Perceptions of students university of corporate social responsibility

The findings of this article bring knowledge about the understanding of corporate social responsibility from the university students’ perception and their values’ structure in a cross cultural high education context. Primary data collected via a survey in Business Schools at Universities of Spain, Poland and Bulgaria and multivariate analysis evidence that both the values’ structure and university students’ CSR perception are influenced by cross cultural factors. In this High Education context and according to Schwartz’s values theory and the Triple Bottom line, the study reveals different value profiles by gender and nationality and diverse attitudes to CSR perception across these European countries. The result approached is important for organizations to assure the success of strategic purposes implicit on social corporate initiatives.     

Technology-assisted tolerance education at elementary schools within the framework of inspector qualifications

The importance of tolerance is being seen as an essential virtue in contemporary societies and in this paper Cyprus sample was chosen as regards tolerance education. The two peoples of Cyprus with different language and religion but the same culture (Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots) thought that only politics could solve the deadlock after the 1974 war and the fact that the two peoples could be converged with education, especially tolerance education, was ignored. In this paper the intention is to approach tolerance education especially on the basis of education management for which reason inspectors are chosen as the study group. It was based on the execution of tolerance education with contemporary teaching approaches, especially in a technology-assisted manner. As a result, the research question was determined as “what is the status of technology-assisted tolerance education in elementary schools in Cyprus within the framework of inspector qualifications?” This is a qualitative research based on case study model. Participants of the study were chosen on a purposive-sampling and convenience-sampling basis. Thus, the sampling of the research consists of 20 educators (inspector, school manager, teacher and scholar) in Northern and Southern Cyprus in 2016–2017 spring semester. Ten of the educators were chosen from Northern Cyprus and the other 10 were chosen from Southern Cyprus. Data collection method used in this paper is “semi-structured interview” technique. Content analysis technique was used in the examination of the data collected in this research. A closer look at the research findings show that the opinions as regards usage of technology in tolerance education in elementary school are as follows: “preparation and usage of different materials in tolerance education”, “usage of positive examples of technology-assisted tolerance education outside Cyprus” and “including both technology and tolerance in every step of education programs”. When different opinions are taken into consideration, Greek Cypriots stated that awareness should be raised in children in environments without tolerance with technology-assisted education. Turkish Cypriots, on the other hand, emphasized that all stakeholders in education should have a technology-friend educator identity and in order to offer tolerance education their level of tolerance should be high in the first place.

     

The effectiveness of technology-assisted history teaching based on peace training: The case of history of Cyprus

Changes in history education in Europe are related to the new approaches in the field of education, particularly related to the usage of technology in education. Additionally, the interest in the history of war, which originated as a result of the previous world wars, has been replaced by peace education today. This study is based on the principles of peace education and is based on an eight-week educational process that was implemented in the 2016–2017 spring semester. The study sample was 11 secondary school students who were enrolled at a private school in Nicosia, Northern Cyprus. In order to collect data during the research period, student essays, the Cyprus history attitude scale and researcher observation reports were used. Qualitative data obtained in the research were evaluated using content analysis, whereas quantitative data were evaluated with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. At the end of the study, it was determined that students expressed interest in receiving education on the history of Cyprus teaching in an environment that incorporates technology, which also reduces the necessity for memorizing details and political history, and where socio-cultural history is more prevalent. Researcher observations show that the awareness of students for peace education increased and their historical empathy and cooperative working skills were developed. However, despite such positive results, it was also discovered that there is no significant difference in quantitative terms in the attitude of students towards the history of Cyprus.     

‘‘Peace’’ perceptions of Special Education Students in North Cyprus: a metaphorical approach

Recently, the peace education as a field has received world-wide attention from scholars, educators and policymakers. In Europe, awareness-raising activities supported by individuals and organizations has paid off and led to successful implementation of peace curriculum into education. Considerable amount of studies reveals that the peace education activities in schools contributed to the realisation of the importance of peaceful and sustainable future. However, peace education is a long neglected subject among the scholars in North Cyprus. Unfortunately, there is no single study focussing on peace education and its necessity in North Cyprus. In this regard, the aim of this study is to investigate how Special Education Students in North Cyprus perceive the concept of ‘‘peace’’. Also, the possible ways of implementing ‘peace education’ into curriculum are scrutinized. In order to fulfil the research aim, qualitative data collected from 158 Special Education teacher candidates. The findings reveal that majority of the participants believes that ‘peace education’ should be taught in schools. At this point, collected data also indicate that governmental initiatives need to be taken in order to raise awareness among students and teachers about ‘peace education’.

     

Rating Expatriate Leader Effectiveness in Multisource Feedback Systems: Cultural Distance and Hierarchical Effects

A critical challenge for global firms is to implement assessment tools to develop expatriate leaders who can effectively manage role relationships across different directions (upward, laterally, downward) in cross‐national contexts. Drawing on social categorization and relational demography theories and a data set of 360‐degree ratings of expatriates from 36 countries, we use multilevel modeling to investigate relationships between cultural distance and ratings of leadership effectiveness in task and contextual performance by colleagues with different hierarchical vantage points (subordinates, supervisors, peers). Cultural distance refers to the overall degree of difference in key cultural values identified in the GLOBE study between an expatriate's and coworkers’ countries of origin. Unlike supervisors as a rating group, results show that peer and subordinate raters as a group may be more likely to have their ratings negatively influenced by cultural distance, an effect that may be exacerbated for peer ratings from countries higher in power distance and lower in humane orientation. This study contributes to the understanding of multisource feedback systems to assess expatriate leadership effectiveness by identifying likely group ratings tendencies linked to cultural distance and hierarchical perspectives. Organizations should develop strategies to mitigate possible effects of cultural distance on subordinate and peer ratings of expatriates. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The relationship between burn-out and psychological resiliency levels of special education teachers in a developing economy

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between burn-out and psychological resiliency levels of special education teachers based on some demographic variables. 70 special education teachers working at 7 special education schools affiliated to North Cyprus Ministry of Education Primary Education Management Office and 21 schools which has special education mainstreaming room participated in this research. The Maslach Burn-Out Scale was used in this study to determine burn-out levels of special education teachers while the Psychological Resiliency Scale for Adults was used to determine their psychological resiliency levels. The study revealed a negative relationship between family cohesion (a sub-dimension of psychological resiliency) and emotional burn-out and desensitization (the sub-dimensions of burn-out), and it found no significant difference for gender in terms of both variables. The emotional burn-out score (a sub-dimension of burn-out scale) differed significantly based on the daily working hours of teachers. There is however a significant difference between “structural style” scores (the sub-dimension of psychological resiliency) based on educational status, as well as between desensitization scores of special education teachers and age.

     

Historical development of the school for deaf children which was opened in Cyprus under the British Administration

In this paper, the School for Deaf Children that was opened under the rule of the British Administration in Cyprus is examined. The school was opened in the 1953–1954 academic year and became the second private education institution on the island. Additionally, it was a mixed school that served both the Greek and Turkish communities. Although the school was initially opened with contributions from the Rotary Club, it continued to provide educational services with funds from the British Administration, students’ parents and voluntary contributions. During the period of mixed education, the school could not adopt a fully settled structure in terms of the building in which it was locate and was moved to different areas during that period. In the period when the British government transferred responsibility for the education on the island to the Greek and Turkish communities, the school continued to provide services on a mixed basis. However, after the events of 1963, the Turkish teachers and students began to leave the school. Today, it continues its activities in southern Nicosia, whereas in the northern part of the island, the Lapta School for People with Hearing and Speaking Disabilities was opened in 1975 in order for Turkish students to continue their education. The present study is supported with information obtained from Education reports and Cyprus Gazette resources as well as national and international works and verbal resources.

     

The comparative examination of promotion criterias of teachers in North Cyprus and Turkey as a manager and a supervisor in profession

The present study aims to examine and compare the promotion criteria of the teachers in North Cyprus and Turkey as a manager and a supervisor in their profession as well as determining its similarities and differences. Presenting the teachers’ criteria on the basis of promotion in their profession is the importance of this study. Document analysis has been used in this study in order to reach the aim. The criteria of both being a school principal and supervisor in North Cyprus and Turkey have been compared. Although it has been examined that in Turkey assigning school principals and supervisors depend on a selection based on years of teaching experience, in North Cyprus either teacher assignment or upper level assignments such as school principal and supervisor selections depend on certain rules and regulations which contain unbiased evaluation on professional portfolios and applied professional examinations set by the Public Service Commission (Kamu Hizmet Komisyonu).     

