This article is aimed to discuss findings of the study on professionalisation in the practice of public health professionals who provide services to persons of all ages with disabilities. The following problematic questions are raised: how does a public health specialist become a professional competent in providing their services to all citizens, regardless of age or health status? What are the possible professionalisation ways and opportunities for public health professionals who provide services to persons of different age with disabilities? The article presents a theoretical discourse of the professionalisation process, as well as results of the qualitative research so as to provide insight into possible ways (opportunities) for professionalisation of public health professionals in providing services to persons of different ages with disabilities. The study is novel in that it discloses dimensions (professionalism and professionism) of a public health specialist’s professionalisation process in working with persons of different ages with disabilities. As findings of the study show, the dimensions are theoretically inseparable from each other, though, with quite different ways of professionalisation in practice. The study has established that the ways of professionalisation (1.Work-based learning; 2.Reflection and activities; 3.Reflection on activities (formalisation of unexpressed competencies); 4.Reflection for activities; 5.Organisational culture and activities; 6.Integration/assimilation of knowledge) enable a person to develop existing competencies, to construct a professional identity through the integration of both aspects of relevance of professionalisation ways: practical activities and reflection.

The article presents findings of a qualitative study focused on analysis of social interaction experiences of beginning teachers in higher education, whereby social interaction is construed as a dialogue, conversation, socio-cognitive conflict, and intersubjective solutions thereof, which influence the process of formation of new competencies.The aim of research is to show the prevailing experiences of beginning university teachers in building competencies within the context of social interaction - socio-cognitive conflict - situations. The research is based on the interactional ethnography approach. The research participants were newly hired teachers of different universities in Lithuania. The research shows that the degree of asymmetry in social relations is subject to differences in the status, experience, competencies, or age of the agents. In the context of intensity of socio-cognitive interaction, where it involves a small number or single-direction exchanges of views and opinions, socio-cognitive conflict will not necessarily be progressive in building new competencies. As regards the features of social and affective interaction, the situation of convenience - confrontation is the most favorable for the acquisition and formation of cognitive structures - competencies. Social and cognitive abilities of participants in a socio-cognitive conflict, as prerequisites for cognition, are essential for the acquisition of new structures - competencies.

Social justice in education is a research area aimed at providing equal opportunities for everybody to participate in the educational system. Research in the field of social justice rather focuses on formal education, in which the perception of the social justice concept depends on the attitude framed by the state – it is inseparable from the form of governance, the set of basic principles prevailing in society, as well as from the historical and cultural context. On the contrary, non-formal adult education, as a relatively convenient and most accessible form of adult education to upgrade or acquire new skills, involves occasional studies of these service providers in terms of social justice. It is also limited to the generalised perception of this phenomenon and, usually, to the contexts of its expression that are not always regulated by the state. Therefore, it is not clear how non-formal adult education addresses the problem of perceiving and expressing the concept of social justice, what role the state might play in ensuring social justice for adults in lifelong development and acquisition of new skills. The article raises the following problematic questions: How do adults perceive and experience social justice when participating in and engaging in non-formal adult education? How and in what ways does social justice exist in non-formal adult education? The aim of the article is to show the authentic experiences of study participants, by identifying the concept of social justice and expressions thereof in non-formal adult education. The results of the study demonstrate the controversy of the concept of social justice. This helped to confirm that there is no single definition of social justice that would be acceptable in all contexts of education. The following key forms of expression of social justice were pointed out by the study participants: equal opportunities, access, non-compliance of non-formal adult education services with participants’ learning needs, goals, and objectives. This has revealed a partial aspect of implementing social justice in non-formal adult education.

This paper presents the findings of a study on attitudes of employees of business organisations towards changes in their development strategies in terms of learning and competence development. The study is based on the assumption that the lack of corporate staffs’ competences hinders innovation, impairs the quality of activities, while the engrained conventional approach towards staff training prevents from using workplace opportunities of self-study and competence development. The study identifies the following practical issue: conventional staff training, principles and methods of competence development that depend on direct and virtual learning are not always effective lately. An analysis of the research participants’ attitudes can help to answer the following problematic questions in more detail: are the acquisition of competences, trainings held, and employee learning considered identical phenomena? What is the efficiency of staff training and competence development activities or the learning tools applied? What does the application of the principles of staff training and competence development in an organisation mean in practice? The article, therefore, is aimed to analyse the changes in staff development strategies in terms of employee learning and competence development from the perspective of corporate staff.

This article presents findings of the study of students’ attitude toward the dynamics of learning motivation/de-motivation and teachers’ competencies in learning motivation. The study is based on the assumption that students’ motivation in higher education (college or university) is to be supported and enhanced throughout their studies, while positive dynamics of it is subject to the use of learning motivation competencies by teachers in their teaching activities. It is highly important to identify the interrelation between teachers’ competencies in learning motivation and students’ motivation/de-motivation factors so that to establish tools for refining the objects under study, to enable a purposeful action, to make a focused intervention in the ongoing teaching processes for improvement thereof and obtaining better learning outcomes for students. Analysis of students’ attitude might help to respond more comprehensively the following problematic questions: What are motivation/de-motivation factors for student learning? What do teachers’ competencies in learning motivation consist of? In what ways can a teacher support the positive dynamics of learning motivation in students? Thus, this article is aimed to analyse factors for the dynamics of students’ motivation/de-motivation, a content of teachers’ competencies in learning motivation, and their practice from the students’ point of view. The article consists of an introduction and two parts: the first part provides theoretical discourse, the second part is dedicated to an empirical analysis of students’ attitude toward the learning motivation/de-motivation factors, teachers’ competencies in learning motivation, a content thereof, and dynamics of learning motivation. The article ends with a discussion and conclusions, followed by references.