Within the field of Jungian inspirations: Education as an “impulse to full development”?

The educational aims of the educational reform which is now well underway come in the form of measurable and material indicators such as the results of the external test, educational added value or test pass rate with respect to the secondary school final examinations. There is no doubt that until recently such terminology was reserved for economics. It is worth remembering that the primary aim of education, as declared in the Education Act, is “to provide an impulse to full development of each student”. By its nature, such an aim is non-measurable and intangible. The paper shows that education subordinated to external examinations is a barrier to the comprehensive development of the young as defined in Jung’s theory. Basic functions concerning reception and valuation of information in relation to the formal requirements laid down for the secondary school final examination in Polish were analysed. The nature of these requirements may lead to the dominance of sensing-thinking type in the comprehensive cognition of a human personality. Other preferences may prove useless or simply harmful. Jung’s theory helps point out that educational requirements subordinated to measurable indicators are painfully one-sided. Consequently, they pose a serious risk of developmental fragmentation.

Cognitive and social development in the light of parents’ and teachers’ interpersonal expectancy

The quality of the cognitive and social development of a child, and, in consequence, their education process, are determined in a significant way by inaccurate expectations, i.e. too low or too high expectations on the part of the parents and/or teachers. This phenomenon is especially observable among children whose alleged handicap in the domain of cognitive and/or social functioning, propelled by the expected cognitive, emotional and behavioral limitations, could, by means of the self-fulfilling prophecy mechanism, transform into a real handicap. Analyzing the relation between false expectations and children’s performance, researchers have proven that even a small-sized effect, in the order of r = 2, usually observed in research on the expectation phenomenon, results in an increase or decrease in the dynamics of cognitive and social development among 10% different-expectancy children. In the article there are discussed the results of classic and contemporary research on the impact of different expectancies on children’s developmental achievement and mechanisms which serve to explain the above mentioned relations.

Commercialization of parenting – new aspect of early adulthood

For market specialists no group of consumers is lost. That is why the developmental task of taking on a parental role is automatically combined with the commercialization of parenting. This phenomenon relies on the redefinition of motherhood and fatherhood in terms of the market. Two main tendencies can be observed. The first one is connected with the important description of a parent as a consumer, e.g. treating them as investors, or relating to a typology of shopping mothers. The second one is connected with using psychology for projecting consumer behaviors, e.g. the analysis of parents’ vulnerability to the nag factor or milestone marketing. The possible consequences and the ways to control the commercialization of parenting will be discussed.

Teachers’ beliefs concerning the possibility of modeling pupils’ moral character

The main aim of the present investigation is to gain knowledge about teachers’ beliefs concerning the possibility of modeling pupils’ moral character. The main components in the process of moral education are a teacher’s personality, awareness of their role in education, their skills and competencies and belief in the possibility of infl uencing their pupils. In view of these facts it has been agreed that there should be conducted a study to examine how teachers assess their own abilities and skills in modeling their pupils’ character, and how they see teachers’ overall possibilities in this area.
The research used a questionnaire “Character Education Effi cacy Belief Instrument” developed by Milson and Mehlig (2002). This tool measures teachers’ beliefs concerning their effectiveness of modeling pupils’ moral character. There are two scales used in this measurement. The first scale allows to assess teachers’ personal effectiveness of teaching (personal teaching efficacy – PTE) and the second one allows to assess general effectiveness of teaching (general teaching efficacy – GTE). There were 218 people involved in the research (83% were women, and 17% men). The results show a signifi cant difference between the assessment of personal teaching effectiveness (PTE) and general teaching effectiveness (GTE). Respondents (teachers) evaluate their own abilities in modeling their pupils’ moral characters higher than the general ability of teachers in this respect. Three factors were taken into account in the analysis: teacher’s gender, type of school where the respondents work and subjects they teach.

The feedback passed on by teachers as viewed by secondary school pupils

Feedback is a necessary element in the process of education and development. The efficiency of feedback depends on the way it is passed on: constructively (e.g. positive comment, constructive criticism indicating how one should improve their behaviour) or destructively (e.g. labeling,  destructive criticism, negative opinion without any additional comment, or generalisation). This article contains the results of research based on the opinions expressed by secondary school pupils (N = 250) on the subject of the ways in which teachers pass their feedback in two types of situations: connected with education and school behaviour. FN questionnaire including 16 situations (8 educational and 8 connected with school behaviour) was applied in the research, presenting pupils’ positive or negative behaviour. To each of the situations 5 possible types of teacher feedback were presented. The pupils’ task was to indicate which type of feedback they received (came across) most often, and what kind of feedback they would like to receive. The main aim of the research was to (1) check what kind of feedback predominated in the teacher-pupil communication, (2) obtain the data about possible divergences between the actual state and expected one in the process of communication between pupils and teachers.

The role of music classes in the development of preschool age children

The influence of music on human beings has been long known. More and more studies indicate a connection between the development of musical abilities and the formation of cognitive functions in children. The aim of the presented studies was to evaluate the impact of regular participation in music classes on the selected aspects of development in preschool children. Obtained results demonstrate that methodical musical stimulation plays a signifi cant role in musical development, contributes to the increase of perceptual-motor integration and auditory memory, and enlarges ambidextrous motor efficiency.

Sprawozdanie z Międzynarodowej Konferencji Naukowej „Edukacja matematyczna dzieci (Children’s Mathematical Education – CME 2010). Motywacja poprzez naturalne zróżnicowanie”.
Iwonicz-Zdrój, 24–29 sierpnia 2010

RECENZJA

S. Trusz (2010), Efekt oczekiwań interpersonalnych w edukacji, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego