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The main goal of this paper is to contribute to an overall understanding of the phenomenon of globalisation of higher education. Given that in our country the globalisation of higher education has been approached without attempting to provide a more comprehensive definition of the phenomenon, in the first part of the paper, the basic elements and domains that provide the basis for a more complete definition of the globalisation of higher education will be listed and a difference will be made in relation to similar phenomena, such as internationalisation and Europeanisation. Apart from a more comprehensive understanding of globalisation by pointing out its epistemological foundations in the papers from the end of the 20th century, which the domestic scientific public did not pay enough attention to, the paper also provides an overview of approaches to the study of the impact of globalisation on higher education, both the initial ones, which were developed by international organisations, and the academic ones, which enabled a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of globalisation of higher education. By contributing to a more comprehensive definition of the observed phenomenon, in this paper we intend to contribute to a broader understanding of the phenomenon of globalisation relative to the current view in which globalisation is understood as a modern phenomenon and its impact on higher education is observed after a certain period in which it supposedly arises. The paper affirms the claim that globalisation is just a new name for a phenomenon that has existed in modern civilisation for much longer than the end of the 20th century, and the expansion of higher education contributed to its genesis.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the concept and model of parental involvement in the research on students’ educational achievement. The concept of parental involvement arose in the field of educational policies of the English-speaking countries and market-oriented education systems. Research has shown that different forms of parental involvement have significant effects on school learning outcomes. The Coleman Report in the US and the policy of “educational parentocracy” in the UK significantly stimulated research in this area. The review of the relevant literature confirms the multidimensionalityof the concept of parental involvement which includes parental support for school learning at home and at school, as well as structural and relational aspects. The paper presents two most prominent models of parental involvement in children’s education – the model of overlapping spheres of influence and the so-called DNA or dual navigation model. In the concluding section of the paper, the authors state that the existing conceptualizations and models of parental involvement include different types of parental activities, which is important for the creation and evaluation of school programs of parental involvement. As a consequence of the dominance of the Anglo-American conceptual and research framework, on the one hand, an interdisciplinary approach in the field of research on parental involvement in children’s education is highlighted. On the other hand, an authentic pedagogical view of the goals and effects of parental involvement in education as a subject of study of autonomous science in the tradition of continental Europe has been neglected. It is expected that future research will reaffirm those aspects of education that make it precisely “educational”. Relying on pedagogical principles and goals of education in building family-school relationships is a missing link in the existing agenda of global education policy.

The goal of this paper is to determine the degree and direction of the correlation between the self-evaluation of the fifth-grade elementary school students and their success in the classroom. The paper presents the results of the research on students’ self-evaluation and their success in the classroom obtained on a sample of 208 fifth-grade elementary school students from the territory of the city of Banja Luka. An assessment scale was used for the purposes of the research and knowledge tests for the school subjects Serbian Language and Science and Social Studies were prepared. In line with the character of the research, the method of theoretical analysis and synthesis, the survey research method, and the analytical-descriptive method were applied. The results obtained using the Pearson Correlation Coefficient confirmed that students’ self-evaluation is significantly related to their general success at the end of the first term of the fifth grade of elementary school, their success at the end of the first semester in the subjects Serbian Language and Science and Social Studies, and achievements on the knowledge tests for the same school subjects. The obtained results indicate the importance of introducing student self-evaluation in the educational process in the field of achieving better results at school. However, the fact that self-evaluation is not sufficiently represented in our schools is a downside of this research, indicating a need for additional study and research of student self-evaluation, followed by its systematic introduction into educational practice.

Enrolment exam for music schools is an important moment when a child potentially, in parallel with attending general education, starts attending specialized, music education. In this paper we are questioning the existing concept of evaluating rhythmic abilities within the entrance exam for music schools. This evaluation currently includes duplicating rhythmical patterns, performed through one of two tasks: first one involves clapping the beat while performing the rhythmical patterns vocally, using the neutral syllable and the second one includes duplicating rhythmical patterns only through clapping. Nevertheless, in pedagogical practice the choice between the two tasks is usually arbitrary, since it is assumed that the results on both types of tasks would be similar. Furthermore, the level of difficulty of the given patterns within the test is arbitrary, since the teachers are usually inventing them „in situ“ for each child. All respondents are evaluated in the same way, regardless of their age (which usually varies from 6 to 8). The aim of this paper is to contribute to the potential improvement of the quality and fairness of the enrolment exam for all participants, through investigation of the possible differences in the results of the same participants on two types of tests and comparing the results between the tasks with different level of difficulty, between the three age groups of children and between the two genders. The research was carried out within both – elementary school and preschool facilities in Belgrade and the sample consisted of 278 children. The results revealed that participants were more successful in the first type of task. Statistically significant differences were found between participants of different gender in their achievement in favour of girls and also between participants of different age groups, in favour of the second graders. Pedagogical implications were defined, regarding (1) transformation of traditional testing procedures regarding evaluating children’s rhythmical abilities within enrolment exams in Serbian music schools, as а base for optimal selection of children and indirectly, optimal results of the teaching process in music schools and (2) the content of teaching and activities in elementary schools and preschools in the field of rhythm.

The Curriculum for Music Education in primary and high schools includes Serbian music in the 20th century, both modern and postmodern, as a teaching topic. The opus of the composers such as Ludmila Frajt, Ljubica Marić, and Isidora Žebeljan has left an indelible mark on Serbian music and has become part of the world’s musical heritage. However, their creative work is not adequately represented in the teaching practice of primary and secondary schools, nor in the Curriculum that prescribes and suggests the selection of compositions for singing and listening. A special emphasis is placed on their individual and unique music style, the preservation and interpretation of Serbian folklore heritage and spirituality in their creative work, as well as on the educational and pedagogical potential of their work within the framework of general music education. The representation of the work of these artists in teaching practice, teacher training for practical implementation of these teaching topics, teachers’ attitudes and motivation – all these elements are the subject of the qualitative research presented in this paper. The research was conducted by means of an online survey of seventeen music education teachers, i.e., members of the Association of Music Education Teachers of Serbia, using the digital tool Google Forms. The paper will provide a summative and descriptive presentation of the results of the survey consisting of a total of twenty-one questions. Considering the artistic, educational, and pedagogical significance of the composers’ work, the authors of the paper have articulated paradigmatic methodological guidelines for teaching this topic, within the framework of educational standards and the Curriculum for Music Education, with a focus on the development of competencies and targeted outcomes.

