CONTENTS

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Mara Đukić, Ph.D., Svetlana Španović, Ph.D.:
Effective partnership of teachers -a factor of team teaching quality
Radmila Šain:
The Importance and Possibilities of Teaching Reading within LSAP
Tomka Miljanović, Ph.D.:
Ongoing reform results of primary and secondary school biology curricula in Serbia
Živka Krnjaja, Ph.D.:
Learning and teaching as mutual understanding

PROBLEMS OF EDUCATIONAL WORK

Alenka Čižmanski, Jelica Petrović, M.A., Marija Zotović, Ph.D.:
The relatedness of aggressive behaviour of children and adolescents and sociometric status and perception of educational attitudes of parents
Miroslav Pavlović, Vesna Žunić Pavlović, Ph.D.:
Planning school programmes for preventing peer violence
Olga Jovančićević, Ljiljana Reljić:
Prevention and solution of disciplinary problems in the classroom

CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

Marina Radić-Šestić, Ph.D., Mr Vesna Radovanović:
Internet and highschoolers
Evgeniya Minkova Topolska, Ph.D.:
Holistic approach to game technology for integration of children with special educational needs

TEACHERS AND ASSOCIATES IN EDUCATION

Nenad Suzić, Ph.D.:
Teachers’ efficacy
Emil Kamenov, Ph.D.:
The essence of preschool teaching
Dragana Čikoš, Vesna Radošević, Dragica Kubet:
The position and role of expert associates as viewed by parents, preschool teachers and expert associates
Gordana Budimir -Ninković, Ph.D.:
The future in students’ vision

Dear readers,
Starting with this issue we plan to publish texts by authors from other than Serbian speaking countries, written in two international languages - English and Russian. Our decision arose from the fact that the number of foreign professionals interested in receiving and publishing in our Journal has been increasing steadily. We believe that this strategy will enrich the contents of our Journal, expand the circle of contributors and associates, and open a possibility for the Journal to be ranked even higher among scientific journals in the field of education.

Foreign authors are kindly asked to submit not only a text + abstract but also a one-page summary of the text, the Serbian translation of which will accompany the original text.
All contributors are kindly asked to read Contributors' Notes, which are regularly edited, to prepare their papers, including relevant professional references, in compliance with the requirements.
Editorial Board

Mara Đukić, Ph.D.
Filozofski fakultet, Novi Sad
Svetlana Španović, Ph.D.
Pedagoški fakultet, Sombor
Pregledni članak
UDK-371. 4

EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIP OF TEACHERS - A FACTOR OF TEAM TEACHING QUALITY

The paper sheds light on some basic characteristics of team teaching seen as a didactic inovation of significant pedagogical capacity and polyvalent potential for enhancing the quality of the educational process. The central part of the article is dedicated to the consideration of the Stuart-Perry's model of effec­tive partnership of the teachers involved in tean teaching. This dynamic multiphase model represents the cyclic nature of the process of teacher team formation and comprises the following steps: the beginning of partnership, maintenance, i.e. continuation of the part­ner relationship, true partnership in the teaching process (joint planning, new contents presentation, revision, excercises, assessment) and the realization of effective partnership. At this point, effective partnership of teachers is not only the key element of quality but also the precondition, the means, and one of primary goals of team teaching. In the end, the conclusion is that a wider implementation of team teaching in our schools (followed by serios evaluative research) would be of great significance as an expression of authentic pegagogical reform and a contribution to the quality of education, not only on primary school level, but on all educational levels in our country.

Keywords: partnership, teacher team, tim teaching, inovation, didactics.

CONTENTS

Radmila Šain
Medicinski fakultet, Beograd
UDK-371.3(80)

THE IMPORTANCE AND POSSIBILITIES OF TEACHING READING WITHIN LSAP (LANGUAGE FOR SPECIFIC ACADEMIC PURPOSES)

The notion of foreign language acquisition implies four language skills that a student is expected to acquire. At different level of studies, and depending on needs analysis, usually one of the skills becomes more dominant, but inter-relatedness of all the skills still remains the essence of language acquisition. Reading, which together with listening, is regarded as a receptive skill becomes that dominant skill when we think of LSAP (Language for Specific Academic Purposes). Students' motivation to acquire the skill is great since they thoroughly understand its importance - they need it if they want to be acquainted with all recent achievements in their future profession. Teacher's task is to help them develop different reading strategies so that they can satisfy their need for reading quickly and more efficiently. At the same time, because of its inter-relatedness with other language skills, reading is a very suitable basis for their development.