An evaluation of higher education sector to the economy

Economic sectors consider the contribution of higher education sector. The big majority of the students studying at universities in North Cyprus come from overseas and they compose a big proportion in the population of North Cyprus and they contribute to the economy of North Cyprus as well as to the others involved. According to educational economists, the main source of economic development is the quality and level of education individuals receive. The quality of education has a big effect on the socio-politic and economic structure of a community. This, obviously, indicates the importance of universities for the communities and economy. The aim of this study is to evaluate the contribution of individual education to economy and the development of the country as well as the positive contribution of the universities to the economy of the country. A case study, one of qualitative research models, was conducted in this study. As for the study group, an “intentional sampling”, a model without selection, model was used. In this process, representatives from sectors, public organizations, and organizations in economy operating in the North Cyprus were interviewed and questioned through semi-structured interview forms. The research data was analyzed through content-analysis method and the contribution of the research has been presented as suggestions for the future.     

Weber,Marx, and work values: Evidence from transition economies

Are work values a cause (Weber) or consequence (Marx) of the economic environment? The collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991 provides a unique opportunity to investigate this link. Using data collected from an employee survey conducted in over 340 workplaces in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia, we investigate generational differences in adherence to the Protestant work ethic (PWE). Our results indicate that Marx was ‘right’ about the link between work values and economic environment. That is, despite economic and cultural differences emerging during the transformation process, in all three countries, participating workers born after 1981 adhere more strongly to PWE than workers born before 1977. Moreover, the estimate magnitudes are very similar across these economically and culturally diverse countries. More generally, PWE adherence is stronger among participating workers with an internal locus of control and among supervisors. PWE adherence also tends to be stronger among participants with high relative earnings, as well as among those working in organizations that reward hard work with the chance to develop new skills or learn new things.     

An evaluation of positive psychological state of educational administrators in a tolerance context

Positive psychology leads the problems with regard to subject well-being, hopefullness, motivation, hope and academic success of individuals from their birth to their death. The purpose of this study is to assess the obtained opinions regarding positive psychological state of education directors. Being a qualitative case study, the integrative single statement design was used in the study. The study group consisted of 10 administrators and 25 instructors working in state schools in Northern Cyprus during 2016–2017 academic year in this study. An interview form which was consisted of 5 questions was used in collecting data. The qualitative data analysis program NVIVO 11.0 was used during interviews for classifying and coding data. The opinions of school administrators regarding their positive psychological states was assessed and determined.

     

The primary schools (<Emphasis Type="Italic">sibyans</Emphasis>) in Ottoman Cyprus during the Tanzimat <Emphasis Type="Italic">reform</Emphasis> era (1839–1878)

The nineteenth century is a century of reform for the Ottoman state. The Tanzimat reforms hold a unique place in the Ottoman history of modernization. During the Tanzimat period (1839–1878), the state underwent a restructuring process in almost all of its institutions to establish a centralized modern state and many new institutions were established. The Ottomans paid special attention to education to train the new generation required for the continuity of modernization and the centralized bureaucratic structure. While they opened modern high schools and higher education institutions, they attempted to reform the existing s?byan schools, which were the primary education institutions. This process of restructuring education was also carried out in Cyprus, which had been an Ottoman island since 1571. These attempts remained restricted to efforts to increase the number of s?byan schools in Cyprus. There was a failure to replace the religious education given at schools with a secular program, curriculum or modern education system based on education management. This situation also adversely affected the quality of education at the Rü?tiye School in Nicosia, the first and only modern secondary school of the period and which was opened in Nicosia in 1864.     

Values in Turkish Middle School Mathematics Textbooks

Mathematics is usually seen as a field in which there is no values. Such a situation causes only a few studies about values teaching to be done in mathematics education. But, mathematics is a field that has various values in it, and that must be considered seriously from this point of view. Values are taught implicitly rather than explicitly in mathematics classes when comparing to others. The same situation can be seen in other lesson textbooks. Thus, in this paper; how much importance do mathematics and its educational values have, are investigated at mathematics textbooks in 6th and 7th primary school graders in Turkey. For this purpose, total eight 6th and 7th grade mathematics textbooks, that were chosen by random approach, are analysed with semantic content analysis. As a result of analysis it has been fixed that rationalism, control and openness values among mathematical values are emphasized more than complementary pairs of formalistic view, theoretical knowledge, instrumental understanding, accessibility and evaluation both in 6th and 7th grades mathematics textbooks.     

