Anužienė, Birutė

This article presents an analysis of the research aimed at students' attitude towards representation of mentoring relationships and an opportunity for their professional development in terms of teaching practice. The study is based on the assumption that the diversity of mentoring relationships and differences in their representation during teaching practice relate directly to the opportunities for students’ professional development. Mentoring is widely considered to be one of the models of support used in many different areas of society to meet the growing needs for personal and professional development. It is acknowledged that mentoring is a relationship between a more experienced, professional individual (a mentor) and a less experienced mentee. However, the following practical problem is identified: mentors themselves do not always recognise the variety of mentoring relationships or their impact on students’ professional development, i.e., opinions diverge when it comes to clarifying: What do mentoring relationships mean in terms of students' professional development? What explains the divergence of opinions or even the disagreement on the concept of mentoring relationships? How do different mentoring relationships affect students' professional development in terms of teaching practice? Searching for answers to the above problem questions provides new insights and possible practical solutions for analysing students' professional development during teaching practice. Thus, the goal of the study is to represent mentoring relationships and the professional development of students in terms of teaching practice. Research methods: analysis of scientific literature and questionnaire survey. Research results: the research shows that the multi-meaning of mentoring relationships depends on a context of an individual’s activity or a social field in which mentoring relationships take place. Research participants pointed out that mentoring relationships are understood by practice supervisors-mentors quite categorically, which restricts the professional development of students. During the research, it was found that mentoring relationships during students’ practical training should be expressed in different forms and practices to provide more opportunities for their professional development.

The article presents findings of a qualitative study focused on analysis of social interaction experiences of beginning teachers in higher education, whereby social interaction is construed as a dialogue, conversation, socio-cognitive conflict, and intersubjective solutions thereof, which influence the process of formation of new competencies.The aim of research is to show the prevailing experiences of beginning university teachers in building competencies within the context of social interaction - socio-cognitive conflict - situations. The research is based on the interactional ethnography approach. The research participants were newly hired teachers of different universities in Lithuania. The research shows that the degree of asymmetry in social relations is subject to differences in the status, experience, competencies, or age of the agents. In the context of intensity of socio-cognitive interaction, where it involves a small number or single-direction exchanges of views and opinions, socio-cognitive conflict will not necessarily be progressive in building new competencies. As regards the features of social and affective interaction, the situation of convenience - confrontation is the most favorable for the acquisition and formation of cognitive structures - competencies. Social and cognitive abilities of participants in a socio-cognitive conflict, as prerequisites for cognition, are essential for the acquisition of new structures - competencies.

Social justice in education is a research area aimed at providing equal opportunities for everybody to participate in the educational system. Research in the field of social justice rather focuses on formal education, in which the perception of the social justice concept depends on the attitude framed by the state – it is inseparable from the form of governance, the set of basic principles prevailing in society, as well as from the historical and cultural context. On the contrary, non-formal adult education, as a relatively convenient and most accessible form of adult education to upgrade or acquire new skills, involves occasional studies of these service providers in terms of social justice. It is also limited to the generalised perception of this phenomenon and, usually, to the contexts of its expression that are not always regulated by the state. Therefore, it is not clear how non-formal adult education addresses the problem of perceiving and expressing the concept of social justice, what role the state might play in ensuring social justice for adults in lifelong development and acquisition of new skills. The article raises the following problematic questions: How do adults perceive and experience social justice when participating in and engaging in non-formal adult education? How and in what ways does social justice exist in non-formal adult education? The aim of the article is to show the authentic experiences of study participants, by identifying the concept of social justice and expressions thereof in non-formal adult education. The results of the study demonstrate the controversy of the concept of social justice. This helped to confirm that there is no single definition of social justice that would be acceptable in all contexts of education. The following key forms of expression of social justice were pointed out by the study participants: equal opportunities, access, non-compliance of non-formal adult education services with participants’ learning needs, goals, and objectives. This has revealed a partial aspect of implementing social justice in non-formal adult education.

This paper presents the findings of a study on attitudes of employees of business organisations towards changes in their development strategies in terms of learning and competence development. The study is based on the assumption that the lack of corporate staffs’ competences hinders innovation, impairs the quality of activities, while the engrained conventional approach towards staff training prevents from using workplace opportunities of self-study and competence development. The study identifies the following practical issue: conventional staff training, principles and methods of competence development that depend on direct and virtual learning are not always effective lately. An analysis of the research participants’ attitudes can help to answer the following problematic questions in more detail: are the acquisition of competences, trainings held, and employee learning considered identical phenomena? What is the efficiency of staff training and competence development activities or the learning tools applied? What does the application of the principles of staff training and competence development in an organisation mean in practice? The article, therefore, is aimed to analyse the changes in staff development strategies in terms of employee learning and competence development from the perspective of corporate staff.

This article is aimed to discuss findings of the study on professionalisation in the practice of public health professionals who provide services to persons of all ages with disabilities. The following problematic questions are raised: how does a public health specialist become a professional competent in providing their services to all citizens, regardless of age or health status? What are the possible professionalisation ways and opportunities for public health professionals who provide services to persons of different age with disabilities? The article presents a theoretical discourse of the professionalisation process, as well as results of the qualitative research so as to provide insight into possible ways (opportunities) for professionalisation of public health professionals in providing services to persons of different ages with disabilities. The study is novel in that it discloses dimensions (professionalism and professionism) of a public health specialist’s professionalisation process in working with persons of different ages with disabilities. As findings of the study show, the dimensions are theoretically inseparable from each other, though, with quite different ways of professionalisation in practice. The study has established that the ways of professionalisation (1.Work-based learning; 2.Reflection and activities; 3.Reflection on activities (formalisation of unexpressed competencies); 4.Reflection for activities; 5.Organisational culture and activities; 6.Integration/assimilation of knowledge) enable a person to develop existing competencies, to construct a professional identity through the integration of both aspects of relevance of professionalisation ways: practical activities and reflection.