Suchergebnisse

In Lithuania the question of ethnic minorities is frequently mentioned as an expression of some sort of conflict in political context, when the controversies are analysed only passingly. In the sense that this question's causality is disguised with stereotypes based reasoning and the support of this kind of thinking. In the media most publications can be found on the largest ethnic minorities, while smaller ones receives little attention. However this does not mean that smaller ethnic minorities do not face the problems arising as a result of a general national policy. It is directed towards them, as well as on local government decisions. Or even on the characteristics of their intercommunication. Research is limited in this area therefore it is important to study those communities in the micro level as well as in the national context. This study aims to reveal the experience of community. These communities had formed on specific ethnicity representatives. Yet this is one of the first such inter-discipline attempts to analyse this question so it is based on insights of sociology, history and philosophy. One of those insights is the capital theory by Pierre Bourdieu and this study has applied this theory the most. The theory is associated with activities and everyday practise of German community through which this ethnic minority's identity is being maintained. This study reveals that the topic is problematic according to several aspects. First of all, it is important to keep in mind specific ethnic experiences and grievance, that especially older people emphasise while connecting those grievances with their lifetime experience as well as nowadays issues in the country and the attitude of government to them. In addition, it is important to distinguish that the promoters of German national identity are facing with certain stagnation that could also be called the change of generations and that's why it is important not only to follow this process, but also to try to predict future tendencies including other generation representatives in further research. All this is important to the Lithuanian society that recently has gone through changes of the regimes, joined the European Union and is constantly facing various demographic problems, which of course affect ethnic minorities in the country. However, emphasizing the importance of sociality in the country, it would be possible to learn from those ethnic minorities how to achieve this purpose, as well as continuing the research in this field and examing the minority practise on which those achievements are based.

In Lithuania the question of ethnic minorities is frequently mentioned as an expression of some sort of conflict in political context, when the controversies are analysed only passingly. In the sense that this question's causality is disguised with stereotypes based reasoning and the support of this kind of thinking. In the media most publications can be found on the largest ethnic minorities, while smaller ones receives little attention. However this does not mean that smaller ethnic minorities do not face the problems arising as a result of a general national policy. It is directed towards them, as well as on local government decisions. Or even on the characteristics of their intercommunication. Research is limited in this area therefore it is important to study those communities in the micro level as well as in the national context. This study aims to reveal the experience of community. These communities had formed on specific ethnicity representatives. Yet this is one of the first such inter-discipline attempts to analyse this question so it is based on insights of sociology, history and philosophy. One of those insights is the capital theory by Pierre Bourdieu and this study has applied this theory the most. The theory is associated with activities and everyday practise of German community through which this ethnic minority's identity is being maintained. This study reveals that the topic is problematic according to several aspects. First of all, it is important to keep in mind specific ethnic experiences and grievance, that especially older people emphasise while connecting those grievances with their lifetime experience as well as nowadays issues in the country and the attitude of government to them. In addition, it is important to distinguish that the promoters of German national identity are facing with certain stagnation that could also be called the change of generations and that's why it is important not only to follow this process, but also to try to predict future tendencies including other generation representatives in further research. All this is important to the Lithuanian society that recently has gone through changes of the regimes, joined the European Union and is constantly facing various demographic problems, which of course affect ethnic minorities in the country. However, emphasizing the importance of sociality in the country, it would be possible to learn from those ethnic minorities how to achieve this purpose, as well as continuing the research in this field and examing the minority practise on which those achievements are based.

