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2015
Vol. 39. No. 1
© Copyright by Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek
Toruń 2015
ISSN 1732-6729
ISBN 978-83-8019-112-9
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CONTENTS
Stanisław Juszczyk
Editor’s Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
SOCIAL PEDAGOGY
Agnieszka Jeran, Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska
Science Policy in Poland. Inﬂuence of Human Resource Policy on the
Presence of Polish Science in the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Klára Šeďová
Harmony or Attack: the Function of Student Humor at Lower
Secondary Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Jolana Hroncová
The Socio-Pedagogical Thinking of J.A. Comenius as Inspiration for
Social Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Didin Saripudin, Kokom Komalasari
Living Values Education in School Habituation Program and Its Eﬀect
on Student Character Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Joanna Maria Garbula
Towards Micro-History – New Look at the Family History . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Kazimierz Wenta
Fractality of Trust Among General Educators and Methodologists
Teaching Educational Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Edyta Charzyńska
Text Topic Interest, Willingness to Read and the Level of Reading
Comprehension Among Adults – the Role of Gender and Education
Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Lýdia Miškolciová, Lenka Ďuricová
Relationship between Self-Concept and Resistance in Terms of
“Hardiness” in University Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
4
Contents
Eva Nábělková, Jana Ratkovská
Academic Procrastination and Factors Contributing
to its Overcoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
G. Piskurska
Peculiarities of Professional Plurilingual Competence of Future
International Business Activities Managers
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Agata Nowak, J. Kruk-Lasocka
The Motor-Proﬁciency-Test (MOT 4 – 6) as a Useful Tool for
Diagnosing the Psychomotor Development of Polish Four-year-old
Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Damjan Šimek, Katja Košir
Motivation for Participation in Competition and Avoidance
of Competition: the Role of the Accuracy of Comparative SelfEvaluations of Academic Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Slavka T. Nikolić, Petar Vrgović, Jelena Stanković, Jelisaveta Safranj
Students’ Emotional State and Educational Eﬃciency : Temptations
of Modern Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
GENERAL DIDACTICS
Eunkyung Kim, Eun Hee Seo
The Eﬀect of Educational Experiences on Student Learning Outcomes
in General Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
SPECIAL PEDAGOGY
Katarzyna Bieńkowska, Małgorzata Zaborniak-Sobczak
Signiﬁcance of Rehabilitation Camps in Hearing and Speech Therapy
of Hearing-Impaired Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Damjan Šimek
Competitiveness and Motivation for Education in Academic
Self-Handicapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Agnieszka Łaba
The use of Comic Strip Conversations in Shaping Social Behaviour
of Children with Autism in the Context of Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
Contents
5
PEDEUTOLOGY
Aleksandra Tłuściak-Deliowska, Urszula Dernowska
The Principal’s Behaviors and Job Satisfaction Among Middle School
Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Dragica Pešakovič, Domen Kovačič, Boris Aberšek, Martin Bílek
Competence-Based Teaching for Future Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
Shwu Ming Wu
Development and Application of the Measures of School Value, Teacher
Autonomy, and Teacher Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
CHOSEN ASPECTS OF PSYCHOLOGY
Shahin Zehra, Akbar Husain
Relationship Between Spiritual Values and Psychological Capital
Among University Employees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Sonja Pečjak, Tina Pirc
Predictors and Forms of Intervention in Peer Bullying: Pre-service
Teachers vs. Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
CHRONICLE
Zaproszenie na II Międzynarodowy Kongres Azjatycki . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
CONTRIBUTORS
Aberšek Boris (Prof.) University of Maribor, Koroška 160,
Maribor, Slovenia
[email protected]
Akbar Husain (Prof.) Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh-202002, India
Bieńkowska
Katarzyna (PhD)
The Subcarpathian Provincial Hospital by
name of John Paul II; A Center of Diagnostics, Treatment and Rehabilitation of
Hearing, Voice and Speech Disorders, 57
Korczyńska Street 38-400 Krosno, Poland
Bílek Martin, (Prof.) Faculty of Science, University of Hradec
Kralove, Rokitanského 62, Hradec Kralove,
Czech Republic
[email protected]
Charzyńska Edyta
University of Silesia, Department of
Pedagogy and Psychology, Grażyńskiego
53/431, 40-126 Katowice, Poland
[email protected]
Dernowska Urszula
Department of Theory of School Instruction, Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of
Pedagogical Sciences, The Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, ul.
Szczęśliwicka 40, 02-353 Warszawa, Poland
Ďuricová Lenka
Eun Hee Seo (PhD)
Department of General Education, Seoul
Women’s University, 126 Gongnung-Dong,
Nowon-Gu, 139-774 Seoul, South Korea
[email protected]
Eunkyung Kim
(PhD)
Department of Teacher Education, Soongsil [email protected]
University, 369 Sangdo-Ro, Dongjak-Gu,
156-743 Seoul, South Korea
Garbula Joanna
Maria (PhD)
prof. UWM, Faculty of Social Sciences
UWM w Olsztynie
[email protected]
Hroncová Jolana
(prof. PhDr. PhD.)
Pedagogical Faculty, Matej Bel University,
Department of Pedagogy, Ružová 13, 974
11 Banská Bystrica, Slovak Republic
[email protected]
Jeran Agnieszka
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań,
Poland
8
Contributors
Komalasari Kokom
(PhD)
Faculty of Social Sciences Education,
Indonesia University of Education,
Bandung, Indonesia
[email protected]
Košir Katja (PhD)
Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, [email protected]
Koroška 160, Maribor, Slovenia
Kovačič Domen
The Anton Martin Slomšek Institute
(ZAMS), Vrbanska 30, Maribor, Slovenia
Kruk-Lasocka
Joanna (Prof.)
Department of Special Pedagogy University [email protected]
of Lower Silesia, Wrocław
Łaba Agnieszka
(PhD)
The University of Rzeszów, Faculty of
Education, Department of Special Education, ul. Ks. J. Jałowego 24, 35-959 Rzeszów,
Poland
[email protected]
[email protected]
Miškolciová Lýdia
Nábělková Eva
Nikolić Slavka T.
(PhD)
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical [email protected]
Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 5, Novi
Sad, Republic of Serbia
Nowak Agata (PhD) Department of Pedagogy University School [email protected]
of Phisical Education, Wrocław
Pečjak Sonja (PhD)
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts,
Ljubljana, Slovenia, Department of
Psychology, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana,
SI-Slovenia
sonja.pecjak@ﬀ.uni-lj.si
Pešakovič Dragica
(PhD)
The Elementary School (OŠ) Destrnik,
Janežovski Vrh 45, 2253 Destrnik, Slovenia
dragica.pesakovic@guest.
arnes.si
PiechowiakLamparska Joanna
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń,
Poland
Pirc Tina
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts,
Ljubljana, Slovenia, Department of
Psychology, Aškerčeva 2, 1000 Ljubljana,
SI-Slovenia
tina.pirc@ﬀ.uni-lj.si
Piskurska Ganna
Donetsk National Technical University,
Shibankova 2, Krasnoarmeisk, Ukraine
[email protected]
Ratkovská Jana
Safranj Jelisaveta
(PhD)
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical [email protected]
Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 5, Novi
Sad, Republic of Serbia
Saripudin Didin
(PhD)
Faculty of Social Sciences Education,
Indonesia University of Education,
Bandung, Indonesia
[email protected],
Website: http://upi.edu
Contributors
9
Šeďová Klára
Department of Educational Sciences,
Masaryk University, Arna Novaka 1, Brno
602 00, Czech Republic
[email protected]
Shahin Zehra
Research Scholar & Project Fellow,
UGC-SAP (DRS-1), Department of
Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh-202002, India
Shwu Ming Wu
(Prof.)
National Kaohsiung University of Applied
Sciences, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Šimek Damjan
(PhD)
Faculty of Arts, Department of Psychology, [email protected]
Koroška 160, Maribor, Slovenia
Stanković Jelena
(MSc)
University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical [email protected]
Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 5, Novi
Sad, Republic of Serbia
Tłuściak-Deliowska
Aleksandra
Department of Theory of School Instruction, Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of
Pedagogical Sciences, The Maria Grzegorzewska Academy of Special Education, ul.
Szczęśliwicka 40, 02-353 Warszawa, Poland
[email protected]
Vrgović Petar (PhD) University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical [email protected]
Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 5, Novi
Sad, Republic of Serbia
Wenta Kazimierz
(Prof.)
Koszalin University of Technology, Poland
Zaborniak-Sobczak
Małgorzata (PhD)
The University of Rzeszow, 24 Ks. J. Jalowy
Street, 35-959 Rzeszow, Poland
Stanisław Juszczyk
Editor’s Preface
The ﬁrst number of The New Educational Review in 2015 is the thirty ninth issue
of our journal since the start of its foundation in 2003. In this issue there are mainly
papers from: Croatia, the Czech Republic, Indonesia, Poland, the Slovak Republic,
Serbia, Slovenia, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, and Ukraine, because our journal is
open for presentation of scientiﬁc papers from all over the world.
In the present issue the Editors’ Board have proposed the following subject
sessions: Social Pedagogy, General Didactics, Special Pedagogy, Pedeutology, and
Chosen Aspects of Psychology.
The subject session “Social Pedagogy” consists of fourteen articles. The aim of
the article by Agnieszka Jeran and Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska is to indicate
the inﬂuence of human resource policy on the presence of Polish science in global
science. Their research ﬁndings include an analysis of changes over time in the
number of research personnel and papers indexed in the Web of Science database.
The paper by Klára Šeďová addresses the phenomenon of school humour, focusing
on the question of how it contributes to shaping teacher-student relationships. In
her article, Jolana Hroncová writes that the socio-pedagogical thinking of John
Amos Comenius (1592-1670) is the subject of inspiration for social pedagogy.
The study by Didin Saripudin and Kokom Komalasari describes the model of
living values education in school habituation activities and its impact on character
development. The article by Joanna M. Garbula is devoted to the problem of history
education in the early school years, a question which until now has been almost
neglected in literature. The goal of the paper by Kazimierz Wenta is description of
the fractality of trust among general educators and methodologists teaching educational subjects. In her study, Edyta Charzyńska examines the relationships between
variables connected with the reader (interest in the text topic and willingness to
read it) and the level of reading comprehension among adults, after controlling for
text diﬃculty. The contribution by Lýdia Miškolciová and Lenka Ďuricová presents
new ﬁndings concerning the relationship between self-concept and resistance in
12
Stanisław Juszczyk
terms of “hardiness” in university students. The main objective of the paper by Eva
Nábĕlková and Jana Ratkovská is to map the strategies of Slovak university students
used for overcoming academic procrastination, as well as to test the relationship
of procrastination with potential protective factors – volitional regulation and
achievement motivation. The article by G. Piskurska focuses on one of the trends
in modern language education, i.e., the plurilingual approach towards language
teaching, since one of the important components of IBA managers’ professional
competence is their ability to function and communicate in a foreign language
environment successfully. The purpose of the contribution by Agata Nowak and
J. Kruk-Lasocka is to describe the validation procedure of the Polish version of
the psychomotor test (the Motor-Proﬁciency-Test) MOT 4-6 by R. Zimmer and
M. Volkammer for four-year-old children. The research presented by Damjan
Šimek and Katja Košir is aimed at assessing the role of the discrepancy between
objective evaluations and subjective self-evaluations of academic performance
in secondary school students. The focus of the study by Slavka T. Nikolić and her
co-workers is students’ perception of educational processes, the emotional states
they demonstrate and their interdependence.
In the subject session “General Didactics” we publish one article. The objective
of the study described by Eunkyung Kim and Eun Hee Seo is to examine which
educational experiences in general education impact on the student’s learning
outcomes.
The subject session “Special Pedagogy” consists of three articles. In their study,
Katarzyna Bieńkowska and Małgorzata Zaborniak-Sobczak try to determine the
role of rehabilitation camps by means of a diagnosis of their eﬀectiveness using parents’ and therapists’ opinions and objective results of progress in the development
of hearing, communication and language skills in children. The goal of the research
presented by Damjan Šimek on academic self-handicapping is to determine the role
of (1) diﬀerent attitudes toward competition, (2) the reasons that motivate people
for competition and (3) the reasons for avoidance of competition. In her study,
Agnieszka Łaba uses comic strip conversations in shaping the social behaviour of
children with autism in the context of play.
In the subject session “Pedeutology” we publish three articles. The paper by
Aleksandra Tłuściak-Deliowska and Urszula Dernowska focuses on the connection
between the principal’s behaviours and job satisfaction among teachers. Dragica
Pešakovič and her co-workers characterize competence-based teaching for future
education taking into account the example of elementary education in Slovenia in
the ﬁeld of science and technology education. The study carried out by Shwu Ming
Wu examines relationships among school value, teacher autonomy, and teacher
Editor’s Preface
13
motivation and compares the diﬀerences between elementary and secondary
school teachers in those variables.
In the subject session “Chosen aspects of psychology” there are two articles. The
study presented by Shahin Zehra and Akbar Husain examines the relationship
between Spiritual Values and Psychological Capital among 100 school teachers
and 100 non-teaching staﬀ of Aligarh Muslim University in India. The research by
Sonja Pečjak and Tina Pirc shows that teachers’ perceptions of peer bullying are an
important predictor of their intervention.
We hope that this edition, like previous ones, will encourage new readers not
only from the Central European countries to participate in an open international
discussion. On behalf of the 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 requirements placed on
our website: www.educationalrev.us.edu.pl – Guide for Authors.
Social
Pedagogy
Agnieszka Jeran,
Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska
Poland
Science Policy in Poland.
Inﬂuence of Human Resource Policy on the Presence
of Polish Science in the World
Abstract
The aim of the article is to indicate the inﬂuence of human resource policy
on the presence of Polish science in global science. Research ﬁndings include an
analysis of changes over time in the number of research personnel and papers
indexed in the Web of Science database. The research method used in the study
is statistical analysis with the use of correlation analysis and regression analysis.
Application of these tools allowed for establishing basic relationships between the
analysed variables. Obtained results point to the fact that the human resource
policy in Polish science, aimed at increasing the number of papers published at
international level or in international circulation, turns out to be eﬀective. This
growth was especially visible in the years 1999–2011.
Keywords: science policy, human resource policy, publishing, parameterization,
evaluation of research, Web of Science, Polish science
Introduction
The ﬁrst and fundamental duty of a scientist should be conducting research,
its subsequent publication and subjecting obtained results to discussion. At the
same time, however, the role of didactics and the idea of sharing the acquired
knowledge are equally important. The debate concerning the role of a scientist in
the system of higher education takes place between those who support transfer-
18
Agnieszka Jeran, Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska
ring the main focus of job appraisal to the eﬀects of scientiﬁc work and those who
put didactics ﬁrst (Thieme). In a wider context, it is possible to notice the ongoing
debate on the role of universities and science in the contemporary world (Kwiek
2012: 641–654; Szadkowski). This discussion is based mainly on two points: the
ﬁrst regards the model of the ﬁnancing of research and higher education, whereas
the second concerns the establishment and functioning of the principles of human
resource policy. Seemingly, these are two completely diﬀerent issues; in reality,
however, human resource policy, including, e.g., rules for promotion or continuing
employment, is strictly dependent on the model of ﬁnancing (Newman, Couturier
& Scurry; Antonowicz: 158–172).
The problem discussed in the article concerns the inﬂuence of human resource
policy on the presence of Polish science in international academic research.
Human resource policy directly translates into the number of the employed
research workers and the manner of evaluation of their work (mainly cyclical evaluation). However, the presence of Polish science in the international discourse can
be analysed through the number of papers in the most important wide-reaching
journals and the number of citations in these periodicals (Eyre-Walker & Stoletzki;
Uzzi, Mukherjee, Stringer & Jones: 468–472). In the analysed period (the years
1999–2011) there was a considerable change caused by a shift from a totalitarian
model of human resource policy, through a bureaucratic model, to the formation
of an evaluative model of the principles of human resources policy. The changes
in the system of higher education were caused by political, demographic, and also
economic transformations (Dobbins; Kościelniak: 114–119; Kwiek 2013: 553–576;
Froumin & Smolentseva). At present, the evaluation of a researcher is based on the
model of research unit parameterization, created for the purposes of diversiﬁcation of funding levels for particular units and not for the evaluation of individual
scientists. Thus, what are researchers to do? They are facing the need to publish
in the most important periodicals in their disciplines, usually in English, usually
abroad. Paraphrasing Descartes – you publish, therefore you are. However, it often
translates into something much more threatening – publish or die.
Research Methodology
The research ﬁndings include an analysis of changes over time in the number of
research personnel and papers indexed in the Web of Science database. It allows
for determining to what degree the change in human resource policy in the Polish
system of higher education in the years 1999–2011 is reﬂected in the number of
Science Policy in Poland
19
articles published in periodicals indexed in the database of the Thomson Reuters
Corporation. The Web of Science is a database of periodicals that the Ministry
of Science and Higher Education in Poland ranks the highest (for papers in
periodicals indexed there it is possible to receive from 15 to 50 points, while for
publications in other periodicals, including the ones indexed in The European
Reference Index for the Humanities, it is possible to receive a maximum of 10
points). The Ministry’s decisions regarding the method of science parameterization has given rise to many controversies, particularly among the representatives
of humanities, social sciences and arts (Szkudlarek & Stankiewicz: 37–49; Wilkin:
51–70). However, showing the above-mentioned relation between the number of
researchers and the number of highly-scored publications will allow for determining the level of the presence of Polish science in global science.
The analysis used data gathered in data search of the Web of Science database
(consisting in searching for all papers in the Web of Science database in which at
least one of the authors was aﬃliated with a Polish university or research unit) and
data on research workers in Poland made available by the Central Statistical Oﬃce
of Poland and the publication “Higher Education Institutions and their Finances in
2012”. The gathered data was subjected to statistical analysis with correlation and
regression analyses, which allowed for establishing basic relationships between the
analysed variables, i.e., the number of papers of Polish authors published in the
periodicals indexed in the Web of Science and the number of research workers
and academic promotions. The analysed data and their relationships covered the
period of 1999–2011. Also, an analysis of change dynamics was performed.
Research Results
According to the data of the Central Statistical Oﬃce of Poland (GUS), the
number of university teachers in Poland rose from 75,000 to 100,000 in the period
from 1999 to 2011. Considering this data, one should take into account that this
number is not tantamount to the number of “scholars”, since people employed
in more than one unit are shown as more than one employee/university teacher.
The highest increase concerned the position of docent (associate professor). (This
position, frequent in the period of the Polish People’s Republic, returned in 2005
regulated in the act “Law on Higher Education”). The number of associate professors in 2011 constituted 242% of their number in 1999, and in the case of the
position of adiunkt (assistant professor) and professor – it was 157.5% (however,
in absolute numbers the number of employees in the position of assistant profes-
Agnieszka Jeran, Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska
20
sors was almost double the number of professors – to be more precise, in 2011
their number constituted 177% of the number of the employees in the position
of professors).
Figure 1. Change in the number of academic teachers in the years 1999–2011
in Poland in total and according to positions
120000
100000
academic teachers
80000
professors
60000
associate professors
assistant professors
40000
assistant lecturers
20000
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Summing up the above data, one should notice that based on the information
provided by the Central Statistical Oﬃce of Poland (2012: 162) it is possible to
ﬁnd the following number of employees in the Polish higher education institutions
according to academic titles and degrees – 11,500 professors with an academic
title, 16,500 habilitated doctors, and 40,000 doctors. It is possible to state with
all certainly that these numbers add up to 100,000 employed, which results
from holding multiple positions and the fact that GUS did not take into account
employees with a doctor’s degree in the positions of assistant lecturers, lecturers
and senior lecturers.
The analysis of the number of papers of the Polish scientists in periodicals
indexed in the Web of Science allows for indicating a considerable increase in the
number of papers of the authors aﬃliated with Polish universities – while in 1999
it was 13,500, in 2011 it was almost 2.5 times more – almost 32,000. However, even
though a rise in the number of papers took place in every ﬁeld over the years, the
share of technical sciences remained very high – in 1999 it was 96.4%, whereas in
2011 – 94.5%, which means that the reduction was slight.
Data shows that the number of articles in 2011 in the case of social sciences
constituted 360% of their number in 1999, in the case of technical sciences – 229%,
and in the case of arts and humanities – 326%.
21
Science Policy in Poland
Figure 2. Change in the number of papers according to main ﬁelds in the years
1999–2011
35000
30000
25000
20000
SOCIAL SCIENCES
15000
TECHNICAL SCIENCES
ARTS & HUMANITIES
10000
5000
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Juxtaposing both analysed values, i.e., the number of academic teachers
(employees of higher education institutions) and the number of papers with Polish
aﬃliation indexed in the Web of Science database, shows convergent dynamics.
It means a signiﬁcant increase over time, which is possible to see as a positive
direction, the more so since the number of papers rose more than the number of
employees of higher education institutions – increase of 57% in the number of
papers compared to an increase of 25% in the number of academic teachers.
Figure 3. Change in the number of academic teachers and papers indexed in the
Web of Science in the years 1999–2011
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
articles in the Web of Science
academic teachers
Agnieszka Jeran, Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska
22
It is possible to notice a positive change also in the statistics comparing the
relationships of both variables in consecutive years. In 1999 there was one article
from Poland indexed in the database to 5.5 employees – in 2011 this indicator
lowered to 3.2. Thus, the statistical publishing eﬃciency increased – even though
it still constituted one-third of an article annually or, to put it diﬀerently, one
paper for three years. However, one should emphasise that the positive trend
of improvement in that synthetic measure of eﬃciency continued in the entire
analysed period.
2008
2009
2011
2007
2010
2006
2005
2004
2003
4.89 4.48 4.13 4.24 3.90
3.59
3.36
3.35
3.28 3.17
Number
of articles
per one
teacher
0.20 0.22 0.24 0.24 0.26
0.28
0.30
0.30
0.30 0.32
0.18 0.20 0.20
2002
2001
2000
Number
5.53 5.03 4.99
of teachers per
one article
Publishing
eﬃciency
1999
Table 1. Rates of publishing eﬃciency in the years 1999-2011
The relationships between both values were analysed also with the use of regression analysis. The relationship between both variables turned out to be strong
(R2=0.9047), and the regression line has a positive direction (a=0.6497). On the
basis of the above, it is possible to show that on average every new university
teacher produces fewer than one (0.65) paper in the database, i.e., it is necessary
to increase employment by 3 persons to increase the number of articles by 2. One
should also emphasize that this data is better suited to be presented as an exponential function (R2=0.9507) than a linear one – conﬁrming the earlier indicated
growing publishing eﬃciency – resulting either from the growing pressure of
indicators and requirements of parameterization of research units and evaluation
of individual achievements or from higher compatibility of the submitted papers
to the requirements of periodicals indexed in the database.
However, the most striking result in the analysis is obtained through disaggregation of the summary number of academic teachers to subgroups according
to positions. It turns out that eﬃciency – measured with the rate of regression – is
much higher in the subgroup of professors (a=2.0435), than in the subgroup of
assistant professors (a=1.1016).
Science Policy in Poland
23
Juxtaposing the number of papers with academic promotions in a given year,
i.e. the number of professorial appointments and granted post-doctoral degrees,
makes it possible to reach an important conclusion for the conducted research. It
reveals that in this relationship there is no recognizable trend; the distribution of
both variables is random and does not allow for making an analysis of correlation
or regression (R2=0.0472 for awarded professorial titles and R2=0.1718 for postdoctoral degrees). Relationships between promotions and world-class papers were
not discernible in this period. This could be caused by diﬀerent and internally
heterogeneous length of both processes.
Discussion
The conducted analysis reveals certain unusually interesting regularities. One
should emphasize that over the period 1999–2011 there was an increase in the
presence of Polish scientists in international academic research, at least in the
number of published papers. This growth turns out to be stronger than the increase
in the number of researchers, which attests to increasing publishing eﬃciency.
Analysis conducted on chosen subgroups of researchers (assistant professors and
professors) shows that a higher rate of regression is achieved by the relationship
of the number of papers with the number of professors. On the one hand, based
on the normative standards this result should not be surprising – promotions in
science are, on principle, related to scientiﬁc achievements. On the other hand,
however, universal and colloquial evaluations show that young employees show
more initiative and more eﬀectiveness in seeking to publish – assistant professors
are the most determined in the scored scientiﬁc activity, aspiring to academic
promotion. The increase in the number of papers of Polish scientists, but most of
all the growing publishing eﬃciency, constitute the premise for a positive assessment of the human resource policy in the Polish system of higher education.
However, it is also important that this data reveals no recognizable connection
between the number of papers indexed in the Web of Science and the number
of academic promotions in a given year. It is possible to think that the recalled
lack of statistically important relationships will probably change into a measurable relationship with the popularization of the modiﬁed postdoctoral procedures;
however, it will become visible in the statistics only after a considerable period
of time, since this data is unavoidably historical. Taking into account the shift
associated with diﬀerent lengths of publishing and promotional cycles allows
for the interpretation that this relationship does not concern the number of
24
Agnieszka Jeran, Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska
professors, but the number of promotions and requirements of human resource
policy, i.e., more papers are produced in reaction to expectations of the university,
which coincides with the career path (i.e., it is not the professors who write more
eﬀectively, but assistant professors aspiring to professorship, under the pressure
of the requirements of university, while the length of a publishing cycle makes us
notice this relationship with a delay – when a given author – assistant professor
already moved to the subgroup of employees in the professorial position). It would
mean that the implemented human resource policy is producing the desired result.
However, conﬁrmation of this fact based on statistical data requires time.
Also the signiﬁcance of papers from technical and natural sciences is indisputable, as it is the activity of their representatives that is decisive in regards to
the number of papers of Polish scientists in the Web of Science. However, the
meaning of remaining disciplines increases. Nevertheless, there is one scientiﬁc
post in Poland to 1/3 of a scientiﬁc paper recorded annually in databases of the
Web of Science.
Some open questions remain, such as whether the identiﬁed trend will continue,
and at the methodological level, whether the presence in periodicals indexed in
the Web of Science is indeed the best measure. Not only is the question of publication worth considering, but also citations (which would determine the level of
reception of these papers) and other databases, e.g., Google Scholar (Śleszczyński:
599–627), as alternative sources of information.
Conclusions
Human resource policy in Polish science, or more generally a certain philosophy
leading to increasing incentives (or the need) for publishing at the international
level, or in international circulation, turns out to be eﬀective. Above all, in the
period 1999–2011 there was an increase in the presence of Polish scientists in
international academic research, at least if it is to be measured with the number of
papers. In addition, it is important to indicate that the increase in the number of
papers was greater than the increase in the number of researchers, thus attesting
to the increasing publishing eﬃciency (from 5.53 researchers per one article in
the Web of Science in 1999 to 3.17 in 2011). However, the analysis conducted
on only chosen subgroups of researchers (assistant professors and professors)
shows that a higher rate of regression is found in the relationship of the number
of papers with the number of professors. The increase in the number of papers of
Polish scientists, but most of all the growing publishing eﬃciency, alone constitute
Science Policy in Poland
25
the premise for a positive assessment of the human resource policy in the Polish
system of higher education. However, it is also signiﬁcant that simultaneously data
reveals no recognizable relationship between the number of papers indexed in the
Web of Science and the number of academic promotions in a given year (Wang:
329–339). The current requirements for promotion, constituting an important
part of the human resource policy in Polish science are strongly connected with
papers with international reach; thus, it is possible to assume that after presenting
data from the period after 2011, and particularly after 2013, that relationship will
become apparent. It will be possible to recognize a statistically relevant relationship
between the number of papers indexed in the Web of Science and the number of
academic promotions in Poland as quantitative conﬁrmation of the implemented
human resource policy.
However, only their reception, based on analysis of citations, will allow for
assessing whether they are indeed papers of a world-class quality. The question
whether the Web of Science should remain the basic database for gathering such
data remains open. Perhaps the use of other databases, better suited to the Polish
conditions, is worth considering, especially with reference to social sciences and
humanities.
Acknowledgements. An inspiration for the above text were the discussions with Prof.
Ryszard Borowicz on the quality of the Polish science that we led in winter 2013/2014.
References
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problemy i postulowane. Studia BAS, 3, 51–70.
Klára Šeďová
Czech Republic
Harmony or Attack: the Function of Student Humor
at Lower Secondary Schools
Abstract
This paper addresses the phenomenon of school humor, focusing on the question of how it contributes to shaping teacher-student relationships. Based on an
analysis of texts written by lower secondary school students, the paper shows that
humor at school serves contradictory functions, such as harmonizing teacherstudent relationships on the one hand, and enabling power negotiation aimed at
gaining superiority on the other. Analysis of narrative data has identiﬁed a speciﬁc
phenomenon of festive humor. Within its frame, teacher-student relationships
nearly always tend to be harmonized.
Keywords: humor, school, teacher-student relationships
1. Introduction
This paper deals with humor that develops within the school institution. It
primarily focuses on the ways humor occurs in teacher-student relationships.
Humor can be deﬁned as a speciﬁc type of experience arising from the perception
or evocation of a funny event (Bariaud, 1989). This term can be related to both the
perception and creation of something funny.
1.1. Humor as a social phenomenon
Humor needs to be understood as a social phenomenon. Empirical research
shows that people tend to laugh more often in company than when they are alone,
Klára Šeďová
28
and that laughter is “contagious” to a certain extent (cf., Martin, 2007). The sociability of humor is also based on the fact that humor usually assumes the presence
of at least two people – we either laugh at someone else’s joke or we relate ours to
them. Humor fulﬁlls a lot of social functions, two of which emerge as the most
dominant: building solidarity and negotiating power.
The connection between humor and solidarity and group cohesion is well
known. As Ziv (2010) wrote, groups featuring humor and laughter show a more
positive atmosphere and their activities are more pleasant and attractive for their
members than the activities of groups lacking humor and laughter.
According to Koller (1988), humor creates a social bond and has the potential
to form a group: if we laugh at the same joke or comic moment with someone,
solidarity is created between us and we gain at least a temporary in-group status. In
contrast, the target of the humor is pushed out of the group for the given moment
and is ascribed out-group status. If we can make others laugh at our jokes, we
receive a ticket to the group. This holds true even if we aspire to enter a wellestablished group with a solid hierarchy and rules – the laughter of other members
is an expression of certain (at least momentary) feelings and it shows that our
point of view is accepted (Ziv, 2010). Numerous research studies have proven that
humor contributes to feelings of closeness and solidarity among people (Fraley &
Aron, 2004; Terrion & Ashforth, 2002; Vinton, 1989). Fine (1987) uses the term
“idioculture” in this context to describe a system of knowledge of conditions,
behavior, and habits shared among the members of a group that can be referred
to by any member as a common interactive base. According to Fine (1987), an
idioculture contains a permanent set of humorous references understood only by
the members of a particular group.
Accentuating the aggressive features of humor is typical of a certain type of theorizing about the nature of humor.1 Gruner (1997) explains humor as a moment
of triumph of the joke teller over its target. He adds that all humor exhibits certain
features of attack, struggle, and aggression. Thus, we are getting to a connection
between humor and power patterns in a group, which is also well documented in
research. We know that the status hierarchy in a group is, in a way, always projected
into humor production and perception. Individuals with higher status produce
humor more often and more successfully (in the sense of acceptance by other
group members), and it can also be said that this humor is more aggressive than
the humor produced by group members with lower status (Keltner et al., 1998;
1
This is primarily typical of the superiority theory and the psychoanalytic theory.
Harmony or Attack: the Function of Student Humor at Lower Secondary Schools
29
Robinson & Smith-Lovin, 2001). The speaker attracts attention, an inseparable
property of power, with humor. The laughter that occurs in response to a joke is
in fact requested laughter. If others laugh at our jokes, it means that we are able to
attract their attention and that they approve of our conduct. Both these features
mark a strong power position (Gruner, 1997).
It follows from the above that the evidence is inconsistent in showing which
social functions tie with humor. On the one hand, humor contributes to building
solidarity and a friendly atmosphere, while on the other hand it serves to control
power in a group. This paradox calls for a deeper analysis, which is presented in
the following text.
1.2. Humor at school
The social aspects of humor in general have been presented. Now, we will
directly focus on humor in school. Although the study of humor in a school environment is not a prominent topic in the sociology of education, it has a tradition.
Studies in the ﬁeld of school ethnography are classic contributions. Peter Woods
(1976, 1983) labelled humor and laughter as “antidotes” to the eﬀects of the school,
a certain type of escape that transforms the school reality in a way that is more
pleasant for students to experience.
Dubberley (1988) emphasized the primary role of subversive laughter, speaking
of a culture of resistance, where student humor is an important tool. Based on
ethnographic data from British schools, Dubberley described the phenomenon
of “testing” teachers as a manifestation of student resistance against the oﬃcial
school culture. This testing includes various jokes aimed at disturbing teachers and
discovering their weaknesses.
A recent probe by Meeus and Mahieu (2009) analyzed written student narratives describing humorous experiences with their teachers at a primary school.
They identiﬁed several key motives of student humor: (1) celebration: a humorous
event that occurred during a special school day; (2) teasing and making playful
fun of teachers; (3) correction of a teacher who has some displeasing personal
features; (4) rebellion against strict teachers; (5) misbehavior in classes taught by
non-authoritative teachers; (6) creation of a positive atmosphere – a playful form
of humor which is not used against teachers. In this typology, we can identify the
poles of subversive humor (teasing, correction of teacher, rebellion, misbehavior)
and of joyful non-oﬀensive humor (celebration, creation of a positive atmosphere),
which harmonizes relationships between various actors and strengthens their
solidarity.
Klára Šeďová
30
2. Research methodology
On the basis of the above-stated claims and ﬁndings, I decided to conduct my
own empirical research aimed at mapping varieties of humor in the Czech lower
secondary school environment and the functions that humor fulﬁlls in teacherstudent relationships.
The data consisted of narratives titled “A Humorous Event at My School”
written by students from a lower secondary school.2 The complete collection
consists of 89 texts by students, which describe a humorous episode which the
students experienced with their teachers. A narrative study is relevant for social
sciences because to study a narrative is to study the way people experience their
world (Connelly and Clandinin, 1990). It should be remembered that student
and teacher narratives cannot be taken as an exact reconstruction of events
they describe. For one thing, the recorded incident is always portrayed from
the author’s subjective point of view (often with evident emotional timbre); for
another, it describes an event that took place in the past and the memories thus
can be partial, selective, and fragmentary. There is no certainty that the events
took place exactly as the respondents portray them. Nevertheless, the texts written by direct participants serve as valid representations of their understanding of
humor in the school environment.
Given the nature of the data, narrative analysis was chosen as the analytical
method, i.e. a method designed for interpreting texts in the form of a narrative.
Riessman (2008) distinguishes between thematic and structural analyses, where
a thematic analysis focuses primarily on WHAT is being said, while a structural
analysis focuses rather on HOW it is said, i.e., on the way of the narrative organization.
The method I chose is inspired by both types of analysis. First, a basic structural
analysis was performed based on Labov’s (1967, 1970) description of the invariant
deep structure of the narrative. In the collected narratives, I identiﬁed individual
parts of the narrative structure and subjected these segments to thematic analysis
and other methods of structural analysis. In this paper, I focus on the part of the
stories that state the outcome, the denouement of the plot, and the resulting eﬀects.
This part enables the identiﬁcation of the functions of humorous incidents, which
is the aim of my analysis in this paper.
2
The assignment was: Write a story about a funny or humorous experience you had at
school.
Harmony or Attack: the Function of Student Humor at Lower Secondary Schools
31
I divided the various outcomes referred to in the texts by students and teachers
– in accordance with the theoretical background – according to whether a power
negotiation took place on a general level resulting in the power superiority of
an actor or whether the relationships between students and teachers were rather
being harmonized.
In the process of the analysis I noticed that the collection includes a relatively
numerous group of narratives that do not take place on a regular day at school but
rather in some special context. In this paper, I will further describe the speciﬁcity
of festive humor, and I will show that it fulﬁlls functions diﬀerent from everyday
humor.
3. Analysis of humorous event functions
The collected narratives comply with this distinction. They can be divided into
three basic categories according to what happens to the teacher-student relationships as a result of a humorous incident: (1) a power negotiation resulting in
a challenge of the teacher’s dominance and establishment of students’ temporary
superiority; (2) a power negotiation resulting in strengthening of the teacher’s
dominance; (3) harmonization of teacher-student relationships, which means that
mutual cohesion and solidarity are built between the two actor groups.
3.1. Student power superiority
Excerpt 1:
The teacher came into the classroom and she brought a CD player because she wanted to play
a very educational CD. The whole class was looking forward to not doing anything and just
listening to the CD. The teacher prepared everything and wanted to turn the player on. But it
was mute. We were all wondering, “Why isn’t the thing working?” The teacher even checked the
player once more, but everything seemed to be OK. After a while a student said, “But , Teacher,
is the player plugged in?” And suddenly the whole classroom started laughing. Why? Well, because it was not plugged in. So it was really funny and so was the rest of that class.
(A boy, 13 years old)
What is the comic principle in this excerpt? It is an incongruity between the
teacher’s actions and the social requirements on the teacher’s role. It follows from
the teacher’s role that they should be always, under all conditions, more competent
than the students, while in this excerpt, the students are the ones who must help
Klára Šeďová
32
their teacher with such a banal issue as plugging the CD player into a socket. The
usual teacher-student positions reverse for the moment – the students critically
evaluate their teacher’s abilities, mock them, and thus easily attack the teacher.
3.2. Teacher power superiority
Excerpt 2:
Once in the sixth grade I was in a language lesson about words that sound the same. The
teacher was just going through words that start with an R when a girl interrupted her and said
that “to reign” should not be spelled with “e-i”, but with “a-i.” Because they quarreled about that
for more than 10 minutes, the nice teacher started to lose her cool. She really tried to explain
to the girl what the diﬀerence is. But then she decided that actions speak louder than words
and she grabbed the girl’s hand and walked with her to the window. It had rained before and
the teacher pointed at the wet streets and said, “Well, OK, do you think that it rained Maria
Theresa yesterday?” The girl looked at her quizzically and ﬁnally she understood what the difference between “to rain” and “to reign” was. I will never forget the diﬀerence between these two
and I think neither will my classmates.
(A girl, 15 years)
The excerpt shows that school humor is not only produced by students. Teachers often initiate humorous situations and use student laughter for their own
purposes. While the students in the previous excerpt laughed at their teacher, here
it is the teacher who mocks a student who has not been able to understand the
spelling phenomenon they are going over. An element of the teacher’s aggression
towards the student is evident in their interaction. We need to bear in mind that
today we ﬁnd ourselves in a historical situation when a direct authoritative expression of power at school is viewed as unacceptable. Quite a few previous teacher
techniques such as punishment or criticism of students are viewed as incorrect,
while the requirement that a teacher must assign schoolwork in their class remains
valid. Under these circumstances, humor seems to be a technique for maintaining
discipline as it allows for explicit exercise of power. Funny teachers use humor for
the purpose of taking control over the situation in the classroom and they use it
to express and strengthen their dominant position.3
3
Some examples of humor use can verge on teacher misbehavior (Mareš, 2013).
Harmony or Attack: the Function of Student Humor at Lower Secondary Schools
33
3.3. Harmonizing relationships, building solidarity
Excerpt 3:
My funniest experience from school was the whole adaptation course. We enjoyed these three
days along with our teachers as no other school activity. The kids refused to go to bed and the
Teacher had to read fairy tales to us. We gladly participated in all sorts of outdoor activities
and I personally liked the Fear Factor game the most. On the following days when we were at
our desks in the classroom, we would talk about it and how nice it was and we would draw
pictures of our best experiences. We have a good class teacher and so I believe that we will
repeat such a trip one day. I think that this adaptation course helped to strengthen the relationships in our class.
(A girl, 12 years)
It is obvious that this excerpt has a diﬀerent tone than the previous one, because
it lacks the opposition between the student and teacher groups. What happens after
they return to school and everyday teaching is worth noticing. Experiences from
the course are still the subject of processing and discussions, they are “conserved”
and they can be used by the class collective to emphasize its shared deﬁnition and
group identity at any time. However, it is important to note that sharing pertains
to both students and teachers, whose positive roles are emphasized several times
in the extract.
3.4. Occurrence of various functions in the data
Table 1. Analysis of functions – the occurrence of various functions
in the data
Student narratives
(n)
Student narratives
(%)
Student superiority
37
42 %
Teacher superiority
14
15 %
Harmony
38
43 %
Total
89
100 %
The table clearly shows that humor leads to the establishment of some kind
of superiority more often than to the establishment of harmony. Humor, thus,
more often works as a weapon in power negotiations at school than as a means
to conclude peace between teachers and students. It is also evident from the
table that humor does not usually lead to strengthening teacher power, but to the
Klára Šeďová
34
establishment of student superiority. In this point, my ﬁndings agree with those of
Dubberley (1988), who understands humor as a way for students to express their
resistance against teachers and the school as an institution.
4. The phenomenon of festive humor
While analyzing the data, I noticed that a considerable number of humorous
events do not take place accidentally in classes or during breaks, but on special
occasions that happen regularly at schools and thus can be considered institutionalized. Despite being traditional and institutionalized, these occasions are regarded
as special and they have a certain aura of festivity around them. These events are
special either from a temporal perspective, when they are tied with speciﬁc days
(Christmas, Easter, April Fool’s Day), or a spatial perspective, when they are based
on the redeployment of the class collective outside the school walls (a ﬁeld trip,
residential outdoor school, or a sports course). I will refer to these incidents as
“festive humor”, thus distinguishing them from the everyday humor that takes
place on ordinary school days.4
Like Excerpt 3, Excerpt 4 is an example of festive humor.
Excerpt 4
On April Fool’s Day, my schoolmates and I decided to prepare some April Fools for our teachers. I think we quite succeeded: we agreed that each time the teachers turn their backs on us, we
would begin to laugh. And we did. The Teacher was a bit terriﬁed at ﬁrst, but then, when we said
those words – April Fool! – she laughed, too. Two boys then hid in the closet in Czech class, and
when the teacher came, we told her that they were in the principal’s oﬃce because they had been
running in the corridor and had bumped into a teacher who had fallen down. She quite believed
us, but then she went to open the closet and found them, but even so we were laughing. In return,
she told us that we would write a test on the most recent subject matter on Monday. We were
quite relieved that this was an April Fool, too. We also prepared April Fools for our class teacher:
one of our classmates had broken a window once and it was a big issue and we went to her and
told her that he had broken the window again and now he was crying in the toilets. She believed
us: “Well, you will pay for it, it will be an issue again…” And when we said April Fool, she was
laughing very hard: “You wait!” She came to the classroom after the break as if nothing was going on and handed out sheets of paper. Everyone was saying: “April Fool, right?” But she said, No,
she had told us we would have a test. So we wrote the date, our names and the ﬁrst question and
everybody started to realize that we were really writing a test, and then she said: “April Fool!”
(A girl, 9th grade)
4
Čejková (2014) also observed that students ﬁnd humorous those activities which do not
take place within the usual educational framework.
35
Harmony or Attack: the Function of Student Humor at Lower Secondary Schools
This story describes various traps and intrigues that students prepare for their
teachers. These activities do not only take place on festive days, but teachers tend
to reproach such conduct on regular days. The situation is diﬀerent on festive days,
and student pranks, which teachers would otherwise persecute as unacceptable,
are allowed on such days. Excerpt 4 clearly shows that the expression “April Fool!”
works as a magic spell that radically redeﬁnes the situation. The teacher is at ﬁrst
terriﬁed, but after she is assured that it is an April Fool, she laughs. Students are
similarly afraid of the test at ﬁrst and then they are relieved. The important thing
is that teachers and students laugh together in this excerpt.
