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Social pedagogue's role in the Ljubljana Centre for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
Get PDFThe purpose of Bachelor research work »The Role of Social Educator in Ljubljana Centre for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing«, (Slovenia), is to analyze the professional profile and competencies of social educators, and their employability at various workplaces, to present the roles and work tasks of those working as counsellors in the counselling service and as residential unit educators (within Secondary School and Residential Unit). Social educators work with the Deaf and hard of hearing, children and adolescents with speech and language difficulties, with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, parents, special education teachers and headteachers, and teachers from mainstream schools. In the empirical part of this qualitative research, I conducted four interviews with social educators employed at Ljubljana Centre, and researched their work tasks, the problems they face, professional competencies they need in their workplaces, the impact of children's complex needs on their work, on which tasks they experience a greater, and on which tasks a lesser sense of competence. The identified problems include the demanding heterogeneous population with associated disorders, inconsistency of educational approaches within the Centre, working with parents of children with special needs, stress due to overwork, intensity of work, and organization problems. Weaker professional competencies have been reported in the fields of personal growth (weak professional confidence and self-esteem), methods of working with other groups of children with special needs, providing learning assistance, motivating adolescents, preventing addictions in vulnerable groups, working with parents, and teamwork. During their studies and in the first years at the workplace, the interviewees acquired all key professional competencies in accordance with the International Association for Social Education - AIEJI, namely: intervention competencies, evaluation skills and reflection competencies, and to a large extent: establishing a working relationship, social and communication competencies and organizational skills. This research is a contribution to a better understanding of professional competencies of the social educator and the need for lifelong learning
Attitudes of preschool teachers towards the introduction of Montessori elements into work with children
Get PDFKindergarten teachers have a big and important role in helping children form the foundation for their whole lives in the preschool period. The quality of teaching is influenced by the continuous education of the kindergarten teachers. The Montessori Pedagogy has been used in Slovenia for almost two decades and many kindergarten teachers incorporate its elements into their work in public kindergartens.
The theoretical part of the master’s thesis focuses on implementing changes into the educational process, the kindergarten teachers’ influence on the changes and their attitude towards them. It introduces the foundations of the Montessori Pedagogy and the Kindergarten Curriculum (1999) and presents the parallels between the two concepts.
The empirical part of the thesis focuses on a survey conducted with kindergarten teachers in different kindergartens in Slovenia. We have researched the kindergarten teachers’ attitudes towards including elements of the Montessori Pedagogy into their work, their knowledge of the concept. We were also interested in the method and how frequently they included these elements into their work and their observations on the advantages and challenges they faced during their work.
We wished to acquire data about the kindergarten teachers’ interest in the Montessori Pedagogy and their opinion on attending additional courses.
We have found that many survey participants are already familiar with the Montessori Pedagogy and have been implementing its elements into their work with children. The results of the research have shown that kindergarten teachers wish to acquire additional knowledge of the concept and they are prepared to attend different courses to improve their existing knowledge.
The conclusion presents my personal experience with implementation of the Montessori Pedagogy into a public kindergarten
Collaboration between family and preschool at the arrival of a new family member
Get PDFIn the theoretical part I firstly explain the roles that the family and the kindergarten play in a child’s personal growth, describe the methods of cooperation of educators and parents, and finally focus on the arrival of a new family member. I deal especially with the influence that this event has on a firstborn and how this is shown in a family environment, and also in preschool. I pointed out that, in such a situation, the participation of an adult is very important when it comes to dealing with the crisis of a firstborn. The main goal of my research was to find out what kind of changes can be observed in a child’s behaviour and how the preschool and its teachers help to tackle this problem. Analysis of the obtained data showed that firstborns can show their frustration at home, as well as in preschool, through different behavioural changes (baby talk, daytime wetting, physical/verbal aggression …) and emotional changes (anger, sadness, touchiness …). When noticing such changes, the preschool teachers involved in the research said that they are more supportive and understanding, give the child more positive touches (hugs), prepare activities on the topic of family, etc. They also pointed out that in such cases, working with parents is the key to better understanding of the child’s distress. I found that preschool teachers use different approaches when working with parents, such as: individual conversations, measures at the class level (reorganization of space, several playing corners on the topic of family), daily exchange of information about the child, educators also provide parents with a list of professional articles on this topic, pregnant mothers are invited to visit the children in the department and talk about their experiences, etc
The role of the educator in active learning of the children
Get PDFBased on a one-month project in kindergarten, in the diploma work I present, closed-type
research. The diploma thesis consists of a theoretical and an empirical part. In the theoretical
part, I presented the definition of learning, active learning, project work and research as a way
of learning. I also described the role of the educator and the characteristics of a stimulating
learning environment. In the empirical part, I presented the Family project. It is based on the
principles of learning through research. I was interested in the role of the educator in research.
