Tiltai

Straipsnyje atskleidžiama vaiko sampratų ir vaikystės fenomenų socialinių-kultūrinių prasmių raidos genezė. Tuo pagrindu nagrinėjamas vaikystės fenomenų tyrimų socialinis-edukacinis prasmingumas. Pasitelkiami socialiniai, filosofiniai ir kultūriniai antropologiniai kontekstai, atskleidžiantys, kaip suvokiant vaikystės fenomenų prasmes galima atlikti į vaikystės ir vaiko pasaulį orientuotus kokybinius tyrimus. Plačiau analizuojami vaikų metaforinio mąstymo fenomenologiniai, hermeneutiniai ir psichokognityviniai kontekstai. Atskleidžiama vaiko metaforinio mąstymo fenomenologinių reikšmių genezė: nuo žinių prie prasmių, nuo ugdymo proceso, kuris reiškia „turėti“, prie proceso, kuris reiškia būti su vaiku, pedagogui išliekant tarpininku tarp socialinės realybės pasaulio ir vaiko pasaulio.

The article aims to justify the relevance of communication competence in the process of professional development. There is taken into consideration the connection of concept “social” with trends and priorities of economy and policy, changes in social work practice, emphasizing the communication as possibility and source for professional action and experiential learning. On the basis of theoretical and empirical results of analysis there is discussed the helping process for the risk family and the possibility to develop the communication competence in the process of individual intervention or group intervention. At the first part of article the learning paradigm and social empowerment methodological guidelines, which emphasize the position of active and responsible character and the meaning of collaboration, which determine the success of professional activity. There is discussed the context of the social work, which impact interpersonal communication obstacles and arising problems, the necessity to develop communicative competence is emphasized. Analyzing theoretical assumptions for learning in practice construction with aim to develop empowering relationship with family, there is discussed experiential learning process, definition of its structure, reciprocal communication, construction of practice content, the creation of new knowledge. The results of qualitative research revealed the problems of communication between social worker and family as a client. Social worker with sufficient practical activity experience usually remains in the primary phase of help process – contact establishment. In one case family proactiveness is expected but it remains “invisible”. The research revealed the individual process of experiential process the necessity of practitioner-expert or supervisor coaching in the experiential learning process by self-assessing and combining practical knowledge which were gained by acting in practice placement, theoretical knowledge and created professional knowledge. Such coaching enables to systematize elements recurring in situations, develop their professionalism of social worker with the help of reflection.

The social dimension is gaining an increasing importance in the fields of shaping our environment, such as territorial planning and architectural design. In order to create the living environment, which would be not only comfortable, but also aesthetic and psychologically acceptable, it is important to analyze the experience and possibilities of application of sociological research methods to physical and social environment of urbanized areas. In order to reach this aim, the article presents the review of experience of application of the sociological research methods to urban environment distinguishing the characteristic cases in this field and their analogies in Lithuanian practice and the distinguishing and classification of the types and aims of sociological research of urban environment based on the analysis of literature.

This article analyses inter-regional colloboration between Latin America and European Union (EU) in order to find out the processes of regional integration to international extent. Basic reasons of inter-regional collaboration between EU and Latin America which are related with social inequality and destitution, shortfall of democracy and growth of Latin America’s economical potential as well as appearance of various new markets are excluded in this text. EU encourages economical, social and institutional integration which is associated with regionalization processes in the area of Latin America. Inter-regional collaboration happens through international organizations such as Rio group, MERCOSUR, UNASUR, CAN. This article deals with general aims of inter-regional collaboration, various branches of it and relations between EU and Latin America in regional, sub-regional and bilateral level which are intermingled among themselves.

A substantial number of young people in Western countries are facing severe difficulties due to wider social, political and economic change. Using a review of the literature and a descriptive approach, this paper explores issues of youth education, training, employment and social capital on the Swedish welfare landscape, as important factors in the education of the social professions, to understand and meet the needs of young vulnerable populations. The research found growing uncertain conditions in young populations, growing socio-economic vulnerability, mental ill-health and insufficient access to the labour market. Furthermore, the results of the paper suggest shortcomings in the social services for disadvantaged young people, and current socio-political programmes seem to reinforce the existing pattern of inequality. The insights generated by this study have the ability to inform international, national and local evidence bases in this area. It may contribute to the support of reflective future practitioners who use research as an integral element of improving their holistic client-centred interventions. The article has been prepared in the frame of the project „Social Professions for Youth Education in the Context of European Solidarity“* with participation of Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and Swedish universities that deliver programmes of training social professionals.

