2020 Vol. 60, No. 2

2020 Vol. 60, No. 2

© Copyright by Wydawnictwo Adam MarszałekToruń 2020

ISSN 1732-6729

Publikacja “The New Educational Review” w języku angielskim oraz udostępnienie wersji cyfrowej w wolnym dostępie to zadania finansowane w ramach umowy 525/P-DUNdem/2018 ze środków Ministra

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CONTENTS

Stanisław JuszczykEditor’s Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

� SOCIALPEDAGOGYLenka Ďuricová, Estera Frgelcová

Development of Self-concept in Slovak Adolescents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Pavel Izrael, Mária Karasová, Melissa M. Yang

Parental Mediation of Digital Media Use Among Children Aged 3-8 from the Perspective of Parents’ Media Competence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Abdul Manaf, Badrun Kartowagiran, HarunCharacter and Values of Junior High School Students in the Coastal Area , Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Nina Pidbutska, Anastasiia KnyshError-Oriented Motivation of Turkish Students During their Adaptation to a Foreign University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Zahra Masood Bhutta, Hina Ali, Salahuddin BhuttoJob Design in Career Context: Empirical Evidence from Higher Educational Institutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Cláudia Andrade, Emilia Żyłkiewicz-Płońska, Karol KonaszewskiPlans to Combine Work and Family in Portuguese and Polish Emerging Adults: Effects of Gender and Work Experience . . . 71

� GENERAL DIDACTICSĽubomíra Valovičová, Eva Sollárová

Effects of an Empirical Cognition Development Programme on the Creative Thinking of Preschool Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

4 Contents

Alla M. Kolomiiets, Ievgen V. Gromov, Lesia I. Kolomiiets, Iryne O. Mazaikina, Dmytro I. Kolomiiets

Work with Foreign Scientific Editions as an Effective Factor in Motivating Undergraduates to Improve their Foreign Language Competency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Sintha Sih Dewanti, Yulia Ayriza, Farida Agus SetiawatiThe Application of Item Response Theory for Development of a Students’ Attitude Scale Toward Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Natalia Dmitrenko, Inna Dolia, Sofiya Nikolaeva Soft Skills Development of Prospective Educators by Means of Problem-Based ESP Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Katarzyna Krasoń“Man of Glass”, or Art Therapy through Theatre in a Group of Underprivileged Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

� PEDEUTOLOGYKálmán Sántha

Using Unstructured Cognitive Maps to Analyse the Reflective Thinking of Teachers: Results of Qualitative Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Lee G. BaraquiaDevelopment of a Teacher Grit Scale (TGS) : Predicting the Performance of Educators in the Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Ariesya Aprillia, Rony Setiawan, Nonie Magdalena Measurement of Lecturer Satisfaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

Iryna Androshchuk, Valentyna Balakhtar, Kateryna Balakhtar, Petro Oleshko

Creativity as a Factor in the Psychological Well-being of Teachers of Higher Educational Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

CONTRIBUTORS

Ali Hina PhD, Assistant Professor, Economics Department, The Womens University, Multan, Pakistan

Andrade Cláudia Polytechnic of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

Email: [email protected]

Androshchuk Iryna

Institute of Management and Psychology of the State Higher Educational Institu-tion “University of Educational Manage-ment” of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine


Aprillia Ariesya M.Si., Lecturer, Maranatha Christian University, Bandung, Indonesia

E-mail: [email protected]

Ayriza Yulia PhD, Lecturer, Yogyakarta State Univer-sity, Yogyakarta, Indonesia


Balakhtar Valentyna

Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi, Ukraine


Balakhtar Kateryna

Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, Chernivtsi, Ukraine


Baraquia Lee G. PhD, Zamboanga del Sur National High School, Pagadian City, Philippines


Bhutto Salahuddin

MS in Business Administration, Lecturer, Management Sciences Department, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Multan, Pakistan

Bhutta Zahra Masood

PhD, HoD/Assistant Professor, Manage-ment Science Department, National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Multan, Pakistan


Dewanti Sintha Sih

M.Pd.Si, Student, Doctor Program in Research and Evaluation Education Graduate School of Yogyakarta State University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

Dmitrenko Natalia

PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Methods of Foreign Language Teaching, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine


Dolia Inna PhD, Senior Lecturer, Department of Methods of Foreign Language Teaching, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine


mailto:[email protected]





















6 Contributors

Ďuricová Lenka PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia


Frgelcová Estera Student, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Matej Bel Univer-sity in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia


Gromov Ievgen V. PhD, Head of R&D Department, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine


Harun PhD, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia


Izrael Pavel Mgr., PhD, Department of Journalism, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovakia


Kálmán Sántha PhD, Associate Professor, Kodolányi János University, Institute for Social Well-being, Orosháza, Hungary


Karasová Mária PaedDr., PhD, Department of Pre-school and Elementary Education, Faculty of Education, Catholic University in Ružomberok, Slovakia


Kartowagiran Badrun

PhD, Professor, Educational Research and Evalution, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia


Knysh Anastasiia PhD (Candidate of Psychological Sciences), Associate Professor, Depart-ment of Pedagogy and Psychology, Social Systems Management named after Academician I. Ziaziun, National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytech-nic Institute”, Kharkiv, Ukraine


Kolomiiets Alla M.

PhD, Professor, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine


Kolomiiets Dmytro I.

PhD, Professor, Life Safety Department, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Vinnytsia


Kolomiiets Lesia I.

PhD, Associate Professor, Psychology and Social Work Department, Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogi-cal University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine


Konaszewski Karol

PhD, University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland





















7Contributors

Krasoń Katarzyna PhD, Professor, University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Education, Katowice, Poland


Magdalena Nonie M.Si., Lecturer, Maranatha Christian University, Bandung, Indonesia


Manaf Abdul PhD student, Educational Research and Evalution, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia


Mazaikina Iryne O.

PhD, Associate Professor, Foreign Languages Department, Vinnytsia National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsia, Ukraine


Nikolaeva Sofiya PhD, Professor, Department of Foreign Language Methodology Teaching and Information and Communication Technologies, Kyiv National Linguistic University, Kyiv, Ukraine


Oleshko Petro Vоlуn Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogi-cal Education, Lutsk, Ukraine


Pidbutska Nina PhD, Professor, Department of Pedagogy and Psychology, Social Systems Manage-ment named after Academician I. Ziaziun, National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”, Kharkiv, Ukraine


Setiawan Rony M.M., Lecturer, Maranatha Christian University, Bandung, Indonesia


Setiawati Farida Agus

PhD, Lecturer, Yogyakarta State Univer-sity, Yogyakarta, Indonesia


Sollárová Eva Prof PhDr., CSc. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Education, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia


Valovičová Ľubomíra

PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia

Yang Melissa M. PhD, Professor, School of Communica-tion, Endicott College, Endicott College, Beverly, USA


Żyłkiewicz-Płońska Emilia

PhD, University of Białystok, Białystok, Poland



















Editor’s Preface

The second number of The New Educational Review in 2020 is the sixtieth issue of our journal since its foundation in 2003. In this issue, there are mainly papers from: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Ukraine, and the USA, because our journal is open for presentation of scientific papers from all over the world.

In the present issue the International Editors’ Board have proposed the follow-ing subject sections: Social Pedagogy, General Didactics, and Pedeutology.

In the subject section “Social Pedagogy” we publish six articles. The aim of the cross-sectional study by Lenka Ďuricová and Estera Frgelcová is to map the development of self-concept in adolescents in terms of the Piers-Harris domain approach as well as to capture gender specifics, if any, in the process of its forma-tion. The paper by Pavel Izrael, Mária Karasová and Melissa M. Yang intends to examine the relationship between parental mediation and parental digital media competence within households of children aged three to eight. The purpose of the research described by Abdul Manaf, Badrun Kartowagiran and Harun is to describe the character and values of students in the coastal area of Indonesia. In their article Nina Pidbutska and Anastasiia Knysh describe the problem of error-oriented motivation of Turkish students during the adaptation process to a foreign university (on the example of a Ukrainian university). The study pre-sented by Zahra Masood Bhutta, Hina Ali and Salahuddin Bhutto focuses on the Fried et al., (2007) conceptual framework which examines the impact of job char-acteristics on employees’ satisfaction and how career stage and career advancement moderates these effects. The research conducted by Cláudia Andrade, Emilia Żyłk-iewicz-Płońska and Karol Konaszewski, concerning plans to combine work and family roles in emerging adults enrolled in higher education, has focused mainly on gender differences with a few studies devoted to cross-cultural comparisons.

In the subject section “General Didactics” we publish five articles. Ľubomíra Valovičová and Eva Sollárová verify the applicability of physical experiment in

Stanisław Juszczyk

10 Stanisław Juszczyk

the empirical cognition of preschool children and its effect on the development of their creative thinking. The article by Alla M. Kolomiiets and her co-workers is devoted to the problem of how to increase the motivation of undergraduates in pedagogical universities to develop their foreign language competency. The aim of the study by Sintha Sih Dewanti, Yulia Ayriza and Farida Agus Setiawati is construction, validation, and analysis of the characteristics of attitude scale items, and to determine students’ attitudes towards mathematics. The article by Natalia Dmitrenko, Inna Dolia and Sofiya Nikolaeva deals with the implementation of problem-based ESP learning in the educational process of prospective educators and shows its impact on the development of soft skills. In her paper Katarzyna Krasoń presents influencing with art and influencing through art, aiming at the creation of situations which support the potential of individuals, especially in the case of children from backgrounds with ineffective parenting.

In the subject section “Pedeutology” we publish four articles. The qualitative study by Kálmán Sántha looks for an answer to the question whether a cognitive map is suitable for the discovery of teachers’ reflections. The research by Lee G. Baraquia aims to develop and validate a Teacher Grit Scale and determine its predictive validity for performance. Ariesya Aprillia, Rony Setiawan and Nonie Magdalena describe research in which they analyse the extent of lecturers’ sat-isfaction with regard to the gap between the satisfaction experienced and what is expected. The article by Iryna Androshchuk et al. reveals the importance of creativity in achieving psychological well-being in teachers of higher educational institutions and substantiates the feasibility of its study.

We hope that this edition, like previous ones, will encourage new readers not only from Central European countries to participate in an open international discussion. On behalf of the International Editors’ Board I would like to invite representatives of different pedagogical sub-disciplines and related sciences to publish their texts in The New Educational Review, according to the formal as well as essential requirements placed on our website: https://tner.polsl.pl – For Authors.

Social Pedagogy

Development of Self-concept in Slovak Adolescents

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.01

Abstract The aim of the cross-sectional study is to map the development of self-concept in adolescents in terms of the Piers-Harris domain approach as well as to cap-ture gender specifics, if any, in the process of its formation. Research involved 290 adolescents, divided in three age categories. The Piers-Harris Children’s and Adolescents´ Self-Concept Scale (Obereignerů et al., 2015) was used as the research tool. Results do not indicate statistically significant differences between groups of adolescents in their overall self-concept by age, except in certain self-concept dimensions. More specific results are provided by the gender analysis of age differences. Over time, change in physical self-concept (PHY) occurs in boys, and changes in behavioural self and anxiety (BEH, FRE) occur in girls. Results of the study can be taken into consideration by all school professionals in their work.

Key words: adolescence, self-concept, development, gender differences

Introduction

Results of studies have shown that self-concept is a multi-dimensional construct consisting of several interlinked yet different specific aspects (Zlatkovic, Stojiljk-ovic, Djigic & Todorovic, 2012). Piers and Herzberg (2002) state that individuals maintain relatively consistent beliefs about themselves that develop and stabilize during childhood. From a global perspective, the term self-concept refers to sub-

Lenka ĎuricováSlovakiaEstera FrgelcováSlovakia

14 Lenka Ďuricová, Estera Frgelcová

jective self-perception in relation to important aspects of life. Although shaped by biological and cultural factors, these perceptions are formed primarily through the interaction of the individual with the environment during childhood. Over time an individual’s self-concept may change in response to environmental or develop-mental changes. However, these changes do not occur rapidly. Also, according to Franken (in Bharathi & Sreedevi, 2016), self-concept is formed by the individual through interaction with the environment. He considers this aspect of self-concept important because it indicates that it can be modified.

Self-concept stability is relatively low in childhood, it increases during adoles-cence and early adulthood. With age, self-perception becomes much more detailed and organized, because we form a better idea of who we are and what is important for us. During adolescence, several biological changes occur, such as sexual mat-uration; psychological and social changes such as formation of a basic identity, construction of a social identity take place; there is a shift in relationships from family to peers, and independence from adult control is increasing. Relationships become more intimate in comparison with the earlier period (Mahmud, 2005; Sarková, 2010). Changes in all areas of development transform a young person’s vision of the self. During adolescence the main development of self-concept is in the way a person thinks about himself or herself, and about his or her properties. The adolescent is capable of thinking about abstract issues and applies more devel-oped mental processes when encountering information. The fact that people show different behaviour and feeling in different situations results in differentiation of adolescents´ self-concept (Kameli & Ghooshchy, 2011). Adolescent self-concept becomes more differentiated and organized, more psychological, abstract, coherent and integrated. The adolescent becomes a sophisticated theorist of the self, capable of distinguishing and understanding the functioning of their own personality (Bharathi & Sreedevi, 2016). For the development of an identity and self-con-cept, physical appearance is important and this is precisely the area where many changes come about. Girls mature faster than boys and are more dissatisfied with their bodies and physical appearance than boys (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). In the emotional area, adolescents experience emotional ups and downs, which is asso-ciated with hormonal changes. Especially in early adolescence, adolescents may appear moody, over-sensitive, impulsive and aggressive. Their emotional reactions are short-term, but intense and expressive. The high level of moodiness and emo-tional instability fades away in middle and late adolescence. In social development, there are changes in roles, and relationships with family and peers. Parents can help their children adjust to puberty by maintaining close relationships, being patient, supporting and helping adolescents to accept themselves and cope with

15Development of Self-concept in Slovak Adolescents

all physical and social changes (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). Some longitudinal studies focusing on global self-concept show its decline during the transition from ele-mentary to secondary school and then an increase during the following adolescent years (Marsh, 1989; Wigfield et al., 1991; Eccles et al., 1993; Cole, Maxwell et al., 2001 in Kuzucu, Bontempo, Hofer, Stallings & Piccinin, 2014). Results of an older domain-specific study by Crain and Bracken (1994) show that adolescents in the age group 10–11 years have a significantly higher total self-concept than 15–16 year old adolescents. In their recent study, Kuzucu et al. (2014) find differences between boys and girls in some aspects of multi-dimensional self-concept at the age of 12, but their measuring does not show any significant differences between groups by age. The discrepancy between the older and the more recent research findings has prompted our interest in the development of self-concept. Although gender roles have become less relevant over time (Chrisler & Murray, 2011), gender is still fundamental to the understanding of human behaviour. It signals a person’s social status, reflects on the content of roles during the person’s socialization, and therefore this variable will also be taken into account in our study.

Research Problem Self-concept is a complex construct, so focusing on global self-concept is not

sufficient (Van den Bergh & De Rycke, 2003; Young & Mroczek, 2003). There-fore, attention should be paid to multi-dimensional models of self-concept. The Piers-Harris model is one of them, already standardized in the Czech Republic (Obereignerů et al, 2015) but absent in the Slovak cultural environment. That is why we have decided to use this approach when studying the development of self-concept in Slovak adolescents.

Research FocusIn view of the above research results indicating certain changes in adolescent

self-concept over time, as well as possible gender specifics, the following specific research objectives were set:

1) To capture the developmental trend in global self-concept and its individual dimensions during adolescence in general;

2) To capture the developmental trend in global self-concept and its individual dimensions during adolescence by gender.


Research Methodology

The research can be characterized as cross-sectional, descriptive and compara-tive research. Differences in global self-concept and its individual dimensions were investigated and compared in students of elementary and secondary schools and higher education institutions.

Research SampleThe research sample consisted of 290 pupils/students from Banská Bystrica,

who were in the adolescent period of development, divided in three age groups: early, middle and late adolescence. The method of deliberate and convenience sampling was used.

Table 1. Research sample: composition by age and gender

Age Gender N %11–12 M 46 52.9

F 41 47.1Total 87 100

15–16 M 53 43.1F 70 56.9

Total 123 100

19–20 M 37 46.2F 43 53.8

Total 80 100

Total M 136 46.9F 154 53.1

Total 290 100

N – Number of participants, % – Relative frequency, M – Males, F – Females

Instrument and ProceduresFor our research purpose, the Piers-Harris Children’s and Adolescents´

Self-Concept Scale 2 (Dotazník sebepojetí dětí a adolescentů Piers Harris 2, Obereignerů et al., 2015) was used. It is a standardized 60 item self-evaluation


inventory. In addition to the self-concept total score (TOT), it contains 6 dimen-sions evaluating its specific domains: adjustment (BEH, i.e. self-perception of behaviour), intellectual and school status, ability to cope with tasks (INT), physical appearance (PHY), freedom from anxiety, concern, fear and shame (FRE), popu-larity (POP), happiness and life satisfaction (HAP). The scale was translated into Slovak. Its reliability, in particular internal consistency of individual variables, was satisfactory (Cronbach´s alpha acquired values from 0.76 to 0.83).

Results of the Research

First, descriptive statistics of the variables studied are presented for the whole research sample and then for individual age groups.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics of the variables studied for the whole sample (N = 290)

BEH INT PHY FRE POP HAP TOTAM 10.99 10.23 7.41 9.06 8.69 8.00 41.89MDN 12.00 11.00 8.00 10.00 9.00 9.00 43.00SD 2.60 3.24 2.64 3.55 2.54 2.13 9.51Skewness -1.09 -.46 -.65 -.52 -.98 -1.01 -.68Kurtosis .73 -.39 -.38 -.73 .55 1.01 .04Min. 1 1 0 0 1 0 10Max. 14 16 11 14 12 10 59

BEH – behavioral adjustment, INT – intellectual and school status, PHY-physical appearance, FRE – freedom from anxiety, POP – popularity, HAP-happiness and satisfaction, TOT – total self-concept, AM – Mean, MDN – Median, SD – Standard deviation, Min. – Minimum, Max. – Maximum

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of the variables studied for age groups

AM SD Min. Max.BEH I II III ∑INT I II III ∑

10.9010.5811.7410.9910.029.94

10.9110.23

2.872.652.022.603.393.193.093.24

14412211

1414141416161616


AM SD Min. Max.PHY I II III ∑

6.927.487.847.41

2.702.742.392.64

0120

11111111

FRE I II III ∑

10.098.428.939.06

3.013.733.583.55

0110

14141414

POP I II III ∑

8.618.748.708.69

2.502.562.582.54

1111

12121212

HAP I II III ∑

8.097.768.288.00

2.112.281.272.13

0130

10101010

TOT I II III ∑

42.4140.7043.1541.89

9.3110.008.859.51

10182110

57595659

BEH – behavioral adjustment, INT – intellectual and school status, PHY – physical appearance, FRE – freedom from anxiety, POP-popularity, HAP-happiness and satisfaction, TOT-total self-concept, Group I – 11 to 12 years old (N = 87), Group II – 15 to 16 years old (N = 123), Group III – 19 to 20 years old (N = 80), ∑ – total (N = 290), AM – Mean, SD – Standard deviation, Min. – Minimum, Max. – Maximum

Since the data fulfil the condition of normal distribution (Table 2), the paramet-ric test ANOVA was used to compare the groups (Table 4). Results of the analysis indicate a statistically significant difference between the groups of adolescents for the variables adjustment (BEH) and freedom from anxiety (FRE) at the signifi-cance level p ≤ .01.

Table 4. Differences between groups in overall self-concept and its dimensions (N = 209)

BEH INT PHY FRE POP HAP TOTF 5.060 2.459 2.617 5.928 .068 1.566 1.809Sig. .007 .087 .075 .003 .934 .211 .166

F – Leven’s test, Sig. – p value, BEH – adjustment, INT – intellectual and school status, PHY – physical appearance, FRE – freedom from anxiety, POP – popularity, HAP – happiness and satisfaction, TOT – overall self-concept


Table 5. Post hoc (Games-Howel) test results (significance of differences between means of individual groups of adolescents) in the variables identified

Age groups Age groups Difference be-tween means

Sig. 95% CILL UL

BEH 11–12

15–16

19–20

15–1619–2011–1219–2011–1215–16

.319-.841-.319

-1.160*.841

1.160*

.691

.074

.691

.002

.074

.002

-.60-1.74-1.24-1.94-.06.38

1.24.06.60-.381.741.94

FRE 11–12

15–16

19–20

15–1619–2011–1219–2011–1215–16

1.669*1.167

-1.669*-.502

-1.167.502

.001

.063

.001

.603

.063

.603

.57-.05

-2.77-1.74-2.38-.73

2.772.38-.57.73.05

1.74

Sig. – p value, CI – confidence interval for the mean, LL – lower limit, UL – upper limit, BEH – adjust-ment, FRE – freedom from anxiety

There is a statistically significant difference between middle (1–16 year old) and late (19–20 year old) adolescents in the dimension adjustment (BEH) in favour of late adolescents (Table 3). There is a statistically significant difference between early (11–12 year old) and middle (15–16 year old) adolescents in the dimension freedom from anxiety (FRE) in favour of early adolescents (Table 3).

For the second objective, the analysis of development of self-concept is pre-sented for males and females respectively.

Table 6. Descriptive statistics of the variables by age groups for males

AM SD Min. Max.BEH I II III ∑

10.729.92

11.1110.51

3.162.652.182.75

1441

14141414

INT I II III ∑

10.0410.1710.8910.32

3.082.993.153.06

3411

15161516


AM SD Min. Max.PHY I II III ∑

7.308.118.708.00

2.562.642.282.56

0120

11111111

FRE I II III ∑

10.419.91

10.1610.15

2.973.152.863.00

0120

14141414

POP I II III ∑

8.579.219.058.95

2.252.532.272.37

2111

12121212

HAP I II III ∑

8.028.048.548.17

2.102.351.642.09

0130

10101010

TOT I II III ∑

42.7042.4544.8143.18

8.449.598.178.83

10182310

55585658

AM – Mean, SD – Standard deviation, Min. – Minimum, Max. – Maximum, BEH – adjustment, INT – intellectual and school status, PHY – physical appearance, FRE – freedom from anxiety, POP – popularity, HAP – happiness and satisfaction, TOT – overall self-concept, I – group 11 to 12 years old (N = 46), II – group 15 to 16 years old (N = 53), III – group 19 to 20 years old (N = 37), ∑ – total (N = 136)

Results of the analysis (Table 7) indicate a statistically significant difference between groups of males in the variable physical appearance (PHY). The post hoc analysis (Table 8) specifies the result with respect to age sub-groups.

Table 7. ANOVA results for males

BEH INT PHY FRE POP HAP TOTF 2.250 .895 3.244 .350 .956 .802 .879Sig. .109 .411 .042 .705 .387 .451 .418

F – Leven’s test, Sig. – p value, BEH – adjustment, INT – intellectual and school status, PHY – physical appearance, FRE – freedom from anxiety, POP – popularity, HAP – happiness and satisfaction, TOT – overall self-concept


Table 8. Post hoc (Games-Howel) test results (significance of differences between means of individual groups) in the dimension physical appearance (PHY) for boys

Age groups Age groups Difference be-tween means Sig. 95% CI

LL ULPHY 11–12

15–16

19–20

15–1619–2011–1219–2011–1215–16

-.809-1.398*

.809-.589

1.398*.589

.274

.027

.274

.499

.027

.499

-2.05-2.67-.44

-1.84.13-.66

.44-.132.05.66

2.671.84

Sig. – p value, CI – confidence interval for the mean, LL – lower limit, UL – upper limit, PHY – physical appearance

There is a statistically significant difference between early (11–12 year old) and late (19–20 year old) adolescents – males in the dimension physical appearance (PHY) in favour of late adolescents (Table 6).

Table 9. Descriptive statistics of the variables by age groups for females

AM SD Min. Max.BEH I II III ∑

11.1011.0712.2811.42

2.522.551.722.39

4454

14141414

INT I II III ∑

10.009.77

10.9310.16

3.753.353.073.40

2242

16161616

PHY I II III ∑

6.497.007.096.89

2.812.732.202.61

0130

11111111

FRE I II III ∑

9.737.307.868.10

3.053.763.823.72

1111

14141414

POP I II III ∑

8.668.398.408.46

2.782.542.802.67

1221

12121212


AM SD Min. Max.HAP I II III ∑

8.177.548.057.85

2.142.192.042.15

2332

10101010

TOT I II III ∑

42.1039.3741.7240.75

10.3010.159.259.96

12182112

57595659

AM – Mean, SD – Standard deviation, Min. – Minimum, Max. – Maximum, BEH – adjustment, INT – intellectual and school status, PHY – physical appearance, FRE – freedom from anxiety, POP – popularity, HAP – happiness and satisfaction, TOT – overall self-concept, I – group 11 to 12 years old (N = 41), II – group 15 to 16 years old (N = 70), III – group 19 to 20 years old (N = 43), ∑ – total (N = 154)

Results of the analysis (Table 10) indicate a statistically significant difference between groups of females in the dimension adjustment (BEH) and freedom from anxiety (FRE). The Games-Howell post hoc analysis (Table 11) specifies the result by age sub-groups.

Table 10. ANOVA results for girls

BEH INT PHY FRE POP HAP TOTF 4.063 1.621 .676 6.026 .152 1.352 1.253Sig. .019 .201 .510 .003 .859 .262 .289

F – Leven´s test, Sig. – p value, BEH – adjustment, INT – intellectual and school status, PHY – physical appearance, FRE – freedom from anxiety, POP – popularity, HAP – happiness and satisfaction, TOT – overall self-concept

Table 11. Post hoc (Games-Howel) test results (significance of differences between means of individual groups) in the dimensions adjustment (BEH) and freedom from

anxiety (FRE) for girls


LL ULBEH 11–12

15–16

19–20

15–1619–2011–1219–2011–1215–16

.026-1.182*

-.026-1.208*1.182*1.208*

.998

.039

.998

.009

.039

.009

-1.16-2.31-1.21-2.16.05.25

1.21-.051.16-.252.312.16



LL ULFRE 11–12

15–16

19–20

15–1619–2011–1219–2011–1215–16

2.432*1.871*-2.432*

-.560-1.871*

.560

.001

.039

.001,727.039.727

.87

.07-3.99-2.31-3.67-1.19

3.993.67-.871.19-.072.31

Sig. – p value, CI – confidence interval for the mean, LL – lower limit, UL – upper limit, BEH – adjust-ment, FRE – freedom from anxiety

There is a statistically significant difference in the dimension adjustment (BEH) between early (11–12 year old) and late (19–20 year old) adolescent females, and between middle (15–16 year old) and late (19–20 year old) adolescent females, in both cases in favour of late adolescent females (Table 9).

A statistically significant difference appears in the dimension freedom from anxiety (FRE) between early (11–12 year old) and middle (15–16 year old) ado-lescent females, as well as between early (11–12 year old) and late (19–20 year old) adolescent females, in both cases in favour of early adolescent females (Table 9).

Discussion

The aim of the study was to map the self-concept of contemporary Slovak adolescents and its changes, if any, during adolescence. This aim was tested by adjusting the research sample, which was divided into three age categories. The Piers – Harris multi-dimensional model of self-concept, not yet established in our professional environment, was used as the basis. In comparison with older research studies (e. g. Crain & Bracken, 1994), which reported a decline in overall self-concept from early to middle adolescence, no statistically significant differ-ences were recorded in overall self-concept between the individual groups in our research sample. Our results correspond more with more recent studies (Kuzucu et al., 2014) which reflect gender differences in certain domains of the self, rather than significant dynamics in overall self-concept over time. Our sample does show certain dynamics over time in two dimensions: adjustment (BEH) and freedom from anxiety (FRE). Adjustment (BEH) changes in such a way that it increases from middle adolescence to late adolescence. Freedom from anxiety (FRE) declines from early to middle adolescence.


The gender analysis of the development of overall self-concept and its dimen-sions provides more concrete results. It appears that the dynamics of the two variables is mainly accounted for by the female part of the population. Statistically significant differences in adjustment (BEH) are namely recorded between groups of adolescents in general, but also between groups of females. In both cases, the dimension is of a growing tendency during adolescence. This may be associated with the increased emotional instability and moodiness which gradually fades away in middle adolescence. At the beginning, adolescents rebel, run into conflicts with standards, challenge others, rules, regulations, and refuse to comply. With age, adolescent behaviour becomes more adult-like; adolescents are more accepted as adults and are expected to behave responsibly and take on more mature manners and conduct (Mahmud, 2005). Our results, too, indicate that from middle to late adolescence, adolescents already regulate their behaviour better and adjust it to the requirements of the social environment (conventions).

Statistically significant differences are also recorded in the dimension freedom from anxiety (FRE) between groups of adolescents in general, but also between groups of females. In both cases, the dimension freedom from anxiety (FRE) has a decreasing tendency during adolescence, i.e. there is a gradual increase of anxi-ety, which may be associated with young people experiencing several challenging changes and situations during adolescence. Their physical appearance changes, they must cope with pubertal changes and face the choice of further professional direction. Later, in middle adolescence, they cope with the transition from elemen-tary school to secondary school where they are the youngest and least competent students. These and other changes associated with adolescence lead to a loss of old securities, which is a certain burden and may increase the anxiety experienced (Gray-Little & Hafdahl, 2000).

In males, in agreement with Orel et al. (2015), only the dimension physical appearance (PHY) changes over time, increasing from early to late adolescence. Physical self-concept gains importance with age. Initial noticeable physical changes are usually perceived intensely, in particular when physical maturation lags behind, which may invoke negative self-perception in this area. An immature, weak and short boy has a lower social status and may feel inferior. In late adoles-cence, satisfaction with one’s own body mostly increases.

ConclusionsDespite the fact that we did not confirm the dynamics of overall self-concept,

but only of some of its dimensions during adolescence, we consider our research


findings to be beneficial. They may provide an incentive for further research on the development of self-concept and its context (school achievement, social inte-gration, parenting style…) or on gender differences in this development, as the case may be. Another challenge could be to attempt more representative sampling, which we consider, due to the local character of our sampling, to be the major limit of our study. The results on gender specifics may be useful for teachers, educational consultants, school psychologists and help them to concentrate on self-concept dimensions which are sensitive and vulnerable during adolescence. Although the gender differences in self-concept formation should be verified by further research, our study indicates some gender specifics, thus there arises the need for an individual and gender-differentiated approach oriented on facilitation of posi-tive self-concept in adolescents. Its importance for the social and emotional health of adolescents was also confirmed by Pašková (2017). The school’s responsibility is not only the development of knowledge and skills, but also the development of versatile pupil personality with which the subject of self-concept is associated.

ReferencesBharathi, T.A. & Sreedevi, P. (2016). A Study on the Self-Concept of Adolescents. Interna-

tional Journal of Science and Research, 5 (10), 512–516.Crain, R.M. & Bracken, B.A. (1994). Age, race, and gender differences in child and adoles-

cent self-concept: Evidence from a behavioral-acquisition, context-dependent model. School Psychology Review, 23 (3), 496–511.

Gray-Little, B. & Hafdahl, A.R. (2000). Factors influencing racial comparisons of self-es-teem: A Quantitative Review. Psychological Bulletin, 126 (1), 26–54.

Chrisler, J. & Murray, A. (2011). Sex and Gender. Oxford Bibliographies. Retrieved 20/02/2019, from http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199828340/obo-9780199828340–054.xml.

Kameli, S. & Ghooshchy, S.G. (2011). Studying the self-discrepancy of students in different species of family in process model and family content. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences 30, 1113–1117.

Kuzucu, Y., Bontempo, D.E., Hofer, S.M., Stallings, M.C. & Piccinin, A.M. (2014). Devel-opmental Change and Time-Specific Variation in Global and Specific Aspects of Self-Concept in Adolescence and Association with Depressive Symptoms. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 34 (5), 638–666.

Mahmud, J. (2005). Development psychology. New Delhi: A.P.H. Publishing Corporation.Orel, M., Obereignerů, R., Reiterová, E., Malůš, M. & Fac, O. (2015). Rozdíly v celkovém

sebepojetí u dětí a adolescentů České republiky podle věku a pohlaví. (Differences in self-concept in children and adolescents in the Czech Republik based on their age and sex). Psychologie a její kontexty 6 (2), 65–77.

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Obereignerů, R., Orel, M, Reiterová, E., Mentel, A., Malčík, M., Petrůjová, T., Fac, O. & Fried-lová, M. (2015). Dotazník sebepojetí dětí a adolescentů Piers-Harris 2. (The Piers-Harris Children’s and Adolescents´ Self-Concept Scale 2). Praha: Hogrefe-Testcentrum.

Piers, E. & Herzberg, D. (2002). Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale. Los Angeles: WPS.

Pašková, L. (2017). Socio-Emotional Health of Secondary School Students. The New Edu-cational Review, 48 (2), 117–131.

Sarkova, M. (2010). Psychological well-being and self-esteem in Slovak adolescents. Bratislava: Slovak Academy of Science. Retrieved 20/10/2019, from: https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/en/publications/psychological-wellbeing-and-selfesteem-in-slovak-adoles-cents(adb22ee9-69ca-4663-8740-9548bb13073b).html.

Shaffer, D.R. & Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.

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Young, J. & Mroczek, D. (2003). Predicting intra-individual self-concept trajectories during adolescence. Journal of Adolescence, 26 (5), 586–600.

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https://www.rug.nl/research/portal/en/publications/psychological-wellbeing-and-selfesteem-in-slovak-adolescents(adb22ee9-69ca-4663-8740-9548bb13073b).html



Parental Mediation of Digital Media Use Among Children Aged 3–8 from the Perspective of Parents’ Media Competence

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.02

Abstract Based on an analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data collected in 2018 from the Žilina region in Slovakia, this paper intends to examine the relationship between parental mediation and parental digital media competence within households of children aged three to eight. Parent participants were recruited through schools that reflect the geographic representation of the entire region. In addition to 517 surveys, six onsite interviews with parents and observations of children interacting with digital media were collected. The research findings show that almost 50% of the children studied have access to tablets and laptops. The use of these digital devices increases with age. Qualitative data found that age and other contextual factors played a crucial role in the type of parental media-tion implemented at home while quantitative data showed a significant positive correlation between parent’s digital media competence and parental mediation behaviors such as enabling mediation, technical mediation, and monitoring.

Key words: young children, early childhood, parental media competence, media practices, parental mediation, digital media.

