svozil, Martin Sigmund, Jana Kvintová, Jan Baše

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):33-50 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.015

Evaluation can be understood as a process of collecting and assessing empirical data in a context of theoretical background in order to gain practice-relevant information and data. The purpose of educational evaluation is to provide assessment of the whole educational reality. This is not merely testing educational outcomes but a much wider reflection of educational phenomena that serves both research-based and practical purposes. The evaluation process of university education in the Czech Republic does not match with most developed countries in terms of quality and number of research studies. In the long term, the development of the whole educational...

21st Century skills: a perspective from England

Jon White

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):51-61 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.016

A review of the system of education in England is provided. A review of literature of 21st century skills and what their place might be in a curriculum is presented. There is discussion of how 21st century skills are developed in early years, primary and secondary stages. Post-16 and higher education provision are critically explored, with the findings of an institutional research project applied to the existing literature.The conclusion proposes that the pedagogical pressures of performativity make it challenging to introduce 21st century skills to the primary and secondary phases of education, largely due to the issues of how to assess the development...

The introduction of a competence-based curriculum in Spain: From the Primary school to the training of teachers

Jordi Pamies, Asuncion Blanco, Jesus Granados Sanchez, Maria Villanueva

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):62-74 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.017

In the last years, most of the educational systems in Europe and elsewhere have shifted to a competence-based approach. The aim of this paper is to present how the main Spanish educational reforms of 2006 and 2013 have incorporated the concept of competence, and how it has been used to structure the curriculum in Primary and Secondary Education. The paper defines the competences of compulsory education and their main features, and it also highlights how the shift in policy has affected in the typology of competences. The study is based on a document and content analysis methodology and is focused in Spanish educational laws, at both national and regional...

The status of twenty-first century skills within the University of Milan-Bicocca's Degree Programme in Primary Education

Lilia Andrea Teruggi, Franca Zuccoli

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):75-87 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.018

This paper describes the extent to which 21st Century Skills are provided for in both teacher training curriculum documents and educational practices (courses, workshops and teaching practice) in the context of the Degree Course in Primary Education offered by the University of Milan-Bicocca. Our observations are based on a diachronic analysis of the degree course from its introduction in 1999 up to the most recent education reforms. We also assess the extent to which these skills feature in the National Curricular Guidelines for Primary Education. Although twenty-first century skills are not explicitly referred to in the third level curriculum documents,...

Competences in Teacher Education at Schwyz University of Teacher Education (PHSZ), and the Swiss Education Policy

Illya Arnet-Clark, Rosemary Smeets-Cowan, Jürgen Kühnis

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):88-99 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.019

Based on the current discussion on 21st century skills this contribution gives a short overview of the present situation in Switzerland and at PHSZ1 in particular. What are the aims of education policy and what has already been achieved in this process? As this analysis has shown, the biggest challenge is to ensure a smooth and timely educational paradigm shift to competence orientation at universities of teacher education and schools. This means a change from teaching factual knowledge to the development of competences needed to acquire the necessary knowledge in a fast-changing society. This gradual integration is challenging and requires basic adaptations...

Essential Skills for 21st Century Teachers in Turkey: Uludag University Example

Şehnaz Baltaci Göktalay, Sezen Özeke

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):100-110 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.020

This article explores applications of 21st century skills in higher education curriculum, specifically in teacher education. The authors discuss why preservice teachers need to be taught in an environment that students will be equipped with the 21st century skills and competences which help them to develop their own teaching skills and the technology skills of their students. The study is based on document analysis methodology and is focused on higher education competences in Turkey. The paper ends with implications for teacher education institutions which will implement 21 st century skills competences in their curriculum.

21st century skills at Saxion Teacher Trainer Education Hengelo

Gabi Brühne, Elsbeth H. Ruiterkamp

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):111-113

People with physical disabilities on the labour market - abilities required for work self-fulfilment

Lucie Procházková

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):114-122 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.022

Finding success on the labour market by people with disabilities is influenced by several factors: their readiness and motivation, the available opportunities, the attitudes of employers and the society, as well as the preparedness of the labour market and the work environment to incorporate them into the work stream. Social and economic advancements demand that the youth be equipped with skills and competences contributing to their full-fledged integration. Objectives: The aim of the research presented herein was to ascertain the experience of people with physical disabilities with the labour market (work conditions, job search reasons, obstacles,...

The impact of direct child assistance strategy as an approach for rehabilitating children and youths with disabilities: a baseline survey of the three senatorial districts of cross river state of Nigeria

James E. Olayi

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):123-134 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.023

The direct child assistance (DCA) service approach is a core strategy used by the Liliane Funds in providing rehabilitation to children and youths under its care across the world. This quality service delivery strategy is provided in partnership with organizations with similar mission and vision through mediators and field workers. The baseline study examined the successes of the programme so far in the area under survey. Emphasis was on core areas of interest in the rehabilitation process such as Education, Social, Medical, Economic independence, Interpersonal relationships and in recent times Enabling environment. The aim of the study is to find...

Methods of developing critical thinking when working with educative texts

Dana Cibáková

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):135-145 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.024

The present article focuses on the field of critical thinking, specifically on methods helping to stimulate critical thinking and understanding of a written text. The article also includes a practical illustration of how critical thinking is being cultivated with relation to developing skills of reading comprehension. This practical example presents a partial output of the research that focused on pupils in the second year of primary school, and it provides a suggestion how to use in practice methods developing critical thinking by means of reading comprehension.

Constructivism on Literary Teaching: Assimilating Prior - knowledge, Social Environment, and Experiences in D. Zawawi Imron's poems and Black American's Poems

Imron Wakhid Harits

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):146-158 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.025

Learning English literature including American literature for second language learners needs to reconstruct some elements in teaching process. The reconstruction is necessary, because the students at least will be up against any factors, culture, language and figurative language. Such factors must be comprehended firstly before the students learn the next phase of literature. The aim of this study is assimilating all of students' potency like experiences, prior knowledge or schemata engaging with the students' environment. The subject analysis is Black American poems from Black Art Movement era compared to Indonesian contemporary poems from D. Zawawi...

The characteristic of creativity - reaction of children with hearing impairment to an ambiguous stimulus

Petra Potměšilová

e-Pedagogium 2015, 15(2):159-174 | DOI: 10.5507/epd.2015.026

In the last decade into professional discussions in the developed countries of Europe and USA are becoming the skills needed for the 21st century. It is the need to respond to claims that contemporary society imposes on individuals. In the center of attention of expert discussions thus becomes not only the definition of skills, but also how it is possible to develop these skills in the educational process. One of these skills and creativity, which is offered as a possible way of development of psychosocial and cognitive skills of children with special educational needs, respectively of children with hearing impairments.Hearing impairment is one...