The aim of this paper is to discuss theoretical aspects of the economic changes brought on by transformation processes and the development of social market economies on the one hand and the continued creation of value with socially uneven economic growth and the growing sense of dissatisfaction, irregularities and disproportions on the other. This paper makes references to the search for the optimal model of capitalism, suggests ways of supporting the idea of inclusive capitalism and discusses a number of inequalities, including economic and social. The analyses in this paper are based on Polish and foreign literature, as well as the opinions of economists. The opinions and conclusions presented in this paper are, to a large extent, based on statistical analyses and the results of many years’ of the author’s research into economic transformation. The analysis in this paper is only an introduction to the problems of searching for the optimal model of capitalism that would take into account the inclusive nature of an economic system where a balance between economic and social goals is maintained.

The goal of the research presented in this paper – to characterize effective mentoring in the context of nursing studies. Modified evolutionary concept analysis method, that includes theoretical and empirical analysis of the concept, was used to achieve this goal. The group discussion method was employed to conduct the empirical research. Three groups of discussion composed from the 7 members of nursing faculty and 18 nursing students were created to collect data. The research has revealed concept of the effective mentoring in the context of nursing studies. The performed concept analysis lets state that the effective mentoring of nursing student is a complex process, because it includes integration of individual needs and curriculum objectives, highlights importance of relationship, mentor’s pedagogical knowledge, personal qualities, self-motivation, professional competencies.

The scope of theoretical research on organizational change, which is characterized by fragmentation and interdisciplinary, is inevitably expanding. Such vision requires a deeper, complex analysis of the organization’s activities, identification of directions of strategic changes in the organization and the management of the proper preparation for strategic changes. The classical management focuses only on the issues of the management of the change processes, but the leaders of the present-day organizations must refine the strategic directions of change and follow them, and construct a change management strategy in the organization. This article presents theoretical aspects of the identification of directions of strategic changes in organizations based on the ideas of other researchers and theoretical insights created by the authors themselves.

The article examines sociocultural contexts of the genesis of the processes of the professionalization of performance within the paradigm of specificity vs generality. It emphasizes the increasing specialization in the area of human-human interactions inherent in the medical profession that are pertinent to the conditions of modern consumer society. The authors analyze the consequences of professional specialization in relation to the shifting physicians’ worldview and through individual self-expression explore professional deformations associated with moral and spiritual phenomena within the context of doctor-patient interactions that, on the one hand, are oriented towards missionary nature of the medical profession and, on the other, towards the opportunities of individual professional development. In the examination of occupational continuum, the authors utilize a phenomenological approach that enables to characterize different aspects of professional and personal deformations, as well as to analyze the meaning of professional opportunities through recognition and comprehension of their essence.

This paper focuses on paid leave policies and parents parental leave choices in Lithuania. Lithuanian paid parental leave system provides one of the longest leaves in Europe, with high replacement rates, but there is a lack of more flexible working arrangements for working parents. For an empirical analysis an administrative data of SODRA (State Social Insurance Fund Board), which includes information of all benefits recipients was used. SODRA data allowed to disclose the gender differences in the parent’s parental leave choices by gender (2011–2018). This period has been chosen because Lithuania in 2011 introduced new paid leave policy regulation, when two parental leave options were offered for parents: 100% of net earnings until the child is 12 months or 70% of net earnings until the child is 12 months, and 40% net earnings until the child is 24 months. The SODRA data had shown that although the share of fathers who take paid parental leave had increased since 2011 but in comparison to women it constituted only about 24% of all f paid parental benefits recipients. Considerably larger part of the fathers is choosing to receive the parental leave benefits the second year while they are eligible to work and benefit is not reduced.