Encouraged by the facts from a segment of an earlier research of music examples according to genre in Music Education textbooks, the authors of the paper decided to analyse the content of the latest editions of textbooks published by different publishers in order to collect the most up-to-date facts and get relevant information about the diversity of music examples according to genre in the process of developing music literacy and multicultural literacy of students in the lower grades of primary school. The research focuses on printed textbook units (N=24) from the latest textbook sets for grades 1-4 of primary school published by six publishing houses (Zavod za udžbenike, Klet, Beogradski izdavačko-grafički zavod, Kreativni centar, Logos, and Vulkan znanje). The research is important not only because of the research instruments used (music genre categorisation and a survey questionnaire ‒ ŽUMK 2022), the obtained results on the usefulness and the level of using music examples according to genre for developing students’ music literacy and multicultural literacy, but also because it was the first time that primary school teachers (N=132) from 10 primary schools in four cities in the territory of South-East Serbia (Novi Pazar, Raška, Sjenica, and Tutin) were included in the research. The results of the combined empirical research: а) аnalysis of printed textbook units of different publishers for the subject Music Education and b) opinions of primary school teachers regarding genre diversity are the same in some segments and different in others. The survey of primary school teachers attitudes was conducted using Google Forms. The aim of the paper is to present, based on the quantitative analysis of the identified music content categorised in terms of genre and the attitudes of the primary school teachers, the facts related to the genre diversity of music examples (rhythmic, melodic, and/or rhythmic-melodic) in the most recent Music Education textbooks which are important not only for developing music literacy by means of activities such as singing/playing an instrument/movement using the method of learning by hearing and/or from music scores, but also for developing students’ multicultural literacy.

Based on broad empirical research on multilingualism done by members of the Circle U. University Alliance, this paper presents a comparative analysis between the responses of 906 students from Serbia and 976 students from the other eight universities of the Alliance. By completing a comprehensive questionnaire, the students presented their experience, opinions, attitudes, motivation and obstacles related to gaining knowledge and skills in foreign languages. The focus of this paper is on students’ needs related to learning foreign languages on the one hand, and their experience with it through formal education on the other. According to the survey results, despite students’ needs, the practice of foreign language learning, especially at the university level, is not in line with the goal of the EU language policy and European Commission’s recommendations that each citizen should learn at least two foreign languages. Additionally, as the survey shows, students from Serbia are at a disadvantage in comparison to their colleagues from the other universities due to the ever-growing disappearance of multilingualism from their academic circles. A particularly negative trend is visible in the status of languages for specific purposes at Serbian universities. One of the main conclusions of this research is that students’ voices need to be heard and their needs taken into consideration when shaping the future of higher education.

Psychological studies have shown that children begin to think about death at an early age and have encouraged a rethinking of the concept of possible education about death. For this reason, the course entitled “Methodological Approach to the Theme of Death in Poetry for Children and Youth” was launched at the Teacher Education Faculty in Belgrade. A short description of the course is given in the first part of this paper. Тhe paper then elaborates on the research conducted within the course, the goal of which was to describe: 1) students’ motivation for this course and 2) students’ expectations regarding the course content. In addition, given that the target audience is important for the manner in which the content will be presented, we also examined the course participants’: 3) conceptualization of death; 4) their experience related to death; 5) opinions regarding discussions about death with children; 6) knowledge of literary texts that deal with death. The method of verbal and visual associations and a questionnaire were used for data collection. Data analysis has shown that: 1) the course title is what motivates students the most to choose this course; 2) students are interested in children’s attitudes about death, the way death is thematized in children’s literature, as well as understanding the phenomenon of death in general; 3) the elements of metaphysical concept of death are prevalent among students; 4) the largest number of students has experienced the death of a family member, a friend, or a pet; 5) students think that children’s age, experience related to death, interests, and cognitive maturity have to be taken into consideration when talking with children about death; 6) students are more familiar with the prose texts than poetry for children thematizing death.

Self-reflection is viewed as a mental activity in which preschool teachers (educational professionals) have a chance and tendency to develop a level of self-reflection on their own practice, its purpose, obtained results, and development. In the first part of the paper, the author looks at epistemological tenets of other approaches (positivist, anti-positivist, constructivist, post-modernist, and transformational) on which the self-reflection approach is based, and then interprets and analyzes the specificities of the self-reflection approach. The aim of the paper is to elaborate on selfreflection as an epistemological approach using a case study as an example, in order to clarify and understand better the theoretical assumptions underlying this approach. The case study was used as a paradigmatic case in which self-reflection is emphasized as the epistemological approach to the research of pedagogical issues, and an effort has been made to use it for making a valid example. The concluding part of the paper contains conclusions obtained via theoretical analysis and the case study, including the formulation of the aspects of pedagogical actions that could be improved by using this approach – initial theoretical and practical education of educator, professional training and research, as well as the competences of teachers who educate pre-service educator.

The results of the international TIMSS research (2011, 2015, 2019) for Serbia for pupils of the fourth grade of primary school show that their achievement in the field of geometry and measurement is lower than in other areas (such as number). In order to examine the possible causes, we analysed the textbooks for the fourth grade of primary school that were used in schools in Serbia in the year of the research. The aim of the research is to examine two types of knowledge ‒ conceptual and procedural ‒ in mathematics textbooks on the topic of body volume. Based on the research of pupils‘ achievement in different types of knowledge in measuring length, area, and volume (Tan Şişman, 2010), we formed a list of indicators that indicate opportunities for learning in mathematics textbooks and different types of knowledge about body volume that are presented to the fourth-grade primary school pupils. In the paper, a descriptive method was applied to analyse the content of the textbooks and the interactions among different types of knowledge in mathematical tasks. The main results of the research show that the indicators that are oriented towards the recognition of the conceptual understanding show a significantly lower frequency of occurrence compared to the indicators of procedural knowledge. We see the reason for this in the initial formation of the concept of body volume. The conclusions of the paper point to the concern regarding the interaction among different types of knowledge, and open up questions for further research, especially from the perspective of the research and development of mathematics textbooks in mathematics education.

Building on the current scientific and literary-didactic discourse, this paper has as its subject the analysis of the group discussion and the categorization of the so-called functional literary competences which students of German language studies should master. The focus of dealing with literary texts in the eighth semester of the German language studies is, apart from their literary nature, primarily their socio-political impulses and influence on the transfer from the world of the text to the world around us. By comparing the two novels, The Navel of the World by Venko Andonovski and Dobri dani by Marko Dinić, and by means of their productive treatment in the classroom, we will see whether literary texts contribute to the development of the social-critical engagement of the recipients. Along with observing and defining the didactics of literature as an applied science and a part of the literary social system, qualitative scientific methodology was applied in this research. After the semi-structured group discussion procedure, the obtained data were analyzed and categorized. The research questions supported by theoretical postulates important for this paper arose from teaching practice, while methodological examples and research results bring it back to that practice.

