European Education Research Articles

Dikran Tchouhadjian’s Opera Arif՚s Ruse (dedicated to the 150th anniversary of creating the first Armenian comic opera)

On December 9, 1872, Dikran Tchouhadjian’s Arif’s Ruse, the first Armenian comic opera, was staged at the Getik Pasha Theatre in Constantinople, simultaneously marking the beginning of the Turkish musical theatre. The author of the opera libretto was an Armenian opera singer, the first Western Armenian singer who received his professional education in Europe, tenor Hovhannes Achemian (1838-1905), who performed the title role of Arif. The Ottoman stage primadonna Shazik Keuyluyian (born Sevadjian, Lusnak Sargsi Keuyluyian, 1854- 1905) played the main character, Meriem. The performance of Arif was the first occasion in the Armenian musical reality when an Armenian composer’s opera was on stage, performed by Armenian artists. This was not only the birthday of the Armenian comic opera, but also it marked the beginning of the Armenian musical theatre. In the present study on Tchouhadjian’s music, presented to the English-speaking readers for the first time, the results of the opera’s comprehensive research are substantiated, defining the genre of Arif as a comic opera, revealing its musical language and dramaturgical features, and putting forward the necessity of staging it in Armenia, as well as publishing an academic edition of the opera score and claviers. The clavier of the opera prelude has been introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, the computer composition of which was carried out by assistant professor Anna Tamiroghlyan, Doctor of Arts.

A comparative analysis of quality of holistic education for pre-primary and primary education in Europe: A comparative review

A comparative analysis of quality of holistic education for pre-primary and primary education in Europe: A comparative review

Case-based teaching of experimental design - contributions for meaningful learning.

This article argues the need for education and training of researchers carrying out animal studies on the fundamentals of experimental design (ED), as a key means of improving the reliability and reproducibility of preclinical results. The current landscape in ED education in Europe is presented, and we make the case for dedicated tutor-guided teaching of ED. With less than a day dedicated to it in many courses effective techniques for communicating key issues are needed. We have developed two approaches that transfer to experimental design teaching the case-study, problem-solving techniques known to be effective in other fields. They use realistic research scenarios to provoke discussion and engage learning. In one the scenario is for group discussion or informal or formal assessment with subsequent tutor-led discussion of key points. For this each scenario needs a clear statement of the purpose of the research study, simplified text outlining the comparisons and procedures, and a statement of the outcome measure. In the other approach, the scenario is used with freely-available software with a good graphical output to explore the sizing of experiments and the use of both sexes. Trainee feedback and informal assessment show that these approaches can make for interesting and memorable sessions and offer a useful contribution to improvement in experimental design teaching so that it produces meaningful learning that can translate into better practice.

We don’t need no education? Education policies of Western European populist radical right parties

Populist radical right parties (PRRPs) have become more mainstream, increasing their relevance in European politics. While a lot is already known about them, there are still gaps in our knowledge. This article addresses one such gap by studying Western European PRRPs’ positions on education policy. It focuses on the salience of education in election manifestos, substantive positions that parties hold, and in how far these positions reflect their core ideology. Constructing a novel framework based on core ideologies and three dimensions of education policies, including an often-neglected content dimension, the article presents results from a qualitative content analysis of 15 manifestos. The results show that education policy is relevant for PRRPs, albeit to varying degrees, and that their policies are informed by their core ideologies. The findings have important implications for understanding education policy dynamics in liberal democracies as PRRPs fundamentally challenge normative foundations of Western European education systems.

