Abstract: Digital technology has become ubiquitous in the practice of school counselling in Romania, but currently there is little evidence and critical reflection on how it is employed in daily activities. The aim of the study was to gather information regarding the practices and resources associated with school counselling, especially regarding the use of digital technology. A total of 528 valid answers were collected from school counsellors across Romania’s 42 administrative divisions, using an online questionnaire. A cluster analysis was used to identify patterns of use of digital technology in professional practices, with three groups emerging: a) all-around use of digital technology, b) less frequent use of digital technology and c) regular use for specific professional tasks. Several socio-demographic factors were used to attempt to predict cluster membership. We discuss the implications of this exploratory study and chart potential avenues of action and research.

Keywords: Career counselling and guidance, digital technology, school counselling

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Abstract: The article highlights the students’ perspective regarding their experience with eTwinning, their investment of resources, their expectations, as well as the academic and personal outcomes obtained as a result of their involvement. The students’ opinions about the collaborative dimension of these projects in new learning contexts, the effectiveness of communication, the perspectives of personal development, the skills they developed, the well-being, and the motivation for learning are analyzed. The current article is based on a secondary analysis of data collected in a research project carried out in 2021 on a sample of 921 secondary and high school students, which aimed to assess the effects of the eTwinning project in Romania. The article focuses on the analysis of qualitative data regarding the learning experiences that the eTwinning project provided to the participating students.

Keywords: Collaborative learning, cultural diversity, curriculum applied in everyday life, educational experiences

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Abstract: Teaching is a crucial component of any sensible approach to ensuring quality education. However, there is no adequate, integrated perspective on the core qualities that make for excellence in teaching. Our study seeks to discover people who are examples of excellence in teaching in order to determine a set of excellence-associated characteristics. The participants of the present study were primary school teachers (n=11) from Romania. By making use of a qualitative inquiry, data was collected through semi-structured interviews and observations of school lessons. The key findings suggest that there is no single template for excellence in teaching. According to the data, there are three key aspects that can be attributed to excellent teaching: a passion for teaching, authentic relationships with students, and critical reflection. Recommendations for sustaining high-quality teaching are discussed.

Keywords: Excellent teachers, passion for teaching, qualitative data, reflection, teacher-student relationship

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Abstract: At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, governments worldwide suspended face-to-face education in schools to manage the spread of the Sars-Cov-2 virus. Romania and Hungary were not exceptional in this regard during the first wave of the pandemic. However, further along, the two countries’ policy pathways strongly diverged. Hungary strategized keeping schools open to ensure parents could attend to their employment obligations. Romania suspended face-to-face education in schools for long periods. The paper looks at these two national cases through a Critical Frame Analysis (Dombos et al., 2012) of education policy debates during the initial three waves of the pandemic (March 2020 – July 2021). It answers the question: How were the health rights of teachers and the health crisis in education framed in the education policy debates during the Covid-19 pandemic? Policy documents and policy related position documents by non-government actors were selected by country experts from both countries and coded inductively looking at the right to education, the right to health, and the relationship between economic activities and education. We present our findings concerning how teachers’ rights to health are featured in the policy debates between the government, oppositional political parties, trade unions and other stakeholders. Finally, we use our analysis to point to recommendations addressing the complex challenge of equally ensuring vulnerable pupils’ rights to education and teachers’ rights to health through coherent crisis management policies.

Keywords: Crisis management, critical frame analysis, right to health, teachers’ working conditions

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Abstract: Homework is a controversial topic that frequently attracts the attention of teachers and researchers, who are looking to identify ways to make it as attractive and enjoyable as possible, relevant, and formative as well. There are various points of views and data, empirically based, concerning the utility, scope, impact of homework on students’ development. The aim of the study was to identify the reflections, perceptions, and stated practices of primary school teachers regarding the assignment and assessment of homework. Thus, 10 primary education teachers completed reflection diaries on homework, between May 26 and June 25, 2021 (a period of the schooling year with consolidations, evaluations, and gradual relaxation towards ending/summer holiday). The teachers were asked to record each two days their reflections. The coding of the entries in the reflection diaries was done and analyzed with MAXQDA, and it covered aspects like the purpose and role of homework, methods for effective assignment of homework, parental involvement, appropriate completion time, volume, etc. The results, informative for teachers and educational experts as well, reveal teachers’ perceptions regarding the degree of involvement of children and parents, the appropriate dosage of effort and the appropriate time for solving homework, practices of assigning and evaluating students’ homework.