How can I actively involve children in the research process and keep their curiosity and desire
to explore all the time, and what are the advantages and disadvantages of this way of learning.
I have found that learning through research is much more effective in gaining lasting
knowledge as children remember more, but it is difficult to plan as children’s desires and
questions are constantly changing. They were motivated to cooperate and research all the
time, and at the same time they felt important and responsible for the activities carried out, as
their wishes were taken into account. The atmosphere was pleasant, and those who usually
have difficulty expressing and integrating also took part
Analysis of written mathematical test in the 5th grade of elementary school
Get PDFFrom the moment they enter primary school, students are faced with various challenges presented by the school. Among the more important and key components are knowledge evaluating and assessment. The Ruls on the examination and assessment and progress of pupils in primary school (2013) state that a teacher can test and assess knowledge in various ways. Written and oral examinations are traditional forms of knowledge assessment. The teacher can also check the students' knowledge in other ways, e.g. with products, project work and various forms of student performances in front of classmates. Despite the fact that the teacher is autonomous in the selection and planning, has to act in accordance with the laws adopted in the Republica of Slovenia.
In the master's thesis, we focused on written tests for mathematics, which are intended for 5th grade students. Designing a written test is a very responsible and demanding task for every teacher. When planning, the teacher must pay attention to several factors: what he will check, taxonomic leveles of indivifual tasks, scoring, (minimum) standards of knowledge, types of tasks, giving instructions in an understandable and knowledge appropriate way mathematical terminology. When planning math written tests, the teacher can also use a network diagram.
In the empirical part, we analyzed ten written tests in mathematics prepared by teachers for 5th grade students. The test were analyzed according to individual parameters: learning objectives, taxonomic leveles checked by the test tasks, knowledge standards, types of tasks, mathematical an linguistic adequacy, from correctness and solving time. The results of the reserch showed tat not all written tests of our sample, compiled by teachers, are of good quality.
The analysis shows that teachers do not have problems in choosing mathematical terminology and learning objectives, which are written in the mathematics curriculum. The most deviations from the recommendations for a qualitatively designed knowledge test were in relationship between the types of tasks and the head of the written test. For other paramaters, the written tests partially met the recommendations. At the end of the research, we decided to neglect some of the test parameters that do not affect the student's demonstrated knowledge, and to re-evaluate the written tests, thus increasing the number of tests that we assessed as qualitative
Literary analysis of animal stories from collection Babica pripoveduje
Get PDFIn the beginning of the paper, I will present how stories were collected in what was then Slovenia. I will focus on individual periods, namely 1948, 1918, 1918–1948, 1945–1991, 1991– 2004, and 2004–2020. In the first part, I will try to describe in detail and list stories which were relevant in a certain year or period. I will go on to outline the characteristics of folktales as described in works by Bruno Bettelheim, Max Lüthi, Jack Zipes, and Alenka Godovšček. The Type Index of Slovenian Folktales by author Monika Kropej will also be presented. The collection of stories titled Babica Pripoveduje was first recorded by Pavel Flere—the paper will present both his collection and his biography. The collection of stories that I selected was recorded by Kristina Brenk, whose life, works, and awards will also be portrayed. A table will provide insight into origin of individual stories and reveal who first recorded them. In the empirical part, I will categorize the collection, dividing it into five parts, and summarize and interpret one story from each category
Eighth graders' prior knowledge of human evolution
Get PDFEvery pupil enters the classroom with prior knowledge. This is the knowledge that a pupil acquired in school or at home. The pupils with more prior knowledge can also have many misconceptions which can lead to a negative learning transfer. Misconceptions are knowledge that is in contrast with scientifically accepted facts. Even though according to international studies Slovenian pupils are above average as to meeting biology and science objectives, the studies up to this point show that this is not true when it comes to meeting objectives about knowing the evolution of man. Evolutionary biology is a complex and sometimes difficult scientific discipline, presenting a challenge to both pupils and teachers. In the Slovenian curriculum, the evolution of man only appears in the 9th grade of elementary school, where only one learning objective about this topic can be found.