The rise and fall of the “Massively Open Online Courses”

The paper summarizes the actual debate about “massive open online courses” (MOOC), a concept that swept over like a “Tsunami” to European educators and universities since its first development in 2008. The definition of the so-called MOOCs, also referred to as a “disruptive educational innovation”, however, is not very precise and has led to some irritations and scepticism. Therefore, the ideas MOOCs rely on, will be described and the pedagogical and technological background will be explained by detailed descriptions of concrete examples. After setting the scene, the factors responsible for the initial hype about MOOCs will be analyzed as well as the upcoming criticism raised against the arguments of the MOOC proponents. The model of the Gartner hype cycle serves as a useful illustration of the ups and downs of expectations related to the introduction of educational innovations. The discussionwill be supplemented by a brief flash back on prior developments in distance education. Furthermore, some recent empirical data retrieved from Google Trends are presented to underline that MOOCs are already on the descent. Finally, the conditions for a survival of some specific applications of MOOCs at “the plateau of the cycle of expectations” will be outlined. In conclusion, MOOCs seem to have promoted, especially in the US, the use of online teaching and learning as well as the reflection about open educational resources. However, the blurred definition of the term MOOC combined with exaggerated expectations turned down the initial hype about a “disruptive innovative concept of teaching and learning” to a more modest consideration of its potential.

Interrogating “the nation” in European online education: Topological forms and movements

This paper was inspired by empirical encounters with students and teacher-administrators who engaged with an online European education initiative, which raised questions about whether and how their practices were situated as local, transnational, or national(ist) endeavors. The conceptual, theoretical, and methodological resources of social topology and critical border studies guided our inquiry by a focus on bordering practices and how these generate spatiotemporal forms and movements, and evoked a typical national form which is characterized as a singular, stable, linear, and flat “topography.” An innovative methodology is deployed to scrutinize how practices with this online, European initiative continue, challenge or complement that typical national form. The findings demonstrate how the use of topographical indexes and tropes (re-)materialized characteristics of these typical national forms, while the combination with topological relations introduced multiplicities and “levels” in these forms. Moreover, spherical forms, bouncing movements, and tunneling movements challenged the singularity, stability, linearity, and flatness of the typical national form. Building on these findings, the paper sets forth the argument that this online European education initiative mainly challenges the enactment of nationalism in classrooms by encouraging learning and thinking through translocalities, which accentuates distances and differences that are being crossed without appealing to the typical imaginary of the “nation” with linear, stable, flat borders.

A Changing Landscape for Lifelong Learning in Health Globally

ABSTRACTOn 25 July 2022, the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Special Interest Group of the Association for Medical Education in Europe came together to open up discussions during a live webinar on ‘Exploring the Evolution of CPD’. The objective was to bring together global medical educators to consider perspectives of CPD from the role of global lifelong learners, the role of educators and the role of education providers and health regulators. The landscape of CPD is evolving, and the roles of each key player must include specific actions for facilitated change. Delivering competency outcomes-based learning, fit for purpose, to lifelong learners in health will require (1) learner agency, (2) leadership from educators and (3) providers of lifelong learning to come together to improve delivery of CPD that leads to meaningful change in practice care delivery.

Catholic education in Europe, education pluralism, and public funding

According to Church statistics, 6.9 million children were enrolled in Catholic primary and secondary schools in Europe. Enrolment has remained relatively stable over the last 40 years in comparison to other regions of the world, contributing to education pluralism. This may be in part because in many countries, Catholic and private schools benefit from state funding, which helps in reducing out-of-pocket costs for parents to send their children to the schools. At the same time, public funding for private schools, including Catholic schools, often remains below the level of funding for public schools. This paper discusses enrolment trends in Catholic schools over time, compares the level of public funding for private and public schools, and looks at the relationships (or lack thereof) between such funding and enrolment in Catholic and private schools.

From Art History Pedagogic Resource to Post-Digital Art Medium: Shifting Cultural Values in a Dismantled Slide Library

Over the last decade, 35mm slide libraries that were used to support art history teaching in higher education in Europe and North America have been widely dismantled and dispersed. This article examines the cultural values that have been illuminated by debates about their decline and disposal, and the contexts and practices for their afterlife. Drawing on auto-ethnographic research, interviews with former slide librarians and surviving slide library material, the article pays special attention to one case study, formerly held at the University of Brighton, UK, to trace the slide library’s establishment and demise, examine the cultural labour of its production and maintenance, and evaluate its particularities and idiosyncrasies. Through this, the article outlines the values and meanings that were established and contested during the slide library’s working life and its 2011 dismantling, and considers how these have been repositioned in the intervening years. The slide library’s devaluation contrasts sharply with slides’ recent revaluation in scholarly interests in photographic materialities and media archaeologies, in the retro marketplace and in contemporary art practice. Together, these reflections and frameworks provide fresh perspectives on dismantled slide libraries and their remains.

Catholic education in Europe: variations in its establishment, vitality and some challenges for the future

In the long history of the Catholic school in Europe, it has taken various forms, linked to local cultures and to the history, particularly religious but also political, of each state. While it is possible to account for this diversity, it is also important to highlight common features and challenges, such as secularisation and globalisation, which question the identity of Catholic schools. It is by addressing these challenges that Catholic schools will maintain an original school model that inspires the public schools of the different educational systems present in Europe.

Teachings on religion(s) in European education systems: a recognition of the present, some impulses and perspectives for the future

One of the major contributions of the Catholic school to the formation of people and to the mission of the Church is religious education. In the diversity of school systems in Europe, it is possible to identify three models: the politico-conciliar, the academic-curricular and the ethical-value-based. These models evolve in line with the religious reality of the societies in which they operate, but they retain their relevance in the name of the religious freedom that is at the heart of European democratic systems. Religious education thus contributes to the formation of citizens and to the integration of each individual in increasingly multicultural and multi-religious societies.

Digital Futures Challenge-Based Learning in Higher Education in Europe: The DIFUCH Erasmus+ Project

Within DIFUCH, we are developing innovative challenge-based pedagogies, tools and platforms for the virtual delivery of a joint programme within a groundbreaking-breaking and flexible academic structure in Europe. This Erasmus+ project is focused on delivering new multi-disciplinary, transnational, cross-sectional future skills-orientated modules and learning pathways that address societal challenges. In this paper, we present the current work of DIFUCH to develop an innovative programme underpinned by Challenge Based Learning (CBL) that addresses local and global societal challenges and strengthens interactions between education, research, and external stakeholders for a positive effect on our communities. This project facilitates the improvement of learning outcomes vis-à-vis university learners’ perception of social responsibility, their ability to deal with complex societal challenges from social and economic stability to global warming, their ability to put knowledge into practice, team building and communications skills.

УКРАЇНСЬКІ ЖІНКИ У ТВОРЕННІ УКРАЇНСЬКОГО КУЛЬТУНОГО ПРОСТРУ ЗА КОРДОНОМ В УМОВАХ РОСІЙСЬКОЇ АГРЕСІЇ

It is shown that the war unleashed by the Russian Federation is directed against the Ukrainian people and, as with any genocide, the Russian Federation is primarily trying to erase Ukrainian identity. Unfortunately, children also suffer from this aggression. Currently, it is impossible to even imagine the long-term consequences of this demographic catastrophe for Ukraine, which has already experienced four waves of forced migration, but we have not yet known such a number of refugees among the female and child population. In view of that, many efforts should be directed to preserve Ukrainian identity abroad and to preserve life and future for our children. Women took a big role in this, mostly on a volunteer basis. The volunteer movement, primarily its forms and methods in Ukraine, should be of particular interest to researchers. Volunteer experience is an important factor in the development of non-formal education in Europe and Ukraine, as noted by Maya Dernova, Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Visiting Professor of the Department of Adult Education and Lifelong Education at Augsburg University (Germany). It is emphasized that today the whole world understands how important the language of cultural diplomacy is becoming in order to oppose the pro-Russian narrative. In this information war, it is culture that becomes a soft but effective weapon. Telling about the unique qualities of Ukrainian culture and history, it unites the whole world around Ukraine, leaving no chance for the aggressor to escape responsibility. The importance of ensuring the functioning of Ukrainian schools abroad as a factor of Ukrainian cultural creation, preservation of Ukrainian identity and connection with Ukraine has been proven. The main thing is that after the victory, it is easy for the children to return and adapt to the Ukrainian education system, for the sake of their own future.

The Development of Teachers’ Competencies Within Polish Pre-Service Teacher Education. The Analysis of the Legal Act From the Perspective of International Baccalaureate

The article presents the results of the analysis of the legal foundations of pre-service teacher education in Poland. The inspiration for this study was our previous research on teachers implementing international programmes in Poland. Our findings show that these teachers do not feel prepared to work in international schools that require specific competences. Therefore, we decided to analyse the main legal act regulating pre-service teacher education and to verify if and to what extent the Polish legislator took into account competencies especially needed in international schools. The results of our analysis show that the Polish law puts special emphasis on the development of teachers’ cognitive competencies (teaching subject knowledge, teaching methods, goals of the Polish education system) and interpersonal competencies (communication, reflection on the professional practice). On the other hand, leadership competencies are less emphasised. It is also difficult to find competencies related to global awareness, understood as the ability to understand the contemporary world, combined with the recognition of global and local connections. Intrapersonal competencies were not considered at all. We do not treat this legal status of the pre-service teacher education as a weakness, but rather as its specificity, resulting from the fact that international schools constitute a small percentage of all schools in Poland. Presenting here the polish example, we are curious how it is in other countries, and we are convinced that further comparative research on pre-service teacher education in Europe will be interesting and necessary for a better understanding of this process and its effects.

Educational trajectories of forming digital competences

In the context of the development of a digital society, digital competencies are becoming increasingly important. The educational trajectories that help to form these competencies are investigated in the article. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the theoretical and methodological foundations for the development of digital competencies in higher education students through the implementation of an individual educational trajectory. Key documents in the field of education in Europe and Ukraine that contain provisions on digital competencies are analyzed in the article. In addition, the relevance and topicality of the available documents to the challenges of today is stated. Based on the generalization of approaches to interpretation was substantiated that the concept of «digital competencies» mainly reflects the ability of a person to use digital technologies to achieve goals in professional activities and to meet their own needs. Legislative and regulatory acts of Ukraine are studied for the presence of provisions that ensure the development of digital competencies of students. It was found that each level of education provides for the acquisition of these competencies. The authors note that the development of digital competencies should be ensured in stages at each level of education, as well as throughout life. The analysis of higher education standards for specialties in two fields of higher education (05; 07) revealed that at the second level of higher education, not all specialties provide for the acquisition of digital competencies by higher education students, which may lead to a decrease in their competitiveness in the labor market. At the same time, the main motives that motivate a person to master digital competencies (personal desire to improve their level of education for professional growth; rapid «aging» of digital competencies) are identified in the article. The influence and importance of digital competencies, as well as opportunities for acquiring soft skills and hard skills, are argued. Finally, the features of the development of digital competencies are substantiated (dependence on support, no binding to a specific physical location, dynamism, fundamentality, high degree of inclusiveness).

«ԱԶԳ»-Ի ԳԻՏԱԿԱՆ ՈՒՍՈՒՄՆԱՍԻՐՈՒԹՅԱՆ ԲԱՆԱՁԵՎԵՐԸ «ԱԶԳԱԳՐԱԿԱՆ ՀԱՆԴԵՍ»-ՈՒՄ (ԱՌԱՋԻՆ ՀԱՄԱՐԻ «ՀՐԱՏԱՐԱԿՉԻՑ» ԲԱԺՆԻ ՔՆՆՈՒԹՅՈՒՆ) / THE FORMULAS FOR RESEARCHING CONCEPT OF “NATION” IN THE “JOURNAL OF ETHNOGRAPHY”