The connection between laughter and a festive atmosphere recalls the carnivals
of popular culture, which Bakhtin (1984) graphically described in an example
of medieval and Renaissance street festivals. According to Bakhtin, a carnival is
celebrated as a festival where “everyone laughs at everything”; it is a temporary
liberation from the prevalent truth and ruling order, a temporary cancellation of
all hierarchical relations, privileges, norms, and bans (Bakhtin, 1984). This thesis
can be successfully applied to festive humor at schools – on days like these rules
are broken and the oﬃcial truth is made relative.
A temporary limitation of the hierarchies within relationships between teachers and students is manifested in that teachers do not punish their students; on
the contrary, the teachers accept the students’ victory when they make a good,
surprising prank. Further, there is evident reciprocity in April Fools pranks, which
is not present in other forms of school humor: the students tease their teacher and
the teacher teases them in return. The reciprocity of April Fool pranks adds the
dynamic to the whole situation. Students cannot be sure whether teachers mean
what they say seriously.
Bakhtin (1984) claimed that the carnivalesque type of humor is both mocking and adoring and that the carnivalesque parody rejects as well as revives and
renews. The awareness of a temporary escape from valid norms leads to a clearer
understanding of them, but it also leads to a willingness to submit to them after the
Table 2. Analysis of functions distinguishing everyday humor and festive humor
Everyday
humor (n)
Everyday
humor (%)
Festive
humor (n)
Festive
humor (%)
Student superiority
35
55 %
2
8%
Teacher superiority
14
22 %
0
0%
Harmony
15
23 %
23
92 %
Total
64
100 %
25
100 %
36
Klára Šeďová
humorous frame has vanished. The question arises of whether diﬀerences between
festive humor and everyday humor appear in the function analysis.
Table 2 provides convincing evidence that festive humor leads to diﬀerent
results, and thus it works diﬀerently from everyday humor. We can see that, with
a few exceptions, festive humor leads to the establishment of harmony between
teachers and students.
5. Discussion and conclusion
The conducted research shows, strictly speaking, the ambivalent nature of
humor, which can work as a harmonizing element or can serve both students and
teachers to express and strengthen their power position.
The question was raised about regarding the degree to which it is possible to
view humor at school positively, if expressing resistance and inciting conﬂict are
its important functions. My analysis shows that when humor is used as a means of
power negotiation, it more often leads to the establishment of temporary student
dominance rather than teacher dominance. Humor is thus in a sense “power of the
powerless”; it is one of the few ways for students to reverse the power asymmetry
that is typical of the school environment. Students are forced to submit to the
dictates of the adults at school, which can produce feelings of frustration and
hostility. Humor helps them to dispose of these negative feelings.
Coser (1964) and other sociologists of conﬂict claim that conﬂict can help to
maintain social order by channeling tension. Moreover, humor is special in its
playful unrealism (Bariaud, 1989). In humor, students can hide from the teacher.
If students performed such actions seriously, it would mean the end of teaching.
Similarly, the teacher can express indiﬀerence towards the students or threaten
them in humor, although this would produce disastrous eﬀects in a serious discourse. Students and teachers thus can humorously attack the school institution
and enjoy it, without causing any harm to the institution itself.
The analysis has shown that humor enables students to negotiate power and
conﬂicts and that it can also lead to harmonization of the relationship between
teachers and students. The analysis has shown that festive humor plays a more
substantial role in harmonizing teacher-student relationships than everyday
humor due to its ritualistic nature. The fact that rituals elevate group cohesion and
cooperative behavior is well known. Wulf et al. (2011) claim that rituals in schools
help to build the awareness of social cohesiveness and belonging to a community.
According to anthropologists (Wiltermuth and Heath, 2009), the interactive
Harmony or Attack: the Function of Student Humor at Lower Secondary Schools
37
function of rituals is achieved through synchronization, because rituals usually
involve synchronous activities (dancing, singing, rhythmic walking). Laughter is
such a synchronized activity in humor. The analyzed data clearly show that both
students and teachers actively participate in festive humor incidents and they
enjoy this humor together. A shared social action and synchronized laughter give
rise to the speciﬁc eﬀect of festive humor.
References
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(ed.). Humor and Children´s Development: A Guide to Practical Applications.
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Connelly, F.M., D.J. Clandin, 1990. “Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry.“
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Coser, L.A. 1964. The Functions of Social Conﬂict. New York: The Free Press.
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Jolana Hroncová
Slovak Republic
The Socio-Pedagogical Thinking of J.A. Comenius
as Inspiration for Social Pedagogy
Abstract
John Amos Comenius (1592 – 1670) belongs to the most important persons in
the European culture, philosophy, theology and in particular pedagogy, which is
also reﬂected in the fact that the 400-th anniversary of the birth of the “Teacher of
Nations“ in 1992 was celebrated across the world under the auspices of UNESCO.
Comenius was the founder of the education system, it is to his credit that pedagogy
became independent and singled out from the framework of philosophy. With his
works, he laid foundations of several pedagogical sciences, in particular didactics,
theory of education, pre-school education, education organisation and management, etc. He became famous especially for his didactic works (in particular – Janua
linguarum reserata, Janua linguarum vestibulom, Didactica magna, Orbis sensualium pictus, Schola ludus) which brought him fame all over the world and were
also used in many countries worldwide already during his life. However, his work
has also a strong socio-pedagogical aspect, so far insuﬃciently studied from the
position of social pedagogy and particularly pedagogy of social care as its part.
Keywords: John Amos Comenius, social pedagogy, socio-pedagogical thinking
of J.A. Comenius
1. Social pedagogy in Europe in a brief historical context
Social pedagogy originated in Germany in the 40-ties of the 19-th century under
a strong inﬂuence of the educational philanthropy of J.H. Pestalozzi, positivist soci-
40
Jolana Hroncová
ology and other sciences, as the answer to individual education and Herbartism.
It began to develop as practical socio-educational activity and “tertiary education
institution” to help to ﬁght the “social danger” and address educational deﬁcits and
socio-pathological phenomena, especially in marginalized groups of children and
youth. In this connection, we present A. Diesterweg’s thought, written in 1850: ”There
is a great danger in the growing rabble in towns. This rabble ﬂourishes in a state without general education, where the spiritual and moral maturity of youth is not cared for.
It is the basic principle to prevent it.” (in Marburger, H., 1979, p. 40).
The birth-place of social pedagogy is Germany. Its founder is considered to be
K. Mager, who used the term “social pedagogy” for the ﬁrst time in 1844. He is the
representative of the practical direction in social pedagogy and author of the ﬁrst
concept of the socio-educational activity connecting provision of social care with
educational activities. In his opinion, social pedagogy is the “answer to the problems of modern society” and should help to address the deﬁciencies in the education of children and youth, arising from failure of family and school. According
to the contemporary representative of German social pedagogy, J. Schilling (1999,
p. 53), social pedagogy has its historical roots in practical social and educational
care of children and youth in the following institutions:
1. Care of abandoned children and orphans (12 – 13t centuries);
2. Schools for the poor (14 – 16t centuries);
3. Orphanages and reformatories (17 – 18t centuries);
4. Reformatories and kindergartens (18 – 19t centuries);
5. Social care (social assistance for youth in modern times) (20t century).
The theoretical foundations of social pedagogy were laid by P. Natorp, with his
work “Social Pedagogy” considered as the founder of the philosophical, or theoretical, direction in social pedagogy. In his work he explained the subject and focus
of social pedagogy for the ﬁrst time. In his opinion, social pedagogy should focus
particularly on the social goals of education and contribute to human socialization and achievement of ideal social unity. The social determination of education
and interactive relationship between education and society is apparent, e.g., in his
thought “Society itself educates; it is both the instrument of education and its goal.”
(in Galla, K., 1967, p. 46). Education should focus especially on socialisation of man
and youth, which he accentuated in response to individual pedagogy emphasising the uniqueness of the individual. P. Natorp (1974, p. 90) presented this also in
the thought: “Man will be man only in society. Man as an individual exists only in
the abstract, as the atom in physics. Man without society is not man.” However, the
importance of education for socialization had appeared already in antique philosophy, e.g., in Plato and Aristotle, who J.A. Comenius frequently drew on. Those
The Socio-Pedagogical Thinking of J.A. Comenius as Inspiration for Social Pedagogy
41
ideas resonated practically in all empirically-oriented concepts and stemmed from
the modern empirical gnoseology of F. Bacon, who had a considerable inﬂuence
on the whole education system of J.A. Comenius. Later, this approach resulted in
modern philosophy and pedagogy of the Enlightenment, especially in the works of
J. Locke, C.A. Helvetius, R. Descartes, D. Diderot and others. It became even more
apparent upon origination of sociology, emphasizing the social nature of education
(education is social activity) and man (man is a social being), especially in the work
of A. Comte and E. Durkheim. Those ideas were also the starting point of pedagogical and sociological border disciplines developed on the borderline between
sociology and pedagogy in the second half of the 19t century; including social
pedagogy which began to develop as the ﬁrst of them, later followed by sociological
pedagogy, educational sociology and sociology of education. The thoughts about
the inﬂuence of education on man and society, as well as the interactive relationship between society and education had been, however, fully covered already in the
work of J.A. Comenius, from which later modern and enlightenment pedagogy and
undoubtedly also social pedagogy stemmed.
From the origination of social pedagogy up to the present time, its representatives have emphasised social determination of education, connection of social
care with the educational inﬂuence on man and social groups, with the stress
on activation of an individual’s own potentials. Social pedagogy, unfortunately,
has no clearly conceived subject yet, the cause of which is a wide range of socioeducational issues addressed at the theoretical and practical levels during its
existence. It is undisputable that despite various approaches to and attempts at
a deﬁnition of its aim in the historical context and present time, it is possible
to deﬁne areas which have been of key importance in terms of its proﬁling,
despite certain diﬀerences in approaches with regard to the time and countries
where social pedagogy has been developed. The issue of social determination of
education and human personality development, the relationship between social
conditions and education, socialization, substitute family care, orphanhood and
prevention of socio-pathological behaviour in children and youth have belonged
to the key areas in the subject of social pedagogy.
2. Pedagogical work
of J.A. Comenius as inspiration for social pedagogy
The most of the above-mentioned areas of interest addressed by social pedagogy
during its history are covered also in the work of J.A. Comenius. Therefore, it is
42
Jolana Hroncová
appropriate that also representatives of social pedagogy in the Czech Republic and
Slovakia include the work and thought of J.A. Comenius in the prehistory of this
pedagogical discipline and draw inspiration from it for its current development.
However, it should be mentioned that these contributions are so far sporadic, but
inspiring.
In his book “Základy sociální pedagogiky” (Foundations of Social Pedagogy)
(2008), in the ﬁrst chapter, entitled “Z histórie sociální pedagogiky” (From the
History of Social Pedagogy), the most distinguished contemporary representative
of social pedagogy in the Czech Republic, B. Kraus, points at the contribution
of J.A. Comenius to social pedagogy in the sense that Comenius understood
education as a means of human cultivation, as well as improvement of the world.
He also draws attention to Comenius’ social feeling in the access to education
and Comenius’ opinion that education should be provided for all people without
diﬀerence in their estate, to the rich and poor, boys and girls. He also mentions
the contribution of Comenius’ work “Informatórium školy materskej” (School of
Infancy) to social pedagogy, attributing great importance to the educational inﬂuence of the environment on man.
A theoretical discourse on the inﬂuence of Comenius’ work on social pedagogy
can also be found in the work “Jan Amos Komenský. Odkaz kultuře vzdělávání”
(John Amos Comenius. Legacy to the Culture of Education)” (2009), where J. Semrád and M. Škrabal (2009, pp. 177 – 185) address the contribution of J.A. Comenius
to social pedagogy in the chapter “Odkaz Komenského sociální pedagogice” (Comenius’ Legacy in Relation to Social Pedagogy). The authors state: “We see the basis
of thoughts linked with social pedagogy in Comenius’ opinions on social tasks
of school and on the teacher’s cooperation with pupils and cooperation of pupils
with one another as the basis for upbringing and the educational process in class.”
Semrád, Škrabal, 2009, p. 180). Also, J. Semrád and M. Škrabal (2009, p. 182) see
Comenius’ contribution to the development of social pedagogy in the following
areas:
a) Concept of education as an instrument of social development;
b) Emphasis on school understood as a social organisation contributing to
social learning;
c) Pansophy and upbringing related concept of education as an instrument of
social uniﬁcation and international communication;
d) Concept of universal human culture;
e) Concept of creativity in the world of human labour;
f) Implementation of Comenius’ intent in the contemporary practice of
upbringing and education in integrating Europe.
The Socio-Pedagogical Thinking of J.A. Comenius as Inspiration for Social Pedagogy
43
Also M. Procházka pays considerable attention to J.A. Comenius in his
monograph “Sociální pedagogika” (Social Pedagogy) (2012) in the chapter entitled
“J.A. Comenius jako inspirace pro sociálně-pedagogické myšlení” (J.A. Comenius
as Inspiration for Social Pedagogical Thinking). In M. Procházka’s opinion (2012,
p. 24) Comenius’ work oﬀers inspiration to social pedagogy in the following areas:
• Idea of the power of education and its potential for the transformation of
society;
• Idea of the democratic character of upbringing and education;
• Accent on the social role of school environment;
• Comprehensive concept of society improvement through education.
In Slovak social pedagogy, the contribution of Comenius’ work to social
pedagogy is explained in the publication “Dejiny sociálnej pedagogiky” (History
of Social Pedagogy) (2007). This book was also published in the Czech Republic
at the Faculty of Education of J.E. Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, within
a mutual exchange of faculty publications entitled “K dejinám sociálnej pedagogiky
v Európe” (Toward the History of Social Pedagogy in Europe) (2008).
Also Comenius’ work “De rerum humanorum emendatione consultatio catholica”
(General Consultation on the Improvement of All Things Human) is interesting
from the point of view of social pedagogy, especially its sections “Pampaedia”
(Universal Education) and “Panorthosia”(Universal Reform), where Comenius
understands education as the basis for the improvement of man, society and universal reformation of the world (Hroncová, Emmerová, Kraus, 2007, pp. 31 – 35).
Comenius’ contribution to social pedagogy is addressed also in the book
“Pedagogika sociálnej starostlivosti” (Pedagogy of Social Care), where the “stages
of Comenius’ educational works and their social aspects” and also Comenius’ sociopedagogical thinking in his treatise “O sirobě” (About Poor People) are analysed
(Hroncová, Emmerová, Walancik, pp. 18 – 24).
With regard to Comenius’ socio-historical as well as conceptual development,
according to D. Čapková (1987, p. 43) his philosophical-educational work may be
divided into 6 periods. In these periods his works were considerably inﬂuenced
by the 17t century social and political development, which left deep imprints
in them. However, in addition to educational, religious, philosophical and other
aspects, one can also ﬁnd socio-pedagogical thinking in Comenius’ works from
each of the periods.
The First Period covers the beginning of his activity up to 1620 (or 1624
including his studies abroad), which is characterised by his encyclopaedic and
national-educational works. The works “Theatrum universitatis rerum” (The
Theatre of All Things),”Linguae Bohemicae thesaurus” (Thesaurus of the Czech
44
Jolana Hroncová
Language) and others may be included there. From the point of view of social
pedagogy, his work “Listové do nebe” (Letters to Heaven) is interesting, published
in 1619 as his ﬁrst printed work. In it, Comenius criticized social injustice and
sided with the poor.
The Second Period (1620 – 1627). His work was marked by the events of that
period, namely by the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War, victory of the Habsburgs
in the Battle of White Mountain and counter-reformation, resulting in the persecution of Czech non-Catholics. In this period, Comenius had not found the way
out from the “labyrinth of the world” yet and that was why his works bore signs
of the social and his personal tragedy (his second wife with children died) and
are called the works of the First Consoling Period, or “Consoling Works”. These
works were intended to console unfortunate persecuted Czech Protestants and
other suﬀering people. They had a distinct social critical content. They included:
“Labyrint světa a ráj srdce”(The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the
Heart), “O sirobě”(About Poor People), “Pres Boží” (Press of God), “Truchlivý”
(The Mournful), etc. From the point of view of social pedagogy, the writing
“O sirobě”(About Poor People) is of particular interest. According to S. Húsková:
“The whole writing shows great love for suﬀering orphaned children and deep
social sympathy with their fate. Also, he emphasizes that they are not to despair
and resign to their diﬃcult situation, but make eﬀort to tackle the problems they
encounter in life. To overcome diﬃcult obstacles in life, Comenius gives orphaned
children examples of important people who, despite having been orphaned in
their childhood, made eﬀorts to overcome the obstacles in their life and achieved
an important social position in adulthood.” (In Hroncová, Emmerová, Walancik,
2011, p. 21). We can only agree with S. Húsková’s opinion that this work deserves
a deeper socio-pedagogical analysis. J.A. Comenius’ thought about man making
eﬀort to overcome diﬃcult situations in life is particularly inspiring for social
pedagogy. The activation of man’s own powers and “help to self-help” has belonged
to the key principles of social pedagogy since its origination. In social pedagogy,
the problems of orphanhood has belonged to the key areas of its interest especially
in German and Polish social pedagogy and thus Comenius’ writing “O sirobě”
(About Poor People) should be of greater inspiration also for contemporary Slovak
social pedagogy, despite the fact that Slovak legislation does not enable activities
of social pedagogues at children’s homes.
In that period Comenius found a ﬁxed point only in taking refuge in God and
retreat from this world. This period is denoted as the “Pre-Pansophic Period” (of
pre-universal knowledge), when J.A. Comenius stood in positions of medieval
passivity.
The Socio-Pedagogical Thinking of J.A. Comenius as Inspiration for Social Pedagogy
45
The Third Period (1628 – 1641) covers Comenius’ ﬁrst stay in Leszno, where
he wrote the most important pedagogical works of didactic nature and began to
develop the idea of pansophy, thus universal knowledge, from which the name
of this period is derived – the Pansophic Period of his work. It includes the works
“Didaktika česká” (Bohemian Didactics), “Brána jazyků otevřená” (The Gate of
Languages Unlocked) and “Informatorium školy mateřské” (School of Infancy),
written as parts of a more widely conceived work “Ráj český” (The Bohemian
Paradise). They were to serve the needs of the Czech nation and improvement
of Czech society. In that period, Comenius already considered education an
important factor of man’s personality development and society improvement. It
is obvious that Comenius had left the medieval passivity, typical of the previous
period, for the modern activity pursued especially under the inﬂuence of empirical
philosophy, F. Bacon, J.L. Vives and other philosophers. The work of this period
of particular importance for social pedagogy is “Informatorium školy mateřské”
(School of Infancy), where Comenius laid foundations for purposeful, systematic
education of man already in family, because children should be brought up by
proper standards of wisdom from early childhood. “All the main branches a tree
is to have, the tree sprouts from its trunk already in the ﬁrst years, thus later there is
nothing else necessary but they grow. It is the same with man: “everything depends on
the beginning; such is the importance of childhood. The meaningfulness or idleness
of life is determined at the beginning” (About Himself).
Comenius understood pre-school education as the foundation for human
education, on which vernacular school was to build. Since its origination, social
pedagogy has paid special attention to re-education of children and youth, because
of their failed upbringing in family and at school. The educational eﬀort of social
pedagogues in the process of youth reformation and rehabilitation is very diﬃcult
and not always eﬀective. In addition to “Informatorium školy mateřské” (School
of Infancy), J.A. Comenius gave the rationale of proper pre-school education of
children in family also in “Didactica magna” (Great Didactics) and “Pampaedia”
(Universal Education) as follows:
1. The main reason is the consideration of universal reform.
2. All in all, we are such in the body, soul, morals, eﬀort, speech, conduct, as we
were made by the ﬁrst education.
3. It is easier to educate than to reform; for this foresighted care is necessary
from childhood.
4. Thus, it saves eﬀort and time if we begin education on time.
Many ideas in “Didactica magna” (Great Didactics) are also inspiring for social
pedagogy. His idea that “if man is to be produced it is necessary that he be formed
46
Jolana Hroncová
by education” (title of Chapter 6 of Bohemian Didactics) and also the idea that
the “reform of the world must begin with a reform of school and man” has deep
socio-pedagogical meaning. The socializing importance of education is obvious,
e. g., in the thought: “we are born not for ourselves alone, but for God and for our
neighbour, that is to say for the human race. Thus, becoming seriously persuaded
of this truth we will learn from our boyhood to desire and strive to be of service to
as many as possible. Thus the good fortune of private and of public life would be
assured, since all men would be ready to work together for the common good and to
help one another” (as cited in: Čapková, D., 1987, p. 49).
The Fourth Period (1641 – 1642) includes his short stay in England, where
Comenius wrote the pansophic treatise “Via lucis” (The Way of Light), where he
formulated the thought that education is not the goal but only a means for the
development of science and improvement of the world and gave instructions how
to overcome fragmentation of sciences.
The Fifth Period (1642 – 1656) includes his stay in Elbląg, Sárospatak and two
short stays in Leszno. This period is called the Period of Reform, because Comenius began to work on the extensive work “De rerum humanarum emendatione
consultatio catholica” (General Consultation on the Improvement of All Things
Human), which he divided into seven parts: Panegersia (Universal Awakening),
Panaugia (Universal Dawning), Pansophia (Universal Knowledge), Pampaedia
(Universal Education), Panglottia (Universal Language Study), Panorthosia
(Universal Reform), Panuthesia (Universal Admonition). From the point of view
of social pedagogy, especially the works Pampaedia and Panorthosia are of interest, where Comenius understands education as the basis for the eﬀort of man,
society and the world for a universal reform. In Pampaedia he wrote: “general
corruption of the world begins in the roots. Therefore also the universal renewal of
the world must begin from there…” All hope for a universal reform depends on the
ﬁrst education. If it is good education, matching the standards of the truth and good,
then it is not possible that those who undergo it are not superior to others. The happiness of the whole life depends on it, too. Faults of the ﬁrst education accompany
man for the whole life. Therefore the ﬁrst guard of the human race is in the cradle;
what could be easily improved in childhood, becomes irreparable at the old age.”
