The Role of Cultural Capital in Labour Market Positioning. An Empirical Study

The aim of this paper is to analyse selected conditions of professional achievements of young polish employees with higher education degrees. The number of graduates has raised significantly in the last twenty years and they are employed not only as the professionals, but also on the positions, which do not demand academic qualifications. The author makes the hypothesis that the amount of cultural capital (in Pierre Bourdieu comprehension) has influence on the position on the labour market. On the basis of the qualitative research, there are the premises to acknowledge the influence of cultural capital on professional achievements. The conclusion from the analysis of polish graduates’ biographies is that occupational position of the employees equipped equally in cultural capital in the institutionalized state (diploma) may depend on the competences acquired during socialization process, which refers to the cultural capital in the embodied state. The paper presents a typology of young employed graduates in terms of their work expectations. The typology reveals how the primary socialization and acquired cultural capital influence the young employees’ attitude to their work and career – if they are preservative and focused on safety guarantees, or creative, looking for their professional development and self-fulfillment.

Origin and Methodology of the Study of Educational Plans of Youth from Grudziądz and the Region of Grudziądz

The research was handled by The Action-research in Contemporary Culture and Education – Practice and Theory team, and was commissioned by Rector of Nicolaus Copernicus University. The examination was held in 30 km radius from Grudziądz – the most efficient distance in terms of economics and everyday travels. We’ve found schools in Świecie, Nowe and Łasin in a circle of our interest. The population of examined region is ca. 155 000. An unemployment rate is significantly higher than average (over 29% in a region). Weak educational infrastructure, no industry. Research was conducted from March 20’ to April 18’ 2013 on 2016 students in 18 schools (regular and technical high schools). The main aim of studies was characteristic of a-level and pre-a-level students from Grudziądz and Grudziądz region and their educational plans. We focused especially on plans regarding higher education. All public school students, from all the high schools, were participating in a research. The auditorial survey was a main used method. The questionnaire was divided in 3 parts. The first was general information part, the second was educational plans part. The questionnaire contained also a set of questions to estimate economical, social, and cultural level - according to P. Bourdieu’s theory. The main examination was preluded by pilot examination which allowed us to tune up a research tool and a method.

“Rich Men” and “Poor Men” – Educational Plans of Youth from Grudziądz and the Region of Grudziądz and Their Symbolic Capital

The title “rich” and “poor” are respondents who took part in the research plans of youth education from Grudziądz and surrounding areas. During the analysis of the data was evaluated their symbolic capital [SC], which is the final instance of equity conversion: cultural, social and economic. It took the values that differ significantly from the average in the study group. In the 31-point scale, “poor” where called people whose measured SC received less than 9 points. The “rich” are people with SC bigger than 19 points. Group accounted for 7.7% and 8.1% of the population (respectively 155 and 164 people). 84.2% of population received in the measurement of SC score between 10-18 points, constituting 29% of the scale. That means that a high similarity of tested people for the measured SC. The data do not reflect the real inequalities that occur in modern society. For the SC test by gender, it was noted outnumbered the “rich” men, due to more frequent than in women taking more lucrative work. With regard to housing, most fell Świecie, where lives most of the capital rich at the same time the least poor capital. Slightly dropped Grudziądz, in which live almost as much “rich” and “poor”, which distracted in the area of small villages. Determined to continue their education was 85.4% “rich” and 65.2% “poor”. With regard to second degree studies, the declarations made 71.4% of the “rich”. 2/3 “poor” could not take such a decision at the time of the study. Nearly 1/4 of the group was not able to identify a particular direction, or university of their future studies. The “poor” often declared a desire to study in the fields to which it is easy to get (tourism, cosmetology, physiotherapy and available in Grudziądz educational sciences). The high ranking law reflects the desires and needs of their social advancement. The “rich” often give direction to ‘prestigious’ and harder subjects (medicine, science, law, and engineering). In both groups, there were no indications of ‘uniform’ subjects, popular in the overall population. Wealthy capital want to get through studies or maintain high social status and prestige occupations. Poorer searching in higher education relative economic security and greater social recognition.

The Phenomenon of Grudziądz. The Case of a City without a Higher Education Facility

The article is an attempt of characteristic – Grudziądz as a specific educational environment - phenomenon. As it was proved, Grudziądz is the biggest (almost 100 000 citizens, #40 in the biggest Polish cities list) city with no own university. This status might be both a cause and a result of other city’s problems. First of all – Grudziądz has the highest unemployment rate among all Polish cities – over 23%. Secondly Grudziądz has less investments than other cities in that region. Moreover, thirdly, there’s an proved opinion, that Grudziądz is unpopulating and is so called “town for a rent”. Situation on a educational market and a general economic and social condition causes in specific choices of young Grudziądzans. 1. They plan higher education more often. 2. They declare different set of majors than young Poles in general. Dominating faculties are: medicine, law, education, economics, architecture. 3. We’re finding a huge different – again in comparison to a general data – in a category of school type. Domination of universities, and no private universities. 4. Major – over 78% – chose regular full time studies. Specific a above mentioned choices indicates conservative and safe approach to youths future. Moreover it proves a responsibility. What’s even more important those date may be related to an information about leaving family home plans – that is why we may call it the accelerated adulthood and independence.