The goal of the paper is to present our experience in organizing speaking activities on Padlet as a part of online French phonetics exercises during the summer semester of 2020/21 at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad. The proposed activities on Padlet (oral presentation on a favorite Francophone song, destination, and film) were primarily aimed at determining possible phonetic-phonological and morpho-phonological students’ mistakes in their oral presentation. The collected audio-corpus was analyzed using the perceptive and descriptive methods, where the teacher, after carefully listening to all the recordings, singled out the most common phonetic-phonological errors, which he/she would then point out to each student individually via electronic correspondence (in the form of a text and, if necessary, audio comments), followed by a unified analysis of the common mistakes and exercises based on the principle of the articulatory method of phonetic correction in synchronous online classes on Zoom. The analysis of the collected audio-corpus and the pedagogical implications of the obtained results are shown on the example of the typology of the most frequently observed mistakes in the production of nasal vowels (/ɑ͂/, /ɛ̃/, /ɔ͂/). Our paper also presents the results of a qualitative research conducted among students on the use of Padlet for the above purposes, in which they spoke positively about this digital tool and gave us useful feedback that will help us in our future work.

In the educational process based on the principles of the traditional class-subject system, the essence of teaching is focused on teaching and the memorization and reproduction of the content by students, while teacher’s verbal activity, personality, and the unrivalled authority are in the center of this process. Contrary to this concept, in the process of teaching flexibly organized on the constructivist paradigm, the focus of educational activity shifts from the sphere of teaching (passive listening and memorizing content) to the field of active learning, experimenting, exploring, and discovering the cause and effect relations among the studied phenomena and objects. Knowledge is based on students’ individual perception, memory, thinking, imagination, discovery, and logical reasoning. This actually means that constructivist teaching is focused on the process of acquiring meaningful knowledge and skills, adopting positive attitudes, cultural values and competencies, with the maximum use and development of each individual’s cognitive, affective, psychomotor, and experiential potentials. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to put in focus the objective understanding and critical description of the traditional concept of teaching and learning by using the method of theoretical analysis. At the same time, the paper focuses on elaborating on cognitive starting points, possibilities, advantages, and limitations of a relatively modern concept based on constructivist, more precisely, critical constructivist didactic paradigm.

In this paper, teachers’ horizontal learning is discussed from the perspective of creating a stimulating environment for its implementation. The questions of the role and competence of the school principal in that process have been analyzed, as well as the questions of whether and how the school can develop into a learning community by means of teachers’ joint collaborative learning. In the main part of the paper, we point out the importance of the systemic approach in understanding the interdependence of individual and organizational learning processes within the school, as well as the key influence of the principal in modeling these processes in the transformation of the school into a learning community. The conclusion is that the complexity of organizational processes aimed at improving quality, which in the school context are much easier to prevent than to start and manage them, implies the appropriate competencies of the principal as a leader and/or manager.

Pedagogical research is based on specific views on the nature of truth and reality, which means that every research has its methodological orientation that determines the research approach and procedure. As the investigation of the methodological approaches provides an insight into the world of pedagogical research, it indirectly provides an insight into the current state of affairs in pedagogical theory and practice. Hermeneutical approach to research is one of the methodological approaches in pedagogy that has been unfairly neglected. The aim of this paper is to point to the significance, outreach, and the possibility of applaying this method in pedagogical research. Starting from the nature of pedagogical phenomena, the paper analyzes the basic assumtions of hermeneutics from the perspective of its implementation in researching pedagogical issues. The author emphasizes the importance of a deeper insight into specific phenomena, events, and processes, as well as the need for this approach and the possibilities of applying hermeneutical circle not only in pedagogical research, but also in pedagogical practice. The importance of analyzing this approach is also reflected in the fact that qualitative research, more or less explicitly, is mostly based on the foundations of this approach.

Critical thinking is one of the key 21st century skills. It is considered to be one of the fundamental learning outcomes, which makes it a topic of many discussions on the concept of quality in higher education. Consequently, many ways have been developed to encourage the development of critical thinking and problem-based learning is one of them. In this paper we start from terminological definitions of the concepts related to the problem-solving learning and critical thinking in order to shed more light on their correlation in the context of learning in higher education. The authors of the paper show the impact of the problem-solving learning on encouraging students’ critical thinking by analyzing the results of theoretical and empirical research of the above-mentioned problem area. Apart from advantages, we point out the disadvantages in terms of additional research in the context of higher education, as well as conceptual consideration of the critical thinking concept.

This paper investigates the reception of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol’s comedy The Government Inspector by the second-grade secondary school students. The paper starts with the views of literary theoreticians (R. Jaus, M. Bakhtin, M. Grossman, T. Popović) and modern methodologists of literature instruction (D. Rosandić, P. Ilić, Z. Mrkalj, Lj. Bajić) who point out that the reception of a literary text and its influence are the outcomes of teaching literature which is based on students’ acceptance of the work and the effects it produces. Drawing upon the views of Mikhail Bakhtin, who emphasized the dialogical character of culture and literature, the paper points out the possibility of strengthening intercultural competence through literature instruction. The aim of this paper is to point out, on a concrete example, i.e. by researching the reception of Gogol’s Government Inspector, the possibility of a more active participation of literature instruction in the concept of intercultural education and the application of the reception-aesthetic method in the teaching of literature as one of the effective models for strengthening student motivation. The results of the empirical research confirm the initial hypothesis that students are not sufficiently familiar with Russian literature, that the horizon of students’ expectations is not an obstacle to the successful teaching interpretation and that students’ position as subjects in teaching is a stimulating motivational process.

The equals sign is one of the most important concepts and symbols in mathematics, the understanding of which is crucial for learning and understanding all mathematical content, especially algebra. The paper will draw attention to the problems related to the formation and understanding of this concept, and present a methodological approach to learning based on the context modeling of real-life situations (modeling length, balance, etc.), with the aim of overcoming this misconception. In the empirical section of the paper, we examined the effects of the methodological framework of learning algebra on the understanding of the equals sign through an experiment with parallel groups, and on a sample of the fourth-grade students of primary school (N = 257). The obtained results show that the methodological approach based on the context modeling of real-life situations improves student understanding of the equals sign, as a symbol of mathematical equivalence and their ability to solve problems containing this sign.

The goal of this paper is to examine the difference in dimensions of online university teaching relative to the domain of education. The dimensions of online teaching correspond to the theoretical model of community of inquiry framework developed in the year 2000 by Garrison, Anderson and Archer and comprise teaching, social and cognitive presence. The paper presents an international quantitative research carried out in the school year 2021/2022 and using survey technique among students (N=808) from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, and Russia. A modified version of an instrument for examining online instruction and its dimensions was applied and tested, while the analysis of the internal consistency of this instrument showed a high level of reliability (α=0,941). The Kruskal-Wallis test demonstrated that there are statistically significant differences among the dimensions of online teaching in relation to the field of education. The highest score is consistently observed in the field of Social sciences and humanities, followed by the field of Engineering and technology, Natural sciences and mathematics, Art and interdisciplinary studies, whereas the lowest scores are observed in the field of Medical sciences. The results indicate the specificities of each educational field that were not recognized and taken into consideration by educational technology in its universal approach, which implies the necessity of creating educational technology that would be relevant for different educational fields, as well as focusing on a combination of online instruction and on-site teaching and learning.