(PŠENÁK, J., 1992, p. 20). From its origination, the attention of social pedagogy
has focused especially on addressing and remedying educational problems in
children and youth, while laying strong emphasis on the role of upbringing and
education in this process. In this connection, it has placed special emphasis on
socio-educational work with a dysfunctional family, which as a rule signiﬁcantly
contributes to the formation of deviant behaviour in children and youth. Such
The Socio-Pedagogical Thinking of J.A. Comenius as Inspiration for Social Pedagogy
47
thoughts can be found already in “Pampaedia” (Universal Education), where
Comenius writes:
Axiom I: Neglect of education is the corruption of people, families, empires and
of the whole world.
Axiom II: Faults developed in family later lead to diﬃculties at school, church
and in the state.
To correct the faults in the development of the young, in his “Didactica magna”
(Great Didactics) Comenius recommends proper education and upbringing,
because “there is no more certain way under the sun for the raising of sunken
humanity than the proper education of the young”.
The work “Panorthosia” (Universal Reform) contains Comenius’ thought that
the “reform of public aﬀairs begins with the reform of school”. This period also
includes treatises of the Second Consoling Period in Comenius’ work, inﬂuenced
by events in his personal (his second wife died) and social life. The end of The
Thirty Years’ War by The Peace of Westphalia meant the end of his hope to return
to the homeland and therefore his works from this period are marked by considerable resignation, sorrow and pessimism, which he later overcame by increased
working activities. Important “Consoling Works” of this period include “Kšaft
umírající matky, Jednoty bratrské” (The Bequest of the Dying Mother of the Unity
of Brethren), which is a moral legacy to the Czech nation, while parting with the
dying Unity of Brethren. From the pedagogical point of view, his works written
during his stay in Sárospatak (1650 – 1654) are of interest, in particular “Orbis
sensualium pictus” (The Visible World in Pictures), “Schola ludus” (School by Play),
“Praecepta morum” (Rules of Morality), “De primario ingenia colendi instrumento
sollerter varsando, libris, oratio” (How to Cleverly Use Books, the Main Instrument
of Education, a speech) and others.
The Sixth period (1656 – 1670) covers Comenius’ stay in Amsterdam, where he
went to after Leszno had been burnt in the Swedish-Polish war in 1656, in which
Comenius had lost his property and many works, to begin to “glue the shards of
broken vessels” again. Here he published his most important pedagogical treatises
under the title “Opera didactica omnia” (Writing on All Learning) and in 1658
his “Orbis sensualium pictus” (The Visible World in Pictures) was published for
the ﬁrst time. He also worked on additional sections of “Consultatio catholica”
(General Consultation), which resulted in the treatise “Clamores Eliae” (The
Exhortations of Elijah). There he saw the international staﬀ of scholars as new
“Elijah”, who, with the assistance of enlightened rulers, would carry out the reform
48
Jolana Hroncová
of the corrupt world. The treatise “Unum necessarium” (The One Thing Needful)
is the philosophical testament of Comenius’ work, where he expressed his longing
for peace and harmonious unity of the world. He expressed the necessity of mutual
assistance in his autobiographic writing “Continuatio admonitionis fraternae…”
(Continuation of Brotherly Admonition) written at the end of his life as follows:
“…we who participate in human nature are to help others, also participating in it”
(About Himself). J.A. Comenius as a philosopher, educator, reformer, theologian
and social thinker striving for the “improvement of things human” is of great
inspiration also for social pedagogy. What social pedagogy also ﬁnds inspiring,
among other things, is the apparent democratic character and social feeling of
J.A. Comenius’ approach to education and his view that upbringing and education
should be provided to all without diﬀerence in their estate. “…not the children of
the rich or of the powerful only, but of all alike, boys and girls, both noble and ignoble, rich and poor… should be sent to school” (Váňa, J., 1963, p. 71). Similar views
were stressed also by the founder of the theoretical direction in social pedagogy,
P. Natorp, in his book “Democracy of Education,” where he stated that education
should be provided to everybody by the level of his abilities, to all layers of the
nation, while also demanding mitigation or elimination of class diﬀerences in
education. The socio-pedagogical dimension of his work has not been suﬃciently
elaborated at the theoretical level, or acknowledged. Comenius’ ideas of the interdependencies of upbringing and education with the reform of man and society
and the universal reform of the world are the stimulus also for social pedagogy,
which can be expressed with his thought: “Some tried to reform schools. Others
wanted to reform churches, and others, for a change, states. However, if at the same
time all of you do not reform inside and at the same time do not reform everything
that is interconnected, you will never progress and everything will decline in chaos”
(Čapková, D., 1987, p. 154).
Conclusion
Comenius’ pedagogical thoughts are timeless and a source of wisdom for
many disciplines, but he also provokes modern society to reﬂection – with his
vision of the global world and admonition for the human race to grow wise.
“Because: Firstly, we are all seated in the great theatre of the world: every action
here aﬀects us all, because the sun provides the light and God the eyes to all. Secondly, we, the whole human race, are one kind, one blood, one family, one house:
therefore just as a part helps its whole and any organ all other organs of the same
The Socio-Pedagogical Thinking of J.A. Comenius as Inspiration for Social Pedagogy
49
body and every member of the family to another member of the same family, or,
if he can, to the whole family: also we, who participate in the human nature, are
to help others, also participating in it. Thirdly: God already at the beginning of
creation entrusted every man with care of every neighbour” (About Himself). The
controversial period of the 17-th century, when Comenius lived, bears many
analogies with the present times. Thorough study of the socio-pedagogical
legacy of J.A. Comenius belongs to the future tasks not only of Slovak, but in
particular of Czech social pedagogy.
References
Čapková, D. (1978). Myslitelsko-vychovatelský odkaz Jána Amosa Komenského. 1.
vyd. Praha: Academia, nakl. ČSAV, 256 p. Tem. Skup. 02/45, 21 – 110 – 87.
Galla, K. (1967). Úvod do sociologie výchovy. Praha: SPN, 177 p.
Chocholová, S., Pánková, M., Steiner, M. (eds.) a kol. (2009). Jan Amos Komenský.
Odkaz kultuře vzdělávání. Praha: Nakl. Academia, AV ČR. 2009. 832 s. ISBN
978 – 80 – 200 – 1700 – 0.
Hroncová, J., Emmerová, I. (2004). Sociálna pedagogika. Banská Bystrica: PF UMB.
280 p.
Hroncová, J., Emmerová, I., Walancik, M. (2011). Pedagogika sociálnej starostlivosti.
Banská Bystrica: PF UMB. 220 p.
Hroncová, J., Emmerová, I., Kraus, B. a kol. (2007). Dejiny sociálnej pedagogiky.1.
vyd. Banská Bystrica. PF UMB, 212 p.
Hroncová, J., Emmerová, I., Kraus, B. a kol. (2008). K dejinám sociálnej pedagogiky
v Európe. Ústí nad Labem: UJEP, 212 p.
Hroncová, J., Emmerová, I., Walancik, M. a kol. (2011). Pedagogika sociálnej starostlivosti. 1. vyd. Banská Bystrica. PF UMB, 220p.
Komenský, J.A. (1992). Vševýchova. Bratislava: Obzor, 272 p.
Komenský, J.A. (1991). Veľká didaktika. Bratislava: SPN. 279 p.
Komenský, J.A. (1992). Všenáprava. In: Obecná porada o nápravě věci lidských.
Praha: Svoboda, 597 p.
Komenský, J.A. (1987). O sobě. Praha: Odeon. 1987. 383 p.
Kraus, B. (2008). Základy sociální pedagogiky. 1. vyd. Praha: Portál, 216 p.
Marburger, H. (1979). Entwicklung und Konzepte der Sozialpägogik. Műnchen:
Juventa Werlag, 190 p.
Natorp, P. (1974). Sozialpädagogik. Paderhorn.
Procházka, M. (2012). Sociální pedagogika. Praha: Grada, 208 p.
50
Jolana Hroncová
Pšenák, J. (1992). Predslov. In: Komenský, J.A.: Vševýchova. Bratislava.
Shilling, J. (1999). Sociálna práca. Hlavné smery vývoja sociálnej pedagogiky
a sociálnej práce. Trnava: FZaSP TU, 272 p.
Váňa, J. (1963). Dejiny pedagogiky. Bratislava: SPN, 375 p.
Didin Saripudin,
Kokom Komalasari
Indonesia
Living Values Education
in School Habituation Program and Its Eﬀect
on Student Character Development
Abstract
This study describes the model of living values education (LVE) in school
habituation activities and its impact on character development. It employs the
design of research and development in junior and senior high-schools in Bandung.
The model of LVE in school habituation is carried out by clearly deﬁning the
values of life and expected behaviors, learning of values in the real life contexts,
regular awards for expected behaviors, proactive correction of deviant behaviors
through clear procedures, and by using the principle of example, correction,
awards, and enforcement. The application of the model of LVE in school habituation signiﬁcantly aﬀects the student’s character development by 42.1%. Thus, the
model of LVE in habituation program can be implemented in schools.
Keywords: living values education, habituation, character, students
Introduction
Changes in the values of public life have led to a decrease in the quality of
character. According to Lickona (1992), there are ten signs of degradation of
characters. They are (1) an increase in violence among adolescents, (2) the use
of deteriorating language and words, (3) the strong inﬂuence of peer group in
violence, (4) an increase in self-destructive behaviors (drugs, alcohol, and free sex),
(5) the blurring of moral guidelines, (6) the decline of work ethic, (7) the lowering
52
Didin Saripudin, Kokom Komalasari
of respect for parents and teachers, (8) the lack of the sense of responsibility of the
individual and the citizen, (9) an increase in dishonesty, and (10) the existence of
mutual suspicion and hatred among people. Megawangi (2004, pp. 8 – 11) examines
the emergence of such signs in the younger generation of post-reformation Indonesia today, concluding the character education of Indonesian younger generation
needs to be reconstructed for the betterment of the nation. Wonohadidjojo (2004)
asserts that the true character of citizens reﬂects the personality of the nation. The
good or bad image of a nation is determined by the character of citizens in the
form of national identity.
Characters do not automatically appear in people at the time they are born. It
requires a long process through parenting and education. Therefore, a process of
character education is required. Lickona (1992) deﬁnes character education as
“when we think about the kind of character we want for our children, it’s clear that
we want them to be able to judge what is right, care deeply about what is right, and
then do what they believe to be right –even in the face of pressure from without and
temptation from within.” Thus, character education is not just about teaching what
is right and what is wrong. Moreover, it encourages good habits so that learners know what is right and wrong, feeling good values and being accustomed to
them. Therefore, character education is closely associated with “habits” that are
constantly practiced and performed.
Character education is a habit. Consequently, the formation of a person’s character requires communities of character. The role of schools as communities of
character is essential. In this context, Lockwood (1997) deﬁnes character education as “any school-initiated program, design in cooperation with other community
institutions, to shape directly and systematically the behavior of young people by
inﬂuencing explicitly the nonrelativistic values believed to bring about that behavior”.
The school is the main sector that optimally needs to utilize and to empower all
existing learning environments to initiate, improve, strengthen, and enhance the
process of character education continuously.
Character education is closely related to the continuing habits that are
practiced or carried through a habituation program in the form of routine and
spontaneous activities, examples, and conditioning by the school (Ministry of
Education, 2010, pp. 10 – 30). Naping, (2007, p. 67) explains that habituation can
be understood as internalization and institutionalization. Internalization refers
to the eﬀorts to plant values, attitudes, feelings, views, and knowledge that grow
and thrive in society, where its individuals are members of its culture. On the
other hand, institutionalization emphasizes the aspects of values, norms, and
behaviors agreed jointly by individuals in a social context, which controls and
Living Values Education in School Habituation Program
53
directs behavior in achieving speciﬁc goals. Saripudin (2010, p. 136) conﬁrms
that habituation in school is associated with the creation of the culture of the
school, or school climate, that is the characteristic of the school. The inﬂuence of
the climate and culture of a school is signiﬁcant for the success and the quality
of the school’s graduates.
Although the culture and climate of the school are considered as unique for
each school, the values of the character that needs to be imparted to students
are universal values. All religions, traditions, and culture certainly uphold these
values. These universal values must be able to unite all members of society from
diﬀerent cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds. The values of character are
living values, the basic values of life embodied in various habits that universally
underlie good relations and harmony in life. The key personal and social values
are peace, appreciation, love, responsibility, happiness, cooperation, honesty,
humility, tolerance, simplicity, freedom, and unity (Tillman, 2004, p. xiii). These
values are developed in the living values of education through activities. Tillman
(2004, p. xv) explains that this education includes collecting points of reﬂection,
broad imagination, practicing relaxation and focus, expressing artistic creation,
developing social skills, developing cognitive awareness about justice, developing
social harmony, and collecting cultural values.
Schools should develop character education that meets the characteristics
stated by Komalasari (2012, pp. 246 – 251). First, character education is based on
the living values, making it easier to be internalized and implemented. Second,
character education is based on school culture, considering each school is unique
in character building. Third, character education comprehensively involves all
aspects of character. Fourth, character education is integrated in all school
activities. Based on these ideas, it is necessary to develop a model of living values
education in school habituation. This model is assumed to be able to eﬀectively
shape the characters of learners, because living values are taught in the context
of real life at school, in line with the uniqueness of each school in implementing
character development.
The focus of this research is a model of Living Values Education (LVE) in school
habituation activities to develop the character of learners. The objectives of this
study were to describe 1) the model of LVE in school habituation activities and 2)
the impact of the model of LVE in school habituation activities on the development of the characters of learners.
54
Didin Saripudin, Kokom Komalasari
Research Methodology
Research Design
The research was carried out by using the design of research and development.
The application of Research and Development aims to develop a model of LVE in
school habituation to develop students’characters. The research was conducted in
two forms of activity. They were (1) the qualitative exploration and (2) quantitative
correlation-regression (Nasution, 2003, p. 12). The exploration activities are used
to develop and implement the model, while the correlation-regression is used to
observe the impact of the model application.
Research Sample
Subjects of the study were students, teachers, and principals of public and
private high schools in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The research sample was
selected with the use of a purposive sampling technique based on the best school
in Character Education. The study sample consisted of three schools at the junior
and senior high-school levels (which represents public and private schools). The
junior high-school level sample included SMP 44 Bandung, SMP labschool UPI,
and SMP Darul Hikam. The senior high-school level sample included SMA 3
Bandung, SMA 14 Bandung, and SMA Kartika Siliwangi XIX-2 Bandung.
Instrument and Procedures
Data collection instruments included (1) an observation sheet of participation/observation, (2) a documentation study, (3) focus group discussions, and
(4) a questionnaire. The study used the concept of Research and Development of
Borg and Gall (1989, p. 784) adapted and modiﬁed at four stages. The fourth stage
included preliminary study, preparation of conceptual design model, validation/
veriﬁcation of the conceptual model, and model implementation.
Data Analysis
Qualitative data analysis covered (1) reducing the data (ﬁeld reports and summarizing the relevant key points); (2) categorizing and classifying data systematically; (3) displaying the data in the form of a table or image (to explain the
relationship between the data); (4) conducting cross-site analysis (by comparing
and analyzing the data in depth); and (5) presenting the ﬁndings (drawing general
conclusions and implications of implementation, as well as recommendations for
development) (Fraenkel and Wallen, 1993, pp. 399 – 403). Quantitative data analysis
was performed by using correlation-regression analysis.
Living Values Education in School Habituation Program
55
Research Results
Model of Integration of Living Values Education in Habituation
The habituation activity that is based on LVE is developed in several steps. The
steps are (1) development of living values at each school, (2) the living values and
expected behaviors are clearly deﬁned and formulated to be easily understood,
(3) applying the patterns of expected behaviors in school habituation activities;
4) the teaching of the living values and expected behaviors in the real contexts
of in-classroom, outside classroom, and around the school environments, and
(5) awarding behaviors, which is in conformity with the expectations of regular
reward system and correcting deviant behaviors proactively with clear procedures.
Values of life are described and elaborated into the patterns of behaviors in
school habituation.
Table 1. Description of living values and patterns of habituation in school
VALUES
DESCRIPTION
HABITUATION IN SCHOOL
1. Peace
Attitudes, words, and actions that cause others to
feel happy and safe in their
presence.
• Creating a peaceful school atmosphere
• Familiarizing smiles, greetings, and welcoming
• Familiarizing polite behaviors and speaking
politely
• Familiarizing non-violent behaviors in school
community
• Learning without gender bias
• Kinship in school that is full of aﬀection
2. Award
Attitudes and actions that encourage students to produce
something useful for their
society; recognize and honor
the success of others.
• Providing appreciation for the work of learners
• Displaying signs of achievement awards
• Creating a school atmosphere to motivate
learners to be achievers
3. Love
Attitudes and actions to help
other people and communities who are in need.
• Empathy for peers and community
• Studying social actions
• Building mutual aﬀection and sharing
4. Tolerance
• Providing equal services to the whole school
Attitudes and actions that
community regardless of race, religion, ethnicrespect the diﬀerences of religion, race, ethnicity, opinions,
ity, class, social and economic status
attitudes, and others that are
• Providing services to children with special
needs
diﬀerent from themselves
• Working in a diﬀerent group
• Respecting school community in carrying out
worship according to the teachings of their
religion
Didin Saripudin, Kokom Komalasari
56
VALUES
DESCRIPTION
HABITUATION IN SCHOOL
5. Honesty
Behavior that is based on an
attempt to shape students
into persons who always
believe in words, actions, and
work.
• Providing facilities for announcements of ﬁnding and missing items
• Transparency of ﬁnancial statements and periodic assessment of academic achievement
• Prohibition of cheating
• Establishing cafeteria with honesty concept
6. Humility
• Creation of a healthy competition atmosphere
Behavior that accepts the
in achievement
advantages and disadvantages
of self and others
• High-achiever learners are willing to share their
knowledge with other learners
• Learners who experience diﬃculties are willing
to learn from achievers
• Teachers are open to suggestions from students
• Learners are open to suggestions (warning)
from other learners
7. Cooperation
Actions that demonstrate
cooperation with others
• Setting-up a classroom and school to facilitate
the interaction of learners
• Cooperative learning
• In communicating, teachers are not to distance
learners
8. Happiness
Actions that show a sense of
fun and enjoyment
• Classroom and school settings are active, creative, and fun
• Learning is interspersed with fun games (ice
breaking)
• Teacher appearance amuses students
9. Responsibility
Attitudes and behaviors of
a person to perform duties
toward self, society, environment (natural, social, and
cultural), country, and God
•
•
•
•
•
10. Simplicity
Attitudes and behaviors that
are understated (not excessive)
• Frugality in the use of school facilities (electricity, water, and school supplies)
• No arrogance
• Not bringing fancy equipment (mobile phones,
jewelry, gadgets, etc.)
11. Freedom
Attitudes and behaviors
which show independence
according to the rules
• Atmosphere of democratic school
• Teachers provide opportunities for learners to
express opinions
• free and responsible
• Learners are courageous to express their idea
• Providing a suggestion box
Implementation of regular post duty
Active participation in school activities
Asking trouble shooting suggestions
Submitting assignments on time
Working duties in accordance with its role
within the group
• Maintaining cleanliness, tidiness, and beauty of
schools
Living Values Education in School Habituation Program
VALUES
12. Unity
DESCRIPTION
HABITUATION IN SCHOOL
Action that shows a sense of
unity and collective interests
rather than an individual or
a group
• Maintaining the integrity of school
• Avoiding student grouping based on ethnicity,
religion, race, and social class
• Maintaining the good name of school
• Giving priority to the interests of school rather
than an individual or a particular group
57
The development of LVE-based values integrates activities (collecting points of
reﬂection, broad imagination, practicing relaxation and focus, expressing artistic
creation, developing social skills, developing cognitive awareness about justice,
developing social harmony, and collecting cultural values) by using the principle
of example, correction, award, and enforcement. The example principle is fulﬁlled
by providing examples of good behaviors by all members of the school community
(principals, teachers, administrators, school guards, cafeteria personnel, and, of
course, the students themselves). The correction principle is done by providing
direct criticism in an oral or written form, and actions of politeness and courtesy
to other people’s behaviors that are incompatible with the living values. The award
principle is fulﬁlled by giving recognition to good behaviors that have been shown
by a person, both verbally and non-verbally. The enforcement (the appropriate
sanctions) means the rules or school regulations that have been implemented
should be aplied and enforced. Violation of rules will be subject to strict sanctions
according to clear procedures.
The Impact of the Implementation of the LVE Model on Students’
Character Development
The result of the correlation analysis of LVE variables in the habituation and
student character development (Y) is the Pearson Product Moment correlation
r = 0.649 and P-value (Sig.) = 0.000. Since the P-value (Sig,) = 0.000 is smaller
than α = 0.05, it can be stated that there is a signiﬁcant linear correlation of 0.649
between the application of the LVE in habituation and the character development
of students. Interpreted by using the rules of Guilford (Guilford’s Emprirical Rule),
the closeness of the relationship is considered a high category. The analysis of
correlation data is shown in the following table.
Didin Saripudin, Kokom Komalasari
58
Table 2. Correlation of LVE variables in habituation to the Character
Development of Students
No.
1
Variable
Correlation
Habituation
X
Pearson Correlation
X
Y
1
.649**
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
2
Student Characters
Y
Pearson Correlation
.000
436
436
.649**
1
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000
N
436
436
The results of the regression test from SPSS 18.0 are presented in the following
table.
