Authors:Simona Kontrimienė Pages: 11 - 26 Abstract: [full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English] The science of education recognises the fusion of cognitive and spiritual development, but conceptions of spirituality vary herein: spirituality is often viewed as authenticity, the process of continually transcending one’s current locus of centricity as well as connectedness and recognition of the higher power that illuminates the meaning of human existence; spirituality may also implicate a critical view, which serves as a counterbalance to traditional religiousness, or an independent being in the world and transrational experiences. In Lithuania, the phenomenon of spirituality is often conceptualised as a person‘s adequate relationship with the world based on fundamental spiritual values (Jovaiša, 2011; Bitinas, 2000; Aramavičiūtė, 2005, 2010; Martišauskienė, 2004; 2011), and its development is closely tied with moral, aesthetic and religious education. The system of internalized spiritual values determines true, belief-inspired knowledge, which is critical in the advancement of spirituality. Importantly, education of spirituality helps to achieve transcendence, an essential component of spirituality which implies belief in the supernatural reality and an ability to transcend the self and shape a holistic view of the world. In institutions of higher education such education may be enabled through three types of activities (White, 2006): (1) academic curricular activities (students’ mind/body connection), (2) reflective time and space (students’ spirituality “within”) and (3) social servant action (students’ spirituality “without”). PubDate: 2019-01-22 DOI: 10.15388/ActPaed.41.12371 Issue No:Vol. 41 (2019)
Authors:M. Candace Christensen, Inci Yilmazli Trout, Beatrix Perez Pages: 27 - 45 Abstract: [full article, abstract in English; abstract in Lithuanian] This project focuses on the learning experiences of master of social work students in an advanced community practice course. The primary pedagogical method for the class was participatory action research, specifically the photovoice method. The MSW students completed a photovoice project focused on campus sexual violence in which they recruited students, outside the class, as participants. As coursework, students generated reflection papers, responses to readings, and focus group notes. These artifacts constituted the data for this project. The data analysis included grounded theory methods and a focus on post-truth politics, from which three categories emerged: (a) supporting cultural competence, (b) facilitating self-awareness (c) and viewing truth as multifaceted. PubDate: 2019-01-22 DOI: 10.15388/ActPaed.41.12372 Issue No:Vol. 41 (2019)
Authors:Justina Garbauskaitė-Jakimovska Pages: 46 - 57 Abstract: [full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English] In the academic community, it is becoming more outspoken that the traditional tools for perceiving the world have become not sufficient. The existing research methods used by social scientists are not flexible enough – they are unnecessarily simplifying the world and the processes that are happening in it. In order to address this issue, scientists started to question the procedures that are followed in order to explain the everyday processes, activities of organizations and individuals, but would not reduce them to something that can be known by observing or surveying a few informants or a few hundred of respondents. Rebecca Coleman and Jessica Ringrose, in an introduction to a book edited by them that is titled Deleuze and Research Methodologies, note the “need for methodologies capable of attending to the social and cultural world as mobile, messy, creative, changing and openended, sensory and affective” (Ringrose, Coleman 2013, 1). This article is aiming to expand the scientific discourse on the topic of post-research methodology in Lithuania. The objectives of the article are the following: 1) To describe the main philosophical ideas and theories that are connected to postqualitative research methodology; 2) To relate the theories and empirical research practice; 3) To describe new concepts: rhizoanalysis, schizoanalysis; 4) To highlight the tensions that are appearing in conducting postqualitative research. The main aspects that the article is focused on are the changing attitude toward data, the importance of philosophy, language, research procedures and the presentation of results. This article is based on an analysis of literature. Analyzed are the works of research methodology experts Elisabeth St. Pierre, Lisa Mazzei, Jessica Ringrose and those others who follow the ideas of the poststructuralists Deleuze and Guattari and take the initiative in bringing new perspectives on research in educational sciences. PubDate: 2019-01-22 DOI: 10.15388/ActPaed.41.12373 Issue No:Vol. 41 (2019)
Authors:Allison Wynhoff Olsen Pages: 58 - 71 Abstract: [full article, abstract in English; abstract in Lithuanian] “Learning” is defined and constructed in classrooms as teachers and students interact through the use of language. As such, “learning” is situated language practices. Theories of socially- constructed uses of language and interactions provide foundation for this work. Through a microethnographic discourse analysis, the findings show a teacher and students constructing shared cultural models of “learning,” holding each other accountable to particular academic and pedagogical practices as well as uses of academic language. The teacher employed linguistic strategies to make visible and engage students in the academic language and “thinking” practices that counted as “learning.” PubDate: 2019-01-22 DOI: 10.15388/ActPaed.41.12374 Issue No:Vol. 41 (2019)
