PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY OF HIGHER EDUCATION TEACHERS IN SAMPLES OF RIGA AND SMOLENSK

In most studies on professional identity (PI) of teachers, the subject of research is the PI of a school teacher; far less attention is paid to teachers working at higher education institutions (HEI). The aim of this article is to study the model of HEI teachers’ professional identity by a general comparative analysis of the indicators of its structural components in samples of Riga and Smolensk. The structural components of the proposed model are philosophy of the profession, professional knowledge, professional roles, professional attitude to work, cooperation with colleagues, professional engagement behaviors. To test the relevance of the model, a questionnaire was created with 60 items, and a survey of university teachers was carried out. In total, 198 teachers were surveyed in Riga and Smolensk. The obtained results show the relevance of the proposed model of teachers’ PI and the technique developed to study it. All the components of the model have high average scores and correlate well with each other. The lack of statistically significant differences in both survey samples points out that the PIs of teachers have much in common, regardless of the country of residence and features of the national educational systems. The elaborated technique can be applied as the tool of evaluation/self-evaluation of HEI teachers’ PI to improve the educational process

THE DEDICATION AS A STRUCTURAL COMPONENT OF AN ARTISTIC TEXT

Abstract. This article is theoretical in nature. It considers various kinds of poetic dedications that aretraditionally accepted as components of an artistic work’s heading system. The article is an attempt to re-imagine this understanding of a text’s aforementioned element. This analysis aims to clarify the authorial dedication’s general character and forms of explication. To do so, the article’s authors employ comparative typological, structural-systematic, biographical, and cultural-historical methods of analysis. The study’s material is Russian lyrical poetry from the 18th-20th centuries (works of M.V. Lomonosov, V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky, A.S. Pushkin, V. Bryusov, I. Severyanin, S. Esenin, P. Ivnyev, N. Gumilyev and others), as well as some epical and lyric-epical works (A.S. Pushkin's «The Captain's Daughter» and «The Bronze Horseman»). As a result, this article reveals the specificities of a fully realized dedicative discourse, and distinguishes between various kinds of titular and extra-titular dedications. The authors show that the dedication is not always part of the heading system; they consider other kinds of dedications (theacrostic, the date of composition as a display of dedicative intent, and other un-explicated forms of the dedication); they offer new criteria to classify dedications, and new terminological designations that can be studied and used to further clarify problems tied to the academic concept of dedicative strategies.Keywords: theory of literature, dedication, dedicative strategies, dedicative criteria, artistic structure

CHARACTERISTICS OF SAMPLES IN RUSSIAN-LATVIAN RESEARCH PROJECT ON PEDAGOGUE PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY: ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL INFORMATION ITEMS

The study is a part of Latvian-Russian research project on the professional identity of teacher started in 2013. The aim of the article is to analyze and compare the data of Latvian and Russian respondents in personal information items in two questionnaires for school teachers and university lecturers designed for studying the structural model of teacher’s professional identity. The surveys were carried out in 2015 (for university teachers, 198 respondents) and 2017 (for school teachers, 433 respondents). The common features of the modern pedagogical staff of the two countries are revealed, and differences and problem zones of the educational systems are indicated. Examining respondents’ personal information items, researchers revealed that in both countries, official statistical data on the pedagogical community, especially on the school teachers community, are incomplete and contradictory, especially in general school education. This suggests the need to improve methods of collecting statistical information in the field of public education

PHILOSOPHY OF THE PROFESSION IN THE STRUCTURE OF SCHOOLTEACHER PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN LATVIAN AND RUSSIAN SAMPLES

The article presents the results of the international study of the professional identity (PI) of schoolteachers of Russia and Latvia. The six component model of the content of the PI is used in the study. According to this model, the questionnaire “School Teacher Professional Identity” was created and international survey organized in 2017, in which 433 schoolteachers from Latvia and the Smolensk region of Russia participated. The aim of this article is to analyze the data of two national samples for the first component of the schoolteacher PI: Philosophy of the Profession. The data in both samples show very high support for the basic values and beliefs of the profession. The answers of the teachers of the two countries are well agreed, however certain differences in the data of Latvian and Russian teachers are observed. Some problems of the schoolteacher PI are identified that require attention of teachers, school administrators and education officials

PHILOSOPHY OF THE PROFESSION IN THE STRUCTURE OF SCHOOLTEACHER PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN LATVIAN AND RUSSIAN SAMPLES

The article presents the results of the international study of the professional identity (PI) of schoolteachers of Russia and Latvia. The six component model of the content of the PI is used in the study. According to this model, the questionnaire “School Teacher Professional Identity” was created and international survey organized in 2017, in which 433 schoolteachers from Latvia and the Smolensk region of Russia participated. The aim of this article is to analyze the data of two national samples for the first component of the schoolteacher PI: Philosophy of the Profession. The data in both samples show very high support for the basic values and beliefs of the profession. The answers of the teachers of the two countries are well agreed, however certain differences in the data of Latvian and Russian teachers are observed. Some problems of the schoolteacher PI are identified that require attention of teachers, school administrators and education officials

SCHOOL TEACHER OUTSIDE OF CLASS: SELF-REFLECTION OF PEDAGOGUES FROM LATVIA AND RUSSIA ON THEIR COOPERATION WITH COLLEAGUES

In this article teachers’ self-reflection on the cooperation with colleagues is considered. In the study the instruments elaborated in the framework of Latvian-Russian research project on modern teacher professional identity (2014 – 2018) were used: the six component model of the content of the teacher professional identity and the questionnaire “School Teacher Professional Identity”. In the international survey carried out in 2017 schoolteachers from Latvia and the Smolensk region of Russia participated; the total number of respondents was 437. The aim of the article is to analyze and compare the data of two national samples for the items of the questionnaire concerning the teachers’ self-reflection on the cooperation with colleagues, and reveal differences in views and attitudes of the urban and rural teachers from Latvia and Russia. In general, the mentioned items have relatively high scores in both national samples. At the same time certain differences between the data of Latvian and Russian respondents as well as the urban and rural subgroups of both countries are observed.

