Best Poster Awards 2015

Authors: Dely Elliot (presenting); Kate Reid & Vivienne Baumfield

Network: NW 22. Research in Higher Education

Poster Title: Reaching new heights and capturing complexity: A case for greater use of visual methods in qualitative educational research

Dely Elliot is a Lecturer within the Creativity, Culture and Faith (Research and Teaching Group), School of Education at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. The poster presented in collaboration with Dr Kate Reid and Professor Vivienne Baumfield has a methodological focus arising from the still very sparse interest in visual methods within the social sciences. As exemplified using our phenomenological research on the academic acculturation experiences within the context of international PhD students’ journey, the use of visual metaphor may entail a number of challenges but we strongly argue that they are instrumental in capturing high quality research evidence in qualitative educational and psychological research. Many levels of reflection are embedded when using visual metaphor, which deserves rightful recognition for its methodological strengths as well as further attention for its potential to bring forth more ‘novel’ applications in conjunction with established methodological approaches.

<link file:1118 _blank deli>View the poster here

Authors: Maria del Henar Pérez Herrero (presenting); Angela Antúnez-Sánchez

Network: 04. Inclusive Education

Poster Title: Approaching dropouts among Gipsy pupils: A study of the
situation in an Asturian municipality

Reducing high school-leaving rates has become one of European Union’s main objectives (Europe 2020 Strategy) because this problem constitutes an individual risk factor and it also jeopardise the social cohesion and the economic growth in the society at large. This complex issue, closely linked to truancy, underachievement and academic failure, disproportionately affects the gypsy youth, thus contributing to further enlarging the educational and social divide. This study aims to identify the factors affecting drop-out among a group of Roma ethnic students (named çiganos), enrolled in an Asturian school. A needs assessment was conducted in two stages: 1) review of scientific literature, legal regulations and other relevant documentation; 2) qualitative analysis of the semi-structured interviews applied to four professionals of the educational environment who work with the studied group. The results showed the influence of family’s ideological barriers related to the value of education, along with high levels of dependence on social aids, low levels of personal and self-care habits, low academic expectations and early drop-out of the school system. Despite its limitations, this study points out the key role of school counsellors as a promoter of the inclusive perspective and as a linking element between the main socio-educational agents, in order to find solutions and make preventive and intervention proposals, adapted to this group’s needs.

<link file:1857 _blank maria del henar perez herrrero poster>View the poster here

Authors: Snežana Mirkov (presenting); Ivana M. Jakšić

Network: 22. Research in Higher Education

Poster Title: Epistemological Beliefs among University Students: Developmental

Trends and Relation to Academic Achievement  
The poster is a result of the wider empirical research on learning approaches of Belgrade University students, realised as the part of projects

• Improving the Quality and Accessibility of Education in Modernization Processes in Serbia (No 47008) and

• From Encouraging Initiative, Cooperation and Creativity in Education to New Roles and Identities in Society (No. 179034)

of the Institute for Educational Research (Belgrade, Serbia) and financially supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia.

The authors:

Snežana Mirkov, PhDResearch Associate at the Institute for Educational Research in Belgrade (Serbia), interested in learning in academic setting (learning goals and strategies, metacognition, self-regulation in learning, lifelong learning)

Ivana M. Jakšić, MA
Junior Researcher at the Institute for Educational Research in Belgrade (Serbia) and a PhD student of social psychology at the Department of Psychology on the Faculty of Philosophy, Belgrade University (also interested in methodology of scientific research)

<link window for sending>smirkov@ipi.ac.rs
<link window for sending>ivanamjaksic@gmail.com
<link http: www.ipi.ac.rs _blank external link in new>www.ipi.ac.rs

<link file:2156 _blank snežana mirkov postern>View the poster here