Page 133 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
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char acter strengths of first-year student teachers and the 5 cs ...
Method
Participants
The study participants were 130 first-year students in different study pro-
grammes at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education: preschool ed-
ucation (n = 59), social pedagogy (n = 25), special and rehabilitation pedago-
gy (n = 29) and speech and language therapy and surdo-pedagogy (n = 17).
There were only two male students in the sample. The sample reflects the
typical gender structure in Slovenian educational study programmes and
the two male students were therefore not excluded from the sample. The
participants’ average age was 19.51 years (SD = 0.66). In Slovenia, tertiary
education consists of short-cycle higher vocational education (post-second-
ary education) and higher education; study programmes take 2 to 6 years
(Taštanoska, 2019). Slovenia is involved in the Bologna Process. Higher ed-
ucation is organised in three study cycles (professional and academic un-
dergraduate study programmes, postgraduate master’s study programmes
and doctoral study programmes). Participants in our study were first-year
university students of the 3- or 4- year programmes of the first cycle (under-
graduate) study programmes.
Instruments
Character strengths
Character strengths were measured using the Values in Action Inventory of
Strengths (VIA-IS; Peterson et al., 2004), which consists of 240 items. Each
of the 24 character strengths is assessed by 10 items on a 5-point Likert scale
(from 1 = not at all like me to 5 = completely like me). Example scales with
corresponding items are: Kindness (e.g. “I enjoy being kind to others”, Love
(e.g. “I am always willing to take risks to establish a relationship”), Fairness
(e.g. “I always admit when I am wrong”), Perseverance (e.g. “I never quit
a task before it is done”), Teamwork (e.g. “I work at my very best when I
am a group member”). In general, the scales show good internal reliabili-
ty, test–retest reliability, and validity (Park et al., 2006; Ruch et al., 2010).
In our sample, reliability coefficients range from .63 (Self-regulation) to .87
(Creativity). The Slovenian translation (Gradišek, 2014) of the VIA-IS was
used.
133
Method
Participants
The study participants were 130 first-year students in different study pro-
grammes at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education: preschool ed-
ucation (n = 59), social pedagogy (n = 25), special and rehabilitation pedago-
gy (n = 29) and speech and language therapy and surdo-pedagogy (n = 17).
There were only two male students in the sample. The sample reflects the
typical gender structure in Slovenian educational study programmes and
the two male students were therefore not excluded from the sample. The
participants’ average age was 19.51 years (SD = 0.66). In Slovenia, tertiary
education consists of short-cycle higher vocational education (post-second-
ary education) and higher education; study programmes take 2 to 6 years
(Taštanoska, 2019). Slovenia is involved in the Bologna Process. Higher ed-
ucation is organised in three study cycles (professional and academic un-
dergraduate study programmes, postgraduate master’s study programmes
and doctoral study programmes). Participants in our study were first-year
university students of the 3- or 4- year programmes of the first cycle (under-
graduate) study programmes.
Instruments
Character strengths
Character strengths were measured using the Values in Action Inventory of
Strengths (VIA-IS; Peterson et al., 2004), which consists of 240 items. Each
of the 24 character strengths is assessed by 10 items on a 5-point Likert scale
(from 1 = not at all like me to 5 = completely like me). Example scales with
corresponding items are: Kindness (e.g. “I enjoy being kind to others”, Love
(e.g. “I am always willing to take risks to establish a relationship”), Fairness
(e.g. “I always admit when I am wrong”), Perseverance (e.g. “I never quit
a task before it is done”), Teamwork (e.g. “I work at my very best when I
am a group member”). In general, the scales show good internal reliabili-
ty, test–retest reliability, and validity (Park et al., 2006; Ruch et al., 2010).
In our sample, reliability coefficients range from .63 (Self-regulation) to .87
(Creativity). The Slovenian translation (Gradišek, 2014) of the VIA-IS was
used.
133
