Abstract: The purpose of our present paper is to create an inventory of the specific characteristics and virtues of museum education. We highlight the status of this subject in the context of the educational sciences, the importance of its objectives, as well as its main topics which give room to enquiry and its contribution to reinforce the educational dimension. A museum should be understood as more than a mere formative environment – in itself or in connection to school – but also as a way of didactic understanding and reinterpretation of reality.

Keywords: museum education, museum values, museum didactics, nonformal education, informal education.

Abstract: For the purpose of this study three prominent questions have been asked: the significance of an interactive-engaged approach, ICT competences and online teaching, the use of creative techniques and their influence on the students’ communicative competence. We discuss the nature of communication and its relevance to various stages of learning, emphasize the importance of integrating skills, analyze the differences and similarities in learning how to speak and write. The basic aim of foreign language teaching is to endow the students with linguistic competence, to help them adapt to the needs of society, to use the language functionally in order to achieve the expected effect. This paper will focus on several methods and strategies which makes English teaching attractive.

Keywords: communicative competence, communicative interaction in English, foreign languages, creative methods, creative students.

Abstract: Firstly, the article analyzes several graphical representations of the curriculum, as shown in the literature. Secondly, the author formulates a new graphic representation. This is developed with a complex method which allows curricular planning and design in the sociocultural environment. This representation is more accurate as it is based on an original method which lies in the area of inter-disciplinarity, at the crossroads of education and academic subjects: mathematics, physics, statistics, sociology, psychology, philosophy etc.

Keywords: curriculum, graphical representation of the curriculum, sociocultural system.

Abstract: The article aims to present the vision and the main recommendations regarding the role and implementation of arts education in policy documents of UNESCO and the European Union. We focus the following issues: role and main objectives, conceptual framework, implementation, training of teachers and artists, research and assessment, dissemination of results and best practices.

Keywords: arts education, educational policies, conceptual framework, training, research.

Abstract: This paper presents one of the most interesting books that were written before 1989: namely Cultura estetică şcolară (School Aesthetic Culture) published in 1967 by George Văideanu. We have tried to highlight the various reasons for which the book is still a remarkable text about education even in our day and age. This is a text that includes passion for a “minor” cause (aesthetic education), critical thinking and an articulated pedagogical conception.

Keywords: school aesthetic culture, aesthetic pedagogy, aesthetic education, aesthetics.

Abstract: I herein aim to skeletonize a starting point in reconsidering the gist of competences („competenţialitate”), by readdress the inner structure of competences as virtualities of professionality – compounding parts of educational expertise – and their inherentevaluability. My goal is to notify by an approach of a reflection-research sort, backed on experiences both of investigation and training, inclusively by a consistent endnotes apparatus –, some aspects of the actual competential theory groundlessness and to suggest some conceptual clearings and re-problematizations in competences’ contribution to a qualitative design of the on-the-job training, suitable for them as full-age features.

Keywords: area of competences, propensity towards, (appetence), performing act, transformed values.

Abstract: The differences between school levels within our traditional education system are steeper than switching between different education systems. For the child, the transition from kindergarden to primary school and then to secondary level is a real world change. We initiated this research project “The child’s accommodation with the school level crossings in compulsory education” in an attempt to highlight and improve on these difficulties. This article is a general presentation of the research project.

Keywords: education, accommodation, level of education, school entry, the entry into middle school.

Abstract: The research presented in this article aims at exploring the relevance of the students’ learning styles for the design of blended learning programs. To achieve this purpose we made a research study with teachers and students from CREDIS, University of Bucharest. We explored the existing blended learning experiences as well as the students’ and professors’ opinions concerning the adaptation of instruction to the students’ learning styles.

Keywords: blended learning, learning styles, instructional design.

Abstract: The research has been done in two stages. The first stage consisted in structuring and designing the topics for a blended learning training program in counselling and consultancy. This stage collected information on to the teachers’ and principals’ values system, as well as information concerning the ideal principal and the school of excellence, the basic features of the principal’s social and school representations. Other results have also been relevant such as: models of organizational communication, the communication themes and the usefulness of the communication competencies for preventing the negative aspects in the school life and for making good use of the analysis and diagnosis or the specialization in the training area. The second stage of the research refers to the impact analysis of the training course. We identified difficulties in using the Moodle platform, we analysed the facilities offered for downloading the course materials, the access to the training materials, the relevance and quality of the training.

Keywords: training program, blended learning, educational management, quality management.

Abstract: The new media compete with reading practices in an unprecedent way as they offer new opportunities for both reading for information and reading for pleasure. Educators can choose to blame the digital era for school shortcomings. In a pessimistic perspective, students who extensively use the internet become superficial and get limited brains. There is nevertheless an optimistic approach where the new technologies, if they are well tuned to sound planning, could catalyze quality learning and deep reading. Our paper starts from a few conclusions in recent cognition studies by reputed analysts and presents successful school activities where students who use the new media step naturally and effectively in the literary universe and internalize concepts and values.

Keywords: new media, literature education, ICT in classroom practice, reading competences.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore the learning styles and to analyse attitudes toward self of 116 students from the Faculty of Psychology of Bucharest University and from the Polytechnic University of Bucharest.We applied a learning styles questionnaire adapted from Honey and Mumford (1986) and Carver’s (2008) Attitude Toward Self Scale. The randomly selected sample consisted of 57 Psychology students and 59 students from the Polytechnic University, mostly aged 19, 20 and 21. Results have confirmed the hypothesis of our research. First conclusion is that Psychology students have a greater need for mentorship, compared to Polytechnic students. Second conclusion is that reflective learning style correlates with the tendency to generalize. The third conclusion of the study is that theorizing learning style correlates with high standards. This study provides relevant premises for larger studies concerning learning styles and student attitudes toward themselves.

Keywords: learning styles, mentorship, attitude toward self.

Abstract: The paper presents the main concepts that underline the on-line and face to face counselling and management course for the head teachers in primary and secondary schools that was designed and implemented in Vrancea County in 2013 by a team of researchers from the Counselling and Educational Management Department in the Institute of Education Sciences, Bucharest, Romania.

Keywords: counselling, managerial consulting, organizational culture, leadership, leadership staff.

Abstract: The article describes the importance of competence-based training and learning in the Job Orientation Training for Businesses and Schools programme (JOBS) in Romania. It focuses on the different areas of competences and their application in the relevant components within the project. From a Swiss perspective the experiences from the implementation of such competence-based programmes are presented as a conclusion for a further development and knowledge transfer.

Keywords: job orientation, career guidance, competences, competence based training, student-centred learning, teaching material.

Abstract: “Exercise firm” is modern and interactive teaching and learning method, successfully applied in Romanian technological high schools. The current article analyse the “exercise firm” method applied in the virtual business environment in ROCT system in Romania – a compartment of NCVET – Ministry of National Education. The role of the exercise firms in the virtual business environment is to develop dynamic entrepreneurial skills of students, simulating a real emergent business competition environment.

Keywords: exercise firm, virtual business environment, applied learning.