Keywords: Homework, primary education, teacher reflective log

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Abstract: In this paper, we aim to examine intercultural education textbooks, a subject that has been introduced in Romania, in the new school curriculum for middle school in 2017, for the 6th grade. The research uses content analysis to identify and analyze the cultural topics, the types of interactions that are suggested, and the extent to which these textbooks address social justice issues. We will approach both the textual and the visual elements of the textbooks.
The data is analyzed on four levels, using a social justice perspective, mainly Iris Young’s conceptualization of oppression. First, we explore the micro level which refers to the characters’ attitudes and values; then the macro level which comprises historical and political factors. Further, we examine the international dimension comprised in the analyzed textbooks. Finally, we are interested in the authors’ position. For this purpose, we employ Hilliard’s (2014) conceptual frameworks, developed from Gray (2010) – to which we added 12 topics – and Risager (1991). Moreover, the research proposes further analysis and inquiries on the subject of intercultural education in Romania.

Keywords: Content analysis, intercultural education, social justice, textbook

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Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic which forced the transfer of education from the physical to the virtual environment led to the exploitation of various materials and resources for teaching English for specific purposes. The use of videos in online lessons was investigated in a study conducted on four mixed-ability groups of students exposed to various educational videos to varying extents. The videos intended to improve the acquisition of vocabulary for English for specific purposes, namely for engineering and medicine. The students were divided into four groups, two engineering groups, and two medicine ones. All students were in their second undergraduate year and all had two lectures of English per week. One engineering group and one medicine group were exposed to at least two videos per course, whereas the other groups to one or no videos per course. Vocabulary acquisition was assessed using MCQs, word formation, and gap filling exercises, whereas speaking activities were conducted in smaller groups in virtual rooms. Following the 10-week period, not only the students’ vocabulary improved, but also their speaking abilities especially in the groups that used at least two videos per lesson, while the other groups showed only modest improvement of vocabulary acquisition and speaking skills.

Keywords: English for specific purposes, speaking skills, video, vocabulary acquisition

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Abstract: This study used semi-structured interviews to explore the career development process and influencing factors among eight Roma students. Following the analysis, eight areas emerged: 1) criteria for choosing a career option, 2) role models, 3) proactive personality, 4) support, 5) barriers, 6) work values, 7) critical consciousness, and 8) relevance of career guidance. The results show that the family is an essential source of moral support, role models, and persuasion in choosing certain educational and career options. Participants made decisions based on interests in certain areas and had work values predominantly related to prestige and appropriate financial rewards for their needs. All participants received support through positive measures and demonstrated a proactive personality in capitalizing on the support they received and overcoming the barriers they encountered, the most common being financial constraints. All students have a clear picture of how their ethnicity is perceived in society and the labor market and some of them are actively involved in improving the socio-economic context of young Roma.

Keywords: Career decision-making, critical consciousness, Roma students, social influences, work values

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Abstract: The literature raises concerns in terms of the psychological functioning of the students. Their well-being can be impaired by some problems they may face, like academic, personal, financial, or social ones. Cognitive theories support the fact that at the origin of the psycho-emotional consequences lies a dysfunctional thinking pattern. It can determine how people perceive events or their attitudes regarding the situations they experience. All these aspects play an important role in mental health. Thus, the first objective of the present study was to identify possible associations between dysfunctional attitudes, irrational beliefs, and perceived stress among students. The second objective was to test whether the relationship between irrational beliefs and dysfunctional attitudes is explained by perceived stress, through a mediation model. In this research, 148 students filled in three psychological scales that measure the following constructs: dysfunctional attitudes, irrational beliefs, and perceived stress. In general, the results emphasized negative and weak associations between attitudes and cognitions (r = -.265, p = .001) and perceived stress and attitudes (r = -.167, p = .043), but a positive relationship between cognition and perceived stress (r = .312, p < .001). Also, the mediation analysis showed that there are misgivings that perceived stress does explain the relationship between irrational cognitions and dysfunctional attitudes. These preliminary findings could be an initial step in the educational environment to improve the beliefs and attitudes assessment among students by targeting them as important elements. Keywords: Dysfunctional attitudes, irrational beliefs, mediation model, perceived stress

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Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of many human activities. As a result, education quickly shifted from a classroom setting to an online one, challenging educators and students alike. Multiple issues that had barely been known to educators surfaced: technophobia, lack of rules or guidelines regarding online learning, politeness in a virtual environment, limited social interaction, but some of the greatest challenges remain cheating, and academic integrity concerns during online examinations. Technological and software advances can oftentimes identify cases of academic dishonesty. However, with mass education and faculty unpreparedness it is rather problematic to combat and avoid cheating during online assessment. This mixed-methods review based on the limited empirical research on the topic of cheating during online examinations will identify the factors that lead to cheating and will discuss the best ways of combating and avoiding academic dishonesty.

