European Education Systems Research Articles

Model of formation of social competence of students in the process of studying the disciplines of the humanitarian cycle

The article analyses the course of implementing the competence approach in modern educational realities, social competence as an integrated complex of partial personality competencies is presented. The interdependence between the orientation of the world economy towards integration and globalization, the appeal to the European system of higher education, defined by the Bologna Process, and the reason for radical changes in the guidelines of the educational paradigm for the competence approach are traced. The didactic aspect of the process of studying humanities by students has been clarified. It has been established that the system of humanitarian disciplines can and should be aimed at developing the structural components of students’ social competencies, which are fully interactive and interdependent, as they have the properties of variability, interdependence, integrativity, social and personal significance. The introduction of the model of formation of social competence is described, which consists of four consistently interconnected blocks, namely: motivational-target, organizational-activity, technological and result-reflective. Each block corresponds to the functions, forms and methods and conditions of effective formation of social competence. The presented model of formation of social competence of students in the process of teaching disciplines of the humanities contains a system of dialectically interconnected elements: purpose, blocks, functions, structural and functional components, didactic conditions, forms, methods, approaches.

The influence of financing on results in the pre-university education system

"Expenditure on the education system plays a significant role in the economy of the public system. In the accounting of educational institutions, special emphasis is placed on the budgeting process, in which the revenues and expenditures of the entities are found. Despite a large amount of research, specialists do not agree on the role the level of funding plays in the education system and its effect on the results of the final beneficiaries of the system. In this research we tried to observe how the level of funding or average costs per pupil in European education systems influences the results of students in standardized tests. Making an estimate with the help of the linear regression model by the method of the least squares of the correlation between these two variables, we found that there was a positive correlation between them; not exceptionally strong but not negligible either."

Problem-based Learning in Pedagogic Tertiary Education: European Context Through Denmark Environment

Nowadays every European knowledge-based society demands a highly qualified, competent workforce being able to adjust to modern innovative production. To educate such specialists is the aim of contemporary teachers. So efficient and innovative pedagogic education becomes an integral part of the European education system. The article deals with the analysis of problem-based technology in the modern system of Danish teacher training in pedagogical higher educational institutions. Analyzing works of European scientists and problem-based model of teacher education in Denmark, working with university and college programs and documents we came to the conclusion that principles of problem-based technology in professional teacher training are similar in the whole European educational environment and in general they may be described as an approach to learning and instruction that has the following characteristics: 1) the use of problems as the starting point for learning, 2) small-group collaboration, 3) flexible guidance of a tutor, 4) student-initiated learning, 5) time availability for self-study. The findings imply that well-designed problem-based learning may lead to better educational results. Multiple sources in Ukrainian, European, and Danish educational environments at various time points from 1990 till 2020 have been used in data collection for this study. Pedagogic education in Ukraine requires a substantial adjustment at the legislative, structural, and technological levels. European experience in this sphere of teacher education modernization can become a valuable asset of the comparative pedagogic science. This practice will lead to effective technological change in teacher professional training in Ukraine.

FORMATION OF RESEARCH COMPETENCE OF FUTURE HIGHER SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE PROCESS OF PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

The article reveals the theoretical aspects of the problem of forming the research competence of future teachers of higher education, which is associated with the transition to a unified European education system and the renewal of the educational process of higher education with an orientation towards the formation and development of the personality of a competent teacher-researcher who owns the technology of scientific and pedagogical activity. The necessity of the development of the intellectual consciousness of the future teacher of higher education, which determines the style of scientific thinking, is substantiated by the main indicators of consistency, dynamism, problematicity, categoricality, reflexivity, evidence, predictability, projectivity, search ability, creativity. The authors have revealed the structure and the content of the research competence of the future teachers of higher education. The structural components of the research competence of future teachers of higher education are highlighted: cognitive, diagnostic, project constructive, technological, reflective, communicative. The pedagogical conditions for the formation of research competence of the future teacher of higher education are scientifically substantiated: motivational and value, creating needs and determining the persistent positive motivation of the future teacher of higher education in mastering research qualities; meaningful and constructive, which combine the individual and technological capabilities of scientific and pedagogical activity and the requirements of the forthcoming professional activity of a teacher of higher education; organizational and pedagogical, determining the establishment and retention of pedagogically expedient relationships between teachers and students, based on cooperation and mutual interest in research; reflexive-corrective, contributing to the analysis, accounting and correction of the process and the result of the formation of research competence in future teachers of higher education.