The aim of this paper is to examine the attitude towards the implementation of swimming in the teaching of physical and health education of children. The introduction of swimming as a mandatory program content of physical education is one of the possible innovations of this type which was the subject of the research and analysis of this paper. On the basis of theoretical analysis, “The Questionnaire on Swimming in Physical Education,” containing 17 statements which are answered via five-point Likert-type assessment scales was constructed. A total sample of 104 subjects, coaches, teachers of physical education and sport, active senior swimmers, and parents with children between the ages of six and ten were interviewed. The data on the socio-demographic characteristics, swimming, and sports habits were collected. The results of the descriptive statistical analysis and the reliability analysis by Crombach’s Alpha method (α = 0.75) indicate good metric characteristics of the questionnaire. The results of the descriptive statistical analysis show an extremely positive attitude of parents when it comes to swimming in physical education (M = 4.52, SD = 0.29). The descriptive statistical analysis supports the assumption that health and recreational goals of swimming (M = 4.81) are significantly ahead of sports and competition (M = 2.33). When it comes to assessing the emotions associated with swimming, it can also be concluded that recreation (M = 4.85) and entertainment (M = 4.66) are more important than competition (M = 3.72), i.e., that they provoke more positive emotions among children. The results of the variance analysis show that there are no statistically significant differences in attitudes towards swimming in physical education in the subsamples formed according to socio-demographic variables. The obtained results are primarily a confirmation of the positive educational and developmental effects of swimming. Furthermore, many problems exist with the realization of the idea of introducing swimming in regular classes. For such actions, the most important aspects include organization and cooperation of schools, sports centers and the local community, while the financial resources that need to be invested are not so great if the development benefits for children are taken into account. The observed extremely positive attitude of the subjects speaks to their readiness to help and support the implementation of such programs.

The paper looks at the status of speech culture instruction in the lower grades of elementary school. Given that some teaching content related to speech culture is aimed at adoption and development of speech culture, the main goal of this paper is to determine the level of representation of this language area in grammar textbooks for elementary school that are currently in use. It was therefore necessary to identify when exactly pupils encounter this type of content for the first time, how this teaching segment is approached in grammar textbooks and reference books for elementary school, and how this area is treated in the classroom, namely, what exercises and tasks are used to improve pupils’ communication skills from the perspective of speech culture. The author of the paper analyzed Serbian language textbooks for the lower grades of elementary school and selected the teaching units and exercises related to speech culture, including proper pronunciation, accent, and intonation. It was important to establish the level of representation of these areas in the textbooks, given that phonetics and accentology are taught in the higher grades, while intonation is not covered at all. Different exercises can be used to develop speech culture of pupils in the lower grades of elementary school. Bearing this in mind, the author, relying on the research and relevant literature, offers a possible solution for teaching speech culture.

n the introductory part of the paper, based on the relevant and professional literature in the domain of art, the authors look at the significance of visual arts for the entire development and goodquality education of children. The total numer of lessons assigned for the school subject Art in the curricula for grades one to four of elementary education in Serbia is taken into consideration in order to point to the status of this subject in the lower grades of elementary school. The pandemics caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2 began in 2020 and it is still present in the world. It has redefined our way of living and made teachers look for new forms of organizing their lessons in line with the epidemiological measures. The aim of this paper is to investigate, in the context of Art instruction, how elementary school teachers have coped with the challenges created by the pandemic and determine whether this teaching area has changed its status relative to other teaching areas. The respondents to our questionnaire were 138 (N=138) elementary school teachers from different Serbian towns. The obtained results indicate that these teachers had to modify and adapt their teaching to a considerable extent. The conclusion is that elementary school teachers stress out the negative effects of the changes – a reduced number of Art lessons, shorter duration of lessons, the impossibility of pair and group work, as well as the introduction of online lessons – on the development of children’s art creativity.

Creative, modern teaching of Serbian language actualizes the issue of the place of local speech of students in grammar teaching. When adopting a language standard, it is necessary to start from the local speech of the students and compare these two language idioms. Accordingly, the subject of this paper is the local speech of elementary school students from Vranje in teaching Serbian grammar. The aim of this paper is to determine the degree of presence of certain linguistic traits in dialect form in the speech of students and their representation in the Serbian language curricula (grammar teaching) for elementary school. For the purpose of this paper we determined the frequency of using dialect forms of certain linguistic traits by calculating the frequency index, in accordance with the methodology of sociolinguistic studies, and then we analyzed the Serbian language curricula. The obtained results show which linguistic traits do not cause major problems in adoption, which has to be taken into account in Serbian language teaching process. According to the obtained results, possible directions of curriculum innovation are indicated in line with the speaking habits of students from Vranje. The analytical framework proposed in this paper offers a model of students’ local speech research, which could be applied in some further extensive research of student speech in the wider area of Prizren-Timok speech area. The research following this model could contribute to the innovation of the Serbian language curricula in elementary school and their adaptation to the Prizren-Timok speaking area.

An increasingly frequent criticism of the school system refers to the insufficient connection between pedagogical and educational processes, i.e., the fact that the pedagogical function of the school is neglected in everyday school practice. The pedagogical role of the school can be discussed in general or more specifically, given the extent to which the school can contribute to encouraging the moral development of students and the operationalization of the tasks of moral education. So far, empirical research on moral education in our schools has been small, which indicates that this area is insufficiently researched and does not respond to the modern-day needs of pedagogical practice, especially the area related to the structure of school activities. The aim of this paper is to point out the potential and effects of curricular and extracurricular activities on the moral development and moral education of pupils. Focusing on the discrepancy between normative and practical functioning of schools, the authors emphasize in the introductory part of the paper the importance of the pedagogical role of the school from the aspect of moral development and moral education. Based on the review of the previous theoretical and research findings in this field, the characteristics of moral development are indicated as well as their compliance with the goals of moral education and the forms of pedagogical activities in schools. In addition, by considering the structure of school activities and the role of various participants in the educational process in the operationalization of the pedagogical role of the school, and based on modern pedagogical and didactic standpoints, the opportunities offered by and the effects of the curricular and extracurricular activities on moral development and moral education of pupils are considered as well. The authors of the paper emphasize in the conclusion which preconditions have to be met to make school activities functional in terms of pupils’ moral development and moral education.