Pavel IzraelSlovakiaMária KarasováSlovakiaMelissa M. YangUSA

28 Pavel Izrael, Mária Karasová, Melissa M. Yang

Introduction

Research related to parents’ role in the digital media use of children ages 0–8 in central Europe is relatively scarce. Thus this study aims to contribute to the related academic discourse in the region. The strong presence of media in the lives of today’s families is an undeniable fact. Children who fall into the early childhood stage at the time of this study were all born into the smartphone era (i.e., 2007). 2019 statistics show that 87% of the households in the cities of Slovakia and 78% in the rural areas have internet access (Eurostats, 2020). As manifested in the prevalence of internet and mobile services, digital media activities are easily observed in the daily lives of the youngest family members. A mobile phone or tablet with internet connection allows children to watch videos throughout the home, at the doctor’s, while traveling, or in the restaurant. For interpersonal com-munication purposes, parents encourage children to use digital media as a means to communicate with remote family members through applications such as Skype and Whatsapp. Even without internet connection, children are still interacting with these devices by viewing saved videos, photos, and playing app-based games.

Research shows that children, regardless of their family’s socio-economic status, have access to multiple digital devices. A study of Slovak students aged 8–10 found that 70% own a mobile phone and 48% own a tablet (Karasová, 2017). In addition, a report from the United States showed that children’s mobile media usage has tripled from 15 minutes a day to 48 minutes from 2013 to 2017 (Common Sense Media, 2017). This trend of increased access and usage among children calls for the need for parents to manage the interaction between children and their digital devices so that they can take advantage of all the opportunities that digital media has to offer but also avoid any potential risks (Holdoš, 2016).

Parental Mediation

Over the years, in addition to research on television, the study of parental medi-ation has expanded in response to the growing interest and concern over the role of digital media in children’s lives. Scholars have amassed literature on how parents interact with children in the context of digital media use (Clark, 2011; Mertens & d’Haenans, 2014; Holloway, Green, & Love, 2014).

Within parental mediation of the internet, Livingstone and Helsper (2008) found that parents use four types of mediation strategies. The first type is ‘active co-use’ which conceptualizes elements of active, restrictive mediation, and joint

29Parental Mediation of Digital Media

monitoring into one. The second type is ‘interaction restrictions’ which involves limiting five activities that involve children to coming in contact with people online. The third strategy is ‘technical restrictions’ that refers to the use of filtering and monitoring software. The last type of mediation is ‘monitoring’ which refers to parents themselves checking the online activities and messages of their teenagers. Likewise, Nikken and Jansz (2014) identified five similar strategies: shared use, active mediation, restrictive mediation, supervision, and a strategy based on the use of filtering technology or application. When examining research using samples specifically from Slovak parents, Hacek (2012) adapted the scale of television mediation as means to study parental internet mediation.

Besides the conceptualization of parental internet mediation, scholars have also identified various factors that shape parents’ selection and preference of mediation strategies. These factors range from the child’s age (Böcking, S. & Böcking, T., 2009; Holdoš, 2018) to the socio-economic status of the family (Warren, 2005) and the family structure (Austin et al., 1997). At the parent-level, besides their attitude towards media, studies also found that mothers tend to implement medi-ation strategies more often than fathers (Valkenburg, 1999). Interestingly, parent education, despite legitimate assumptions, has little to do with mediation strategies (Livingstone et al., 2017). At the family structure level, single-parents were found to have fewer opportunities to apply mediation strategies with their children (Austin et al., 1997). Haines et al. (2013) suggest that single-parent families may use media as a time off from parenting which further decreases parent-child interaction and increases children’s time spent with the media. At the same time, it is precisely families with a lower socioeconomic status where children spend more time with media, read less and have the media in their rooms (Cingel & Krcmar, 2013). Beside social economic factors, situational factors such as family schedule, social contacts of the family or internal factors such as health status and educational practices of parents were also found to be determinants of mediation use (Zaman et al., 2016).

While plenty of studies have identified the many parent and family-level determinants of parental mediation, with the rapid technological innovation and the short life cycle of digital devices, one area worth additional research is the relationship between parents’ digital media competence (i.e., digital media literacy) and parental mediation (Mendoza, 2009). According to Livingstone and Bryne (2018), parents’ insufficient knowledge of the online world prevents them from successfully managing their children’s internet use. A recent study found that advanced media proficiency is positively associated with restrictive and technical mediation (Nikken & Opree, 2018).


Clearly, parents play a crucial role in helping their children navigate through the digital landscape. Given the existing research on young children’s digital media use and parental mediation and the need for relevant study among Slovak parents, this study proposes the following research questions and hypothesis:

RQ1: What are the digital media practices of children aged 3–8 years in Slovakia?RQ2: What mediation strategies do Slovak parents use with children aged 3–8

concerning digital media use?H1: Parental digital media competence is positively correlated with parental

mediation strategies.

Methodology

SampleThe data were drawn from a 2018 survey of parents from the Žilina region in

Slovakia with a focus on parents of children within the 3- to 8-year-old bracket. Parents were approached via kindergartens and schools that were chosen so that they would geographically represent the entire region. Altogether 572 parents (N = 572) completed the questionnaire. The instructions in the questionnaire requested that it only be filled out by the parent who primarily sets rules for and discusses digital media use with the child. Besides the questionnaire, parents in six selected families were interviewed and their children’s interactions with digital media were observed at home to collect additional qualitative data.

Instrument and proceduresParental digital media competence. Parental digital media competence was

measured with a typology used in Global Kids Online research project (globalkid-sonline.net) supervised by Dr. Sonia Livingstone. The instrument consists of 5 scales: operational skills, information/browsing skills, social skills, creative skills, mobile skills. For each item, parents indicated their degree of agreement regarding their digital media ability on a 4-point scale (coded 1–4; not true for me, a bit true for me, fairly true for me, very true for me).

Parental mediation strategies. Parental mediation strategies were measured by the instrument used both in the EU Kids Online and Global Kids Online research projects. It includes sub-scales for enabling mediation, restrictive mediation, parental technical mediation, and parental monitoring. For each item, parents indicated on a 5-point scale how often they engage in each of the activities (coded 1–5; never, hardly ever, sometimes, often, very often). Parents could also choose the


not applicable option if the activity does not apply to them. For example, if a child is too young to use a certain digital device or activity.

Results

Descriptive statistics were generated to answer the first research question. As shown in Table 1, almost half of 3–5 year olds have access to a tablet and laptop, one third to a smart TV, and almost two thirds to a mobile phone. For the 6 to 8 age group, a slightly larger group of children have access to tablets and laptops. In addition to having access to these devices, about one in five children in both age groups have their own tablets (see Table 2).

Table 1. Children’s access to technological equipment

Age of children Tablet Mobile

phone Laptop Computer Smart TV Game console

3–5 years 44.0 % 64.4 % 46.6 % 23.6 % 29.3 % 10.5 %6–8 years 51.5 % 77.4 % 54.1 % 35.6 % 36.7 % 19.6 %

N = 572 Which devices does your child have access to?

Table 2. Children’s ownership of technological device


phone Laptop Computer Other device

3–5 years 21.6 % 9.5 % 3.2 % 1.6 % 6.3 %6–8 years 23.0 % 23.7 % 5.6 % 3.7 % 10.0 %

N = 572Which devices does your child have as their own?

In terms of digital media use, parents report that their children are active users on a daily basis (see Table 3) and they most often use media for entertainment (see Table 4). Among the activities, watching videos and cartoons on YouTube occur the most frequently. Children also play educational games, but this is mainly among children aged 6–8 years old (see Table 4).


Table 3. Media use


phone Laptop Comput-er

Game console

Other device

3–5 years

Daily 18.4 % 28.5 % 11.5 % 5.4 % 2.2 % 2.5 %At least once a week

17.8 % 28.5 % 17.9 % 7.6 % 3.8 % 2.6 %

6–8 years

Daily 17.2 % 38.6 % 12.2 % 6.8 % 2.8 % 1.6 %At least once a week 23.8 % 33.7 % 27.6 % 15.2 % 8.0 % 3.6 %

N = 572How often does your child use these media?

Table 4. Activities

Age of children

Photo-graphs and

personal videos

Videos and cartoons via You-

Tube

Enter-tainment

games

Education-al games

Offline apps

3–5 years

Daily 8.4 % 45.0 % 12.7 % 8.5 % 6.4 %At least once a week 26.8 % 33.3 % 22.2 % 25.4 % 18.6 %

6–8 years

daily 6.6 % 38.5 % 21.9 % 12.8 % 9.8 %At least once a week 31.7 % 38.1 % 33.8 % 31.6 % 21.4 %

N = 572How often does your child do the following activities using digital media?

Parental mediationThe second research question asked about the occurrence of parental mediation

among Slovak parents. The most common activity is the “proximity of parent” item used to measure enabling mediation (60%). This suggests that parents are often nearby when children are using their digital devices. More detailed data show that less than half of the parents sit next to the children. Almost half of the parents report that they either often or very often communicate with their child about what they are doing with digital media. Almost one-third of the parents are actively designing ways to use the Internet safely and 27% of the parents often do activities on the Internet or with digital media together with their children.

As for restricting media use, parents favor blanket bans rather than restricting a specific activity. Among the items used to measure technical mediation, parents


report setting time rules the most (60%). Almost one third of them apply parental control for blocking and tracking websites and applications used. As for restricting online activities, visiting social networks is the most strictly regulated activity. Only 3% of parents allow children to go on social networking sites at any time. Overall, it can be argued that the limitation of individual activities is associated with supervision by most parents. The least frequent mediation strategy is mon-itoring. Forty percent of parents monitor videos their child watched and 30% monitor applications their child used. As shown in Table 5, our research confirms previous findings that mediation strategies correlate with each other (Böcking & Böcking, 2009; Valkenburg et al., 1999).

Table 5. Correlations between mediation strategies

Enabling medi-ation

Restrictive mediation

Technical me-diation

Parental mon-itoring

Enabling mediation 1 .37 .33 .53 Restrictive mediation 1 .14 .42 Technical mediation 1 .40 Parental monitoring 1N = 572, p < .001

Parental mediation and digital media competencePearson correlation analysis was used to verify the hypothesis about the rela-

tionship between parental mediation and digital media competence. Data shows weak but significant correlations between the different mediation types and parental digital media competence (See Table 6).

Table 6. Correlations between mediation strategies and digital competence

Information navigation

competence

Operational competence

Social interaction competence

Creative competence

Mobile com-petence

Enabling mediation .16** .15** .21** .16**

Restrictive mediation .09* .11*

Technical mediation .17** .12* .10* .25** .19**


Information navigation

competence

Operational competence

Social interaction competence

Creative competence

Mobile com-petence

Parental monitoring .10* .17* .16*

Information navigation competence

1 .76** .78** .52** .66**

Operational competence 1 .77** .56** .66**

Social interaction competence 1 .52** .68**

Creative competence 1 .63**

Mobile competence 1

N = 572, ** p < .001, *p < .05

Qualitative data reveals that parental mediation practices and parental atti-tudes toward children’s digital media use vary across families. While all families have the intention to manage their children’s use of digital devices, parents with younger children (1–3 year olds) have more idealistic attitudes and thoughts around mediation, whereas parents with older children are more realistic and accept being laissez-faire at times. Specifically, parents of younger children tend to share successful experiences with restrictive mediation over other mediation styles. For example, one mother said her one-year-old is not allowed to access any digital devices except Facetiming the grandparents. Another mother expressed her intention to keep her one-year-old away from screens until the child turns six.

As for parents of older children (5–8 year olds), the interview data suggest their more complex use of mediation that are often inconsistently implemented due to contextual factors such as spousal availability and existence of older siblings. First, the lack of availability from one parent can lead to incongruence between both par-ents’ use of mediation strategies. For example, due to working abroad, one father’s lack of presence often leads him to compensate for his absence by allowing more media use around the home than the rules his wife had established. Other families with the lack of presence from one parent, either due to working non-traditional hours or alcohol addiction, also showed the use of a more laissez-faire mediation approach, or low compliance from the child. Second, parental mediation strategies


can be compromised or shaped by the presence of older siblings, who are usually given more freedom to use the media and who often introduce new media content and functions that may or may not be age appropriate to their younger siblings.

Discussion

The advantage of most digital media, among other things, is that it offers children both offline and online activities, but data suggest that children tend to be more online. The findings demonstrate that Slovak parents of children under the age of 8 most frequently apply enabling mediation, but restrictive and technical media-tion are also frequently used. A strong correlation between mediation strategies suggests that if a parent applies one strategy s/he tends to apply other strategies as well. Similarly, the correlation between types of digital media competence can be interpreted in a way that these types are interrelated and developed simultaneously. Despite theoretical assumptions, the findings did not suggest a strong correlation between mediation strategies and parents’ digital media competence. However, multiple weak yet statistically significant correlations are present to help confirm our proposed hypothesis which predicts a relationship between the two concepts. Interestingly, creative competence is the strongest correlate out of five types of digital media competence, yet this relationship is difficult to interpret. However, it must be noted that when compared with operational, information navigation and social interaction competence, parents reported low levels of creative competence. This might imply that parents who score more on creative competence belong to a smaller group of “content producers” who logically need to master other types of digital media competence (indicated by the correlations between types of digital media competence) thus contributing to a stronger correlation with mediation strategies. Similarly, it may be also a case of mobile competence (mastering using smartphones and applications).

The fact that technical mediation is correlated with all five items used to meas-ure digital media competence (see Table 6) suggests that this mediation requires the most direct knowledge and understanding of the online environment in order to be implemented. Another interesting finding is that parents who are equipped with four out of the five digital skills are also more likely to exercise enabling mediation, which means the higher the digital media competence, the more likely parents are to spend time talking, facilitating, and processing their children’s digi-tal media encounters. Besides the correlation data, the interviews and observations also provided evidence to suggest that parents’ digital media competence plays


a role in their engagement of enabling mediation. Specifically, children whose parents said that they assisted them to interact with digital media tend to be more skilled in manipulating the devices and have a wider knowledge of the various functions these devices offer.

Conclusions

The research offers promising results that indicate digital media competence to be a predictor of desirable mediation strategies such as technical and enabling mediation. This underscores the importance of increasing parental digital media literacy. Future research could consider examining how community-based pro-grams, or governmental policies that support parental media literacy, can improve and increase the use of enabling and technical mediation strategies.

As demonstrated by both the quantitative and qualitative data, parental medi-ation is a dynamic process between parents and children within the context of digital media use. It has to be studied by taking into account the child’s universal development and wellbeing on top of parental and familial factors. Future research should consider taking child-related and contextual factors into account to better understand how Slovak parents mediate their children’s digital media use.

AcknowledgementsThe paper is an outcome of the research project VEGA 1/0638/17 Media practices and media literacy of children in early childhood and children at younger school age.

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Character and Values of Junior High School Students in the Coastal Area , Indonesia

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.03

AbstractThe purpose of this research is to describe the character and values of students in coastal areas. This research method is ethnographic. The research subjects were junior high school students whose parents work as fishermen in coastal areas. The results showed that character education carried out in schools, homes, and community environments has made students in coastal area friendly, hard-working, caring towards their parents, independent, and disciplined. Values and character are not formed instantly but through a long process with environmental conditions in the coastal areas that are so challenging.

Key words: character education, junior high school students, coastal areas

Introduction

Character education is very important for every student (child). The purpose of character education is to overcome student behavior (Gable et al., 2013), improve skills (Helterbran & Strahler, 2013), promote a good attitude (Napitupulu, 2019), and encourage the growth of social competence (Ugurlu, 2014), so that character education implemented in school, home, and the community environment aims to shape the good behavior, skills, attitudes, and social competencies of children. According to Par (2017), the value of goodness is a key objective of character

Abdul ManafIndonesiaBadrun KartowagiranIndonesiaHarunIndonesia

40 Abdul Manaf, Badrun Kartowagiran, Harun

education. The strength of the character of children in coastal areas is different from children who live in rural / mountainous areas (agrarian), and cities (urban). The difference is due to the environmental conditions of the area occupied. The results of Jennings, Mitchell, & Hannah (2014), Handayani & Brodjonegoro (2015), and Freeks (2015) concluded that the environment greatly influences character formation.

Indonesia is the largest archipelagic country in the world. More than two-thirds of its territory consists of the sea and it has the second longest coastline in the world, and the fifth largest population in the world, around 60% of whom live in coastal areas (Brotosusilo et al., 2016). Children who live in coastal areas have not fully met the requirements for growth and development, because they are already familiar with adult activities and are treated like adults (Jamieson et al., 2009).

Research results show that the characteristics of Indonesian coastal commu-nities are kinship, cooperation, and that mutual trust between families is well established (Cahaya, 2015; Wekke & Cahaya, 2015). People have fatalism beliefs (respect for God, humans, nature, and life) (Judge, 2019). Local wisdom in the coastal area is a guideline for the behavior of people who live in coastal areas. In local wisdom noble values apply, so that values are the guidelines for the lives of children who live on the coast.

Research ProblemThe problem in this research is that there has been no investigation of the

character and values of junior high school students living in coastal areas. The implementation of character education in the school, home, and community environment has shaped the strength of students’ unique or distinctive character.

Research FocusThere have been many studies on the character of adolescents in various coun-

tries such as Hendrix, Leudetke, Barlow (2004) measuring aspects of behavior related to adolescent character development. Research conducted by Urgesi, et al., (2012), Cloninger, et al., (2012), Brink, et al., (2014), Yoleri (2018) measured the character of school-age children. Research conducted by Shoshani & Ilanit (2012), Harzer & Ruch (2014), Dziobek, et al., (2016), Calderon & Carnicer (2016) meas-ured 24 adolescent character strengths. But none of these studies have focused on the character of students who live in coastal areas. Based on the explanation above, this research tries to focus on the character and values that are formed and developed in junior high school students in coastal areas.

41Character and Values of Junior High School Students in the Coastal Area

Methodology of Research

General Background of ResearchThis type of research is qualitative with ethnographic methods, so that this

research produces data in the form of words written or spoken by people and behaviors that can be observed.

Subjects of ResearchThe subjects in this research were junior high school students in the coastal

regions of Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia, while the informant sources were 22 people consisting of 5 (five) principals, 3 (three) teachers, 5 (five) fisher-men, 2 (two) religious and cultural figures, 2 (two) housewives, and 5 (five) junior high school students.

Instrument and ProceduresThe main instrument in data collection is the researchers themselves. Research-

ers are actively involved in the lives of coastal communities. The techniques used during data collection are observation, interviews, and documentation. Obser-vations were made to observe student activities. Interviews were conducted with parties who knew of the character and values that were formed and developed in students. The documentation collected images of student activities in coastal areas.

Data AnalysisThe steps of data analysis follow the procedure suggested by Miles and Huber-

man (1994), namely data collection, data reduction, display of the data, and forming of conclusions.

Research Results

Based on the results of the analysis, middle school students in the dominant coastal areas are religious, friendly, hard working, care for parents, independent, and disciplined. Religious values are the attitudes or behaviors of students in coastal areas, who are obedient in implementing the teachings of the religion they profess. Results obtained from 5 school principals, 3 teachers, 5 fishermen, 2 religious and cultural figures, 2 housewives, and 5 junior high school students confirmed the same conclusions about the characteristics of religious values, which are presented in Table (1).


Table 1. Characteristics of religious values

Outstanding character trait Characteristics Confirmation results from

Religious Students;Believe in a forbidden place (pemali) at sea

Fishermen, Religious and Cultural figures,Housewives, and StudentsBelieve in rituals held at sea

Believe in God’s powerCarry out congregational prayersRoutinely follow the recitation (TPA) Principal, Teacher,

Housewife and Students

Pray before or after an activityGreet or answer greetingsDo not like to hurt friends / other peopleAre polite and polite to others

Students in coastal areas also show a sense of pleasure in helping, associating, and cooperating with others. This was confirmed by results obtained from 5 school principals, 3 teachers, 5 fishermen, 2 religious and cultural figures, and 5 junior high school students who agreed on the characteristics of a friendly character, which are presented in Table (2).

Table 2. Characteristics of a friendly character


Friendly(make friends)

Students;Work together to complete a job / task

Principal, Teacher, and Students

Associate with other people / colleaguesHelp friends who are in need of helpConsider friends as siblingsEstablish togetherness with others Fishermen, Religious

and Cultural figures, and Students

The value of hard work was seen in the behavior of students who showed earnest effort in completing a job as well as possible. This was confirmed by results obtained from 5 school principals, 3 teachers, 5 fishermen, 2 housewives, and 5 junior high school students who came to the same conclusions about the characteristics of the value of hard work which are presented in Table (3).


Table 3. Characteristics of the value hard work


Hard work Students;Study hard

Principal, Teacher, House-wife, and Students

Dive looking for sea cucumbers Fishermen, Housewives, and StudentsBind seaweed

Install traps in the seaFind or take biaSell fish around the village

The value of caring for parents was seen in the attitude and actions of students, who always wanted to provide assistance and care for both parents. Confirmation of these results was obtained from 5 fishermen, 2 housewives, and 5 junior high school students who came to the same conclusions about the characteristics of the values of care for parents, which are presented in Table (4).

Table 4. Characteristics of the value care for parents


Caring towards parents

Student;Help parents clean fishing nets

Fishermen, Housewives, and Students

Help parents dry sea shellsHelp parents repair (sew) broken netsHelp parents to dry seaweedHelp parents reduce the fish catch from the boatHelp parents catch fish at night off the coast when sea water recedes (meti) using spears, arrows, and nets.Help care for parents Housewives and StudentsHelp parents clean the houseHelp parents find firewood

The values of independence was observed in the attitudes and behavior of students who were not easily dependent on others to obtain or complete work. Confirmation was obtained from 2 housewives, and 5 junior high school students


who came to the same conclusions about the characteristics of the independent character values, presented in table (5).

Table 5. Characteristics of the value of independence

Outstanding character trait Characteristics Confirmation results

fromIndependence Students;

Go to school or come home from school without being escorted or picked up by parents / relatives

Housewives and Stu-dents

Wash their own clothesCreate or prepare a fishing lineLook for pocket money themselvesWake up at dawn without being woken up by par-ents / relativesDo assignments / homework at home without the help of parents / relatives

The value of discipline was seen in the actions of students who showed orderly behavior and adhered to various rules and regulations. These results were confirmed by 5 school principals, 3 teachers, 2 religious and cultural figures, 2 housewives, and 5 junior high school students who came to the same conclusions about the characteristics of the value of discipline, which are presented in Table (6).

Table 6. Characteristics of the value of discipline

Outstanding character trait Characteristics Confirmation results

fromDiscipline Students;

Do not come to school latePrincipal, Teacher, and Students

Follow the morning school apelWear complete school uniformsFollow the flag ceremony at schoolThrow garbage in its placeCome to the mosque before prayer time starts Religious and cultural

figures, StudentsFollow the recitation on time Wake up early to perform the morning prayer. Housewives and Stu-

dentsPlan school on time to help both parentsResearch at nightSleep fast at night or do not stay up late


Discussion

The implementation of character education in the coastal areas has formed junior high school students on the coast that are religious, friendly, hard-working, who care for their parents, are independent, and disciplined. Character and values are not formed instantly but through a long process. In addition, they are influ-enced by the environmental conditions that are so challenging. One of the reli-gious characteristics of the students is that they routinely follow Koran recitation activities (TPA). When wanting students to behave well, it is necessary to create a good environment and establish religious rules (Kartowagiran & Maddini, 2015). The friendly values shown by students are their willingness to get along with other people / colleagues and to work together to complete a job / task. Engagement with peers and good relationships that are formed have a positive impact on the development of the adolescent identity (Klimstra et al., 2013).

The characteristics of the hard work are shown in selling fish caught by fish-ermen in the village / village / hamlet environment. Fishing communities tend to depend on fishing as their cultural identity (Basavakumar, et al., 2011). The habit of working hard becomes part of the students’ contribution to the world of work. In the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD Survey (BIAC, 2015), it is revealed that in this complex world, employers are increasingly aware of the importance of quality of character at work. Students showed this quality in helping parents clean fishing nets or dry seaweed, when they went to school without their parents / relatives, when they looked for spending money alone, and when they went to school in a complete school uniform. This shows that the value of independence is inherent in junior high school students in coastal areas. These characteristics are long-lasting behavior patterns that can be generalized into personality characteristics (Diggs & Akos, 2016).

Having the quality of a good character will make middle school students in coastal areas able to face the development of the 21st Century. There are at least three skill categories needed, namely literacy, competence, and quality of character (World Economic Forum, 2015). In addition, being aware of the character and values of junior high school students in coastal areas is expected to help teachers who teach in coastal areas implement classroom assessment for learning well for student success. Diggs & Akos (2016) state that being always optimistic in academic work has a positive influence on learning.


Conclusions

Junior high school students who live in coastal areas have an identity that characterizes them as a maritime community. Geographical conditions that are always full of challenges and risks make students have special character values. In addition, character education that has been carried out for a long time in schools, homes, and community environments has made students in coastal areas religious, friendly, hard-working, caring towards their parents, independent, and disciplined. Character education should be adjusted to the daily lives of students (local wisdom) in facing the challenges of life problems. Local wisdom in the coastal area refers to behavior that becomes a way of life. Planting character values is the responsibility of all residents on the coast. The values that have been attached to students will help teachers in implementing classroom assessment for successful learning. Students who have good quality values and character will contribute to the success of students in the academic field. In addition, this can be a strength in dealing with the challenges of life in the 21st Century.

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Error-Oriented Motivation of Turkish Students During their Adaptation to a Foreign University

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.04

AbstractThe article deals with the problem of error-oriented motivation of Turkish students during the adaptation process to a foreign university (on an example of a Ukrainian university). Research was conducted on two samples of first year students: 45 Turkish and 61 Ukrainian students. An error-oriented motivation questionnaire and survey were used to identify strategies for student response to mistakes and the main problems of adaptation. It was determined that Turkish students are more likely to use a Learning from mistakes strategy and are more exposed to such adaptation problems as communication problems with the administration, difficulties in adapting to the new social environment, and emotional problems.

Key words: error-oriented motivation, students, adaptation, perfectionism, professional development, foreign students.

Introduction

The process of the adaptation of first-year students to a university can be extremely difficult and associated with some negative experiences (Tarasova et al., 2017), stress (Clinciu, 2013) and emotional instability (Serebryakova et al., 2016).Any negative experience of adaptation to university can eventually lead to dis-appointment in life choice, profession and to the search for some social isolation (Ahmad, 2017).The period of adaptation to university is especially difficult for

Nina PidbutskaUkraine Anastasiia KnyshUkraine

50 Nina Pidbutska, Anastasiia Knysh

foreign students, who have not only to adapt to the new rules of study, but also to go through the process of adaptation to new socio-cultural conditions (Layton et al., 2019; Jamaludin, 2018).

The opening of a large number of English-language programs in Eastern Europe countries led to the fact that a large number of students from Turkey went to study in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine without any prior language training or cultural adaptation. Often students go to university for classes in the first week after arriving in a country which is new for them.Thus, they encounter a number of obstacles with finding housing, with orientation in an unfamiliar city and at the same time they have to familiarize themselves with the rules of study at the university and adapt to them.

One of the most important factors in adapting to a new environment is a healthy attitude to your own mistakes (Keith & Frese, 2008; Van Dyck, 2009; Catino & Pariotta, 2013). If a student is overly anxious about the possibility of making a mis-take, he/she will close himself/herself off from the new experience and will follow a pattern of learned behaviour that is not always effective in a new socio-cultural space.This is most often associated with an increased level of perfectionism that blocks normal adaptation. If the student focuses solely on building an ideal image of himself/herself and directs all their energy to hiding the mistakes they make, then his/her real development and the adaptation process will be inhibited. But if the student is open to any negative experience of making mistakes and is ready to learn from them, then the process of his/her adaptation will be as productive as possible (Rybowiak et al., 1999).

It was understanding of the importance of the strategy of response to mis-takes that determined the goal of the research: to study connections between the problems of adaptation to the conditions of a foreign university and strategies for responding to the mistakes of the Turkish students.

Methodology

The research was conducted during October-November 2019 at the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute” (Ukraine). For conducting the research two samples, consisting of first-year students, who were undergoing the process of adaptation to the university, were formed.The first sample consisted of 45 Turkish students (14 women and 31 men), with an average age of 20.6±3.2 years old. None of theTurkish students who took part in the research, attended any additional courses and went to Ukraine for the first time in August-September

51Error-Oriented Motivation of Turkish Students

2019.The second sample (comparison sample) consisted of 61 Ukrainian first-year students (21 women and 40 men), with an average age of 19.7±1.7 years old.Both samples were formed by simple random selection from the total number of the students of the general population.

At the first stage of the research the students were asked to rate the relevance of one of 7 problems of adaptation to the university according to a 10-point Likert scale: communication problems with teachers, communication problems with their groupmates, communication problems with the administration, difficulties in adapting to the new social environment, difficulties in adapting to the academic environment, schedule conflicts, emotional problems. After the survey, the overall indicator of the problems in the adaptation process (the arithmetic average of all the scales) was calculated based on the results of the evaluation of all the scales.

At the second stage of the research the Error Oriented Motivation Scale (EOMS) questionnaire was used.The EOMS questionnaire, adapted for the Turkish students by Ö. Çikrıkci et al. (Çikrıkci et al., 2014), was used for the survey of the Turkish students. But for the survey of the Ukrainian students the same EOMS question-naire, adapted by N. Pidbutska & A. Knysh for Ukrainian sample (Pidbutska & Knysh, 2020), was used.

For statistical data processing descriptive statistics (percentages, mean, standard deviation) and the parametric mathematical statistics (T-test, Pearson correlation coefficient) were used. The statistical calculations were performed with the use of the SPSS 21.0 program.

Research results

During the research, the results obtained in the group of Ukrainian students and in that of Turkish students were analyzed and compared. At the first stage of work with the data, the results of the students’ survey regarding the problems that they most often face in the process of adapting to the university conditions, were analyzed (Table 1).

When assessing communication problems with teachers, both Turkish and Ukrainian students showed an average level.There were no statistically signif-icant differences (T=0.11, p>0.05). At the same time, during an interview after the survey, the Ukrainian students noted that in comparison with high school, they feel some lack of attention and individual approach, that they do not always have enough time to write notes in lectures, do not understand some complex concepts and are afraid to ask for clarification of information needed.The Turkish


students mainly focused on the language barrier: sometimes it is difficult for them to understand some individual words due to pronunciation issues, which leads to the distortion of the meaning of the material.

In comparison with the Turkish students, the Ukrainian students showed slightly greater concern about communication problems with their groupmates, but no statistically significant differences were noted in the results (T=0.27, p>0.05). The Ukrainian students insisted that most of the communication problems related to the need to adapt to their groupmates, whose personal traits are not always pleasant or understandable to them. Besides this, they also felt some lack of the friendly atmosphere they were used to at school.The Turkish students, on the other hand, saw their classmates as a kind of support and a reminder of home. In the conditions of group interaction, it is much easier for them to adapt to the realities of the university and the new country.

When evaluating communication problems with the administration, significant differences were identified (T=2.72, p≤0.01). The Ukrainian students have almost no problems communicating with the heads of the departments, deans or any other representatives of the university.They can learn all necessary information about the educational process from open sources on the Internet and do not need to communicate directly with the administration.The Turkish students often face the fact that it is impossible to find any up-to-date information in English about

Table 1. The results of the students’ survey regarding problems in the process of adapting to the university

Problems in the process of adapting to the Univer-sity

М±σT-testTurkish

studentsUkrainian students

Communication problems with teachers 5.1±1.8 5.4±2.1 0.11

Communication problems with groupmates 6.3±1.1 7.2±3.2 0.27

Communication problems with the administration 7.4±0.9 4.3±0.7 2.72**

Difficulties in adapting to the new social environment 9.4±1.7 4.8±0.6 2.55*

Difficulties in adapting to the academic environment 5.2±1.5 4.9±1.7 0.13

Schedule conflicts 4.8±1.9 6.1±2.7 0.39

Emotional problems 7.9±0.9 4.8±1.2 2.07*

Overall indicator 6.5±2.1 5.4±2.1 0.37

Note: * - p≤0.05 **- p≤0.01 – a measure of statistical significance


changes in the educational process and representatives of the administration rarely communicate with them directly.

Significant differences also appeared in assessing problems in adapting to the new social environment (T=2.55, p≤0.05). Among the Ukrainian students this problem is experienced only by those students who came from other cities and have to adapt to the conditions of life in a hostel and to coping with living independently. But Turkish students experience this problem much more acutely, because they have to adapt to the conditions of a new country and to learn to overcome the language barrier outside the university.

The students in both the research groups rated the significance of problems related to adaptation to the academic environment rather low, and no significant differences were identified (T=0.13, p>0.05).The absence of constant homework or strict control, the fact that lectures were in large auditoriums and there was freedom to express one’s own opinions make the academic environment even more attractive than the high school environment.

No significant differences were noted in the estimation of schedule conflicts (T=0.39, p>0.05). However, the Ukrainian students are a little more concerned about these issues, because some of the students need to combine their studies and work and the inability to influence their own schedule causes them frustration.

The Turkish students are significantly more likely to experience emotional problems associated with the adaptation process (T=2.07, p≤0.05) than the Ukrainian students.They note that they acutely suffer from the distance from home and family, feel loneliness more deeply and need some close emotional contact.

No significant differences were noted in the overall indicator of problems in adapting to university (T=0.27, p>0.05).Therefore, despite significant differences in the perception of various aspects of the process of adaptation to a higher educational establishment, representatives of both study groups face an equally moderate level of difficulty.

The results of the Error-Oriented Motivation Scale were analyzed in terms of the average values on the scales (Table 2) and in terms of the most common reactions to a mistake (Table 3).

According to the Learning from the Mistakes scale, the students in both groups showed an average level, with a tendency to move to a higher level, although no significant differences were noted (T=0.38, p>0.05).This strategy of responding to a mistake is the most constructive and is inherent in those students who have high self-esteem and are able to reflect. For them any mistakes are sources of experience and development.


According to the Worrying about Mistakes scale, the Turkish students showed a low level tendency, while the Ukrainian students showed an average level.The differences in the results appeared to be statistically significant (T=2.33, p≤0.05).The Ukrainian students are more concerned about the possibility of making a mis-take, which leads to excessive caution and a blocking of creativity. And as for the Turkish students, they feel more freedom of expression and do not avoid mistakes in their academic or social lives.

According to the Hiding Mistakes scale, the Turkish students demonstrated an average level, while the Ukrainian students demonstrated a high level. However, no statistically significant differences were noted. Thus, the Ukrainian students appeared to be slightly more prone to hiding their mistakes.This strategy is not constructive, because when a person often hides mistakes from others, they begin to deny the mistakes to themselves, without learning any lessons or new experi-ence from them.