Keywords: Academic dishonesty, assessment, cheating, online examination, online learning

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Abstract: The relationship between the learning environment and the learning behaviours has long been of interest in educational literature. When addressing the socioemotional stages, Erickson raises awareness of the psycho-social influence of school by way of diligence vs inferiority (Harwood et al., 2010), while Galos and Aldridge (2020) explore how designing a learning environment focused on student self-efficacy triggers statistically significant differences in 4 (out of 9) areas of analysis: fairness, task clarity, learning responsibility and task achievement.

The aim of the present study is to highlight the significance and the differences in the main student psychosocial representations of school and teachers before and during the pandemic, the latter being characterised by government-imposed restrictions as well as changes in the student-teacher interaction, both during the second school term of 2019-2020 and the two school terms of the academic year 2020-2021.

The areas we intend to explore are: overall attitude to school and student emotional states, the perception on teacher and peer relations, the perception on school as an organisation but also as a learning environment, the parents as a filter on schoolrelated perceptions, and the projective dimension on school life.

The resulting statistical analysis (both nonparametric tests for independent groups and correlation) reveals major changes in the student perception on school and teachers, which will require systematic future intervention, as well as an upgrade of educational strategies, considering that the approaches designed and applied during the pandemic proved unable to compensate for the changes brought about by the restrictions on learning.

Keywords: Pandemic, perception, school, student, teacher

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Abstract: Heyse & Erpenbeck (2009) define counselling competence very broadly as the ability to counsel people and organisations. This requires for teachers an extensive knowledge of content, social-emotional competence and solution-oriented thinking. In this context, the article focuses on the one hand on the location of the legal basis for teacher training in higher education in the context of counselling competence and how counselling skills can be improved to avoid conflicts in the classroom. On the other hand it describes the handling and use of counselling skills in everyday school life based on the results of focus group discussions within the Erasmus+ project SEEVAL.

Keywords: Conflicts in school, content analysis, counselling, focus groups, social emotional learning

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Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the transition to the online education substantially changed the characteristics of the teachers’ activities, especially due to the intensive use of telecommunications. A number of recent studies are already exploring the effects of these framework changes on individual behavior and drawing attention to the risks of mental health for those involved. Previous data indicate that the level of burnout experienced between the teachers is much stronger compared to the symptoms felt by other professionals (Shoji et al., 2016), but studies exploring the stress and burnout associated with working online are incipient.

The present study analyzes the relationship between burnout and self-efficacy for a group of 50 teachers from a secondary school during online teaching. The need to research this correlation starts from the premise that self-perceived effectiveness is important in mobilizing the teachers for the expected changes during online teaching. Previous data indicate an inverse correlation between self-efficacy and burnout (Friedman, 2003), respectively between teachers self-efficacy and two facets of the burnout: emotional exhaustion and depersonalization (Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2010). Our aim is to explore the momentary correlation between the dependent variables and to estimate the factors that had a negative impact on the perceived self-efficacy of teachers during online work. Even if the captured data cannot be generalized and we cannot talk about a cause-effect relation, the present study captures a real moment that can substantiate an improvement/optimization of the intervention, at least at the level of the reference/referential school.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching, teacher burnout, teacher selfefficacy

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Abstract: Well-being, a concept so often discussed, has increasingly come to the attention of specialists and practitioners, especially during the pandemic period whose magnitude has significantly influenced the well-being of all of us. The purpose of the comparative-correlational study was to investigate the perceptions and practices of teachers in Romanian preschool education regarding their role in ensuring the well-being of preschoolers in kindergarten, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, starting from the theoretical framework that delimits the factors that influence the well-being at this age (Aulia et al., 2020; Kwi-Ok et al., 2020; Sönmez & Ceylan, 2016), we used The Scale of Self-assessment of Wellbeing – IASB (Rodawell, 2019), developed by the University of Bucharest within the Rodawell project, and The Scale of Happiness Strategies for Children Used by Preschool Teachers – HSCPT (Sapsağlam et al., 2019). The online questionnaire was answered by 149 teachers for preschool education, especially from Timiş county. The results of the study (analyzed by The Independent-Samples T-Test, ANOVA One-Way, Spearman Correlation) highlight the existence of a positive association between perceptions and practices of educators in ensuring wellbeing, but also the existence of statistically significant differences between teachers’ practices in urban vs. rural environment, in the sense that, although they perceive children’s well-being similarly, rural teachers tend to use happiness strategies more often. At the same time, teachers’ perceptions differ depending on how the teaching activity is carried out in a pandemic context: the self-perceived role and the practices dedicated to ensuring well-being are more intense in hybrid and online format than the traditional one.

