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The paper will explore the contemporary position of humanities in the Republic of Croatia with regard to other sciences, especially the STEM area currently occupying the primary position in scientific and professional circles in relation to humanistic and social sciences whose meaning and historical value is lost and / or pushes into another plan. The aim of the paper is to present the contemporary position and reception of humanities in the contemporary Croatian society. Sources of research will include literature, media articles and reviews to fully address the social perception of humanities and offer possible solutions. The purpose of the paper is to raise awareness of the importance and value of humanities in the widest sense of its meaning and point to its unquestionable value as the foundation of the western civilization circle.
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Social sciences and humanities are experiencing the greatest challenges in the era of modern technologies – information and communication technologies. Information technologies (IT) have directly influenced the life and work of every individual. Personal computers have become an integral part of our knowledge and skills in our lives and work. In the second half of the twentieth century, and especially in the twentyfirst century, education, primarily higher education, has become of great importance both for the socialdevelopment and for the development and social promotion of individuals. Professional competencies have become crucial for assuming professional roles. The question of the market feasibility of certain types of education is the new dimension of education which is imposed as a standard. As a consequence, the education of programmers, information technology experts, has imposed itself as a state strategy and a market priority. In such circumstances, social sciences and humanities are suppressed as unprofitable, and there arises an absurd question and problem – whether social sciences and humanities make sense and what they should be. In order to analyse this problem and to answer the question on the meaning of social sciences and humanities, one may start from several research questions. Research questions are: is it necessary to develop education exclusively as an information technology education; whether giving an absolute priority to IT education is the answer to the direction in which education is to be developed; whether social sciences and humanities have overcome the concept of education; should both social sciences and humanities be re-assembled so that they can fit into the concept of modern information technology?
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Commercialization of higher education is consequence of the overall commercialization of life, which will be analyzed in this article from a historical and sociopedagogic perspective. This paper discusses the emergence and development of consumerism, not as an economic theory, but an imposed lifestyle and social ideology. Consumerism is the product of capitalist system which designs consumer behavior through manipulative media. Consumption became massive in the late 18th century and now in 21st century it has grown into unnecessary or non-functional items possession ideology. The aim of this paper is to give the pedagogical problematics frame in consumerism analyses and to encourage the profession through current questions to conduct further research. In order to comply with demands of such defined cause, relevant literature concerning various social sciences and recent research (from abroad) have been consulted on the topic of consumerism. The silence of the academic community is one of the important reasons for the rapid expansion of consumerism at all levels. In this paper we appeal for a greater involvement of scientists in researching this topic, especially in social sciences and humanities. Therefore, we hope that this article will inspire a broader academic debate from different perspectives and scientific areas over the current problem of commercialization of the life which results in the commercialization of higher education. This paper treats consumerism and commercialization of the life as a highly important pedagogical issue which has a great influence on children and young people nowadays so we think it should become the subject of theoretical and practical analysis of educational system.
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The modern university is a subject to notable changes during three previous decades. The Bologna concept of higher education is primarily focused on market principles and thus has caused stagnation in the field of social sciences and humanities, because the principle is not in accordance with the principles of critical thinking, which is a base of these sciences. Nowadays university is expected to be organised according to the model of market business, and this model requires that the knowledge is a profitable category. Socail sciences and humanities have never been able to be successful within market and commercial framework because their nature and role in the society is quite different. Technical and specialist concept of higher educationis primarily is concerned with the necessity of acquiring of certain skills necessary for economy and neglects the concept of education of an individual and development of his/her critical and free thinking. In this paper we will consider the consequences this concept have had on social sceinces and humanities, especially regarding the position of Sociology as an academic discipline at two public universities in the Republic of Srpska: University of Banja Luka and University of East Sarajevo. We will analyze all study programs from these two universities in order to check how the Bologna reform of higher education in syllabi neglects general educational subjects like Sociology. The general tendency is that study programs, especially natural and technical sciences, do not offer disciplines from social sciences and humanities. It is illusory to expect that pragmaticalness, positivism and market principles without critical discourse of social sciences and humanities lead to advancement and development of the society. Social sciences, especially Sociology, should have a much better position in the system of higher education because it is the only science whose theoretical and methodological apparatus is able to detect causal connections of social processes and problems and to offer solution for them as well.