Authors:Ingrida Žemaitėlytė-Ivanavičė Pages: 72 - 86 Abstract: [full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English] Constructing the research was tried to find out roma students’ perception of identity to school community and describe the successful experience in that context. It’s trying to consider who is the roma student at secondaryschool: the representative of ethic minority, the member of school community or another. His experience at schoool we should consider the problem or the success of achieved for a long period of time result' Which identity is formed within school community and how it influences behavior at school' Can we control this process and whether we have to do that' In order to find out how roma people percept their group, their identity, relationship with another-school culture and expression of this perception, research is based on ethnographic methodology, and students are observed in their daily learning and intercourse space-at school. Ethnographic research methodology has helped to reveal in which way the roma student is thinking (interview method) and how he is behaving himself (observation method) at secondary school. Research revealed that roma students’, studying in the main classes of the school, formation as student’s identity is taking place applying three different behavior models: 1) Demonstrative refusal to adopt a school culture (although it is well percepted ) and it’s ignoring is inherent to the first model; 2) Full school culture’s adoption, assimilation and levelling is inherent to the second model; 3) Having no decision and partial adoption of school culture and standarts : in one situation accepting the school culture and in others deliberately ignoring it. All these behavior models can be considered successful. Those students, who choose the second model and absolute leveling, achieve higher academic results and school community adoption. However, this group of students is most likely to lose their roma identity, they found new identity-following the rules, obeying authority, literate roma. The only question is this still the identity of roma' Meanwhile, roma, who reject integration in advance continue to cherish their ethnic group’s traditions, their choice of assimilation rejection we have to respect also. The most complicated question arises considering about students attributed to the third behavior model or undecided: it’s not clear whether the education system has to try for their supposed „salvation“ or allow to make decisions themselves naturally rising from dialogue with society. PubDate: 2019-01-22 DOI: 10.15388/ActPaed.41.12375 Issue No:Vol. 41 (2019)
Authors:Jūratė Litvinaitė Pages: 87 - 111 Abstract: [full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English] There is a clear notion in society of what is a “real teacher”; there are many discourses describing in detail the kind of a teacher that is considered good, how one should look and behave, and what is good “teaching.” This knowledge did not come from a deep psychological recognition of the teachers or their personal traits; it is simply a constructed set of traits and behaviors that need to be mastered by a person striving to become a teacher. A teacher must match a teacher’s homunculus. This is a newly introduced notion in education sociology, constructed on the basis of the notion of a sociological homunculus, proposed by the sociologist Zenonas Norkus (1996). The teacher’s homunculus is described as a historically and virtuously formed sociological construct that universally describes the concept of a teacher rooted in the society – a standard of a sort, the meeting of which legitimizes a teacher’s work. The teacher’s homunculus rises as a common image that includes all teachers and combines their various practices; it blossoms in the mundane speech and is used as the standard of evaluation of the teachers’ work: “all teachers are the same,” “you know a teacher when you see one” etc. It also finds its way to the consciousness of the teachers themselves, like a screenplay of their professional work and behavior, like a role that has a historical tradition prescribed to them by society. How the image of a teacher – this homunculus – Is created in the consciousness of other social agents, how it pierces through to the teachers’ concepts of themselves – all of this was very widely analyzed by the representatives of the “new education sociology.” The authors discussed in this article – P. Bourdieu, P. Brown, P. Trowler and A. Luke – found the positions of agents from other fields toward teachers. The insights and reasoning of the sociologists revealed that other social agents see the teachers only as an executant of certain functions, a “marionette” – a homunculus without a will. The construct of the teacher’s homunculus is also characteristic to the participants of educational field and to the teachers themselves. As the abovementioned sociologists discovered, the teacher’s image – one’s look, behavior, views, lifestyle – are conservative and deeply rooted into the consciousness of various social agents. A person ready to become a teacher has to gain not only the credentials giving the right to teach but a place of work and the look that will represent him