Keywords: Children’s well-being, Covid-19 pandemic, happiness strategies for children, preschool education, teachers’ perception

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Abstract: Because of the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic, schooling in Romania moved in distance regime in March 2020. During the next school year, each municipality chose the scenario for each school – face-to-face schooling or online learning – according to the local number of infections. However, online education encountered many difficulties in terms of material and human resources, especially in rural areas. In this study we aim to explore rural teachers’ perspectives about online schooling in Romania, during the Coronavirus pandemic. The data – obtained through a series of interviews and questionnaires – were collected from rural teachers working in various parts of the country.

In this study we propose to follow two main directions. First, we explore teachers’ experiences concerning the access to material resources in the school and at home. The absence of proper digital equipment and the quality of the internet connection are two of the main concerns for policy makers. Second, the study focuses on educational practice, discussing teachers’ accounts and experiences during two periods: March-June 2020 and the next school year, until present. We intend to explore rural teachers’ experiences in depth, as rural was always disadvantaged in Romania’s education system. This study is a starting point for further research of rural teachers’ preparedness in Romania and the implications of online learning on rural teachers and students.

Keywords: Online schooling, pandemic, rural, teachers’ experiences

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Abstract: The measures put in place to stop the spread of the Covid-19 have had a major impact on the organization of educational processes. School teachers have been faced with overnight digitalization of their activities without always receiving adequate support with this transition. The present paper reports on a participatory action research project in the form of a tutoring program that sought to understand and respond to these challenges. The project took the form of an open learning initiative addressed to teachers in April – June 2020, followed by a data collection and analysis phase. 37 teachers in four Romanian counties benefited from personalized forms of support offered by 20 student- tutors enrolled in the Educational Sciences Department at the West University in Timişoara. All project activities were carried out at a distance, in the vast majority of cases, online. In analyzing the data produced by the project (tutor reflection log entries, qualitative interviews and focus groups with teachers and tutor students) we seek to answer the following research question: How did a collaborative learning process emerge as part of a participatory action research project carried out during the onset of online teaching and learning practices?. The collaborative learning responded to teachers’ immediate and individual needs regarding the development of digital competences, as well as related to pedagogical and emotional support. Through the tutoring program, the expected roles of the educational actors were reversed: since the undergraduate students were not primarily beneficiaries of the educational processes, but took on an active part as facilitators of the teachers’ learning processes. Thus, a competence transfer from the university to the pre- university environment took place, at a faster rate than it would usually happen.

Keywords: Action-research, collaborative learning, digital competences, remote teaching in times of crisis

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Abstract: Student engagement is consequential for learning outcomes and is a key factor in student achievement. While its impact on educational outcomes in a face-to-face setting has made the focus of extensive research, less is known about its effects in the context of online learning, especially in Eastern Europe. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced all higher education institutions in Romania to switch to emergency online learning, with little or no previous experience in this form of instruction. This makes it a highly relevant and interesting case for the study of online learning effects on student outcomes. This article therefore investigates disparities in student engagement in the context of emergency online learning in a sample of undergraduate Romanian students. The article focuses on active learning as a key element of student educational engagement, exploring differences in student background characteristics, such as socioeconomic status, employment status and time spent caring for dependents, as well as studying conditions. Results indicate that the sudden change to emergency online learning has created new disparities in perceived levels of student engagement based on the lack of private, interruption-free spaces and a reliable internet connection, as well as time spent doing housework.

Keywords: Disparities, higher education, online education, student engagement

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Abstract: In the current national and international context, the education “hosted” in the online environment, which was once only a secondary solution, rarely used, has become the main way to ensure the continuity of the learning process. In this study, we aimed to capture the reactions of those who were the first to experiment an exclusively online, learning process, i.e. the reactions of the students. We used an investigative approach focused on the following objectives: identifying the perception of students/learners regarding the efficiency and quality of the educational process carried out in the online environment and highlighting ways to improve teaching activities conducted online. The main research method was the questionnaire-based survey. The questionnaire was administered online, integrating a series of items that addressed issues such as: students’ participation in educational activities, problems encountered, solutions to optimize the didactic process conducted in the online environment. Following the investigative approach, the main conclusions are the following: most of the surveyed students consider that the educational activities carried out in the online environment do not have the same efficiency as the direct activities (face to face); the main problems highlighted by the respondents were: overload, fatigue, demotivation, learning difficulties in understanding and operating with certain content, poor Internet connection, but also the lack of necessary indications to facilitate learning. We appreciate that the results of our study may be relevant for practitioners in the field of education, especially for those from higher education, but also for all those interested in digital education.  