Physician Assistant Education in Bulgaria.

The development of physician assistants (PAs) in the Republic of Bulgaria began in 2014 with the inauguration of the first class at Trakia University, Stara Zagora, and at Faculty of Public Health, Sofia. Modeled after North American and European education systems, the preparation of PAs complies with state requirements for higher medical education from the Bulgarian Ministry of Health. As of 2020, the PA training program is in the state's register of regulated professions. Three programs, in Ruse, Burgas, and Plovdiv, will start in the early 2020s, building on the success of the initial programs in Sofia and Stara Zagora. In the Bulgarian PA education system, a bachelor's degree includes 8 semesters and nearly 5000 combined classroom and clinical hours (254 credits). Accreditation is through the state system, and graduation is achieved by passing 3 national examinations, after which the PA is awarded a diploma. The quality of PA education is guaranteed by the Ordinance of Unified State Requirements for the acquisition of higher education with a bachelor's degree in the PA specialty. As of 2020, 2 PA cohorts have graduated and serve in ambulatory medical roles throughout the state. Newer roles in curative (hospital) centers are being explored. This new medical workforce is designed to contribute to the national health system as a cost-effective medical resource that replaces an older feldsher system.

Poland as a Priority Country for the Education Migration of Young Ukrainians

Intensification of the integration processes in education helps increase the quality of the international education and enhance the striving of youth to receive education services abroad. The economic cooperation of Ukraine with EU countries is gradually taking shape, resulting in the rapidly growing demand of Ukrainian students for education in European higher education establishments (HEEs). The European education system is a global leader in training highly skilled staff due to the implementation of dual training which founder was German. The practice of combined training and internship has spread across Europe and gained extreme popularity in Polish HEEs, thus laying grounds for the increasing demand for their graduates. 
 In focus of the article is the international education migration of young Ukrainians, first and foremost to Poland, with highlighting the advantages of training in this country that has been recognized as the most optimal one on the European area with respect to professional training. This is due to several reasons: first, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian graduates from Polish HEEs showed professional competencies and mental fitness for work in companies and enterprises across EU; second, Poland is one of the most attractive foreign partners and investors of Ukraine, which promotes rapid development of collaborative Ukrainian-Polish projects. Poland has been working hard in the latest years to develop and improve the system of education services for foreigners, beginning with language courses for training of professionals with various qualification levels and scientific degrees. The received education services, apart from being an effective means for professional and individual development, can help in the carrier promotion at companies in Poland and beyond. The study covers a social-psychological and economic-statistical analysis of the education migration of Ukraine in the latest years, with determining a range of factors that caused one’s choice of other country for getting education services, and investigating the consequences of Ukrainians’ travels abroad for education purposes.

Multilingualism: A threat to public education or a resource in public education? – European histories and realities

Public education systems in Europe were created in the course of the foundation of the ‘classical’ nation state in the 18th and 19th centuries. Historical analyses show that it was part of their destiny to contribute to the consolidation of the respective states’ national self-design. In the 19th century, the myth developed that a nation state is monolingual not by its creation but ‘by mere nature’, and that monolingualism in the national language is the ‘natural’ result of being born and growing up in a nation state. Many of today’s public education systems are still based on this notion of linguistic ‘normality’ with respect to the composition of their clientele as well as their image of an individual ‘normal’ child(hood). However, the populations of nation states are in fact multilingual. Linguistic diversity increased as a result of migration and factors such as technical means for virtually ‘borderless’ communication. My contribution presents the European traditions of nation building since the late 1700s and asks for the functionality of monolingual habitual practice in education systems today. First results from an empirical study are presented which illustrate individual language abilities of multilingual children and the potential of linguistic diversity as a resource.