Table 3. Regression of X on Y
Model
1
R
R Square
Adjusted R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
.649a
.421
.405
7.832
a. Predictors: (Constant), X
Based on the regression table, which has been described previously, the value
of R2 (R Square) shows 42.1% (0.421 x 100%) of the variance “Y variable,” which
can be explained by changes in the ‘X’variable. This suggests there is a signiﬁcant
positive eﬀect of LVE model implementation in school habituation on student
character development by 42.1%. The remaining 57.9% is inﬂuenced by other factors that are not examined in this study. It can be concluded that the application
of the LVE model in school habituation positively-signiﬁcantly aﬀects student
character development.
Discussion
LVE in school habituation is a process of acculturation, institutionalization, and
strengthening the living values in accordance with school climate. This was conﬁrmed by Budimansyah (2010, p. 63), who found that habituation is the process
of creating a variety of situations and conditions (persistent life situations).The
situations and conditions contain a variety of reinforcements, which allows learners in their education unit, at home, and in communities, to behave according to
appropriate values and to make the values internalized and personalized as charac-
Living Values Education in School Habituation Program
59
ter or nature (Budimansyah, 2010, p. 63). In the habituation process students tend
to perform actions or deeds that are relatively ﬁxed and automatic so that attitudes
and actions tend to be stable. The attitudes or the behaviors that become habits
have several characteristics: among other things, (a) behavior is relatively settled;
(b) habituation generally does not require a quite high function of thinking, e.g.,
greeting can be thought or imitated; (c) habit is not a result of maturity process,
but a result of experience or learning; (d) behavior is performed repeatedly in
response to the same stimuli (Ministry of National Education, 2007, p. 4).
LVE in school habituation is a process of learning values in practical life, which
is done repeatedly so that it becomes a habit. Aswandi (2010, p. 20) explains that
the learning process takes place outside of the conscious side (cerebral cortex).
Over time, its repetition will be a pattern of thought or behaviors that are new.
The events will be moved to the subconscious side of brain (basal ganglia), which
is automatic. The more often it is repeated, the more automatic and unconscious
the actions will be. The habit will immediately be changed and it will gradually be
strengthened. Furthermore, neurologists conclude that the brain has an amazing
ability to receive thoughts or repetitive behaviors and connect them to the patterns
or habits that are automatic and unconscious. The more often a constructive action
is repeated, the deeper, faster, and more automated the action and the thought will
be. Repetition as a form of good habits in activities needs to be done to result in
a good activity.
Students’ characters should be continually strengthened through habituation
LVE-based process in schools. Aristotle, as cited by Megawangi (2004, p. 113),
conﬁrms that characters are closely related to the “habits” that are continuously
repeated. Characters are like “muscles” that can become mushy if they are never
trained. They will be strong and sturdy when they are often used. Comparable to
a body builder, who constantly works out to form his muscles, characters will also
be formed with exercises that will eventually become a habit.
Students’ characters are composed of students’ habits of. Because habits are
consistent, an often-unconscious pattern, they constantly reveal the character of
students. Therefore, characters are developed through the stages of knowledge,
implementation, and habits, so that character is not limited to knowledge alone.
A person who has the knowledge of goodness is not necessarily able to act according to his/her knowledge without a habit to perform it. Characters also reach the
area of emotions and habits themselves. This is in line with Lickona (1992) and
Aswandi (2010, p. 10), who stated that the importance of character education is
comprehensive. It covers three components of good character: moral knowledge,
moral feeling, and moral action.
60
Didin Saripudin, Kokom Komalasari
The implementation of the LVE integration in habituation is based on the
behaviorist theory of Thorndike, Watson, Clark Hull, Guthrie, and Skinner
(Schunk, 2012, pp. 98 – 155). The theory states that the learning process puts more
emphasis on stimuli and responses that emerge from students. In this model,
human qualities are observed from the aspects of performance/behavior that can
be seen empirically (real). The patterns of stimuli and responses cover several
points. First, the stimulus covers habituation processes and continuous repetition
of behaviors in daily life at school. Second, response covers reinforcement by using
a system of reward and punishment through the addition of points for achievement and reduction of points for oﬀense. The integration of LVE in habituation
through this system will provide reinforcement for the expected behavior patterns
and to reduce prohibited behavioral patterns.
In the process of LVE-based habituation, the most important thing is the
examples set by the whole school community. The example is directly taught
through examples of behaviors that appear in daily life at home, school, and community. There is a wise sentence: “Children see, children do”. It can also be taught
through learning activities in the classroom throughout the exemplary stories of
the prophets, biographies of leaders/heroes of Indonesia, inviting achievers to
share their experiences in achieving things. In line with the “exemplary”, the next
important thing is the culture of “correction” in the framework of establishing
truth and avoiding vices. In Indonesian culture, these habits still seem unfamiliar
because our culture is still paternalistic and hypocritical (Kontjaraningrat, 1983).
When it is necessary to reprimand someone, the feelings of fear of hostility/scolding/hatred often appear. It eventually leads to apathy (not care) toward what other
people do.
Conclusions
The model of LVE in habituation is implemented through the development of
living values, which include the value of peace, respect, love, responsibility, happiness, cooperation, honesty, humility, tolerance, simplicity, freedom, and unity in
accordance with the school culture. Integration of LVE in school habituation is
done in several steps. The steps are the following: (a) the living values and expected
behaviors are clearly deﬁned and formulated to be easily understood; (b) the teaching of the living values and expected behaviors in real contexts of in-classroom,
outside classroom, and around the school environment; (c) the behaviors that are
appropriate are regularly rewarded; (d) proactive correction of deviant behavior
Living Values Education in School Habituation Program
61
with clear procedures; and (e) the development LVE-based values by using the
principle of example, correction, awards, and enforcement.
The application of the LVE model in school habituation positively and signiﬁcantly aﬀects student character development. The amount of the inﬂuence of
LVE on student character development is 42.1%. Consequently, the habituation
program in schools can integrate the LVE model, both from the aspect of the basic
living values and their development activities.
Acknowledgements: This research is a grant from the Directorate General of Higher
Education, of the Ministry of Education of Indonesia. The author would like to express
sincere appreciation for all the support provided.
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Joanna Maria Garbula
Poland
Towards Micro-History –
New Look at the Family History1
Abstract
The article is dedicated to the problems of history education in the early school
years, a question which until now has been almost neglected in literature. Studies
on constructing the historical senses of primary school pupils can help, if only partially, to ﬁll in this gap. Two aspects are discussed: historical senses constructed in
the context of educational situations (focusing on the content, developed around
the teacher, concentrated on pupils’ knowledge) and historical senses constructed
by pupils via narration. By analyzing the research material, the author was able to
distinguish the subjective senses and meanings which pupils participating in the
study assigned to spheres of private life and to spheres which are manifestations
of grand history in private stories.
Keywords: micro-history, memory, history education, narration, children’s
historical senses
1. Introductory issues – micro-history and memory
Progress in history research has inﬂuenced historical narration and enabled us
to look for new research areas. Meta-narration and reﬂections which employ more
profound notions (Topolski, 1996) have been replaced by other ways of writing
1
Cf.: J.M. Garbula (2010), Znaczenia historyczne w edukacji początkowej. Narracyjne konstruowanie historii rodzinnych. Wyd. UWM, Olsztyn.
64
Joanna Maria Garbula
about history, e.g., the history of culture, feminist history, post-colonial history,
multi-media history or micro-history.
Unlike ‘grand history’, micro-histories talk about matters less important on
a macro-scale, but signiﬁcant for speciﬁc social groups or individuals. E. Domańska
calls them “pearls of contemporary historiography”, as they describe “small events
of everyday history, small worlds of ‘other people,’ who are brought closer to us by
the researcher in order to reveal their uniqueness” (Domańska, 1999, p. 21). Microhistories are stories presenting someone’s memory about life, events, and values.
Contemporary historiography assigns a special role to memory. An interdisciplinary debate has been going on recently on relationships concerning the terms
‘history’ and ‘memory’. “The assumption that history was separate from memory,
i.e., the narration about what happened created by professional historians from
the narration by non-professionals (‘the man in the street’, politicians, journalists,
artists), was the essence of all reﬂection on references to the past ...” (Szpociński,
2010, p. 12). This approach is expressed by P. Nora (1992), who claims that history
and memory are opposed to each other. A diﬀerent stand is taken by P. Ricoeur
(2007), who argues that there is no contradiction between the terms ‘memory’
and ‘history’. Memory is situated before, around and after history. In his opinion,
memory is the manifestation of the missing past.
Memory is re-read and re-deﬁned, as it undergoes constant changes, transformations, reconstructions or valuation, which, e.g., gives precedence to sorrowful
memory and memory about martyrdom over the memory of the times of glory.
The representation of someone’s memory about past time by rejecting the true
or false criterion while accepting the subjectivity and prescriptivism of memory
is another indicator of the scale of these transformations, whose advocates often
assume a demanding tone.
Memory sometimes appears as ‘a new categorical imperative of the secularized
world (François, 2010, p. 18). In many parts of the world, we hear about the obligation to preserve memory and the aversion to forgetfulness (François, 2010), or
about the need to ensure the right position to memory (Todorov, 1995). Scholars
talk about individual and communal memory. Individual memory is investigated
and described by representatives of diﬀerent disciplines, from the most distant
past, and refers to an individual biographical experience. Communal memory
is not a sum of individual memories. Communal memory is created through
an interaction between members of a given community, thus being their nonmaterial heritage, which relates to the past, present time and future. Two types of
communal memory are distinguishable: communicative memory, which seems
to be the original one (a dialogue between generations), and cultural memory,
Towards Micro-History – New Look at the Family History
65
which strengthens the communal identity (J. Assmann, 1992; A. Assmann, 2006).
Memory perceived as above creates the contemporary social, political and cultural
reality.
2. Research Methodology
My intention is to demonstrate some substantial problems of contemporary
history education at the early education level, which often pass unnoticed. An
example is the approach which focuses on micro-history and memory, both
individual and communal. Until recently, early education has not dealt with the
narrative creation of micro-history, which includes the history of one’s own family. These questions were perceived as expanding beyond the scope of capacities
possessed by youngest pupils. Micro-history is therefore a novel type of reading
history and a new way ‘to invite’ history to schools.
The subject matter of my investigation encompasses the historical senses constructed by pupils in diﬀerent educational situations. This purpose is served by the
category ‘children’s historical sense’, which grows from the assumption that a child
determines and understands reality with the help of meanings which they assign
to the world by living in given cultural surroundings and from the negation of the
concept that the human mind sees the world like a mirror reﬂection (Klus-Stańska,
2004). My main objective was to recognize historical meanings constructed by
schoolchildren at the early education level.
Historical meanings are considered in two aspects:
• historical meanings constructed in the context of educational situations,
• historical meanings constructed through narratives by schoolchildren.
The research on micro-history presented in this paper belongs to the current
of qualitative studies. In studies on the child and the child’s history education,
a quality case study has proved to be an extremely useful research strategy (Stake,
2005). Because of the speciﬁc nature of the research object, such as the recognition of historical meanings constructed by pupils at the early education levels, an
instrumental type of case study was adopted. The analyzed cases were speciﬁc
types of teaching situations, which were markedly diﬀerent from one another
because they were created on the basis of diﬀerent educational ideologies. These
situations focused on:
• the teaching content - behavioural style – concentrating on behaviours,
• the teacher - romantic style – emotional atmosphere,
• the knowledge of a pupil – progressive styles – notions,
66
Joanna Maria Garbula
they were used to generate three types of educational projects, including a few
phases: initiation of a project, doing the project and the climax.
Whichever the situations, the essence was always to explore the historical
knowledge which belonged to the children’s private world, representing a variety
of backgrounds, e.g., cities, towns or villages. The study covered the ﬁrst three
forms of primary school. The following steps were performed: nine-day historical
experience projects, rooted in the diﬀerent types of educational situations, with an
intrinsic quasi-scientiﬁc research eﬀort undertaken by the child (talks, interviews,
watching photographs and documents, drawing family trees, trips to places important for the child’s family) and analysis of texts created by children according to
the author’s own model of the interpretation of children’s narratives.
3. Research Results
Narratives about the history of one’s own families which had been produced
in the course of three types of educational situations were submitted to analysis.
Having analyzed the content of the children’s narratives, the author distinguished
the social life contexts which the pupils’ ancestors had entered during their everyday lives, and the memory of which they transmitted to their grandchildren. The
schoolchildren talked about their great-grandparents, grandparents, parents and
sometimes about more distant relatives. Sporadically, they mentioned strangers.
They recounted stories about living persons and those who had passed away. We
can learn about them in the context of family home, everyday life, work, education, entertainment, but also during the war, death and natural disasters. We ﬁnd
little about their physical characteristics because these seemed unimportant to
the children. What we do ﬁnd out, however, is what those people’s lives looked like
when they were children and adolescents, what kind of people they were, how they
struggled with adversities of fate and what made them happy or sad.
In their narratives, the schoolchildren showed a wide array of things their
ancestors had occupied themselves with. They talked about the things which
people had been doing for ever, ordinary activities, associated with work, education and leisure, but also about festive customs, ceremonies, holidays and family
celebrations. An example was the tradition started by an Italian grandmother, who
decided that every child born in her family was treated to spaghetti to celebrate
the day of her patron saint.
Another aspect of the social life emerging from the pupils’ family stories comprised interactions, i.e., as P. Sztompka (2005, p. 39) explains, “mutually orientated
Towards Micro-History – New Look at the Family History
67
actions of at least two persons.” The children presented family members collaborating with others (e.g., during work in a coal mine, on a ﬁeld), talking (with wife,
mother-in-law, children), communicating (passing good or bad news in family,
expressing sympathy), examining or being examined (teachers and learners),
contending with persecution and cruelty (forced labour), undertaking ﬁght with
the enemy (battle ﬁelds) or helping one another (natural disasters).
The narratives also contain references to culture, mainly the material one, and
to tradition understood as a cultural process. The material culture means mostly
work tools, household utensils and furnishing, everyday and festive clothing. Tradition is always associated with some lasting social group, which passes traditional
artifacts and customs to new generations, who are just entering the world. This
symbolic transmission of heritage takes place while celebrating holidays, paying
respect to the old customs and habits. For adults and children, such celebrations
are an expression of the natural educational surroundings.
Below, there are examples of the subjective sense and meanings which the pupils
participating in the study assigned to family histories. Table 1 contains the meanings related to various spheres of everyday life, i.e., things done every day and
activities undertaken to celebrate holidays, childhood and school life.
Table 1. Children’s meanings attached to private life spheres
Types of senses
Examples of pupils’ utterances
Everyday life as time – Earlier, everyone had to work, grandma, grandpa and mom, and they had
of hard work
no money.
– It was a diﬃcult time, but people had to manage somehow.
– I respect my grandmother for what she has done for her family.
– I think I have a much better life than my grandmother because life today
is much diﬀerent, people don’t have to work as hard as they used to.
Work without modern appliances
– Today a combine harvester will do everything that took many days before,
so people now can look after their children and have more fun.
– I’m glad I have learnt about all these things, because now I know I live in
better times and don’t have to work so hard.
– In the past, people had to make everything by themselves, but now there
are many ready-made things. You can buy cooked pizza.
Holidays as a time
for spiritual and material preparations,
time for symbolic
meanings and traditions, time to be
together
– My grandpa had to observe Lent and to go to Advent Masses and the
Resurrection Mass in the early morning.
– I liked the atmosphere which was then at home, while everyone was getting ready to celebrate holiday.
– My grandma said that there were many people coming on holiday from
other villages and they slept on the ﬂoor, on straw.
– We should respect and preserve such traditions and holidays.
– Now I often ask my grandma what traditions we had in our family.
Joanna Maria Garbula
68
Types of senses
Examples of pupils’ utterances
Image of childhood as a time of
responsibilities and
work, passions and
dreams, traumatic
events.
– I feel sorry for my grandma because when she was a child there was
a war.
– Actually, my grandma, when she was a child, worked from morning till
night.
– Children could play only when they didn’t have to help grown-ups, and
they had to most of the time.
– when I found out how diﬃcult my grandpa’s life was I promised him
I would learn harder and do my homework more carefully.
– I have always told my mom when I have got an A at school that she
should buy me a handbag or something else. Now I won’t tell her such
things.
– My grandpa’s dream was to ﬂy like birds.
Image of school as
school duty; place
where teachers and
pupils work, few
teaching aids; punishment at school;
the way to school.
– I think I am far better oﬀ than my grandma, because now we have everything, like buses, and that is diﬀerent from what it used to be like.
– They had few books and notebooks. We have many nice books and dictionaries, but we also have computers.
– In the past school was diﬀerent from what it is today. They often used
a cane at school.
– I wouldn’t like to go to school in those days because it was far away and
teachers hit children, but I still like listening to my grandma’s stories about
her school because they teach me things.
Family history as
a source of identity
for a person and
family
– Family histories are very important. They are part of one’s family and this
is why I want to remember this story all my life.
– It is important to remember about such events and tell our children.
– It is a pity I know my grandpa only from stories and documents, but such
stories are worth listening to.
Family as a source
of strength and
survival in extreme
situations
– When there is love in a family, it is possible to go through diﬃcult moments and unfortunate events.
– There was love and harmony in my grandpa’s family, which is why they
survived, because they all loved each other.
– When there is love in a family, life is better.
– I know why all my family members like to stay at grandpa and grandma’s. There is harmony in their home, no-one ﬁghts and we talk with one
another a lot, and help each other.
Whatever seems personal and subjective has always been kept away from
mainstream history. However, for an individual person or a family, their private
entanglement in ‘grand history’ is what matters the most. And this is what the
pupils talked about in their narratives. Micro-history means looking at the past
from the perspective of an individual and showing the life of an ordinary person
inscribed in general history. The schoolchildren mentioned several aspects of ‘grand
Towards Micro-History – New Look at the Family History
69
history’ which had aﬀected the private histories of the individuals they talked to,
such as: ﬁght to defend the motherland, wartime tragedies, loss of family home,
loss of homeland, magic objects saving lives of family members at moments of the
gravest danger, but also post-war history of homecoming after World War Two or
stories connected with the time of martial law in Poland (Table 2) (Garbula, 2010,
pp. 318 – 320).
Table 2. Meanings assigned by children to private history entangled
in ‘grand history’
Types of senses
Ancestors, history
eyewitnesses
Examples of pupils’ utterances
– I can learn about important events from my great-grandfather because
he lived through those times
– Because my grandfather was at war he can tell me all about it.
War as a time of hard- – My great-grandmother had a diﬃcult life. She had to work hard and
ship
was often hungry.
– My great-grandfather’s family had nowhere to live. Their house had
been bombarded by Germans.
– My great-grandmother’s family were expelled from their own house and
told to go away.
– My grandfather had a diﬃcult life during the war.
War as a time of suffering and death
– I understood that those days were very bad for people.
– Now I know that war is something more than guns and tanks, it also
means pain.
– I’ve learned about my grandfather’s life and I know it was not a bed of
roses. People were grateful to God when the war was over.
– After her experiences my great-grandmother was careful. She had suffered because of other people.
Family history as
a source of emotions towards family
members
– I’m sorry he had to go through all this.
– When I listened to my grandfather’s story I felt terribly sad.
– It must have been awful for my grandmother when she was separated
from her family.
– I feel very sorry for my grandmother and I love her even more.
– I am sad when I think how much he suﬀered. But now he is safe and
I love him a lot.
– I like this story because my grandma told me that despite the war people were kinder to one another, not like today.
– When I listen to this story I feel sad. I have always thought that people
are good. But now I see some aren’t.
– I think they had sad lives, and I have a good one. My great grandfather
says that today children have better lives because they don’t have to be
afraid.
Joanna Maria Garbula
70
Types of senses
Examples of pupils’ utterances
History as the teacher
of life
– Owing to this story I understood how much we have to sacriﬁce to
make our dreams come true.
– My granddad used to say that we should eat everything, that people
didn’t have so much food in the past, that they were hungry and would
give anything for a piece of bread.
– My grandpa couldn’t play as much as I can, with no worries. I often
complain that I do not have a dream toy but my Grandpa Mietek, when
he was child, had to worry about getting food to eat.
– It is important to tell good from evil, and to respect other people’s
property.
Histor y as an
inspirat ion to re sp e c t t he elderly
– This story will change my behaviour and will teach me to respect older
people.
– When my grandma was telling me about her past, she had tears in her
eyes, but normally she is so cheerful. This is why I respect her.
– Elderly people deserve respect because they have gone through so much.
Ancestors as heroes
and role models
– My great-grandfather was a hero. He conquered Berlin. I often look at
his medals and talk about him during family get-togethers.
– I wish I could be as brave as my grandfather. I admire him for withstanding so much pain. I would like to have at least half the courage he
had.
– I think I could not survive what my grandfather had lived through.
When I think how much pain he felt I quiver. When I fall down and
hurt myself, I start crying, but he was able to stand so much pain.
– I admire my grandfather because he survived and did not give up. I will
follow his example.
– I wish I was as courageous as my grandma.
History as a source of
wisdom for the future
– We should never let another war break out. When I’m older I will defend my town from bad people so that we will never have a war again.
– I think we should enjoy the life we have and not grumble.
– It makes me feel sad when I think about these children who now live in
wartime. They go around hungry. This must be changed.
– Now I know we mustn’t have another war ever.
Family history as an
additional source
of knowledge about
family
– By researching my family history I discovered that our surname is completely diﬀerent.
– When we found out that my great grandfather was in a concentration
camp my mom contacted the Museum. We are now waiting for their reply.
Conclusions
This article discusses the ways in which the youngest schoolchildren can be
reached and made to uncover the inner depths of narrative understanding of the
world, because history and memory can be experienced not only through the
Towards Micro-History – New Look at the Family History
71
channel of knowledge transmission from teachers to children, but also by children
themselves, who are aided by teachers to construct their own historical knowledge.
