Bertašienė, Inga

Social work education is the cornerstone of preparing students to address complex social problems with professional competence and ethical sensitivity. As the field of social work develops, it is imperative to understand social work students' attitudes towards the relevance of their studies to real world practice. Aim of the research - to explore social work students' attitudes towards the relevance of their academic studies to real-world social work practice. Research subject - Social work students' attitudes towards the relevance of their studies. Research objectives: 1) identify the relevance of the study; 2) to explore how social work students perceive the relevance of their studies to their future professional practice. The study is based on a quantitative methodology, using a survey questionnaire to collect data from 97 students enrolled in a bachelor's degree programme in social work at a Lithuanian higher education institution. The study used descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and Kruskal-Wallis test to analyse the data. The results showed that students found the study process relevant and meaningful for their personal and professional development. Students generally appreciated the opportunity to apply their knowledge in real-life situations to improve their professional skills. However, state-funded students rated the study process as more relevant than non-state-funded students. The paper concludes that programmes can be attractive to social work students if they are designed and delivered in a way that promotes students' interest in their studies, the application of theory to practice, and support from lecturers and peers. This study contributes to the literature on social work education in higher education by providing insights into social work students' perceptions of the relevance of the study process.

With the development of technology, the organization of pedagogical studies is increasingly taking place in a mixed way, when studies in a real classroom are combined with learning in a virtual learning environment. However, regardless of the tools or resources used in the virtual learning environment, for the organisation of student-centred studies the pedagogical aspect remains essential. This need is highlighted in the Lithuanian and European Union documents. The research aim is to analyse the learning experience of pedagogical students. Methods of research: analysis of scientific literature, survey, descriptive statistics, and inference statistics. The article reveals Primary Pedagogy and Early Childhood Pedagogy students' learning experiences in the following aspects: relevance of learning, reflective thinking, interpretation the study process, interacting with the tutor and with peers. The results of a quantitative study (survey) showed that the relevance of learning, reflection and interpretation of the study process depends on the study methods used, the support provided by the tutors and peers.

The purpose of the present study was to reveal of future teachers' (studying at Vilniaus kolegija/University of Applied Sciences) perception of their creativity. The design, methodology, and approach. The present study was aimed at disclosing students’ self-perceptions of their personal creativity manifesting itself in different domains, including self/everyday, scholarly, performance, mechanical/scientific, and artistic domain in relation with their personality qualities, including neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. The investigation was conducted with the participation of 88 students of Pedagogy at Vilniaus kolegija/University of Applied Sciences. The distribution of respondents according to their study programs was: 48 students of Early Childhood Pedagogy, 25 students of Pedagogy of Primary Education, and 15 students of Social Pedagogy. The distribution of respondents according to their gender was: 7 male and 81 female students. The sample was formed according to availability sampling, one of non-probability selection methods. The average age of respondents was 30 years. To achieve the aim, the quantitative methodology was used. The theoretical framework of the present investigation was based on the investment theory of creativity, its central assumption being that creativity can be taught and learnt and that creativity-supportive environments play a significant role in the process, as well as on Kaufman’s typology of personality traits and the domains in which creativity manifests itself. The findings. The research data were analyzed with the help of the SPSS package (Version 23). In order to ensure the reliability of the research instrument, each group of questions regarding the domains, in which creativity manifests itself, underwent the Cronbach Alpha coefficient calculations, the meanings of which demonstrated a high level of homogeneity of the questionnaire: the meaning of Cronbach Alpha coefficient in the group of questions for Self/Everyday activity was found 0.757; for Scholarly – 0.875; for Performance (encompassing writing and music) – 0.864; for Mechanical/Scientific – 0.739; and for Artistic – 0.835. The overall Cronbach Alpha coefficient is 0.833. The findings of the survey demonstrated that the personal quality of openness was statistically significant for all the domains of creativity, and that it was least statistically significant for agreeableness. The findings of the investigation revealed that the students of the programs of Early Childhood Pedagogy, Pedagogy of Primary Education and Social Pedagogy shared very similar personality traits. Only the meanings of openness displayed statistically significant differences. Thus, the assumption could be made that more creative students tended to demonstrate more openness in comparison to less creative students. Likewise, the meanings of agreeableness did not show any significant relationship with creativity either. The meanings of conscientiousness in our investigation did not have much in common with creativity. relationship between conscientiousness and creativity was rather weak. There was no statistically significant relationship found between creativity and neuroticism either. Research limitations and implications. This study was designed to investigate students' personal components of creativity. Personality characteristics are one of the most important factors influencing creativity. However, there is no common view on what distinguishes a creative personality. Most authors point to different traits of a creative personality. Since scholars from different fields (Amabile (1996), Sternberg & Lubart (1996), Wolfradt & Pretz (2001), Csikszentmihalyi (2006), Sternberg (2006), Robinson (2011), Kaufman (2012), Karkockienė (2010, 2013), Urban (2014), Barevičiūtė (2014), Rakauskaitė (2014), Byrge & Hansen (2015), Rimkutė-Jankuvienė (2016), Burkšaitienė (2018), Kaufman (2019), etc.) addressed these issues, there developed different tendencies in this area of research, and different instruments of measuring creativity were applied, either with the focus on creativity in relation to individual’s general capability and thinking, or in relation to the very process and outcomes of creative output, etc. Practical implications point to the possibility that the results of this study could be used as a base for further research in the area. Originality and value of the study. The scientific literature points out different traits of a creative personality, and an emphasis is generally laid on negative factors that hinder personal creativity, namely, lack of conscious selfperceptions of one ‘s creative capacity, insufficient self-esteem, and attitudes diminishing the value of creativity that are often provoked by outsiders’ skeptical opinions or continuously displayed criticism. Thus, it is important to identify and promote those personal qualities that can lead to the manifestations of creativity so that specifically targeted programs and methods aimed at encouraging creativity could be put to good use. The study Self-Perceptions of Creativity of Future Teachers Studying at Vilniaus kolegija/University of Applied Sciences was conducted while relying on the social and personal attitude research where the focus is on revealing the factors of personal, motivational, and socioculturalenvironmental manifestations that significantly influence manifestations of creativity.

In recent years, researchers have focused on the manifestations of students’ creativity, on the factors that impact its development, as well as on the conditions, means and methods that can facilitate students’ creativity in various fields of study. In the present investigation, the existing definitions of creativity, creativity development, the concept of Creative Platform and prior research conducted in the field have been analysed. The theoretical framework of the Creative Platform methodology, developed by the Danish researchers Christian Byrge and Søren Hansen (2009), is based on previous studies of creativity development (Amabile, 1998; Csikszentmihalyi, 2006; Stenberg, 1996; etc.). This methodology is currently used as a didactic model in higher education institutions across the globe, including Malta, Spain, China, and other countries. The present investigation presents a model based on the Creative Platform methodology. It is designed to develop students’ creativity in college studies via a specific teaching process during which students develop extra confidence, concentration, and motivation necessary for freeing themselves from the professional, social, or cultural stereotypes.

The article offers a discussion that is based on the research findings of both Lithuanian and foreign scholars as well as on the strategic documents underlying the significance of developing creativity in teacher education. The scientific analysis of the study has been done with reference to the existing different definitions of creativity and the respective research in the field about forms of manifestation of creative personality and its education.