Vida universitaria en la edad adulta: Respirar la arquitectura

El aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida es promovido actualmente en Europa desde el sistema deEducación Superior en respuesta a la fluctuante sociedad contemporánea. En Portugal, siguiendo esta tendencia, desde 2006 se habilitaron pruebas de acceso a la universidad para mayores de 23 años para fomentar la igualdad de oportunidades. A pesar de que las potencialidades del estudiantado mayor son profusas, el índice de abandono de los estudios es alto. Por ello, este trabajo se propone como objetivo visibilizar estrategias de éxito reales, implementadas para la superación de las dificultades y el logro de metas académicas en el entorno universitario. Para ello, desde un enfoque cualitativo, mediante el uso de la entrevista en profundidad como instrumento de recogida de datos, se aborda un caso de éxito desde el marco de la investigación biográfico-narrativa. Los resultados muestran la trayectoria vital del caso, destacando motivaciones, estrategias y apoyos útiles para retomar y afrontar la formación superior en la edad adulta desde un enfoque introspectivo vivencial. Las conclusiones apuntan a la sistematización como clave para la conciliación familiar, académica y profesional, y al conocimiento previo del contexto, como principales estrategias del éxito académico. Se destaca que la edad y especialmente la experiencia de vida son recursos valiosos, no solo para la adaptación al cambio y el abordaje resiliente de situaciones complejas, sino también para la mejora de la enseñanza superior, desde los aportes de una visión reflexionada y madura e inserta en este contexto, por tanto, conocedora de sus entresijos.

ТОЛЕРАНТНІСТЬ ТА ДЕМОКРАТІЯ ЯК ОПОРНІ ПРІОРИТЕТИ В СИСТЕМІ МОРАЛЬНИХ ЦІННОСТЕЙ ЄВРОПЕЙСЬКОГО ОСВІТНЬОГО ПРОСТОРУ

The article analyzes the basic values of the European educational space, including peace, democracy, human rights, tolerance, humanism and solidarity. Their formation by means of education is the main requirement of full-fledged preparation of a person for life as a citizen and an individual. Each of these values is a kind of part of the spiritual world of the individual, the integrity of which ensures their unity and interaction, transfusion and complementarity. A special place and role in this process belong to such values (competencies) as tolerance and democracy. Tolerance is one of the ascending core values of the European educational space. It is the least politicized and ideologized, and therefore – performs a regulatory function in the system of interaction of these values, ensures their unity both at the individual level and at the team level. Tolerance cultivates a willingness to communicate, cooperate and understanding, allows you to establish constructive communication with representatives of different groups with a different worldview. The same burden is placed on the phenomenon of democracy. The unity of these spiritual priorities, their organic interaction, the power of which extends to the entire axiological palette of spiritual life, forms a universal platform for the humanization and humanization of education, the interaction of educational systems in Europe.

Комерціалізація вищої освіти: баланс між перевагами та ризиками

The article is aimed at studying the peculiarities of commercialization as a modern global trend in the development of higher education and analyzing the main strategies for reforming universities. The relevance of the publication is due to the reform of the sphere of higher education in Ukraine and the need for competent borrowing of best practices of educational systems from the leading foreign countries. It seems important to find answer to the following question: thanks to which educational model western universities have received significant achievements in all directions of activity? Ambiguous evaluation of commercialization processes both among the Western and Ukrainian academic community causes the expediency of this study. As a result of the study, it is defined that commercialization means the transition of the higher education system to market relations on the basis of the introduction of new management methods that change its position in society, contribute to the capitalization of knowledge and research results. The peculiarities of formation and manifestation of the process of commercialization are determined, among which the most significant are the change in the role of the State in the sphere of education financing, transformation processes in the forms and types of provision of educational services, diversification of the funding sources. The essence of the concepts of «commercialization», «comodification» and «managerism» is identified and characterized, their relationship in the approaches of transformation of educational institutions into institutions for educational services, and students into consumers, is substantiated. The detection of commercialization of higher education in the context of «academic capitalism» is considered. The content and forms of «academic entrepreneurship», tasks and functions of the «entrepreneurial university» are analyzed. It is concluded that the entrepreneurial university is the most financially successful model of the educational institution, which combines modern requirements and traditional values of higher education on the basis of innovative activities. The carried out analysis of scientific articles and researches allowed to identify differences in the process of commercialization in American and European educational systems. Prospects for further research are to study the best world practices of commercialization of higher education institutions and determine approaches to their adaptation and directions of efficient implementation in Ukraine.