According to the new Curriculum for the second grade of elementary education (2018), the Latin alphabet is taught, in schools where Serbian is the mother tongue, as the second alphabet, after the acquisition of the Cyrillic alphabet. The new textbooks which follow the new Curriculum (2018) were written and published by numerous authors and publishing houses in 2019. Consequently, 12 textbooks in the Catalogue of textbooks for the second and sixth grades of elementary education are listed as approved textbooks for learning the Latin alphabet. Furthermore, two publishing houses have listed two textbooks for the same subject respectively, only written by different authors, and one publishing house offers a digital edition as well. These textbooks have different titles, concepts, and volume. The goal of this paper is to analyze the content for the Latin alphabet learning in the current Curriculum and in the accredited textbooks. In the paper, we analyze first the Curriculum (2018), i.e., the outcomes, content, and instructions for learning the Latin alphabet, and secondly, the methodological concept of the textbooks for learning the second writing system according to the Curriculum. The methodological analysis is focused on the framework of the curriculum, the concepts, and functionality of textbooks for learning the Latin alphabet. After an in-depth analysis, it was concluded that the current Curriculum (2018) does not contain detailed instructions for learning the Latin alphabet, therefore, the concepts of various textbooks for learning this alphabet differ significantly.

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyze the response to COVID-19 and evolution through different models of online instruction during the pandemic at a large Canadian university. This paper primarily focuses on the approach taken by the Faculty of Education including the necessary restructuring of the processes, organization of the workforce, support configurations, and institutional constraints. The factors that impacted changes in the curriculum are examined. Three distinct phases were identified and compared: 1) remote teaching, 2) fully online using a combination of synchronous and asynchronous instruction, and 3) a diversity of hybrid approaches. The paper highlights a number of challenges experienced with online education during the pandemic. Each one of them presents both barriers and opportunities. The process has made way for a potential transformation of educational practice at North American universities. This will likely come as a combination of increased knowledge and practice of online learning during the pandemic, and as a need to reshape traditional institutional structures to reflect the shifted landscape of education. It has opened discussions on equity and accessibility, learner-centered design, and the potential for change in the classroom and educational programming.

The paper presents the results of the theoretical analysis of the scientific (original scientific papers, reviews, and short scientific papers) and professional papers investigating the problem of individualization in teaching, that were published in the Teaching Innovations journal from 1983, when the first issue of the journal was published, until the last published issue No. 4 in 2020. The aim of the research in this paper was to critically inspect how the problem of individualization in teaching was treated in the research papers published in the journal and to draw lessons about the conceptual and methodological approaches and implications for teaching practice in modern terms. The units for theoretical analysis were: the number of the relevant papers in relation to the total number of the papers by the year of publication of the journal, the type of the papers according to the current classification of papers published in the journal, theoretical aspects from which the authors consider the problem of individualization in teaching, and methodological approach. The results of the research show that during 33 years of publishing the Journal, 63 papers have been published that research the problem of individualization in teaching; the majority of the papers are professional papers; analytical approach prevails in the research (literature analysis and analysis of specific classes). The authors usually start from a general didactic approach, while methodological aspect is most common in the treatment of individualization in the Serbian language teaching and mathematics teaching. Based on the results of the analysis, some implications are pointed out from the aspect of development of student competencies and professional competencies of teachers.

In this paper, we will demonstrate in what way and to what extent the university teaching of the Italian language as an elective and compulsory-elective academic course has changed in the online context imposed in the conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic. The transition from classroom teaching to online teaching (pure e-learning, then blended learning) in synchronous and asynchronous form significantly influenced a number of factors important for the acquisition of the Italian language and introduction to the elements of Italian civilization and culture. The aim of the research was to examine the efficacy of organized (a)synchronous online teaching, to determine to what extent this second way of teaching affects students’ academic motivation to learn Italian as an elective second foreign language, and to establish preconditions for achieving various aspects of motivation: experience with online teaching, achievement, technical difficulties, and attitudes about online teaching. The research was conducted among students of different departments at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad. The study involved 136 students of Italian (85% of respondents), aged 19 to 33 years (AC = 20.55) who had online classes. Using latent profile analysis, four profiles of academic motivation were registered: highly motivated (8% of respondents), moderately motivated (49%), low autonomously motivated (17%) and highly unmotivated (26%). The paper presents affiliations with the profiles in relation to: 1.) experience in online teaching before the pandemic, 2.) academic achievement, 3.) difficulties with the Internet connection during online teaching, and 4.) attitudes about online teaching. The results of the research indicate that the largest number of students prefer live teaching to online, but also that previous experience in online teaching has a significant impact on maintaining optimal or achieving a high level of motivation.

In the conditions of online teaching and working in digital environment, digital portfolio is one of important tools in the process of improving the quality of teaching and the implementation of the student-oriented model of university teaching. The aim of this paper is to create a model of a reflective digital portfolio for foreign languages for specific purposes at the Teacher Education Faculty, University of Belgrade, with the aim of raising the level of language and digital literacy in the conditions of hybrid and online teaching. In addition to the modeling method, a case study was used which included students attending the academic course of Educational Technology at the Teacher Education Faculty, with a focus on interdisciplinary connections with foreign languages for specific purposes. The paper discusses the theoretical starting points, the possibilities and challenges of using a digital portfolio teaching foreign languages for specific purposes. The review and analysis concluded that a hybrid model is a starting model for an efficient digital portfolio development, and that the digital portfolio can be successfully used in both formative and summative evaluation of student achievement, with horizontal and vertical interdisciplinary connections playing a key role.

An invisible, yet cruel virus has made the entire world face a new reality. Regardless of the degree to which online communication had already been used in educational settings before the Covid-19 pandemic, almost no one working in education had a feeling of being ready to work in the new circumstances. The process of migration to emergency remote language teaching and learning was stressful for all stakeholders in education – management, lecturers, students and their parents. Relying on the reflective and descriptive methods, the paper investigates the advantages and disadvantages of digital tools and platforms for remote collaborative learning, primarily ZOOM, Microsoft Teams, Jitsi Meet, and online learning management systems, recognised by the students and teachers within the mandatory and elective General English, ESP and EMI courses at the Teacher Education Faculty, University of Belgrade and Belgrade Metropolitan University. We conducted qualitative research by using structured and unstructured interviews and monitoring students’ collaborative work. In the conclusion, the paper emphasises the aspects of educational technologies which have proved to be beneficial for everyone included in the process, without limiting the creativity, development of thinking skills and investigative spirit of students and lecturers while learning and teaching English.

The paper investigates the problems of inclusive education from the perspective of scientific research and with an intention to point to the most pressing problems of inclusive education in Serbia from the researchers’ perspective. The analysis encompassed 135 papers focused on different problems related to the research of the inclusive theory and practice and published in the pedagogical literature in the last 10 years. Two units of analysis have been selected: theoretical and problem approach to studying and researching, as well as the methodological approach to the research of inclusive education. The results indicate that, during the first decade after inclusive education had been introduced in Serbia, the authors were dealing mostly with the problems of critical consideration of the conceptual discourse and practice of inclusive education, and very little with the effects of inclusive education. It has been established that empirical papers take prevalence over theoretical ones, while descriptive and survey methods were applied most commonly. The research was carried out using mostly the onesample technique and instruments and no participatory research was conducted. The pedagogical implications refer to the need for a more objective research of the effects of inclusion, given the ten-year period of implementation, and that the research approaches should include all inclusive education actors through participatory and qualitative research in order to offer the guidelines to the creators of the educational reform and its participants in terms of further improvement of the idea and practice of inclusive education.

Abstract. Attitudes towards environment represent the ways individuals perceive the world around them. Such attitudes are worth exploring because they frequently determine the behavior that either increases or decreases the quality of the environment. The aim of the paper is to investigate elementary and high school students’ environmental worldviews and to determine the dimensionality of the NEP Scale on our sample. In addition, the aim of the paper is point to potential differences betweeen boys and girls as well as students with different school achievements. The environmental worldviews were analyzed using the NEP Scale (New Environmental/Ecological Paradigm). The research encompassed 402 students of age 13-15. The results show that our respondents demonstrate a slight tendency towards pro-environmentalism. Three factors were obtained using factor analysis: Environmental Crisis, (Anti) anthropocentrism, and (Anti) exemptionalism. The difference between the boys and girls became manifest in the third factor. According to the research results, girls are more inclined to believe that people, regardless of their aptitude to develop science and technology, cannot be exempt from the natural environment and cannot influence natural processes. School achievement is in positive correlation with the Environmental Crisis factor. The research results indicate that decision-makers in education, researchers, and practitioners have to deal with a serious task – they have to find the ways how to increase the impact of the regular, everyday school life on students’ attitudes towards the environment.

The research deals with integrative approach in preschool education. The integrative approach is based on the hollistic perception of the preschool children’s world. This approach is one of the key elements of the new concept of preschool education set out in a document entitled “Years of Ascent”. The paper looks at the place of mathematical contents in the curriculum as well as the characteristics of the integrative approach which provide the conditions for the initial development of mathematical reasoning. The empirical section of the paper offers the results of the research related to pre-service preschool teachers’ attitudes towards the integrative approach. The aim of the paper is to contribute, both theoretically and empirically, to a better understanding of the importance of the preschool teachers’ professional competence to implement integrated activities.

The success of inclusive education, measured by the students’ sense of belonging in school, has recently become the subject of numerous foreign research papers, while a modest number of papers on this topic can be found in our literature. Given that inclusive education has been present in our country for a decade, the aim of the research was to determine the level of the sense of belonging in a school environment of children with developmental difficulties in an inclusive environment. The sample consisted of 35 children with developmental difficulties from 11 primary schools in which inclusive education has been implemented for at least eight years. The research used the Sense of Belonging in School Scale adapted for the needs of the research with children with developmental difficulties. The results of the research obtained by the scaling technique showed that the majority of the students have a high level of the sense of belonging in their school, and no statistically significant difference was found in relation to the type of developmental difficulty. The highest degree of agreement with the statements was found in students with physical and sensory disorders, followed by students with intellectual disabilities, then disorders within the spectrum of autism, while students with behavioral difficulties agreed the least with the claims. The obtained results indicate a positive experience of students during schooling in inclusive classes.

The paper presents the results of a research conducted with the aim of determining the contribution of Science and Social Studies textbooks in the formation and strengthening of the national identity of younger students in primary school. The theoretical part of the paper provides an overview of different conceptualizations of the concept of national identity, as well as an overview of the research on the role of program frameworks and educational content in the development of the national identity of children and young generation. In accordance with different conceptualizations, national identity has been operationalized in 11 categories: religion, customs and traditions, national feelings, language, symbols and insignia, solidarity and togetherness, cultural heritage, important personalities, geographical concepts, family, and general information. The method of theoretical analysis and the method of content analysis were applied in the research. The units of analysis are the sentences of the basic text of the textbook. The research included the Science and Social Studies textbooks in the lower grades of primary school (N = 12). The results of the research indicate that textbooks insufficiently contribute to the formation and strengthening of the national identity of the younger school age students, in terms of all considered categories of national identity. The conducted analysis implies that it is possible and desirable to strengthen the contents of national significance and, to a greater or lesser extent, incorporate them in all thematic units, which would significantly increase the overall share of the contents on national identity.

Some studies have unequivocally indicated the links between the early development of metalinguistic consciousness and the later success of children in the acquisition of literacy, as well as with their integration into society. However, in the context of the methodology of speech development, the multiplicity of aspects of metalinguistic consciousness has not been thoroughly examined so far. This paper attempts to fill this gap and show a possible approach to the development of the metalinguistic consciousness and the metalanguage of speech function in children. The aim of the paper is twofold: a) to provide a systematic overview of the requirements that can examine and encourage metalinguistic awareness in children and b) to present a model of crossing the metalanguage tasks with traditional forms of play, so that the work on developing the metalinguistic awareness in preschool institutions can be carried out adequately, considering the cognitive and socio-emotional characteristics of the child – through metalinguistic games.

Using the example of “Hajduci” by Branislav Nušić, as school extensive reading for the fifth grade of primary school, this paper analyzes the compliance of ten selected editions of this work with the orthographic norm that was current at the time when these editions were published. Ten editions of this work were selected, starting from the first edition (1933/34), to the most recent one (2018), aiming to cover both periods of Serbian orthographic norm – the first, Belić’s period, with the editions from 1923, 1930, 1934, 1950, and the second period, of Matica Srpska orthographic norm, with the editions from 1960 (together with Matica hrvatska), and in 1993 and 2010 whose authors are M. Pešikan, М. Pižurica and J. Jerković. In order to emphasize the importance of this analysis for teaching practice, it also includes the textbooks (readers) containing the excerpts from the novel “Hajduci”. Bearing in mind that the students’ language competencies in the field of grammar and orthographic norms are also developed by reading the works included in the reading lists, such as Nušić’s “Hajduci”, the aim of this paper is to determine to what extent, and according to which orthographic rules, the publishers of the later editions of this novel harmonised it with the current ortographic norm.

The paper investigates the ways in which schools can contribute to the prevention of bullying, by gaining insight into a multi-layered structure of school activities that contributes to the positive effects of educational work on the development of students’ personality and by pointing to the three levels of preventive action that can be carried out on an individual basis (universal, selective, and indicated prevention). Special emphasis is placed on universal prevention, given that science has proved that some school subjects (mother tongue and/or foreign language and literature, history, civic education, religious instruction, art and music lessons) and the extra-curricular activities related to them provide opportunities for this kind of bullying prevention. Focusing on literature instruction, we first look at its pedagogical role, linking the issue of bullying to humanistic and moral education. Literary texts that thematise this issue are very convenient for developing students’ socio-emotional competencies, the competencies that are (also) directly linked to attitudes towards bullying and other forms of violence. “Deca” (Children), a short story by Ivo Andrić, stands out among such works represented in the literature curriculum for primary school. By applaying the emphatic-ethical model of reading, we investigate the pedagogical potential of this literary text, trying to point out the key “action” segments in the text which are activated only by a teacher’s adequate methodological guidance of students during its collective interpretation.