The paper presents an overview of M. Weber's modelling paradigm assessing it against the opportunities of using the models in modern science of public policy and administration. Two types of research problems requiring modelling of different levels are identified. The paper defines the static and the dialectic methods of modelling, the limits and possibilities of their application are defined. The novelty and relevance of the paper lies in the substantiation of advantages and drawbacks of static modelling and in the proving of the importance of normative character of science, which contradicts the traditional Weber's methodology. In public administration one may not rely only upon formal procedures, forms and rules, because this will not reveal the functions of the State and the interests underlying them. A public administration model must be characterised by normative content. Models of social processes must not necessarily reflect the reality exactly, however, they may serve as a tool for simplifying the mechanisms of social reality and for attempting to understand its mechanisms. Modelling may be static or dialectic. Static modelling is simpler since the number of variables it takes account of is smaller. In certain cases static modelling may be presented or desirable due to value considerations raised by the idealistic world. Idealistic philosophy gives rise to relevant phenomena, which can be neither confirmed nor rejected. Such models may be desirable as the given required by a peculiar belief and as components of the given. As far as social science is a value and "humanitarian" science, to such extent metaphysics, the static given and static modelling may yield results. Philosophical idealism is often presented as a source of political and economic liberalism, or a sign of equality Is placed between them. This is not entirely correct since state and social policy studies in the liberal social sciences are based on formal concepts without any normative content. Liberal sociological definitions designed for a parliamentary-democratic constitutional state usually cover only procedures, forms, rules and state activity instruments, avoiding a definition of the State's functions completely or partially. Not only the functions of the State remain unsubstantiated; possible consequences of manifestation of these functions or the interests of those who defend them or any backstairs interests behind the declared interests arc not explained. The Weberian methodological concept of democracy turns liberal democracy and pluralist theory into a sheer arsenal of technical means, which is unpredictable and incapable of explaining the deep phenomena of public administration and the more so - of social policy. It is not only in the West, but also in Eastern Europe including Lithuania, individual politicians and public administration experts wish to reduce the principle of social welfare to the constitutional and legal level, absolutising the legal aspect. Dialectic modelling is a kind of opposite to static modelling, or modelling that may supplement the latter substantially. And this is not just because it is able to "see the context". Using the dialectic relationship one may examine such historical dichotomies as belief and science, nationality and globalism, central and local government, private and public interest etc. In the most general sense, dialectic modelling is focussed on the determination of the content, form, contradiction between content and form, and finding of the place of this relationship in the world's development process. The methodology of dialectic modelling asserts that the dialectic relationship is a universal means of modelling of qualitative processes and may be used for the modelling of the processes for which sufficient qualitative exceptionality may be determined as compared with the previous qualitative stage. Eastern Europe encounters difficulties in social modelling due to a distinct transformational nature of social systems of these countries as well as due to frequent changes in the laws governing social security and tax policy. The latter factor also poses problems for Eastern European social scientists in processing the material and in modelling socio-economic development on its basis.

The paper presents an overview of M. Weber's modelling paradigm assessing it against the opportunities of using the models in modern science of public policy and administration. Two types of research problems requiring modelling of different levels are identified. The paper defines the static and the dialectic methods of modelling, the limits and possibilities of their application are defined. The novelty and relevance of the paper lies in the substantiation of advantages and drawbacks of static modelling and in the proving of the importance of normative character of science, which contradicts the traditional Weber's methodology. In public administration one may not rely only upon formal procedures, forms and rules, because this will not reveal the functions of the State and the interests underlying them. A public administration model must be characterised by normative content. Models of social processes must not necessarily reflect the reality exactly, however, they may serve as a tool for simplifying the mechanisms of social reality and for attempting to understand its mechanisms. Modelling may be static or dialectic. Static modelling is simpler since the number of variables it takes account of is smaller. In certain cases static modelling may be presented or desirable due to value considerations raised by the idealistic world. Idealistic philosophy gives rise to relevant phenomena, which can be neither confirmed nor rejected. Such models may be desirable as the given required by a peculiar belief and as components of the given. As far as social science is a value and "humanitarian" science, to such extent metaphysics, the static given and static modelling may yield results. Philosophical idealism is often presented as a source of political and economic liberalism, or a sign of equality Is placed between them. This is not entirely correct since state and social policy studies in the liberal social sciences are based on formal concepts without any normative content. Liberal sociological definitions designed for a parliamentary-democratic constitutional state usually cover only procedures, forms, rules and state activity instruments, avoiding a definition of the State's functions completely or partially. Not only the functions of the State remain unsubstantiated; possible consequences of manifestation of these functions or the interests of those who defend them or any backstairs interests behind the declared interests arc not explained. The Weberian methodological concept of democracy turns liberal democracy and pluralist theory into a sheer arsenal of technical means, which is unpredictable and incapable of explaining the deep phenomena of public administration and the more so - of social policy. It is not only in the West, but also in Eastern Europe including Lithuania, individual politicians and public administration experts wish to reduce the principle of social welfare to the constitutional and legal level, absolutising the legal aspect. Dialectic modelling is a kind of opposite to static modelling, or modelling that may supplement the latter substantially. And this is not just because it is able to "see the context". Using the dialectic relationship one may examine such historical dichotomies as belief and science, nationality and globalism, central and local government, private and public interest etc. In the most general sense, dialectic modelling is focussed on the determination of the content, form, contradiction between content and form, and finding of the place of this relationship in the world's development process. The methodology of dialectic modelling asserts that the dialectic relationship is a universal means of modelling of qualitative processes and may be used for the modelling of the processes for which sufficient qualitative exceptionality may be determined as compared with the previous qualitative stage. Eastern Europe encounters difficulties in social modelling due to a distinct transformational nature of social systems of these countries as well as due to frequent changes in the laws governing social security and tax policy. The latter factor also poses problems for Eastern European social scientists in processing the material and in modelling socio-economic development on its basis.