Keywords: reading strategy, motivation, needs fulfillment, integrated skills
LSAP (Language For Specific Academic Purposes)

CONTENTS

Tomka Miljanović, Ph.D.
Prirodno-matematički fakultet, Novi Sad
U D K- 37.014 . 3(371. 214)

ONGOING REFORM RESULTS OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL BIOLOGY CURRICULA IN SERBIA

The current educational reform in primary and secondary schools in the Re public of Serbia (including biology curricular changes) started with the en­actment of the Education System Bases Law (Službeni glasnik (Official Gazette)RS, 62, 2003). The project of the reform did not result from a national strategy of changes developed in advance and based on professional and scientific knowledge and real needs of a country in transition, but was prompted by a political decision to change every­thing in the educational system as if nothing in it had been valuable. After the inauguration of a new government in the Republic of Serbia in 2004 the Education System Bases Law was partially altered, and the reform process was replaced by the concept of gradual changes and implementation of eventual novel elements into the sound core of the existing educational system. The stated facts reveal that the Republic of Serbia has not devised a national strategy for the development of education which would be pursued regardless of changing ministers and governments. That is why the results of the reforms in primary and secondary education have been lower than has been expected and what might have realistically been achieved in order to enable the educational system to address educational needs of modern time.

Keywords: primary school, secondary vocational schools, gymnasia, reform of biology curricula.

CONTENTS

Živka Krnjaja, Ph.D.
Visoka škola strukovnih studija za obrazovanje vaspitača, Sremska Mitrovica   
UDK-37.022

LEARNING AND TEACHING AS MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING

The issues related to the enhancement of the quality of learning/teaching relationship lead to different possibilities for organizing these processes. However, although different, various starting points of the organization of successful teaching agree in the view that a precondition for efficient teaching lies in ap­prehending what learners already know and their previous learning experiences and ex­pectations. Children start learning by making a number of essential assumptions about the way they understand the learning situation, like theories and concepts that help them rationalize their experience. When a discord between experience and expectations occurs, children try to alter their theories, perceive a new pattern and form novel representations and new rules that can cover the new pattern. There is a direct connection between learn­ing and the mode of teaching. Teaching is supposed to create conditions for learning by stimulating the reorganization of understanding of each individual who learns by reflec­tion, while errors in thinking may be used for further analyses, as well as the situations in which altered personal meaning associates, generalizes and structures in relation to the previous.

Keywords: concept, mutual understanding, negotiating meaning.

CONTENTS

Alenka Čižmanski, Jelica Petrović, M.A., Marija Zotović, Ph.D.
Filozofski fakultet, Novi Sad
UDK-37.018.1(159.923.5)

THE RELATEDNESS OF AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS AND SOCIOMETRIC STATUS AND PERCEPTION OF EDUCATIONAL ATTITUDES OF PARENTS

The research presented in this report was aimed at establishing whether there is any relation, and if so what kind of relation, between different forms of aggressive behaviour of children and adolescents and the perceived edu­cational attitudes of parents on one side and the sociometric status on the other. The re­search included sociometric examination on the sample of 216 examinees aged 9 to 15, who additionally evaluated educational styles of their parents and aggressive behaviour of their peers. The results showed that the higher degree of direct aggression was linked to the negative pole of the control dimension of both parents and the negative pole of the affective dimension of the mother. Those children and adolescents who are rejected by their peers express to a higher degree both direct and indirect forms of aggressive behaviour than children who are popular in their peer group.

Keywords: aggressive behaviour of children and adolescents, direct aggression, indirect aggression, educational attitudes, sociometric status.

CONTENTS

Miroslav Pavlović,
Zavod za unapređivanje obrazovanja i vaspitanja, Beograd
Vesna Žunić-Pavlović, Ph.D.
Fakultet za specijalnu edukaciju i rehabilitaciju, Beograd
UDK-37.018.2

PLANNING SCHOOL PROGRAMMES FOR PREVENTING PEER VIOLENCE

The paper presents the results of the project Planning and application of the programme for the prevention of delinquent behaviour in educational institutions of the Education Advancement Institute. The objectives of the first phase of the Project were: identification of the characteristics of peer violence and determination of the risk and protective factors. The most significant results of the evalu­ation are: peer violence is prevalent in 65% cases; dominant forms of peer violence are ridiculing and teasing (40%); most frequent risk factors are: lack of dedication to school and school requirements, hanging around with peers who behave violently, personal atti­tudes that approve of violence; insufficient presence of the protective factor which includes positive social bonding with school.

