The process of identity formation during the transition from adolescence into adulthood and its determinants are currently a central issue in the social sciences. On the one hand, the huge variety of possibilities presents the opportunity to expand the fields of exploration and to tailor commitments to individual aspirations and preferences. On the other hand, increasing instability and Bauman’s liquidity of the social environment of development may create threats that impede the making of decisions, engaging in their realization, and identifying with the choices made. James Marcia’s two-stage model of identity formation no longer adequately describes and accounts for paths of identity development. The dynamic dual-cycle model of identity formation developed by Koen Luyckx and collaborators is much more accurate. Although identity continues to develop throughout course of life, childhood, and adolescence in particular, seems to be pivotal from the point of view of which developmental trajectory the individual is on at the moment of his/her entry into adulthood. From this point of view, the factors which we regard as crucial for identity formation are shame proneness and shame regulation strategies on the one hand, and the system of personal beliefs about one’s life and related key social experiences which define the quality of social participation of adolescents on the other hand.

This paper attempts to show an idea of art therapy as complex: social, psychological and cultural system. Art therapy, in this sense, is not just a therapy (in traditional sense). Due to critical philosophical and social theories art therapy, in intersectional perspective, is strictly connected with feminism, queer, critical art and postcolonial movement. The most important ideas of intersectional theory (such as awareness of multidimensional problems of minorities) are also important for art therapy which shows practical implications of art therapy’s theory. The article is concerned with art therapy as a discipline. It shows practical applications of intersectional ideas in institutional and existential perspectives of art therapist’s work. The text shows specific art movements connected with work against prejudice and stigmatization.

Media change our culture. Complete and creative participation in culture requires at present new forms of knowledge, skills, and competencies. The aim of the paper is to present a possible direction for teaching about media. The considerations start with a discussion about the various approaches to media literacy. On the basis of the concepts of selected authors (Innis, Havelock, McLuhan, Flusser, Kittler, Ulmer), an attempt is made to describe the media dominated change in the culture that poses new educational goals before the system and enforces the application of new methods and tools. The category of metaliteracy performs here a heuristic function, which allows for the description of the problem in a new way, enabling fruitful analysis. Hence, it is shown that the ability to read and write is not sufficient for complete participation in culture at present. New forms of literacy, taking into account the domination of new media, have to be elaborated. The focus on electronic, information, or digital literacy, highlighted in the background literature, replaces old limitations by the new ones. The paper suggests that a new teaching strategy, based on the patterns of multiliteracy and metaliteracy, should be introduced. Only such a wellfounded strategy will allow the shaping of people capable of compete and creative functioning in the contemporary world.

Studies have been conducted in respecting the sensory preferences and learning styles of students with technical disciplines. It was Interesting to determine whether these students’ cognitive preferences are changing as a result of their participation in the learning process. To this end, research was conducted among students in engineering physics at the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year of studies. The results have been presented in this paper. They showed changes in sensory preferences and learning styles as a result of the learning process. This allows us to recognize that the intensive activities of the students to learn and acquire knowledge and skills lead to the emergence of certain cognitive preferences, needed because of the demands of the future profession and lifetime education.

Gender, in particular as it relates to the Irish constitution and Irish Law, is contested and complex, encompassing issues of national identity, religious values and sovereignty. These issues have a strong impact on education and training opportunities for lone mothers. Significant policy changes have taken place in the last decade with a view to creating a more equal society. Yet, this paper argues that gendered assumptions surrounding lone mothers’ position with regard to employment, training and education remain. Society’s traditional assumption of “suitable employment for women” is not a thing of the past. Therefore, while education is one means of empowering lone mothers and freeing them from the poverty trap, it does not address the deep-rooted structural inequalities women face. This is mainly due to paid employment remaining a vulnerable area in relation to gender equality. This is particularly visible in the current economic climate. In March 2009, the ILO warned that the gender impact of the global recession is felt harder by females than males in terms of unemployment rates. This confirms the view that women are still more vulnerable than men in the labour market, which highlights the pressing need for action rather than words in relation to the existing gender equality policies. Furthermore, this paper argues that lone mothers who remain at home caring for their children should be valued and not face automatic poverty. This can only be done through some form of financial security, not by being pushed into paid employment.