The contribution is focused on the analysis between education and unemployment in the Slovak Republic. There is a reciprocal proportion between education and unemployment: the lower education, the higher unemployment. It is especially typical of long-term unemployment which is highest at the lowest level of basic education. In Slovakia, young people’s unemployment rate in the age range of 15–24 is three times higher in comparison with the OECD countries. The situation necessitates a quick solution. The education level of people and a constant rise of qualifications belong to basic assumptions needed for a decrease of unemployment, an increase in labour market flexibility, and a development of national economy.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 shattered Western illusions of peace and security, raining tensions on both a macro and micro level. This article was thus inspired by how the war had affected Philology students in Poland, specifically emphasising the city of Rzeszow, which lies close to the Ukrainian border. The aim assigned to the research project was to investigate levels of resilience among students and how this correlates with stress levels and to further investigate the potential coping strategies adopted by the students to mitigate their anxiety levels. What has been shown is that there is a correlation between the proximity of students to graduation and the levels of anxiety they felt about their future employment prospects and that the most common method for coping with stress was to become actively involved in assisting in the most immediate manifestation of the cause of the stress, in this case assisting refugees.

Students solving mathematical problems on the blackboard are an everyday routine in Slovenian classrooms. On the other hand, it is commonly known that students often consider this situation as threatening. In order to highlight this phenomenon, Slovenian elementary pre-service teachers (N=242) filled out an Internet questionnaire about preferred teaching techniques. Only a third of the participants saw this teaching technique as an effective method for learning. In a pedagogical experiment, three teaching techniques were probed in a problem solving based mathematics course with combinatorial and probability topics. Empirical results showed no significant differences in knowledge according to experimental groups.

In this paper, the authors consider theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence of the method of assessment and evaluation by using knowledge tests, which significantly influence the quality of acquired knowledge. The students’ opinions on how they perceive the effects of applying tests in the assessment of the acquired knowledge were examined. The sample consisted of 415 students of the Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad. The results indicate that in the structure of the perception of introducing tests as a method of students’ knowledge assessment, positive attitudes and students’ role affirmation in the process of knowledge acquisition slightly prevail.

Effective participation in regional associations is a necessary condition for the functioning of a modern state and the tools of implementation of economic and political interests. Th e questions of the impact of the processes of formation of the Common Economic Space, the Eurasian Union on different sectors of the economy, particularly in the system of the higher education of Kazakhstan in the context of international experience in this field are analyzed in this article.

Scant literature is available on procedural justice – organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) via mediating role of leader-member exchange (LMX) in higher education context especially in Asian countries like Pakistan. For this purpose, data was collected from 452 permanent and contractual teaching faculty serving in different positions at private and public sector degree awarding institutes / universities accredited by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan. Mediated regression analysis, as proposed by Baron and Kenny (1986), was employed to address the research hypothesis. Results showed that LMX fully mediates the relationship of procedural justice OCB. Implications for future researchers and academic administrators are presented.

Internationalization of higher education is becoming an important topic for studies in educational research. For the most part, these studies have been done in the context of economically developed countries that are traditional exporters of higher education. The present study is different. First of all, it was conducted in a public university in Malaysia, a developing country and a net importer of higher education. Secondly, it focused on the attitudes of the host country students towards their international peers, which has been a less explored area in educational research. The findings of this exploratory study revealed that despite an overwhelmingly positive attitude towards the international students expressed by the respondents, social and academic-related interactions between the local and foreign students were almost non existent. The study gives some recommendations for institutional policy improvement and highlights some directions for future research.

The need to use other grading methods that will help to certify and/or qualify teachers’ grades in extensive groups of students led us to implement peer assessment. Our research was carried out over the last two years, and the students assessed one of the practices among themselves, using one of the tools from a virtual teaching platform. Their grades were subsequently analysed to see if they showed similar results to the teachers’ grades, by means of a correlation analysis. The high correlation found suggests that teachers could take the students’ grading into account if necessary.

The article examines the impact of microlearning technology on students’ motivation. The experimental (microlearning technology) and control (traditional learning) groups compared the study results. Statistical analysis was conducted to determine the answers to the motivation scale and to identify the significance of differences in students’ answers in the control and experimental groups. The Scheffe method was used to determine the source of differences in the responses of the study groups. The analysis of the study shows that microlearning technology has better results due to greater student engagement and learning motivation than traditional learning.

The paper aims to study and analyse smart technologies’ impact on students’ motivation to learn foreign languages. The testing method (SLAM), the interview method, the method of expert evaluations, the t-test, factor analysis, and Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient were used. The control group mainly shows instrumental motivation based on the need to learn the language to solve practical tasks, such as professional activities or travel. The experimental group shows an integrative motivation to learn the language to understand the cultural context and communicate with native speakers. It was established that smart technologies significantly increase overall academic productivity, promote easier assimilation of educational material, and enhance interest in learning a foreign language.