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Understanding the intellectual history of the modern concept of education is incomplete if Plato’s perception of the paideia is excluded. Unified state education, a unique educational principle, a step-by-step educational process, the selection of citizens through education towards a certain profession are just some of the consequences which could be recognized even today. In terms of Ancient Greece,Plato can be called the reformer of traditional paideia. The role of the traditional paediatrician Plato is expressed through the ontological foundations of education,which also gives the rise to his social foundation. In order to bridge the gap between political power and philosophical knowledge, Plato postulates a common political and educational goal, which are united in a moral norm. The consequence of the decadence of education is also the consequence of the decadence of politics.According to this, education is born by all the burden of political as well as cultural life of the policy. Leaded by philosophical knowledge, it is a kind of constitution of the state, but also the only way to bridge the gap between human existence and its essence, realized in it and ,therefore, realized to the world of immortality. Therefore,the social context of education is impossible to fully understand if its ontological and logical foundation is excluded.
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In the paper “Career in the narratives of early adolescents” I set out to describe the selected aspects of constructing an identity during adolescence in the context of prospective professional development among young individuals, who seek to define their future selves. The paper also outlines the social and cultural context of constructing a career, which should potentially be addressed by young individuals long before they enter the labour market. The paper also describes the selected findings of my own concerning career narratives constructed by early adolescents, descriptions of selected career aspects provided by middle school students, and their personal predictions and plans on their prospective life as professionals.
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There is a quite big progress in the area of education on acceptance and tolerance towards multiculturalism. The main supporter of politics of multiculturalism is Will Kymlicka, and therefore I refer to his thoughts in this essay. However, in contemporary socio-cultural situation of Western civilization, we need something more than the mere acceptance of cultural diversity. It is worth promoting educational programmes that include themes related to the raising of citizens’ awareness of boundaries of self – both in the individual and group aspect. At the same time majority groups should be supported by some tools that would help them to protect their identities without harming others.
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The accommodation of children and young people of foreign descent to new life conditions and educational challenges abroad is a process that takes place primarily in the context of social interactions. The aim of the article below is to present selected experiences in terms of integrating schoolchildren of Polish origin in Germany. The author considers the presentation of school space as an integration microcosm of its own to be of particular importance. It is worth noting that the German educational system in the present form often discriminates against schoolchildren of foreign descent and limits the opportunities for further education. The author’s own empirical verifications served as the research illustration in the text. The verifications, though carried out on a small sample, indicate some timeless trends among young Polish immigrants.
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Professional career has become an increasingly frequently chosen subject of theoretical research based on numerous sciences, such as psychology, sociology, economics, pedagogy, and management. Constantly emerging, new theories of professional development provide a new perspective on this issue. A plethora of contemporary transformations obliges an individual to take responsibility for his or her own professional biography. If every person carries out a career, regardless of its quality, and if that career lasts for the person’s whole lifetime, both throughout the period of professional activity and the time of preparation preceding it, one can presume that the choice of career requires reflection and in-depth conceptual considerations, which proves its significance for the subject.
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Popular culture constitutes an inseparable part of social life. New forms and means of cultural expression continuously come into existence. Social, economic, and cultural changes influence popular culture, which in turn affects attitudes and behaviours of various social groups in a variety of manners. The phenomenon of popular culture is also discussed from the perspective of educational processes. The learning process involves shaping attitudes towards reception of culture and the need for life-long learning. Polysemic nature of popular culture inspires various activities and actions, including the emergence of new jobs, such as a fashion technician, leisure market researcher, or video filmmaker. Among the jobs of the future, the following new ones are listed: a manager in multicultural context, theme park animator, and social marketing specialist. According to the prognosis for the job market, a job of the future is the job which enables great opportunities of employment and professional career. Popular culture generates new professions. Popular culture is an area, where (…) intergenerational or intercultural encounters may take place. A pedagogue learns from the young people about the things that are of importance and value to them (…). What should be emphasised here is the task of self-creation which is a difficult, regardless of age.