Keywords: Digital competences, digital resources, online education, quality of university education, reflective practice

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Abstract: The challenges of online learning, created by the COVID-19 pandemic, have prompted a significant demand in researching this particular field of education. The adaptation to online learning, unfortunately, was applied in a context of unprepared teachers and students. This situation was caused by the new format of education, which differs significantly from massive open online courses, traditional learning or distance learning. The new hybrid model of education, prompted by the pandemic, has certainly become a trend that could incite future transformations in terms of teaching and learning. To better understand the specifics of this type of online learning, we asked the students (N = 705) from the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest to express their opinion on their learning experience during the pandemic. The survey included the problems and expectations of the interviewees, and the research results were analyzed in the article. Our goal was to improve educational practices in the virtual educational environment. In this regard, we analyzed the important components of online learning, focusing on the following ones: the quality of the educational resources used to support the content, the improvement of the quality of the teacher- student relationships, time management, online assessment. The article also provides solutions for effective online learning, from the students’ perspective.

Keywords: Digital learning, online education, students’ perspective, teacher training

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Abstract: Online education is of various types and can be defined in numerous ways. Over the last few decades, online education has gained popularity, but has also been regarded with reluctance and scepticism as to the benefits it may have. The COVID- 19 pandemic was declared on the 11th of March 2020 and forced many countries to impose lockdowns and restrictions. As such, several activities were shut down, schools and universities were closed, thus, the need for rapid solutions arose. Since the online environment was there for the taking, physical classrooms were virtualised overnight, homes became learning and teaching spaces for students and educators, whereas the latter were faced with adapting content and transferring it in order to suit its delivery via online platforms. With little to no experience in online education, educators sought to find ways to continue their work bringing emergency modifications. Although digital transformation is not a new phenomenon, the transit from physical classrooms to online ones has been and still is a rough learning curve for many educators. Apart from optimising digital technology to apply to education, another difficult task of any online teacher is to keep students motivated and involved, which can be achieved in different ways. This article discusses methods of content and course delivery, the technology-induced problems that online teaching implies, assessment, ethical behaviour in a virtual setting, and the risk of cheating in online examinations, as well as ways of preventing cheating. Nevertheless, the abrupt onlinification of education may lie at the basis of future exploration and research.

Keywords: Assessment, content delivery, online learning, online teaching, student motivation

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Abstract: The technology use is flourishing in a growing set of educational contexts. Music education is no exception, seeing more and more learning practices be actively incorporated into educational frameworks. Our study seeks to investigate the online teaching and learning experiences of music university students who are participating in the pre-service teacher education during the Covid-19 pandemic. The participants of the present study are pre-service music students (n=22) enrolled in the teaching education programme in their 2nd or 3rd year at the university. By making use of a phenomenological qualitative inquiry, data was collected through participating at semi-structured interviews via ZOOM videotelephony software in January and February 2021. The key findings indicate a neither overtly positive or negative teaching and learning experience, even if the students had to navigate an avalanche of offline learning technology requirements both as students and teachers in a limited amount of time. The results of the study indicate that teacher training programmes should consider the move to virtual teaching and learning as an opportunity for change and to go beyond the emergency online practices and develop quality online educational activities.

Keywords: Covid-19, music education, pre-service teacher, teacher education, technology

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Abstract: In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the educational process has undergone significant transformations. Teachers, students, lessons, additional materials, homework, school guidance and discussions displayed new ways of expression, while applications commonly used for communication became working tools. Specialists in the field of education were encouraged to identify the most appropriate scenarios for the specifics of the school and the local context, so that the training and development of students’ competences be continuous, both in accordance with specific school curricula and new ways of organizing the teaching process. The debates about the digitization of education are accentuated by the major structural problems that the Romanian educational system is facing. In many rural schools, especially, the digitization remains a difficult goal to achieve. As the Ministry of Education has recently acknowledged, more than 250,000 students today do not have access to the infrastructure needed for education during the pandemic. Without proactive measures to balance the situation, education during the pandemic is currently discriminating, instead of being an integrative solution. The present study offers a model for conducting online education in a rural school: Secondary School no. 1 in Valu lui Traian, Constanþa County. Through this, we want to show the benefits of online education, but also its limits determined, especially, by the absence of collaboration and direct communication between teachers, students and parents in a space suitable for the educational process: namely the school and the class of students.

Keywords: Digitization, online education, pandemic, teaching activity

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Abstract: The paper highlights the results of PISA in reading literacy as well as the new computer-based released items published by OECD. Screen reading allows – and challenges for – rapid access towards several texts. In order to get informed and mainly for quality learning it is crucial to identify the source and its quality. In this context, the research question that our study refers to is the following: How do we prepare students to deepen the multiple text and to identify credible information? Our investigation targets a group of 95 students in grades 8 and 9 from four schools located in two big cities, one of them being a technological high school. The students went through one of the reading units in the anthology published by PISA OECD (Galapagos) which requires reading several texts, from different sources, viewed on the screen, in order to answer comprehension questions which focus processes of different complexity. Depending on the difficulties of the students and the problems they have with various issues related to the credibility of the sources, the article indicates solutions to improve learning by the innovation of reading practices in the class. The conclusion of the article shows the need for change in the selection and approach of information texts in order to prepare young people for in-depth reading in a world where learning and documentation take place mainly through the screen.