Cognitive styles in methodology of Russian as a foreign language

This article attempts to consider the types of cognitive activity of students in the process of learning foreign languages, including Russian as a foreign language. It contains a synthesis on this topic and practical results of the material implementation developed with the consideration of linguo-cognitive styles of students. Special attention is paid to the analytical cognitive style that is inherent in the students of technical fields. Considering the features of the linguo-cognitive picture of students with a predominantly analytical cognitive style, the authors conclude that these features are innate to the students from European countries who speak European languages and studied within the European educational system. Attention is paid to the consideration of cognitive styles in the existing training materials on RFL. The textbook, created by a group of authors (editor-in-chief Avdeyeva), which is addressed to students of the engineering field, was given as an example. Moreover, the article analyses the special course by Krasnokutskaya, developed at the Pushkin State Russian Language Institute and addressed to European students studying Russian as a foreign language. Based on the analysis and testing of mentioned training materials, conclusions on the feasibility of further development of such manuals are drawn.

STAGES AND CONDITIONS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF STEM EDUCATION IN UKRAINE

Every year, despite our desires and preferences, innovative processes take place in the world, new technologies are created that permeate all spheres of social life. Thus, the last couple of years have been marked by the emergence of 3D printers, the creation of supermarkets of the future, modernization of production through robotic prefabricated systems, testing of robot buses, the development of virtual reality and artificial intelligence and more. Various innovations also affected the education system of Ukraine. Forms, methods, teaching aids, the role of teacher and student, curricula and assessment systems are changing. With the modernization of the educational process, new directions in education appear. Yes, today you can hear about mixed, inverted, mobile, social learning, video scribing, cloud technologies, inverted classroom, storytelling, start-up challenge, etc. Due to the spread of coronavirus infection and the introduction of quarantine, distance education has become relevant. Thus, at the present stage there is a global reform of Ukrainian education, aimed at changing conceptual priorities, finding ways to integrate into the European education system. One of the promising areas is the introduction of STEM-education, which provides for the integration of natural sciences, which focuses on the development of new technologies, mathematical calculations, innovative thinking. In this context, there is a reorientation of the educational process to the development of personality, and such a reorientation involves the improvement of the entire education system, and consequently the teaching methods of individual disciplines, including natural sciences. To do this, it is necessary to calculate the conditions and stages of implementation of STEM-education in the educational process of general secondary education in Ukraine, which in the future should meet the needs of the country for well-trained engineers and specialists in STEM education.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS HETEROGENEITY AND THE MODEL OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN THE FIELD OF HIGHER EDUCATION: EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVE

The present paper addresses the effectiveness of inter-regional and inter-governmental model of international cooperation in the field of higher education between European and Asian countries from the perspective of European educational system homogeneity. The critical argument pursued in the paper asserts that intra-regional homogeneity is key prerequisite for the inter-regional model of cooperation. By applying clustering algorithm, we prove that European countries feature four distinct educational systems, thus demonstrating a high degree of dissimilarity regarding educational system design. Consequently, we suggest that integration in the field of higher education between the European and Asian countries should take place between economies constituting these regions, not between the regional blocks.