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Being able to accurately monitor one’s own performance (i.e., keep track of learning process) is crucial for self-regulation, especially when learning from problem-solving tasks. Effective monitoring depends on students’ ability to use cues that are predictive for performance. These cues may include, for example, domain prior knowledge, which have been shown to have a positive relationship with monitoring accuracy. Inaccurate monitoring can lead to ineffective control, which may be harmful to the learning outcomes. As such, both accurate monitoring and adequate control seem to be crucial for effective self-regulation when learning from problem-solving tasks. Although problem-solving tasks play an important role in education, only very few studies have investigated the link between monitoring accuracy, control decisions, and performance in the context of problem solving. This paper reviews and discusses the findings of the existing research on monitoring and control in problem-solving tasks, while exploring the limitations of these studies as well as areas for future research.
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The present paper proposes an analysis of the behavioral factors relevant to economic growth and is based on the study of the relationship between the traditional economy and the behavioral economy. In this paper are presented different studies on some behavioral factors and how they have influenced macroeconomics and some recommendations for developing more effective policies to take these into account. Thus, it has been shown that there is a link between the level of intelligence, IQ, education and the welfare of a nation. This was an expected outcome as they contribute to increasing productivity and technical progress, fundamental elements for economic growth.
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The aim of the paper is to define important credit risk factors in the SME segment, find out how entrepreneurs evaluate these factors, and quantify the differences in their evaluation based on the enterprise’s age, gender and attained education level. An empirical research was conducted in relation to the defined aim. 1,141 responses were received by means of the online questionnaire. To process the results, the two-sample t-test was used. Statistical tools such as histogram, Q-Q graph, z-test, and goodness-of-fit tests were applied to verify the assumptions. The results indicate that small and medium-sized enterprises perceive credit risk more intensively in comparison with the pre-crisis era. It was also discovered that the SMEs’ knowledge of credit criteria is somewhat low. Entrepreneurs also state that banks’ credit criteria are not very transparent. Based on the findings, the length of operating a business has a significant influence on the evaluation of credit risk factors. Experienced entrepreneurs, meaning those operating a business for over 10 years, have a more intense perception of the significance of credit risk, they also have better knowledge of banks’ credit criteria, and view credit criteria as more transparent than beginner entrepreneurs. An interesting finding is that the length of operating a business reduces the differences in the evaluation of important credit risk factors in regard to entrepreneurs’ gender and age.
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Under the vision outlined in Thailand 4.0, critical thinking skills have become one of the key pillars of a new, knowledge-based economy. However, the 2015 Thailand Research Fund study that evaluated the logical thinking and analytical skills of 6,235 students in ten provinces of Thailand, found that the average score was 36.5%, with only 2.09% of all students passing. Recognizing the severity of the crisis, nine experts met in August 2017 as a focus group and were tasked by the researchers to help with the development of a new critical thinking learning management model. From this, a five-step learning management model was conceptualized, which the authors called the ‘PUSCU Model’. By means of cluster random sampling, 69 students were selected, from which two sub-groups were formed. One group of 35 experimental studies students, and one group consisting of 34 traditional learning students. The PUSCU model was tested for 16 weeks, from November 2016 through February 2017. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 21 software was used to conduct a one-way Multivariate Analysis Of Variance (MANOVA) to determine whether there were any differences between the control and the experimental groups. The results indicated that the experimental group had higher average scores in terms of critical thinking ability and academic achievement, and its members were satisfied with a high level of the model performance, particularly, with the instructor’s use of the developed learning materials.
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Ioan Teculescu, denominational elementary teacher, and then the Orthodox curate of Râșnov, was appointed in 1901 by the Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop of Transylvania Ioan Mețianu as protopope of Alba Iulia. In his new position, he remarked both pastorally and missionary, contributing for almost a quarter of a century to building the Romanian nation from Alba de Jos county. He was a cultural manager and the drive of the Romanian consciousness from Alba Iulia and surroundings and also manager of the local structure of the Association: Astra Alba Iulia Department between 1905-1923. We note that every day of his life in Alba Iulia and the Stone Land of the Apuseni Mountains was a mission day that the protopope-manager assumed, both religiously and culturally-nationally. We mention that this study underlines for the audience or reader sequences from his missionary activity, but also presents the general assemblies that he organised and hold as manager of the local office of the Association within this department between 1902 and 1924. Additionally, we notice him coordinating establishment and provide with book holdings the libraries for the nation in the most important communes from the spread area of this local structure of Astra. The study will also tackle the activity related to the Association of those who held lectures for the nation on different communes from the department, carried out educational activity by some elementary teachers or priests from the settlements of this local structure of Astra.