Keywords: peer violence, risk and protective factors, prevention, programmes.

CONTENTS

Olga Jovančićević
Školska uprava, Užice
Ljiljana Reljić
Školska uprava, Valjevo
Ministarstvo prosvete RS
UDK-371. 5

PREVENTION AND SOLUTION OF DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS IN THE CLASSROOM

Efficient establishing and maintaining an adequate level of discipline in the classroom is a precondition for efficient teaching/learning and is regarded as one of prominent competencies of the te4acher. The teacher is expected to realize the educational process on an adequate level and to acquire this competence in a sufficient measure. Disciplinary problems reduce teaching/learning time have negative influence on the teacher's efficacy and the duration/quality of their teaching career. The frameworks which a definition of the disciplinary problem should offer have to enable easy identification of the existence of a problem and who causes it. Once a disciplinary problem is identified by behaviours that violate the rights of others and/or jeopardises their safety, the teacher is responsible to intervene immediately. However, if a teacher uses inadequate or insufficiently efficient strategies, he/she may involuntary initiate a disciplinary problem and/or contribute to its escalation.

Keywords: disciplinary problem, verbal techniques, nonverbal techniques, logical consequence, "unstable periods".

1Ovaj tekst je rezultat pregleda i analize literature u izboru autora, a sa stanovišta potreba nastavnika.

CONTENTS

Marina Radić-Šestić, Ph.D.
Vesna Radovanović, M.A.
Fakultet za specijalnu edukaciju i rehabilitaciju, Beograd
UDK-376.2. (371.68)

THE INTERNET AND HIGHSCHOOLERS

In Serbia 34.7% of citizens use the Internet. The biggest difference in the use of the Internet is between various age sub-populations: in contrast to almost a half of population (48.8%) aged 15 only 11% of those aged 50-6429 make use of the Internet. Encouraging is the fact that 66% use the Internet, although the percent­age is significantly lower compared to the situation in the developed countries in the EU. Our research sample comprised 150 first-to-fourth year students of secondary schools, including 50 (33.3%) hearing-impaired students in a special secondary school and 100 (66.7%) students in regular secondary schools (gymnasia, vocational school for architec­tural technicians). The instrument for data gathering that was used was a questionnaire. The aim of the research was to determine to what extent high school students (with im­paired hearing and with normal hearing) use the Internet at home and in school, in what ways, and whether the Internet could be included in some forms of teaching in secondary schools.The results showed that in the group of students with impaired hearing, among those who have access to the Internet at home, only one student (14.3%) regularly uses it on daily basis, in difference to 42.9% of the students with normal hearing. Each examined school has access to the Internet, but students are position to use it in the teaching process in only one school. About one fifth of normal-hearing students use the Internet daily or frequently in the search for the contents related to school, but only two hearing-impaired students use it for these purposes.

Keywords: the Internet, hearing-impaired students, normal-hearing students.

CONTENTS

Evgeniya Minkova Topolska, PhD
Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridsky", Bulgaria
UDK-376.1(373.21)

HOLISTIC APPROACH TO GAME TECHNOLOGY FOR INTEGRATION OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL
EDUCATIONAL NEEDS

The article is focused on the issue of integration of children with special educational needs in kindergarten. The author outlines her views on the importance of pedagogical support, the necessity for a holistic approach to the construction and development of pedagogical techniques in order to develop their abilities and enable full participation of children with special needs in school environment later. She further suggests a scheme for planning game techniques that can facilitate and enhance physical, cognitive and emotional development of children with special needs, as well as their socialization and integration in wider peer environment.

Keywords:   children   with   special   educational   needs,   integrated   education, pedagogical support, holistic approach, game technology.