The latter method will enable everyone to think creatively and open up to other
realms in early education. It is worth educating children in a diﬀerent manner, so
that their understanding of history and family histories arises from the process of
constructing stories in which the children participate. Telling stories and creating
plots help children to achieve mental comprehension of the matters discussed at
school. This technique also promotes children’s creative thinking. It is a diﬀerent,
constructivist approach to discussing the past in the educational context.
The results of the study presented in this paper make it possible to draw several
general conclusions.
1. Children’s studies on the past of their own families, learning about memories
of family members and narrative representation of the ﬁndings are possible, useful and inspiring to young researchers themselves. By searching
through private history, young researchers discover their family roots, as
well as learn to respect and preserve family history. The schoolchildren
constructed stories of their families, women, men and children; they built
their own ‘memory tables’ and disocvered history composed of the lives of
ordinary people, which are important, interesting and fascinating.
2. The research suggests a diﬀerent approach to history education in early
teaching. The research has demonstrated ways in which diﬀerent education
situations are created: focused on the subject, developed around the teacher,
concentrated on pupils’ knowledge. The third approach, when the pupils’
knowledge is in the centre of attention, has proven to be especially inspiring
for the young researchers. This model of education encourages pupils to be
active subjects, constructing and reconstructing meanings.
3. The children researching the history of their families ascribed some senses
to it. They realized how unique and integral each family was. The family
traditions they observed, the memories of important events in the family,
their attitude to work and duties, the way they spent free time, but also
favourite dishes contributing to the speciﬁc family atmosphere – they all
helped to integrate the family. The stories dedicated to the sphere which
the schoolchildren recounted extended beyond the circle of immediate
family, touching on matters related to culture or social environment. The
search pursued by the schoolchildren to study family history enabled them
to discover the fact that life stories of individual people conceal a large share
of general history knowledge. In their narratives, the pupils pointed to their
ancestors as history eyewitnesses, sometimes heroes who are worth follow-
Joanna Maria Garbula
72
ing. For many schoolchildren, family history turned into the teacher of life,
and searching one’s roots became an exciting adventure.
4. In their narratives, the pupils mentioned issues commonly thought of as
diﬃcult, unsuitable for children. However, the constructed histories prove
that, despite ‘eﬀorts’ made by adults, children do not live in an isolated reality, but to various degrees come in contact with everything which concerns
their families. It is therefore wrong for schools and home to infantilize the
subject matters discussed during lessons and reduce everything to safe and
appropriate questions.
References
Assmann A. (2006). Der lange Schatten der Vergangenheit. Erinnerungskultur und
Geschichtspolitik. München: Beck.
Assmann J. (1992). Das kulturelle Gedächtnis, Schrift, Erinnerung und politische
Identität in frühen Hochkulturen. München: Beck.
Domańska E. (1999). Mikrohistorie. Spotkania w międzyświatach. Poznań:
Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.
François É. (2010). Jeszcze raz o historii i pamięci. Kultura współczesna, 1(63),
18 – 30.
Garbula J.M. (2010). Znaczenia historyczne w edukacji początkowej. Narracyjne
konstruowanie historii rodzinnych. Olsztyn: Wydawnictwo UWM.
Klus-Stańska D. (2004) (ed.) Światy dziecięcych znaczeń. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo
Akademickie „Żak”.
Nora P. (1992). De l´archive à l´embléme. Paris: Gallimard.
Ricoeur P. (2007). Pamięć, historia, zapomnienie. Kraków: Universitas.
Stake R.E. (2005). Qualitative Case Studies. In: N.K. Denzin, Y.S. Lincoln (eds.). The
Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Third edition. Thousand Oaks-London–
New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Szpociński A. (2010). Współczesna kultura historyczna. Kultura współczesna,
1(63), 9 – 17.
Sztompka P. (2005). Socjologia wizualna. Fotograﬁa jako metoda badawcza. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
Todorov T. (1995). Le abus de la mémoire. Paris: Arléa.
Topolski J.(1996). Jak się pisze i rozumie historię. Tajemnice narracji historycznej.
Warszawa: Rytm.
Kazimierz Wenta
Poland
Fractality of Trust Among General Educators and
Methodologists Teaching Educational Subjects
Abstract
The issue of public trust in research and teaching arouses varied interest and is
involved in multiple strands of conﬂict and environmental conditions. As theorists
and academic teachers, general educators teaching an educational subject, e.g. for
trainee teachers, often tend to have limited trust among methodologists, who are
also the teachers of this subject. Fractality of limited mutual trust generally situates
itself on many substantive levels and corresponds to the technology of education,
which is revealed in the so-called reliability and geometry of trust concerning the
evaluation of the quality of education.
Keywords: general didactics, methodology of educational subject teaching,
fractality of trust, theorists and practitioners of teaching
Introduction
In addition to the theory of upbringing, the theory of social welfare and the
history of education, general didactics is an important part of educational sciences.
In general, it is the primary source of knowledge among dozens of pedagogical
subjects, and it sets out procedures for the mastering of theoretical and practical
teacher skills and the acquisition of social competence. Methodology of teaching
educational subjects is carried out by methodologists (educators) for teachers
specialized in teaching, e.g., mother tongue, foreign languages, mathematics,
physics, and other subjects that are included in the list of university and school
74
Kazimierz Wenta
classes, extracurricular activities and parallel out-of-school education. Limited
trust in competence between general educators can be seen, especially those
having limited experience in teaching, and methodologists teaching educational
subjects. This is due to the dynamics of change in education, which tends to be the
result of political decisions, and which is not always based on in-depth research.
Methodologists teaching educational subjects generally declare that they actively
participate in these educational changes, while claiming that general educators are
focused on the old theories of teaching, as they do not keep up with changes that
occur in universities, schools and teaching practice.
The cognitive objective of this study was to deepen the knowledge of fractal
trust, which is based on the metaphorical use of the fractal theory based on
algorithms for geometric constructions, typological constructions or function
with jagged, fragmented self-similar shapes (Tempczyk, 1998, pp. 322 – 323). At
the same time, this paper stresses that knowledge is not identiﬁed with information, data and news, but it is recognized as an internal, subjective model of the
material and spiritual world. The rationale for choosing the topic of fractal and
mutual, but limited, trust among general educators and methodologists teaching
educational subjects is the author’s concern resulting from the functioning of the
multitude of opposing external and internal factors. And these factors are often
the causes and consequences of students’ educational failures, which are revealed
in the form of the dominance of messages obtaied during educational subjects
which correspond to the curriculum. There can also be seen far-reaching absenteeism of students in gaining desired theoretical and practical skills and social
competence.
In general, the content of the article is of theoretical nature with scientiﬁc
statements related to the analyzed sources and the author’s own teaching experience. Methodological assumptions are contextual; nevertheless this article refers
to the signaling analysis of individual biographical cases (Pilch, Bauman, 2001,
p. 78) obtained on the basis of selecting respondents from general educators and
methodologists of educational subjects, who are well-known to the author. The
substantive threads forming the thematic core of this article include i.a.: 1) the
issue of the geometry of trust in terms of fractal theory; 2) the presentation of
biographical proﬁles representing general educators and methodologists obtained
from the available sources; and 3) areas of limited fractal trust between general
educators and methodologists. Furthermore, the conclusion includes corrective
actions to be taken in terms of changes in the training and further education of
theorists and practitioners at further levels of professional development of academic teachers and methodologists teaching educational subjects concerning the
Fractality of Trust Among General Educators
75
implementation of the framework qualiﬁcations for higher education institutions
(Chmielecka, 2010), as well as primary and secondary schools.
The issue of the geometry of trust in terms of fractal theory
Trust of modern man living in the world of nature, culture and technopole
(Postman, 1995) serves multiple functions due to deliberate actions resulting from
satisfying diverse biological, social and selﬁsh needs. In the ﬁrst decades of the
twenty-ﬁrst century, mankind found itself in the grip of globalization, information
networks and consumerism, and yet found it hard to barely approach the subjectivity of the individual. Therefore, people should trust: 1) those who represent
them in the areas of politics, economics, technology, science, education, etc.; 2)
pay attention to various elements of the contemporary world, which operate on
the principles of interdependence; 3) because social life is marked by threats and
dangers; 4) as the modern world oﬀers many possibilities, e.g., consumption, education, work, leisure; 5) because there are more and more areas of contemporary
social world which become opaque for its participants; 6) as there is growing
anonymity of individuals; 7) because the contemporary world is ﬁlled with an
increasing number of unknown individuals, which is associated with migration,
tourism; and the stranger represents the unknown (Sztompka, 2007, pp. 45 – 49).
Adapting the geometry of trust to fractal theory is an attempt at interdisciplinary approach to determine the meaning and substance in the investigation of the
truth, supposing that there is one science, although it is situated in the changing
structures and divisions into separate ﬁelds and disciplines. Therefore, the analysis of information related to the metaphorical “geometry of trust” proposed by
P. Sztompka (Ibid, pp. 229 – 259) focuses on: 1) the circles of reliability and trust
in clear and ambiguous situations, and networks of personal contacts; 2) trust as
an important component of social capital in places where it is not common, e.g.,
in Poland there is too heavy load of mistrust; 3) networks and chains of trust
as platforms, inclusive and exclusive networks, and personalized and collective
networks. While referring to the proposed scientiﬁc statements from the point of
view of a sociologist, which is related to the view of a teacher and especially an
educator, it can be noted that they reveal the diverse connections of situational
conditions. They refer to the theory of chaos in procedures for analyzing content
related to general didactics, methodology of teaching educational subjects, which
in this article applies to fractality of mutual trust among academic teachers from
diﬀerent disciplines and protects the group of teachers from non-specialists.
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Therefore, from the perspective of the analysis of didactics as educational theory
and practice, deterministic chaos appears as a generic term in relation to fractal
theory in several senses, e.g., in the functional and behavioral, humanistic and
adaptive, constructivist, social and psychological, and critical and emancipatory
paradigms. Moreover, its source can be traced to the so-called (pseudo)theoretical
premises, which are the eﬀect of educational and cultural inheritance as the agreement to doublethink, which lies at the basis of the command-and-quota system,
i.a., in the form of increasing inability to recognize the meaning and consequences
of one’s own actions (Klus-Stańska, 2009, pp. 68 – 72).
Especially in the second decade of the twenty-ﬁrst century - not only in
Poland or Europe - didactics had been drifting between common and scientiﬁc
knowledge, the latter of which found itself on a dangerous edge of intensive eruption of theory. And it does not reach the educational practice nor has the form
of eclectic mosaic of diﬀerent authors often based on contradictory theoretical
premises. These premises do not apply to new technologies of information and
network education or they are used by teachers without pedagogical talent or
operational knowledge, which would enable them to apply innovative and creative
approaches. And educational chaos usually appears with a background metaphor
(Ibid, pp. 193 – 373).
While searching for the semantic relationship between sociological geometry of
trust and fractal theory, it is worth noting that the so-called applied pedagogy is
often addressed to speciﬁc education (Śliwerski, 2009, pp. 80 – 109). And this speciﬁc education should be something more than just a theory, technology and the
arts of education related to safe, innovative but also creative teaching and learning processes and preparation for lifelong self-education in the network society
focused on research and educational interdisciplinarity (Wenta, 2011, p. 181).
The chaos theory reveals the statement that the scope of the principle of causality
is, on the one hand, limited by the uncertainty principle, and on the other, by the
properties of instability, which is typical of nature (Peitgen, Jurgens, Saupe, 1996,
p. 18). In fact, in nature fractals are the result of the growth process, while in the
dialectics of the fractal language there is a need to develop a special program to
describe the natural processes of growth (through analogy with the processes of
physical, mental, social and moral growth from infancy to advanced age). However, the need for studying growth rate in the fractal theory has been postulated
already in the late seventeenth century, when there were no computers, although
it should be considered as an essential factor for studying the shape (education
– note KW) ... as the shape is limited - using a mathematical term - by a function
of time. Therefore ... we can treat the shape of the organism as an event in phase
Fractality of Trust Among General Educators
77
space (space-time), and not only as a spatial conﬁguration. In fact, in the theory and
practice of continuous improvement of fractals L-systems have been developed as
a language modeling the growth of plants. However, much has been done for the
solutions of systems of feedback rewriting sequences of characters in the center of
the ﬁeld dealing with formal languages and formal grammars in computer science
(Ibid, pp. 23 – 25). Therefore, the question may be posed: Why do general didactics
and speciﬁc didactics show far-reaching absence of taking any attempt to apply
chaos theory, including fractals in pedagogy?
Biographical proﬁles of selected general and special educators
The group of general educators includes authors of books and numerous
scientiﬁc publications, who generally deal with the textbook dissemination of
knowledge for trainee teachers. Many general educators refer to Wincenty Okoń,
who writes about the subject matter and methods of didactic research and the
development of education systems, highlights main concepts of teaching, and
characterizes the education system consisting of: objectives, contents, principles,
methods, forms, didactic aids, and procedures on monitoring and evaluation (Bass,
2003). In the ﬁrst part of his book, Czesław Kupisiewicz gives textbook examples
of the concepts and subjects of didactics. In the second part he acquaints students
or university graduates, who apply for teacher qualiﬁcations, with the educational
process. In the third part, he highlights the components of this process, and in
the fourth part he informs of didactic problems of modern education, e.g., by
paying attention to school failure and teaching according to the curriculum, and
he proposes an educational balance of the twentieth century (Kupisiewicz, 2000).
On the other hand, Franciszek Bereźnicki, with Janina Świrko-Pilipczuk as a coauthor of the second and third chapters, writes about the subjects and tasks of
general education didactics, values, objectives and content of education, as well
as the process of education and multilateral training. He also refers to the process
of self-education, the principles, methods, forms and means of general education,
planning and organization of teaching, school failure, control and evaluation of
achievements, as well as the issue of educational innovation, working with gifted
students, educational subjectivity, development of creative abilities and learning
in the light of educational reports (Bereźnicki, 2007). An example that is of great
interest among educators and methodologists, but also criticism among other
educational publications is the book by Gordon Dryden and Jeannette Vos (2003),
which announces a revolution in teaching. In this book, the authors write about
78
Kazimierz Wenta
the future, about what is best while creating a society of learning people, and about
understanding one’s own mind, self-education and thinking in order to ﬁnd great
ideas for success in learning, etc.
While characterizing the proﬁles of some authors based on the books on general didactics, it is impossible not to be concerned about teaching and didactic
processes in the second decade of the twenty-ﬁrst century. An extensive work of
Józef Półturzycki (2014) is ﬁlled with multiple substantive ideas and cogent statements of concern over general didactics. The author also examines the standards
developed by the Main Council of Science, the Delors Commission Report, axiological issues in the theory of education, issues of modernization of education,
and also refers to the proposed educational solutions of selected Polish general
educators in terms of new approaches and continuation of actions.
In popular science simpliﬁcation, fractality of mutual trust between theorists of
general didactics and special educators is seen as the operation of bit computers,
and it is based on such properties of fractals which relate to the deﬁnition by
Mandelbrot, because: 1) they are not the formula, but recursive dependency; 2) they
have the characteristics of self-similarity (a part is similar to the total); 3) their
dimension is not integer (Kudrewicz, 2007, p. 19). On the other hand, according
to the topological dimension of Hausdorﬀ, they are always integers, and a fractal
is any set the dimension of which is not an integer (Ibid, p. 61).
The application of the properties of fractals, which occur in nature, science and
art, is revealed in the projection of human behavior, i.a., in the fractality of trust;
although this will happen when the bit computers will be replaced with quantum
computers that are at the stage of experimental testing, and when subquantum
computers will stop to be the realm of theoretical projects providing new research
and application opportunities (Gnitecki, 2005, pp. 86 – 91). Therefore, it is worth
waiting for a self-similar fractal approach to diﬀerent varieties of trust, its limitations or their lack in the form of numerical algorithms and computer programs for
drawing “fractals” that often have nothing to do with the deﬁnition of Mandelbrot
(Ibid, p. 21).
Special educators (teaching educational subjects), who educate trainee teachers of a given specialty, are traditionally called methodologists. They are usually
high school teachers, often aspiring to work in higher education institutions.
In general, in the light of the diﬃculties in the process of receiving a doctoral
degree in their educational specialization or due to special abilities and interest
in applied pedagogy, i.e., subject didactics, university methodologists work on
a doctoral thesis, and then even receive post-doctoral qualiﬁcations in pedagogy.
Therefore, the group of special educators includes academic teachers working
Fractality of Trust Among General Educators
79
as assistant professors and lecturers, who are formally obliged to continuously
improve the teaching methodology in their major ﬁeld of study. However, this
group also includes doctors in pedagogy, who had previously completed studies in
a given specialization. Fractality of trust, often in the form of limited trust between
lecturers - speciﬁc methodologists and assistant professors, who are on the verge
of receiving post-doctoral qualiﬁcations, is of diverse nature and tends to be an
area of declarative peer recognition, but also competition and even envy.
On the basis of signal questionnaire studies among 72 pedagogy students
(Koszalin University of Technology, January 2015), it can be noticed that: 1) general didacticians arouse trust (23.6%); 2) as well as subject didactitians (51.4%);
3) generally, there is mutual trust between general didacticians and methodicians –
i.e., didactitians of subject teaching (41%); 4) mutual trust between them depends
on: a) familiarization with the scientiﬁc output (37.5%); b) academic degrees and
titles (34.7%); c) better sale of textbooks than theoretical books (26.4%); d) the
fact that there are footnotes and bibliography in theoretical publications (9.7%);
e) the fact that footnotes and bibliography are often missing in non-academic
textbooks (8.3%). Students’ suggestions concerning what can be done to deepen
the trust between general and subject didacticians focus on: 1) participation of
both parties in subject methodology workshops (66.7%); 2) raising mutual awareness of deep transformations of education (20.8%); 3) organizing discussion of
general and subject didacticians through mass media (23.6%); 4) making use of
students’ initiatives undertaken at conferences of student research clubs (19.4%);
5) encouraging both sides to internet contacts concerning, among other things, the
discussion on some published books and articles (19.4).
Areas of limited fractal trust between general educators and
methodologists
Limited fractal trust among general educators and methodologists teaching
educational subjects at universities, but also in teacher training centers, can be considered in terms of formal commitment and implementation of curriculum and
syllabuses addressed to trainee teachers and teachers participating in improvement
courses aiming at career advancement. Fractal trust can be graphically drawn and
photographed (with the consent of the individual, the person). However, without
sophisticated mathematics, a computer fractal becomes complex and very diﬃcult,
although it can be made on a metaphorical example by simulating trust allegorically using images from nature and sophisticated computer graphics.
80
Kazimierz Wenta
The liberty of the individual, with agreement to social and personal trust, is not
a beneﬁt of culture. Liberty has undergone restrictions through the evolution of civilization, and justice demands that these restrictions shall apply to all (Freud, 1930, pp.
32 – 33, as cited in: Ball, 2007, p. 516). Therefore, in the context of limited trust, even
among theorists of general didactics and in mutual relations with methodologists
teaching educational subjects in higher education institutions and at lower levels
of education, there can be seen various reasons for “diverting” trust; e.g., old papers
and scientiﬁc articles, even the most important ones, sometimes become forgotten.
Scientists do not read old literature, but they cite more recent review articles or
books on a particular topic (Ball, 2007, p. 511). Commonly, theorists of general
didactics have a limited ability to track the “production” of scientiﬁc books and
textbooks on educational subject teaching methodology, which are published
at home and abroad, although they are eager for information about educational
achievements in the sphere of the eﬀectiveness and eﬃciency in teaching.
The identiﬁcation of the number of connections with the wealth of books and
textbooks on general didactics and educational subject methodology, dominated
by multimedia and the Internet, suggests that in society there is freedom of choice,
and where the ability to get (educational - note KW) “market share” depends
on the already gained share, and the probable result of which is the power law
distribution of inequality (Ibid, p. 510). In the real world the cause of “limiting”
the power law and expression of trust, e.g., between theorists of general didactics,
methodologists and authors of textbooks for teachers and students, are factors
that impose a maximum limit on the number of interconnections used to express
substantive, methodological and didactic trust. In fact, there are several small
worlds of direct and indirect contact (seminars and conferences), which have
a preferred number of connections and a decrease in the number of vertices with
a large number of connections. According to Barabási, there are no exceptions at
the other end of the network vertices, which have a large number of connections,
as there is a “menagerie of networks” (Ibid, p. 512).
Areas of limited trust among general educators and methodologists teaching
educational subjects are related to: 1) the social changes revealed in the processes
of democratization in universities and schools, and the empowerment of teachers,
pupils-students and parents; 2) the changes in the virtual space-time as a result of
the dynamic development of computer technology and IT networks; 3) equality
in the management and availability of data resources and messages related to the
particular subject, while using the possible control systems and evaluation of their
reliability; 4) gaining a higher level of social awareness in the sphere of trusting
people and creating a sense of dignity, while searching for authority, e.g., teach-
Fractality of Trust Among General Educators
81
ing authority in lifelong learning; 5) the development of courage and boldness in
expressing legitimate views and opinions about trust in theorists and methodologists - practitioners of the educational subject teaching; 6) becoming aware of the
functional values related to one’s own subject, including: an interest in teaching
and didactics, security of research and applied didactics, reliability and accuracy
in the selection criteria related to the evaluation of people who are trustworthy;
7) continuous acquisition of new social competences focused on teaching quality,
which are relevant to the changes in teaching and applied didactics.
In the discussion on the limited fractal trust between theorists of general didactics
and educational methodologists and practitioners, it is necessary to add that people
sometimes try to introduce moral truths which correspond to educational trust and
to their own teaching experience. Therefore, such a discussion reveals reasons to
believe that certain aspects of human morality have evolutionary roots. However, it
does not authorize the statement that our moral systems are the product of evolution, but that they were created in the process of social adaptation and that they
generally reﬂect human nature, although moral precepts promote some evolutionary
predisposition formed at the expense of others (Stewart-Williams, 2014, p. 283).