This thesis analyses the concept of inclusive training in scientific literature and its regulation in the normative documents worldwide and in Lithuania, the concept of training assistance to the pupil and the documents regulating this assistance are reviewed as well.The thesis is based on such methodological definitions as critical theory and social constructivism which provide the opportunity to encourage the understanding and activeness of the students, teach the individual person to understand the essence of events and develops his/her capabilities to solve problems. The problem of the research – what could be the system of assistance to the student at school with orientation into the tasks of inclusive training? The subject of the researchis theimprovement of the system of assistance to the student at school with orientation into the tasks of inclusive training. Visaginas "Verdenė" gymnasium case study. The objective of the researchisto substantiate the necessity of the system of assistance to the student at school with orientation into the tasks of inclusive training. Goals of the research 1. On the basis of scientific literature and the analysis of education normative documents to provide the theoretical guidelines for the improvement of the system of assistance to the student at school. 2. To perform an empirical analysis of the existing system of assistance to the student at school in the context of inclusive training. 3. To create a model for the improvement of the existing system of assistance to the student at school. Research methods The case study type of research was chosen (Bitinas, 1996) by selecting one training institution; this is why the qualitative strategy of the research will be followed. However, in this case, it is important to define the context of the inclusive training in which the school operates. To be able to clarify the approaches dominating in this context, the strategy of quantitative research is applied - poll of the general/secondary level teachers of the municipality is performed. The qualitative and the quantitative methods used for the research: analysis of scientific literature, analysis of education normative documents, questioning/poll of the respondents, statistical processing, modeling. On the basis of the performed research data, conclusions are made: The analysis of the research data allows maintaining that the deconstruction of special training and construction of inclusive training in the case study for the above mentioned school can possibly face a serious challenge. The teachers are not sufficiently prepared to provide assistance to their students with orientation towards the inclusive training tasks, and the results received allow to know what knowledge, as related to the inclusive training, the teachers providing the assistance still lack and how it would be possible to help them to improve their knowledge and skills, to organize quality assistance to their students with orientation towards the tasks of inclusive training. 1. After the first goal of the study was performed, i.e. the analysis of the scientific literature, it is possible to maintain that the inclusive training is understood as a continuous and dynamic process in which culture, politics, and practice is created taking into regard the needs of diversity of the students, when diversities and differences are tolerated and they are valued as possible resources, and not considered to be problems. The school shall be changed, not the student, seeking to eliminate all possible obstacles and to ensure the access to training, involvement and participation for every person. The student can take part in the training process on a full value scale and realize his/her skills only when his/her basic needs are satisfied and, at least partially disordered functions, are compensated. The inclusive training is the target which shall depend on the future teachers. 2. The analysis of the normative education documents shows that lots of important decisions were taken in Lithuania seeking to provide studying and learning conditions for children with special needs and with special training needs. The documents which regulate the meeting of special training needs in Lithuania, their methods, and forms, and which are discussed in the context of inclusive training, enforce a variety of training forms. The assistance of the education system is based on a systematic approach and is oriented towards the training of a child in the conventional environment when the assistance is provided not only to the child, but also to the teachers and the family. The assistance to the student is provided in consistent manner on the basis of cooperation principle and upon the basis of joint work of various institutions. 3. When analyzing the documents of the case study it was identified that conditions for the implementation of the inclusive training exist. The assistance system to the student is constructed on the basis of the education normative documents of the country which regulate the assistance in the area of education. This system is institutionalized; the assistance functions are authorized to various institutions and subjects. The original document of the school (The Description of the Procedures for Training Differentiation, Forming of Temporal/Mobile Students Groups and Division of Classes into Groups), reflects the philosophy of the inclusive training. However, in this school, the integration of the students with special needs prevails over the inclusive training. More work is carried out with the children of special needs and with talented children. There was little research on how the teachers are prepared for the inclusive training. This responsibility is ascribed to the special pedagogists, and for talented children – for the responsible pedagogists. On the other hand, the improvement of the competence of the teachers for the inclusive training is organized in a targeted manner. 4. The analsysis of the research data allows to maintain that the school in which the case study was performed has the system of assistance to the student in the stage of training deconstruction and inclusive training construction.

