REVIEWS	C-E-P-S Journal | Vol.9 | No1 | Year 2019 5
doi: 10.26529/cepsj.655
Editorial
The first issue of volume nine of CEPS journal consists of six papers, which are not a part of a specific theme, but they reflect specific educational problems from various fields. The issue concludes with a book review presenting a monograph about pre-school education.
The first paper, by Mohammad Mohammadi and Ziba Mahdivand, entitled 'Is Willingness to Communicate a Reliable Predictor of Learner Autonomy in an EFL Context?' represents the relationship between willingness to communicate (WTC) and learner autonomy in an EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context. In addition, it illustrates the probable effect of gender on the relationship between learner autonomy and WTC. Furthermore, it explores whether WTC could predict learner autonomy. In total, 142 upper-intermediate and advanced EFL learners participated in the study, and two questionnaires were used to gather data (the Learner Autonomy Questionnaire and the WTC Scale). The results indicate that WTC correlated significantly and positively with learner autonomy. Moreover, a correlational analysis revealed that the relationship between WTC and learner autonomy was stronger and more positive among female learners. The paper concludes that WTC was a partial predictor of learner autonomy in this EFL context.
The second paper, entitled 'The Influence of In-Service Preschool Teachers' Education on their Perceived Competences for Counselling Parents', by Sanja Skocic Mihic, Danijela Blanusa Troselj, and Vesna Katie illustrates preschool education in the Republic of Croatia as a highly organised system with a half-century of tradition in which preschool teachers meet high professional standards. Among all of their professional requirements, preschool teachers have been legally required to counsel parents since 2008. However, there are no other documents or papers in Croatia describing and specifying what counselling entails. The presented study surveyed 136 preschool teachers, investigating their self-assessment of their competence in counselling parents. The results indicated that preschool teachers rate themselves as moderately competent in counselling parents and that joining in-service training is related to a higher level of self-assessment in counselling parents. Although it is evident that the preschool teachers had acquired competence for counselling parents during their personal and professional development, in-service training plays the key role in ensuring such competence.
The next paper, by Mateja Rek, with the title 'Media Education in Slovene Preschools: A Review of Four Studies, deals with the problem of how the concept of media literacy has been integrated into the formal education system, including early childhood education in Slovenia. The Preschool Curriculum sets certain
6 EDITORIAL
goals to be followed in educating preschool children on media-related topics. Research shows that the actual implementation and delivery of media education is both fragmented and inconsistent, as well as dependent on the interests and motivation of individual preschool teachers. They are the ones who, in accordance with their professional capacity and autonomy, include the goals set in the curriculum into an actual learning process in preschools, also determining the timing and manner of this. This paper aims to review, compare, and analyse the data from recent research on the media education of preschool children in Slovenia. This could lead to the better understanding of how preschool teachers in Slovenia assess their capacity to work with media as well as their media literacy levels, which media they use, and how media education is conducted in the groups of preschool children.
The fourth paper in this varia issue of CEPSj, by Shalva Tabatadze, entitled 'Bilingual Educational Policy in Georgia: Can it Benefit the Process of Integration of Society, reviews the educational policy for the integration of ethnic minorities in the society in Georgia. The problems and opportunities of bilingual education policy are analysed in this paper, using the content analysis method. The author argues that bilingual education is a crucial tool for the integration of Georgian society; however, local control, involvement, and context are crucial in the implementation of a national bilingual educational programme. The changes in the political, institutional, and pedagogical levels of bilingual education are necessary for the successful implementation of bilingual education reform.
The fifth paper, by Jelena Stamatovic and Jelena Zunic Cicvaric, with the title 'Child Rights in Primary Schools - The Situation and Expectations', discusses that school is the most suitable environment for students to learn about child rights and that it a place these rights are to be respected. The objective of the study presented in this paper was to examine the knowledge of primary school students about the rights of the child and to obtain insight into how these rights are respected. The authors used an interview-scaling technique, and gathered data from 351 final year primary school students and 231 teachers. The students did not rate their knowledge of child rights highly: they mostly expect teachers to provide them with information on this topic; the students obtain the majority of such information in the civic education classes, which is an optional subject and is not attended by all students, as well as in homeroom sessions. Teachers believe that it is the responsibility of homeroom teachers to familiarise students with the rights of a child. The rights to freedom of expression of students and their participation in decision-making are the least respected, according to both students and teachers. Furthermore, all believe that some forms of discrimination exist in schools. The authors especially identified significant suggestions and recommendations
REVIEWS	C-E-P-S Journal | Vol.9 | No1 | Year 2019 9
given by students and teachers to overcome the existing problems and provide better access to the rights of the child in school.
The last paper, written by Miloš Tul, Bojan Leskošek, and Marjeta Kovač, entitled 'The Professional Competences of Physical Education Teachers from North-Eastern Italy, evaluates the self-perceived professional competences of Italian physical education (PE) teachers. For this purpose, a self-administered questionnaire has been designed to examine a broad scope of general and subject-specific competences. A total of 484 Italian PE teachers from the north-eastern part of Italy evaluated their professional competences on a four-level Likert scale. Factor analysis was used for the examination of the internal structure of the competence field. The results showed that the self-perception of their competence profile was quite complex, consisting of 13 factors, which together explain 51.1% of the total variance. Didactic approaches, which represent the first factor and explain 31.3% of the total variance, seem to be the most informative for their estimations of how effectively they can teach their specific subjects. The teachers feel insufficiently competent in some general areas, such as the use of information and communications technology, communication in foreign languages, scientific research work, initiative, and entrepreneurial spirit. They do not have sufficient abilities to bring to PE the recent sports activities in which teenagers currently participate in their free time. The outcomes of the presented study may, according to authors, aid in the future updating of PE teacher education study programmes and the designing of a creative system of lifelong training programmes.
This issue of CEPS journal ends with a review of the book 'Education of preschool child (In Slovene: Vzgoja predšolskega otroka)' by Tatjana Devjak and Sanja Berčnik, published by University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education in 2018 (ISBN 978-961-253-219-2), written by Jurka Lepičnik Vodopivec. The book review presents the contents of the monograph as a deeper insight into the understanding of the education of pre-school children and is, as such, useful as a reference work and as a book for the professional public.
To conclude, the new issue of the CEPS journal brings a variety of papers from various education research fields, reporting and discussing several open research questions. We believe that information available in this issue will cause the reflection of the research problems and raise new research ideas.
Iztok Devetak