Table 3. The most common reactions to a mistake in the study groups

Scale Turkish students

Ukrainian students

Learning from Mistakes 46.67% 36.07%Worrying about Mistakes 26.67% 27.87%Hiding Mistakes 26.67% 36.07%

When analyzing the most common strategies to reactions to a mistake in the study groups, it was determined that almost half of the Turkish students (46.67%) choose the Learning from Mistakes strategy.They simply have to use this strategy actively because social and educational life requires them to adapt to the new

Table 2. The results of a student survey regarding their attitude to mistakes

ScaleМ±σ

T-testTurkish students

Ukrainian students

Learning from Mistakes 29.3±4.4 27.1±3.8 0.38Worrying about Mistakes 11.5±2.3 18.9±2.2 2.33*Hiding Mistakes 22.7±3.1 25.4±4.2 0.52

Note: * – p≤0,05 – a measure of statistical significance


cultural, social and educational environment and therefore, without perceiving their own mistakes, they simply will not be able to complete the process of adap-tation. Less common appeared to be the Worrying about Mistakes and the Hiding Mistakes strategies(26.67% each).These strategies may be of low prevalence due to the awareness of the inevitability of mistakes in the process of adaptation to a new socio-cultural environment, as well as to the absence of a number of close relatives whose assessment could be important for the Turkish students.

The Learning from Mistakes and the Hiding Mistakes strategies are equally common among the Ukrainian students (36.07% each). Least common is the Worrying about Mistakes strategy(27.87%). It can be assumed that the Ukrainian students are also well aware of the importance of learning from their own mis-takes, but at the same time they live in their usual environment and feel the need to hide their mistakes from their close relatives and friends in order to form a more positive image of themselves in their own eyes and in the eyes of the others.

The results of the search for correlations between the perception of the prob-lems of adaptation to studying at the university and the strategies of reaction to mistakes are presented separately for the Turkish (Table 4) and the Ukrainian (Table 5) students.

Table 4. The correlation matrix of the attitude towards mistakes and the problems in adaptation to the conditions of the university for Turkish students

IndicatorLearning

from Mistakes

Worrying about

Mistakes

Hiding Mistakes

Communication problems with teachers 0.101 0.511** 0.632**

Communication problems with groupmates 0.217 0.726** 0.207

Communication problems with the administration 0.865** 0.623** 0.198

Problems in adapting to the new social environment 0.344* 0.754** 0.241

Difficulties in adapting to the academic environment 0.208 0.344* 0.175

Schedule conflicts 0.191 0.292* 0.111

Emotional problems 0.189 0.614** 0.294*

Overall indicator 0.264 0.544** 0.387*

Note: * – p≤0.05, **– p≤0.01 – a measure of statistical significance

The correlation analysis allowed us to determine that the Learning from Mistakes strategy correlates significantly with communication problems with


the administration (r=0.865, p≤0.01) and problems in adapting to the new social environment (r=0.344, p≤0.05). Students who tend to learn from mistakes can be very attentive to both their own mistakes and those of others. In cases where such students face some misunderstandings and mistakes in the schedule, they seek to solve them, seeking help from the representatives of the administration, which is not adequately available due to bureaucratic obstacles.Thus, the connec-tion between Learning from Mistakes and communication problems with the administration may be associated with the great desire of such students to actively find a solution to their problems, which will inevitably lead to some problems in finding a common point of view with the administration.The connection between Learning from Mistakes and problems in adapting to the new social environment can be explained by the fact that these are social difficulties which make the Turkish students think more about the mistakes they made and learn from them.Thus, social difficulties can act as a factor in the development of a more conscious attitude to mistakes in one’s own social and educational behavior.

The Worrying about Mistakes strategy is correlated significantly with all the problems of adaptation to studying at university: issues in communication with teachers (r=0.511, p≤0.01), issues in communication with groupmates (r=0.726, p≤0.01 issues in communication with the administration (r=0.623, p≤0.01), dif-ficulties in adapting to a new social environment (r=0.754, p≤0.01), difficulties in adapting to the academic environment (r=0,344, p≤0.05), schedule conflicts (r=0.292, p≤0.05), and emotional problems (r=0.614, p≤0.01), and with the overall indicator of problems in the process of adaptation (r=0.544, p≤0.01). The given strategy is associated with a general lack of confidence in one’s own abilities, the search for an easy way, and the desire to hide from mistakes. Since it is impos-sible to hide from mistakes in the process of adapting to a new educational and socio-cultural environment, the students who are prone to Worrying about Mis-takes will experience all their failures and mistakes more acutely and will evaluate them as more significant than students who do not use this strategy of reacting to a mistake. An excessive Worrying about Mistakes can lead to an increased level of anxiety, insecurity and a drop in self-esteem, so it is extremely important to help and support the students who are prone to use this strategy.

The Hiding Mistakes strategy correlates significantly with communication prob-lems with teachers (r=0.632, p≤0.01), emotional problems (r=0.294, p≤0.05) and with the overall indicator of problems in the adaptation process (r=0.387, p≤0.05).This strategy is most often used by the students who combine a high propensity for perfectionism and low self-esteem.They are acutely worried about their inability to hide their mistakes from their teachers and because of this they face some deep


emotional problems.The constant obsession with hiding your own mistakes from others, combined with ignoring useful new experiences, creates a vicious circle, where each subsequent mistake leads not to productive correction of behavior, but to ignoring the problems, which generates even more new mistakes.

Table 5. The correlation matrix of the attitude towards mistakes and problems in adaptation to the conditions of the university for Ukrainian students.

IndicatorLearning

from Mistakes

Worrying about

Mistakes

Hiding Mistakes

Communication problems with teachers 0.099 0.312* 0.341**

Communication problems with groupmates 0.114 0.294* 0.428**

Communication problems with the administration 0.203 0.127 0.087Problems in adapting to the new social environment 0.243 0.164 0.432**

Difficulties in adapting to the academic environment 0.104 0.233 0.321*

Schedule conflicts 0.184 0.183 0.115Emotional problems 0.215 0.425** 0.353**Overall indicator 0.164 0.351** 0.297*

Note: * – p≤0.05 ** – p≤0.01 – a measure of statistical significance

When analyzing the correlations, in the group of Ukrainian students no signif-icant connections were found between the Learning from Mistakes strategy and problems that arise in the process of adapting to the university. The Ukrainian students who use this strategy can more easily tolerate the process of adaptation and none of its aspects leads to any social or psychological discomfort.

Some statistically significant correlations were determined between worrying about Mistakes and communication problems with teachers (r=0.312, p≤0.05), communication problems with groupmates (r=0.294, p≤0.05), emotional problems (r=0.425, p≤0.01) and with the overall indicator of problems in the adaptation process (r=0.351, p≤0.01). A constant preoccupation with mistakes leads to overly passive behavior: the student prefers silence and avoidance over the possibility of self-expression. As a result, he/she will constantly face misunderstandings on the part of teachers, and groupmates and will experience deep emotional discomfort.

The Hiding Mistakes strategy significantly correlates with communication prob-lems with teachers (r=0,341, p≤0,01), communication problems with groupmates (r=0.428, p≤0.01), difficulties in adapting to the new social environment (r=0.432, p≤0.01), difficulties in adapting to the academic environment (r=0.321, p≤0.05),


emotional problems (r=0.353, p≤0.01) and with the overall indicator of problems in the adaptation process (r=0.297, p≤0.05). The tendency to hide mistakes leads to some tension in relationships with others, because it is necessary to constantly hide mistakes from them. All this results in some serious emotional experiences and an increase in the overall level of problems in adaptation to the university.

Discussion

During the research it was found that in any situations connected with mistakes, the Turkish students tend to use the Learning from Mistakes strategy (29.3 ± 4.4), slightly less frequently the Hiding Mistakes strategy (22.7 ± 3.1) and least frequently the Worrying about Mistakes strategy (11.5 ± 2.3).When adapting the EOMS questionnaire to Turkish students who study in their home country, Ö. Çikrıkci found average indicators for the Learn from Mistakes strategy– 28.03 ± 4.11, for the Worry about Mistakes strategy – 20.09 ± 4.96 and for the Hiding the Mistakes strategy –16.84 ± 4.83 – (Çikrıkci et al., 2014). Thus, in comparison with students who study in Turkey, the students who go through the adaptation to the conditions of the Ukrainian University, have an increased tendency to Hide Mistakes and a reduced tendency to Worry about Mistakes. Such differences in results can be explained by the fact that some mistakes in communication and social behavior are inevitable in the process of adapting to a new country, and realizing this, the majority of the Turkish students decide to learn from mistakes and thus adapt to the new conditions and grow professionally and personally.

The positive correlation found between Learning from Mistakes and commu-nication problems with the administration and problems in adjusting to the new social environment, emphasizes the proactive adaptive position of the students, who choose this strategy of reaction to mistakes.Similar results were shown by M. Catino and G. Patriotta (2013), who showed that Learning from Mistakes leads to higher indicators of cognitive and behavioral performance, as well as to emotional calmness and satisfaction with one’s own activities.

Significant correlations of Worrying about Mistakes with all the problems of adaptation indicate that this strategy creates some internal personal barriers in the process of adaptation, blocking creativity, self-expression and leading to some internal and external conflicts and misunderstandings.These findings are supported by some earlier research by K. Schell, who demonstrated that using this strategy does not contribute to the normal development of the individual and inhibits this individual’s ability to learn (Schell, 2012).


Significant correlations between Hiding Mistakes and communication problems with teachers and emotional problems indicate that this strategy negatively affects the student’s perception of himself/herself in the new learning environment and pushes him/her to use “ostentatious perfectionism”, which is to reject the valu-able experiencethat can be had from mistakes and to build an idealized image of himself/herself in the eyes of others. Such behavior leads to some emotional discomfort, because the student who resorts to such actions knows deep down that he/she is deceiving others. V. Rybowiak’s research shows that the overuse of this strategy leads to a deep self-rejection and to emotional problems (Rybowiak et al., 1999).

The results obtained show that error oriented motivation is an extremely important indicator that can have a serious impact on the process of adaptation of Turkish students to the conditions of a foreign university. Some purposeful pro-grams for the development of a healthy attitude to mistakes would greatly facilitate the adaptation process, would increase the students’ self-esteem and productivity.That is why we believe that the development of some training programs in this direction is an extremely relevant area of research for teachers and psychologists, engaged in the adaptation of foreign students.

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versity students. PUTAJ — Humanities and Social Sciences, 24(2), 21–32. Catino, M., & Patriotta, G. (2013). Learning from errors: cognition, emotions and safety

culture in the Italian Air Force.Organization Studies,34(4), 437–467.Çikrıkci, Ö.,Topkaya, Y., Yılar, B., & Zorluoğlu, S.L. (2014). Structural validity of Turkish

version of the error oriented motivation scale (EOMS) for university students. The Online Journal of Counseling and Education,3(4), 1–16.

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Jamaludin, N.L., Sam, D.L., & Sandal, G.M. (2018). Destination motivation, cultural orien-tation, and adaptation: international students’ destination–loyalty intention. Journal of International Students, 8(1), 38–65. doi: 10.5281/zenodo.1101030.

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Layton, J., Zaire, L., Fox, M., & Bikos, L. (2019). How global learning attitudes and student readiness effects sociocultural adaptation during education abroad.In: Proceedings of 17th Annual SPFC Research Conference,Upper Gwinn,United States,May 29,2019. Upper Gwinn, 2019.

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sovershenii oshibki K. Shella (EOMS: The error-oriented motivation scale) [Appro-bation of the error-oriented motivation scale by K.L. Shell]. Psikhologicheskii zhurnal (Psychological Journal), 41 (2), 151–162.

Rybowiak, V., Garst, H., Frese, M., & Batinic, B. (1999). Error orientation questionnaire (EOQ): reliability, validity, and different language equivalence. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 527–547.

Schell, K.L. (2012). The error-oriented motivation scale: an examination of structural and convergent validity. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(3), 352–356. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2011.10.035.

Serebryakova, T.A., Morozova, L.B., Kochneva, E.M., Zharova, D.V., Kostyleva, E.A., & Kolarkova, O.G. (2016). Emotional stability as a condition of students’ adaptation to studying in a higher educational institution.International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 11(15), 7486–7494.

Tarasova, S.I., Dukhina, T.N., Limonova, O.O., Kolesnikova, T.V., & Makhova, I.N. (2017). Socio-psychological adaptation of first–year university students. Especial, 38(56), 35.

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Job Design in Career Context: Empirical Evidence from Higher Educational Institutes

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.05

AbstractThe present study focuses the Fried et al. (2007) conceptual framework which examines the impact of job characteristics on employees’ satisfaction and how career stage and career advancement moderates these effects. The sample for the study consists of 250 faculty members teaching in different universities in China. Results revealed that current career stage does not act as a moderator between job characteristics and job satisfaction, but career advancement acts as a moderator between job characteristics and job satisfaction which somewhat contradicts the findings of the original model of Fried et al. (2007).

Keywords: Job Characteristics, Career Stage, Career Advancement, Job Satisfaction

Introduction

Higher Education in China has played a very significant role as indicated by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, in the financial development of the nation, and in scientific advancement and modernization of social improvement in the nation, by boosting the abilities of specialists (Zhou & Vaccaro, 2007). According to recent studies, China stands as the third country in the world which is an inspiring educational destination for foreign students. Bearing in mind the popularity of institutions, teachers are one of the most impor-

Zahra Masood BhuttaPakistan Hina AliPakistanSalahuddin BhuttoPakistan

62 Zahra Masood Bhutta, Hina Ali, Salahuddin Bhutto

tant components behind this. If the teachers are satisfied with their profession and work environment, it has a strong effect on their efficiency and competence, because the environment for teaching and learning is more conducive (Shen et al., 2012; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011). One way to improve the efficiency of teachers is to work on their job design. To obtain desired results and purposes, organizations and institutions should make their job designs more accountable (Kanungo, 1994; Edginton, 2001; Al-Alawi, 2005; Robins and Coulter, 2010). Job Design Theory addresses the different purposes of human resource management, which are to enhance employee satisfaction, improve quality of work and also improve employee motivation (Proctor & Van Zandt, 2018).

Application of Job Design Theory in educational setting is very important because of its multiplicity in every position. Several theories have been brought into management discipline to improve employee satisfaction and motivation. The moderation model of this study is a precise version of the Fried et al., (2007) framework in which the proposed hypotheses have been empirically tested on academics of the higher education sector.

Research on Job Design Theory has ignored career impact as an important factor although ‘Career’ is perceived as an important and fundamental dimension of context, keeping in view the situational constraints and current opportunities in the current time of high globalization and the dynamic changes related with it (Fried et al., 2007; Johns, 2006). ‘Career’ is progressively being perceived as a basic variable that ought to be included in hypotheses of frames of mind and practices in work (George & Jones, 2000; McGrath & Tschan, 2004). The failure to incorporate a career perspective in Job Design Theory may confine the theory’s capacity to precisely anticipate singular mentalities and practices in associations, which are affected by situations that have occurred before, are happening at present, and may happen later on (George & Jones, 2000; McGrath & Tschan, 2004). Unfortunately, research in Job Design Theory is static in nature and fails to fuse in time, in this way lessening the prescient force and utility of job qualities (George & Jones, 2000).

This study will explore three job motivating characteristics that create attitu-dinal reactions in educational sector employees in China. We have not explored the impact of feedback and autonomy on job satisfaction, as some researchers believe that it is impossible to measure the strength of teaching paradigms until and unless people are aware of the components of effective teaching and feedback of students (Monroe & Borzi, 1989; Spencer, 1992).

Fried et al., (2007) proposed that researchers should consider career stages and career advancement expectations of employees. So this article aims to explore

63Job Design in Career Context: Empirical Evidence from Higher Educational Institutes

Job Design Theory in terms of inspiring characteristics that give rise to certain opinions, by inculcating certain perspectives in employees’ careers. This study aims to see the effect of Skill Variety, Task Identity and Task Significance on the satis-faction of Chinese teachers, based on their future expectations of advancement in their careers and their current career stage. The moderation model of this study is a precise version of the Fried et al., (2007) framework in which the proposed hypotheses have been empirically tested on the academics from the higher edu-cation sector.

The foremost purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of job inspiring characteristics on attitudinal outcomes of workers with the moderation effect of current stage of career and expected career advancement.

According to Hackman and Oldham (1975; 1980) motivation of employees can be improved by enhancing job characteristics. Similarly Morgeson & Campion, (2002; 2003) argue that if a job consists of challenging tasks, variety, task signif-icance and task identity it will satisfy employees to a greater extent. Empirical investigations (Ghiselli, 2016; Ghosh et al., 2015) also show that challenging jobs require employees to engage and use different skills and that they result in positive attitude and behavioral outcomes. Therefore, it can be theorized that employees will consider their job satisfactory if it contains motivational job characteristics such as skill variety, task identity and task significance:

H1: There is significant relationship between motivational job characteristics and satisfaction.

According to career theory, individuals’ greatest need is professional develop-ment, therefore, employees develop competences at every career stage which lead them to satisfaction. The incorporation of subjective (relativistic) and objective (absolute) career aspects into Job Design Theory and research has been limited and needs further exploration (Fried et al., 2007). ‘Subjective’ refers to expected career advancement, or future occupational advancement, whereas, ‘objective’ reflects the current or existing career stage. According to Kanungo (1982), the more the job characteristics and work situation meet employees’ psychological needs, the more they identify with and become involved in their work. Among other psychological needs for employees’ career advancement and stable career stages are the basics ones. Despite calls in the literature (Filaherty and Pappas, 2000; 2002a; 2000b), no study has examined the plausible moderator role of job characteristics in job satisfaction (Bulent and Shahid, 2004). Additionally, Hauff et al. (2015) have identified career advancement in existent literature, as one of


the important components of job satisfaction, and it is positively and significantly associated with job satisfaction. Thus it can be assumed that:

H2: Expected Career Advancement moderates the relationship between Job moti-vational characteristics and Satisfaction

H3: Career Stage moderates the relationship between Job motivational character-istics and Satisfaction.

Research Methodology

This study predicts the impact of stimulating job characteristics in improving employee’s satisfaction considering their expected career advancement and career stage, using cross sectional data. In keeping with the research objectives, the target population is teachers working in higher educational institutes. Convenience sam-pling was used to obtain the desired data from 250 teachers working in universities in China.

All the variables in the present study were based on an instrument with a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (extremely dissatisfied) to 5 (strongly satisfied). To measure the job characteristics, a total of 13 items from the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) was used to assess the three job characteristics (Hackman & Oldham, 1980). Skill variety was measured using a 5-item scale (α=.769); task significance was measured using a 4-item scale (α=.689); task identity was measured with 4-items (α=.526). Job satisfaction was measured using 11 items (Hackman & Oldham, 1974).

Theoretical Model

Motivational Job Characteristics

Skill varietyTask Identity

Task Significance

Attitudinal Outcome

Satisfaction

Subjective AspectExpected Career

Advancement

Objective Aspect

Career Stage


Data Collection and Analysis

A survey questionnaire was adapted to collect the data. Data was entered using SPSS version 20 for analysis using Correlation and Regression to test moderation effects. Before proceeding further, normality was checked. It was found that the data was normally distributed, and that skewness and kurtosis both fall in the respective threshold value (which is <3 and <0), and provided a bell-shaped graph, which suggested that the data was without any issues as regards normality.

Results and Findings

Correlation Results reported in Table 1 show that the highest correlation exists between

Task Identity and Satisfaction, while the lowest correlation exists between Skill variety and Satisfaction. All the correlation coefficients which significant which depicts that Independent variables (IVs) and the Dependent variable (DV) are significantly correlated with each other.

Table 1. Correlation Matrix

Variable Skill Variety Task Significance Task Identity Satisfaction Skill Variety 1Task Significance .356** 1Task Identity .289** .356** 1Satisfaction .337** .421** .508** 1

** p<.01

Regression AnalysisTo examine the influence of the independent variables on the dependent varia-

ble, regression analysis was performed. In order to see if regression can be run on the data, Normality was checked using Skewness and Kurtosis, which was found to be in an acceptable range. Table 2 shows the results of regression analysis between the IVs (Skill Variety, Task Significance & Task Identity) and the DV which is Satisfaction.


Table 2. Results for Regression

DV IV S.E β p T Adjusted R2Satisfaction Skill Variety .030 .121 .040 4.03 .44

Task Significance .060 .174 .005 2.90Task Identity .089 .230 .000 2.584

The effect of skill variety on satisfaction is significant with β= 0.121, t= 4.03, p< .05. The effect of task significance on satisfaction is also significant with β=.174, t= 2.90 and p<.05. The effect of task identity on satisfaction is also significant with β=0.230, t= 2.584, p<.05. All these results support hypothesis H1. Overall the model explains 44% of the variance and Task Identity has the greatest association with satisfaction.

Moderation Analysis

In order to measure the effects of Career Advancement and Career Stage as moderators in the relationship between three Job Characteristics and Satisfaction, a Baron and Kenny moderation approach was employed. For this purpose, two regressions are run. Firstly, with the IV and moderator as predictors and then a multiple linear regression with IV, moderator, and the interaction between IV & moderator as predictors were run using SPSS. If R² increases for the interaction model then the interaction is significant and moderation is supported. Career advancement, as seen in Table 3, acts as a moderator between the three compo-nents of core job characteristics and job satisfaction, since the value of R² and β increased after creating the interaction term and running a regression with it. This means that when expected career advancement is high, then job stimulating characteristics have a greater impact on satisfaction. Thus Hypothesis 3 is sup-ported by the results. However, as shown in Table 4, Career stage does not act as a moderator between any of the three core components of job characteristics and job satisfaction because values of R² decreased after incorporating the interaction term in the regression model. This means that the level of career stage does not matter in the relationship between job stimulating characteristics and satisfaction. So, the results do not support Hypothesis 2.


Table 3. Moderating effect of Career Advancement

Variables Adjusted R2 S.E β* β** t

Skill variety0.476*

.054* .58 .60 10.73*Career advancement .038* .18 .19 4.70*Skill variety × Career advance-ment 0.488** .064** .28 5.74**

Task Significance0.375*

.064* .50 .57 7.83*Career Advancement .048* .17 .19 3.54*Task Significance × Career ad-vancement 0.389** .065** .38 5.84**

Task IdentityCareer Advancement 0.466* .051*

.035*.580.36

.600.06

11.37*10.28*

Task Identity × Career Advance-ment 0.478** .064** .26 4.064 **

* Predictors (IV, Moderator)** Predictors (IV, Moderator, Interaction term)

Table 4. Moderating effect of Career Stage

Variables R2 S.E B* B** TSkill variety .458* .054* .607 .58 11.242*Career Stage .038* .155 .22 4.0789*Skill variety × Career Stage 0.410** .029** .014 .480**Task Significance .400* .053* .55 .54 10.37*Career Stage .039* .38 .37 9.70*Task Significance × Career Stage 0.355** .21** .30** 1.42**Task IdentityCareer Stage

.420* .052* .037

.54 .36

.53 25

10.38* 9.729*

Task Identity × Career Stage .395** .26 .31** 1.19**

* Predictors (IV, Moderator)** Predictors (IV, Moderator, Interaction term)

Career stage does not act as a moderator between core component job charac-teristics and job satisfaction,because the R square value and B coefficient values decreased after incorporating the interaction term. Moreover t values for the interaction term are also less than two.


Discussion

Job satisfaction is a core notion in organizational psychology, and research on its determinants has strong practical relevance for human resources management. The findings of this study show that career stage does not act as a moderator between job characteristics and job satisfaction, contradictory to what Fried et al. (2007) proposed, but career advancement moderates the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction. The findings of this study, which contradicts Fried et al.’s model, are not surprising, as the average job satisfaction levels differ, and the antecedents of job satisfaction might also be valued differently across nations (Hauff, Richter, & Tressin, 2015).

The contribution of this paper is that it reveals that Fried et al.’s (2007) model is partially applicable to Chinese society. This may be mainly because Chinese people start careers at a later age, such as 32 years and soon they encounter the crisis of midlife at 39 years, as described by Levinson in his career theory (Jeffrey, 2006). Therefore, career stages do not act as moderator for the job satisfaction of Chinese academics. Rather career advancement is more important for their satisfaction, owing to their delayed career opening.

The theoretical contribution of this study is that it addresses a gap in literature by empirically investigating stimulating job characteristics by incorporating ‘career’ in the form of the moderating effects Expected Career Advancement and Career Stage and their relationship with the attitudinal reactions of Chinese employees. Practically, job fulfillment is important to labor market research and guidelines just as in human resource management, as it is connected to performance (Harter et al. 2010), so employees usually accept challenging jobs which lead to satisfaction. This study will help human resource managers to design job characteristics and at the same time indicates that they also need to include career advancement, because in future-oriented economies career expectation acts as catalyst, as it ensures greater satisfaction.

Limitations and Directions for Future Research

The present study, has some limitations., The demography of sample is limited to Chinese universities. This study can be conducted in other countries who also have a different career orientation to see and compare the effects of these variables for various nations and private/ public sector workers. A longitudinal study could add rigor and make the study more valid. Most academics have explained that


if the context or situation has not been dealt with systematically then it affects Job Design Theory—the situational opportunities and limitations that influences employees’ attitudes and behaviors (Johns, 2006). Therefore, it is recommended that the future researcher should consider the contextual factor while designing the theoretical background of Job Design in their research. In spite of its limita-tions, the present study adds a very significant contribution in the field of the study of academics.

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Plans to Combine Work and Family in Portuguese and Polish Emerging Adults :

Effects of Gender and Work Experience

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.06

Abstract Emerging adulthood is a critical developmental phase for planning future adult roles, such as the professional and familial role. Current research concerning plans to combine work and family roles in emerging adults enrolled in higher education has focused mainly on gender differences with few studies devoted to cross-cultural comparisons. This study aims to explore plans to combine work and family roles with a sample of 239 Portuguese and Polish emerging adults enrolled in higher education. Country comparisons revealed that Polish emerging adults present a more clear perspective on how to combine work and family in the future. Further, findings suggested that working students perceptions of being able to successfully manage work and family roles are higher when compared with those who were only students. No evidence was found for gender differences in future plans to combine work and family roles.

Key words: emerging adulthood, work and family, gender, working students

Introduction

During recent decades in modern Western industrialized countries important political, economic demographic and socio-cultural changes have occurred

Cláudia Andrade PortugalEmilia Żyłkiewicz-PłońskaPolandKarol KonaszewskiPoland

72 Cláudia Andrade, Emilia Żyłkiewicz-Płońska, Karol Konaszewski

which shape the contexts where transition to adulthood takes place (Arnett, Žukauskienė, & Sugimura, 2014; Ranta, Dietrich, & Salmela-Aro, 2014; Shulman & Nurmi, 2010b, 2010a). The need for extended academic education and high rates of youth unemployment has introduced some special features into the transition to adulthood and this also applies to young adults enrolled in higher education. To characterize the developmental period between the end of adolescence and adult years, Arnett (2000) proposed the concept of emerging adulthood. It applies to youngsters between 18–29 years old and is defined as a period where many developmental tasks have to be undertaken. The emerging adulthood framework states that there are five characteristics that are dominant in this period: it is a phase of identity exploration processes (in work, relations and world views); it is an age of instability, an age of being self-focused, an age of feeling somewhere in-between, and emerging adults tend to present high expectations towards future possibilities in life (Arnett, 2004). As it is pointed out by Arnett (2000) most of these explorations aim to build plans for an adult life project but they are often revised. Additionally, the theory of emerging adulthood underlines the importance of socio-cultural influences (Arnett, 2007) that create distinct effects on emerging adults’ expectations and plans towards their future commitment with adult roles. This trend towards postponement of adult roles has been observed both in Por-tugal and Poland. Emerging adults, in Portugal and Poland, have made enormous gains in education and in enrollment in higher education (OECD, 2011).

Enrollment in higher education has been found to account for the presence of de-standardization of the life course, with emerging adults not settling into long-term commitments to adult roles, but trying out different experiences and gradually making their way toward enduring choices in work and relations (Shul-man & Nurmi, 2010). Transition to the labor market, even for emerging adults with higher education diplomas has been difficult due to low-paid jobs, and pre-carious work contracts which lead to high rates of unemployment (OECD, 2011). Moreover, due to the scarcity of jobs, emerging adults often interpolate periods of unemployment, training and even return to higher education in order to become better qualified. This leads some authors to claim that these emerging adults face “yo-yo” trajectories towards adulthood (Biggart & Walther, 2006), often supported financially by their parents or relations (Berngruber, 2017). This situation also accounts for changes in family formation plans. Marriage and parenthood are often delayed and the age at the birth of the first child, due the postponement of family plans, has been rising over time both in Portugal (Guerreiro & Abrantes, 2004; Wall, Vasconcelos, Aboim, & Cunha, 2001) and Poland (Kotowska, Józwiak, Matysiak, Baranowska, 2008).

73Plans to Combine Work and Family in Portuguese and Polish Emerging Adults

Plans to Combine Work and Family Roles

Research about youth representation of their future lives includes, in most cases, the desire to have an active involvement in both family and professional roles (Cinamon, 2006; Peake & Harris, 2002). The benefits of planning involve-ment in family and professional roles are related to the positive aspects of this planning on the level of choices, regarding the moment to invest in parenthood, in reduction of the work-family conflict and in increase in satisfaction with the professional role and with life in general (Peake & Harris, 2002). However, other studies report that for college students, the anticipation of potential inter-role conflict creates negative expectations regarding the family and professional roles and makes them less motivated to invest in a family role (Cinamon, 2006; Cinamon & Rich, 2002).

Gender Differences

Gender differences regarding the anticipation of the balance between work and family roles were reported in college students, with 39% of women, compared with only 7% of men, estimating low work commitment along with medium family commitment (Friedman & Weissbrod, 2005). Other studies reported that while young men did not expect that family roles would negatively impact their careers, women showed lower career expectations and expected to interrupt work for child-rearing (Machung, 1989), presented more career ambivalence (Orange, 2003), and more often expected to interrupt, or work less, in order to take care of family responsibilities, showing their future career options are contingent on family plans (Gerson, 2002; Orrange, 2003a, 2003b). Additionally, other research found that young women that planned to have a more active involvement in both professional and familiar roles tend to postpone their parenting plans until achieving a certain level of professional advancement (Beets, 2011) and tend to anticipate higher levels of work-family and family-work conflicts, when compared with men (Cinamon, 2006). Altogether these studies offer a clear view of the importance of gender in anticipation of the reconciliation of professional and family roles.


Work Experiences During Enrollment in Higher Education

Working students face the challenge of balancing their academic lives with work commitments. Curtis and Shani (2002) and Hodgson and Spours (2001) found that working students have higher self-confidence and competence in managing social relationships and financial issues compared to peers who only study. In other research, it was shown that the working group is characterized by stronger conviction to the direction which they want to follow in their lives (Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens, & Pollock, 2008). Considering the results identified by research on blending work and higher education the importance of having work experiences during college should be taken into account when future plans to combine work and family roles are analyzed (Hecht & McCarthy, 2010).


ParticipantsThe participants were 239 emerging adults enrolled in higher education from

two countries: Poland (N=122) and Portugal (N=117). The average age was 22.63 (SD=3.62). For Portuguese emerging adults mean (M)age=22.76 (SD=4.86) and for Polish M age=22.5 (SD=1.76). Females accounted for 80.8% of the participants, with 88.5% for the Polish sample and 72.6% for the Portuguese sample. The major-ity of participants were working students: 60.7% for the Portuguese sample and 45.9% for the Polish sample.

Instruments

Demographic questionnaire. Information on age, gender and employment status were collected.

Plans for combining work and family roles. Weitzman and Fitzgerald’s (1996) subscale for attitudes towards multiple role planning was used. The subscale is composed of five items that were translated and back translated into Polish and Portuguese. Participants were asked to rate their views regarding their plans to combine work and family using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disa-gree (1) to strongly agree (5).


Procedure

Participants were accessed via two Higher Education Institutions – the Univer-sity of Bialystok, Poland and the Polytechnic of Coimbra, Portugal. Researchers, with explicit permission from the Head of each institution addressed classes of students about the project and described what was involved in participation. The study population consisted of all students of the Faculty of Education, University of Bialystok, Poland, and Polytechnic of Coimbra, Portugal who were studying in September 2019. To participate in the study students should meet the criterion of being an emergent adult, from 18 to 29 years old. Students who agreed to participate received, by email, a link to complete an on-line questionnaire. Data was collected from students who expressed their willingness to participate in the study. Each participant gave his or her individual informed consent, given in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, to participate voluntarily in the research and responses were anonymous. The research project was approved by the Ethics Commission. Data were collected between September 2019 and November 2019.

Results

To understand whether gender, nationality and work experience can have an influence on the plans to combine work and family among Polish and Portuguese emerging adults, a t-Student’s parametric test was used. To determine the size of the effect, Cohen’s d coefficient was used and the effect size interpreted as : 0.2–0.5 – small, 0.5–0.8 – average, and above 0.8 – large.

The first aim of this study was to explore whether Polish and Portuguese emerg-ing adults enrolled in higher education differed in their plans to combine work and family roles (Table 1.).

Table 1. Combining work and family, differences by nationality

Statement Nationality M SD T p dHAVE NO PLAN PL 2.19 1.09

-1.812 .07 0.23PT 2.45 1.16

FEEL CONFUSION PL 2.38 1.16-.906 .36 0.11

PT 2.51 1.14


Statement Nationality M SD T p dHAVE DIFFICULTIES IN UNDERSTANDING THAT OTHERS ARE CERTAIN

PL 2.48 1.31-.509 .61 0.06

PT 2.56 1.10

CANNOT MAKE UP OWN MIND

PL 2.25 1.24-.451 .65 0.05

PT 2.32 1.15

ARE VERY CLEARPL 3.57 1.15

2.641* .00 0.34PT 3.16 1.20

* p <.01

In the majority, plans to combine work and family responsibilities did not differ depending on the nationality of the participants (Table 1). Polish emerging adults (M=3.57; SD=1.15) differ from Portuguese emerging adults (M=3.16; SD=1.20) regarding one statement that applies “being clear how to plan to combine career and family responsibilities”; (t(239)=2.641; p<0.01). In this case, Polish emerging adults were more clear how to plan to combine career and family responsibilities than Portuguese emerging adults, with the effect size (d=0.34) being small.

Table 2. Combining work and family and the gender differences

Statement Gender* M SD T p D

HAVE NO PLANF 2.26 1.09

-1.505 .13 0.23M 2.54 1.27

FEEL CONFUSIONF 2.46 1.17

.340 .72 0.06M 2.39 1.10

HAVE DIFFICULTIES IN UN-DERSTANDING THAT OTHERS ARE CERTAIN

F 2.51 1.25-.179 .85 0.02

M 2.54 1.06


F 2.23 1.19-1.381 .16 0.22

M 2.50 1.24

ARE VERY CLEARF 3.36 1.16

-.146 .88 0.02M 3.39 1.32

*F refers to Female, M refers to Male

The plans related to combining work and family responsibilities did not differ depending on the gender of Polish and Portuguese participants (Table 2).