 CONTENTS

Nenad Suzić, Ph.D.
Filozofski fakultet, Banja Luka
UDK-371.12(371.15)

TEACHERS' EFFICACY

The Norwegian Efficacy Scale combined with three additional scalers, developed by Skaalvik & Skaalvik (2007), was applied in the research which was conducted on the sample of 607 in-service and pre-service teachers. The factorization procedure revealed four factors of self-efficacy of teachers in Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1) teaching capabilities, the ability of the teacher to motivate students and organize classroom activities, 2) establishing and maintaining class discipline, 3) en­gaging the least successful students in classroom activities, and 4) teacher-teacher and teacher-parents cooperativeness. The author points out that restructuring of the teachers' self-efficacy constructs might be desirable in the sense to prioritize students' inclusion in activities and cooperativeness over disciplining. Further, the regression analysis showed that the teachers who estimate their own efficacy higher evaluated the efficacy of their institution also higher. The higher level of self-efficacy estimate was obtained by those teachers who place more importance on external control compared to those who do not regard external control highly. This might be taken as a reflection of the system used in the Balkans for decades now. An important finding of the research is that the perception of self-efficacy increases with the age of the teachers. Finally, the results show that students - would-be teachers differ from in-service teachers regarding the perception of self-efficacy, external control, the importance of hampering factors and the efficacy of the institutions. All in all, the research revealed new aspects which might be useful to pedagogical theory and teaching practice and opened a number of questions for further research.

Keywords: teachers' self-efficacy, external control, hampering factors.

 CONTENTS

Emil Kamenov, Ph.D.
Filozofski fakultet, Novi Sad
UDK-371.12

THE ESENCE OF PRESCHOOL TEACHING

Reduced to its pure essence, there are only two basic approaches to determining the role of education (including educators, too) whose roots go back to ancient Spartan and Athenians education, which can be most easily grasped by using the paradigm of a "coppersmith" and a "gardener". Examples of this kind can be found in the views of pedagogic theorists and practitioners from Fridrich Froebel to our contemporaries. Each of great educational systems had its own concept of the essence of educational profession by which it differentiated from others and was recognisable. In disputes these differences are often stressed and juxtaposed (too often unilaterally and dogmatically) which is not the best route towards establishing the essence of educational profession. New Zeitgeiss, characterised by a tendency towards democracy, requires an approach that scrutinizes the antinomic determination of the essence through the dialectics of the unity of the opposites, aiming at establishing a superordinate synthesis of the opposites.

Keywords: concept, mutual understanding, negotiating meaning.

CONTENTS

Dragana Čikoš
PU "Mladost", Bačka Palanka
Vesna Radošević
PU "Ljuba Stanković", Beočin
Dragica Kubet
PU "Veljko Vlahović", Temerin
UDK-371.12(371.125)

THE POSITION AND ROLE OF EXPERT ASSOCIATES AS VIEWED BY PARENTS, PRESCHOOL TEACHERS AND EXPERT ASSOCIATES

The research originated from a wish to determine the actual position and the role of expert associates (psychologists, pedagogues, special education teachers). Since the role of expert associates has, so far, been discussed mainly on theoretical grounds, the authors of the paper conducted a pilot research and, based on the obtained results, present here how parents and preschool teachers see them, but also what they themselves think of their position and role in preschool institutions.

Keywords: expert associate, parent, preschool teacher.

 CONTENTS

Gordana Budimir-Ninković, Ph.D.
Pedagoški fakultet, Jagodina
UDK-371.13

THE FUTURE IN STUDENTS' VISION

Aimed at investigating the futuristic dimension of pre-service teacher training at Teacher Training College in Jagodina, the students preparing for class teaching were examined with the intention to gain insight into their vision of teacher training in the future. The respondents filled in a questionnaire anonymously. The results revealed a variety of different, original and interesting answers. The students see the future as the great unknown and uncertainty. Nevertheless, they are orientated towards planning their activities leading to the future and point out that they see great possibilities for creating their future. They hold that the teacher should set an example to students, be an ideal and model for students to follow. In anticipating their future work they show am­bition and expect changes. When considering personal characteristics of the teacher they point out traditional values. Especially stressed was the students' expectation related to the impact of educational technology on the changes in the teaching process organization and the role of the teacher. They expect that these changes will be at the expense of emotional relations with children. Although they are aware that love for children is necessary, they fear that teacher-students relations will become "cold" due to overuse of modern technology.

Keywords: students, the future, teacher, school, education.

 CONTENTS