Keywords: Multiple text, PISA, reading for comprehension, sources credibility

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Abstract: This article is the general presentation of the project “English for the Community” set up by British Council Romania in partnership with the Romanian American Foundation (RAF), and which has as target group about 150 teachers of English as a foreign language in nine counties in Romania, who teach in schools located in villages or small towns. The first stage of the project took place from 2018 to 2020, and a second stage began in March 2021, and it will last until 2023. There are presented details related to the general aim of the project: to provide professional development for the Romanian EFL teachers who teach in lower and upper secondary schools located in areas which have potential to develop ecotourism. The article includes information about the way in which the project has been organized from the beginning up to now, the areas where it takes place, how it has been developing, which steps have been taken, and the impact it has not only on the members of the target group, but on the whole community as well. A special focus is on Teacher Activity Groups (TAGs), an innovative method for Romania, in the benefit of the teachers directly involved in the project. All these are further illustrated by testimonials provided by the members of the target group, the trainers, and the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the program.

Keywords: Ecotourism, local community, professional development, teacher activity groups (tags), teachers of English

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Abstract: According to the UNESCO reports, the health crisis caused by SARS-COV-2 affected more than 1.7 billion students from around 150 countries worldwide this past spring. Teachers at all levels of education were forced to switch to digital resources and tools and were required to transition and adapt promptly to remote teaching. This transition took place also within the Teacher Training Department at the West University of Timisoara. Teachers together with their students had to find pragmatic, technology-based, creative solutions that would allow them to carry out the remote teaching, learning and assessment activities at a level that would ensure the development of the desired skills and the achievement of the desired learning outcomes.

This paper explores the way in which the teaching, learning, and assessment activities have been adapted for emergency remote teaching at the West University of Timisoara. We focus on the first and second levels of the Teacher Training Program offered to future science teachers at this university.

We present the adopted strategies, communication tools, and the applications used to deliver the proposed teaching, learning, and assessment activities. Furthermore, we identify the most common technological and pedagogical difficulties encountered throughout these activities, as well as the future science teachers’ concerns regarding the transition to remote teaching. 

We conclude that the health crisis has had both negative and positive influences on the training process of future science teachers at the West University of Timisoara, providing a unique opportunity that allowed both teachers and their students to jointly discover effective remote teaching-learning-assessment approaches.

Keywords: Challenges and opportunities, emergency remote teaching, preservice science teachers

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Abstract:
The present study deals with the use of a weblog in the further training of teachers at Romanian public schools with German teaching. The question whether an educational blog meets the needs, wishes and expectations of the target group was

investigated using the IMMS questionnaire based on the ARCS model by Keller (1983, 1987). The evaluation results show a positive impact of the blog on the study participants and point out the importance of motivational factors in designing online learning content. This referred to the multimedia narrative presentation and the clear structuring of current psycho-educational topics with practical relevance for the target group.

Keywords: ARCS model, blog, further training, motivational design, online learning

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Abstract: In this article I analyse the discursive context of two classes of students bringing into discussion the concepts of educational knowledge and the organization of teaching-learning activities. Although there is much research that provides nuanced insights into how teachers and students are involved in the social construction of classroom discourses about knowledge, in Romanian literature the issue of classroom interactions has been approached from the perspective of teachers ‘ and students’ perceptions, while school knowledge has been studied only incidentally Therefore, I present a qualitative study, based on a critical discourse analysis that highlights how different versions of knowledge are socially constructed in the discursive space of the classroom, in order to point out ways in which the classroom and school can become spaces in which interactions no longer revolve around knowledge defined only by reference to disciplinary content. Bimonthly observations and audio-video recordings were made in the 2017-2018 school year during language and communication activities, in two classes, from two different schools. The results show that classroom interactions and participation structures differ depending on the purpose of the activities, and student participation is not only based on generally accepted communication rules, but varies depending on the implicit or explicit purpose of the activities.

Keywords: Classroom discourse analysis, curriculum, interactions, school knowledge, students participation

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Abstract:
This study aims to explore the online communication habits and practices of 12-14-year-old 50 students from an urban school. Measuring their answers on the Digital Native Scale of Timothy Teo (DNAS), this study refers to the suggested four-factor by the author, creating a framework for the analysis of their digital native profile: grown up with technology, comfortable with multi-tasking, reliant on graphics for communication, and thrive on instant rewards (Teo, 2013). The results of the study enhance the understanding of digital natives. As we expected, this research shows a high degree of comfort in online communication in their differentiated profile. It is relevant the issue of age when exemplifying digital natives’ skills. Also, it is estimated that there are similar behaviours, related with the debut age of technology use (4-5 years old). The most common actions in virtual space are surfing on the Internet, photographing, communicating, downloading, disseminating, adding to comments on colleagues’ posts. According to this study, the online communication practices of these 12-14-year-old students include in terms of content various symbols, instant bonuses, and feedback elements. From an educational point of view, these can be included in a structured manner of learning. The article proposes, in this view, several ways to integrate usual students’ communication practices in learning activities with the support of digital resources (virtual bulletin boards, online presentations, digital stories so on). The results indicate that students showed the digital native characteristics, that can be successfully used in school.