Table 3. Combining work and family and the work experience differences

Statement Status M SD T p D

HAVE NO PLANStudent 2.45 1.11

2.225 .02* 0.29Working student 2.12 1.14

FEEL CONFUSIONStudent 2.63 1.16

3.108 .00** 0.41Working student 2.16 1.09

HAVE DIFFICULTIES IN UNDERSTANDING THAT OTHERS ARE CERTAIN

Student 2.74 1.163.615 .00*** 0.48

Working student 2.17 1.21


Student 2.34 1.151.030 .30 0.13

Working student 2.18 1.27

ARE VERY CLEARStudent 3.12 1.12

-4.171 .00*** 0.55Working student 3.76 1.19

*** p <.001; ** p <.01; * p <.05

Plans related to combining work and family responsibilities depend mostly on participants’ work experience (Table 3). Emerging adults who study (M=2.45; SD=1.11) differed significantly from working students (M=2.12; SD=1.14) due to lack of knowledge how to plan for combining career and family (t(239)=2.225; p<0.05). The mean relating to concerns about the possibility of combining work and family responsibilities is higher in the group of emerging adults who are working students. Analyses also showed that emerging adults who study had significantly higher concerns than working students in imagining how to plan for combining a career and family life, although the effect size (d=0.29) is small. In addition, participants who study (M=2.63, SD=1.16) differed from working students (M=2.16, SD=1.09) in the level of confusion associated with figuring out how to balance career and family because of lack of knowledge about themselves and the stress involved in balancing these roles (t(239)=3.108; p<0.01). This means that those who study had a higher level of confusion associated with finding out how to balance career and family because they do not have enough knowledge about themselves and feel stressed when they imagine balancing these roles when compared with the working students, although the effect size (d=0.41) is small. Similarly, in the group of emerging adults who study, (M=2.74; SD=1.16) diffi-culty to understand how some people can be so certain about how to successfully manage career and family responsibilities was higher than in the group of working students (M=2.17; SD=1.21), (t(239)=3.615; p<0.001). Analyses showed that, in general, those who study had greater difficulties, when compared with working


students, in understanding that some people can be so certain about successful management of their own career and family responsibilities, although the effect size (d=0.48) is small.

Another finding showed that the mean associated with being clear how to plan for combining career and family responsibilities was higher in the group of working students (M=3.76; SD=1.19) when compared with those who study (M=3.12, SD=1.12), (t (239)=-4.171; p<0.001). This shows that emerging adults who combine work with study were more clear in planning for combining their own career and family life responsibilities, than those who only study, with an average effect size (d=0.55). No differences were found between the two groups in case of difficulties in making up the mind how to successfully combine their own career with having a family.

Table 4. Combining work and family by nationality and work experience

StatementGroups

Test FP1 2 3 4

M SD M SD M SD M SDHAVE NO PLAN 2.08 1.10 2.32 1.08 2.21 1.25 2.53 1.12 2,13; .09

FEEL CONFUSION 2.29 1.10 2.48 1.23 1.86 1.00 2.72 1.11 4.70*3<2,4gr

HAVE DIFFICUL-TIES IN UNDER-STANDING THAT OTHERS ARE CERTAIN

2.18 1.26 2.82 1.30 2.14 1.11 2.69 1.07 4,46*1.3<2gr

CANNOT MAKE UP OWN MIND 2.15 1.29 2.36 1.19 2.25 1.26 2.34 1.12 0,39; .75

ARE VERY CLEAR 3.85 1.14 3.23 1.09 3.54 1.31 3.04 1.14 6.58**2.4<1gr

**p<0.001; * p<0.01.The numbers refer to the following groups: 1 – Polish working students, 2 – Polish students, 3 – Portuguese working students, 4 – Portuguese students.

To understand whether nationality and work experience differentiate plans to combine work and family among Polish and Portuguese emerging adults, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Results showed differences between the groups, in the case of three items (Table 4). More precisely, differences between the groups were found to be significant for the item: “feeling confused because of


lack of knowledge or stress involved in balancing career and family” (F(3, 235)= 4.7; p<0.01). Portuguese emerging adults who study and work were less confused in figuring out how to balance career and family than Polish and Portuguese emerging adults who only study (p<0.05). Additionally, groups differed on the item “experiencing difficulties to understand that other people can be so certain how to successfully manage career and family responsibilities” (F(3, 235)= 4.46; p<0.01). Polish students who only study experience higher difficulties in under-standing that other groups can be so certain how to successfully manage career and family responsibilities than Polish and Portuguese respondents who were working students (p<0.01). The third item which showed significant difference was related to being clear how to plan for combining career and family responsibilities (F(3, 235)= 6.65; p<0.001). Polish working students are more clear about how to plan combining their work and family than Polish and Portuguese emerging adults who only study (p<0.001).

Discussion and final remarks

The present study leads to three main findings. Firstly, in general, emerging adults’ plans to combine work and family did not differ with regard to nationality. Only on one item did Polish emerging adults present a clearer perspective on how to combine career and family responsibilities in the future when compared with the Portuguese emerging adults. These results can be due to the fact that, according to Nancy (2016) during the economic crisis that both countries went through, Portuguese emerging adults felt higher levels of social exclusion when compared with Polish emerging adults. Additionally, the index of uncertainty avoidance that is defined as “the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations”, is almost twice as high in Portugal than in Poland. This may show that the fact that Polish emerging adults are less concerned about the future reconciliation of professional and family roles than the Portu-guese group is culturally determined (Hofstede, Hofstede, & Minkov, 2010).

Secondly, plans to combine work and family did not differ according to gen-der. This could be due to the fact that both male and female emerging adults are involved in a shared culture (the environment of higher education (HE) and because of that they are more prone to focus on their career and work projects while family plans tend to be devoted to later life. This result is consistent with the findings of other studies that showed that family plans are contingent to profes-sional and career plans (Gerson, 2002; Orrange, 2003).


Thirdly, plans to combine work and family differ, in general, according to working status. Working students were more clear on how to combine work and family, while those who are only students had more doubts about this planning. This result is in line with research that showed that working students have higher self-confidence than regular students (Warren, 2002) and their work experience can lead them to have a more realistic approach to their future work-family balance demands. Similarly, the research results by Luyckx and others (Luyckx, Schwartz, Goossens, Pollock, 2008) revealed that the feeling of being an adult was higher in students who were working than among other students.

This exploratory study reveals that Portuguese and Polish emerging adults enrolled in HE share common views and doubts as regards future reconciliation of work and family roles, pointing to the importance of social background and economic trends. Moreover, working while enrolled in higher education seems to be important in having more realistic plans about combining multiple roles. This is an important finding since many studies only focus on the negative aspects of work and study. The present research is not exempt from limitations. Due to the use of convenience samples and a cross-sectional design results should be treated with caution. Both studies with larger samples and with scales that more deeply address plans to combine work and family are needed.

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General Didactics

Effects of an Empirical Cognition Development Programme on the Creative Thinking

of Preschool Children

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.07

AbstractInquiry-based education as a means of teaching has not been sufficiently studied in the context of empirical cognition in children of lower ages. The currently enhanced space for preschool science education creates possibilities to verify the applicability of physical experiment in the empirical cognition of preschool children and its effect on the development of their creative thinking. The developed Empirical Cognition Development Programme was implemented in kindergarten conditions and empirically verified in a quasi-experimental design on a sample of 102 children (2 experimental groups N = 71; 1 control group N = 31). To capture the level of creative thinking and its changes in children, the Torrance Figural Test of Creative Thinking (Torrance, 1974; Jurčová, 1984) was used. Results of comparative analyses showed a statistically and practically significant increase in the level of the creative thinking factors studied (fluency, flexibility, originality) in one of the experimental groups in comparison with the control group. The article discusses the results and implications for educational practice in the conditions of preschool education.

Key words: empirical cognition, inquiry-based teaching, physical experiment, pre-primary education, Empirical Cognition Development Programme, creative thinking

Ľubomíra ValovičováSlovakiaEva SollárováSlovakia

86 Ľubomíra Valovičová, Eva Sollárová,

Introduction

Empirical cognition and inquiryEmpirical (experiential) cognition is one of the sources of knowledge. It holds for

physics that quantitative and qualitative empirical data are obtained by empirical methods of cognition - observation, measuring and experimentation (Koubek, 1984). Empirical, known also as heuristic, cognition, is included in the strategies called for in creative thinking and in personal experience when seeking explana-tions of tasks. Koubek (1984) characterizes the strategy of empirical cognition as applicable to pupils´ experimental activities in a logical sequence of activities, as follows:

A. Cognitive mental preparation (motivation for learning → discovering and formulating the problem → generating hypotheses → mental experiment);

B. Cognitive material implementation (planning material implementation → selecting material resources → assembling and verifying the apparatus → obtaining empirical data)

C. Cognitive mental processing (processing data outcomes → formulating conclusions → formulating and classifying the piece of knowledge → moti-vation for further cognition).

It is the deeper understanding of physical phenomena that inquiry-based activ-ities associated with pupils’ experimental activities contribute to.

Inquiry-based science education is an approach in teaching, a strategy to man-age pupil learning activities, that can be applied in the natural sciences and the arts. It is an intentional process of diagnosing problems, critiquing experiments, distinguishing alternatives, planning investigations and researching conjectures, searching for information, constructing models with peers and forming coherent arguments (Linn, Davis, & Bell, 2004). The European Commission’s report “ Sci-ence Education Now: A Renewed Pedagogy for the Future of Europe” (Rocard et al., 2007) emphasizes and includes science as inquiry and by inquiry as crucially important goals in education. Inquiry-based learning has become officially sup-ported in many countries as pedagogy aimed at improvement of science learning (Bybee, 2000). The current situation is that successful inclusion of inquiry-based education into the practice of a teacher requires further research, mainly on the conditions that facilitate it.

87Effects of an Empirical Cognition Development

Support of Creative Thinking by Deliberate Educational Efforts

In the research literature dealing with creativity in education, two orientations have attracted special attention: teaching creatively and teaching for creativity. The former is teacher-oriented, while the latter is oriented rather towards increase of creativity in general and related to enhancement of creativity in pupils. When examining relationships between the two orientations, several authors (e.g. Jeffrey & Craft, 2004; Karwowski, 2006) conclude that both are closely related to the effect that teachers teaching for creativity also teach creatively.

Outcomes of the 2009 review made in the European Year of Creativity and Innovation (Ferrari et al. 2009) provided starting points for creative learning and innovative teaching for the well-being of an individual and society. The report credited the key role in this task to education, with one of four reasons for the need to develop children’s creativity and innovativeness being that creativity, as a form of knowledge creation for all, supports and enhances life-long skills and competences, with educators able to unlock and foster children’s creative potential. The report concluded that creative learning requires innovative teaching.

The responsibility of school and teachers is frequently emphasized within envi-ronmental/social factors influencing the development of creativity (e.g. Sternberg & Lubart, 1993), with one of the typical strategies being a deliberate educational effort typically conceived in the form of targeted development stimulation pro-grammes/interventions.

Foreign as well as Slovak researchers working with deliberate stimulation of creativity in children and pupils report empirical findings which confirm that creativity can be developed and promoted in the process of education, not only by the personality of the teacher and pupil, but also by specific tasks and situations (Kaliská, 2015). The design and implementation of programmes stimulating cognitive development and creativity in pre-school children has a long tradition in Slovak conditions. Results of verification of their effectiveness (Sollárová, 1998) provide overall empirical evidence of their effects on the parameters of creativity studied, as well as on other cognitive, social and motivational variables.


Development of Empirical Cognition in Children in Pre-primary Education

Currently science education in kindergartens in the Slovak Republic is regulated by the National Educational Programme ISCED 0 - Pre-Primary Education as the main curricular document. It contains standards (content and performance-re-lated), i.e. requirements for knowledge, skills, capabilities and attitudes arising from the curriculum and defined as the basics. Science capabilities possible to develop at pre-school age include observation (intentional acquisition of new information from environment), classification (comparison and sorting based on intentional observation) and empirical communication (expressed by argumentation, based on personal experience) (ŠVP, 2016). The given context provides a basic framework for seeking the application of theoretical and methodological understanding of inquiry-based education also in the conditions of pre-primary education, with the key conceptual and methodological application of physical experimentation as the basic form for learning about the physical world, serving as a means for creation of of knowledge about certain physical phenomena, and leading to creation of chil-dren’s / pupils´ new knowledge. It is in the process of experimental inquiry-based activities that pupils can demonstrate their understanding of physical knowledge.

For designing links between curricular content and teaching methods or strat-egies relevant to inquiry-based education, Williams´ (1972) Cognitive-affective interaction model (CAI) is inspiring, with its dimension of teaching strategies relevant to methods of creative problem solving. Cognitive indicators of creative thinking that can be thus stimulated in pupils include fluent, flexible and original thinking. According to Williams (ibid.), fluent thinking is developed by tasks generating quantity of ideas, e.g. the pupil has to name as many objects as possible, with the relevance of his/her answer observed. Flexible thinking is characterized by heterogeneity of ideas and the task for the pupil in developing such thinking could be to use different perspectives in solving a problem. Original thinking is characterized by unconventional answers and it can be developed by assignments which create new, unconventional standpoints.

To anchor the introduction of the research subject, it can be concluded that it appears relevant and applicable in the context of the current framing of sci-ence education in pre-primary education to conceive educational activities with characteristics of inquiry-based education, with the key application of physical experimentation as the tool for learning about and understanding physical phe-nomena, and with teaching strategies using creative problem solving procedures (e.g. the CAI model, Williams, 1972).


Research focusThe above background led the authors of the contribution to draw up an orig-

inal programme aimed at the development of empirical cognition in preschool children, using strategies and methods of inquiry-based teaching, physical experimentation and strategies using creative problem solving by the specific CAI model (Williams, 1972). The programme thematically focusing on 3 areas (solid, liquid and gaseous substances) was implemented in kindergartens with the aim of verifying its effectiveness in several variables (for results of the pilot verification see Valovičová & Sollárová, 2016; Valovičová et al., 2019). The article presents verification of the programme effects on selected indicators of creative thinking.

Research methodology

Background to the researchWith the aim to verify the applicability of physical experimentation in the

development of empirical cognition in inquiry-based teaching, the Empirical Cognition Programme was conceived for preschool children, with its content devoted to the themes of solid, liquid and gaseous substances (more details in Valovičová, Sollárová, 2016; Valovičová et al., 2019). The programme was aimed at the development of empirical cognition and cognitive abilities in children, using strategies of creative solutions (by the CAI model, Williams, 1972) and the conception of empirical cognition stages (Koubek, 1984).

Research sampleThe programme was implemented during the academic year 2017–2018 (exper-

imental group 1, N = 35) and 2018–2019 (experimental group 2, N = 36) in two kindergarten classes in Nitra, with children of pre-school age (5 to 6 years old), during a period of 45 minutes a week during the whole school year. The control group consisted of one class (N = 31).

Research problemThe research problem was defined as investigation of possible intentional

support of empirical cognition in science by means of inquiry-based strategies, physical experimentation and using strategies of creative problem solving in the conditions of pre-school education. The investigation also concerns whether the programme as conceived and applied would result in an increased level in chil-dren’s creative thinking as an effect of planned, targeted stimulation.


Evaluation of the summary effect of the programme was designed as a longi-tudinal quasi-experiment, with pre-test and re-test measurements in the exper-imental and control groups; data were processed using standard procedures of comparative analyses.

Research hypothesisThe basic hypothesis was conceived as the assumption that the level of children’s

creative thinking would increase (in the factors fluency, flexibility and originality) under the influence of application of the Empirical Cognition Programme, sig-nificantly more in comparison with children not participating in the programme.

Many researchers have found that creativity development by means of science activities has an influence on the increase of specific factors of creativity (Mirzaie et al., 2009). Education strategies of the programme developed were loaded with many of the creative problem-solving strategies as conceived by Williams in the CAI model (1972).

Instrument and ProceduresWith the aim of verifying the effect of the Empirical Cognition Programme on

the development of creative thinking indicators in the conditions of pre-primary education, the Torrance Figural Test of Creative Thinking (Torrance, 1974; Slovak version by Jurčová, 1984) was applied in order to capture the level and the changes of factors of creative thinking. The figural form consisted of three drawing activ-ities in three sub-tests (Picture Construction, Incomplete Figures and Repeated Figures). The fluency score was made up of the summary score of the total number of relevant solutions in sub-tests 2 and 3. The flexibility score was composed of the summary score of the total number of solutions of various quality to the stimuli in sub-tests 2 and 3. The originality score was made up of the total score of original (infrequent and imaginative) solutions in all three sub-tests of the test. For the purpose of evaluation of originality, research sample norms were developed of the frequencies of solutions to stimuli in all of the sub-tests.


Results of the research

Table 1. Descriptive indicators of creativity variables and analysis of pre-test/post-test diferences in the experimental and control groups

Group Variable Min Max AM SD Med Skew Kur-tosis Z rm

ExG1(N=35)

Fl_tot_pre 0 26 12.97 6.75 12.0 .22 -.74 2.11*

-.25Fl_tot_post 0 25 10.40 6.73 10.0 .35 -.12Fx_tot_pre 0 22 10.46 5.84 9.0 .39 -.67 3.10

**-.37

Fx_tot_post 0 18 7.60 4.70 8.0 .09 -.20Or_tot_pre 0 28 8.09 6.67 6.0 1.27 1.67 2.87

**-.34

Or_tot_post 0 46 13.71 10.21 13.0 .86 1.55ExG2(N=36)

Fl_tot_pre 0 20 7.64 5.05 9.0 .09 -.01 3.80***

-.45Fl_tot_post 0 26 10.67 7.02 10.0 .29 -.23Fx_tot_pre 0 13 5.61 3.69 6.0 -.16 -.77 2.98

**-.35

Fx_tot_post 0 20 7.11 4.76 8.0 .45 .59Or_tot_pre 0 14 2.39 3.28 1.5 1.86 1.85 3.43

***-.40

Or_tot_post 0 17 4.67 4.40 4.0 1.06 .94ContG(N=31)

Fl_tot_pre 0 17 5.87 4.54 5.0 .51 -.09 .65 -.08Fl_tot_post 0 14 5.87 4.24 6.0 .16 -1.0Fx_tot_pre 0 14 4.29 3.81 4.0 .84 .09 1.01 -.13Fx_tot_post 0 11 3.68 3.28 3.0 .58 -.56Or_tot_pre 0 14 4.10 4.08 4.0 .78 -.27 2.30

*-.29

Or_tot_post 0 25 7.32 6.63 6.0 1.04 1.05

N – Total number; ExG1 – Experimental group 1; ExG2 – Experimental group 2; ContG – Control group; Fl – fluency; Fx – flexibility; Or – originality; tot-pre – total score, pretest; toto-post – total score, posttest; AM – Mean; MD – Median; SD – Standard deviation; Z – Wilcoxon rank test resulting value; rm – effect size value

The non-parametric Wilcoxon rank test showed a statistical and effect size moderate significance in the experimental group 2 in favour of total scores in fluency, flexibility and originality in the second measurement.

Statistically significant and moderate differences showed in the experimental group 1 in the overall level of Flexibility to the disadvantage of the second testing, however in favour of the second measurement in the variable Originality.

A statistically significant change in Originality was recorded in the control group after 10 months, but of only a low effect size significance.


Table 2. Analysis of differences in the level of creativity components in the control group against two experimental groups before and after application

of the programme (ContG vs. ExG1; ContG vs. ExG2)

Variable Group AM SD Med Z rm

Fl_tot_pre ContG 5.87 4.54 5.0ExG1 12.97 6.75 12.0 4.45*** -.55ExG2 7.64 5.05 9.0 1.74 -.21

Fl_tot_post ContG 5.87 4.24 6.0ExG1 10.40 6.73 10.0 2.88** -.36ExG2 10. 67 7.02 10.0 2.99** -.37

Fx_tot_pre ContG 4.29 3.81 4.0ExG1 10.46 5.84 9.0 4.51*** -.56ExG2 5.61 3.69 6.0 1.70 -.21

Fx_tot_post ContG 3.68 3.28 3.0ExG1 7.60 4.70 8.0 3.45*** -.43ExG2 7.11 4.76 8.0 3.12** -.38

Or_tot_pre ContG 4.10 4.08 4.0ExG1 8.09 6.67 6.0 2.76** -.34ExG2 2.39 3.28 1.5 1.85 -.23

Or_tot_post ContG 7.32 6.63 6.0ExG1 13.71 10.21 13.0 2.90** -.36ExG2 4.67 4.40 4.0 1.57 -.19

N – Total number; ContG – Control group; ExG1 – Experimental group 1; ExG2 – Experimental group 2; l – fluency; Fx – flexibility; Or – originality; tot-pre – total score, pretest; toto-post – total score, posttest; AM – Mean; MD – Median; SD – Standard deviation; Z – Mann-Whitney U-test resulting value; p = significance; rm – effect size value

The non-parametric Mann-Whitney U-test for two independent samples showed a high statistical, as well as high practical, significance of differences in creativity variables between experimental group 1 and the control group in all creativity components, in favour of the experimental group l, whether before or after application of the development programme.

In the experimental group 2, the overall level of Fluency and Flexibility changed significantly, as well as moderately significantly based on the effect size value, against the control group after application of the programme.


Discussion

The analysis of the pre-test/post-test differences in the experimental groups and in the control group (Table 1) showed a statistically, with effect size value significant, moderate increase in the level of the creative thinking factors studied (fluency, flexibility, originality) in Experimental Group 2 after participation in the Empirical Cognition Programme, which supports the assumption of a positive influence of the stimulation programme on children’s creative thinking. Results in Experimental Group 1 were unambiguous in terms of the assumption only for the factor of originality, with a significant and moderate decline observed in the factor of flexibility. In the control group no significant change was observed in two of the factors studied (fluency, flexibility) but there was a significant increase, at the level of low effect size value significance, in originality.

The analysis of mean input (pre-test) values of the factors studied in the groups studied showed that mean values in all factors were considerably (about twice) higher in Experimental Group 1 in comparison with the other groups, which could explain the decline in this group’s flexibility values in the second measure-ment. Another explanation could be test administration by teachers in the first year of the experiment, who failed to consistently observe time limits for solving individual sub-tests, which enabled children to solve more stimuli in sub-tests 2 and 3, thus not only increasing their fluency scores, but also increasing the likeli-hood of higher scores in flexibility and originality. That was also why we decided to administer the test ourselves and to ensure the same conditions for the groups tested in the following academic year when the programme was implemented in Experimental Group 2. The considerably and significantly different input values (pre-test) in individual groups inspired us to verify the hypothesis also by analysis of differences in the level of creativity factors in the control group against both experimental groups before and after the application of the Empirical Cognition Programme (Table 2). Comparison of the control group with Experimental Group 2 in all the creativity factors studied showed a comparable (without statistically significant differences) initial level (pre-test) in all factors, but a significantly higher level in Experimental Group 2 in the factors of fluency and flexibility in the second measurement (post-test) in comparison with the control group. No such result showed for originality. This, however, is attributed to the initial value of originality in Experimental Group 2 which was much lower (twice the difference in the value), in comparison with the control group while comparison of pre-test and post-test measurement of originality in the experimental group 2 (Table 1)


appeared statistically, with effect size value significantly higher after participation in the programme.

Both analyses allow us to presume that the results, especially of the first (pre-test) measurement in Experimental Group 1, may be a consequence of test admin-istration conditions - the exceeded time limit for solution of individual sub-tests. The re-test measurement in Experimental Group 1 showed a decline of values in fluency and flexibility, which could be attributed to the relatively late timing of the measurement just before the holidays, which could have led to children having poor motivation to solve the test tasks. The subsequent change in administration and timing of the re-test measurement for Experimental Group 2 will be further verified.

Conclusions

The results of the study contribute to the investigation of pre-school children’s empirical cognition and appear to support inquiry-based teaching as a means of teaching also in conditions of pre-school education.

Development and implementation of the authentic, original programme aimed to foster empirical cognition in pre-school children using physical experimen-tation, conceived as creative problem solving and inquiry-based learning, and brought valuable knowledge which is applicable in the practice of pre-school science education.

Through evaluation of the effectiveness of the developed and implemented programme with regard to variables loading on the creative thinking of children, the contribution meets methodological standards for development and application of intervention programmes based on research evidence.

AcknowledgementsThe contribution is part of the project VEGA 1/08/15/18

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Work with Foreign Scientific Editions as an Effective Factor in Motivating Undergraduates to Improve their

Foreign Language Competency

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.08

AbstractThe article is devoted to the problem of increase of the pedagogical universities undergraduates’ motivation to develop their foreign language competency. The main reasons necessitating continuous increase of the foreign language competence level have been determined. Utilizing such research methods as the focus group survey, theoretical generalization, comparison and pedagogical experiment, it has been proved that the maximum inclusion of students in foreign language activities with professional scientific information is an effec-tive factor in increasing the professional orientation of the foreign languages learning by the future teachers. This type of work in the process of studying various academic disciplines provides a positive dynamics of the motivation components and readiness of the future teachers to work with scientific for-eign-language information. It has been shown that netnographic analysis of the foreign-language scientific publications is also an effective factor in personal and professional development, socio-cultural communication, and the students’ mobility in professional and academic environment.

Key words: internationalization of education, foreign scientific information, netnographic analysis, motivational factors, undergraduates, increase of foreign language competency, future teachers, scientific publications

Alla M. KolomiietsUkraineIevgen V. GromovUkraineLesia I. KolomiietsUkraine

Iryne O. MazaikinaUkraineDmytro I. KolomiietsUkraine

97Work with Foreign Scientific Editions as an Effective Factor

Introduction

Within the framework of integration trends implementation and international-ization of education, higher education in European countries and Ukrainian state is now focused on improving foreign language training of future specialists as an integral part of their general professional competence, which is the factor of com-petitiveness and the key to effectiveness of social and professional communication in the European area.

Special attention to educational language policy, the importance of development of students’ foreign communication skills and provision of personality multilin-gualism are observed in a number of documents of the Council of Europe and the European Union. Fundamental ideas in European experience of training specialists are: promoting the quality of foreign language education (European Commission, 2005); studying and fluency in more than one language (European Commission, 2004); using innovative technologies in language education (Dos-tovalova et al., 2018); creating self-paced course of study (Brumen et al., 2018); improving language education through international exchange, participation in programs and grants (Council of Europe, 2011); ensuring academic mobility in multicultural environment (European Commission, 2008); formation of handling competences in using linguistic means for efficient implementation of personal and professional intentions (Council of Europe, 2011).

European experience shows that learning a foreign language is not a problem for most of the population. According to research, over the half (54%) of EU citizens speak at least one foreign language, one in four (25%) – two, one in ten (10%) – three. According to the same study, 67% of polyglot respondents rank their social status as “high”, that is, they consider themselves wealthy and influen-tial even according to European standards. Thus the awareness of the EU citizens of direct dependence on “foreign competence = success” dramatically increases their motivation to foreign languages studying (Special Eurobarometer 386, 2012).

The survey involved over 25,000 people representing all segments of the EU population (managers of different branches, entrepreneurs, workers, students, pensioners, unemployed, housewives). Their number appeared to be even higher among representatives of “white collar workers”. Ability to work with foreign literature and communicate in a foreign language, English in particular, are funda-mental nowadays for professional activity of specialists in all branches, including teachers and lecturers.

A number of reasons that encourage scientific and pedagogical workers to constant increase of foreign language competence level are distinguished:

98 Alla M. Kolomiiets et al.

1. internationalization (international publications, grants, exchange program);2. necessity for analysis of original foreign scientific texts;3. requirement in writing annotations to dissertations and articles in a foreign

language;4. possibility of internship in educational institutions abroad;5. demand for teachers who can teach foreign students;6. requirement of academic community to have knowledge of foreign lan-

guage at B2-C1 level;7. the English language status as the main means of communication in IT

sphere;8. opportunity to be confident when attending international conferences;9. increase in a person’s attractiveness who speaks a foreign language.

Ukrainian students are attracted by the European universities’ high level of edu-cation, especially by the programs and courses which are taught in English. Since Ukraine has chosen a European vector of development, provision of libraries with foreign textbooks and journals, to organization of the translation and adaptation of recognized scientific papers in Europe and education materials to Ukrainian educational area is of great significance. Besides this, Ukrainian scholars have the opportunity to present the results of their research to the European scientific com-munity. However, in Ukraine, as well as in most post-Soviet areas, unwillingness of graduates of higher educational institutions, in particular educators, to commu-nicate in a foreign language and study foreign sources of scientific information is observed.

Students’ involvement in foreign language activities dealing with scientific information which is interesting from the perspective of future specialty is hypothesized to be an effective factor of increasing professional orientation of foreign language learning.


To confirm the hypothesis, the following research methods are used: assessment of students’ foreign language knowledge while applying for a Master’s degree course; focus-group survey; theoretical summarizing; comparison; pedagogical experiment.

The goal of the focus-group survey is to study the following aspects: causes of problems met by students which lead to decreased motivation in foreign language learning; understanding the importance of working with foreign scientific informa-


tion by future teachers for their professional and foreign competence development; motivation of students to make efforts to work with foreign scientific information for self-education and research; determining the ways to optimize the work with foreign scientific information, which would increase the students’ motivation.

To obtain objective and reliable results in the focus group survey, 8 focus-groups were formed (2 groups – foreign language teachers, 6 groups – students of pedagog-ical university). Each group included 10–12 volunteers. Educators with experience of scientific and pedagogical activity over 17 years (n = 24; mean age = 48.3) were randomly selected. When forming the focus-groups of students, the following sam-ple parameters were taken into account: education (Bachelor’s or Master’s degree), academic performance in a foreign language at school and higher education insti-tution, course of study and specialty. Thus, students’ focus groups were formed by the method of paired selection: 2 groups – students of nonlinguistic specialties with Bachelor Degree and different performance level of foreign language (n = 23; mean age = 17.6); 2 groups – those having Master’s degree in nonlinguistic specialties with middle and high levels of academic achievement (n = 45; mean age = 21.6). The total number of participants in the focus group study is 92 people.

Research Results and Discussion

Although the exam in foreign language (mainly English) is compulsory when applying for Master’s degree course over the past few years, the results are disap-pointing. Statistical studies of 2015–2019 years indicate that the majority of Master’s degree course applicants have satisfactory level of foreign language proficiency.

Table 1. Level of the English language proficiency of the Master program entrants (basing on the entrance exams results in 2015–2019 academic years)

Academic years

Students’ English proficiency level in ECTS grading scale (results of entrance exams to Master’s degree course)

A (excellent)

B/C (good)

D/E (satisfactory)

F/Fx (unsatisfac-tory)

2015–2016 0.7 % 26.6 % 69.4 % 3.3 %2016–2017 1.1 % 29.5 % 67.7 % 1.7 %2017–2018 1.1 % 36.6 % 62.4 % 0.4 %2018–2019 4.1 % 25.7 % 69.8 % 0.4 %2015–2019 years average 1. 8 % 29.5 % 67.3 % 1.4 %


Regardless of fact that the percentage of students with unsatisfactory foreign language proficiency has significantly decreased in 4 recent years, two thirds of Master degree course applicants show satisfactory (D/E) level of foreign language competence. Such low level of knowledge in undergraduates encouraged us to study the main causes of this disappointing fact, including the structure of peda-gogical students’ motivation for foreign language study.

Both Ukrainian and foreign scholars (Busse & Walter, 2013), (Bračun, 2017), (Diamantatou & Hawes, 2016), (Malykhin & Aristova, 2018) indicate critical tendencies in the state of motivation of modern students in foreign language pro-ficiency. The studies presented are supposed to make a significant contribution to the development of the problem being investigated however, they are not sufficient for its systemic solution.

Studying features and highlighting controversial issues of future teachers’ motivation in foreign language learning to study a foreign language and the imple-mentation of various types of foreign language activities will fully define the range of appropriate pedagogical innovations the realization of which will contribute to solving the existing contradictions between: 1) understanding by the students of the importance of a foreign language for personal and professional development and low readiness to use its means to achieve important goals of the subject; 2) attempts recently implemented by higher education institutions to improve the quality of foreign language learning at the level of organizational changes and inappropriate attention to personal needs, values, motives, internal dynamics of personal and professional development of students by means of foreign language education; 3) significant potential of foreign scientific information for increasing potential of students’ research work and necessity to carry out professionally oriented foreign language information activities in the educational process.

A separate place in the structure of motivation of foreign language learning by future teachers is the work of students with foreign language scientific informa-tion. Foreign language scientific information in the practice of mastering a foreign language by future teachers has several interrelated functions, namely: educational (the resource of prompt acquisition of professionally significant knowledge in the specialty), communicative (the subject of discussion in professional environment) and research (the object of study in the format of preparation of theses, scien-tific publications). The structure of the concept “foreign scientific information” is determined through the following components: sources (printed materials, manuscripts, Internet resources, audio and video recordings, live speeches of professionals in real time, telecommunications); form of existence (oral, written); view (text, graphics, animation).


Let us analyze the survey results.1. The majority of interviewed teachers and students of non-linguistic spe-

cialties consider the entrance level of foreign language proficiency at the stage of entering higher education to be an important reason that affects the ability of future teachers to master foreign language professional scientific information. The revealed tendency is that students of Bachelor’s degree of non-linguistic specialties do not consider a foreign language to be part of their specialized field and there-fore do not deem it appropriate to make efforts and spend time to improve their foreign language proficiency.

2. Both target groups of respondents are unanimous in the opinion that it is especially difficult to analyze original foreign texts that contain the author’s style of presentation and vision of the problem in line with traditions that have developed in the corresponding field of knowledge in another country. Due to the lack of professional experience, especially during the first years of study, and undeveloped skills which are important for working with foreign language information, it is difficult for students to give it proper assessment, and therefore scientific foreign language knowledge is mastered partially and is not used for solving professional tasks, nor serves as the basis for creating their own professionally important scientific information.

3. Future teachers of non-linguistic specialties noted that low level of foreign language proficiency and lack of requirements to use foreign language academic and scientific literature is the main barrier in choosing foreign professional scien-tific sources for processing.

4. The interviewed academic staff raised the issue that it is important to choose scientific information carefully in accordance with the specialty. They also think it appropriate to jointly compile collections of scientific texts in foreign languages. This thesis was also reflected in the responses of undergraduate students of non-linguistic specialties who emphasized that “when reading and translating the text, they often did not understand what was being discussed”, “could not explain how it was related to their education”, “considered reading scientific texts unnec-essary”, “such information would become more comprehensible much later” and so on.

5. Respondents of the focus groups of teachers and students (mostly graduate students) agreed that, in connection with the spread of ICT it is expedient to seek and process digital foreign scientific information. However, not all future teachers have the developed skills to search for the necessary foreign language professionally oriented sources on the Internet, to use electronic translators and dictionaries; lack information about international scientometric databases in


which scientific publications are indexed; are not acquainted with professional virtual communities with which you can set up professional communication; they require assistance from others.

6. The opinion of future teachers on the subjective significance of foreign language education has its own specific character. Most students of non-linguistic specialties understand the importance of learning a foreign language. However, the professional component in such a need is fairly minor (communicative and social motives dominate). The growth of orientation towards the expediency of improving the foreign language professional communicative competence depend-ing on the educational degree and academic achievement in the foreign language has been noted: students with a master degree, in contrast to bachelor degree, have a higher level of such orientation; students with better academic achievement are more motivated to perform foreign language activities. A contradiction has been identified: despite the understanding of the importance of foreign language edu-cation, students are more likely to speak about enhancing their foreign language professional communicative skills in the future; the majority of future teachers of non-linguistic specialties do not specify the exact actions taken in this direction either in the past, or planned for the near future.

