New Approaches in Educational and Social Sciences / Neue Denkansaetze in den Bildungs- und Sozialwissenschaften – serie

The central issue of this volume is violence against women and young girls as part of symbolic or systemic violence, overt or subtle, and its impact on their health and general well-being. Recognised as a determinant of health, violence has been aptly described as a silent epidemic affecting women not only in Europe but globally.This book aims to provide an additional platform for discussing the issue of violence against women and young girls, with a particular focus on its impact on health. The central question of this volume is the nature of interdisciplinary studies on gender violence, bringing together sociologists, lawyers, psychologists, anthropologists and biologists.

The idea for this book arose from presentations delivered at two conferences in Tartu and in Tallinn in Estonia. These conferences brought together many professionals and researchers working in early education, many from Europe, and also Australia and the USA. This book, written by 37 authors, consists of chapters about the development of early childhood education, children’s developing skills and the early childhood curriculum, and about the role of early childhood teachers. Further topics are the role of parents in early childhood education, and the work with children with special needs in the preschool. The book will be of interest to those interested in early childhood practice and policy.

This book examines the changing lifestyles in transforming societies, focusing on the interplay of lifestyle choices, social status and the society as a whole. When individuals choose their careers, mates or networks to belong to and to identify with, they are influenced by rapid technological developments, economic uncertainty and other ongoing changes in society. On the other hand, by their choices they also construct new social realities. The book addresses lifestyles and social change in connection with a wide range of issues: belonging to different movements and networks; changes in gender order, work and partner choices; changes in home cultures and ways of residing; emerging translocal belonging and cross cultural relationships; consumption choices and construction of identities. The first part of the book gives the wider context within a longer perspective and the second part is focused on specific cases of lifestyle choices.

The first seven articles of the book provide an overview of how Estonian educational scientists, collaborating with colleagues from Finland and Sweden on one of the articles, have empirically studied the quality of learning environment, teachers’ professionalism and their perceptions of their own teaching as well as their professional role and students’ coping at school. When dealing with the educational reality, a wholeness-centred educational thinking is represented. Therefore, one of the articles is devoted to the question of how to define youth and interpret the development of the concept of youth. One article deals with creativity in relation to the social field. The last article compares the semantics of the concepts Paideía and lifestyle as expressions of the wholeness-centred educational thinking.

Dieser Band dokumentiert eine Reihe von Beiträgen der XIX. Internationalen wissenschaftlichen Konferenz Bildungsreform und Lehrerausbildung zum Thema Bildungswissenschaft auf der Suche nach globaler Identität, die vom Ministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft der Republik Litauen, der Litauischen Universität für Bildungswissenschaften in Vilnius und der Pädagogischen Hochschule Heidelberg – University of Education gemeinsam konzipiert und veranstaltet wurde. Das Hauptthema der Konferenz waren Bildungs- und Qualitätsstandards der Hochschul- und Schulbildung. Dieses Qualitätsmanagement setzt somit den Erwerb interaktiver Kompetenzen im Bildungs-, Erziehungs- und Sozialisationsbereich voraus, gewissermaßen als innere Kräfte für Basiskompetenzen, die im Hinblick auf die Herausforderungen der Gesellschaft des kommenden Jahrzehnts die Befähigung zu Identität ermöglichen.This volume presents a series of contributions from the XIX. International Scientific Conference on The Reform of Education and Teacher’s Training on the topic Educational Sciences in Search of Global Identity which was conceived and organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania, Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences and Heidelberg University of Education (Germany). Main topics of the conference were educational quality standards of Higher and Secondary Education. This kind of quality management relies on the acquisition of interactive competence in socialization and the educational sector. The development of these basic skills is prerequisite for achieving an identity in order to meet the challenges of our society in the coming decade.

Tradition and Innovation in Education presents a number of articles that deal with topics as varied as outdoor education in Estonian kindergartens, student teacher lesson analysis skills, activities that bridge the theory-practice gap and the identity of academics in a changing university environment. In the light of PISA they also discuss how student awareness and the choice of different learning strategies explains the variation in reading proficiency. A user experience evaluation system is offered for pupils with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities, while living, learning and discovery learning is presented as an approach to violin studies for beginners. The volume takes a new look at creativity as being discussed too much and losing its meaning.

Smart people make a smart city. This volume presents a collection of papers on the concept of smartness, smart development and the international practices in the field. There are five key topic areas: the conceptual, smart economy, smart specialisation, smart city and public governance. The concept of a smart social system is grounded on comparative analysis of competing concepts such as intelligence, knowledge driven, digital, learning, networked, innovative, agile and sustainable.

Der Band dokumentiert eine Reihe von Beiträgen der XX. Internationalen wissenschaftlichen Konferenz Bildungsreform und Lehrerausbildung, die vom Ministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft der Republik Litauen, der Litauischen Universität für Bildungswissenschaften in Vilnius (LEU) und der Pädagogischen Hochschule Heidelberg – University of Education gemeinsam veranstaltet wurde. Das Hauptthema der Konferenz waren Bildungs- und Qualitätsstandards der Hochschul- und Schulbildung. Dieses Qualitätsmanagement setzt den Erwerb interaktiver Kompetenzen im Bildungs-, Erziehungs- und Sozialisationsbereich voraus, gewissermaßen als innere Kräfte für Basiskompetenzen, die die Befähigung zu Identität ermöglichen im Hinblick auf die Herausforderungen der Gesellschaft des kommenden Jahrzehnts.

The aim of the research is to reveal the effects of inquiry on the motivation of new generation students for learning Physics and Mathematics. Self-Determination Theory gives a theoretical background for the research. Quantitative methods dominate in this monograph. The monograph analyses the motivation for learning science in terms of inquiry levels, as well as in terms of real and digital Physics labs. The monograph also reveals the role of significant social issues in promoting intrinsic motivation and communication of lower secondary school students. The monograph considers motivation for learning Mathematics. The research discloses students’ attitude towards the educational and social benefit of learning Mathematics.

