c e p s Journal | Vol.7 | No4 | Year 2017 7 Editorial This issue concludes the 7th volume of CEPS Journal, and it celebrates the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Faculty of Education, Univer- sity of Ljubljana in 1947. The current issue of CEPS Journal is not limited to a specific focus but intentionally presents a number of articles addressing a wide spectrum of relevant educational questions, as the Faculty of Education has done over the previous seven decades. The paper entitled “Foreign Language Learning and Identity Recon- struction: Learners’ Understanding of the Intersections of the Self, the Other and Power” by Seyyed Hatam Tamimi Sa’d explores the relationship between English language learning and identity reconstruction from the viewpoints of Iranian language learners. The data were gathered using qualitative approach- es to determine the concept of identity. The participants were found to draw upon notions as diverse as personal and social characteristics, ethnic origins, geographical locations, religious affiliations, national customs and rituals, and values, amongst others. Furthermore, the vast majority of the learners held that learning English had a profound impact on how they perceive their identity. The interviewees also expressed strong inclinations to integrate and, therefore, to identify with the target linguistic and cultural norms. The results highlight the vital role of motivation and the status of English as an international lan- guage in viewing, redefining and reconstructing identity. The authors conclude the paper by emphasising the role of discursive practices, power relations, soli- darity and otherising with regard to identity reconstruction in second language learning. The second paper, “Elementary and Secondary School Students’ Percep- tions of Teachers’ Classroom Management Competencies ”, by Jana Kalin, Ciri- la Peklaj, Sonja Pečjak, Melita Puklek Levpušček, and Milena Valenčič Zuljan, discusses the importance of teachers’ competence of knowledge transfer to dif- ferent students. When teachers are competent to effectively lead these activities, they can provide quality education. Teacher’s classroom management compe- tencies largely determine the potential of achieving educational goals and help- ing pupils form integral personalities. Studies show that teachers lack compe- tencies for classroom management and ensuring discipline in the classroom. The main purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study on students’ perceptions on teachers’ classroom management competencies in mathematics and the Slovene language. A total of 907 students from elementary and sec- ondary schools in Slovenia participated in the study. Differences in students’ assessments have been established in reference to school level and subject. 8 editorial Results show that secondary school teachers are more focused on achieving educational goals, while aspects of forming a suitable class climate remain less important. The components of quality classroom management (maintenance of supportive learning climate, trusting students) are present in Slovene classes in a larger extent in comparison to maths classes, particularly at the elementary school level. Secondary school students assessed the clarity of rules, student obligations, and paying attention in class more highly in maths than in Slovene. The results of students’ assessment of teacher competencies imply a need for additional research on teachers’ classroom management competencies in dif- ferent curriculum subjects. The third paper, by Roni Reingold and Sara Zamir, with the title “Multi- cultural Education vs. Implicit and Explicit Ethnocentric Education: Text Anal- ysis of a Contemporary Israeli Value Education Program˝ explains the analysis of contemporary Israeli program of value education. Using the method of con- tent analysis, this study sought to determine whether the syllabi of the contem- porary program reflect the adoption of a multicultural educational policy, or whether they produce only multicultural rhetoric. The findings reveal that the program reflected mainly the pluralistic approach while still maintaining traces of ethnocentric rhetoric of certain syllabi in the program. The fourth paper, by Mateja Dagarin Fojkar and Darija Skubic, is en- titled “Pre-Service Preschool Teachers’ Beliefs about Foreign Language Learn- ing and Early Foreign Language Teaching in Slovenia”. The implementation of foreign languages in preschool education has prompted the need for quali- fied teachers. However, most recent studies report a gap between the supply of qualified foreign language teachers of young learners and the demand for such teachers as foreign languages are introduced earlier and earlier. The authors of this paper present some models of initial and in-service training of preschool foreign language teachers in Slovenia. Learners’ beliefs about language learning have been considered an important variable, like many other individual differ- ences in language learning. Ninety pre-service preschool teachers participated in this study. The results imply that future preschool teachers are aware of the importance of foreign language learning and their awareness raises with the year of study. It is also important to emphasise that it would be beneficial to include early foreign language teacher training in the education of preschool teachers who are willing to teach foreign languages in kindergartens in Slovenia and elsewhere. The next paper, entitled ˝In Search of Teaching Quality of EFL Student Teachers through Teaching Practicum: Lessons from a Teacher Education Pro- gram”, by Siti Nurul Azkiyah and Amirul Mukminin, deals with the teaching c e p s Journal | Vol.7 | No4 | Year 2017 9 quality of student teachers when they were involved into teaching practice. Teaching quality is conceptualized according to eight classroom factors (orien- tation, structuring, modelling, application, questioning, building classroom as a learning environment, assessment, time management) of the dynamic model as described by the authors. The study presented in this paper applied a mix- method design, implementing a survey on students’ perception on the teach- ing quality of their teacher (student teachers) and classroom observation. The study was conducted in Indonesia, involving English as foreign language stu- dent teachers. Results indicate that the student teachers did not yet practice the classroom factors of the dynamic model and some recommendations to include this dynamic model in the teacher education programmes are suggested. The sixth paper, by Eija Yli-Panula, Eila Jeronen and Nonmanut Pong- sakdi, entitled ˝Primary School Student Teachers’ Perceived and Actual Knowl- edge in Biology”, discusses an analysis of student teachers’ perceived knowl- edge of biological content in relation to their actual animal and species name knowledge linked to the ecosystem in which they live. Individuals’ perceptions of their knowledge can have an important role in shaping their cognition and influencing their behaviour. The results show a high- and low-level perceived knowledge cluster group among the participants. They further indicate that the difference in actual animal and species name knowledge between these cluster groups remained the same during the five years of the study. The student teach- ers with a higher level of perceived knowledge tended to have better animal and species name knowledge than those in the low-level group. The animal name knowledge in these cluster groups was similar with regard to the local Finnish ecosystems but differed concerning the exotic species by year. The year that the participants enrolled in the study programme had an impact on their animal and species name knowledge. Strategies for coping with work-related demands and maintaining engagement in one’s career would be important additions to the teacher education curriculum. The seventh paper, entitled “Exploring the Link between Achievement Goals, Motivation, and Parental Expectations in University Students in Kosovo”, by Albulene Grajcevci and Arif Shala, presents the link between achievement goals, motivation and parent expectations between students attending universi- ty education in Kosovo, and how cultural differences mediate expected results. Results show that mastery goals positively correlate to intrinsic motivation, in addition to which curiosity as a subscale of intrinsic motivation positively pre- dicted preferences for mastery goals. As expected, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals, correlated to extrinsic motivation with extrinsic motivation successfully predicting preferences for both types of performance 10 editorial goals. The authors also concluded that among students in Kosovo, all types of goals correlated to intrinsic motivation. Achievement goals discriminated in extrinsic motivation with mastery goals correlating rather weakly to only one subscale of extrinsic motivation. The next paper, written by Monika Mithans, Milena Ivanuš Grmek and Branka Čagran, “Participation in Decision-making in Class: Opportunities and Student Attitudes in Austria and Slovenia”, focuses on the problem of student involvement in the education process. Altogether, 322 students from Austria and 458 students from Slovenia participated in this study. The authors used questionnaire to gather the data. The results showed that students remain in- sufficiently aware of the right to participation in school. In addition, the study showed that students from Austrian schools have more decision-making op- portunities than their peers in Slovenia. The results also indicate that, in spite of its proven advantages, legal basis and repeated demands for its implementation, participation in the class environment has yet to become common practice. The ninth paper, entitled “Changes in Beliefs Regarding Good Teachers and the Characteristics of Child Development of Primary Education Students”, by Helena Smrtnik Vitulič and Irena Lesar, presents a longitudinal study. The authors determine the beliefs of the primary education students on the factors of academic achievement on good teachers and the developmental character- istics of students, and they presented which experiences mostly shape these beliefs. The primary education students filled in the same questionnaire twice, at the beginning of the first year (undergraduate) and then at the end of their postgraduate studies. At both measurements, the students estimated that they themselves are the most responsible for their academic achievement (approxi- mately 33%). At the beginning of the study the students mostly showed ideal- ized beliefs of a good teacher, such as he/she is self-controlled and calm in all situations; he/she likes all students equally, etc. At the end, the results showed a reshaping of most beliefs of good teachers towards more realistic ones. The last paper in this issue of CEPS Journal, entitled “Cooperation be- tween Parents and Preschool Institutions through Different Concepts of Pre- school Education”, written by Sanja Berčnik and Tatjana Devjak, analyses the importance, role, and methods of cooperation between parents and preschool institutions through the different concepts of preschool education, different ed- ucational approaches and formal framework. Through educational approaches, the authors analyse how cooperation affects the implementation of preschool education in alternative educational approaches, such as the Waldorf, Montes- sori, and Reggio Emilia educational approaches, and the Slovenian public pre- school institutions. They envisage that different educational approaches in the c e p s Journal | Vol.7 | No4 | Year 2017 11 field of preschool education perceive the importance and role of cooperation with parents differently and conclude that there are various models of coopera- tion, which can be displayed through a theoretical analysis of the aforemen- tioned alternative preschool approaches. In their view, partnership promotes a shared commitment to quality realisation of educational goals; it also develops understanding and an ethos of openness in the relationship between all actors in the process of care and education of preschool children. This issue of CEPS Journal concludes with two book reviews. The first review written by Mirko Mrčela introduces the book entitled “International Schools: Current issues and future prospects” by Mary Hayden and Jeff Thom- son (Eds.), Symposium books, 2016, ISBN 978-1-873927-92-2. Authour of the review emphasises that most authors in this book pay a great deal of attention to the unprecedented growth in the international school sector and try to con- tributed to the categorisation of the field as it is characterised by a considerable diversity and constant change. The author of the review also underscored that since the international schools field is relatively under-researched, the chapter presented in the book offer a close look into its history, current trends and pos- sible future issues. The second review presents the book entitled “The Cambridge Handbo- ok of Linguistic Multi-competence” by Vivian Cook and Li Wei (Eds.), Cam- bridge University Press, 2016, ISBN 978-1-107-05921-4, is written by Gabrijela Petra Nagode. The book review presents current aspects of its subject through a review of the concept of multi-competence from the psychological, sociolin- guistic, and Second Language Acquisition points of view. It tries to answer the question of how two or more languages are learned and contained in the same mind or the same community. Iztok Devetak