The barrier limiting the fractality of trust between theorists of general didactics,
methodologists teaching educational subjects and educational practices, is revealed
primarily among materialists, who do not believe in idealistic archetypes of timeless values and who try to limit the discourse by saying that “there is no evolution”,
“global warming”, etc. .. This, in turn, irritates liberal scientists, although many of
them do not see the “veracity” of solutions based on awareness and explaining
quantum paradoxes. Therefore, removal of ideological barriers between materialists and idealists requires reduction of dogmas, often inherited from generations.
In this context it is worth encouraging general educators and methodologists to
engage in creative learning, where educational failure is often an integral part of
the innovative and creative way to achieve success. This is connected with the
linearity of teaching suggestions and solutions. And the traditional teaching lacks
innovation. It is focused on excessive predictability and control, and it does not
trigger quantum self, where the most important are: intuition, imagination and
inspiration (Goswami, 2014, pp. 224 – 225).
Conclusion
Considerations on the fractality of trust among general educators and methodologists teaching educational subjects indicate only some issues intentionally
82
Kazimierz Wenta
selected from available sources. They allow for the determination of a number of
problems to be addressed with the help of advanced fractal theory, which is an
integral part of chaos theory. The sociological theoretical premises outlined by
P. Sztompka on the so-called geometry of trust somehow correspond to fractal
theory, which can be used to a limited extent in the study, especially in the graphical presentations with the use of bit computers, and in the near future with the use
of quantum and subquantum computers.
In reference to the content of this article, there is a need to propose some corrective actions in order to increase trust between theorists of general didactics,
methodologists teaching educational subjects and teachers - practitioners. The
ﬁrst step is to read each other’s publications, in print or online, although it is
worth remembering about the technique of speed reading and application of the
synthetic, multimedia and hypertext versions for particularly interested teachers. It
would be also important for theorists of general didactics, methodologists, teachers – practitioners and students to participate in seminars, symposia and conferences, although they should bear in mind their budget. New didactics, related to
the computer and the network, should not dominate the book and the article in
printed versions, though it is worth noting the diﬃculties in understanding texts
and graphic drawings among readers due to the limited resource of conceptual
designates.
References
Bereźnicki, F. (2007), Dydaktyka kształcenia ogólnego, Oﬁcyna Wydawnicza
”Impuls”, Kraków.
Chmielecka, E. (ed.), (2010), Autonomia programowa uczelni. Ramy kwaliﬁkacji dla
szkolnictwa wyższego, Published by: Ministry of Science and Higher Education,
Warsaw.
Dryden, G., Vos J., (2003), Rewolucja w uczeniu [The Learning Revolution], Translation by B. Jóźwiak, Wydawnictwo Zysk i S-ka, Poznań.
Freud, S. (1930), Civilization and its Discontents, Hogarth Press, London 1973, in:
Ball, P. (2007), Masa krytyczna Jak jedno z drugiego wynika [Critical Mass: How
One Thing Leads to Another], Translation by W. Turopolski, Wydawnictwo
Insignis, Kraków.
Goswami, A., (2014), Kwantowy umysł. Naukowe dowody na potęgę Twoich myśli
[Quantum Creativity: Think Quantum, Be Creative], Translation by: A. Rutkowska,
Wydawnictwo: Studio Astropsychologii, Białystok.
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Gnitecki, J. (2005), Przemiany informatyki oraz cywilizacji i edukacji informacyjnej,
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Klus-Stańska, D. (2009). Polska rzeczywistość dydaktyczna – paradygmatyczny
taniec św. Wita, [in:], L. Hurło, D. Klus-Stańska i M. Łojko (ed.), Paradygmaty
współczesnej dydaktyki, Oﬁcyna Wydawnicza ”Impuls”, Kraków.
Kudrewicz, J. (2007), Fraktale i chaos, Wydawnictwo Naukowo-Techniczne, 4t
edition, revised and extended, Warsaw.
Kupisiewicz, Cz. (2000), Dydaktyka ogólna, Oﬁcyna Wydawnicza: GRAF PUNKT,
Warsaw.
Okoń, W. (2003), Wprowadzenie do dydaktyki ogólnej, Wydawnictwo Akademickie
ZAK, Warsaw.
Peitgen, H.-O. Jürgens, H. Saupe, D. (1996), Granice chaosu. Faktale. Część 2. [Chaos
and Fractals. New Frontiers of Science, Part 2], Translation by K. PietruskaPułaba, K. Winkowska-Nowak, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warsaw.
Pilch, T. Bauman, T. (2001), Zasady badań pedagogicznych. Strategie ilościowe
i jakościowe, Wydawnictwo ŻAK, Warsaw.
Postman, N. (1995) Technopol. Triumf techniki nad kulturą, Państwowy Instytut
Wydawniczy, Warsaw.
Półturzycki, J. (2014), Niepokój o dydaktykę, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Instytutu
Technologii Eksploatacji, Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, Radom.
Sztompka, P.(2007), Zaufanie. Fundament społeczeństwa, Wydawnictwo ZNAK,
Kraków.
Śliwerski, B. (2009) Współczesna myśl pedagogiczna. Znaczenie, klasyﬁkacje, badania, Oﬁcyna Wydawnicza IMPULS, Kraków.
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Technologii Eksploatacji – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, Radom.
Edyta Charzyńska
Poland
Text Topic Interest, Willingness to Read and the Level
of Reading Comprehension Among Adults –
the Role of Gender and Education Level
Abstract
The aim of the study was to examine the relations between variables connected
with the reader (interest in the text topic and willingness to read it) and the level
of reading comprehension among adults, after controlling for text diﬃculty. The
study involved 1549 users of Polish aged from 18 to 87. Open-ended questions were
used to measure reading comprehension. It was proved that the model taking into
account variables related to the reader better predicted reading comprehension than
the model only taking into account text diﬃculty. Moderation analysis showed a little
stronger relation between text topic interest and reading comprehension in the group
of women than in the group of men. It was also noted that among adults with lower
levels of education text topic interest and willingness to read it were more strongly
related to the level of comprehension than among better educated people. The discussion focuses on the role of psychological factors in reading comprehension.
Keywords: reading comprehension, text diﬃculty, text topic interest, motivation,
readability
Introduction
Reading comprehension is a basic ability of a human being, one of key importance for their everyday functioning. Deﬁciencies in reading and comprehension
Text Topic Interest, Willingness to Read and the Level of Reading
85
of a text have negative consequences both for the individual and for the whole
society (OECD, 2013).
The RAND Reading Study Group (2002, p. 11) deﬁnes comprehension as “the
process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language”. It is aﬀected by factors such as:
surface and deeper characteristics of a text, characteristics of the reader and the
reading task, and the socio-cultural context.
Surface characteristics of a text include lexical or semantic characteristics and
sentence (or syntactic) complexity. These features were taken into account in the
Polish formula of text diﬃculty drawn up by Pisarek (1969, 2007). It involves two
elements: syntax diﬃculty (the average sentence length in words), and vocabulary
diﬃculty (the percentage of “diﬃcult” – four-syllable and longer – words).
Out of the characteristics connected with the reader, text topic interest is an
important factor aﬀecting the process of reading and its eﬀectiveness. For instance,
Schiefale (1996) proved that college students who demonstrated greater interest
in the texts used in the study showed deeper comprehension of these texts, even
after controlling for previous knowledge and general intelligence. These results
can be explained as follows: texts which are regarded as interesting arouse the
processes of attention, emotional engagement and personal meaning to a greater
degree than texts that are estimated to be uninteresting (Bray & Brandon, 2004),
which contributes to the improvement of results in reading comprehension tests.
Another important factor inﬂuencing reading accomplishments is motivation
(Oldfather & Wigﬁeld, 1996). Readers with higher motivation are more willing
to make some eﬀort to create the meaning of the text they are reading and more
engaged in this action than less motivated ones (Guthrie, 2004).
What cannot be ignored when studying the issue of reading comprehension
are gender diﬀerences. Many studies conﬁrm that girls read more and have better results in reading comprehension tests than boys do (Gambell & Hunter, 2000;
OECD, 2010). They also have a more positive attitude to reading, including higher
motivation and pleasure from this activity (Marinak & Gambrel, 2010; Clark &
Foster, 2005; Ünal, 2010).
It is noteworthy that studies concerning reading comprehension have mostly
been carried out among children and adolescents. This tendency is conﬁrmed by
the literature review made by Morrison et al. (2011), showing that only 0.4% of the
articles of the Association of Literacy Educators and Researchers and 2.2% of the
Literacy Research Organisation concerned adults. The scarcity of available study
reports makes it impossible to ﬁnd out whether the relations found in reading
habits and reading comprehension are also typical of adults.
86
Edyta Charzyńska
Study Aim
The main aim of the study was to explore the relations between text topic interest, willingness to read it and the level of reading comprehension among adults.
Apart from studying the relations between the variables connected with the reader
and the level of reading comprehension, a variable connected with the text – its
diﬃculty calculated on the basis of Pisarek’s formula (1969, 2007) – was also taken
into consideration. Including both types of variables (linguistic and psychological)
in the hierarchical regression model made it possible to examine whether psychological variables connected with the reader signiﬁcantly increased the percentage
of explained variance of reading comprehension over the contribution of text
diﬃculty. This solution allowed for deeper insights into the nature of interaction
between factors of diﬀerent types which may aﬀect reading comprehension.
The second purpose of the study was to examine whether the strength of relations between text topic interest and willingness to read it depended on a) the
gender, or b) the education level of the readers. As regards gender, some studies
conducted among children and adolescents indicated stronger relations between
text topic interest and reading comprehension among boys (which led to the
suggestion that providing boys with texts concerning topics interesting for them
should have a positive impact on reading accomplishments; Asher & Markell,
1974; Oakhill & Petrides, 2007). Some studies, however, gave diﬀerent results (Bray
& Brandon, 2004).
Apart from gender, the role of education was also taken into account in the
study, which is something new in studies in this ﬁeld. On the basis of the results
of the studies conducted by the National Library of Poland in cooperation with
TNS Polska, developed by Chymkowski et al. (2012), which showed a higher reading rate among better educated people, it was hypothesized that in the group of
people with lower levels of education, less frequently engaging in reading, the
perception of a text as interesting and the resultant willingness to read it would be
more signiﬁcant factors inﬂuencing the level of reading comprehension than in
the group of better educated people.
Research Methodology
Research Sample
The study comprised 1549 persons, including 898 women (58%) and 651 men
(42%). Polish was the mother tongue of all the participants. The sample consisted
87
Text Topic Interest, Willingness to Read and the Level of Reading
of persons living in 14 regions in Poland. The sociodemographic characteristics of
the studied sample with gender division are presented in Table 1. The participants’
mean age was 35.92 years, SD=14.90, min.=18, max.=87. The studied groups were
not signiﬁcantly diﬀerent, either, in terms of age (U=274551; z=-0.953; p>0.05) or
education level (U=294061; z=-1.248; p>0.05).
Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of the studied sample by gender
Women
Men
n = 898
%
n = 651
%
Age (in years)
18 – 21
22 – 32
33 – 43
44 – 54
55 – 65
66 – 76
77 – 87
N/A
145
295
152
154
76
29
7
40
16.1
32.9
16.9
17.1
8.5
3.2
0.8
4.5
78
247
123
94
52
27
5
25
12.0
37.9
18.9
14.4
8.0
4.1
0.8
3.8
Education level
Elementary
Lower secondary
Vocational
Secondary school student
Secondary
University student
Higher
N/A
14
24
76
37
323
108
315
1
1.5
2.7
8.5
4.1
36.0
12.0
35.1
0.1
14
13
78
20
222
63
238
3
2.1
2.0
12.0
3.0
34.1
9.7
36.6
0.5
Place of residence
Village
Town up to 100 thousand residents
Town between 100 and 500 thousand residents
Town over 500 thousand residents
N/A 180
266
239
198
15
20.0%
29.7%
26.6%
22.0%
1.7%
134
184
207
122
4
20.6%
28.3%
31.8%
18.7%
0.6%
Instruments
35 texts in Polish, each about 300-word long, were used in the study. The texts
were selected by a team of experts (5 linguists and a psychologist). The text selection was based on text diversity in terms of type, subject and the level of diﬃculty.
The set included very easy and easy texts (children’s stories, texts from teen maga-
88
Edyta Charzyńska
zines, guides), texts with average diﬃculty (fragments of school textbooks, articles
from adult magazines and newspapers, passages from popular science books), as
well as diﬃcult and very diﬃcult ones (scientiﬁc texts concerning the humanities
and natural science, legal commentaries).
So as to measure comprehension, the research team prepared 5 open-ended
questions to each text. A correct answer gave the respondent 1 point, so the maximum number of points was 5. Each participant received a study set consisting of
the demographics section and two texts. The demographics section contained
questions concerning gender, age, education and the place of residence. Each text
was preceded by a short piece of information about its subject and two questions:
whether in the respondent’s opinion the text may be interesting for him or her
(response categories: 1 – “deﬁnitely not”, 2 – “no”, 3 – “rather not”, 4 – “hard to
say”, 5 – “rather yes”, 6 – “yes”, 7 – “deﬁnitely yes”) and whether the respondent felt
like reading this text (response categories: 1 – “deﬁnitely not”, 2 – “no”, 3 – “rather
not”, 4 – “hard to say”, 5 – “rather yes”, 6 – “yes”, 7 – “deﬁnitely yes”). Each text was
followed by a test including open-ended questions.
The sets were created randomly. If the same text was drawn, the drawing was
repeated. The answers to open-ended questions were checked by a team of 3 persons, other than the team preparing the test questions.
Procedure
The paper-and-pencil questionnaires were distributed with the snowball
method by the research team. They were handed to 80 persons coming from
diﬀerent environments and having diﬀerent education levels, who were asked to
conduct the study among possibly varied groups of people. Hence, although the
studied sample was not fully representative of the population of Polish adults, the
external validity of the research can be regarded as fairly satisfactory.
The supervisors informed the respondents of the objective of the study, as well
as of its anonymous and voluntary nature. The time of doing all the tests was, on
average, 20 – 30 minutes.
Research Results
Table 2 presents a short description of all the texts used in the study, their difﬁculty level, the results of the open-ended questions and the level of interest in
each text and willingness to read it, with division into sexes.
The comparison of reading comprehension with the use of Mann-Whitney
U test did not show gender diﬀerences (U=297427.50; z=-1.036; p>0.05). In
the group of women, there was a higher level of text topic interest (U=248825;
Text Topic Interest, Willingness to Read and the Level of Reading
89
z=-4.957; p<0.001) and willingness to read the text (U=244057.50; z=-5.083;
p<0.001) than in the group of men.
A positive correlation between the text topic interest and willingness to read
it was noted (rho=0.642; p<0.001). Both among the women and men the level
of comprehension was positively related to the interest in the text topic (women:
rho=0.212; p<0.001; men: rho=0.144; p<0.001) and the willingness to read it
(women: rho=0.170; p<0.001; men: rho=0.143; p<0.001).
At the next stage of the analyses, two hierarchical regressions were conducted:
the 1st step involved the entrance of text diﬃculty, and the 2ⁿd step, one of the
psychological variables: text topic interest or willingness to read it. The assumptions of regression analysis were checked before doing the calculations.
The results of hierarchical regression analysis are presented in Tables 3 and 4.
Introducing “text topic interest” in step 2 increased the percentage of explained
variance of reading comprehension from 65.1% to 69.3%. The observed change
proved to be statistically signiﬁcant (F(1, 32)=4.396; p=0.044). Similar results
were obtained for the regression model in which “willingness to read the text”
was introduced in step 2. This model explained 70.6% of the dependent variable.
The change of R2 in relation to the model which only included “text diﬃculty” as
a predictor was statistically signiﬁcant (F(1, 32)=6.069; p=0.019).
The last step of the calculations involved moderation analysis. In this way it was
examined whether the strength of relations between text topic interest/willingness
to read it and the level of comprehension depends on the gender and education
level. Quantitative independent variables were centred, i.e. the arithmetic mean
was subtracted from their values. Gender and education were coded with the
binary method (woman: 0, man: 1; secondary or lower education: 0; higher education or student: 1). A bootstrapping method was used to calculate the interaction
eﬀect, applying Hayes’ macro (2013) for SPSS. 5000 random samples were carried
out for each analysis, adopting 95% conﬁdence interval.
Interest in the subject of the text was signiﬁcantly related to comprehension
(b=0.265; SE=0.036; p<0.001), whereas no signiﬁcant relation was found between
gender and comprehension (b=0.006; SE=0.080; p>0.05). The eﬀect of the interaction of gender and text topic interest on its comprehension proved to be signiﬁcant
(b=-0.112; p=0.046; CI 95% [0.003 – 0.010]). Conditional eﬀect of text topic interest
on reading comprehension was stronger among the women (p<0.001; CI 95%
[0.194 – 0.436]) than the men (p<0.001; CI 95% [0.090 – 0.248]), although the differences were not great.
Willingness to read the text was signiﬁcantly related to its comprehension
(b=0.226; SE=0.040; p<0.001), whereas no signiﬁcant relation was found between
Edyta Charzyńska
90
gender and the dependent variable (b=0.010; SE=0.081; p>0.05). No signiﬁcant
eﬀect of the interaction of gender and willingness to read the text on the level
of its comprehension was found, either (b =-0.037; SE=0.058; p>0.05; CI 95%
[-0.151 – 0.080]).
Both education (b=0.455; SE=0.078; p<0.001) and text topic interest (b=0.296;
SE=0.036; p<0.001) were signiﬁcantly related to reading comprehension. A signiﬁcant interaction eﬀect was also noted (b=-0.179; SE=0.053; p<0.001; CI 95%
[-0.282 – -0.075]). The positive relation between text topic interest and reading
comprehension was stronger among the people with poorer education (p<0.001;
CI 95% [0.225 – 0.366]) in comparison with the better educated ones (p<0.01; CI
95% [0.041 – 0.193]).
Likewise, the education level (b=0.468; SE=0.078; p<0.001), the willingness to
read the text (b=0.268; SE=0.038; p<0.001) and the interaction eﬀect (b=-0.195;
SE=0.057; p<0.001; CI 95% [-0.308 – -0.082]) were signiﬁcantly related to the
comprehension level. The positive relation between willingness to read the text
and its comprehension was stronger among the people with secondary or lower
education (p<0.001; CI 95% [0.212 – 0.360]) than among those with higher education or students (p<0.05; CI 95% [0.060 – 0.176]).
Table 2. Characteristics of the texts and the readers: text diﬃculty, comprehension
level, topic interest and willingness to read
No. of
text
Text description
Text
diﬃculty
Comprehension (Me)
women
Topic interest
(Me)
Willingness
to read (Me)
men women men women men
1.
Story about dragons
4.13
5.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
5.00
5.00
2.
Story about a cat
4.76
5.00
5.00
4.00
4.00
5.00
5.00
3.
Story about a pillow
4.99
5.00
5.00
4.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
4.
Story about a dog
5.25
4.50
5.00
6.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
5.
Family situation
5.25
5.00
5.00
4.00
4.00
5.00
5.00
6.
Story about three boys
5.36
4.00
4.50
4.00
4.00
5.00
5.00
7.
Greek gods
6.18
4.00
4.50
4.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
8.
Tips on memory improvement
6.30
5.00
5.00
5.00
4.00
6.00
4.00
9.
Work at an animal shelter
6.60
4.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
5.00
5.00
10.
Animal habits
6.74
4.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
6.00
5.00
11.
School situation
6.94
5.00
5.00
5.00
4.00
6.00
5.00
12.
Poetry by Jan Kasprowicz
7.07
5.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
13.
Advantages and disadvantages
of alcohol
7.46
5.00
5.00
5.50
6.00
5.00
5.00
91
Text Topic Interest, Willingness to Read and the Level of Reading
No. of
text
Text description
Comprehension (Me)
Text
diﬃculty
women
Topic interest
(Me)
Willingness
to read (Me)
men women men women men
14.
About a village boy
7.55
5.00
4.50
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
15.
Teen problems
8.69
4.50
4.00
6.00
5.00
6.00
5.00
16.
Diet principles
8.75
3.00
3.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
17.
Google Glass
9.04
3.50
4.00
4.00
4.50
5.00
5.00
18.
Conﬂict in Syria
9.09
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
19.
A psychological principle
9.37
4.00
4.00
6.00
5.00
5.00
5.00
20.
Journalist circle
10.03
1.00
2.00
4.00
3.50
5.00
5.00
21.
Power station problems
10.11
4.00
4.00
3.00
4.00
4.00
5.00
22.
The artistic path of S. Bareja
10.15
4.00
2.00
5.00
4.00
5.00
5.00
23.
Mass culture
10.22
4.00
1.50
4.00
5.00
5.00
4.00
24.
Body Mass Index
10.25
4.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
5.00
4.50
25.
Survey procedure
10.58
3.00
3.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
26.
Woody Allen's ﬁlm
10.60
4.00
3.00
5.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
27.
Melting and freezing processes
10.95
2.00
2.50
4.00
4.00
4.00
5.00
28.
Models of fatherhood
11.22
4.00
3.50
5.50
5.00
5.50
5.00
29.
A linguistic phenomenon
11.55
3.00
3.50
5.00
5.00
4.50
5.00
30.
Dust pollution
11.85
2.00
2.00
4.00
4.00
5.00
5.00
31.
Court enforcement
13.73
2.00
2.00
4.00
4.00
4.00
5.00
32.
Concept connected with culture 14.65
1.00
0.50
5.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
33.
Visualizations in mathematics
15.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
4.00
5.00
4.00
34.
Oldest dictionaries
17.12
3.00
2.50
5.00
4.00
5.00
4.50
35.
