The role of the school subjects’ name on its content and image
2017
Taar, J., Tallinn Univ. (Estonia) | Vaent, T., Tallinn Univ. (Estonia)
One of the schools’ educational targets is to give students the best possible readiness for coping in their independent life in contemporary society. Therefore, the content of different school subjects needs to be in continuous changes simultaneously with the developments in society. Changes are visible also in the adjustments of school curricula which channels societal developments into school lessons. Similarly, home economics education is in continuous change and development. The content of home economics education in Estonia has widened within last decades with the focus moving from obtaining practical skills to becoming a responsible citizen. This article gives a brief overview of the developments of home economics education in Estonia. In addition, the role of subjects’ name in relation with its image is opened. Although the name of the subject home economics has been introduced already in 1996 it is still misused in writings and discussions between different parties (teachers, students, parents, school leaders). This study used document analysis to map the information related with home economics education on all schools’ web-pages in Estonia to analyse what is the officially presented name of the school subject. Results are opened in the light of the background knowledge – history and language. Based on the results, inaccurate names and adaptations that originate already from 1930s are in active use. What it tells about the image of the subject if besides the official name in curriculum 13 different name variations are also used?
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