Brewed for decades: Cyprus' perfect financial storm

• The Cypriot banking catastrophe was a momentous point in economic history at which a tiny island suffered such acute financial distress that it shook the entire Eurozone. Here we trace how Cyprus go to that point, via a series of mishaps and misjudgements, and missed escape routes going back over four decades.
• Cyprus will go down in history as one of the closest there has ever been to a perfect storm of financial instability, brewed from terrible decisions by its banks, supervisors and politicians; compounded by rotten luck and bad timing. Even Cyprus’ political and financial strengths made things worse by delaying firm action and allowing losses to build. Most imaginable horrors that could happen to a banking system did happen, and that was even before the controversial and partially botched international rescue operation.
• It was an international crisis in many senses of the word. The crisis was hosted in Cyprus, massively escalated by events in Greece, and paid for in large part by Russian depositors.
• There are lessons for Greece, but the experiences also have important differences. Crucially, there was a strong constituency in Cyprus to support painful austerity and structural reforms necessary to get rid of capital controls. That does not exist in Greece.
• The dramatic unfolding of events on the night of 15 March 2013 also provides a lesson that was not heeded in Greece. All‐night negotiating sessions against hard‐deadlines tend to lead to highly flawed agreements, though they are also a symptom of such commitment to the euro that things might work out in spite of the flaws.

     

Television Viewing and High School Mathematics Achievement: A Neural Network Analysis

This study examines the relationship between mathematics achievement and television viewing. The data consist of 13,542 high school seniors from the High School and Beyond project conducted by U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. A feed-forward neural network is employed as a nonlinear model. A curvilinear relationship is found, independent of viewer characteristics, parental background, parental involvement, and leisure activities, with a peak at about one hour of viewing, and persistent upon the inclusion of statistical errors. It is further shown that for low-ability students the curvilinearity is replaced with an entirely positive correlation across all hours of television viewing.     

The role of interpersonal affect in performance appraisal: evidence from two samples – the US and India

The interpersonal affect, a li ke–dislike relationship between a supervisor and his/her subordinate, has traditionally been conceptualized as a source of bias in performance appraisals. However, some researchers have argued that the interpersonal affect may not be a bias, especially where it develops as a result of past performance. In this field study, using data from 190 supervisors in the US, and 113 supervisors in India, we delineate the relationship between interpersonal affect and performance ratings. In both samples, interpersonal affect and performance level were found to have significant effects on performance ratings. Results from the US sample indicated that raters are able to separate their liking for a subordinate from actual performance when a ssigning performance ratings, suggesting that the interpersonal affect does not operate as a bias in the appraisal process. Results from the Indian sample, however, suggest that supervisors inflate ratings of low performers, suggesting that local cultural norms may be operating as a moderator.     

Effect of mobile teaching on students who need special education

The purpose of this study is to test the mobile application designed for the teaching purposes of students who need special education. Many mobile applications and software are available for teaching, thus this study will point the effect of using such technologies in teaching activities as an assistive method to the teacher. The tests are done using our previously designed mobile application that is designed to teach the basic concepts. As it is indicated in the design, the process starts with the testing of the basic abilities of the children, therefore, our tests include these kind of pretests and after that testing phases that will measure the effect of the application to learning. Students who need special education are the focus of the study. The tests are carried out in a special education centre, in Nicosia, Northern Cyprus on two students. Test results show that the mobile application developed in its current form, is a good tool to assist the teachers to enhance and speed up the learning process.

     

A multidimensional IRT approach for dimensionality assessment of standardised students’ tests in mathematics

Mathematics proficiency involves several content domains and processes at different levels. This essentially means that mathematics ability is a complex latent variable. In standardised testing, the complex, and unobserved, latent constructs underlying a test are traditionally appraised by expert panels through subjective measures. In the present research, we deal with the issue of dimensionality of the latent structure behind a test measuring the mathematics ability of Italian students from a statistical and objective point of view, within an IRT framework. The data refer to a national standardised test developed and collected by the Italian National Institute for the Evaluation of the Education System (INVALSI), and administered to lower secondary school students (grade 8). The model we apply is based on a class of multidimensional latent class IRT models, which allows us to ascertain the test dimensionality based on an explorative approach, and by concurrently accounting for non-constant item discrimination and a discrete latent variable formulation. Our results show that the latent abilities underlying the INVALSI test mirror the assessment objectives defined at the national level for the mathematics curriculum. We recommend the use of the proposed extended IRT models in the practice of test construction, primarily—but not exclusively—in the educational field, to support the meaningfulness of the inferences made from test scores about students’ abilities.