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In Galicia, religion as a school subject played an important role in education. Important components of it were liturgics and Biblical studies. School textbooks were the most important didactic tool in the process of education. Throughout the several decades when Galicia was autonomous, works by Ludwik Lewartowski, Antoni Tyc, Stanisław Puszet, Władysław Jougan, Tomasz Dąbrowski, and Szczepan Szydelski, among others, were used. In books that were updated over time, these authors tried to take into consideration didactic guidelines as well as the latest archaeological discoveries. Furthermore, there were numerous discussions in the press and during meetings of catechists whose purpose was the modernization of the process of education and increasing the educational impact on students.
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The article presents a qualitative research – a questionnaire survey performed in 2018, which involved representatives of general education school management and teachers, as well as 7-12 grade gymnasium students and their parents. The current study is a part of the research “The Conception of School Community of General Education School Progress in terms of the Good School Concept”. The article addresses the scientific problem that the viewpoint of general education school community towards school progress as well as the perception of its dissemination are not sufficiently analysed. The following problembase issues are formulated: what is the attitude of school community towards factors reflecting school progress best of all, who should be informed about school progress and why? The research object is school progress and the dissemination of information about it from the viewpoint of general education school community. The aim of the research is to reveal features of school progress identified by general education school community and dissemination of information about it. The statistical analysis of the questionnaire survey was performed using software SPSS Statistics17.0. Pearson’s non-parametric chi-squared (χ2) test, which helps to identify the statistical independence of variables.The research data reveals that personal maturity of pupils is the main feature of school progress. It is indicated by one-fourth of the participating teachers, students and their parents respectively. Learning outcomes corresponding to individual capabilities of every student is another important feature of school progress that is specified by onefourth of teachers and parents respectively. Nearly a fourth of students indicate continuous learning progress and their sport, art and creative achievements as an important feature of school progress. A half of the representatives of school administration and more than a third of teachers maintain that the main aim of disseminating information about school progress is an aspiration to make joint decisions by the school community regarding the improvement of school activity. Students and their parents associate it with the aim to provide information about the quality of student education and learning to the society.
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This research attempts to answer which is the most recommended structural equation model (SEM) technique while evaluating healthcare services’ quality in Cartagena de Indias city (Colombia). CB-SEM and PLSSEM techniques were used in this paper for comparing the results in the local context. For assessment, robust weighted least squares with mean and variance adjustments (WLS) for CB-SEM technique and PLSSEM with centroid scheme were utilized. Data were collected with a final valid sample of 582 adults aged over 18 years, residents of Cartagena city. Also used was a questionnaire designed in three parts: demographic profiles, quality perceptions (overall quality services, infrastructure, coverage, and access), and satisfaction levels. In terms of quality, the findings reveal that infrastructure and access have a significant effect on service quality levels and this variable has a strong effect on satisfaction for both techniques. In term of structural equation model (SEM) techniques, the results indicate that coverage does not present a significant effect on service quality only in CB-SEM technique. In this case, the positive association between coverage and overall services quality was rejected. Both techniques were validated with different results, concluding the applicability of CB-SEM and PLS-SEM in this context.
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This article considers the relation between gender and cooperation, measured on the basis of the “Public Goods” game and a questionnaire. Previous studies have not been able to give a clear indication of whether males or females pay more into a common pool, i.e. does one sex show a greater tendency to cooperate? This research presents new results in this field, since it was carried in Poland, where no such large-scale studies have been previously carried out. The study involving 1540 Polish students was carried out in 2014. Three experimental games were used, including the standard one-shot “Public Goods” game. The results of the study did not find any significant differences in the mean levels of cooperative behaviour based on behaviour in the “Public Goods” game between males and females, although there were some differences between the distributions. There is no clear association between behaviour in this game and home region or the size of a student’s home town. On the other hand, there were some clear differences between males’ and females’ declarations regarding aspects of cooperation. In addition, females demonstrated greater variation in their attitudes according to the region and the size of a home town.
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