Traditional music should have greater significance and impact in education of children of younger school age. Curricular content of music education lessons enables students to learn about heritage and, therefore, learn to respect and cherish Serbian music and traditional music of other nations. Becoming familiar with traditional music in music lessons is one form of contributing to the development of the awareness of cultural and national treasure and of the need for its preservation and cultivation. The paper presents research that included 671 teachers from all districts of the Republic of Serbia. The aim of the research is to examine the opinions of teachers regarding the status of traditional music in the lower grades of primary school. The method of theoretical analysis and descriptive method were used. The results show that the contents of traditional music are practiced to a greater extent, but primary school teachers also believe that there is a need for including more of these contents in music lessons. When it comes to specifying which traditional contents are used in music lessons, it is noticeable that in different regions the contents related to the traditions of the local environment are nurtured. The respondents believe that students have positive reactions to traditional content but that it is not in the first place when it comes to children’s interests. The research findings can serve as the basis for considering an improvement of continuous professional development courses for employees in education, but they can also be an incentive for collecting and publishing literature with the contents of traditional music in order to facilitate and improve the work of primary school teachers and the learning process of students.

Music plays a significant developmental role in the life of adolescents and has different functions in the life of an individual. Listening to music is one of the most important activities of adolescents, while their music preferences reflect their values, conflicts, and developmental problems they are faced with in everyday life. It is important to understand how adolescents use and experience music on a daily basis and what factors impact their use of music. The power of preference for a specific kind of music depends on the degree to which that type of music fulfills certain functions because the level of functionality and the power of music preference are correlated. While identity formation, peer socialization, and social perception remain important functions of music throughout one’s life, they are especially important in the period of adolescence. To understand better the strong links between music preferences and the functions of music in an individual’s life, it is important to include the personality factor that provides practical and relevant information about what makes us who we are. Music education can influence the music preferences of young people because listening to music is an important activity in their leisure time. The paper presents theoretical models of music preferences, characteristics of music, contexts of listening to music, correlation between music preferences and personality traits, as well as the functions of music that are most relevant in the life of adolescents.

Spiritual music is said to have many functions: from religious, pedagogical, to educational and developmental functions. Reducing spiritual music, particularly Serbian spiritual music, solely to a tool for awakening one’s religious feelings had a negative imapct on studying this type of music in Serbian education in the post-war period. However, in the last decade of the previous century, Serbian spiritual music was incorporated in the curricular content of Music Education in primary schools. Bearing this in mind, the authors of the paper set the aim of their research – to determine the representation of Serbian spiritual music in teaching Music Education in the second cycle of general education, as well as its significance according to teachers’ opinions. In order to contribute to this endeavour of national importance, the authors conducted research to investigate how much is Serbian spiritual music present in the current curricula, recommended contents, and music lessons, and what is its function from teachers’ perspective. The research results, obtained on a sample of 24 teachers from the territory of the city of Niš, show that teachers attach importance to covering this content in their music lessons, they believe that this type of music is sufficiently represented in the curricula, and that they self-educate on this topic. The results illustrate the current situation which can be a starting point for potential modifications of the curricula in terms of expanding the content related to Serbian spiritual music.

In this paper, the authors present an in-depth analysis of eight educational videos, selected from the total of 153 videos for teaching music art at the classroom level (ages 6–10 years) on the Slovenian educational portal www.razlagamo.si, created during the COVID 19 pandemic. The in-depth analysis focuses on the folk dances presented in the videos, the articulation of the teaching unit, the use of teaching methods, the integration of student activities, the use of audiovisual resources and adaptations. On the basis of the shortcomings that were identified, the authors highlight guidelines and didactic recommendations for teaching folk dances in traditional lessons and through educational videos, justify the usefulness of folk dances in music teaching in primary schools and present possibilities for using new information technologies in the preservation of intangible cultural heritage.

Starting from the fact that from the onset of formal education students encounter choral singing as an activity successively linked to general music education, the paper emphasizes the importance of using movement as a pedagogocal tool for the development of immanent rhythm, vocal technique, and intonation in working with children’s choirs. The main purpose of this research is to systematize the experience gained in the transnational project “Vox Mundi“ carried out in Temisoara, Romania in 2022 in order to point to potential choices and future approaches to movement at choral rehearsals at general mucis education level. In the course of a ten-day intensive youth exchange, five multiplicative events, and the elaboration of three intellectual outcomes, a survey was conducted, with the sample including 50 elementary school choir singers, members of choral organizations of five partner countries (Romania, Serbia, Poland, France and Hungary). By reviewing and unifying the exercises from different choral music activites, we modeled an approach to specific general music education resources with the aim of acquiring the skills and competencies necessary for using movement with polyphonic singing. A significant level of advantages of integrating movement and singing was identified, while the correlation between the delibarate use of movement and an increased engagement was also identified as a factor that was consistently present. In addition, it was discovered that movement and music can illustrate emotional meaning of music and improve relationships among choral singers. This article focuses on practical suggestions which can provide new points for discussion on the necessity of using movement in working with members of children’s choirs, children who are in the first or second cycle of elementary education.

Student motivation is one of the affective components that plays a key role in learning science. Research shows that in developed countries there is a trend of declining students’ interest in science and technology. In this paper, the relationships between intrinsic motivation, self-concept, and the achievement of the fourth-grade elementary school students in mathematics and sciences were investigated. The authors also present the results of the secondary data analyses obtained in Serbia by means of student questionnaires and knowledge tests in the last two cycles of the TIMSS research in 2015 and 2019. The questionnaire contains two scales in which motivational variables are operationalized: students’ attitudes towards mathematics/sciences and mathematical/ scientific self-confidence. Students’ attitude is an indicator of an intrinsic motivation, and self-confidence is an indicator of self-concept. The results show that students express a high motivation for learning mathematics and sciences and a high level of self-concept. A higher level of self-concept is accompanied by a higher level of motivation for learning mathematics and sciences. Individual characteristics of students have a greater influence on achievement than the influence of schools and teachers. Students who express a more positive attitude towards mathematics and science and a higher level of self-concept in these areas also have a higher level of achievement. The influence of mathematical self-concept on achievement is particularly significant. The obtained results are in accordance with the findings of the earlier research that indicate complex and controversial relationships between intrinsic motivation, self-concept, and mathematical achievement, as well as that other constructs, including self-concept, can mediate the links between motivation and achievement. The authors point out the possibilities of encouraging students’ motivation for learning. If students are trained in the teaching process to organize their own activities, this will contribute to their experience of autonomy and the development of confidence in their own competence, which positively impacts their motivation for learning.