ANALYSIS OF RESULTS OF LICENSING INTEGRATED EXAM KROK IN UKRAINIAN MEDICAL STOMATOLOGICAL ACADEMY OF STUDENTS OF THE MEDICAL FACULTY №1

The primary task of Ukrainian Medical Stomatological Academy is an integration to the European educational system. This process is possible only due to conditions of strategic reform and improvement of future physicians’ training, improvement of teaching and learning quality. The aim of the paper is to analyze the results of the external independent testing and licensing integrated exams «Krok 1`General medical training» and «Krok 2. General medical training» in students of the medical faculty №1 of the Ukrainian Medical Stomatological Academy, who entered Academy in 2013. It has been established, that students who have low percentage of the results of «Krok 1» possibly had worse test results of external independent testing in Ukrainian, Biology and Chemistry / Physics (subject of choice). Insufficient knowledge, which was demonstrated by students, can lead to difficulties to passing «Krok 2. General Medical Training». Higher percentage during passing of the subtests «Krok 1» in students with low level of training and during passing «Krok 2» may indicate that the insufficient level of knowledge can be demonstrated by different students. Students, who had low results of «Krok 1» passing test, subtests in Therapy passed in 13,4% worse (р<0,001) in comparison with results during the whole training course. These students passed Surgery and Pediatrics in 17,7% (р<0,001) lower than other ones. This category of students was characterized by possibly lower results in Obstetrics and Gynecology and Hygiene. It has been indicated that students who had low results during external independent testing include the risk group that can lead to unsuccessful passing of licensing integrated exam «Krok» in educational institution. That’s why, after entering Educational Establishment, it is necessary to highlight group of students with lower indices of results of external independent testing and additionally step by step cooperate with them on other departments.

Through student eyes: Assessment conceptions and quality assurance

Recent reforms of higher education systems in Europe, since the implementation of the Bologna Process, encourage teachers to incorporate a range of assessment practices that should be more responsive to students’ learning needs. Over the years, an extensive body of literature has been produced regarding principles and practice guidelines for the assessment of students’ learning outcomes. However, what are students’ conceptions of assessment? The present article, given the strong drive to understand the role that conceptions have in educational practices, focuses on students’ conceptions of assessment within the Italian higher education system. More specifically, this paper reports on a research study realised through the administration of the Students’ Conceptions of Assessment Inventory (SCoA). The data were analysed using a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) design. This study represents a useful step in understanding conceptions that students have of assessment within the framework of quality assurance. Results of the study may set the groundwork for a critical debate on changes and improvements in the higher education field.

The digital competence framework for primary and secondary schools in Europe

AbstractThere has been a lot of interest to competence‐based education in research and scholarship. How competence‐based education has been developed and implemented varies across education systems in Europe. The European Commission defines digital competence as one of the eight key competence standards for lifelong learning. The European digital competence framework DigComp provides a comprehensive and exhaustive framework for citizens; it has the potential to be adapted to the needs of specific target groups. Nevertheless, no current research has focused on the need for developing a common framework for primary and secondary education. To address this gap we present a digital competence framework for European primary and secondary students. DigComp and a set of European frameworks are analysed in this paper. Combining categorical analysis with the collaboration of teachers and experts in the field, we define performance criteria and components that contribute to competence by five categories, providing a framework to promote the acquisition and evaluation of digital competence. This framework can be implemented in any EU country, it incorporates the most recent theoretical advances in research on information and communication technologies.

Освітні реалії професійної підготовки майбутніх соціальних працівників

The article analyzes the educational realities and prospects of future social workers training. It is established that numerous social-related institutions need the increasing number of up-to-date multidisciplinary experts with different training levels that can consider and rely on economic and social reforms, effectively operate under the conditions of society development, skillfully study and apply the life-tested native and foreign experience of social work, take into account the dynamics and consequences of globalization. On the basis of generalization and systematization of scientific research, it was summarized that social work training in each country is based on its own conceptual model. In the process of determining the model of social workers’ training in Ukraine, it is necessary to consider and rely on economic and social reforms, because they influence and will decisively influence on the essence of social and socio-pedagogical activity in the future and on the system of requirements for social workers. The analysis of foreign experience of future social workers’ professional training is carried out. It is summarized that in Europe alone there are more than 420 institutions of education where one can get an education majoring in social work with the obligatory learning of the basics of social design of the accessible environment. The management of the social education system in Europe is usually centralized. It is concluded that an up-to-date social worker is viewed as an expert in the field of social engineering and technology, who has a thorough knowledge of the legal, moral and psychological features of human life. Currently, the issue of training reflective social workers has become acute. They should not only be able to apply the theory in practice but also to analyze and evaluate their own practice, critically reinterpret the acquired knowledge and skills, as well as continuously self-develop and progress by expanding their knowledge, skills, abilities to design an accessible environment for providing necessary social assistance.