Keywords: Digital literacy, digital native, online communication, technology

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Abstract: The current context determined by the social distancing has changed the way of carrying out the learning activities which are taught and evaluated at school; during this situation the Romanian and also the global education system faced an unprecedented challenge, namely the transfer of the whole school activity to the online environment. Given this situation, we analyzed data from national and international studies in order to have an overview of the characteristics of digitization and existing digital skills, especially in the Romanian education system. This analysis allowed the understanding of the structure on which this sudden digitization developed and the premises of public policies on which the process was built. The analysis was combined with the presentation of projects carried out during this period, in order to prepare the various school actors in the field of digital education in the form of recommendations to support the empowerment processes in training digital skills of teachers and students in the current context and on a long-term.

Keywords: Digital competences, education and social distance, online school, projects, public policies

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Abstract:
According to Eurostat data, the young NEETs (Not in education, employment or training) rate in Romania is one of the highest in Europe. It ranks 4th in Europe in 2019 (after Italy, Greece, and Slovenia) (Eurostat, 2020), with 11.5% for men, and 27.8% for women (while the EU average is 12.2% for men, and 20.8% for women). In addition, Romania has one of the highest rates of ’other NEETs’, not registered by public employment agencies: only 4.8% were registered in 2018, and received the NEETs benefits (CE, 2018). Recent data show the low performance of Romania in monitoring the school to work transition of youths, in accessing the European funds to support young people entering the labor market, or for offering the Youth Guarantee (Beadle et al., 2020). Even so, Romania, like all other member states, cannot afford to lose the youth capital, while it faces sharp population ageing and outgoing migration.

During the last decade, we saw emerging a strong know-how for understanding and addressing the NEETs issue. Reflecting on the research data from different reports and studies, from various findings in large scale H2020 research and innovation projects on NEETs, the paper elaborates on proactive or remedial integrative solutions for improving the situation of young NEETs in Romania, building up on the good practices in atracting NEETs, at national and European level, while using the theoretical framework of the governmentality studies applied to the youth field (Besley, 2010).

Keywords: Educational policies, educational practices, NEETs, outreach, youth policies, youth ’at risk’

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Abstract:
Under the pressure of the Covid-19 pandemic, the school activities have moved from the classroom to the online environment. Considering these circumstances, the teachers have made serious efforts to adapt their teaching and assessment methods to the possibilities offered by the virtual space. They have used various educational platforms and digital resources, trying to be in contact with their students, learning “on the go” to make the most efficient use of them in the teaching process.

Being an important topic in education in the current period, we present, in this paper, the results of the online testing for Physics and Chemistry of some middleschool students, realized through the Kahoot educational platform. These results support the opinion that face-to-face school or even blended-learning are, in general, more efficient than online school.

Some advantages of the online assessment were also highlighted, most of them attitudinal; for example, most of the students were excited about the opportunity to participate in this assessment, and some of them returned to the platform and solved some tests twice, so using them for learning. The results of the online assessment have also underlined some components of the school curricula that are harder to be transformed into student’s acquisitions, and for which more time and explanations are needed.

Keywords: Competence-based education, middle school education, online assessment

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Abstract:
The present study focuses on the role, importance and complementarity of science and technology extracurricular activities. The research is based on the analysis of the students’ views on how the science activities should be conducted in Children’s Palaces and Clubs, namely which topics should be explored and how the activities should be organised. An online questionnaire was designed for data collection (N=3945). The research design included opinions from specialized literature. Thus, the success of the extracurricular activities increases in direct proportion to the approached topics, didactic strategies and the community involvement – parents, schools – with relevant experiences in carrying out the activities (Albulescu & Catalano, 2019). And as far as the organization of this type of activity is concerned, the following should be considered: the pupils’ age level characteristics, their psychological needs, and the specific inclinations and interests (Cucoº, 2017). The science and technology activities include the curricular areas involved in a coherent learning paradigm, which is based on practical applications that are used in everyday life (Albulescu, 2014). The current legislation also supports an innovative way of carrying out extracurricular activities.