This thesis analyses the concept of inclusive training in scientific literature and its regulation in the normative documents worldwide and in Lithuania, the concept of training assistance to the pupil and the documents regulating this assistance are reviewed as well.The thesis is based on such methodological definitions as critical theory and social constructivism which provide the opportunity to encourage the understanding and activeness of the students, teach the individual person to understand the essence of events and develops his/her capabilities to solve problems. The problem of the research – what could be the system of assistance to the student at school with orientation into the tasks of inclusive training? The subject of the researchis theimprovement of the system of assistance to the student at school with orientation into the tasks of inclusive training. Visaginas "Verdenė" gymnasium case study. The objective of the researchisto substantiate the necessity of the system of assistance to the student at school with orientation into the tasks of inclusive training. Goals of the research 1. On the basis of scientific literature and the analysis of education normative documents to provide the theoretical guidelines for the improvement of the system of assistance to the student at school. 2. To perform an empirical analysis of the existing system of assistance to the student at school in the context of inclusive training. 3. To create a model for the improvement of the existing system of assistance to the student at school. Research methods The case study type of research was chosen (Bitinas, 1996) by selecting one training institution; this is why the qualitative strategy of the research will be followed. However, in this case, it is important to define the context of the inclusive training in which the school operates. To be able to clarify the approaches dominating in this context, the strategy of quantitative research is applied - poll of the general/secondary level teachers of the municipality is performed. The qualitative and the quantitative methods used for the research: analysis of scientific literature, analysis of education normative documents, questioning/poll of the respondents, statistical processing, modeling. On the basis of the performed research data, conclusions are made: The analysis of the research data allows maintaining that the deconstruction of special training and construction of inclusive training in the case study for the above mentioned school can possibly face a serious challenge. The teachers are not sufficiently prepared to provide assistance to their students with orientation towards the inclusive training tasks, and the results received allow to know what knowledge, as related to the inclusive training, the teachers providing the assistance still lack and how it would be possible to help them to improve their knowledge and skills, to organize quality assistance to their students with orientation towards the tasks of inclusive training. 1. After the first goal of the study was performed, i.e. the analysis of the scientific literature, it is possible to maintain that the inclusive training is understood as a continuous and dynamic process in which culture, politics, and practice is created taking into regard the needs of diversity of the students, when diversities and differences are tolerated and they are valued as possible resources, and not considered to be problems. The school shall be changed, not the student, seeking to eliminate all possible obstacles and to ensure the access to training, involvement and participation for every person. The student can take part in the training process on a full value scale and realize his/her skills only when his/her basic needs are satisfied and, at least partially disordered functions, are compensated. The inclusive training is the target which shall depend on the future teachers. 2. The analysis of the normative education documents shows that lots of important decisions were taken in Lithuania seeking to provide studying and learning conditions for children with special needs and with special training needs. The documents which regulate the meeting of special training needs in Lithuania, their methods, and forms, and which are discussed in the context of inclusive training, enforce a variety of training forms. The assistance of the education system is based on a systematic approach and is oriented towards the training of a child in the conventional environment when the assistance is provided not only to the child, but also to the teachers and the family. The assistance to the student is provided in consistent manner on the basis of cooperation principle and upon the basis of joint work of various institutions. 3. When analyzing the documents of the case study it was identified that conditions for the implementation of the inclusive training exist. The assistance system to the student is constructed on the basis of the education normative documents of the country which regulate the assistance in the area of education. This system is institutionalized; the assistance functions are authorized to various institutions and subjects. The original document of the school (The Description of the Procedures for Training Differentiation, Forming of Temporal/Mobile Students Groups and Division of Classes into Groups), reflects the philosophy of the inclusive training. However, in this school, the integration of the students with special needs prevails over the inclusive training. More work is carried out with the children of special needs and with talented children. There was little research on how the teachers are prepared for the inclusive training. This responsibility is ascribed to the special pedagogists, and for talented children – for the responsible pedagogists. On the other hand, the improvement of the competence of the teachers for the inclusive training is organized in a targeted manner. 4. The analsysis of the research data allows to maintain that the school in which the case study was performed has the system of assistance to the student in the stage of training deconstruction and inclusive training construction.