Dzintra Iliško

Holistic Approach as Viewed by the Basic School Teachers in Latvia.

Abstract The article points to new competencies required from basic school teachers, reinforced by the reform processes in the educational system in Latvia, the quality assurance of educational process, and modernisation and critical re-evaluation of educational materials and standards. The authors view sustainability as an integral part of reform processes in the country. The aim of the study is to evaluate the perspective of basic education teachers from the diverse regions of Latvia on the use of holistic approach for shaping the content of basic education. The authors have analysed basic school teachers’ understanding of a holistic approach towards teaching and a learner. By means of a survey the authors have explored the features of teachers’ perception of a holistic approach to their teaching. The authors conclude that sustainability cannot be left to the initiative of individual teachers but should be implemented as a whole-school policy.

Envisioning the Future: Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Students’ Perspectives

Abstract Education is a future-facing activity. Therefore, universities need to engage students in building alternative and preferable future scenarios and reveal features of unsustainability, as well as open spaces for students to participate in discussions and negotiate new meanings. This paper reveals the future visions bachelor’s and master’s degree students from one of the regional universities in eastern Latvia have of education and focuses on a sustainability analysis (sustainable and unsustainable) of societal aspects and education. The authors conclude that thinking about preferred futures make students more aware of the positive changes that could be made and their personal responsibility to contribute to these changes. In this connection, the need to take a broad, integrated and holistic view of the future and its social and personal significance is of utmost importance.

Inquiry-Based Educational Course in Higher Education Towards Sustainable Communities: A Case Study

Universities play a crucial role in educating a new generation in dealing with the concerns of global sustainability and assisting change towards sustainable development. Various attempts have been made to integrate sustainability into the University’s agenda. Many higher institutions have included sustainability in their mission statements and adopted a whole institutional approach of integrating sustainability; many universities have designed study courses with the aim to promote learners’ knowledge and understanding about environmental and societal issues. This article reflects efforts of a small scale University study course carried out with the aim to empower learners to change their behaviour and to take action for sustainable development by dealing with real cases. This article reflects an attempt to engage students in the inquiry based research projects as a part of a study course with the aim of promoting education for sustainable development. Students were asked to engage in an action research as an inquiry based learning process to locate the sites of unsustainable governance in the city level and beyond, and to design a project plan for transforming the selected case of governance/business into a more sustainable one by planning multi-stakeholder collaboration. Students designed a hypothetical plan for a change of situations that are contested, uncertain and complex. Traditional top-down management approaches in those cases are often insufficient. Instead, new forms of governance based on improved collaboration between stakeholders have proved its potential for dealing with complex and contested problems (Westin et al. 2014). By engaging in action research, the students are involved in a process of planning and reflection on strategies in order to transform the chosen case of an inquiry. The learning takes place by changing a focus from the problem to possible solutions, as well as by exploring how multiple stakeholders’ collaboration can transform the situation of inquiry. The potential of this study is to build a capacity for university staff to engage students in evaluation of unsustainable practices, to discover examples of sustainable governance, and to develop a sustainable vision on the issue being investigated.

Sustainability from the Transdisciplinary Perspective: An Action Research Strategy for Continuing Education Program Development.

Abstract The need to focus on a transdisciplinary approach in education for sustainable development (EDS) has been reflected in research and especially action research as a possible solution, which can open a new perspective for understanding and interpretation of the complex phenomenon of sustainability as well as for developing new open continuing education programmes by integrating research and learning activities in the context of open transdisciplinary research. The content structure of the article: (1) it describes the experience that has evolved at one faculty and its subordinate scientific institute and has been proposed to be used within the entire institution; (2) it generalises issues arising from the extensive experience, which in action research manifest themselves as issues relating to the appropriate perspective choice in terms of sustainability, approaches that in education make it possible to understand the sustainability phenomenon, as well as features that help identify sustainability at different levels. Well-known cases in the history of science, philosophy of science, and systems development research have been used to highlight the relationship among the dynamic interaction of complex problems that can systematically appear as sustainable or unsustainable. Therefore, the article provides insight into a specific relationship among science development, integration and Anthropocene phenomena with sustainability / non-sustainability phenomena and their interaction; (3) it offers the experience necessary for the creation of participatory action research ideas and research base to expand the cooperation of university and its graduates using a stakeholder approach and connecting it with a transdisciplinary research framework, which envisages an activity around the sustainability phenomenon and its deep relationship to the openness for the evolution of sustainability consciousness as concerns individuals and societies; (4) it describes the first three activities of the first phase of the undertaken action research, which allowed determining the participants’ motivation to take part in the action research, identifying participants’ attitude and understanding sustainability and Anthropocene phenomena, as well as establishing a strategic vision of open transdisciplinary framework benefits and opportunities through participatory action research to develop open evolutionary study programs for continuing education, which would extend and deepen the cooperation of university and its graduates for social innovation creation and achieving quality education for sustainable development by reorienting the society and education towards sustainability and sustainable development. The present article aims at establishing an open transdisciplinary research framework, which is necessary for undertaking action research, and outlining a strategic vision for developing continuing education programs in the participatory action research that will help reorient continuing education to sustainable development.

A Case Study of ESD Implementation: Signs of Sustainable Leadership.

Abstract This article presents a case study of two schools that were identified as a result of UNESCO associated schools survey as cases of sustainable leadership and governance. The aim of the study is to present the two cases that were crystalized in the survey carried out at end of the United Nationsí Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014). Prior to the in-depth study of two schools, the authors have carried out a survey of the heads and deputy heads of 26 UNSECO associated schools in Latvia on how schools are succeeding in improving educational outcomes, school development, cooperation with multiple stakeholders, and innovation. The authors have carried out semi structured interviews with the heads and deputy heads of two schools on the following questions: How has ESD updated and improved educational purposes and outcomes in your school? Does ESD improve test scores and/or achieve other desired outcomes? How does ESD help to improve and enrich school curriculum development in your school? How does ESD guide students to have the knowledge, skills and values to care for and solve the sustainable development issues that arise in your school? How does ESD help to strengthen the partnerships between schools and other stakeholders, including the surrounding community? How does ESD promote innovation in the teaching-learning conceptual framework?