The objective of our study is to find out what is the extent of prior knowledge of pupils in the 8th grade of elementary school about the evolution of man, and what misconceptions they have about it. We also wanted to establish whether this knowledge is connected to the pupils' gender and their school. In addition, we researched whether pupils from different school have the same misconceptions or not. The study included 230 pupils from three elementary schools. Our data-collection instrument was an online questionnaire. It was chosen due to the fact that, at the time of our study, an epidemic of Sars-CoV-2 was declared in Slovenia. Our study showed that pupils have an acceptable prior knowledge about the evolution of man. We also proved that despite having a good general knowledge about the evolution of man, 8th-grade pupils have common misconceptions about this topic. Pupils had the most misconceptions about the timing and localization regarding the evolution of modern man and Neanderthal
Supporting pupils with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities with comorbid depression in a special education programme
Get PDFMental disorders have an important impact on an individual's functioning as a whole and his quality of life. In individuals with intellectual disabilities mental disorders are even more common, as they are a part of a group which is even more susceptible to this comorbidity. In the Master’s thesis, we would like to dedicate more attention to children and adolescents with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities and comorbid depression, which is one of the most common mental disorders. The main theme of this Master’s thesis is the help and support for the pupils with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities and depression, who are included in a special education programme. By leaning on literature we presented in the theoretical part what intellectual disabilities are, how they differ from mental disorders, but we also presented in more detail what depression is. Furthermore, we focused on depression and its comorbidity with intellectual disabilities in children and adolescents with moderate, severe and profound intellectual disabilities and different possible forms of support for these pupils. In the empirical part of the Master’s thesis we explored the comorbidity of intellectual disabilities and depression in pupils in special education programme and the different forms of help and support, with the help of a questionnaire, intended for special and rehabilitation pedagogues, who work in special education programmes. We gathered 49 special and rehabilitation pedagogues’ responses. In the anonymous survey, we asked about the frequency of the mentioned comorbidity in the special education programme, how this comorbidity affects the functioning of pupils at school, what different forms of help and support they provide and what is the role of special and rehabilitation pedagogue in this process. The results point out that comorbidity of intellectual disabilities and mental disorders in children and adolescents in special education programme are intertwined, and they also highlight the importance of collaboration between different experts who work with the pupils and their parents. The surveyed special and rehabilitation pedagogues most frequently notice depression in pupils with moderate intellectual disabilities between ages 15 and 20. Most often these pupils are in bad mood, but only rarely special pedagogues notice them crying or yelling. Undesirable behaviour was the most common atypical symptom of depression in these pupils. The most common form of support for these pupils turned out to be individual support at school, although medication for depression is also used fairly often. Special and rehabilitation pedagogues are most often the ones who are included in the support for these pupils and most often they use individual adjustments for each pupil inside the classroom
The acoustic influence of human voice on phonaesthetical perception of a foreign language
Get PDFThe main entities of a spoken language are language and voice, which are entangled with each other. In our daily life, we do not give it much thought because we are normally more interested in the meaning of the message. Nonetheless, acoustic properties of the voice might influence our phonaesthetical perception of a language. Although phonaesthetics were defined two decades ago, there has not been a lot of research of phonaesthetical perception. This phenomenon has been mainly researched from the sociolinguistic and the psycholinguistic points of view, however, the acoustic perspective has been neglected. In this thesis, the aim was to replicate the recent findings for the phonaesthetical perception of languages on a different sample of participants and to examine this phenomenon through the lens of acoustics. The hypotheses were that languages of the same language family group