Editorial. Gender and education

The present issue of the CEPS Journal is the first edition of a scientific journal completely dedicated to the question of gender and education, and is an important element in the mosaic of scientific production on the theme in Central- East Europe. Moreover, this issue brings six articles all dealing with specific gender-related issues in the field of education. (DIPF/Orig.

Lev Vygotski, initiateur du constructivisme social et penseur insaisissable de l’éducation

L’article expose le rôle de Vygotski (1896-1934) dans la création d’une nouvelle discipline scientifique dénommée paidologie et les raisons pour lesquelles Vygotski fut temporairement exclu du discours savant. L’article présente certains concepts introduits par Vygotski, depuis la notion de fonctions psychiques élémentaires et supérieures chez l’enfant jusqu’à l’importance du langage et de son pouvoir d’orientation et de régulation, afin de comprendre les acquis inégaux d’apprentissage des enfants, liés à leur environnement social. Ces concepts ont eu un impact important sur la définition de la sociolinguistique, qui constitue un pan important des pratiques réflexives en éducation.In the present work the authors attempt to give a concise introduction of Vygotsky and his role in establishing a new scientific discipline called paedology. The authors also outline the reasons why Vygotsky was temporarily eliminated from scholarly discourse. Then, Vygotsky’s most relevant concepts are introduced from elementary and higher mental functions in children, to the meaning of language (symbol) and its orienting and regulatory potentials for understanding children’s unequal learning achievements related to the child’s social environment and conditioned by the ideal forms of this environment from very early age on. The above mentioned has had an important impact on defining sociolinguistics, which forms important part of the reflective practices in the education.El artículo explica el papel de Vygotsky (1896-1934) en la creación de una nueva disciplina científica denominada paidología y las razones por las que Vygotsky fue temporalmente excluido del discurso académico. Se presentan algunos conceptos introducidos por Vygotsky, desde la noción de procesos psíquicos elementales y superiores del niño hasta la importancia del lenguaje y de su poder de orientación y regulación, al objeto de comprender las desigualdades en los resultados de aprendizaje de los niños ligadas a su entorno social. Estos conceptos tuvieron una importante influencia sobre la definición de la sociolingüística, componente esencial de las prácticas reflexivas en educación

School and Violence

In this paper the authors present different incidences of violence in the school environment. Different factors influencing the phenomenon and existence of violence in school are also subject to different conceptualizations and definitions of violence in school. Special attention is paid to school as an institution, which in its essence is not a democratic, but a hierarchically structured organization. Because of the fundamental problems that are associated with the problem of violence in school, most countries require that schools systematically deal with this issue, and the formation of an integrated policy in tackling violence. In the second part of the paper, the authors analyse the policies of various countries (Canada, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK) to the problems of school violence and link them to the factors that influence the onset of violence in school. Special attention is paid to the analysis of official documents that enable violence in school in Slovenia to be resolved, and thus seeking an answer to the question about what can schools do about this

Réformes et changements en éducation en Slovénie

En avril 2009, la Slovénie a réuni un groupe d’experts nationaux chargé de préparer un rapport qui servirait de « base à des changements systémiques et, sur la base de preuves, proposerait une amélioration du système éducatif » (Lukšiˇc 2009). Le ministre attend ces analyses et propositions de changement pour 2011. Bien que la Slovénie ne soit que récemment devenue un pays indépendant (1991), ce n’est pas la première fois qu’elle s’engage de manière systématique dans une politique de changeme..

Strukturna naddoločitev izobraževalnih reform in delovanje

This article attempts to conceptualise the relationship between the individual (professional) and the structural in a period of relatively radical changes in society. The challenging and revealing dialectic of such relations is analysed through the combination of auto-ethnographic reflections and archival documents showing the changes in the functioning of a council of experts in a country that experienced and coped with three fundamentally peaceful transitions: the transition from a self-managed socialist economy to a market economy, the transition from a one-party socialist system to a representative liberal democracy, and from a republic that was part of a federal state to an independent state. The Expert Council of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia (then still part of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia), later renamed the Expert Council of the Republic of Slovenia (at that time a liberal democracy with a market economy and an independent state), can serve as an example of the productive intertwining of individual (expert) and the structural in the formulation and the implementation of the functional transformation of the educational system. The contextualised account and assessment of the shifts that together helped bring about the independent state and its education system formation outlines the complexity and importance of reflexive governance in the times of transition, which, in itself, brings to the fore a number of relevant issues and invites and supports change in the educational system. Such an opportunity should not be missed by the country and its educators. (DIPF/Orig.

Spol in uciteljstvo: pogledi univerzitetnih studentk_ov na uciteljski poklic

The purpose of our research is to gain a better insight into what encourages young adults, in particular young women, to enter the teaching profession. The empirical part of the article is based on a pilot study including 132 students, with data collection being based on a survey approach using a questionnaire. The research attempts to address the context from which the desired characteristics of pre-service teachers with regard to their future employment arise. We have therefore tried to single out factors influencing the choice of teaching as a career, and to examine pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards the reputation of female and male teachers. The data obtained confirm the thesis that the predominance of women in the teaching profession(s) is an effect of the harmonisation of the female respondents’ habitus and their perception of the field they are entering. The perception of the teaching profession as a vocation (calling) that can be linked to the concepts of caring, giving and helping also proves to be very important. The data also confirms the thesis that the orientation towards life and work balance is important to our respondents of both genders. (DIPF/Orig.

Demanding relations: sociological imagination, education, the usefulness of concepts and the world around us

The present paper draws on fostering sociological imagination (Wright Mills, 2000) and contemporary possibilities in teaching and learning sociological concepts in relation to education. The authors present a method of reading films as a didactic tool in connection to selected sociological texts in order to better understand theory and praxis in the educational field and beyond. The film Billy Elliot was chosen as a didactic tool for presenting how Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and forms of capital, as well as Bernstein’s conceptualisations of language codes, can be used in the pedagogical process. Emphasis is placed on education and the ways in which it contributes to shifting or reproducing social inequalities, class inequalities and gender

Structural over-determination of education reforms and agency

This article attempts to conceptualise the relationship between the indi-vidual (professional) and the structural in a period of relatively radical changes in society. The challenging and revealing dialectic of such rela-tions is analysed through the combination of auto-ethnographic reflec-tions and archival documents showing the changes in the functioning of a council of experts in a country that experienced and coped with three fundamentally peaceful transitions: the transition from a self-managed socialist economy to a market economy, the transition from a one-party socialist system to a representative liberal democracy, and from a re-public that was part of a federal state to an independent state. The Ex-pert Council of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia (then still part of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia), later renamed the Expert Council of the Republic of Slovenia (at that time a liberal democracy with a mar-ket economy and an independent state), can serve as an example of the productive intertwining of individual (expert) and the structural in the formulation and the implementation of the functional transformation of the educational system. The contextualised account and assessment of the shifts that together helped bring about the independent state and its education system formation outlines the complexity and importance of reflexive governance in the times of transition, which, in itself, brings to the fore a number of relevant issues and invites and supports change in the educational system. Such an opportunity should not be missed by the country and its educators

Is it time for a new meritocracy?

Meritocracy is a rationality that has significantly shaped the lives of people in modern societies, and today we all more or less believe that those who are smart, capable and hardworking will succeed in life. This seems to be a rule that applies in more or less all areas of public life. In the Western world, evaluating and judging ourselves and others based on meritocracy has become an imperative that we rarely question and despite the problems associated with meritocracy, politicians, parents and teachers continue to promote it. In The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?, Prof. Sandel lays out the genealogy of the aforementioned prevailing rationality and, in particular, highlights the limits and problems of meritocracy that are often overlooked. However, he does not leave it at a mere critique, but also offers a reflection on ways out of the problems of meritocracy. We continue along the path taken by the professor. The first part of our article highlights the critique as reconsiderations of the concept, then continues with reflections on the future of education, merit and wage labour, and concludes with thoughts on the possibility of creating a new meritocracy