Dieser Band dokumentiert eine Reihe von ausgewählten Beiträgen der XXII. Internationalen wissenschaftlichen Konferenz Bildungsreform und Lehrerausbildung zum Thema »Transkulturelle Perspektiven in der Bildung«, die vom Ministerium für Bildung und Wissenschaft der Republik Litauen und der Vilnenser Akademie für Bildungswissenschaften der Vytautas Magnus Universität in Kaunas (VDU) gemeinsam konzipiert und veranstaltet wurden. Im Fokus standen der Diskurs kulturwissenschaftlicher Bildungsforschung und der Austausch von Beispielen transkultureller pädagogischer Praxis in der Hochschul- und Schulbildung. Der Erwerb dieser interaktiven Kompetenzen in der kulturwissenschaftlichen Forschung ist Voraussetzung für die Bildung einer Identität, die den Herausforderungen unserer Gesellschaft im kommenden Jahrzehnt gerecht wird.This volume presents a series of selected contributions from the XXIInd International Scientific Conference on The Reform of Education and Teacher’s Training dealing with the topic »Transcultural Perspectives in Education«, which was conceived and organized by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania together with the Vilnius Academy of Educational Science at Vytautas-Magnus-University in Kaunas (VDU). The focus of attention was the discourse on research in cultural studies and the exchange of examples of transcultural pedagogical practice in Higher and Secondary Education. The acquisition of interactive competencies in cultural research is a prerequisite for the formation of identity in order to meet the challenges our society will be facing in the coming decade.

Skill formation in Central and Eastern Europe. A search for patterns and directions of development offers holistic analytical insight into skill formation processes and institutions in Central and Eastern European countries by referring to the timeframe of historical development of skill formation from the fall of communism to the present time and future development trends. Leading researchers of skill formation from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine refer to critical junctures and the findings are compared and discussed in five concluding chapters focused on important cross-cutting topics: development of social dialogue over skill formation, qualifications policy and development of qualifications systems, implications of European integration and EU policies for governance and institutional reform of skill formation, features and implications of policy borrowing and policy learning from the Anglo-Saxon and German speaking countries, respectively.

The monograph Social Clustering: Paradigm of Trust combines smart education strategies, social clustering and innovative educational practices. Networking and intersectoral empowerment help leaders operate the multifunctional, multicriterion, multisector approach and develop trust-based family, community, and regional and national prosperity. Aspiration for common objective; consensus on the most important priorities of the public interest; successful social partnership between the public, private, civic (NGO) sector; and scientific organizations and stakeholders help us create a modern and sustainable society. Trust-based social economy, smart education and social partnership research, and services models have been developed by university researchers together with social partners.

This book illuminates the educational potential of nuclear tourism and learning about nuclear power in informal and non-formal learning settings. The authors present a case of elaboration of the educational virtual nuclear route in the Ignalina Power Plant Region, Lithuania. Nuclear tourism takes its shape at the junction of several types of tourism – energy, industrial, cultural, and heritage and it becomes a site of outdoor and place-based education, promotes STEM, energy literacy, critical thinking, and environmental skills, and creates a valuable source for virtual learning. The book reveals peculiarities of learning and experience at nuclear power plants and disaster tourism destinations such as the Chernobyl Museum and the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Drawing on recent research perspectives, the book discusses how social investment policies could be responsive to territorial inequalities in terms of better policy coordination, capacities, and institutional infrastructures’ adaptability to territorial needs. By combining theoretical notions about territorial cohesion, territorial development, and social investment, the book provides an argument for the “territorialization of social investment policy” in the case of Lithuania. The contributions of various authors encourage a different way of looking at the territorial sensitivity of welfare policy strategies implemented in advantaged developing areas and those which are disadvantaged peripheral territories.

Sind Visionen Phantasievorstellungen, Einbildungen oder gar Trugbilder vergangener Zeiten? Oder ist Visionen, retro- wie auch prospektiv gesehen, ein Potential zu eigen, das Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaftler.innen in der Gegenwart nutzen können und sollten?In diesem Band zeigen Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler aus Deutschland, Litauen, Estland, Polen, Schweden und China, dass die aktuellen Debatten in den Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften zu Themen wie Ökologie, interreligiöser Dialog, Identitätsbildung, Gesundheitserziehung, digitale Partizipation, (Welt-)Frieden, Sakrotourismus, Kulturmanagement durch die Einbeziehung visionärer Perspektiven aus unterschiedlichen Disziplinen neu belebt werden können. Are visions imaginations of fantasies and illusions or even hallucinations of past times? Or has a vision, in retrospect and in preview, a potential that humanists and social scientists can and should use in the present?In this volume scientists from Germany, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Sweden and China show that current debates in the humanities and social sciences on topics such as ecology, interreligious dialogue, identity learning, health education, digital participation, (world) peace, sacrotourism, cultural management can be revitalized by including visionary perspectives from different scientific disciplines.

The authors’ analyses of innovations in social and socio-emotional education contribute to systematizing distance learning to represent children’s and young people’s socio-emotional competences and to model how they can be developed. Low social capital and poor mental health, a key feature of the COVID-19 pandemic, are leading to an increasing number of suicides among youth and adolescents. These factors, reflecting the changing social-emotional feelings of children, adolescents and teachers in schools during COVID-19, require a new vision and support for learning practices. Modelling a SEEP in the authors’ vision would integrate family support, support for every teacher and child, success stories in the development of emotion therapy, and integrated practice in social pedagogical institutions, private initiatives and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).