At the invitation of the Council of Europe, Dr Zgaga takes part in the international expert group on Competences for Democratic Culture and Intercultural Dialogue (CDCID). The task of the expert group is to develop a Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture, to be adapted for use in primary and secondary schools and higher education and vocational training institutions throughout Europe. The document (2016) presents a conceptual model of the competences which need to be acquired by learners if they are to participate effectively in a culture of democracy and live peacefully together with others in culturally diverse democratic societies. The model is supplemented with implementation guidelines and a set of tested competency descriptors (coming out in spring 2018). It is intended that the model will be used to inform educational decision making and planning, helping educational systems to be harnessed for the preparation of learners for life as competent democratic citizens. The executive summary has been so far translated into 14 languages, including Slovenian http://www.coe.int/en/web/education/competences -fordemocratic-culture). The Slovenian Ministry has already decided to use the model in the national education system and invited our head to participate in these efforts (see e.g. [COBISS.SI-ID 11888201]).
D.03 Membership in foreign/international boards/committees
COBISS.SI-ID: 11013193Since 2011 dr. Mojca Peček Čuk is the national representative in ENTEP (an advisory group that promotes cooperation among EU Member States regarding their teacher education policies). In 2014 she was elected president. She is leading and coordinating the network, organising meetings, including scientific conferences (see e.g. COBISS 10498889, 11796553, 11536201) and publishing. ENTEP develops opportunities to learn from each other by analysing and comparing policies and issues, as well as by sharing good practices, it designs initiatives to be discussed at national and European level. It contributes to: raising teacher education quality; developing a European dimension of education; improving the public image of the teaching profession; improving mutual trust in the teaching qualifications awarded by Member States; promoting teacher mobility in the European Union. Dr. Peček Čuk is book co-editor (COBISS 11318345), co-author of introduction chapter [COBISS.SI-ID 11318601] and author of the final chapter of the book (COBISS.SI-ID 11318857). The book comprises thirteen articles from nine countries and gives currently relevant and effective policy and practices examples on how to prepare teachers for teaching in multicultural and multilingual settings. The purpose of the book is to open up discussion for teacher education institutions and policy makers throughout Europe on effective teacher education in that field. The contributions reflect both the personal interests of the authors and the national significance that these topics have in their countries of origin.
D.03 Membership in foreign/international boards/committees
COBISS.SI-ID: 11318345Within the framework of the European project EBE EUSMOSI, which is coordinated in Slovenia by Darja Zorc Maver, we researched good practices of school inclusion in the following countries: Spain, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. On the basis of expert analyses, common criteria for a successful inclusion have been established. A questionnaire was designed, which was filled in by experts and teachers in all of the mentioned countries. The results of the comparison of good practices have shown that understanding and implementing inclusion depends on many cultural, legal and systemic factors. On the basis of the obtained analyses we formulated recommendations in order to ameliorate school inclusion, which can be used by decision-makers in all the four mentioned countries. In all the countries more attention has to be drawn to the various forms of teacher education. The procedures of diagnosing and classifying children are lasting too long, they are too bureaucratic and should be simplified. An important aspect is also that teachers should be adequately prepared and equipped for inclusion, emotionally and personality-wise. Recommendations that resulted from the research will be, through our efforts, integrated into European policies in the field of inclusion.
D.06 Final report on a foreign/international project
COBISS.SI-ID: 11888457Using the RNA (Rapid Needs Assessment) research methodology an outreach research was done by Dr Dekleva and Dr Razpotnik entitled "The visible and disruptive street homelessness in the area of the center of Ljubljana". Contacts were established with about 75 homeless people who spend their days in the streets of Ljubljana and engage in behaviours which might bother and frighten the passengers walking by. Based on outreach work and focus groups with professionals working in the field nine recommendations were formed of which the first two are: increase the availability of customized and very low threshold accommodation options and develop and implement more proactive, assertive, systematic and continuous fieldwork. The analysis calls attention also to new kinds of homelessness (homeless families and non-citizens). These recommendations have been already implemented in 2016 in the framework of a new model of assertive street work and have since strongly influenced the funders and professional organisations implementing these kinds of approaches across Slovenia.
F.11 Development of a new service
COBISS.SI-ID: 10876745One of the important missions of our research programme being the development and improvement of first-person methodological tools, we developed a technique for acquiring phenomenal data that is based on a modified version of descriptive experience sampling (DES) and supported by an application for the mobile platform iOS. From 2013 on the application (called U-experience) was tested on various research problems. In 2015, free public access to the application was enabled via the iTunes platform. The application enables the creation of an individualised research design, which is automatically transferred to the participants' mobile devices and enables real-time monitoring of specific aspects of the experiential landscape. The application is intended for a broad spectrum of phenomenological research and is at the same time useful as an individual tool for introspective mapping of user’s experiential landscape. - At the moment, a number of similar applications can be found on the market, most of them additionally providing the analysis of the gathered data. Comparatively, we believe that our application has a good competitive potential. With the addition of a web portal and an analysis package, U-experience would have some important advantages to the existing solutions.
F.15 Development of a new information system/databases