Adults as non-traditional students in the tertiary education of Denmark and Ukraine: comparative discourse of structural, psychologic and pedagogic peculiarities

Today with the demand of a knowledge-based society to adapt workforce to modern flexible and innovative production, sustainable and coherent adult education becomes an integral part of the European education system. The article offers a comparative analysis of the structural models, principles and new political initiatives of adults training in tertiary education systems of Ukraine and Denmark. The Danish context is the most important for the development of adult education policy in Ukraine as Denmark has gained a unique experience in creating of democratic adult training system existing as a component of lifelong learning. Multiple sources in Ukrainian, European and Danish educational environments at various time points from 2000 till 2020 have been used in data collection for this study. Adult education in Ukraine requires a substantial adjustment at the legislative, structural and technological levels. Based on a comparative analysis of the adult education systems characteristic features of Denmark and Ukraine, the author has substantiated suggestions for the construction of efficient adult training models in higher educational institutions of Ukraine.

Теоретичні основи управління розвитком цифрової компетентності керівників закладів загальної середньої освіти як проблема в педагогічній теорії та освітній практиці

The article highlights the theoretical foundations of managing the development of digital competencies of heads of educational institutions as a problem of pedagogical theory and pedagogical practice. The conceptual thesaurus of the problem of managing the development of digital competencies of heads of educational institutions is analyzed. It has been established that today digital competence as a component of professional pedagogical competence, including for heads of educational institutions, is justified in the UNESCO Competence Framework in the field of ICT for teachers. VERSION 3 (ICT CFT)), developed in 2018. This document provides a comprehensive set of competencies that educators must integrate into their professional practice to help students achieve curriculum goals. The tasks of training, retraining and advanced training of heads of general education institutions are designated for the development of digital competencies.In the UNESCO document, the term competence” describes the functionality of a teacher, and “competence” refers to the ability of teachers to perform the corresponding function. Domestic realities and international experience in the development of digital competence of teachers and heads of general secondary education are analyzed.Analysis of foreign experience in the development of digital competencies of teachers and school principals made it possible to establish that the European education system is currently characterized by intensive digitalization. Therefore, the educational policy of European countries is aimed at providing comfortable conditions for the professional development of teachers and managers at the macro - meso - and micro levels. The relevance and possibilities of innovation and technologization of the process of managing the development of digital competencies of heads of general secondary education are emphasized.

Competitive/comparative governance mechanisms beyond marketization: A refined concept of competition in education governance research

Much contemporary scholarship claims that competition has become a key characteristic of educational governance, and that competition occurs in educational governance as a consequence of the comparative turn in education. This article problematizes the widespread application of the concept of competition as a relevant term across (seemingly) all governance contexts, and seeks to overcome this problem by theorizing competition as an entangled phenomenon that takes on a different ontology according to the specific situations in which it occurs. This theorization highlights three dimensions of competition that may affect its ontology: the field of contestants, the rules of the game, and the competition objective. The result is an analytical framework that makes the concept of competition sensitive to different governance contexts across Europe and the Western world, including those with strong remnants of universalistic welfare state models. The analytical framework allows for a distinction between market-based competition and competition as a governance instrument that mediates managerial decision-making in which the contestants fight to avoid top-down reform rather than fighting against their peers. The analytical framework implies that we cannot characterize all European education systems as governed through competition-based mechanisms without caution and further specification.