"Ethnographic Journal" founded in 1896 plays an important role not only in terms of recording, description and analysis of ethnographic materials, but also for the establishment and further development of ethnography in Armenia. Publisher of the journal Yervand Lalayan had formulated the state of the study of Armenian ethnography, identify the problems of national culture in a two-page introductory article entitled "From the Publisher" of the first issue of the journal. Y. Lalayan was not just identifying, recording the problems, but also suggesting solutions as we can follow in the discussed document. His suggestions were well diversified, such as education, linguistics, folklore and other fields where ethnographic materials should be incorporated to achieve better results. European education and familiarity with Armenian reality gave Y. Lalayan the opportunity to predict the main directions of the development of science, to outline new research themes. And indeed, not only Armenian ethnography, but anthropology in general developed through the creation of new disciplines and the active development of interdisciplinary research since the beginning of 20th century. And finally, in order to ensure the theoretical - methodological principles, Y. Lalayan announced about willingness to translate anthropological articles and publish them in the "Ethnographic Journal." Considering all these, the two pages introduction of the journal could be described as one of the important documents of Armenian ethnography, a unique program-guide for the research of the concepts of "nation" and "national culture."

The European path of KPI: integration into the family of European universities

Abstract. The article addresses the international affairs of the National Technical University of Ukraine ‘Ihor Sikorskyi Kyiv Polytechnic Institute’ (KPI) amidst martial law. The scope and forms of the KPI’s international engagement changed when Ukraine was granted the candidate status for the European Union membership, and the international community recognised that our country is in the vanguard of the struggle for the values of civilisation. The author of the article emphasises the respect for Ukraine demonstrated not only at high-level meetings, where words of solidarity with Ukraine were spoken, but also in cooperation agreements with universities of Finland, Germany, Slovenia, the UK, the US, and the polytechnic universities of Bucharest, Poznań, and Warsaw. At a time of limited budgetary funding, foreign sources of financial support become virtually the only means by which the University can develop its educational, scientific, and research facilities and stimulate its staff. And for the faculties, institutes, and academic departments, they ensure confidence in the ability to compete for applicants, the allocation of financial resources, the influence on the science and education policy within particular branches of knowledge, the content of educational programmes, and the capacity for preserving scientific and pedagogical schools. The KPI has experienced positive quantitative and qualitative changes in its project and grant activities as the Ukrainian academic environment began to gradually bridge the mental gap with Europe. Integration into the European education and research area does not only mean a potential increase in the number of education and science projects and financing, which all departments and all academic staff of KPI should experience. At the same time, it is also a civilizational change that affects all aspects of the University’s activities. Thus, joining the family of European universities is an important task for the international activities of NTUU KPI in the coming years. Keywords: Ihor Sikorskyi Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Europe, integration, universities alliances, educational and research area, international affairs, civilizational change.

THE ROLE OF LOCAL AND REGIONAL ADMINISTRATIONS IN IMPLEMENTING THE EU STRATEGY FOR UNIVERSITIES

Just like in the Renaissance, today’s universities are the ones leading the paradigm shift, this time towards the green and digital transition. The Commission proposed in 2022 a “European Strategy for Universities” that contributes in the achievement of the European Education Area by 2025. The European Committee of the Regions appreciated the approach suggested, requesting though a wider local and regional dimension, considering that universities play an important role in the sustainable and resilient development.

Covid-19 and the European Education Performance Decline: A Focus on Primary School Children's Reading Achievement between 2016 and 2021

Covid-19 and the European Education Performance Decline: A Focus on Primary School Children's Reading Achievement between 2016 and 2021

Lifelong Learning – Route to Future

Lifelong learning represents an inherent part of everyday lives of every individual and the community. As a concept, lifelong learning is recognized in the strategic documents of European education policies. Also, it has affirmed as the main principle and orientation of many national education systems. The main aim of this paper is to examine the opinions of graduate part-time students at the Faculty Health Studies in Rijeka (people who work and study at the same time) about lifelong learning.The results of this research delineated some very interesting answers regarding motivation, educational idols, obstacles that participants face during education and desirable traits of the educators. The results of this research are encouraging and they raise a number of questions regarding the future of lifelong learning in the Republic of Croatia.