7. Teachers attest to a decrease in the level of readiness of students to make efforts to study a foreign language, work with foreign language scientific informa-tion for the purpose of self-education and for research purposes. Respondents of the focus groups of scientific and pedagogical staff noted negative trends that are increasing among students from year to year: a decline in motivation to foreign language education, the loss of interest in the possibilities of personal and profes-sional development by means of foreign language education; predominance of a reproductive approach regarding foreign language activities; avoiding the fulfilling of additional tasks with professionally oriented content, etc.

Future teachers often use excuses “lack of time”, “heavy workload with profession-ally oriented disciplines”, and so on. Only a quarter of the interviewed students of non-linguistic specialties, mainly with a high level of academic success in a foreign language (mostly students with a master degree), expressed their consent to consider writing and defending a thesis in a foreign language; one-third of future teachers from different focus groups indicated their willingness to try to prepare a scientific publication working on foreign language sources on the topic of research (including digital ones); only a few students with a master degree are ready to present the results of their own research to the international professional community.

8. Because of self-doubt, inadequate self-esteem and low level of ambition, lack of knowledge of a foreign language, lack of developed skills in foreign language


communication and work with scientific information in some students, regardless of educational degree, there is psychological discomfort which is accompanied by the experience of negative emotions, and associative transition of a temporary failure to the general range of situations related to the study of a foreign language, that is, the motivation for avoiding failures is established.

Consequently, the analysis of research in the focus groups has shown the exist-ence of difficulties, negative tendencies, contradictions that negatively affect the motivation of learning a foreign language, which lead to the fact that future teachers avoid working with sources of foreign scientific information. Realizing the necessity to overcome the unfavorable phenomena that have been revealed, relying on the conclusions drawn in the process of theoretical generalization of the problem under study, it is expedient to introduce special conditions for the formation of the motivation of future teachers to increase their foreign language professional communication competence through work with foreign language scientific texts.

Reading special literature according to the specialty, in particular Scopus and Web of Science indexed research publications where the most up-to-date achieve-ments are introduced, play a leading role in foreign language learning. The most favorable environment for motivation of undergraduate students for this type of activity is teaching such academic subjects as “Methodology and Principles of Scientific Research” in English that suggests skill formation to work with scientific information sources. The discipline includes the topics of general scientific nature (“Methodology as a Science”, “History of Science: The Scientific Discoveries of the Past and the Present”, “Methods and Techniques of the Scientific Research”, “Evaluation of the Scientific Effectiveness”), as well as those that separately high-light the main approaches, principles, stages of conducting scientific research, recommendations for preparation, writing and correct formatting of Master’s theses, publication of scientific research results, etc. (“Categorical Apparatus and Structure of the Scientific Research”, “Publication of the Research Results”, “Mistakes which Must Be Avoided while Carrying on the Scientific Research” etc). Apart from theoretical value, the suggested course has an applied nature, which further motivates students to study the discipline.

Undergraduates were offered the following tasks for practical classes (classroom and individual): Internet search and classification of English-language sources, as well as analysis of English-language scientific articles on the topics of Master’s theses, followed by compulsory on-line discussion. Taking into consideration the specific nature of the institution, most Master’s theses have pedagogical and meth-odological orientation, therefore it is necessary to search for useful information in English-language pedagogical editions such as The New Educational Review. The


journal has become an important base for mastering skills in specialized informa-tion search in the English language. Undergraduates were invited to choose one issue of the journal and carefully analyze the content of articles paying special attention to materials that are related to the topics of Master’s theses.

During the semester more than 50 issues were reviewed. Undergraduates mastered skills of working with foreign sources and got useful information as well. Discussion of the articles facilitated motivation in working with foreign lan-guage scientific information in the general structure of motivation to the personal and professional development by creating successful learning environment for achieving success while working with foreign language information. Most students consider netnographic analysis of foreign scientific editions to be of great signif-icance, highlighting the large quantity, high quality and relevance of information concerning the topic of their research in particular.

According to the results of the experiment, we came to the conclusion that for-eign language is not only a means of obtaining new information but also the way of exchanging information and a cooperative tool which helps with making col-lective decisions. Such activity promoted the formation of a positive professional “I–conception”, the approximate image “I–professional foreign language real” to ideas “I–professional foreign language ideal”; provided personal sense and axiolog-ical orientation to foreign language activities by reinforcing subjective confidence in their own ability to work with foreign language scientific information, creating situations for demonstration of personal learning outcomes and achievements in the field of research work in a foreign language.

The use of innovative pedagogical and information and communication technologies (brainstorm, discussions, forums, blogs, etc.) promoted a high working capacity and motivated future teachers to work with foreign language scientific information. The interactive, personal oriented, dialogical and creative nature of such technologies improved teacher-student relationships during work with foreign language scientific information; diversified methods, forms and purpose of foreign language activities; and provided availability of foreign scientific sources.

Motivation was measured quantitatively as the motivational structure components of the work of the future teachers with scientific texts in foreign language (obtained from the questionnaire by V.K. Herbachevskyi) (Raigo-rodskyi, 2007). The survey results are shown in the chart (according to the average value, n = 63):


Figure 1. Quantitative interpretation of the motivational structure components (obtained from the questionnaire by V.K. Herbachevskyi)

The results of the research showed a positive dynamic in the development of the motivational structure components following future teachers’ work with foreign language scientific information.

In the second administration of the diagnostic, growth of cognitive interest and students’ initiative, increase of the internality and personal significance of the implementation of this type of activity was noted. The relation between the self-esteem indicators and ambitions of future teachers at the level of subjective need as well as the ability to process scientific foreign language information have been revealed. Students demonstrated greater willingness to perform more dif-ficult tasks, showed a better readiness to mobilize their own resources and the opportunity to achieve a productive result while working with foreign language scientific sources. Within motivational structure the indicators of manifestation of motives for avoiding failure and competition with other students (future teach-ers), the desire to stop working with scientific foreign language information, or to replace it with any other activity with the appearance of the slightest difficulties and obstacles, disappeared. Awareness of the necessity for improvement of foreign language professional communicative competence while working with foreign language scientific information increased.

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Conclusions

Thus, the analysis presented showed that domestic and foreign scholars focus on problems in how to improve foreign language education, and how to increase the language learning potential of professional communication skills of future teachers, in particular, through the work with foreign scientific information. This requires the introduction of effective changes in professional training of future teachers at the level of organization which is fundamental for the development of productivity of foreign educational institution, as well as further formation of essential personal resources.

The success of achieving positive changes in improvement foreign language professional communicative competence depends on increased motivation of future teachers for research (research in a foreign language) a foreign language.

Formation of future teachers’ motivation to work with foreign language scien-tific information as a fundamental component of foreign language professional communicative competence requires cooperative work of all lecturers to teach students to analyze scientific foreign language publications in their specializations. Such work of students during the study of various professional disciplines will pro-vide a positive dynamic in the state of valuable and motivational orientation and readiness of future teachers to work with scientific foreign language information as a source of personal and professional development, sociocultural communication, and mobility in professional and academic environments.

ReferencesBračun, R. (2017). Understanding Erasmus Students‘ Motivation: What Directs Erasmus

Students’ Choice of Destination and Particular Course. The New Educational Review, 50 (4), 26–35.

Brumen, M., Zupančič, T., Agüero, M., & Alonso-Belmonte, I. (2018). Foreign Language Teachers’ Feedback Practices: a Comparative Study. The New Educational Review, 53 (3), 216–226.

Busse, V., & Walter, C. (2013). Foreign Language Learning Motivation in Higher Education: A Longitudinal Study of Motivational Changes and Their Causes. The Modern Language Journal, 97 (2), 435–456.

Council of Europe (2011). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learn-ing, Teaching, Assessment. Companion Volume with New Descriptions. (Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/cefr-companion-volume-with-new-descriptors-2018/1680787989).

Council of Europe (2011). From Linguistic Diversity to Plurilingual Education: Guide


for the development of language education policies in Europe. Jean-Claude Beacco, Michael Byram. (Retrieved from https://rm.coe.int/16802fc1c4)

Diamantatou, C., & Hawes, T. (2016). Language Learning, Motivation and the Market Economy. Journal of Education and Learning, 5 (1), 95–103.

Dostovalova, E., Lomasko, P., Maschanov, A., Nazarenko, E., & Simonova, A. (2018). Teach-ing in a Continuously and Dynamically Changing Digital Information and Learning Environment of a Modern University. The New Educational Review, 53 (3), 126–141.

European Commission (2004). Communication from the European Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity: an Action Plan 2004–2006. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. (Retrieved from http://www.saaic.sk/eu-label/doc/2004–06_en.pdf)

European Commission (2005). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: The European Indicator of Language Competence. COM (2005) 356 final. Brussels. (Retrieved from http://www.labeleuropeolingue.it/download/documentazione/2012/Indicatore% 20europeo%20lingue_2005_en.pdf

European Commission (2008). Communication from the European Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. Multilingualism: an asset for Europe and a shared commitment. Brussels: Directorate General Press and Communication. (Retrieved from http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/language-technologies/docs/multilingual-comm.pdf)

Malykhin, O., & Aristova, N. (2018). Investigation into the Participation Activity Rate of Foreign Languages Teachers in Specially Focused Network Pedagogical Communities. The New Educational Review, 53 (3), 227–238.

Raigorodskyi, D. (2007). Psycho-diagnostics for Personnel. Methods and Tests. Moscow: Bahrah-M.

Special Eurobarometer № 386 (2012). Europeans and their Languages. Report. Wave EB77.1 – TNS Opinion & Social. Brussels: Directorate General Press and Communica-tion. (Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf)

The Application of Item Response Theory for Development of a Students’ Attitude Scale

Toward Mathematics

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.09

Abstract Mathematics Education Study Program students should have a tendency to accept mathematics because it will support the achievement of mathematical competence in the fields of work, knowledge, and management. This study aims to construct, validate, and analyze the characteristics of attitude scale items, and determine students’ attitudes towards mathematics. Aspects of student attitudes towards mathematics, were taken as namely: intrinsic moti-vation, enjoyment, anxiety, self-confidence, and value. The results of factor analysis show good model fit with the items measuring unidimensionality. Analysis of item characteristics was done using polytomous item response theory with a Partial Credit Model (PCM). The difficulty level of grains is at intervals of -2.52 ≤ d ≤ 2.58. Students’ attitudes towards mathematics are in the interval -0.67 ≤ θ ≤ 2.36.

Key words: student attitudes towards mathematics, instrument construction, Item Response Theory, polytomous items, Partial Credit Model

Sintha Sih DewantiIndonesiaYulia AyrizaIndonesiaFarida Agus SetiawatiIndonesia

109The Application of Item Response Theory for Development of a Students’ Attitude Scale

Introduction

Attitude is a concept associated with affective domains such as beliefs, emotions, values (McLeod, 1992; Zan, Brown, Evans & Hannula, 2006; Goldin, Rösken, & Törner, 2009). Attitudes can be described as tendencies that are associated with individuals and regularly form thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are related to psychology (Dursun, 2015). Some researchers such as McLeod (1992) consider attitude to be a series of emotional reactions, while other researchers such as Di Martino & Zan (2010) argue that several components interact with each other in attitude forming.

In mathematics education, early studies of attitudes began to emerge in the mid-20th century (Dutton, 1951). The assumption is that it is not only cognitive factors that play a role in mathematics learning. To this end, students of the Math-ematics Education Study Program as prospective mathematics educators who are outstanding, creative, superior, professional, and globally competitive, must also pay attention to non-cognitive factors that will maximize their mathemat-ical competence. Zan, Brown, Evans & Hannula (2006) suggested that the most important research about mathematical attitudes is on understanding the mutual relationship between attitude and achievement. Several other studies show that there is a strong relationship between various domains of attitude (enjoyment of mathematics, motivation to carry out mathematical activities, confidence in mathematics, and perception of mathematical values) and mathematical achieve-ment (Anttonen, 1969; Atkinson & Raynor, 1974; Minato, 1983; Minato & Yanase, 1984; Foire, 1999; Bouchey & Harter, 2005; Samuelsson & Granstrom, 2007).

Generally, students of the Mathematics Education Study Program have a posi-tive tendency towards mathematics at the beginning when they choose this study program. High school graduates who choose to continue their studies in the Mathematics Education Study Program certainly already have a sense of interest in mathematics compared to other subjects. But in the course of being a student, these tendencies can change. Changes in attitude can occur at any time because of the functional value of attitude, and the process that changes this has become a major focus in social psychology (Petty, Wheeler, & Tormala, 2003). It is hoped that students’ attitudes towards mathematics will not turn negative. A negative attitude is considered one of the main factors that influence poor achievement in mathematics (Schoenfeld, 1989; Zan, Brown, Evans & Hannula, 2006). Therefore, measuring the attitudes of students of the Mathematics Education Study Program towards mathematics is considered necessary so that students can continue to excel in mathematics.

110 Sintha Sih Dewanti, Yulia Ayriza, Farida Agus Setiawati

Research ProblemThe relationship between attitude and achievement has been widely studied

using instruments that measure attitudes towards mathematics and student achievement. However, the basis for concluding the relationship between attitudes and achievements is not yet strong, and the instruments used for this goal often do not go through the process required to develop correct instruments (Ma & Kishor, 1997; McLeod, 1992).

Research FocusThe subjects of this study were students of the Mathematics Education Study

Program who had different characteristics from elementary and middle school students. Therefore, it is necessary to research the development of instruments with a scale of students’ attitudes towards mathematics. The purpose of this study is to: 1) construct an attitude scale; 2) validate the attitude scale; 3) analyze the characteristics of the attitude scale items; and 4) discover students’ attitudes towards mathematics.


Research SampleThe subjects of this study were 227 undergraduate Mathematics Education

Study Program students of whom 127 (55.95%) came from public universities and 100 (44.05%) came from private universities. The sample consisted of 119 (52.42%) male students and 108 (47.58%) female students. There are 72 (31.72%) 1st semester students, 61 (26.87%) 3rd semester students, 68 (29.96%) 5th semester students, 7 (3.08%) 7th semester students, with 19 students (8.37%) people from higher than 8th semester.

Research Instrument DevelopmentThe scale of students’ attitudes towards mathematics consists of 5 aspects, which

are: intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, anxiety, self-confidence, and value. Each aspect was measured by 3 or 4 indicators. Indicators of intrinsic motivation are interest, desire in career choices, and enthusiasm to pursue mathematics beyond the mandatory level. The indicators of enjoyment are enjoying mathematics, par-ticipating in mathematical discussions, challenge in solving new problems, and happy feelings in math class. Indicators of anxiety are feelings of fear, nervousness, confusion, and feelings of tension. Self-confidence indicators are that the student


can perform well in mathematics, can learn mathematics easily, and can be a good problem solver. Value indicators are the usefulness of mathematics, the relevance of mathematics, and the value of mathematics in life.

The attitude scale was validated by 8 validators consisting of mathematics education lecturers, mathematics teachers, psychology lecturers, and linguists. The validator chose answers by paying attention to the appropriateness of aspects, indicators, and statements. All items are said to be valid because there was a coef-ficient value of Aiken’s V ≥ 0.75 with a validator of 8 people and a choice of 4 answers (Aiken, 1985).

Instrument reliability related to measurement errors is indicated by Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of 0.816 (high reliability). High reliability indicates that there is a small error in obtaining measurement results. Item reliability is indicated by Corrected Item-Total Correlation. Corrected Item-Total Correlation in each item is more than 0.3, from which it can be concluded that each item statement is reliable.

Results of Research

In analyzing data using item response theory, the first thing to do is to test the dimensions of the empirical data. The testing process is carried out by exploratory factor analysis using the principal component method. The output shows that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy = 0.790 shows KMO> 0.5, which means that this study has sufficient data. Also, the significance of Bartlett’s test shows that the correlation matrix is not an identity matrix, so the data form a correlation matrix with a close relationship between variables. Then based on anti-images correlation, the Measures of Adequate Sampling (MSA) was > 0.5 so all data are eligible for factor analysis.

The number of factors can be determined by selecting factors that have an Eigenvalue greater than 1. Based on the Eigenvalue, 5 factors were formed. This can also be seen in the scree plot to determine the exact number of components, presented in Figure 1.

To facilitate interpretation, a rotation is carried out to obtain a simpler loading structure. The Varimax method was chosen to get a loading structure that has a strong relationship with only one factor. The results of the factor rotation are presented in Table 1. The results of the factor rotation indicate that each item measures 1 dimension so that subsequent data analysis uses unidimensional item response theory.


Figure 1. Scree plot of the main component analysis

Table 1. Rotated component matrix


The validity of the construct theory of attitudes towards mathematics is evi-denced by confirmatory factor analysis. The t-value output is presented in Figure 2.

Figure 2 shows all the paths are significant, but the p-value = 0.008 for the model compatibility test is not significant. For this reason, it is necessary to pay attention to modification indices to find suggestions for improving the model. After modification, the standardized solution is presented in Figure 3.

To find out the characteristics of polytomous items, researchers used a Partial Credit Model (PCM) with the help of R software. The first step is to test the suit-ability of the model if the data analysis can use PCM. The results of the model compatibility test are presented in Table 2.

Figure 2. T-value of the construct theory of attitude towards mathe-matics

[114]

Figure 3. The standardized solution of the construct theory of attitude to mathematics after modification

Table 2. Model Match Test Output


The above output shows that there was a p-value> 0.05 for each item, which means that all items are fit to be analyzed using PCM which is a 1PL polytomous model that considers the power of different items constant. Also, it is necessary to see the person fit to determine the characteristics of respondents who are suit-able for this instrument to be used on. Of 227 respondents, there were 19 people (8.37%) who did not fit the instrument construct.

The threshold is the intersection for each category that shows the minimum ability to be able to reach certain points. As there are 5 answer choices on the attitude scale, then there will be a maximum of 4 thresholds. The threshold for each item is presented in Table 3.

Table 3. The threshold for each item

Of the 17 items, there are 15 items that have 4 thresholds and 2 items that have 3 thresholds. Generally, threshold 1 < threshold 2 < threshold 3 < threshold 4, because in response to “strongly agree” it should have a higher tendency of approval than responding to “agree”. There are 13 items that have a threshold that is getting bigger from one category to the next. The Characteristic Curve items of several items that have a threshold like this are presented in Figure 4.

PCM does not require the steps to complete the test items to be sequential, nor for them to have the same difficulty (De Ayala, 1993). This resulted in the fact that


the threshold for PCM scoring from one category to the next is not always greater. There are 4 items, namely B1, B3, C2, and D3 which have a threshold 2 < threshold 1 < threshold 3 < threshold 4, as presented in Figure 5.

The level of difficulty in PCM is the level of difficulty answering the upper-level category for each item and is presented in Table 4.

Figure 4. Items with threshold 1 < threshold 2 < threshold 3 < threshold 4


Figure 5. Items with threshold 2 < threshold 1 < threshold 3 < threshold 4

Table 4. Difficulty level for each category in each item


Figure 7. Characteristics of students

Figure 6. The difficulty level of categories for each item

The distribution of difficulty levels is presented in Figure 6.The characteristics of students is presented in Figure 7.

Discussion

This research aims to get the right instruments to measure the attitudes of students of the Mathematics Education Study Program towards mathematics. The development of the instrument was carried out following 12 steps from developing an overall plan to reporting the results (Downing, 2006: 4-23). The purpose of a test is important in determining what content is appropriate, and what is not, what is suitable for the test, in choosing the format of the test item and how to respond, and in planning data collection efforts to evaluate the validity and inter-pretation of test scores, and the quality of other technical tests (Linn, 2006: 28).


Good instruments must be made in such a way that they are easy to use and the results are accurate for the purpose of the assessment. Validity refers to how far the test score provides accurate information for making decisions based on that score (Messick, 1995: 13; Amy, 1999: 3). A statement of validity cannot be made about the instrument, but must refer to conclusions made when using scores from the scale (Finch & French, 2019: 172). Therefore, the validation process involves gath-ering evidence to show the scientific basis for interpreting the score as planned. Validity is support for the interpretation of test scores against the intended use of tests based on evidence and theory (Mardapi, 2017: 32).

Validity is defined as a framework of three interrelated aspects, namely criteria validity, content validity, and construct validity (Croker & Algina, 1986: 217; Amy, 1999: 3-5). Criteria validity means how far the score from the assessment or test is associated with certain criteria. Content validity means that the assessment should include a representative content domain. Construct validity means how far a test score correlates with the theoretical characteristics of the measured attribute. The third proof of validity is carried out in this study, namely through the validator assessment analyzed with Aiken’s coefficient, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Proof of validity is not compartmen-talized but is used together with other measures to build arguments that show to what extent valid conclusions can be made with scores derived from these instruments (Finch & French, 2019: 172).

The validity of the contents is determined using the agreement of experts in the field of study. The results of validation show all items are valid because of the coefficient value of Aiken’s V ≥ 0.75 with 8 validators, 4 rating categories, and a significance level of 0.05 (Aiken, 1985). Although this type of validity assessment has some interesting theoretical properties, this validity will have problems with subjectivity (Kane, 2006). Construct validation rests on the foundation of theo-retical expectations, and the extent to which the scale fits these expectations. In other words, the construct validity addresses the extent to which the instrument behaves according to how the theory suggests it should. Proof of construct validity can be demonstrated by analyzing results of empirical measurement, namely by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) (Retnawati, 2017: 20). The EFA results show that this instrument explains 63.38% of students’ attitudes towards mathematics with 5 factors. The rotation results grouped the items into 5 factors by the theory that attitude consists of 5 aspects, namely: intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, anxiety, self-confidence, and value.

The CFA results show that each path is significant from both the latent variable (exogenous variable to endogenous variable) and the observed variable, but the


p-value = 0.008 <0.05. This shows that the model compatibility test is not signifi-cant, so it needed to be modified. Modification was done by correlating the error covariance between the 2 observed variables, namely B3 – D3, and C3 – D2. This meant a review of the attitude scale indicators needed to be done. Indicator B3 is “a challenge to solve a new problem”, while indicator D3 is “can be a good prob-lem solver”. The two indicators measure related things, namely attitudes towards problem-solving. To be a good problem solver, students must have the challenge to solve new problems. The C3 indicator is “confusion”, while the D2 indicator is “can learn mathematics easily”. These two indicators also measure related things. Students who can learn mathematics easily will certainly not experience confusion. This relationship can also be reversed, students who do not experience confusion will be able to learn mathematics easily.

A Partial Credit Model (PCM) is very suitable for analyzing multipoint scale personality response scales (Masters & Wright, 1996, Embretson & Reise, 2000). The results of the analysis showed PCM fit, meaning that the items on the attitude scale followed the 1-PL (Parameter Logistic) model by taking into account the level of difficulty and assuming constant power differences (Masters, 1982). Gen-erally, higher category scores indicate higher ability than lower category scores. PCM is suitable for items that are scored in a tiered category, but the difficulty index in each step does not need to be ordered. The response items in this study can be correct at certain steps but can be wrong at other steps.

The threshold shows the meeting point of two category probability lines in one item. The individual’s probability of responding to category x at this stage is the difference between the level trait (θ) and the threshold (δij). In other words, the category intersection parameter can be considered as the level of difficulty of the stages relating to the transition from one category to the next category, and there is a difficulty step mi (intersection) for items with mi + 1 answer categories (Embretson & Reise, 2000). The value δij does not always have to be sequential in item i because it is a relative magnitude of two adjacent probabilities (De Ayala, 1993; Muraki, 1992). The threshold can also be interpreted as a point on a latent nature scale, where for two consecutive categories the response curves intersect. The threshold is a point where two categories have the same probability to be chosen because of the associated level of a trait (Linacre, 2006).


Conclusions

Based on the theory, a scale to measure students’ attitudes toward mathematics was compiled consisting of 5 aspects, namely: intrinsic motivation, enjoyment, anxiety, self-confidence, and value. The results of factor analysis show that the attitude scale produces a model that fits the requirements for a unidimensional measure. The results of the analysis of grain characteristics identified 65 categories of 17 items with a level of difficulty (d) at intervals of -2.52 ≤ d ≤ 2.58, and most were located at intervals of -1 ≤ d < 0 of 43.08%. Of 227 students, there were 19 (8.37%) people who did not fit the construct of this instrument. Student attitude toward mathematics is described as student ability (θ) located at intervals of -0.67 ≤ θ ≤ 2.36, and most student’s ability is at interval 1 ≤ θ < 1.5 (47.14%). This instru-ment can be used in class assessments or large-scale assessments. The results of the analysis of item characteristics can show the level of difficulty in each item of each category in detail, so the instrument can be used to measure student attitudes based on their ability level.

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Soft Skills Development of Prospective Educators by Means of Problem-Based ESP Learning

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.10

AbstractThe article deals with the implementation of problem-based ESP learning in the educational process of prospective educators and shows its impact on development of soft skills. The purpose of the study is to make theoretical hypotheses about the effectiveness of problem-based ESP learning for pro-spective educators and to test their level of soft skills development empirically following its implementation. The article represents an overview of the main goals, principles and stages of problem-based ESP learning. The results of the study show that problem-based ESP learning empowers prospective educators with valuable soft skills (critical thinking; independent search for information; analysis of information; cooperation with groupmates; emotional intelligence; solution of complex tasks; partner relationship with tutor) and motivates stu-dents to improve their ability to achieve good results in the educational process.

Key words: problem-based learning (PBL); stages of problem-based ESP learning; model of problem-based ESP learning; soft skills

Introduction

Nowadays teachers face very intelligent students who are able to accumulate information but they do not know how to use it properly to achieve the best results.

Natalia DmitrenkoUkraineInna DoliaUkraineSofiya Nikolaeva Ukraine

125Soft Skills Development of Prospective Educators

The fact is that a student with a good memory and command of facts is not nec-essarily good at critical thinking. A critical thinker is able to deduce consequences from what he or she knows, and he/she knows how to make use of information to solve problems and to seek relevant sources to find out the information. Working on a problem, the student should be able to identify it, to infer why the problem exists and how it can be solved, to collect information or data, and organize it, to develop solutions and to analyse whether they work or not, and to find proper ways to improve the solution.

Problem-based learning (PBL), as an inductive learning and a team-based approach, helps students to focus on enhancing their soft skills. This approach places particular emphasis on learning through questioning, and through auton-omous and peer-directed learning. As a result, students develop communication skills, critical thinking skills and problem-solving abilities, as well as skills for working in a team. This approach can also help students to pave ways to enhance their personal development, increase their level of self-confidence and empower them to be active learners, excel in team working, as well as be able to accept challenges (Idrus, & Abdullah, 2018).

Thus, PBL occupies the main position among the newest methods of organiza-tion in the educational process which are applied to formation and development of the skills that have been outlined. It is a good way to improve the process of mastering material, in teaching students how to think and put knowledge into practice. It allows students to generate their own position based on available multidimensional information, to correlate their point of view with the opinions of others. Students learn to analyse different sources of information and to develop their own attitude towards different views. Thus, PBL is a learning approach that seeks to create a link between theoretical knowledge and practical implementation (Cockrell & Caplow, 2000).

Research ProblemThe process of learning foreign languages can become more effective with the

help of input of problem situations in the educational process. PBL is considered as a principle and as a new type of educational process, as a method of study and as a new didactic system. Using a problem-based approach as the priority direc-tion for a personal-guided approach in the process of learning foreign languages can be implemented at all levels in the organization of teaching materials and the educational process itself. Problem-based oriented material promotes the increase of efficiency of the process of education as it stimulates mental activity, encourages independent search for information, and provides impetus for analysis and gen-

126 Natalia Dmitrenko, Inna Dolia, Sofiya Nikolaeva

eralization. The application of problem-solving principle gives variety of teaching material that helps to conduct teaching with regard to the educational contents, enhances forms of the organization of the educational process, and improves the level of students’ knowledge and their readiness for autonomous work.

Theoretically, this approach enables students to become more effective collab-orators, to develop self-directed learning and problem-solving skills, to construct extensive flexible knowledge which goes beyond the learning of facts and it also raises intrinsic motivation (Dmitrenko, 2016).

Problem-based learning involves projects focused on solving complex and real-world problems by using a case study approach. Students work in small groups to investigate, research, and create solutions to problems that could be solved in mul-tiple ways solutions and with many different methods. Problem-based methods far outshine traditional methods in developing 21st century skills such as flexible problem solving and applying knowledge to real-world situations, as well as critical thinking skills such as generating testable hypotheses and communicating more coherent explanations (Trilling, & Fadel, 2009).

Research FocusThe purpose of the study is to theoretically demonstrate the effectiveness of

problem-based ESP learning for prospective educators and to test their level of soft skills development empirically on the basis of problem-based ESP learning method.

The objectives of the study are to verify the theoretical positions on the pos-sibility of using problem-based ESP teaching with prospective educators for the development of soft skills and to carry out a diagnostic study which is aimed at identifying students’ soft skills: for example, how students express themselves, cooperate with each other, investigate problems and analyse data, find solutions to simple and complex tasks and to see whether they are able to build partnership relationships with their tutor or not.


General Background to the ResearchThe purpose of problem-based ESP teaching consists in facilitating deep and

all-around understanding of the learning material, and development of analytical and creative thinking. This is a means for development of motivation, and stimula-tion of student’s cognitive activity. PBL promotes the integration of the educational


process across the curriculum, with real-life problems and with students’ personal experience. Application of problem-based ESP teaching allows the students to reveal a level of their knowledge and abilities, and helps the teacher to improve understanding of the learners’ psychology. In the process of PBL students have the opportunity for self-realization and to develop team-work skills.

Implementation of problem-based ESP teaching comprises several stages:1. Planning: statement of the problem; revealing student’s styles of learning;

defining the study results and potential failures; selection of necessary mate-rial, predicting students’ questions.

2. Process: subdivision of students into groups (according to their interests, style of study, skills or combining different factors) in order to improve the process of problem decision; allocation of the most effective ways for regulation of work in small groups; effective integration of technological tools and resources in the educational process; development of strategic tools to support students’ learning, for example, creation of a website with direct references to the necessary resources, use of titles that precisely represent the essence of each stage of learning for students; preparation for optimum use of technology, especially, tools for creation and application in practice of all the necessary skills.

The model of the process of problem-based ESP teaching contains: introduction to the problem, supervision, and discussion of the information obtained; formu-lation of questions, ideas, and hypotheses; gathering information for a problem solution; plan of action; reflection.

3. valuation: creation of the opportunity for introspection, evaluation by the teacher and group-mates; development of effective evaluation techniques, combining the study process, the subject content and the outcomes of the program; implementation of effective tools for evaluation, with the accent on the constant evaluation of course tasks; continuous evaluation of input as an integral part of the process of teaching and study (Schmidt, Vermeulen, & Van der Molen, 2006).

The key question in problem-based ESP teaching is “the problem situation” which is created by the teacher with a certain purpose. It contains a challeng-ing theoretical and practical question which demands studying, expansion, and research in certain conditions and circumstances.

There are different ways to create problem situations that offer students oppor-tunities to find decisions. It can be done, for example, by creating collisions with contradictions of practical activities, giving statements, showing different points of view on the same question, prompting them to make their own comparisons,


generalizations, and conclusions. The problem situation requires a successful solu-tion, promotes students to conduct independent search activities, stimulates their cognitive interest, and provides the development of critical thinking and creative abilities of the participants involved in the discussion.

Research SampleWhile teaching foreign languages, the most effective is the development of

professional communicative competence in another language. Thus, tasks in PBL are strongly professional in character, and statement of the problem, substantiation of the topic, description of methods and the research procedure, representation of conclusions and results are designed to activate the lexicon and phraseology in the foreign language. Role-playing various situations in foreign language lessons in oral and written forms of dialogues helps students to be integrated into the process of speaking another language professionally, and to adapt and to be ready for the realities of a future professional career.

In the context of studying foreign languages, special attention is paid to such groups of problem tasks as: searching and game tasks, communicative and searching tasks, communicatively guided tasks, cognitive and searching tasks, and cultural tasks. The basic properties of problem-based tasks are to promote authentic dialogues in the lesson; the topic of the task should be relevant for the participants; the complexity of the task should be appropriate; the information must be suitable for inequality in the partners (for participants who have different interests and additional hobbies); and tasks should be creative in character.

To develop students’ communicative skills outside the language environment, it is not enough to fill lessons with communicative exercises which allow students to solve communicative problems. It is important to suggest students different strategies to resolve problems by generating ideas, finding out the most adequate ways to solve these problems using ESP language to form and formulate their ideas and solutions.

Instrument and ProceduresIn order to reveal the level of soft skills development, based on the prob-

lem-based ESP teaching of prospective educators, the teacher-tutors evaluated the students’ soft skills twice: at the beginning and at the end of an experimental study. The study was held in two faculties: the Faculty of History, Law and Public Administration and the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and IT Technologies at Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University. Teachers were asked to grade not only how the students learned the material, but also how they


expressed themselves, cooperated with each other, investigated the problems and analysed the data, found the solutions to simple and complex tasks and whether they were able or not to build partnership relationships with their teacher-tutor.

In general, 8 groups, 160 students of the second year of study, took part in the research study. At each faculty 2 groups were taught according to generally accepted methods (GM) and the other 2 were taught using a PBL method during ESP classes (PBL groups). The participants were heterogeneous in terms of their foreign language proficiency, age, and gender. The study took place during the 2018–2019 academic year. The students had been learning English as a foreign language (“Foreign Language for Specific Purposes”) for one year in this par-ticular university. Lessons were conducted once a week (this was the second year of study) for 2 terms. Each group consisted of 20 students, who were randomly assigned. The participants of the study were informed about the purpose and the structure of research and assured that their names would not be used in the study reports.

In the study preliminary and final English tests were given to the students to measure the initial and final level of students’ communicative skills. The total maximum practice test score is 170 (170–160 – very high level, 159–153 – high level, 152–140 – average level, 139–120 – low level, 119–102 – very low level).

Simultaneously, the teachers assessed the level of development of soft skills. Among these were: critical thinking; independent search for information; analy-sis of information; cooperation with groupmates; emotional intelligence; finding solution to complex tasks; partner relationship with tutor. Teachers assessed them on a five-point Likert scale from one to five points, where 5 means that the level of soft skills development is very high, 4 – high, 3 – moderate, 2 – low, 1 – very low.

Research Results

Comparison of the preliminary and final English test (PET) showed that at the beginning of the year the results of the PBL and GM groups differed insignificantly, but at the end of the year the students of the PBL group obtained higher scores (Table 1). At the beginning of the year, students of both groups demonstrated a moderate level of knowledge. At the end of the year, the students of the PBL group acquired higher scores in comparison with the results of the GM group and their own results at the beginning of the year. The students of the PBL group achieved a high level (M=154.65) of communicative skills.