Educational systems worldwide apply some form of tracking which stratifies students according to their ability. Our study shows that teachers’ perceptions of intergenerational bonding in school diff er according to the track in which the teacher-student relationships take place. Moreover, this mechanism is responsible for the students’ lower sense of belonging in technical/vocational schools compared to academic schools. In terms of strengthening students’ connectedness to a technical/vocational school environment, we indicate that strengthening the level of trust in students on behalf of the teachers could be a crucial step that needs to be undertaken.

One especially relevant key theme in Sociology of Education is to what extent parents’ cultural level has significant implications in students’ educational achievement and, as a consequence, in the social mobility inherently linked to level of education and professional training – that is, how far the so-called cultural capital has a meaningful influence on current Spanish society. In order to investigate this aspect, our purpose has been to make an analysis based on data coming from public opinion surveys carried out by major sociological and statistical Spanish institutions. Since recently, these data are freely available to researchers, what makes possible the access to viewpoints of large samples of respondents. In short, with a view in the two-generation transit throughout the Spanish educational system, we will observe the validity of patterns of social and cultural inequality still influencing – though not determining – the educational achievement of Spanish population and, therefore, its professional development.

Decision making in terms of grading and evaluating students significantly contributes to unequal opportunities. In Switzerland, this is particularly true for the transition from elementary school to the stratified system of secondary schools, which oft en is determined by school authorities. Based on the case study of an elementary school in German-speaking Switzerland, this contribution explores accounts in which these decisions are related. Two types of accounts have to be taken into consideration. The first type refers to a student’s performance. This type of account is documented in a rather technical way. It aims to strengthen the procedural rationality of the decision-making process. Another type of accounts is based on material considerations. It refers to the effects of decisions on individual cases. This type of account is communicated to parents in order to achieve consent concerning a recommendation about which type of school a student should attend. The case illustrates that discriminatory decision making can be related to highly institutionalized accounts.

This paper presents new findings from quantitative and qualitative fieldwork in urban locations in the North of England. This study forms part of a three-year EU FP7 research project entitled ‘Ethnic differences in education and diverging prospects for urban youth in an enlarged Europe’ (EDUMIGROM). The project aims to conduct a comparative investigation in ethnically diverse communities with second-generation migrants and Roma in nine countries of the European Union. Th is paper presents findings from the UK team and gives an analytical account of a quantitative survey of Year 10 (14–15 year old) pupils in three multicultural secondary schools in 2008–2009, and qualitiative fieldwork focussed on African Caribbean, Pakistani and Gypsy and Traveller children, parents and families carried out in 2009–2010. The African Caribbean population tends to be economically disadvantaged and socially assimilated, in terms of cohabitation and marriage patterns, and with some significant degree of political incorporation; the Pakistani population tends to be in a position of greater economic marginality and poverty, with more social distinctiveness, due partly to social closure, and less political incorporation. But the group with the longest history of residence in the UK, the Gypsy and Traveller population, is in the most vulnerable position in terms of economic, political and social marginality. The extent to which wider patterns of socio-economic inequality play out in educational stratification and outcomes across these three groups is examined in this paper and emerging themes from current fieldwork are presented. This paper also addresses the policy implications of these research findings.

On the basis of these analyses, we cannot say that cultural and social resources have no role to play at all in the process of individual educational decision-making. What this study shows is that these do not enable us to explain the effect of parental SES on educational choice. In the absence of such evidence and in the light of the patterns found in the pupils’ accounts, we think to find some support for a view of educational decision-making as being the result of rational calculation. In this calculation parents take their own situation as a point of reference, considering the (educational) resources on which they can rely

This text argue that the notion of divided habitus makes it possible to expand the understanding of educational choices and strategies made by the upper secondary schoolteacher students. The analogue of a distance, gap or tug between habitus and field serve as a fruitful illustration of how educational choices and participations can be more or less complicated and full of conflict, and in the end determine the presence or absence of educational success. The social distance between habitus and the teacher education position on the field of higher education tend to affect the actual entrance and participation of the individual student. A wide distance is more complicated and full of conflict and failure than a narrower one. By combining this to the individual achieved school-resources the selection is becoming more complex but also with more consistency.