The paper presents the results of an empirical research which determined the stages of construction of knowledge tests in educational practice, the difficulties faced by teachers in the process of test development, as well as the ways of overcoming these difficulties. The descriptive-analytical research method, content analysis and survey techniques were used in the research. The research sample included 362 subject teachers employed in primary schools in Serbia. All respondents included in the research indicated the difficulties they face in the process of making tests, i.e., the ways of solving these difficulties. A sub-sample of a total of 80 teachers consisted of Serbian language and mathematics teachers who reported on the phases of the knowledge test construction in their practice. The results of the research indicate that teachers perceive only a small number of theoretically defined stages in the construction of knowledge tests. Certain differences were identified in explaining the phases among the teachers of Serbian language and teachers of mathematics. At the same time, two-thirds of the surveyed teachers face difficulties when they prepare knowledge tests independently. The existing difficulties are usually solved by consulting the more experienced colleagues or by searching for a solution independently. The author’s recommendation is to enable teachers by means of an additional teacher training courses, to acquire the appropriate knowledge and skills that would help them create the knowledge tests with satisfactory methodological characteristics, and at the same time adequate for the needs of their teaching practice.

Teacher autonomy encompasses in its essence the (self)activity of the teacher, the right and opportunity to make decisions and choices, and finally accepting the consequences that come with those decisions. Accordingly, autonomy represents one of the core competences of the modern teacher and it is being increasingly in the focus of numerous pedagogical researches. The purpose of the study conducted and presented in this paper was to examine psychometric characteristics and determine factor structure of the Teaching Autonomy Scale (TAS). The study sampled 310 teachers of the upper-primary subjects and primary school grade teachers from 16 primary, mixed-sex public schools. The researchers have applied Horn’s parallel factor analysis and initially extracted three factors, but due to a low reliability of the third subscale, a shortened version was suggested with two factors and 10 items. The first factor represents Curriculum autonomy, while the second one refers to General autonomy. The conclusion is that the TAS scale can be used in its modified version of 10 items and with a two-factor structure of the instrument.

Holocaust, defined as the process of suffering of 6 million Jews, organized by the Nazi Germany during the World War II, is a topic that does not lose its relevance. Teaching about the Holocaust should be aimed at students’ understanding of historical facts, and it is also necessary to point out the importance that this part of the past has for the modern world and current social problems. In the teaching process, attention should be paid to preserving the memory of the lives of the Jews and the Jewish community in Europe before the war in order to highlight their rich cultural heritage. The paper presents the results of an empirical research aimed at analyzing the challenges in the process of learning and teaching about the Holocaust in formal and informal education. Using a close-ended questionnaire, the perspective of the students of teacher education faculties in Serbia was investigated, and the sample included 741 respondents. The results indicate a varied understanding of the term Holocaust, with the prevailing understanding that the process included a wide range of victims. Students find this topic emotionally taxing and very disturbing, and they identify this as one of the biggest obstacles encountered in teaching about the Holocaust. The obtained results can serve as a platform for creating implications for educational policies and formulating recommendations for the improvement of the school practice with the aim of deepening and expanding knowledge on this topic, but also with the aim of developing intercultural competences, reflective dealing with stereotypes and prejudices, and fostering a culture of remembrance.

What is the role and importance of philosophical education in other academic programs? There is surprisingly little relevant empirical research on this issue – the issue that has gained importance with the latest trend of reducing the representation of philosophy teaching in the education system of the Republic of Serbia. This is exactly what we deal with in this paper: we investigate the importance, value, and preferred conception of philosophical education in other, non-core academic studies, from the perspective of students, the main participants in the educational process. Our sample includes 151 participants, male and female students of the University of Niš, who answered open-ended questions using an online questionnaire about the contribution that philosophy courses had in their education and the possibility of giving more momentum to that contribution. We analyzed the obtained data qualitatively, using the method of thematic analysis. The results of our research show that students highly value the impact of philosophy courses, they believe that they contribute to the improvement of critical thinking and effective communication skills, a better understanding of problems, learning how to learn, building a worldview, and even – contrary to the usual conception of philosophy as a general education subject – to the better understanding of one’s own profession. With certain limitations that must be taken into account, this research speaks in favor of the fact that philosophy education makes a significant contribution to the education of students of various vocations, and that there are strong reasons to oppose the trend of marginalization of philosophy in other academic courses. Also, the results suggest that in the light of the new changes, it is necessary to rethink the question of how to design philosophy courses in other academic curricula.

Global research has indicated that there are differences in mathematics achievement among students relative to their gender. The differences have decreased in the last couple of decades, but they have not completely disappeared. Mathematics competitions play an important role in increasing students’ motivation, interest, and self-confidence, as well as in identifying and supporting mathematically gifted students. For this reason, the question is whether and to what extent there are differences in achievement at mathematics competitions relative to gender. The aim of this paper is to analyse the continuity of interest and students’ achievement, and to investigate the trends at regional mathematics competitions relative to gender in the 2014-2023 period. The research sample consists of 53490 primary school students, from fourth to eighth grade. Quantitative and qualitative methods were applied. The results indicate that there are differences in participation and achievement relative to students’ gender. In the observed period, there was a trend of an increased male representation. A slight decrease in the representation of boys was identified during the transition from earlier grades to subject teaching, and this difference becomes greater in the eighth grade. When it comes to achievement, there is a statistically significant difference, usually to the benefit of the boys, in 60% of cases. There are more boys among the 5% of the students with the highest achievement. The findings indicate that more attention should be paid to this issue and that the cause of the gender differences regarding participation and achievement at competitions should be identified and ways should be found for overcoming it.

In the modern society of science and technology, scientific literacy is viewed as one of the key educational competencies. However, research shows that young people’s interest in natural sciences is very low, that the average achievement of our 15-year-olds in the field of natural sciences is significantly lower compared to the OECD average, but also that significantly higher results in the field of natural sciences are achieved by our fourth-grade pupils who were included in the preschool education program. The paper presents the results of the research aimed at examining preschool teachers’ attitudes towards natural sciences and the development of scientific competencies in preschool children. The research goal defined in this way was operationalized in the following research tasks: 1) examine how preschool teachers assess their interest in natural sciences and their knowledge in the field of natural sciences 2) examine how preschool teachers assess children’s interest in the phenomena from the field of natural sciences, 3) examine what they perceive as the greatest contribution from situations during which they explore together with children the phenomena that are the subject of natural sciences. A descriptive method was used, with surveying and scaling as research techniques. The research results showed that preschool teachers have a positive attitude towards natural sciences, that they highly value children’s interest in natural sciences, that they view as the greatest contribution of situations during which children explore the phenomena studied in natural sciences in that they enable children to enjoy themselves and be happy, while the smallest contribution of these situations is perceived in developing children’s interest in science. Such research results show that preschool teachers have a positive attitude towards the development of scientific competences, but that they need stronger support in understanding the essential importance of the development of scientific competences in working with children.