Table 1. Results of Preliminary and Final English Tests

GM Group PBL Group

PreliminaryEnglish Test

N (80) N (80)M=142.69 SD=5.44

M=141.58 SD=5.35

Final English Test M=145.47 SD=5.59

M=154.65 SD=6.02

Table 2 presents the results of teachers’ assessment of the soft skills of the pro-spective educators from both faculties, which was carried out while students were doing the English test (PET) at the beginning and at the end of the academic year. The best results were obtained in the PBL group. The highest average increase in results (%) for development of soft skills were shown in the following items: partner relationship with tutor (+ 51 %); solution of complex tasks (+ 43.5 %); critical thinking (+ 41 %).

Table 2. Soft skills developed by PBL

Students of the Faculty of History (N=80)

Students of the Faculty of Mathe-matics (N=80)

Soft skills

PBL (N=40) %

General Meth-ods (N=40) %

PBL (N=40) %

General Meth-ods (N=40) %

Begin-ning

of the year

End of the year

Begin-ning

of the year

End of the year

Begin-ning

of the year

End of the year

Begin-ning

of the year

End of the year

1. Critical think-ing 42 87 43 50 38 75 41 50

2. Independent search forinfor-mation

50 90 45 55 60 95 60 65

3. Analysis of information 38 88 40 50 70 96 70 73

4. Cooperation with groupmates 60 95 60 63 57 93 48 60

5. Emotional intelligence 40 66 35 50 35 50 38 43

6. Solution of Complex tasks 43 84 40 45 50 96 50 60

7. Partner rela-tionship with tutor 30 90 33 45 40 82 37 50


Table 3 shows the mean scores, standard deviation and interpretation of results assessment of soft skills development at the end of the academic year.

Table 3. Mean Scores and Standard Deviation of Soft Skills Development Assessment

Group N M SDGM group 80 3.05 0.49PBL group 80 4.42 0.38

The students of the PBL group demonstrated more developed soft skills and obtained a high level of soft skills in comparison with a moderate level of the students in the GM group. In the PBL group, the smaller standard deviation shows that the values are more concentrated around the mean.

To ascertain whether the difference in results obtained in the PBL group are significant statistically and how variables (scores on the English test and level of soft skills development) are correlated, we applied Pearson’s correlation coefficient: r = 0.9850. The positive correlation shows a strong relationship between the two variables. The p-value is 0.02378 that signifies a significant correlation between the variables. The results suggest that problem-based ESP learning could be very helpful in the development of soft skills.

Discussion

According to Table 1, all students graduated the course English for Specific Purposes with progress. Their results were much better at the end of the year than they were at the beginning. At the end of the year, the students of the PBL group achieved a high level of communicative skills (according to PET scales) in comparison with the moderate level of the GM group.

The results of the study showed evidentially that those students who were taught by problem-based ESP learning developed their soft skills and were evaluated much higher than their mates who were taught with general methods. The stu-dents of the PBL group were able to cope with their exam tasks more quickly. Their answers were based not only on general knowledge of the material but also on their thoughts, their own point of view and what is more important they managed to find the most effective and suitable answers to the questions.


Similar results for the positive impact of problem-based ESP learning on language and soft skills were found in other studies (Barrows, 1996; Beringer, 2007; Hmelo-Silver, 2004; Schmidt, Vermeulen, & Van der Molen, 2006). A pos-itive impact of the process of problem-based learning on developing thinking and learning skills of students is described in current research as well (Aleem, & Jamaludin, 2007; Radišić, & Nedeljković, 2012; Garcia, & Garza, 2015; Idrus, & Abdullah, 2018; Othman, 2017). The effectiveness of PBL in promoting strong crit-ical thinking, knowledge construction, independent learning, and problem-solving has also been shown in some studies (Tan, 2009; Trilling, & Fadel, 2009). Examples of soft skills integration into problem-based learning are described in several articles (Walters, & Sirotiak, 2011; Woodward, Sendall, & Ceccuci, 2009; Bergh, & Van Staden 2006).

The current study supports the opinion of scholars that problem-based ESP teaching involves the use of new methods and techniques in the language learning process, activates critical thinking and cooperation with groupmates, stimulates independent search for information and its analysis, develops emotional intelli-gence and the ability to solve complex tasks, and fosters partner relationships with tutor.

Conclusions

The results of the study demonstrate that using problem-based ESP teaching had a sufficient impact on the development of soft skills. In the process of prob-lem-based ESP teaching the student becomes an expert at a new level, character-ized by creative abilities, critical thinking, professional competence, and with the ability to produce and make decisions in changeable situations. The PBL method allows prospective educators to enhance their soft skills for professional activities; to form certain models for scientific research; to test themselves for professional eligibility; to search for the most effective ways of solving a problem; to predict the results of their decisions by communicating in the foreign language commu-nicative competence.

The implementation of problem-based ESP teaching stimulates students’ indi-vidual and group work forms and encourages them to study materials, to develop the main idea in a competitive forum, to find key statements, and to do project work on the basis of the information obtained.

The following advantages of problem-based ESP learning can be highlighted: independent mastering of knowledge through students engaging in creative


activities; development of productive critical thinking; a rise of interest in the educational process; motivation for independent search for information and its analysis; stimulation of cooperation with group-mates and solution of complex tasks; improvement of emotional intelligence; enforcement of a partner relation-ship with tutor, which allow the students to be competitive not only in education, but in any sphere of life.

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W.H. Gijselaers (Eds.), Bringing problem-based learning to higher education: Theory and practice. New directions for teaching and learning, 68, 3–13. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. doi: 10.1002/tl.37219966804

Bergh, A.M., & Van Staden, C. (2006). Medical students’ perceptions of their development of ‘soft skills’ Part II: The development of ‘soft skills’ through ‘guiding and growing’. South African Journal of Family Practice. 48,8, 15–15d. doi: 10.1080/20786204.2006.10873436.

Beringer, J. (2007). Application of Problem Based Learning through Research Investigation. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 31, 445–457.

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Dmitrenko, N., & Dolia, I. (2016). Problem-based learning at the lessons of foreign lan-guage in the higher educational institutions. Modern informational technologies and innovative methods in professional training: methodology, theory, experience, 46, 166–170.

Hmelo-Silver, C.E. (2004). Problem based learning: What and how do students learn? Educational Psychology Review, 16, 235–266. doi: 10.1023/B:EDPR.0000034022.16470.f3

Idrus, H., & Abdullah, M.R. (2018). Implementation of PBL to enhance the soft skills of engineering students. SHS Web of Conference. 53 03008 (ICHSS 2018). doi: 10.1051/shsconf/20185303008

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“Man of Glass”, or Art Therapy through Theatre in a Group of Underprivileged Children

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.11

AbstractThis article presents influencing with art1 and influencing through art2 aim-ing at the creation of situations which support the potential of individuals, especially in the case of children from backgrounds with ineffective parenting. Children from such backgrounds participated in an arts therapy project which aimed to facilitate creative activity through the preparation of a theatre show. Children’s cognitive, psychological and emotional needs are important, which is why the satisfaction of these needs was also an aim, as it was found that these needs were not being satisfied in the children’s culturally deprived environment. Influencing through art (in this case – a performing art) can very well serve the satisfaction of individual needs related to self-identification and self-defi-nition (Bauman, 2010). From this point on, it is a straight road to influencing individuals’ self-esteem.

Key words: theatre, therapy, artistic research

1 This is a process understood in perceptive categories. It occurs when the perceiving subject creates a relationship between art and their own needs, the contact with art bringing them benefits which enable discovery of a sense of one’s own, in hermeneutics’ understanding of such discovery.

2 In this dimension, a creative aspect appears, where the participant undertakes expressive activity based on raw material taken from art, composing movement or music or designing a work of visual arts (Krasoń, 2013).

Katarzyna KrasońPoland

136 Katarzyna Krasoń

Introduction: Emotions in Influencing with Theatre as an Experience of Art

There are two ways in which a human being deals with difficult experiences – rumination and expression. To define the former, let us assume it to be passive and recurring, focusing on symptoms of one’s own suffering and on the circumstances accompanying such symptoms (Nolen–Hoeksema, McBride & Larson 1997). Nolen-Hoeksema, McBride and Larson (1997) define rumination as a specific and undesirable way of dealing with stress, which adds to and often generates an ampli-fication and lengthening of a depressed mood state. The contrary happens when one reveals one’s emotional traumas. Their expression in the form of verbalization, in writing or in artistic activity (in our case in theatre) helps eliminate adverse results of negative emotions, alleviating symptoms, (even somatic ones), and leads to more positively marked feelings being experienced. Discussing emotions revealed in expressive theatrical activity becomes an important step in introducing order to an individual’s understanding of their own emotions. Such a process of revealing an individual’s feelings, especially unfortunate feelings, is a process of restructuring (Salovey, Bedell, Detweiler & Mayer, 1999). Conversations about the show and conversations we have throughout the show’s preparation help us deal with the difficulty and the feelings it determines (Salovey, Bedell, Detweiler & Mayer, 2000).

Theatrical expression might occur in two forms. In this context, there are about two types of projection – classical and attributive. The former has a defensive dimension and means an individual perceiving their unfavourable or unpleasant traits as not belonging to themselves. The traits are ascribed to the character the person is portraying in the play. Such projection on others frees the person from discomfort. Attributive projection focuses on externalization – ascribing one’s own motives for action, feelings or actions to others. Each of these modes of existence brings closer to the surface those traits which are dominant in the actor’s personality.

According to the psychoanalyst Gilbert J. Rose, an aesthetic utterance, taking an artistic-theatrical form as the medium for its content, brings harmonious rec-onciliation between thoughts and feelings. This happens much more easily than in a process which is based purely on intellectual operations in their everyday manifestations (Rose, 1980). The aesthetic form of a show is a reflection of dis-crepancy and tension in the mind (e.g. between impulses of logical and emotional nature, or between the past and the present), but its significance is not limited to such a reflection. At the same time, it harmonizes the discrepancies and serves an

137“Man of Glass”, or Art Therapy through Theatre

adaptive function. Moreover, the structure of the aesthetic form is an invitation to participate in identification and recognition of subjective experience and its significance is rooted in biology (Rose, 1980).

The structure of a show enables participants to take part in the expressive task which is to be fulfilled and results from an attitude based on “feeling into” the psychological states of another person. Thus, an individual suspends their own experiencing and switches to another person’s situation, as if they actually were the other person. What happens then is somehow a penetration of a different existence. Such an experience of empathy generates a bond of its own kind, a community of feelings – an isophor. What is more, such empathising enables an interpretation of the world from the point of view of the actor’s psychological acts. Empathically realized understanding of another human being prevents us from rejecting the motives which direct their actions (socio-emphatic competences). Such an approach allows the participant to take part in corrective emotional experiences, to gain social skills and experience situations which amplify their feeling of self-worth and improve their self-esteem. And this was the primary aim.

“Man of Glass” – an Arts and Research Project

This section presents a therapeutic project run by the author in a sociotherapy day centre in Katowice. The project3 was a form of support for children from deprived backgrounds and, at the same time, an opportunity for art-based research, in which, by their qualitative and simultaneously idiographic evaluation of their own artistic activity, the participants became researchers themselves.

Artistic research has not been the subject of any comprehensive study so far. English-language sources use various terms to describe this type of research: artistic research, art(s)-based research, performative research, practice-led research (Borgdorff, 2013, p. 146). However, Teikmanis (2013, p. 164) proposes a differen-tiation based on the involvement and character of the researcher. Artistic research seeks opportunity to transfer the content of the aesthetic experience through a creative process crowned with a work of art (Borgdorff, 2011, p. 45). In this type of research, artistic practice is the subject of the study, its context, research method and result.

3 Preparation of the “Man of Glass” theatre show based on Beata Krupska’s fairy tale was funded with a grant from the POWR.03.01.00-IP.08–00-UMO/17. The show premiered on 5th March 2019.


Participants – The Initial State of the Project

The participants of the project were 9 children aged 8–15, six girls and three boys. All participants are members of a sociotherapy day Centre – 6 children from the younger group and 3 children from the older group.

Members of the day Centre4 are in a difficult emotional, social and economic situation. The most common problems in their families are: long-term unemploy-ment, alcoholism and lack of an adequate material basis for existence. This causes the children to experience anxiety, tension and insecurity. To release emotions and tension, they often accost others, start conflicts, provoke rejection in relationships, or destroy things in acts of anger. Two further traits characteristic of the members are also a lack of faith in themselves and a distrust of adults. Thus, the children are exposed to the long-term negative influence of their environment.

In many cases, the children’s problems are rooted in unprocessed problems of adults. There are no boundaries and rules in the children’s homes. During theatre workshops, the children often sought to break previously established rules.

As soon as the first meeting either very low or inadequately high self-esteem could be observed in the children. They think very badly of themselves and their image of reality and the surrounding world is distorted. They perceive their sur-roundings as something negative. Equally often, they think that everyone lies and that they cannot be trusted. Lack of faith in their own power also leads to a fear of public appearances and a feeling of shame related to public speaking, speaking in a group and sharing their feelings. This often results in withdrawal and strong shame in creative activities. During an initial conversation, one of the participants admitted:

When I recite a poem in class, I do not speak to the class, but I whisper into the teacher’s ear. I’m really stressed cause everybody’s staring at me when I’m speaking. It pisses me off and stresses me a lot5.

4 The Centre provides daytime care for children from families requiring psychological and material aid. The character of the aid is multidimensional as it might be directed both at the children and at the parents. The Centre runs sociotherapy and sports classes, which help the children to unwind from emotional tensions, bring them corrective experiences and help them to learn new psychological skills. Moreover, the Centre provides meals and the constant support of psychologists and educators, but does not operate artistic activities.

5 All participants’ utterances are written in italics.


Members of the day Centre rarely undertake constructive tasks, they quickly give up when faced with obstacles. They abandon activities saying: I won’t do that, that’s stupid, that’s pointless. Such utterances also arise from low self-esteem. Dur-ing the workshops, one could observe that when the participants failed in a task, they tended to throw objects and materials, damaging their earlier work. They also find it difficult to control their emotions. When they begin to feel anger or strong frustration, they do not know what to do or how to deal with the emotion.

They experience difficulties in establishing constructive relations with their peers. Such relations are often filled with envy, jealousy and competitiveness. They demand the attention of adults and want as much of it as possible for themselves. They exhibit little empathy or kindness. They rarely appreciate the fact that they might share something with others or do something for others.

For the above reasons, the following pedagogical objectives of the therapeutic project were identified:

• To provide the children with an opportunity for creative theatrical activity and an opportunity to observe such activity as they are capable of;

• To enable the children to experience the power of agency and self-develop-ment, which correlates with a feeling of self-worth

• To achieve group integration, through a strengthening of bonds, and to create the experience of cooperation and a sense of responsibility for joint work.

The Theatrical Conception – Visualisation6. A Staging Perspective

WORKSHOP 1 PREPARATION PHASEThe first phase was dedicated to body and space awareness and the creation of

gesture-based messages. Three workshops offered exercises preparing the body for movement. They included improvisation with music and motoric warm-ups. There were also a few theatrical exercises, in which the children designed short scenes on chosen topics and presented them to the group. Except for a few participants, the group was willing to engage in the proposed motoric activities, the main purpose of which was learning one’s own body. One of the participants recalls:

6 For a complete description of the visualization theatre work strategy see Krasoń, 2013. See also: Krasoń, 2011.


The warm-ups with running, storytelling and the fun with the parachute, that was great. I had great fun.

In the 4th meeting, after the motoric exercises, the group read Beata Krupska’s “Man of Glass”, which was introduced as an inspiration for the show. Then a con-versation about the text began. The children shared their interpretations, spoke of their first associations and ideas on how to use the story in a show. Each partici-pant expressed their ideas for scenes and transformed the words into gestures and movement. During the exercise, it could be seen that some of the participants had a strong need for their contributions to be highly individual and to add something of their own. In a few cases this even caused arguments, as some children did not abstain from making spiteful, and sometimes even foul-mouthed, comments and found it easy to subject their classmates’ activity to ruthless criticism. Sometimes everybody wanted to say something, shouting to drown out the others’ voices. After everybody was heard, however, the main message of the future presentation could be constructed.

WORKSHOP 2 IMPROVISATION – THE PHASE OF CREATIVE NEGOTIATIONDuring this workshop, with the aim of further inspiration and stimulation of

the participants’ imagination, a score was added7, its additional aim being to help order scenes in the show. Many children found the pieces difficult to process, as they were pieces of cinematic music, but classically orchestrated. This might have resulted from lack of prior acquaintance with such music. Another difficult aspect was simply focused and selective listening. Then, an improvisation was proposed, in which the participants were supposed to present gestures illustrating the music and the text they had previously read. Thus, the children found living contact not only with their own bodies, but also with the bodies of the other participants. It could be observed that not everyone found the proposed structure easy. Some children needed more time to engage in the exercise, sometimes even asking for help. They were saying that they did not know what to do. It was clear that it was something completely new for them. In the proposed structure, it was important that movement carried a particular message.

After a presentation of conceived gestures, interpretations and ideas accepted by the majority of participants were chosen. The group used material that had been gathered to create a set of movement-based scenes which helped build a first out-

7 Jan A.P. Kaczmarek’s score from the Quo vadis motion picture.


line of the show and distribute parts among the participants. It was noticeable how involved the children became. It seemed that the youngsters cared, and wanted to bring the show into existence and have an influence on the shaping of particular scenes. Many of them were vocal in offering their remarks about the plot. Some exhibited a proclivity for directing, which could be seen in the particular planning of where and when each event should take place. Sometimes it was difficult to reach a compromise, but this was felt to be a most valuable and important part of the process. Children whose opinion rarely matters at home, where they are unable to express what they feel, could finally feel causative power, even if only for a moment. It was moving to see three of the lads listening to the music attentively so that their stage entrance would match the change of musical phrase perfectly. Looking at their concentration juxtaposed with their previous behaviour during the motorial workshop, when they had run in disorderly fashion around the room and ignored the teacher’s instructions, a significant change was observed. A care about their common show was being born.

WORKSHOP 3 THE PHASE OF FORMULATING REPETITIVE GESTURE. SHAPING THE PARTIt was during that workshop that the show found its final plot. Scene 1. The narrator standing in the Centre. He begins telling the story of the

Man of Glass. The other actors one by one run up to him and, leaning out from behind him, say consecutive lines of the text. The scene is performed without music. After the presentation of the text, everybody exits the stage. This part of the show aimed to present the idea of the plot to the audience as the dominant activity in the following part would be kinaesthetic.

Scene 2. The set – created by the actors – appears. Mountains are built – the actors enter with red sheets of cloth. They initially dance with the sheets for a moment and then wrap themselves in them or cover themselves with them, freezing onstage in a position of their own design.

Scene 3. Little stars appear on stage, performing an improvised dance to the music. After a while they are joined by the moon, made of a large golden sheet of cloth and carried by two actresses. The moon performs three motions (each time the sheet is raised and falls down freely), at the front, at the rear and on the side. Then, the moon exits the stage.

Scene 4. This is when the Man of Glass first appears, consecutively touching each of the stars thus causing them to freeze. The stars remain motionless. The Man of Glass exits the stage.


Scene 5. The moon enters again. The mountains come alive and start moving their sheets, standing in a row in the center of the stage. The stars hide behind the moon, which, in this scene as well consists of a golden sheet held by two actresses.

Scene 6. The stars exit the stage. The mountains transform into humans, the humans fall down. Each of the falling humans lies on a red sheet. The Man of Glass appears and, following the moon, consecutively rescues each of the humans. The music changes. The piece being played is of majestic nature, lending the scene grandiloquence.

Scene 7. The actors create a city. The mountains stand in a row and, covering themselves with their sheets, create houses. The moon stretches behind the town. The stars twinkle, moving their arms and their whole bodies. Everybody freezes when the music stops.

Scene 8. The scene opens with music playing. Another piece is played. The mountains spread their red sheets and stand in a square, thus creating a screen. The Man of Glass enters the square and exits it after a while.

Scene 9. The actors throw stones (balls made of aluminium foil) at the Man of Glass. Next, they tie him up with the red sheets and pull him toward them. The narrator reads a text about how people got bored and started throwing stones at the Man of Glass, because of how good and glassy he was. And then someone throws a bad word at him and the Man of Glass breaks and falls apart into pieces.

Scene 10. The actors pick up the pieces of the Man of Glass. They throw the pieces on the moon, which is lying on the stage, the core of the moon becoming a platform on which to lay the pieces. Everybody runs and performs chaotic moves. The dynamism and the mood of the music playing lends drama to the whole scene.

Scene 11. The Man of Glass pulled by the two actresses playing the moon enters the stage wrapped in the golden sheet. He begins to rise slowly, being somehow reborn.

Scene 12. Narrator’s text. The music changes. All actors grasp each other’s hands and come to the center of the stage. The Man of Glass utters the final sentence, “We should never say a bad word to anyone, because we never know which of us is made of glass.”

WORKSHOP 4 THE PHASE OF REHEARSALS, REVISION AND CONFIGURATIONThis phase was divided into three meetings. One of these took place in the Soci-

otherapeutic Day Centre, in the same room which hosted the workshops. The two remaining meetings took place in the theatre of The City Culture Centre, where, in


addition to a professional stage, the show gained proper lighting and stage moves could be practised with greater precision. It was the first rehearsal after a longer period. The children were very lively. It could be seen that they were nervous and worried. One participant’s mistake caused untamed anger and frustration in the others. The participants were pointing out one another’s mistakes. The children had forgotten their parts. They did not know when to come on stage, how to move, or where to stand. Nor did they remember the ending of the show. The finale of the tale was almost entirely built afresh. However, the children were positive about wanting to bring the show to a premiere.

The second meeting was different from the previous one. It took place at The City Culture Centre, the planned venue of the show. The interior of the place is a professional theatre. The children’s reaction indicated that some of them were in such a place for the first time. The children were amazed by the curtains. They were touching the black panelling, and playing the backstage piano. Their attention was drawn by everything. This fascination probably resulted from poverty in the primary habitus. After they came on stage, it could be seen that the children were doing it for real. They were focused and concentrated.

Before the show itself, a short dress rehearsal took place. The children were very nervous. Their nervousness increased as the curtain-up drew closer. When they peeped from behind the curtain, and saw their friends, parents and carers sitting in the audience, this was a trigger for another outburst of panic and stress. Then, many of them were heard to say: I won’t go on, I’m not performing, I’m afraid. Talking to the children before the show, it was observed that they represented two different positions. Some of them were stressed as they feared their parents would not come, others feared that they would come but would not like the show, and some feared that their nearest and dearest would see them and that their reaction was unpredictable.

WORKSHOP 5 ONSTAGE PRESENTATION OF THE SHOW FOR AN AUDIENCE The show went well and received loud applause. The children were in character.

After a few minutes, the stress began to wane. It was clear that the actors were paying attention and focusing on the action.

After the public presentation of the show finished, the children gave idiographic interviews (which were recorded on camera8). It was considered important to

8 The utterances were recorded by Agnieszka Gabryś as part of her research seminar. The children liked the situation very much – they felt like stars being interviewed after a premiere.


document all of the children’s emotions as well as their observations, which would help assess whether the show and the whole project had been fruitful and achieved the aims set at the outset.

Utterances concerning the score and the music-related activities.

Karol: In my first part, I have to listen to the music carefully. You need to have the musical feeling. There is that one short piece of music repeated three times, you need to know when to enter. If I entered in the middle, that wouldn’t make sense. I listen, and only when it’s the third time do I enter.

Kamila: The best thing is when the music gets quieter and Nikola speaks and you can hear the music a little. The music in the show is great. If there’s badly chosen music it’s much more difficult. We count to 5 and enter.

The utterances suggest that the actors understood the importance of using music in the show. The music provided the show with a certain framework and helped the participants recognize their entry points and make their movements fit the action.

EVALUATION OF THE PRESENTATION PHASEUtterances from the younger group:

The greatest stress was when you saw all those people. But then, after going onstage I had a sense of a relief. I felt very well and the acting was going great already. It was nice. When I was coming onstage, I fell down. But I acted around it and it looked as if it had been planned. I would like to repeat it.

When I went onstage and my costume started shining, I felt like a real star.I made a mistake, but it was cool that a friend noticed that and said my line. I was really very afraid. I could feel the stress as late as halfway through, but I am happy that I managed to overcome it at the end. I liked the costume a lot. I felt great in it. I could be somebody else for a moment.

The most difficult thing was that we had to keep looking at the audience while dancing and saying our lines. That was stressful.


All the eyes were looking at me. I was in the centre of attention. Normally I don’t like it, but on stage then, when I did well, it was cool.

The greatest joy was just being able to perform on a stage like that. It was very impor-tant and new to me. The whole show gave me lots of joy. For me the show was like the cherry on top of a cake.

Utterances from the older group:

I am happy I could perform. That was something amazing. Those gloves, those decorations, that glitter. I liked that I could say something. I just enjoyed everything. A difficulty and a challenge for me was learning the text cause it was a bit hard. For example “The Man of Glass was walking across the country”, it is difficult. A theatre show makes you think. Maybe after seeing this one someone will change something in their life. I wanted the audience to understand what we meant in the show. I hope we succeeded.

My friends came to watch. When I was talking to them after the show, they said they liked it very much and understood what it was about. It was very important and nice for me. I am proud of myself. I am happy I didn’t make a mistake and everything was all right.

I am happy and I feel great relief that I could perform in front of an audience. I love such things. I had a cool part, there was nothing difficult in the show for me. A great pleasure. The most important thing for me was that people understood the message. What we mean, that you can’t hurt others and that words might hurt. I am proud to be “saving the world from evil”.

The participants’ idiographic utterances collected after the show indicate the success of the activities and might suggest that the workshops were effective.

It is significant that after the performance this was no longer a group of children of different ages, but a team of empathizing persons. Their communication with one another had also slightly changed – it showed less aggression and invective. However, for such changes to become permanent the theatre work would need to be continued, that is, added to the activities routinely organized at the day centre.


Instead of a conclusion. Recommendations for theatre activities as a component of support for children from underprivileged backgrounds

The performance in the show gave the children an opportunity for transcend-ence – to step beyond their possibilities. What is important is that they overcame their fears and started believing in themselves. The participants gained recognition among their peers and other members of the audience, which had a positive effect on their self-esteem, self-perception and feelings of self-worth. This finds confir-mation in a report from the deputy chairperson of the Foundation a few days after the show:

The children were still living the show a few days after the premiere. They recalled it much later. They wanted to look at the photos. They were happy that the photos had also been posted on Facebook, which further boosted their self-appreciation and was important for them.

The theatre show proved to be an excellent form of work with a group of young people with decreased self-esteem. The show enabled all the children, even those without theatrical experience from school, to appear on stage. They could perform on a professional stage, with lighting, a sound system and music, which enabled them to feel like real actors.

The workshops and the exercises in them gave the participants a chance of learning something completely new. The children worked with their bodies, learn-ing their bodies, and rediscovering them.

The experience of the performance was significant not only for the children, but also for their peers, teachers and parents. One reflection is the positive effect the show had on the performers’ families, for whom it was a great experience. One of the mothers explained after the show that she perceived it had an immense ther-apeutic potential for herself. The woman had come to the show with her younger son who very much wanted to see his brother on stage. For her, the outing was also a way to break away from home. She is a single mother of three children. She had not thought she would feel so good. The fact that her son Wiktor had performed was immensely important for her and she was very proud of him. Just the opportunity to sit in the audience and watch a show, and feel like a member of the audience, was extraordinary for her.

It seems that activities of this type should continue. It is important that after the project ended, the staff had a meeting with the children, in which they discussed the psychological issues related to the story of the Man of Glass. It was a contin-


uation of playing with the metaphor outside of the project cycle, which not only showed the supportive value of the topic of the project, but was also a positive valorization of theatre-based activities.

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H. Karlsson (Eds.) The Routledge companion to research in the arts. New York: Routledge.Borgdorff, H. (2013). A Brief Survey of Current Debates on the Concepts and Practices

of Research in the Arts. In: M. Wilson, S. Ruiter (Eds.), Handbook for artistic research education. Amsterdam, Dublin, Gothenburg: SHARE Network.

Krasoń, K. (2011). Visualization Theater versus Divergence and Non-Conformist Features in Motoric Behavior, The New Educational Review, 24, (2), 19–31.

Krasoń, K. (2013). Cielesność aktu tworzenia w teatrze ruchu. Integracja sztuki i edukacji w rozwoju i transgresji potencjału człowieka, [Corporality of the creative Act in the theatre of Movement. Integration of Art and Education in the Development and Trans-gression of Human Potential]. Kraków: “Universitas”.

Nolen–Hoeksema, S., McBride, A., & Larson, J. (1997). Rumination and psychological distress among bereaved partners, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, (4), 855–862.

Rose, G.J. (1980). The Power of Form. A Psychoanalytic Approach to Aesthetic Form. New York: International Universities Press.

Salovey, P., Bedell, B.T., Detweiler, J.B., Mayer, J.D. (1999). Coping intelligently: Emotional intelligence and the coping process. In: C.R. Snyder (Ed.), Coping: The psychology of what works, (pp. 141–164). New York: Oxford Psychology Press.

Salovey, P., Bedell, B.T., Detweiler, J.B., Mayer, J.D. (2000). Current directions in emotional intelligence research. In: M. Lewis, J.M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.), Handbook of emotions, Guilford Press, (pp. 504–520). New York: Oxford Psychology Press.

Teikmanis, A. (2013). Typologies of Research. In: M. Wilson, S. van Ruiter (Eds.), Handbook for artistic research education, Amsterdam, Dublin, Gothenburg: SHARE Network.

Pedeutology

Using Unstructured Cognitive Maps to Analyse the Reflective Thinking of Teachers :

Results of Qualitative Research

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.12

Abstract In recent years, discourse in education sciences has focussed on the study of the reflective thinking of teachers. Researchers, however, do not agree on how the reflective thinking of teachers can be measured. This qualitative study looks for an answer to the question whether a cognitive map is suitable for the discovery of teachers’ reflections. The study analyses the reflections of a secondary school teacher of mathematics using an unstructured cognitive map. The sample was selected on the basis of availability. The analysis of the map was done deduc-tively, in a concept-driven way, on the basis of the number of contacts (edges) and concepts, central, peripheral and isolated concepts and their degrees, and the levels of the map. The teacher involved was recorded commenting on the process of map-making, which was then transferred to writing. The text corpus was then analysed inductively, in a data-driven way. The results show that the teacher interpreted his own activity – which depends on pedagogical knowledge, beliefs and pedagogical situations – in a complex manner. The filter function of beliefs can be observed when the teacher’s activities and thinking did not match because some internal and external factors. The data from the map contributed to analysis of reflections and the analysis of the map added new elements to existing techniques.

Key words: beliefs, unstructured cognitive map, qualitative research, reflective thinking

Kálmán SánthaHungary

152 Kálmán Sántha

Introduction

In recent discourse in education sciences, reflection is often defined as a key competence for professional teaching activities (Leonhard & Rihm, 2011), an essential skill at every level and in every field of education (Perkowska-Klejman & Odrowaz-Coates, 2019). During the years of becoming a teacher, acquiring an approach that necessitates reflection during and after pedagogical activities (i.e. teaching) can be seen as a key competence for students who want to become teachers (Baumgartner & Welte, 2009). At forums focussing on teacher training and further training we often encounter questions about levels of professional per-formance, the content of competence-based teacher training, and the relationship between reflection, beliefs and activities. During professional activities, teachers are able to use different models of teaching and learning, which contribute to the development of students and also help the process of the lesson (Dragos & Mih, 2015).

Problem of ResearchThe study argues that it is important to explore and analyse reflective thinking

in teacher training, further training, as well as in everyday pedagogical activities, because it can increase the efficiency and professionalisation of teaching and ped-agogical work. The scope of activity changes as a function of in-service years and experience, revealing the cause-and-effect relationships which propel a teacher’s activities in a complex environment. A teacher striving to improve his/her teaching activities continuously reflects on his/her work and in a suitable environment uses the possibilities of collegial reflection so his/her professional skills are systematised on the basis of his/her practical experience. Reflection requires the teacher to be explicit and consequently, leads to a growing awareness of unconscious, subjective theories (Sántha, 2018).

In terms of teacher development, it is important to think about how reflective thinking is present in the institution (school), and how it appears at the individual and institutional levels. Individually, details of activities are analysed and beliefs are explored using a special research methodology; institutionally, using collegial reflection and communication inside work communities can be ways for profes-sional development. These methods can be analysed using several methodologies (see the theoretical background of this paper), but in this methodological arsenal, cognitive maps get little attention. In what follows the way unstructured cognitive maps can help to uncover reflective approaches is discussed.

153Using Unstructured Cognitive Maps to Analyse the Reflective Thinking of Teachers

Research FocusThe study presents the possibilities of uncovering reflective thinking and in

a qualitative study focuses on the role of unstructured cognitive maps in the anal-ysis of reflections. Its main aim is to find a possible method for analysing the data from the map. This is not without purpose; specialised literature lacks instances of the use of cognitive maps in the exploration of reflective thinking.

Uncovering reflective thinking

Researchers have failed to agree on how reflective competence can be most pre-cisely grasped. Thus, quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodological processes are all used to explore reflective thinking.

The reflective competence of teachers can be studied using various methods with the aim of methodological triangulation (Wyss, 2013). This is exemplified in the study by Mirzai, Phang and Kashefi (2014), who analysed the reflective thinking of teachers with methodological triangulation, including questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Dammerer and Schwab (2019) held evaluation conferences, including quantitative and qualitative elements, and structured interviews to analyse reflections of beginners and their mentors. Here, they used a short questionnaire on becoming a teacher, followed by group interviews. Der-vent (2015) conducted a study on the effects of reflective thinking on the everyday teaching practice of PE teachers, where the different levels of reflections were mapped. In this qualitative study, methodological triangulation was ensured by the use of reflective diaries, interviews and video recordings of micro teaching.

Levin and Meyer-Siever (2018) go along with this when they emphasise that there are several methods for discovering and evaluating reflective competences, but all these need to be improved because they do not fully capture the hierar-chical representation of reflective levels and thinking in main and subcategories. There is often criticism of the hierarchical structure of reflective levels and the methodology used to uncover reflections does not offer definitive explanations. It is agreed, however, that reflection can be learnt and practised (Etscheidt, Curran & Sawyer, 2012).

Levin and Meyer-Siever (2018) established a four-phase model to study reflec-tive thinking. The model is named STORIES (Students Training of Reflection in Educational Settings) and it is done in the following phases. First, it is worth reviewing the theories and/or empirical materials that offer the best explanations related to the situation in the focus of reflection (1). This is followed by the percep-


tion of different perspectives (2), so it is worth highlighting how the participants felt about the situation. In the phase of developing alternatives and reflection (3), what alternative behaviours could occur on the basis of the previous analysis has to be considered, and what changes and supports in the system are necessary. First, reflection focuses on finding alternatives, then on the analysis of the given system (dormitory, school activity, lesson). Finally, at the level of individual professional development (4), the question what conclusions there are for professional devel-opment has to be answered, in order to find relevant strengths and weaknesses.