or her. It is, first and foremost, the acknowledgement of others of you as a teacher (Alsup, 2008). The features of a teacher’s look, behavior and style are heavily shaped by the popular culture. Pre-school children already have a clear vision of how their teachers will look and behave. Research shows that this expectation motivates teachers to construct a corresponding image (Weber, Mitchell, 2003). Speech is one of the distinctive features of a teacher. Yet speech is not the content being said; it is a means by which relations are created and fulfilled (Bernstein, 1996). The teacher’s homunculus is also perceived as full of discipline – one always abides by the rules and seeks that everyone else does the same (Foucault, 1998). It is revealed in this study that a teacher’s image and the functions prescribed to a teacher – the notion of a teacher’s homunculus – impact the teachers’ concepts of themselves, their positions in the field of education and the behavior and views toward teachers shared by other agents of society. Z. Norkus (1996) has said that a homunculus is described based on the expectations of a society; one’s image becomes a part of an identity and constructs the role that one plays. Empirical research was carried out to analyze how all this appears in practice. This article presents the results of qualitative study carried out using the role-construction method. The research was carried out during 2017–2018; 21 informants, 16 teachers who used to or still are teaching in schools around Lithuania, and 5 principals took part in this research. Almost all participants admitted that “outside” forces have the most impact on the teachers’ concepts of themselves and their professional work. Research shows that a teacher feels as if unable to avoid being put under control, because the teacher is an easily recognizable homunculus and always feels the demand to be prepared for control and assessment by other agents in the environment. Most participants of the research noted that various social formations produce quite a negative image of the teacher. The teacher’s homunculus, developed by these formations, is very limited, tired and an unreliable executor. Speaking of the homunculus created by the social agents of the school field, it is obvious that it is constructed based on the traditional notion of a teacher. The school’s administration, the parents, the pupils, the universities and institutes of higher education that prepare the teachers and the teachers themselves – they all impact the construction of the teacher’s homunculus in the school field. The teachers seem to be sure that they can be teachers only when they meet the standards of the homunculus. These “standards” are brought to them by the authorities – the school’s administration or the principal, for example. The informants that took part in this study believe that a large segment of principals, parents and pupils do not respect the teachers, doubt their professionalism and competency to do their jobs properly; they limit the work opportunities of the teachers. The distrust in teachers presents itself as... PubDate: 2019-01-22 DOI: 10.15388/ActPaed.41.12376 Issue No:Vol. 41 (2019)
Authors:Akvilė Giniotaitė Pages: 112 - 126 Abstract: [full article and abstract in Lithuanian; abstract in English] One of the key practices in school is managing knowledge and passing it on to individuals who are still developing as individuals. However, school is a normative institution, and it is expected that students will take over legitimate, acknowledged and generally cherished society values; in other words, it is expected that students will know how to “be a person.” As the world is constructed, it then constructs us. Knowing this, it is worth analyzing what discourse and what practices are being constructed in school from a heteronormative point of view. Postmodernism questions structures and hierarchies; it seeks to deconstruct the given; therefore, it provides tools and resources to rethink education and the reality that is constructed by education on both the personal and structural levels. The discussion itself about sexual “minorities” is only possible in the context of a normative system. One truth eliminates coexisting truths, in this way creating “alternative” truths with a minority status. Thus, minority often becomes minimized, reduced and degraded. One cultivated truth constitutes a normative society and pushes out parallel forms of being a human. It is, then, not only decided what a true human being really is but also what is just a human being. This way, we learn about just “masculinity” and just “femininity.” To analyze what sort of an immunity to heteronormativity do teachers have and may possibly pass on to their students, 6 interviews were conducted. Questions regarding sexuality education, the concepts of masculinity and femininity, atypical gender expressions, homosexuality, homophobia and coming out were discussed. Every teacher is a member of their society and is being affected by societal norms and the media; therefore, it is important to understand what kind of experience, knowledge and attitude teachers have related to gender topics. It affects the knowledge that is passed on to students. When one knows the position of the teachers, one can understand if heteronormativity is being postulated or questioned in a postmodern manner. PubDate: 2019-01-22 DOI: 10.15388/ActPaed.41.12377 Issue No:Vol. 41 (2019)
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