Problems of Competitive Strategy Choice According to Industry and Regional Factors

An essential condition for sustainable development and maintenance of long-term competitiveness of a company lies in the formulation of an adequate and appropriate strategy. Strategic decisions should be based on a correct understanding of the results of systematic analysis carried out by managers to form sustainable competitive advantages. The following aspects are contemplated: industry and regional conditions within the strategic areas of activity and interests of the organization, prevailing forms and types of strategic interactions, level of innovative potential of the industry and region, and specific influencing factors of macro and micro levels. However, not only the socio-economic significance (efficiency and rationality) of the decision itself is really important but also the speed, and even more precisely the timeliness of its implementation, predetermined by the dynamics of industry factors. This paper examines the relationship of innovative strategies recommended to companies with the stage of the industry life cycle, along with the specifics of territorial and regional factors. It is argued that the use of classical competition tools or the use of innovative ones, including radical strategic approaches depend on the specifics of industry and regional factors. As an example, the logic and directions of innovative solutions for an energy company are considered

No evidence of a positive effect of learning Chinese language as an L2 on spatial ability

Spatial ability (SA) was shown to be a robust predictor of success in various educational contexts, including STEM. Thus, ways to improve SA are of interest to educational psychology. There is some evidence that SA might be improved via learning character-based language, e.g. Chinese as a second language (CSL), however, the existing research is quite limited. The study aims to investigate an effect of CSL learning on SA in schoolchildren from Year 2 to Year 7. Current study employs a sample of Russian schoolchildren (N = 283), who learnt: English only, English and Spanish; or English and Chinese. Participants completed Raven’s progressive matrices and Mental rotation task at the age of 8 and again at the age of 14. Our data showed negligible group differences in the initial SA level at Year 2 (before learning second language). Similar negligible differences were found at Year 7. Regression analysis showed that SA was predicted by intelligence (Raven’s) and gender but not language learnt at both ages. This pattern of results indicates that learning a Chinese as a second language is unlikely to affect SA. Further research is needed to investigate whether other factors, such as length, intensity and context of learning, moderate this link

Quantitative investigation of reproduction of gonosomal condensed chromatin during trophoblast cell polyploidization and endoreduplication in the east-european field vole Microtus rossiaemeridionalis

Simultaneous determinations of DNA content in cell nuclei and condensed chromatin bodies formed by heterochromatized regions of sex chromosomes (gonosomal chromatin bodies, GCB) have been performed in two trophoblast cell populations of the East-European field vole Microtus rossiaemeridionalis: in the proliferative population of trophoblast cells of the junctional zone of placenta and in the secondary giant trophoblast cells. One or two GCBs have been observed in trophoblast cell nuclei of all embryos studied (perhaps both male and female). In the proliferative trophoblast cell population characterized by low ploidy levels (2–16c) and in the highly polyploid population of secondary giant trophoblast cells (32–256c) the total DNA content in GCB increased proportionally to the ploidy level. In individual GCBs the DNA content also rose proportionally to the ploidy level in nuclei both with one and with two GCBs in both trophoblast cell populations. Some increase in percentage of nuclei with 2–3 GCBs was shown in nuclei of the placenta junctional zone; this may be accounted for by genome multiplication via uncompleted mitoses. In nuclei of the secondary giant trophoblast cells (16–256c) the number of GCBs did not exceed 2, and the fraction of nuclei with two GCBs did not increase, which suggests the polytene nature of sex chromosomes in these cells. In all classes of ploidy the DNA content in trophoblast cell nuclei with the single GCB was lower than in nuclei with two and more GCBs. This can indicate that the single GCB in many cases does not derive from fusion of two GCBs. The measurements in individual GCBs suggest that different heterochromatized regions of the X- and Y-chromosome may contribute in GCB formation

Management of small innovational enterprise under the conditions of global competition : possibilities and threats

Purpose – The purpose of the article is to develop recommendations for overcoming threats and effective use of possibilities of development of small innovational enterprise in the process of its management under the conditions of global competition. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use the method of systemic and problem analysis, opposite tack, method of SWOT-analysis, and method of economic modeling. Findings – The authors determine the place and role of small innovational entrepreneurship in development of global markets and conduct SWOT-analysis of management of small innovational enterprise under the conditions of global competition. As a result of the research, the authors come to the conclusion that globalization of international markets is an objective process that takes place regardless of wish and realization of its importance and consequences by entrepreneurship. That’s why small innovational business would be under the threat of disappearance without adequate reaction to change of global markets. Originality/value – In order to restructure the process of management of small innovational enterprise for the conditions of global competition, this work offers proprietary recommendations for increase of effectiveness of management of small innovational enterprise under the conditions of global competition and develop the authors’ model of increase of effectiveness of management of small innovational enterprise under the conditions of global competition.peer-reviewe