Extending single-case studies in order to analyse similar cases comparatively is known as multiple case study. Multiple case studies are seen as a research strategy that pays special attention to the complexity of the cases. While case studies focussing on one case are capable of uncovering deep layers in individual situations, they do not enable comparison from multiple perspectives because of their context-dependence; multiple case studies enable us to extend the meanings through multiple cases (Vassinen, 2012). Ostorga (2006) in his study concerning the development of reflective thinking, used the method of multiple case study, analysing the activities of four teacher trainees, putting beliefs during apprentice-ships in the focus.

When exploring the reflective thinking of teachers, written data have a signif-icant role, as reflective diaries, lesson commentaries, and portfolios require the integration and rearrangement of information, at the same time necessitating ana-lytical thinking (Sántha, 2019; Tynjala, 1998). It is worth noting that the methods of uncovering reflective thinking through text will not automatically lead to the improvement of reflective performance (Maclellan, 2008). Just as in the case of analytical thinking, portfolios represent the process of becoming a teacher, as well as beliefs concerning learning (Johnson, Mims-Cox & Doyle-Nichols, 2006). So with their help, the thinking behind the text corpus can be mapped. The electronic form of a portfolio is an e-portfolio, which can be seen as a collection of materials from an author in a given time period (e.g. trainees in teacher training). The con-tent of an e-portfolio can range from links (event, blogs, training programmes) through multi-coded data (voice, text, picture, video) to references (letters of credence, qualifications) and can be used in many different areas of competence (Levin & Meyer-Siever, 2018).

Perkowska-Klejman and Odrowaz-Coates (2019) used an enhanced QRT ques-tionnaire (Questionnaire to measure the Level of Reflective Thinking) developed earlier (Kember, Leung, Jones & Loke, 2002) thus making students’ reflections measurable at the levels of acting, understanding, reflection, and critical reflection. When using questionnaires capable of studying reflective thinking, it is worth con-


sidering the insights described in the methodological paper of Duşa & Frunzaru (2011), which offer an alternative to the Likert scale in the form of a visual scale.

Other complex methods, ones that use pictorial, visual elements besides text have also appeared recently in the study of reflective thinking. Sántha (2017) studied the reflective thinking of teacher trainees by means of unstandardised network cards, the making of which was also accompanied by the commentary of the students, thus creating a complex unity of visual and textual data. In addition, the method of stimulated recall can be mentioned. This method facilitates the uncovering of reflective thinking (Levin & Meyer-Siever, 2018; Messmer, 2015). Video-based interaction also contributes to the professional development of teachers, as the observation and analysis of teaching activities by means of video recordings also helps self-reflection and contributes to the professionalisation of teaching activities (Budiastra, Erlina, & Wicaksono, 2019).


General Background of ResearchThe study can be classified as qualitative research, studying the reflective think-

ing of teachers with unstructured cognitive maps. Instead of a hypothesis, the study was constructed on a set of open questions and problems, and it looks for answers to the question if an unstructured cognitive map is an appropriate tool to explore reflective thinking.

Sample of ResearchThe study was conducted with a teacher who has been teaching mathematics for

nine years in a secondary school. The size of the sample is justified by the fact that qualitative research places its focus on discovering context-dependent elements, and does not aim to be representative. In qualitative research there is no defini-tive, specific sample size, researchers define the sample size in different ways. The sample size can depend on research aims and questions, as well as data analysis (Morse, 2000; Malterud, Siersma & Guassora, 2016; Onwuegbuzie & Leech, 2007). The sample size used in the study is enough to present a possible way of analysing the data of a cognitive map, thus also illustrating the usefulness of cognitive maps in the process of uncovering reflective thinking.

The sample was selected on the basis of availability. This method is problematic as it means involving people who are easily available to the researcher. It is worth noting here that many teachers did not want to participate because the process


of creating a cognitive map was an unknown to them (they said they had mostly taken part in questionnaire-based interviews). During the preparation stage of the research, many teachers refused to participate. They justified their refusal by saying they had no time, there were difficulties with group cohesion in their class, but they also stressed that cognitive maps were unfamiliar to them.

Ethical parametersIn qualitative research the researcher spends a lot of time with the participants,

asking for and giving trust, because this is the only way of uncovering internal, hidden motives. During the study, the formation of a good professional and collegial relationship that excludes any misinterpretation and misunderstanding was essential. Before the research, therefore, it was important to discuss research objectives, processes and methods. With a view to the specificities of the method-ological culture used, the study was carried out voluntarily, with the consent of the teacher and the school management. Anonymity was also guaranteed. After the research, the teacher stressed that the time spent in the research was very useful and the experiences he gained would be used in his later work.

Instrument and ProceduresThe aim of the cognitive map is to present structures and elements of them

that can be described and explained verbally only with difficulty. The teacher made his unstructured cognitive map about ‘classroom work’. This concept can be interpreted broadly enough to evoke thoughts freely with minimal control. The unstructured characteristic of the map means that apart from the concept ‘classroom work’, there was no other factor to limit the teacher in bringing up his ideas. Thus, he could gather everything he thought was important about the topic and then he made a drawing.

While creating the unstructured cognitive map the teacher was drawing, naming and explaining the concepts that he thought were important in terms of classroom work. These explanations were being recorded on a dictaphone, subsequently transcribed and processed using qualitative content analysis by the researcher.

On the map, the teacher represented all the elements in a hierarchical structure (e.g. super- and subordination, arrows, lines, underlining, frames) and he was free to use his own set of symbols. The teacher made the cognitive map in the school, in a quiet room specially designated for this activity. All disturbing factors were excluded during the process, the circumstances were suitable for careful work and the uncovering of the different aspects of reflective thinking. There was no time limit. The teacher drew and commented on the concepts on the map within 45 minutes.


Data AnalysisThe aim when analysing the cognitive map was to define concept categories

that enable the uncovering of the deep cognitive structures of the teacher and also to analyse reflective thinking. The analysis was done with a combination of concept-driven and data-driven methods (Kuckartz, 2019). Concept-driven analysis requires the presence of certain aspects, as these provide the framework for the analytical process. Although this is a qualitative study, the concept-driven processing of the cognitive map was done using mathematics and graph theory.

The analysis of the concept map was done in a deductive, concept-driven way, using the following aspects taken from research experience and specialised litera-ture (Eden, 2003; Kane & Trochim, 2007):

• the number of connections (edges): connections (edges) are the contacts between the concepts.

• the number of concepts on the map. • central and peripheral concepts in classroom work: central concepts are

the ones highlighted (stressed, underlined, framed, etc.) by the teacher on the map and the ones explained in the commentary of the cognitive map. A peripheral concept is one that only has one contact with a central concept and is only marginally mentioned in the commentary.

• the degree of the concept means the number of any (guided, highlighted, etc.) contacts (edges) connecting to any of the concepts on the map. The degree of a concept shows what and in what context something comes up for the teacher when thinking about that particular concept.

• detailed and isolated concepts: a detailed concept means that the com-mentary shows which concept is linked to another one and why. Thus the connection between concepts can be explained. Isolated concepts cannot be reached on the map by using any other contact.

• number of levels and the number of concepts on one level: the concepts directly connected with the central concept constitute the first level. The second level is the level of concepts that are directly connected with first-level concepts. The definition of other levels is similar. In all cases, the central concept is the starting point, so it does not constitute any level (it can be regarded as the zero level).

With regard to the transcribed voice recordings, the analysis of the text corpus was done inductively in a data-driven way on the basis of categories. The data-driven approach can be used to uncover the meanings and deeper relations of text segments, and works without preconceptions or an external set of criteria. The reading of the text was followed by a step-by-step formulation of categories.


After reading the text twice, the categories established (planning, deviation from the plan, control-assessment, knowledge about the student, methodology, sources, education, disciplining, decision) did not need any change in terms of concept, only some changes in terminology, i.e. changing the name of one of the categories. The name “methodology” was felt to be justified here as this category can refer to different methods of teaching and work forms.

These categories are further discussed in the Discussion section.

Results of Research

On the basis of the concept-driven process, the teacher drew 11 concepts on the map, with one central concept, ‘teaching’, around which he organised his ideas (Figure 1). Peripheral and isolated concepts were not detected. The teacher assessed his activity in a complex manner. All the concepts on the map have their places in his activity and this was further evidenced in the commentary. The concept with the highest degree was ‘teaching’, which was interpreted as a central concept and was given a rating of 7. The number of concepts is quite similar to the number of contacts (edges), which suggests a simple system of relationships. There are nine contacts (edges), all of which are represented by a directional relationship (arrow).

Group composition Infrastructure (school; literature) Family background

Personality Professional skills Individual problems le�

outside the classroom (this is really hard)

Conditions Learners

I

TEACHING

Way of thinking Education

– other thoughts – development– getting knowledge

debate)

tolerance (define, understand,

Figure 1. Unstructured cognitive map of classroom work


The levels show the systematic structure of reflective thinking. The number of first level concepts is significant, as these are closely related to the central concept and thus form the backbone of the cognitive map. The teacher worked with one level. He used eight detailed concepts on the first level (group composition, infra-structure, family background, personality, professional skills, individual problems left outside the classroom, way of thinking, education).

Looking at the layout of the map, it can be seen that it was made from top to bottom on an A4 sheet (the default is portrait orientation). The technique of drawing is variable, the teacher built the map starting from the central concept and moved in different directions. The central concept was the first to be drawn. This technique might be called radial build-up.

The data-driven process was based on the commentary on the map-making, where the categories used were planning, deviation from the plan, control-assess-ment, knowledge about the student, methodology, sources, education, disciplining, decision. In the following section, the analysis is done based on the categories listed.

Discussion

The results of the cognitive map showed the complexity of the teacher’s thinking and the variety of his reflective approach. The content of the reflections and the conceptual system of the cognitive map were aligned, as the two main categories of classroom work, ‘I’ and ‘Conditions, Learners’ appeared in a complex way in the categories formulated from the text segments (planning, deviation from the plan, control-assessment, knowledge about the students, methodology, sources, education, disciplining, decision). The teacher reflected upon his/her activity using cause-and-effect relationships.

During planning, the lesson plan played a crucial role, while the other key issue was defining the goals. The goal was, according to the teacher, the development of the mathematical and problem solving skills of the students. He wanted to achieve this with a critical approach, giving help and by being very precise.

When there were deviations from the plan, the teacher managed his time very well, sometimes he spent a whole lesson analysing all the relevant details of a prob-lem. When speaking about why there were deviations, the teacher named students and the difficulties they had doing some of the exercises.

Control and assessment were problematic according to the reflections. The teacher reflected on oral and written forms of testing and besides the general


parameters of assessment he also mentioned issues of objectivity and subjectiv-ity. His assessment skills were mainly based on his experiences as a student, the knowledge gained during his pedagogical and psychological studies as a student, his personality and his experience. Yet on his cognitive map the teacher did not represent control and assessment.

Knowledge about the students was represented by the concept ‘students’, which was drawn as the third step out of the 12 needed to draw the map. As far as direc-tions of reflection are concerned, the dominant direction is teacher – student, but the teacher also used less typical directions as well, as he analysed the relationship between the students and mathematics. The teacher made an effort to get to know his students and he interpreted the different student behaviours in different peda-gogical situations, as well as the reasons for activity and passivity.

The teacher wanted to achieve variety in methodology that takes account of several factors. According to the direction of the reflections, the teacher had difficulty finding the best forms and methods of work, but in many cases he also reflected on students and the education system. In the case of forms of work, it was seen as a problem that, although he used individual work, the tasks set were not differentiated. He did not reflect on and he did not use pair work. In his reflections, he speaks about his awareness of the difficulties posed by frontal work, yet still he had to use it. Group work is not popular and is not used because of the necessary preparation and the modified teacher – student roles. The teacher reflected most on traditional methods, dominated by demonstration and explanation. In the case of interactive methods, debate was mentioned, but new generation methods were not mentioned at all. The teacher indicated the teacher’s tasks in very general terms, shown on the map under ‘professional skills’.

The teacher used sources different from the coursebook or the exercises. He saw the role of the coursebook as not too important. In the map he drew ‘infrastruc-ture’ to include the importance of specialist literature. The notion is at the first level and it is first degree as it is connected to the central concept ‘teaching’. However, it was drawn 8th out of the 12 steps in drawing the map, which might show that in his thinking, resources did not play an important role.

Education was seen as something important even outside the classroom, as besides specialised knowledge the students also need preparation for a balanced life, which was one of the goals. The teacher stressed tolerance, giving help, and mutual acceptance of each other. The concept of ‘education’ appeared in the first level of the cognitive map, according to which the point of teaching is tolerance towards differing ideas.


Although the teacher did not represent disciplining on the map, he reflected upon it. The techniques he used were knocking on the desk or asking the students to be quiet. Sometimes he had to use these as during his lessons students are allowed to discuss solutions and argue about the results. Thus, background noise was a natural part of his lessons.

It is hard to know much about the decision-making structures of the teacher on the basis of the available data. From the little reflection available, he preferred well-grounded and conflict-free decisions. On his cognitive map the teacher did not represent the concept of decision.

Conclusions

On the basis of the results it can be stated that unstructured cognitive maps help to uncover reflective approaches. The data in the map contributed to the analysis of reflections, so the study can be repeated on larger samples. Map analysis synthesised and complemented existing techniques.

Thanks to the methodological culture used, the mapping of the teacher’s thinking could be undertaken with the exception of the categories decision and disciplining. The teacher held efficient lessons due to his teaching style and beliefs. His teaching activity served the development of independent, problem-centred thinking in his students. He listened to all the students’ opinions amid greater than usual background noise and they analysed the problems together on the basis of the mistakes made.

On the basis of the results it can be stated that methodological triangulation has positive effects when studying reflective thinking, as a multi-faceted methodolog-ical approach can facilitate the uncovering of individual and context-dependent reflections. Similar studies could rely on both cognitive maps and stimulated recall. The concept map highlights the problem that the teacher cannot represent some situations, concepts, or events in a map-like manner. In this case, stimulated recall helps, where the teacher can speak about more abstract pedagogical situations. The key issue in using the two methods side by side is whether the concepts on the map and the words uttered during stimulated recall are reflected in the teacher’s actions. In similar studies in the future, it is worth remembering that method-ological triangulation can contribute to the convergence and complementarity of different methods, resulting in a deeper understanding of the topic and the reinforcement of the methodological foundations of the study.


This teacher’s activity depends on his pedagogical knowledge, his beliefs and the pedagogical situation. He reacts on the basis of his beliefs and pedagogical knowledge and acts as a function of his routine and cognitive schemas. The filter function of beliefs can be observed when the teacher’s activities and thinking did not match because of some external (time limit, school equipment, class compo-sition) and internal factors (emotions, empathy, giving help, mutual acceptance of each other). The number and quality of beliefs influencing reflections and the schemas appearing in teaching activities gave us an opportunity to map the relationship of thinking and acting in different pedagogical situations.

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Development of a Teacher Grit Scale (TGS) : Predicting the Performance of Educators

in the Philippines

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.13

Abstract The study aims to develop and validate a Teacher Grit Scale and determine its predictive validity for performance. This quantitative research utilized exploratory, confirmatory, and regression analyses based on data from 1425 teachers of the Department of Education, Philippines. Exploratory factor analysis established the factorial validity of a 2-factor structure as compared to 3-factor and 4-factor models. Confirmatory factor analyses from Region IX and Region X of the Department of Education reveal strong cross-validation between the 2-factor models and the data using goodness-of-fit indices. These outcomes show that the factors describing grit are: (1) Perseverance in Teaching and (2) Passion and Purpose in Teaching. Grit relates significantly to teacher performance. However, only the first dimension of grit - perseverance in teach-ing, established predictive validity with performance.

Key words: factor analysis, performance, teachers’ grit

Introduction

The constant search to identify predictors of educator performance is illustrated in the exploration of the grit of teachers in their profession. Grit, tagged as an essential component of success, is perceived as the combination of the persever-ance of effort and consistency of interest over more extended time (Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, & Kelly, 2007). It encompasses perseverance and passion to

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follow long-term goals, despite difficulty, disappointment, or stagnation (Duck-worth, 2016). Grit is a crucial tool to overpower the challenges that teachers encounter in their workplace. Duckworth and Quinn (2009) postulated that grit could help a person succeed despite challenging circumstances in life, especially those situations that entail an uphill struggle. Thus, it is commanding to study the constructs describing teacher grit and its predictive relationship with teaching performance.

This present study hypothesized that teachers with a high level of grit could exhibit outstanding performance. On the other hand, teachers who yield easily to the challenges of the teaching profession tend to demonstrate inadequate or unsatisfactory performance. Gritty individuals pursue long-standing goals and ambitions by not relinquishing, regardless of challenges and setbacks (Duckworth et al., 2007). Gritty teachers show the ability to consistently focus on their essential spheres of interest. Correspondingly, they also persevere amidst heavy workloads and excessive teaching demands on a long-term basis.

Indeed, the manifestation of “grit” within a person is an enormously advanta-geous attribute. The essence of “grit” is associated to several factors relating to suc-cess and personal achievement. Conversely, reservations have surfaced concerning the dependability of employing grit as a measure or predictor of success. Research suggests that designing interventions that focus on fostering grit will not have the desired effect on success (Credé, Tynan, & Harms, 2017). Thus, determining grit as a reliable and acceptable predictor of teacher performance is vital considering the reservations about its construct validity.

The Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST), through DepEd Order No. 42, S. 2017, stipulated that PPST serve as a foundation for teachers, involving all training and development programs. The new DepEd-PPST-RPMS Performance Assessment system is now being implemented in all public schools in the Philippines to support continuing professional development. It provides the standards and indicators used in appraising teachers’ performance. Understanding the PPST is crucial for teachers to grow and flourish in their profession.

Along with this proposition, the researcher decided to conduct a study that will create a tool to measure the grit level of teachers in the Department of Education. This study employs exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to verify the constructs of the Teachers’ Grit Scale (TGS). Factor analysis is useful in exploring a phenomenon of interest and in developing, testing, and verifying a new research instrument. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) is used in this study to provide reliable validation and verification of the Teacher’ Grit Scale (TGS).

167Development of a Teacher Grit Scale (TGS)

The grit scale aims to help improve teachers’ views and attitudes, and possibly, overall teaching performance. The researcher also believed that when teachers know their present grit level and its influences, they may be able to exert more effort to improve their performance. Based on previous reports, analysis of empir-ical findings, and the research need for specificity, constructs of teachers’ grit can still be explored using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Due to their possible role in affecting teachers’ overall performance in the teaching-learning process, it is high time to examine constructs of teacher grit in association with performance evaluation under the new DepEd-PPST-RPMS Performance Assess-ment system. For this reason, the researcher assumed the necessity to construct a teacher version of a questionnaire designed to measure grit and probe its psy-chometric properties.

Problem of ResearchThis study’s primary goal is to develop, validate, and verify the constructs

of a Teacher Grit Scale (TGS) to describe the grit of public school teachers. In addition, this research examines the predictive utility of the factors verified in the Teachers’ Grit Scale for teacher performance.

Research FocusResearch studies have implicated grit as a predictor of success in a variety of

activities, both cognitive and non-cognitive in dimension (Strayhorn, 2014; Abu-hassàn & Bates, 2015; Guerrero, Dudovitz, Chung, Dosanjh, & Wong, 2016; Hodge, Wright, & Bennett, 2018). Thus, it should play a role in teaching performance as well. Exploring teachers’ grit offers our educators the chance to achieve their life-long goals. In general, a more useful comprehension of the influence of grit on the task of educating may help inform educators in preparing and carrying out their duties and responsibilities in school. A higher level of grit allows teachers to thrive not only daily, but also on a long-term basis.

Grit is a blend of passion for learning, perseverance in a task, and purposeful activities (Rogers, 2017). Roberts, Lujeuz, Krueger, Richards, and Hill (2014) explained it as diligence and conscientiousness. Further, Duckworth et al. (2007) identified two dimensions of grit, particularly, passion and perseverance. Werner (1996) suggested the earlier-established concept of resilience as one of its factors. Given the extent of the dimensions of grit, it is meaningful to consider grit meas-ures through the perspectives of teachers.

Previous research has specified a high correlation of grit with self-control (Duckworth & Gross, 2014). Lucas, Gratch, Cheng, & Marsella, (2015) pronounced

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that the relationship between grit and self-control is highly evident, as well as grit and perseverance in challenging tasks. Individuals with a greater level of self-con-trol may possess the capability to regulate emotion and withstand temptation, but this does not with certainty signify that they are persistent in attaining a particular goal in life. This description is inconsistent, as human beings engage and perform differently (Duckworth & Gross, 2014).


General Background of ResearchThis study’s primary goal is to develop, validate, and verify the constructs

of a Teacher Grit Scale (TGS) to describe the grit of public school teachers. In addition, this research examines the predictive utility of the factors verified in the Teachers’ Grit Scale for teacher performance.

Sample of ResearchThe participants of the study were the one-thousand four hundred and

twenty-five (1425) teachers from Region IX- Zamboanga Peninsula and Region X- Northern Mindanao, Department of Education, Philippines. From the sample of public school teachers, 120 teachers participated in the pilot testing, and 300 teachers participated in the exploratory phase. In the confirmatory phase, 502 teachers from Region IX and 503 teachers from Region X contributed to the study. Recruitment of the participants was voluntary with informed consent as proof of their voluntary participation.

Instrument and ProceduresFor the proposed Teacher Grit Scale, the construction of indicators utilized

thematic data analysis on teachers’ coping strategies from the interview. These strategies highlighted how they handle, overcome, or deal with challenges and demands in their teaching profession. Psychometric properties of the instru-ment ascertained its validity and reliability. For the final phase of this study, the researcher collected data on teachers’ grit along with the teachers’ performance based on the 2019 Individual Performance Commitment Review Form (IPCRF) summary sheet under the Results-based Performance Management System - Phil-ippine Professional Standards for Teachers (RPMS-PPST).


Data AnalysisThe preliminary phase of this study employed content validity and reliability

analysis. Seven experts on the research topic examined the 25-item pool of pro-posed indicators for the Teacher Grit Scale (TGS). The content validators reviewed the constructed items. They suggested revisions and rejections on some constructs. They also accepted some items, resulting in a new 21-item pool of indicators. Dur-ing the pilot testing, 120 teachers participated in answering the Teacher Grit Scale. The reliability analysis of the instrument was interpreted as acceptable internal consistency (0.91 Cronbach’s alpha).

The data gathered on teacher grit was subjected to exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to develop, validate, and form the constructs of the proposed Teacher Grit Scale (TGS). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used in this study to provide reliable validation of the Teacher Grit Scale (TGS). The CFA model is intended to specify the number of (latent) factors or the pattern of loadings on the factors. These factor loadings identify the pattern of unique variances specific to each observation.

To identify the level of teachers’ grit and performance, mean and standard deviation summarized the data set. Correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis explore the collected data and uncover any predictive utility of the con-structs and factors of teachers’ grit for performance.

Results of Research

Teacher Grit Scale (TGS): Exploratory Factor Analysis (Phase 1) Sampling Adequacy and Test of Sphericity. This analysis ran a series of tests to

establish that the data set on teacher grit is suitable for exploratory factor analysis. First, descriptive indices showed the normality of distribution of the data set. Second, the sample size fits the criterion 10:1 with an ideal ratio of the sample (300 observations) to the number of items (21 items) included in the EFA (Osborne, 2014). Third, all items showed an inter-item correlation of at least 0.3, except Item 12, which had only 0.239. Fourth, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) disclosed a value of 0.916, which is a strong measure of sampling adequacy (MSA). KMO values of 0.8 and above are very suitable for factor analysis, yielding consistent factors with patterned correlations (Field, 2009). And fifth, the Bartlett’s test of sphericity confirmed statistical significance (χ2(210) = 1979.572; p < .001). This result indicates that there are some relationships among the 21 items included in this analysis and supports the factorability of the correlation matrix.

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Number of Factors. The exploratory factor analysis employed the principal component extraction method and Varimax rotation to explore the factor struc-ture of the Teacher Grit Scale. The 2-factor solution proved to be appropriate, with eight items converging on Factor 1 and 6 items converging on Factor 2. Three items (Item 2, Item 4, and Item 12) registered a factor loading less than .40, and were discarded from the analysis. A factor with five or more strongly loading items (≥ 0.50) indicates a compact model (Costello & Osborne, 2005). Using this rec-ommendation, four items (Item 8, Item 13, Item 15, and Item 19) had component loading less than 0.50, and thus, were removed from the analysis. Additionally, this 2-factor model showed no cross-loading. These tests signified valid and reliable parameters of the 2-factor model, retaining 14 items out of the original 21 items in the Teacher Grit measure.

The Factors of Teachers’ Grit Scale (TGS). Factor loadings indicate the strength of association between the variables and the factors. This examination retained only those items with a factor loading of at least 0.50 on their component on the Teachers’ Grit Scale (TGS). The factor loading of 14 items ranging from 0.538–0.798 quantified that all constructs are strongly correlated to their factors. The examination of the constructs that loaded significantly on their corresponding factor highlights the key concepts and the emerging themes that they signify. The dimension name anchored on the items that loaded on the respective factors.

Factor 1 comprised eight (8) items, suggesting that teacher grit highlights the way educators persist amidst challenges in their teaching profession. These con-structs of grit describe how teachers manage difficulties in teaching and overcome work demands. Thus, the central theme that emerged on the first factor is Perse-verance in Teaching. Factor 2 encompassed three items denoting strong feelings and enthusiasm of the teachers as they perform their duties and responsibilities in the teaching profession. The other three items indicated teachers’ convictions and a sense of purpose in serving the learners. Thus, Passion and Purpose in Teaching labeled factor 2.

Factor 1 – Perseverance in Teaching. As one of the components of teacher grit, perseverance in teaching emphasizes the unrelenting effort, energy, and enthu-siasm of teachers despite the difficulties encountered in the teaching profession. This component of grit designates teachers’ determination, mental toughness, and composure to withstand the demands of their work. Gritty teachers approach teaching challenges by giving their best and by maintaining the right mind-set. Grit is a fundamental tool to override the difficulties that teachers encounter in their work.


Factor 2 – Passion and Purpose in Teaching. Passion and purpose in teaching as a dimension means being able to manifest excitement and enjoyment in working with the learners. This factor of teacher grit embraces contentment in the teach-ing profession and the sense of purpose in serving learners for a lifetime. Gritty teachers accomplish their goals with great passion and determination. Despite frustrations and constant pressures, they opt to stay in the teaching profession.

Reliability Analysis and Descriptive Indices. The Teacher Grit Scale comprised 14 items measuring two dimensions of grit, precisely Perseverance in Teaching and Passion and Purpose in Teaching. The measure of internal consistency reliability of each factor was found to be highly acceptable and reliable. Both Factor 1 and Factor 2 obtained a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.82, indicating the reliability of the factors as strong. These results mean that the constructs under Factor 1 and Factor 2 strongly correlate with each other. Teachers’ perseverance in teaching appeared to be a high level of grit (M = 3.43; SD = 0.08). Similarly, teachers’ passion and purpose in teaching signified a remarkable degree of grit (M = 3.56; SD = 0.08).

Teacher Grit Scale (TGS): Confirmatory Factor Analysis (Phase 2)Internal Consistency Reliability. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis established

the emergence of two factors. Cross-validation using CFA was conducted sepa-rately for Region IX and Region X. This confirmation from the two regions aimed to examine the generalizability of the two dimensions of grit in the Department of Education, Philippines. The separate validation thoroughly considered the nature and nuances of grit, which might be sensitive to the context of the teachers.

For Region IX, Factor 1: Perseverance in Teaching accumulated a highly con-sistent alpha value. In the data analysis, the inter-item correlation indicated coef-ficients ranging from .45 - .57. These observations showed the inter-correlation of the items that are adequate and consistent with each other. Factor 2: Passion and Purpose in Teaching had a strongly reliable Cronbach’s alpha. The inter-item correlation specified coefficients ranging from .40 - .56. These values substantiated the inter-correlation of items that are consistent with each other.

For Region X, Factor 1: Perseverance in Teaching accumulated a highly con-sistent alpha value. The correlation coefficient of items ranging from .47 - .68 also indicated its reliability. These observations showed the inter-correlation of items that are consistent with each other. Factor 2: Passion and Purpose in Teaching similarly had a strongly reliable Cronbach’s alpha and showed the inter-correlation of items that are consistent with each other.

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The significant correlation between the two factors indicated a very strong positive linear relationship. This effect means that the inter-correlations between Perseverance in Teaching (Factor 1) and Passion and Purpose in Teaching (Factor 2) direct the convergence of the factors in a positive direction. The degree of dependence between the two factors indicates that as Perseverance in Teaching increases, the Passion and Purpose in Teaching also increases.

Model Fit Statistics. Multiple indices such as chi-square (χ2), Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), Goodness of Fit Index (GFI), Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), and Standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) tested and verified the fit of the data. The results of the confirm-atory factor analysis from Region IX revealed an adequate fit of the two-factor model of the Teacher Grit Scale (χ2/df = 2.29; p< 0.001; CFI = 0.94; TLI = 0.93; GFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.05; SRMR = 0.04).

As a criterion of model fit, the proportion of chi-square to degrees of freedom (χ2/df) ought to be 3.0 or less, and chi-square (χ2) should not be significant (Hoe, 2008). However, the value of the chi-square statistic is entirely dependent on the sample size. Considerable significance is obtained with large sample size, even though there are only minor discrepancies between the data set and the model. Conversely, a small sample size generates insignificant chi-square (χ2) despite the existence of substantial disagreement concerning the model and data obtained (Ganotice, 2010). The Comparative Fit Index (CFI), Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), and Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) should not be lower than .90 (Brown & Cudeck, 1993). RMSEA values of less than .06 designate a good fit, and values as high as .08 signify a reasonable fit. The Standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), which is less than 0.06, reveals a good fit (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

Moreover, the after effect of the confirmatory factor analysis designated a sat-isfactory fit of the two-factor model from Region X, considering the standard criteria of fit indices (χ2/df = 2.67; p< 0.001; CFI = 0.95; TLI = 0.94; GFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.06; SRMR = 0.04). Although a value of .90 for CFI, TLI, and GFI functioned as a rule-of-thumb lower limit for acceptable fit, a value of at least .93 indicates well-fitting models (Byrne, 1994). The root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) should not be higher than .08 (Hu & Bentler, 1999).

The Final Scale. After thorough exploration and validation of the different constructs and models describing the dimension of grit, this study synthesized the Teacher Grit Scale. The scale contains two factors similar to the study of Angela Duckworth (2016) on passion and perseverance as a two-factor model describing grit. Factor 1 comprised eight (8) items suggesting that teachers’ grit highlights the way educators persist amidst challenges in their teaching profession.


These constructs of grit describe how teachers manage difficulties in teaching and overcome work demands. Thus, the central theme that emerged on the first factor is Perseverance in Teaching. Factor 2 encompassed three items denoting strong feelings and enthusiasm of the teachers as they perform their duties and responsibilities in the teaching profession. The other three constructs indicated teachers’ convictions and a sense of purpose in serving the learners. Thus, Passion and Purpose in Teaching described factor 2.

Table 1. Teachers’ Grit Scale (TGS): The Final Scale.

Factors / IndicatorsPerseverance in Teaching

1. I deal with teaching challenges by looking for different solutions.2. I become more mature by overcoming difficulties in teaching.3. I handle setbacks in teaching with grace and dignity as I consider them part of the job.4. I am determined to withstand the work demands of the teaching profession.5. I set a standard in teaching by being resourceful and creative.6. I give my best in teaching.7. I look at problems in teaching as opportunities to grow.8. I focus on my job with a positive attitude.

Passion and Purpose in Teaching9. I want to be of service to the learners for a lifetime.

10. I choose to be in the teaching profession, and I opt to stay with it.11. I find continuous enjoyment in working with the learners.12. I have a sense of contentment in my teaching profession.13. I manifest excitement in my teaching profession for a long time.14. I have a sense of purpose in teaching.

The correlation test determined the association of teachers’ performance with perseverance in teaching and passion and purpose in teaching. The results showed that the perseverance in teaching has a weak but significant correlation with per-formance (r = .321; p < .001). Further, passion and purpose in teaching showed a weak and significant association with performance (r = .196; p < .001). Using the stepwise method of regression analysis, Model 1 reveals that only perseverance in teaching can significantly predict teachers’ performance (R2 = .103; F = 40.528; p < .001). Though performance is dependent to some extent on passion and pur-pose in teaching, this factor of teacher grit does not exhibit predictive utility on RPMS-PPST performance of the teachers.

174 Lee G. Baraquia

The predictive validity of the regression model calculated the contribution of grit, in terms of perseverance in teaching, to performance. The findings verified that only the first factor of teacher grit, namely perseverance in teaching, signifi-cantly predicts performance. The unstandardized beta coefficients contain positive measurements, indicating a direct relationship with the dependent variable.

Discussion

The definitive goal of the study is to develop a scale that would measure teacher grit and explore its predictive validity for performance. The grit measure delivered substantial evidence of reliability and validity. The exploratory factor analysis established the factorial validity of a 2-factor structure. The results of CFA con-ducted on the Teacher Grit Scale (TGS) reveal a good fit between the models and the data using goodness-of-fit indices. Hence, the CFA approach employed in this study provided strong cross-validation. This validation shows that the factors that compose grit according to the perceptions of teachers from Region IX and Region X of the Department of Education are: Perseverance in Teaching and Passion and Purpose in Teaching.

Grit operates through the dynamism of passion and perseverance (Duckworth et al., 2007). Grit encompasses persistence of effort in following long-term goals despite difficulty, disappointment, or stagnation (Duckworth, 2016). Grit is the intermingling of perseverance on a task, passion for learning, and purposeful activities (Rogers, 2017). Gritty individuals pursue long-standing goals and ambitions by not relinquishing regardless of challenges and setbacks (Duckworth et al., 2007). Grit is defined as a voluntary continuation of goal-directed action, regardless of discouragements or difficulties (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2004). Hence, gritty teachers show the ability to persevere amidst heavy workloads and excessive teaching demands on a long-term basis.

Aside from perseverance of effort, passion and purpose contribute to grit. Grit encompasses selflessness and the burning desire to contribute to the well-being of others (Duckworth et al., 2007). Gritty individuals are passionate and never get tired of performing their duties and responsibilities. Grit means being able to continue a purposive action despite obstacles or despair (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2004).

Based on the findings, the following are the implications of the study: (a) School heads may initiate psycho-social development programs that will further strengthen teachers’ grit in terms of perseverance in teaching as well as passion


and purpose in teaching. (b) Division office with the HRD may organize training for teachers in developing grit and relevant continuing personal and professional development.