Educational Encounters and Interreligious Education: A Latvian Case Study for Expanding the Borders of Hospitality

The context of Latvia is marked by the reality of religious diversity. This chapter discusses the issue of hospitality toward the other in Latvian society and in religious education. The experience that religious education can provide for encountering religious otherness can serve as a powerful tool for deepening one’s particular faith. The premise is that religious education is explicitly interreligious. The author stresses that religious education can best be achieved in dialog, not isolation. A pedagogy of interreligious hospitality can offer a model for deepening understanding of the other.

PERSONAL MEANING OF ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE: A COMPARISON OF INTRINSICALLY AND EXTRINSICALLY MOTIVATED GRADUATE STUDENTS

To analyse the similarities and differences in personal meaning of academic experience associated with intrinsic and extrinsic academic motivation, the conceptual ideas of Self-Determination theory were blended with methodological elaborations based on the Dialogical Self Theory. The Academic Motivation Scale to identify intrinsically and extrinsically motivated graduate students and the Self Confrontation Method to disclose the important experiences in past, present and future related to the graduate studies were administered to 128 graduate students at the Daugavpils University. Both the quantitative and qualitative data analysis contributed to the understanding of relationships between the types of academic motivation and personal meaning of academic experience. The main differences in students’ personal meaning of academic experience, expressed in narrative themes were following: self-development, ideas about the further studies and factors inhibiting graduate studies were more frequent for intrinsically motivated students, while external support from influential persons, work/career, and past experience influencing current academic life were mentioned more often by extrinsically motivated students. The obtained results may help to develop more effective teaching strategies and institutional support of graduate students.

SUSTAINABILITY AND UNSUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS OF INTEGRATION OF NOVICE TEACHERS IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL SETTING

Teachers are being identified as key actors for ensuring quality education, therefore they need to receive a proper professional support during their first years of work in overcoming initial challenges. As the preliminary research indicates, support that they gain is systemic and fragmentary. The aim of the study is to explore the sustainability and unsustainability aspects of integration of novice teachers in the secondary school system. The research methods employ are semi-structured interviews with fourteen teachers on their adaptation experience in the school system, considering both obstacles and factors of success. Research indicates that novice teachers leave their work within the first three years of teaching by finding demands too high and workload sometimes unmanageable. The authors offer suggestions for a more efficient and coherent process of mentoring and professional development of novice teachers.

Definition and Dynamics of Gender-Specific Behaviours of Latvian Males and Females

To date, the various female and male social characteristics and social roles existing in different societies have been researched. Some aspects of gender similarities and differences have also been studied in Latvia, in the branches of family, legal, judicial psychology and management. Yet, the issue of gender peculiarities at a specific stage of personality development has not been sufficiently addressed, especially with regard to similarities and differences of gender behaviour in the youth, early and mid-maturity age groups. Hence, a study of this issue ought to be considered as justified and necessary. Consequently, the main aim of this research is to explore gender-specific behaviours of Latvian males and females in the youth, early and mid-maturity age groups. The theoretical grounds of this study, based on both classical theories and current research results, triggered the authors’ scientific curiosity and contributed to the formulation of three research questions about gender similarities and differences in the behaviours of Latvian males and females at the ages of youth, early and mid-maturity. Quantitative methodology was used to conduct the present research. 168 respondents (N = 168) from different regions of Latvia aged 18 to 60 took part in Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) survey. Statistical methods for data analysis: Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient to determine the credibility and consistency of the indicators, NPar Test to determine the distribution of the obtained results, linear regression to analyse the differences in Enter results, descriptive statistics. On the basis of survey results, gender-specific behaviours of Latvian males and females in the youth, early and mid-maturity age groups were defined, and their dynamics were explored. In the course of the present research, it was concluded that resulting from the construction of social models for male and female gender-specific behaviours, the system of values, which is defined by the social culture and the accepted social norms, becomes the determinant.

Building Bridges over Troubled Waters or Learning “to Live Together” Sustainably

The aim of this chapter is to offer a viable perspective for religious educators in developing learners’ competency “in living together” in an increasingly diverse world. The topicality of developing students’competency “in living together” is undermined by evidence of hostility toward different religious positions that is in line with strong tendencies toward xenophobia and ethnocentrism, “usthem” mentality, and arrogance in the world. I believe that worldview education serves as a viable perspective to respond to the diverse spiritual, religious, and non-religious needs of the contemporary learner. Learning to live within the context of religious diversity is an important component of cultural diversity that educators are taking seriously in their pedagogies. In an increasingly diverse world, people do not fit within boundaries having distinct labels. Instead, we experience a dynamic process of interpretation, reinterpretation, and reconstruction of religious meanings by individuals in ever changing historical and social circumstances (Ilisko, 2009, p. 43). Therefore, schools need to ask how they can be inclusive in their responses to such a diversity of worldviews and how they can respond to the needs of students representing various worldviews. The collapse of moral authorities also necessitates a reevaluation of dominant models for and approaches to teaching religion in public schools. Acknowledging the plurality of worldviews, this approach can enrich students understanding and prevent indoctrination into a particular view. Educating students in variety of worldviews enables them to develop a moral vision that affirms each human being’s dignity and promotes equality and justice, to deepen their own view, and to embrace the diversity around them.