The essence of symbol
17.28
2.00
1.50
4.00
4.50
5.00
4.00
Notes: Text diﬃculty was calculated with the use of the Jasnopis application (Broda et al., 2014), on
the basis of Pisarek’s formula (1969, 2007):
T=
Ts2 + Tw2
2
,
where T = text diﬃculty, Ts = syntax diﬃculty index, Tw = vocabulary diﬃculty index.
Table 3. Text diﬃculty and topic interest as predictors of reading comprehension
b
SE
β
t
p
Model 1
Text diﬃculty
R2
0.651
-0.208
0.027
-0.807
-7.699
<0.001
Model 2
0.693
Text diﬃculty
-0.186
0.028
-0.718
-6.727
<0.001
Topic interest
0.415
0.198
0.224
2.097
<0.05
Edyta Charzyńska
92
Table 4. Text diﬃculty and willingness to read as predictors of reading
comprehension
b
SE
β
t
p
Model 1
Text diﬃculty
R2
0.642
-0.213
0.028
-0.801
-7.699
<0.001
Text diﬃculty
-0.174
0.029
-0.653
-6.067
<0.001
Willingness to read
0.751
0.262
0.308
2.862
<0.01
Model 2
0.715
Discussion
The study conﬁrmed the relationship between text topic interest and willingness
to read it with the results of a reading comprehension test in the group of adults.
Consideration of the linguistic characteristics along with the psychological ones
made it possible to avoid limitations arising from isolation of these variables.
The results of regression analysis indicate that surface linguistic characteristics
have a higher signiﬁcance for reading comprehension than the characteristics
connected with the reader, although introducing text topic interest/willingness to
read the text to the models signiﬁcantly improved the percentage of the explained
variance of the dependent variable. The considered predictors jointly explained
about 70% of the variance of reading comprehension.
The results of the comparisons of gender diﬀerences regarding the studied
variables seem interesting. The men did not diﬀer from the women in reading
comprehension; yet, they had lower motivation to read and demonstrated, lower
interest in the topic of the proposed text. These gender diﬀerences may be the
result of men adopting a more negative attitude to reading even at the early
stages of life, which results, among other things, from the perception of reading
as a typically “feminine” activity, not suiting the stereotype of the male role (Millard, 1997).
Education level correlated positively with reading comprehension. This result
was in accordance with the previous studies that have shown a higher level of
literacy, numeracy and problem solving skills among adults with higher levels
of education in comparison with people who have a low educational status
(OECD, 2013). Formal education facilitates the development and maintenance
of proﬁciency in reading comprehension. In particular, it broadens knowledge
and vocabulary and has an impact on attitudes towards learning and interest in
reading.
Text Topic Interest, Willingness to Read and the Level of Reading
93
The study on the strength of the correlation of psychological variables and
reading comprehension depending on the participants’ gender showed that the
relation between text topic interest and reading comprehension was signiﬁcant
and positive in both groups, although it was slightly stronger in the women than
in the men, which is contrary to some studies within the same ﬁeld conducted
among younger groups (Asher & Markell, 1974; Oakhill & Petrides, 2007). This
result shows, among other things, that tendencies and patterns in reading noted in
the group of children and adolescents cannot be transferred directly to the group
of adults.
As indicated by the results of the study carried out by the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, 2013), in England/Northern
Ireland (UK), Germany, Italy, Poland and the United States, social background has
a major impact on literacy skills in adults. In these countries, more so than in others, people whose parents are worse educated have signiﬁcantly lower proﬁciency
than the children of parents with higher levels of education. The signiﬁcance of
socioeconomic background for the development of literacy skills and education
trajectories has also been conﬁrmed in 15-year-old adolescents (OECD, 2010). In
this context, the result of the presented study is interesting, as it shows that the
strength of the relation of text topic interest and willingness to read it with the level
of reading comprehension was higher among the people with secondary or lower
education than among those with higher education and students. This suggests the
path of potential inﬂuences directed at enhancing motivation particularly among
the readers with poorer education. In accordance with the self-eﬃcacy theory
(Bandura, 1997) and the expectancy-value theory of motivation (Wigﬁeld, 1994),
the diﬃculties some people have when learning to read contribute to the negative
evaluation of their chances in this regard, which diminishes the attractiveness of
reading, lowering the motivation and leading to lower accomplishments. Hence,
the role of motivation in this area cannot be overestimated. This is also conﬁrmed
by the results of studies showing that motivation is a more important predictor
of reading attainment than any demographic variable (e.g. socioeconomic status,
family background, income, ethnicity, gender; Guthrie, 2004).
Conclusions
The ﬁrst part of the Survey of Adult Skills carried out in 24 countries (including
Poland) showed that in approximately 20% of the working age population in the
European Union the level of literacy is low (OECD, 2013). Therefore, it is necessary
94
Edyta Charzyńska
to try to inﬂuence the motivation to read by presenting people with texts that
are interesting to them, strengthening the sense of self-eﬃcacy and showing the
beneﬁts of reading.
So as to shape readers’ attitudes in a positive way, it is also necessary to focus on
the other aspect of interaction between text and reader, i.e. text characteristics. The
success of encouraging people to read materials for their school or work depends,
among other things, on the skilful choice of texts that are appropriate for the
reader, which is signiﬁcantly facilitated by readability formulas, also available for
languages other than English (Pisarek, 1969, 2007; Hrabí et al., 2014).
Acknowledgement: This research was supported by the National Science Centre under
Grant 2011/03/BHS2/05799, entitled: “Measuring the degree of readability of nonliterary
Polish texts” (project coordinator: Włodzimierz Gruszczyński, PhD). The author of the
study is deeply indebted to professor Włodzimierz Gruszczyński and doctor Milena Hadryan for their help in gathering data, and to doctor Laura Polkowska for the preparation
of the open-ended questions.
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Lýdia Miškolciová,
Lenka Ďuricová
Relationship between Self-Concept and Resistance
in Terms of “Hardiness” in University Students
Abstract
The contribution presents new ﬁndings concerning the relationship between
self-concept and resistance in terms of “hardiness” in university students. It points
to the inﬂuence of self-concept on coping with stress in life.
Keywords: self-concept, resistance, hardiness, challenging life situations
The generally known deﬁnition of self-concept denotes a summary of ideas
and evaluative judgements that one has about oneself (Blatný, Plháková, 2003).
Van der Werﬀ (1990) deﬁnes self-concept as a vision or mental representation of
oneself, and other authors (Shavelson, Hubner, Stanton, 1976) talk, in a broader
sense, about self-perceptions formed through experiences with one’s environment.
Markus and Wurf, and Suls and Sanders say that self-concept is a product of
social learning in the process of a person’s interaction with the world (Blatný,
Plháková, 2003).
Some authors (Brehm and Kassin, Greenwald and Pratkanis in: Blatný, Plháková,
2003) consider self-concept as an attitude towards oneself that may be characterized by three aspects: cognitive (content, organisation, structure), aﬀective (relationship with oneself) and conative (emotional and rational processing, feedback
and experience, motivational function). It is the last of the aspects, involved in
self-regulation of behaviour, which is the subject of our interest.
The above shows that self-concept “is a complex construct implying a cognitive structure, consisting, albeit not exclusively, of verbally or semantically coded
generalizations, into which new data and obviously also behavioural patterns of
Relationship between Self-Concept and Resistance in Terms
97
speciﬁc importance to the subject are generated. These generalizations include
qualities, skills, knowledge, values, attitudes and social roles, anything by which
the subject deﬁnes and assesses himself. They are mainly the characteristics he
considers self-proﬁling, and it depends on them, how any personal information
will be treated” (Papica, 1985, p. 19).
Explanations of self-concept in contemporary psychology accentuate the following aspects or characteristics of self-concept as a whole (Blatný, Plháková,
2003):
1. Multifacetedness: self-concept is composed of orders of partial mental
representations of Self (perceptions/schemata/prototypes) constituting
a certain system and diﬀering in terms of centrality, positivity/negativity,
time localization and possibilities for realization;
2. Hierarchy: it is related to the multifacetedness and multidimensionality.
Self-concept is a generalization of knowledge about oneself, derived from
partial experience in speciﬁc situations. Such knowledge is organized hierarchically by the level of abstraction from particular, speciﬁc elements up
to general categories;
3. Dynamics: it reﬂects the fact, that any of the representations of Self is
activated depending on diﬀerent situations, and at the moment fulﬁls the
function of the central, controlling structure of self-concept;
4. Understanding Self as a system: interconnectedness and complementarity
of the processual (Self as the subject of knowledge, agent of mental life) and
structural (object of knowledge and assessment, product of such a process)
aspect of Self.
Symbolic social assessment criteria constitute the basis for assessing oneself,
self-assessment, residing in the fact that already in childhood one begins to form
an image of oneself, containing not only a judgement about oneself, but also an
emotional relationship with oneself (self-feeling). The self-assessment or perception of oneself in terms of one’s own competence (in any domain - social, moral
or performance competence) may be understood as a mental representation of
the emotional relationship with oneself. One looks for one’s own identity, wants to
be oneself and accepts some attributed characteristics while not accepting others
(the level of self-acceptance). It is the outcome of social comparison and assessment of oneself based on observation of one’s activities. Some authors (Shavelson,
Hubner, Stanton, 1976, Watkins, Dhawan, in: Blatný, Plháková, 2003) use the
terms self-concept and self-assessment as synonyms arguing that the general
public does not distinguish between them. For the needs of this paper, we decided
to subscribe to this group of authors. Self-esteem is an evaluative component of
98
Lýdia Miškolciová, Lenka Ďuricová
self-concept and includes internalized social judgements or conclusions. People
with high self-esteem are usually active, communicative, optimistic, able to cope
with criticism and generally more successful. They often have higher goals and
achieve them more frequently. Low self-esteem is accompanied with lower goals,
conventionality and dependence on opinions of others, health problems such
as insomnia, headaches and indigestion. Cultivating self-esteem is an important
part of guiding children to mental health. Sources of positive self-assessment are
complex, but the parenting style and personal goals stand out. We can agree with
Hayesová (2000) that personal self-esteem is supported by upbringing including
elements of esteem, a clear deﬁnition of value criteria and demands and guidance to independent problem solving. A well-structured environment having
reasonable requirements is more favourable for building independence than a too
permissive environment.
Self-conﬁdence is another frequently used term in relation to self-concept.
We understand it as an attitudinal component of the self-system. It includes selfassessment, accompanying self-assessing emotions (happiness, satisfaction, pride,
shame, etc.), and it determines also a pupil’s ﬁnal focus on preferred activities,
tasks, subjects, interests, etc. Self-conﬁdence reﬂects the feeling of self-worth and
consequently determines activities which a person will prefer and which he/she
will avoid, thus creating preconditions for the formation of successfully intelligent individuals in accordance with the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence (Kaliská,
2011). Reasonably self-conﬁdent, independent and eﬃcient individuals trust their
own abilities. Self-conﬁdence is connected with the motivating emotional sphere
through self-assessment, thus becoming an important regulatory element in the
psyche of man. Coopersmith (in: Kusák, Dařílek, 2000) claims that already pupils
of younger school age, but not later than before completing school attendance,
form a stable idea about their self-worth.
Advantages of healthy high self-conﬁdence are indisputable. Persons with high
self-conﬁdence are more active, assertive and express their opinions more openly;
they are more resistant to negative inﬂuences and excessive pressures. Also, they are
less conforming; they approach new tasks, situations and people with greater trust
and make friends easily. They have fewer personal problems.
In relation to the domain of achievement, we talk about self-assurance. We
understand it as anticipation of successful mastering of planned tasks or as a person’s general belief that things will go as he/she wishes or expects them to.
In professional literature dealing, e.g., with teacher personality, we can see the
self-terms organized in the “Six S” system (Petlák, 2000) as follows: self-reﬂection,
self-assessment, self-conﬁdence, self-control, self-regulation, and self-creation.
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99
In connection with the conative aspect of self-concept, thus self-regulation,
Bandura’s concept of self-eﬃcacy should be mentioned, thus an individual’s
general personal belief in his or her ability to cope with life diﬃculties and challenges, i. e. awareness of one’s own eﬃciency (Bandura, 1997). In our opinion, this
concept is very close to Meyer’s self-concept of abilities, well-known mainly in
international literature, where important implications to motivation, anxiety and
school achievement have been proved (Man, Řepka, 2001), as well as to achievement motivation, motivation for creativity, and Origin behaviour (Ďuricová,
2003).
The question whether and how one copes with diﬃcult life situations, contributes, no doubt, also to one’s life satisfaction. When examining people successfully
coping with life diﬃculties, frequently personal characteristics have been revealed,
considerably helping those people to overcome the diﬃculties. As one of them,
a personal characteristic has crystallized, one of the type “do not give up and ﬁght
with the diﬃculty”, for which the name resistance has come into use.
The issue of resistance to mental stress has been dealt with in our country
already for some time, by workers of the Institute of Experimental Psychology of
the Slovak Academy of Sciences, under the leadership of Daniel (1984). According
to this author (Daniel, 1984, p. 132): “resistance depends on the tasks one has to
deal with (depending primarily on familiarity with them), then on the state of
psycho-physiological functions and on motivation. This includes also permanent
personality characteristics: nervous system structure, developmental inﬂuences,
self-assessment and the course of emotional response”.
At present, resistance is most frequently understood in terms of hardiness,
resilience and coherence.
On the basis of his research, Antonovsky (in: Křivohlavý, 2001) formulated
a personality characteristic called the sense of coherence - SOC - a feature of
personality cohesion. He deﬁned coherence by three basic characteristics: comprehensibility of the situation, meaningfulness of the ﬁght and manageability
of the task. These three characteristics of SOC are understood as dimensions with
positive and negative poles.
Comprehensibility is the cognitive aspect of SOC, manifested in how the world
and anything that makes logical sense is understood. A person at the positive pole
of this characteristic can see connections among various life situations, on the basis
of which the person perceives the world and its events as a well-arranged whole.
The negative pole is characterized by seeing the world as excessively complex and
ambiguous; everything seems illogical, unexplainable and incomprehensible to
the person.
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The dimension of meaningfulness includes a person’s motivational orientation
to his/her life goal. The positive pole is characterized by an attitude of a person
who believes that the life situation into which he/she has got and its solution
are meaningful. The person sees the encountered problems as challenges to be
solved, where he/she will be able to show his/her initiative and creativity. At the
same time, he/she thinks that his/her eﬀort will be appreciated by other people.
The negative pole is characterized by alienation. The person is not emotionally
involved in what is going on, as a result of which he/she will ﬁnd himself/herself
in social isolation.
Manageability is the operative aspect of SOC, including a person’s perception
of possibilities to cope with requirements made on him/her. The positive pole is
characterized by a person’s belief that he/she has enough power and possibilities as
well as that his/her closest people have enough power and possibilities to deal with
the situation successfully. The negative pole is characterized by a person’s belief
that the requirements a certain life situation places on him/her are beyond his/her
power and that he/she has no means to tackle the situation.
To observe the above-mentioned three SOC dimensions, Antonovsky developed
a diagnostic method for SOC, detecting perception and understanding of the self,
world and life as integrated - coherent realities. In his works he shows that people
with a higher value in coherence measured by the SOC Questionnaire cope with
life diﬃculties better than those with a lower value measured.
Persons with a higher level of coherence show higher ﬂexibility, they are able
to better cope even with less structured situations when looking for solutions of
stressful and conﬂict situations. A high score both in hardiness and SOC indicates
that the individual will focus rather on the so-called problem-oriented coping,
seeking an active approach to problem solving. Cognitive processing of all aspects
of the stressful situation and active consideration of possibilities for coping with
it may be more dominant for him/her (Ruiselová, 2003).
According to Křivohlavý (2001), Werner, a developmental psychologist, uses the
term “resilience” to denote a personality trait enabling successful coping with difﬁcult life situations. The term “resilience” in Slovak translation means elastičnosť,
húževnatosť, nezlomnosť. Werner’s research ﬁndings show that children with
resilience very often have a very good level of social support. However, studies
on the conception of resilience indicate that resilience in one domain does not
automatically mean resilient behaviour also in other domains.
Well-known is the conception of stress resistance in terms of “hardiness” by the
US author Kobasa, (as cited in: Křivohlavý, 2001). The term hardiness is translated
into Slovak as nezdolnosť, tvrdosť, tuhosť, odolnosť.
Relationship between Self-Concept and Resistance in Terms
101
Křivohlavý (1991) understands resistance as a personality trait enabling a person to mitigate the negative eﬀect of adverse life situations.
Kobasa further elaborated the conception of this personality trait with a team
of colleagues (Maddi, Kahn). The authors of the conception deﬁne hardiness as
a personality trait determined by the following components:
1. Control - standing for personal control of external (often stressful) events
in a person’s life. It is understood as a person’s tendency to feel capable of
controlling and managing the course of events. The opposite is a feeling of
helplessness and hopelessness.
2. Commitment to a meaningful task, attachment, personal involvement. It is
a disposition to get fully involved in something one considers worthwhile
and meaningful. The negative pole of this characteristic is alienation meaning retreat from life and any events.
3. Challenge - the essence of this component resides in understanding tasks,
challenging events and life changes as a challenge to cope with. The opposite
is fatalism, threat and fear of what will happen next.
The label “hard, unyielding personalities” is applied to people whose results in
the above components are the closest possible to the positive pole. When coping
with diﬃculties, they manage to get a bird’s eye view, remain above the thing, have
control over their life, get involved in life and are stimulated even by events which
others could see as threatening (Bratská, 2001).
The personality trait of hardiness can be examined with the use of the HARDINESS PVS questionnaire by Kobasa. The Czech translation has been made by
Křivohlavý. It measures the score of the components, the sum of which represents
the total H-score.
According to Paulík (2009), a person with optimally developed hardiness values
sees oneself as an active participant in events which he/she can eﬀectively intervene
in, thus inﬂuence them and cope also with their subsequent developments. He/she
gets fully involved in activities he/she considers meaningful and seeks to overcome
adverse circumstances on the way to the set goal. He/she is active and has initiative
in his/her conduct; diﬃcult situations are a challenge for him/her to tackle.
On the contrary, if resistance in terms of hardiness is insuﬃciently developed,
according to Paulík (ibid.), there is a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness, with
a feeling of futile eﬀorts to intervene in the events. This is associated with unclear
value orientation, indecisiveness, a lack of trust in oneself and others, alienation,
pessimism, dissatisfaction.
There are many studies dealing with the phenomenon of hardiness in relation to
stress. Some studies (Wiebe, Křivohlavý in: Paulík, 2009) point out negative links
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between hardiness and a negative aﬀective and psycho-physiological response
to stress stimuli. Persons with a higher level of hardiness show a lower level of
distress while showing a higher level of self-control.
An important part of resistance to stress is positive self-assurance based on the
process of self-assessment, awareness of one’s own eﬃciency, and clarity of selfconcept. Self-assessment is based on more or less thorough self-reﬂection residing
in focusing on one’s own behaviour and experiencing with the aim to capture their
essential qualities. Clarity of self-concept is given by accuracy, conciseness of selfconcept characteristics and their internal and temporal stability. Positive self-concept
supports self-assuredness and experiencing positive feelings towards oneself (Paulík,
2009). Recent research has brought results concerning the relationship between
self-concept and coping strategies. Authors researching this subject suppose that
self-assessment plays an important role when choosing a strategy for coping with
a stress situation. Low self-assessment usually correlates with a preference for
maladaptive strategies. With high self-assessment, there is a tendency to use more
eﬀective problem-oriented coping strategies (Ficková, 2000, Blatný, Osecká, 1998).
Research Findings
The aim of our research probe was:
1. to ﬁnd out the average level of individual factors of self-concept and hardiness within the research sample;
2. to ﬁnd out correlation relationships between the factors of self-concept and
factors of hardiness.
3. On the basis of the set aims the following research questions were asked:
4. What is the average level of individual factors of self-concept and hardiness
within the research sample?
5. What are correlation relationships between the factors of self-concept and
factors of hardiness?
The research sample consisted of 197 students in their 1st and 2ⁿd year of studies
at the Faculty of Education of Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica.
To ﬁnd out empirical data, Engler - Meyer’s questionnaire SCEA – M was used.
The Czech version of Engler – Meyer’s Self-Concept of Ability Questionnaire was
validated by Man and Blahuš (1998). The questionnaire measures two factors: the
concept of one’s own talent (positive self-image, or the image of one’s own abilities)
and the fear of social consequences, or social anxiety, which can also be perceived
as the fear of assessment.
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Relationship between Self-Concept and Resistance in Terms
The questionnaire consists of twenty-ﬁve simple questions. Respondents choose
only one out of four or ﬁve answers and indicate it on the record sheet. Nine
items measure the concept of one’s own talent. Six items measure the fear of social
consequences. Respondents can get 1 to 4 or 5 points for each answer. Their sum
is the raw score; each of the measured factors has, de facto, its own raw score.
An additional method used was the Hardiness PVS questionnaire (S.C.Kobasa),
examining three components: control, commitment and challenge, characterized
above.
Research ﬁndings related to RQ1
Table 1. Descriptive values of the examined self-concept factors
and hardiness components (RQ1)
Factors/Components
AM
SD
Min.
Max.
FSC
15.87
COOT
23.80
2.758
8
24
3.685
11
CA
39
28.11
6.549
9
43
CO
31.95
6.163
13
45
CM
30.74
6.502
13
43
Legend: FSC = fear of social consequences; COOT = concept of one’s own
talent, abilities; CA = challenge; CO = control; CM = commitment
Research ﬁndings related to RQ2
Table 2. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for normality
of the examined variables
Kolmogorov – Smirnov test for normality
Coeﬃcient
N
p – value
FSC
0.088
197
0.001
COOT
0.139
197
0.000
CA
0.041
197
0.200*
CO
0.080
197
0.004
CM
0.088
197
0.001
Legend: FSC = fear of social consequences; COOT = concept of one’s
own talent, abilities; CA = challenge; CO = control; CM = commitment
Lýdia Miškolciová, L