Overall, a better understanding of the effect of grit on performance may help inform educators in preparing and delivering their duties and responsibilities in the teaching profession. This study recommends future research utilizing a larger sample and extending the scope of the investigation to other regions. Future stud-ies should include the cultural and educational context of teachers to increase the generalizability of the Teacher Grit Scale.

Conclusions

The exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the assertion that the factors of grit according to the perceptions of teachers from Region IX and Region X of the Department of Education are: Perseverance in Teaching and Passion and Purpose in Teaching. This two-factor structure is the best model for the scale, indicating that the two-factor measure model of grit is a good fit. The significant correlations between the two factors of teachers’ grit showed that as Perseverance in Teaching increases, the Passion and Purpose in Teaching also increases. This evidence of convergent validity showed that the two factors have a commonality and that they primarily gauge teachers’ grit. This analysis confirmed the assump-tion that grit relates significantly to teachers’ performance. However, only the first dimension of grit – perseverance in teaching, established predictive validity with performance. In closing, exploring the influence of grit on teachers’ performance may help inform the stakeholders in their quest to maximize competencies and realize the full potential of educators.

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Measurement of Lecturer Satisfaction

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.14

AbstractThe aim of this research is to analyze the extent of lecturers’ satisfaction with regard to the gap between the satisfaction experienced and what is expected. The sample in this study were lecturers at one of a Private Higher Education institution in Bandung, Indonesia. Sampling was done using simple random sampling techniques. This study uses the Focus Group Discussion method. The instrument test uses validity and reliability tests, and the data analysis used in this study is Importance and Performance Analysis. Referring to the results of data processing, it was found that there were 4 out of 27 indicators in Quadrant I where the lecturer felt that the existence of indicators was considered very important, while the level of performance was still not satisfactory. Indicators that are considered not yet optimum are the provision of communication channels between leaders and lecturers, daycare facilities, clean eating places/ food courts, and resources for research that is not yet optimum. The outcomes of this research are considered to give positive feedback and positive feed forward to the Private Higher Education regarding service programs oriented to employees.

Key words: importance performance analysis, lecturer satisfaction

Ariesya AprilliaIndonesiaRony SetiawanIndonesiaNonie MagdalenaIndonesia

179Measurement of Lecturer Satisfaction

Introduction

Educational institutions are important institutions in a country, which act as significant key players in the advancement of a nation. Higher education institutions are considered as the highest source of knowledge and which train the specialist manpower in different fields of life (Khalid, Irshad, & Mahmood, 2012). The quality of future generations in developing countries depends on the quality of higher education, which directly or indirectly influences the progress of a nation (Aziz, Mahmood, & Bano, 2018). Spreading knowledge abroad, forging academic growth, training students, and fulfilling the requirements of a country’s development are the objectives of higher education (Chen, Yang, Shiau, & Wang, 2006).

Internal stakeholders, who act as critical players in the delivery of these services, are employees. Employee services in higher education have a significant contri-bution in creating value for the satisfaction of students (external stakeholders). In this regard, good quality of service is a major commodity of competitive advantage in higher education (Aprillia, Setiawan, & Munthe, 2017). A tendency that often happens is that organizations are more focused on how to satisfy their customers, but ignore the satisfaction of their employees (Comm & Mathaisel, 2000). Chen et al. (2006) emphasize the importance of an organization to satisfy employees first before satisfying their customers, as it does not make sense to promise excellent service to consumers before first satisfying employees. If employees are satisfied, then they will be able to serve consumers well. Many researchers and HR consult-ants have recognized the importance of employees in the smooth operation of any organization (Khalid et al., 2012).

Lecturers are busy with complicated work in rapid change in a demanding environment. Lecturers have various work to do such as educating students (which includes teaching), researching, doing community service, and so on. In this complex work environment, lecturers are influenced by many things and this can increase or decrease their job satisfaction (Yilmaz, Celebi, & Cakmak, 2014). High-quality lecturers are the cornerstone of a successful education system (Khalid et al., 2012). If the lecturer feels satisfied, the quality of his or her Triad of Education Responsibilities consisting of teaching, research, and community ser-vice will increase (Chen et al., 2006). Job satisfaction is a main aspect contributing to the performance of a lecturer (Brown & Sargeant, 2007; Sadeghi & Pihie, 2013). In addition, if they are satisfied with the work environment, the quality of teaching and research can be well maintained, and besides this satisfied employees will help the organization to achieve its goals (Vojáčková, 2020). Job satisfaction ultimately

180 Ariesya Aprillia, Rony Setiawan, Nonie Magdalena

affects organizational performance (Chen et al., 2006). Employee dissatisfaction is disruptive and precarious for any occupation in any organization, but it is det-rimental if it exists in the educational world (Sharma & Jyoti, 2009), because it is crucial to maintain the job satisfaction of lecturers (Khalid et al., 2012).

The majority of research on job satisfaction in the past 80 years since it was pioneered, has focused on industry and organizational settings. In the context of education, job satisfaction has become a variable that is often studied for both elementary and secondary education school teachers. However, empirical evidence regarding job satisfaction of teaching staff in higher education is still scarce in international literature (Oshagbemi & Hickson, 2003). Similarly, liter-ature on employee satisfaction in higher education is still immature compared to the literature on student satisfaction (Chen et al., 2006), and therefore further research needs to be done by means of surveys, interviews, and/ or FGD (focus group discussions).

Problem of ResearchBased on the explanations above, we formulate the problem of this research as

“What is the level of lecturer satisfaction through comparing the discrepancies between perceived satisfaction and ideal satisfaction?”

Research FocusFrom several studies on employee satisfaction that have been done before,

research from Chen et al. (2006) is the closest to the research conducted by us today because this study measures the expectations and performance of job satisfaction. Therefore our study modifies their instruments. Chen et al. (2006) identified six factors to measure employee satisfaction, namely organization vision, respect, result feedback and motivation, management systems, pay and benefits, and work environment.

Methodology of the Research

General Background of the ResearchJob satisfaction is currently an interesting topic for many researchers, but

a comparatively small amount of this research involves higher education (Brown & Sargeant, 2007; Eyupoglu & Saner, 2009). Although research on job satisfaction has been conducted, there are several major disputes and discussions regarding the tangible factors that influence employees’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the


workplace. Satisfied employees are more productive due to fewer deviations such as absenteeism, employee exit, and any incidents that reflect destructive behavior (Brown & Sargeant, 2007; Smerek & Peterson, 2006; Eyupoglu & Saner, 2009).

Many descriptions of job satisfaction have been made. A common or narrow definition is that it is a variable of work-related attitudes. The intensity of job sat-isfaction represents and is created by the work experience of an employee both in the current situation and in their future expectations. There is no work satisfaction model that applies to the environment of every company. This is true because aspects and application cannot be generalized (Platsidou & Diamantopoulou, 2009). The aim of an employee satisfaction survey is not only to find the level of employee satisfaction, but also to determine improvements needed. Comm & Mathaisel (2000) apply SERVQUAL (Service Quality) to design employee satisfaction surveys; Oshagbemi & Hickson (2003) and Sharma & Jyoti (2009) investigate job satisfaction through JDI (Job Descriptive Index); Chen et al. (2006) use IS Level (Importance-Satisfaction Level) to measure job satisfaction; Eyupoglu & Saner (2009), Toker (2011), & Saner & Eyupoglu (2012) test job satisfaction using MSQ (Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire); Platsidou & Diamantopoulou (2009) and Saba (2011) study job satisfaction via JSI (Job Satisfaction Inventory); Sadeghi & Pihie (2013) measure job satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the Wood Faculty Job Satisfaction/ Dissatisfaction Scale (WFJSDS). Although there was no common understanding among the researchers, the instrument contributed to the study of employee satisfaction measurements in the higher education service industry.

Research SampleThe sample in this study are 108 lecturers from a Private University in Bandung,

Indonesia. A simple random sampling technique was used.

Instrument and ProceduresThis study modifies the instruments of Chen et al. (2006), who identified six

factors to measure employee satisfaction, namely organization vision, respect, result feedback and motivation, management systems, pay and benefits, and work environment. This study uses the FGD (Focus Group Discussion) method.

Data AnalysisTests used in analyzing this research are validity, reliability, and Importance

Performance Analysis (IPA). Validity testing in this study was done by making a correlation score between an item with the total score of the item. It had to have


a significant positive correlation, that is, r ≥ 0.300 with a p value of not more than 0.05 (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). The results of reliability testing are shown by the value of Cronbach’s alpha (CA) which shows the reliability of inter item consistency, or testing the consistency of respondents in answering all items. The interpretation of reliability was made according to Hair et al. (1998), and it was found that the CA value is ≥ 0.700, which was considered acceptable.

Analysis of the data used in this study is Importance and Performance Anal-ysis (IPA). The output using IPA is in the form of a Cartesian diagram with four quadrants showing each indicator in a quadrant. Four quadrants are described in the IPA.

Research Results

The descriptions of the respondents’ characteristics, the results of the validity test, the results of the reliability test, and the results of the Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) test, are explained in this section.

Characteristics of RespondentsBased on Table 1, the characteristics of respondents (108 respondents) can be

seen, based on age, gender, marital status, tenure, faculty, education, status, and academic rank.

Table 1. Characteristics of respondents

Descriptions Sum (persons) PercentageAge (years old)• 26–35• 36–45• 46–55• 56–65• > 65

234821151

21.344.419.413.90.9

Gender• Female• Male

6741

6238

Marital Status• Married• Unmarried

7929

73.126.9


Descriptions Sum (persons) PercentageTenure (years)• < 6• 6–10• 11–15• 16–20• 21–25• 26–30• 31–35• > 35

141733229922

1315.730.620.48.38.31.91.9

Faculty• Medicine• Engineering• Psychology• Language & Culture• Economics• Information Technology• Art & Design • Law• Dentistry

915121218121668

8.313.911.111.116.711.114.85.67.4

Education• Doctoral• Master• Other

73323

67.629.62.8

Status• Managerial Position• Non-Managerial Position• Other

79281

73.125.90.9

Academic Rank• None• Lecturer• Assistant Professor• Associate Professor

11444211

10.240.738.910.2

Validity and Reliability Test ResultsAll indicators are valid because the values of r (corr.) were ≥ 0.300 (0.300–0.636)

with a p value ≤ 0.05 (0.000 for all indicators), except for indicators 3, 7, 9, 23, 24, 29, 31, 32, and 34. We conducted a reliability test using the SPSS application and obtained a reliability coefficient of 0.813. With reference to this, it can be concluded that the questionnaire designed by the researchers is reliable. This means that the question items, as research instruments, are fit or suitable enough for collecting the data for this study.


Importance Performance AnalysisFrom the results of the FGDs on 108 people, we obtained the level of conformity

as listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Conformity level

Number Indicator Performance Expectation Conformity (%) Quadrant

1 1 328 529 62.00378 22 2 310 538 57.62082 43 4 375 531 70.62147 24 5 375 528 71.02273 25 6 279 496 56.25 36 8 295 529 55.7656 47 10 410 535 76.63551 28 11 295 530 55.66038 49 12 327 529 61.81474 2

10 13 203 526 38.59316 411 14 295 540 54.62963 412 15 215 405 53.08642 313 16 307 483 63.56108 314 17 291 520 55.96154 415 18 241 513 46.97856 416 19 347 533 65.10319 217 20 328 498 65.86345 118 21 282 500 56.4 319 22 316 532 59.3985 220 25 323 433 74.59584 121 26 211 533 39.58724 422 27 342 534 64.04494 223 28 334 534 62.54682 224 30 338 540 62.59259 225 33 433 470 92.12766 126 35 316 452 69.9115 127 36 279 539 51.76252 4

Based on Table 2, none of the indicators have indicators have 100% or more conformity level, it means that the organization has not fulfilled what is a necessity for employees, and so this needs to be improved. From Table 2 we can see the gap


between the importance/ expectation and performance/ reality. There is a negative gap if the performance/ reality score is smaller than the importance/ expectation and a positive gap if the performance/ reality score is greater than the importance/ expectation. Based on Table 2, a Cartesian diagram (Figure 1) can be made to map which variables are in which position.

Figure 1: IPA Diagram

Discussion

The interpretation of the Cartesian diagram (Figure 1) can be explained as follows.

a. Upper left quadrant 1 (attributes to improve/ top priority/ concentrate here)Areas that contain factors that are considered important by lecturers, but in

reality these factors do not meet lecturer expectations (satisfaction level is still low)


• Provision of communication channels between leaders and lecturers (Num-ber/ #17, Indicator/ I.20)

• Provision of daycare (#20, I.25) • Provision of clean eating places/ food courts (#25, I.33) • Provision of resources for research (#26, I.35)

b. Upper right quadrant 2 (Maintain Performance)Factors that are considered important by the lecturer and which are considered

by the lecturer as in accordance with what he or she feels, so that the level of satisfaction is relatively higher.

• University already has a good Strategic Plan (#1, I.1) • The leader has a vision (#3, I.4) • Leaders have positive ambitions (#4, I.5) • Students respect lecturers (#7, I.10) • Provision of a rewards system (#9, I.12) • Leaders have leadership and managerial capacity (#16, I.19) • Provision of quality service processes (#19, I.22) • Provision of a good support system (#22, I.27) • Provision of scholarships for further study (#23, I.28) • Provision of teaching aids (#24, I.30)

c. Lower left quadrant 3 (attributes to maintain/ low priority)Factors that are considered less important by the lecturer and in fact their

performance is not too special. • The leader helps the lecturer find his or her vision (#5, I.6) • Lecturers are given access to learn about the operation of the university

(#12, I.15) • Provision of a fair promotion system (#13, I.16) • Innovations in management systems (#18, I.21)

d. Lower right quadrant 4 (main priority/ excessive/ superfluous)Factors that are considered less important by lecturers and are felt to be too

excessive. • University’s reputation and image (#2, I.2) • Expert recognition (#6, I.8) • Recognition of achievements in the field of teaching and research (#8, I.11) • Rewards/ prizes for outstanding performance (#10, I.13) • There is support in terms of teaching (#11, I.14) • Provision of a good management system (#14, I.17) • A clear reward and support system (#15, I.18)


• Provision of a good pension system (#21, I.26) • Provision of clear information (#27, I.36)

Conclusions

Referring to the results of the data processing and the results and discussion, it can be concluded that 4 of the 27 indicators are in Quadrant I, where the existence of these indicators is considered very important by the lecturer, while the level of performance/ the reality is not yet satisfying. The provision of communication channels between leaders and lecturers (Number 17, Indicator 20) is not yet opti-mum. Lecturers feel that communication channels are too bureaucratic, and this is difficult if there are incidental and urgent problems. Communication that often occurs is only in one direction. Apart from this the information conveyed by the leadership is too conceptual, so it is quite difficult to understand. Communication is often done by leaders in large forums so that it is not well targeted. Lecturers sometimes do not receive the information they should receive. If they do receive the information, the information received is unclear. The results of meetings were distributed two weeks later, so things that had to be followed up immediately were hampered.

Provision of daycare (Number 20, Indicator 25) is not considered optimum. Lecturers feel that the existing facility is not yet adequate. Daycare which is located on the 1st floor of the Faculty of Psychology is too small, and it can only accom-modate a small number of children, and the lecturer who would like to leave his or her child may not necessarily get a place, so the lecturer is confused because he or she has to work but still has to look after his or her children. Provision of food court has not been optimum (Number 25, Indicator 33). The lecturers considered the food court not to be too representative, both in terms of food variety, price, and cleanliness. Food is considered not very varied and the menu at each counter is almost the same, with only a few changes. The price is quite expensive so the lecturers have objections when having to eat there. Sometimes the food court is not clean, be it the floor, table, or counter.

Provision of resources for research is not yet optimum (Number 26, Indicator 35). Room facilities for research are not comfortable, laboratories are too small, and the human resources (laboratory staff and analysts) that help are also limited. Lecturers also find it difficult to access international journals as reference material for research, because the journal has a fee and the university does not subscribe.


Submission of research proposals is limited to only once a year; lecturers have to wait a long time, so that they are not free to conduct research when ideas come. If the research has been completed and will be published in international journals, translators are required and sometimes there is lack of financial support for this from the university. Incentives for lecturers in the field of research are also consid-ered lacking, so that lecturers are less interested in conducting research. Lecturers consider the university too restrictive in terms of research funding.

The advice we can give is that the leadership should improve channels of com-munication so that the lecturers feel at ease and facilitated when communicating with the leader, for example, by creating a special communication platform for leaders to communicate with lecturers. This should be just one platform so that lecturers are not confused about which platform to communicate with. There should be separate communication channels for each faculty, so that the commu-nication that occurs is more on target.

The university should expand daycare, for example by moving the location of daycare to a place that is much larger and more representative so that lecturers do not experience daycare problems when they want to leave their children for the day and so that the lecturer can work quietly. As for suggestions regarding the food court, the university (through the food court manager) should ask each counter to do regular menu updates/ innovations so that consumers do not get bored with the same menu. The manager must better monitor the cleanliness of the food court through his or her cleaning staff. Besides this the manager could also hold a contest for the cleanest counter every month and give prizes to the winners, for example by freeing the service charge counter in the following month.

The advice we can give to increase research resources is that university should improve facilities in the laboratory little by little and increase the number of human resources to assist lecturers in conducting research. The university should subscribe to good online journals so that lecturers have no difficulty in finding references for their research. The university (through the Centre of Research and Community Service/ CRMS) should give freedom to lecturers whenever they want to submit research proposals. CRMS should provide free translation facilities for lecturers who need the facility to translate articles for publication in international journals; CRMS can work together with the Faculty of Language and Culture so that the costs are lower. Universities should give more appreciation to lecturers who have conducted research, for example by increasing research incentives.


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Creativity as a Factor in the Psychological Well-being of Teachers of Higher Educational Institutions

DOI: 10.15804/tner.2020.60.2.15

Abstract The article reveals the importance of creativity in achieving psychological well-being in teachers of higher educational institutions and substantiates the feasibility of its study. Psychological well-being is considered as an important indicator in people’s lives, their desire for the development of personal poten-tial, the formation of positive relationships, and productive creative activity for the benefit of society. The role of creativity in achieving the psychological well-being of a person as a unique creative ability, an important condition for human life, is substantiated. It affects self-acceptance, personal growth, cre-ativity, among others. Creativity indicators (curiosity, creative opportunities, self-confidence, stability and persuasiveness, the desire to be an independent person, the ability to cope, etc.), affecting the psychological well-being of teachers of higher educational institutions, their satisfaction with life, work and themselves are investigated. It was established that the level of creativity is insufficient and that teachers for training specialists in social work have lower indicators than teachers of a foreign language. It is shown that creativity is a factor in psychological well-being and affects the formation of relationships with others, the purposefulness and meaningfulness of life, self-acceptance, personal growth, and the like. Statistically significant differences were found in terms of creativity and psychological well-being of the teachers who were studied depending on gender.

Key words: creativity, creativity, psychological well-being, teacher of a higher educational institution

Iryna AndroshchukUkraineValentyna Balakhtar UkraineKateryna BalakhtarUkrainePetro OleshkoUkraine

192 Iryna Androshchuk et al.

Introduction

Higher education institutions in the current crisis are undergoing reform, as a result of the impact of social, economic, psychological challenges and more. This requires teachers to respond quickly, successfully solve problems, innovate, take action, and implement non-standard, innovative ideas and solutions, objectives and tasks in their professional activity (Oldham & Baer, 2012), which undoubtedly affects the effectiveness of their activities and psychological well-being as a whole. Well-being testifies to a state of overall mental and physical comfort, energy, strength and wellness (Diener, 2009). Well-being may result from either positive emotions or feelings which promote personal prosperity throughout life, or may occur as a result of positive feelings and emotions that are associated with personal prosperity (Seligman, 2011, p.13).

Psychological well-being is an important indicator of people’s life (six-factor model of psychological well-being by Ryff (2014)), is connected with their desire to develop their personal potential, to form positive relationships, and to produce creative activity for the benefit of society. This is because psychologically pros-perous people work better and have a greater desire to work. As noted Ryan and Deci (2001), well-being affects all processes in society (education, socio-economic development, education, activities, etc.) and is aimed at positive changes in people’s lives.

Studying psychological well-being, scientists have viewed it in terms of: the con-cept of positive psychology in the concepts of personal happiness (Seligman, 2006); subjective well-being, which is a cognitive-evaluation process and determines life satisfaction (a cognitive-judgmental process which determines satisfaction with life) (Diener, Kahneman & Schwarz, 1999); an indicator of substantive freedom, which determines people’s ability to live a life they themselves value (Sen, 2005; Graham, 2010); something which characterizes the temporary states of experience of the person of the present, past and future (Durayappah, 2011); a significant indicator of personal and psychological health (Ryff, 2016); subjective emotional evaluation of one’s personality and one’s own life, which determines peculiarities in the realization of self in a profession and self-realization of one’s potential (Kossewska, Monika, 2015; Serdiuk, Danyliuk, & Chaika, 2018, etc.).

A special role in achieving psychological well-being is played by creativity which can be seen as a unique creative ability, the ability to abandon stereotypical ways of thinking (Gilford, 1968); a survival skill that should be shaped in a variety of contexts (Alencar & Oliveira, 2016, 555–560); novelty, efficiency and ethics (Cropley, 2001) etc. As noted by Weston (2007) and Weisberg (2006), all people

193Creativity as a Factor in the Psychological Well-being of Teachers

are capable of creative thinking, because creative people, whether they are geniuses or ordinary people, are characterized by critical thinking, ingenuity, imagination, discipline, and perseverance. In addition, Weston (2007) believes that creativity can be developed through exotic associations, diversification and development of ideas (p.21), comparison and juxtaposition of historical and intercultural facts, hyperbolization, and the combination of incompatible things and phenomena. Scientists Sawyer (2012), Schmid (2005) and others believe that creative processes contribute to the growth of health and well-being of people, and in the absence of the opportunity to realize creativity, the state of health and the level of well-be-ing of people are reduced. Creativity is an essential condition for the survival of humanity (Sawyer, 2012; Schmid 2005) and directly influences self-acceptance (positive assessment of oneself and one’s past life), personal growth (sense of further growth and development as a person), positive relationships with others (successful relationships), the meaningfulness of life (beliefs about purposefulness and the importance of human life), mastery of the environment of others (the ability to confidently and competently manage day-to-day affairs, effectively use and create life circumstances that meet personal needs and values), autonomy (not feeling dependent). These components collectively form the multi-compo-nent model of psychological well-being developed by С. Ryff (Ryff, & Keyes, 1995, p. 720).

Creativity is especially important for educators, as the growth of a nation, and the education of young people as responsible citizens is the primary goal of edu-cators. It leads to optimal functioning through awareness of one’s own strength and self-esteem, as each individual, society and nation must thrive in prosperity (Zaki, 2016, 27–29). A. Maslow explains creativity as a creative orientation that is inherent in everyone, but points to the likelihood of loss by the majority under the influence of the created system of education, upbringing and society. He argues that the way this concept is outlined by scientists demonstrates a vision of creative ideas as radical thoughts, statements and conclusions, which testify to the result of human activity and are realized in the form of innovations and future commer-cialization of the product (Maslow, 1943; 1968; 1971). Therefore, teachers should develop creativity, passion, faith, and strive for satisfaction through their own actions. Otherwise, when a teacher or other person does not get positive results from his or her work, then this can cause irreparable paralysis of one’s well-being, inner death, repression of the most vivid aspirations of life (Lane, 2006).

Despite the number of works, the problem of creativity as a factor in the psychological well-being of teachers of higher educational institutions needs attention. After all, the desire for well-being and positive functioning is one of the


main driving forces of the human community, subjective emotional experience, which is an important condition for a full life of the individual (Ryan & Deci, 2001). Creativity is especially important for the fulfilment of teachers’ functional responsibilities which require thinking creatively, reasonably reflecting in the deci-sion-making process on vital issues and personal matters. Creative individuals are always confident, flexible and able to work towards achieving goals. They generate alternative ways to solve problems and implement them in different ways.

The problem of the research is to find indicators of creativity that affect the psychological well-being of teachers of higher educational institutions, their satisfaction with life, work and themselves in general.


The theoretical basis of our study was the multifaceted theory of C. Ryff, according to which psychological well-being as a complex, integral phenomenon is characterized by positive functioning of the individual and is manifested in the subjective experience of satisfaction with life, the realization of one’s personal potential, and depends on the peculiarities of interaction of the individual and environment. In order to find indicators of psychological well-being and select indicators for psychologically prosperous and disadvantaged specialists, the Ukrainian-language version of the questionnaire “Scales of psychological well-be-ing” by C. Ryff was used in adaptation by S. Karaskanova (2011).

Also, with the help of a “Creativity” test, we studied: the level of creativity and indicators of creative potential (curiosity and creative possibilities, self-confidence, stability and persuasiveness, ambitiousness, “auditory” and visual memory, the desire to be an independent person, the ability to think abstractly).

Statistical data processing and graphic presentation of the results were carried out using the package of statistical programs SPSS (version 23.0).

The main research group consisted of 164 teachers from the State Higher Educational Institution “University of Management of Education” of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine and Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University. For a better understanding of the problem, the study was conducted comparing the impact of creativity on the attainment of psychological well-being of teachers in the training of specialists in two specialties “Social work” (94 persons, including 77 women and 17 men) and “Philology (English)” (70 teachers, of them 58 - women and 12 - men)


Research Results

According to the results of the study of creativity as a factor in the psychological well-being of teachers of higher educational institutions, it was established that the level of creativity is insufficient. As you can see from Table 1, most teachers in the field of social work and nearly a tenth of the philologists studied are characterized by low levels of creativity (79.1% and 9.2%, respectively), which indicates a limited potential. This may be due to the fact that teachers underestimate themselves, or they cannot create opportunities for themselves because they do not believe in their own strength. In most philologists, the figures are higher and indicate an average level of creativity as the most characteristic for them (85.7%). This indicates that they have the necessary skills to help them come up with new ideas and solutions to various problems, but in some situations they may also have some difficulties.

Table 1. The distribution of the studied experts by levels of creativity

Levels of creativityTeachers in the field of spe-

cialists in the specialty “Social work”, % (n=94)

Teachers in the training of specialists in the specialty

“Philology (English)”% (n=70)

low 79.1 9.2average 18.8 85.7high 2.1 5.1

A high level of creative potential is revealed in only a small number of the respondents (2.1% and 5.1% respectively). This contributes to the realization of their personal and professional abilities and abilities in various forms of creative activity in the educational process.

Table 2. Groups of the respondents according to indicators of creative potential

Indicators of creative potential

Teachers in the training o f specialists in the specialty

“Social work” (n=94)

Teachers in the training of specialists in the specialty “Philology (English)” (n=70)

Average value Standard deviation Average value Standard

deviation curiosity 9.5 1.8 10.0 1.2self-confidence 7.5 1.6 7.9 1.3ability to think abstractly 4.3 1.2 4.2 0.9


Indicators of creative potential

Teachers in the training o f specialists in the specialty

“Social work” (n=94)

Teachers in the training of specialists in the specialty “Philology (English)” (n=70)

Average value Standard deviation Average value Standard

deviation stability and persuasiveness 3.9 1.0 4.7 1.3“Auditory memory” 3.5 1.3 3.5 1.2ambitiousness 2.4 0.9 2.5 0.8visual memory 2.4 0.9 2.4 0.8the desire to be an inde-pendent person 1.9 0.9 2.4 0.7

focus on affairs 1.9 0.9 2.0 1.2Overall score 37.5 4.8 39.8 3.8

(P(value)< 0.01).

From the data in Table 2 it can be seen that among the components of creative potential, the most developed among teachers were curiosity (average 10.0 and 9.5 points) and self-confidence (average 7.9, 7.5 points).

The data obtained regarding the ability to think abstractly (on average 4.2, 4.3 points, respectively), stability and persuasiveness of teachers (on average 4.7, and 3.9 points, respectively) were found to be significantly lower. This indicates a not very well developed ability to carry out abstract thinking. Identical value were found for the indicators “auditory memory”, and visual memory (average 3.5, 2.4 points, respectively), and ambitiousness (average 2.5 and 2.4 points), which suggest poorly developed ambition, ability to self-discipline, self-improve, poor determination, diligence, desire to grow, etc. Teachers of both specialties were found to have low rates of aspiration to be an independent person (on average 2.4 and 1.9 points), which indicates the lack of desire to learn, develop, and strive for self-affirmation and self-realization (p< 0.01).

As part of the study, it was suggested that creativity is a factor in psychological well-being and affects the formation of relationships with people around us, the purposefulness and meaningfulness of life, self-acceptance, personal growth, and the like. Indeed, it has been established that the indicators of psychological well-be-ing of teachers with different levels of creative potential vary significantly (Table 3).

From the data in Table 3 it follows that all indicators of psychological well-be-ing of teacher training specialists in the specialty “Philology (English)” are more positive and constructive when compared with teacher training specialists in


“Social Work”. Almost half of the foreign language teachers studied were found to have a relatively high level of positive relationships with others, purpose in life, and personal growth (48.6%). At the same time, a low level was found in “positive relationships” (34.3% of respondents), and purpose in life (38.6% of respondents), which indicates difficulties in establishing trusting relationships, openness with other people, uncertainty, lack of goals, focus, perspectives, and the like. In addition, a low level was found for the indicator of “personal growth” (34.3%) among a third of the philology respondents, indicating a lack of desire for self-realization, interest in life, inability to enter into relationships, interaction, showing people who are dissatisfied, frustrated with life (28.6%). Regarding the “autonomy” scale, more than half of the philologists studied (51.4%) showed a low level and a high level was revealed in only 25.7% of respondents, which indicates the regulation of their behaviour in a standardized way, moreover, there is a dependence on the opinions and assessments of others.

An analysis of the results of environmental mastery showed that 35.7% of teachers of a foreign language scored low, which indicates weakness in mastery of their environment; 38.6% by contrast scored high, indicating that these teachers are confident in their abilities, competent in solving and regulating teaching activ-ities, and are able to create conditions to satisfy their own needs; the remainder (25.7%) –showed an average level of manifestation. The general indicator of the psychological well-being of teachers of philologists shows that about half of the

Table 3. Groups of the respondents according to psychological well-being

Indicators of psycho-logical well-being

Teachers in the training of specialists in the specialty “Social

work”, at %

Teachers in the training of spe-cialists in the specialty “Philology

(English)”, %low medium high low medium high

positive relations with others 78.4 14.9 6.7 34.3 17.1 48.6

purpose in life 74.2 18.6 7.2 38.6 12.9 48.6personal growth 68.0 22.7 9.3 34.3 17.1 48.6self-acceptance 67.0 25.3 7.7 28.6 34.3 37.1environmental mas-tery 68.0 26.8 5.2 35.7 25.7 38.6

autonomy 69.1 25.8 5.2 51.4 22.9 25.7Overall score 86.6 8.2 5.2 40.0 11.4 48.6


philologists studied scored high, indicating satisfaction with their own lives and professional activities. However, 40.0% of them scored low.

Teachers specializing in “Social Work”, were found to be less psychologically prosperous when compared to philologists, and for all the indicators, a low level was noted in most of the participants (Table 3). This indicates difficulties in estab-lishing trusting relationships, caring for other people (78.4%); uncertainty, that these teachers do not have goals, orientation, prospects, etc. (74.2%). There is a low desire for personal growth, or purpose in life (68.0%), and a low degree of self-ac-ceptance (67.0%) indicating they may be dissatisfied, or disappointed with life. At the same time, only one fourth of those studied, displayed an average level of self-acceptance (25.3%), environmental mastery (26.8%) and desire for autonomy (25.8%), which indicates the regulation of their behaviour in a standardized way, that they feel powerless in mastery of their environment, and are dependent on the opinions and assessments of others. The general indicator of the psychological well-being of teacher training specialists in the specialty “Social Work” was low for 86.6% of the teachers, indicating dissatisfaction with their own activities and life in general. The results of the analysis of indicators of psychological well-being turned out to be as low among teacher training specialists in social work as the results for creative potential and its indicators, which probably confirm the opinion that there are no original approaches to solving problems and creative activity. But the statement about creativity as a factor contributing to the formation of psycholog-ical well-being of a person is rather ambiguous.

Figure 1. Features of the psychological well-being of teachers of philologists, according to gender


In addition, statistically significant differences were found in terms of creativity and psychological well-being of the studied teachers according to gender (Figure 1.).

Teachers of a foreign language with a higher level of psychological well-being are more inclined than teachers training social workers to work creatively, generate and implement innovative ideas in professional activities, and contribute to the development of their creative potential (p <0.01) and psychological well-being, with women being more psychologically successful than men (362.7 points and 307.5 points on average in psychologically prosperous philologists versus 308.7 in women and 297.0 points on average for teachers of social work and with a low level of psychological well-being (PBW).

Discussion

Our findings are consistent with those of other scholars in the study of creativity as a factor in the psychological well-being (PWB) of higher education teachers. In particular, teachers in Pakistan are found to lack socio-cultural conditions, creative approaches to learning and working conditions, which causes a lower PWB level when compared to Turkey and the USA. In the US and Turkey, more developed countries than Pakistan, teaching and learning are more positive (Zepeda, Ilgan, Jimenez, Ata & Akram, 2017).

A study conducted by the Warkey Germs Foundation in 21 countries with more or less 1000 people for each country (Dolton & Marcenaro-Gutierrez, 2011) found that the highest levels of psychological well-being and social status for teachers was achieved in Turkey followed by China and Greece. And according to Ciftcio-glu, (2013), the well-being of Turkish teachers is higher than teachers in Pakistan.

In particular, psychological well-being is positively correlated with personal development indicating the individual has sufficient personal resources for autonomous life purposes, while burnout is highly predicted by self-efficacy, not surprisingly. Healthy teaching staff has peer support, shared leadership, and high team spirit and creative activities that prevent professional burnout, stress, and increase teacher satisfaction (Wong & Zhang, 2014). Barker and Martin (2005) showed that happy teachers are able to create a positive social and psychological climate in a team, contribute to students and teach them well.

Conclusions


In conclusion, teachers should achieve psychological well-being, be happy, and strive to develop their personal potential, to create positive relationships, to engage in productive and creative activity, to use their creative abilities to generate innova-tive ideas, improve their well-being and satisfaction with life, work and themselves. Therefore, it is worth focusing on the development of creative personality traits (curiosity, self-confidence, stability and persuasiveness, ambitiousness, the desire to be an independent person, etc.), in order to improve teachers’ working conditions, since working conditions affect both the well-being and the level of effectiveness of activities. This study also revealed that teachers’ creativity is significantly related both to the specificity and prestige of the activity, and their well-being. The high level of well-being is associated with a high level of creative and effective activity. In addition, it is worth paying more attention in the field of education to the professional well-being and psychological well-being of teachers, reducing the load, improving financial incentives and making efforts to create a fair working environment. This suggests that the development of reflective thinking of teachers should be encouraged and that they should be stimulated to engage in creative activity. This can help them to have a positive influence on students, and in their shaping as future citizens of our state.

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