as the participants’ mother tongue will be phonaesthetically evaluated lower than languages of other language family groups. Furthermore, there will be no differences between female and male participants in the phonaesthetical perception of foreign languages. Finally, the average fundamental frequency in voice and its standard deviation will affect phonaesthetical perception. This study was conducted on 60 Slovenian participants, equalized by gender. Audio recordings of the fable “The North Wind and the Sun” in 16 different European languages were used as stimuli, where each language was represented with two different female voices. These recordings were used for the extraction of acoustic parameters (average fundamental frequency, standard deviation of fundamental frequency, event density, harmonic-percussive ratio, inharmonicity, spectral centroid, 2–4 kHz frequency band energy). Likert scales (9-level) were used for the evaluation of phonaesthetical components (beauty, culture, eroticism, orderliness, softness) in a foreign language, self-perceived language familiarity, and voice pleasantness. The task was implemented into an online platform and participants had to use an audio output device. The stimuli were presented in random order, where for each stimulus, participants were first instructed to focus on the language and give their evaluation for perception of beauty, culture, eroticism, orderliness, and softness in that language. Furthermore, they had to evaluate their self-perceived familiarity with that language. Next, they listened to the same stimulus again and were instructed to focus on the voice, for which they had to evaluate how pleasant it sounded. The results showed that the phonaesthetical perception of specific language-family groups mostly differs from one language family group to another, where the Slavic language family group was evaluated lower than the Romance languagefamily group and higher than the Finno-Ugric & Baltic language family group for all phonaesthetical components, whereas the differences between the Slavic and the Germanic language family group were not uniform. Moreover, the differences in phonaesthetical perception between individual languages of specific language-family groups were even more scattered. Language familiarity had an effect on the perception of beauty, culture, and orderliness in a language. In general, a significant difference between female and male participants was found for the perception of eroticism in favor of men. Further segregations showed they differed in the perception of this phonaestetical component for Slavic and Finno-Ugric & Baltic language family groups and for French, Czech, Polish, Russian, and Estonian as individual languages. The acoustic parameters that influenced phonaesthetical perception the most were harmonic-percussive ratio, inharmonicity, and the standard deviation of the fundamental frequency. Furthermore, harmonic-percussive ratio was also the most influential acoustic parameter for the perception of voice pleasantness. It seems that alongside societal and universal phonetic factors, language familiarity and voice also have an effect on the phonaesthetical perception of a foreign language. However, voice seems to be a more influential factor in this regard
Influence of the scout method on the attitude towards oneself, other people, and nature
Get PDFThe attitudes we have towards ourselves, other people, and nature encompass almost all the relationships in our lives. Our attitudes can be positive or negative. Positive attitudes do not just come naturally. They need to be encouraged and developed. The Scout Method is designed to promote the holistic development of young people, i.e. the physical, social, cognitive, moral, emotional-motivational, and spiritual potentials of an individual.
A quantitative study was carried out. In it, questionnaires were used to collect responses from 58 fifth-grade pupils aged between 10 and 11 years. We included 27 pupils who attended Scouts and 31 pupils who did not.
We found that the majority of the surveyed fifth-graders knew themselves well and have a positive self-assessment. We also found that most of the respondents respect diversity and can empathize with others. However, more differences emerged between Scouts and non-Scouts in terms of attitudes towards nature. Scouts showed more respect for nature and are more comfortable in nature compared to non-Scouts. The results showed that fifth graders have mostly positive attitudes towards themselves and others. However, attitudes towards nature differ between Scouts and non-Scouts.
Scouts have a more positive attitude towards nature than non-Scouts. The survey also provides feedback to all Scout leaders, as it demonstrated that using the current Scouting method helps Scouts to improve and deepen their relationship with nature. For their relationship with themselves and with other people, however, it would be good to consider other options