The findings show us the important role of the technical and scientific extracurricular activities, which along formal education help to improve learners’ results, furthermore, they are complementary for the development of competences in science and technology. This study helps in the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the extracurricular activities, and the results tell us about the needs of the pupils and to what extent the use of the pupil-centered educational strategy will help to achieve better results in education and reduce school dropout. This is a confirmation that complex educational objectives require the combination of curricular with extra-curricular activities (Bocoş & Jucan, 2017).

Keywords: Children’s palaces and clubs, competences, extracurricular activities, interdisciplinarity, science and technology

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Abstract: The paper presents the results from a study involving 70 students in grade 9, from two technological highschools situated in a large town in Romania. In September 2020, the 15 year olds read and answered the questions from one of the released units after PISA 2018, and then reflected on their reading experience in a self assessment sheet. The results show good results in working with information from one article and poor ability in corroborating conflicting information from two sources that focus on a same topic. The students display little familiarity with biased information even if the majority enjoyed the reading challenge of two divergent points of view. The results are consistent with the PISA reading trend for Romania. In order to improve reading comprehension, teachers should renovate the reading practices by challenging students with work on multiple texts and tasks that focus on evaluation and reflection and on the sources credibility.

Keywords: Biased information, PISA, reading comprehension, reading practices

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Abstract: The current analysis starts from a teacher’s experience with cognitively disabled students. In such cases, the management of the teaching-learning process is challenged by the limitations of various activities (generalizations, abstraction or inductive-deductive operations). In these situations, the teacher has to select effective activities for developing the competences in the curriculum. In this context, success could only be obtained if proper attention is given to the individual learning needs of each student. At the same time, an emotional relationship that is based on trust needs to be developed between the teacher and the students and their parents. The communication competence is a priority since it is absolutely necessary for the social integration of students with disabilities as it provides the means to express feelings, needs and views. The challenge to plan adequate

teaching strategies is correlated with understanding the child’s real issue and its timely solution: the more serious the cognitive disability, the later speech develops and remains at a low level in the adult life, generating difficulties in expressing thought and emotion. If the youngsters experience a false disability triggered by the lack of educational stimulation or if they have an authentic cognitive disability, these students need sustained support. The examples of interventions we present in this paper come from our attempts to best value the intellectual potential of these children and, consequently, to find solutions for a differentiated adaptation to each child’s needs by planning competence-oriented creative teaching activities.

Keywords: Adapted teaching strategies, communication competences, (false) cognitive disability

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Abstract:
Teaching using a synchronous and an asynchronous online environment has become increasingly widespread across the education sector and now this process has been accelerated, temporarily or permanently, due to the Corona Virus (SARSCoV-2) pandemic. The mass closure of nurseries, kindergartens, schools, high schools and universities has prompted the rethinking of the teaching and learning processes. Educators were forced to shift to an online mode of teaching overnight even if they did not properly feel capable to do so. Our study seeks to explore the experiences on teaching and learning online encountered by preschool teachers during their work in the context of COVID-19 physical school closure and explore the meaning of such practices in shaping in-service kindergarten educators’ perceptions of digital media and online delivery. The participants of the present study are kindergarten teachers (n=21) with a minimum of three years and a maximum of 10 years of teaching experience. They work with the same age group (three- to sixyear- old children), from 9 public inner-city kindergartens. By making use of a phenomenological qualitative inquiry, data was collected through participating at semi-structured interviews via ZOOM videotelephony software program in June 2020. After the data was recorded and transcribed, three main themes were distinguished. The key findings indicate that all the teachers experienced challenging moments while delivering online, but they were also able to identify advantages in such a stressful context. The results of the study show the need of a modernized approach to pedagogies on educational technologies and media that is driven by research informed analysis.

Keywords: Digital media, ICT, in-service kindergarten teachers, perceptions, young children

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Abstract:
IDELA (International Development and Early Assessment of Learning) is an assessment tool developed following a three-year activity by Ivelina Borisova, from Save the Children, with the help of Vidur Chopra. It allows to evaluate the development and early education of young children (3.5-6.5 years).

The assessment tool resulted after three years of verifying and modifying the instrument, in several locations in 12 different countries. The tool includes 24 items, is easy to translate and manage and presents levels of high fidelity and validity.

When applied in different countries, the instrument has been adapted taking into account the feasibility of administration, the relevance of the instrument and policy at country level, as well as its applicability at international level.

In Romania, the application of the instrument was made face to face during the initial evaluation of 300 children aged 3 -6 at the Kindergarten “Căsuţa Bucuriei” no. 11 from Braşov. The innovative dimension of the application was the final assessment: it was conducted in a “virtual classroom” with 230 children, but adapted to the pandemic context in which the learning took place, either in a hybrid scenario or exclusively online.

Keywords: Early education, face to face class, innovative assessment, international assessment tool, virtual class

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