Starting with the fact that school education has failed to become education for critical thinking and that one of the reasons for that could be in how education for critical thinking is conceptualised, this paper presents: (1) an analysis of the predominant approach to education for critical thinking through the implementation of special programs and methods, and (2) an attempt to establish different approaches to education for critical thinking. The overview and analysis of understanding education for developing critical thinking as the implementation of special programs reveal that it is perceived as a decontextualised activity, reduced to practicing individual intellectual skills. Foundations for a different approach, which could be characterised as the ‘education for critical competencies’, are found in ideas of critical pedagogy and open curriculum theory. This approach differs from the predominant approachin terms of how the nature and purpose of critical thinking and education for critical thinking are understood. In the approach of education for critical competencies, it is not sufficient to introduce special programs and methods for the development of critical thinking to the existing educational system. This approach emphasises the need to question and reconstruct the status, role, and power of pupils and teachers in the teaching process, but also in the process of curriculum development.

Given that Roma students are underrepresented in higher education, and that few studies investigated personal and social resources of young Roma adults, our aim was to explore the psychological and social capital of Roma attending college and determine if there are differences compared to non-Roma students. In total, 89 Roma and 105 non-Roma college students filled in the questionnaire. Significant differences between the two groups were obtained for all components of psychological capital, except for self-efficacy. Roma students' family financial and educational status was significantly more unfavorable than that of the non-Roma students. They received support from fewer persons to pursue higher education but have been more civically engaged and received more support from NGO representatives. We can conclude that, despite unfavorable family structure capital, Roma college students have developed a high level of psychological capital. Practical implications are furthered elaborated.

Чланак представља резултат рада на пројектима Од подстицања иницијативе, сарадње, стваралаштва у образовању до нових улога и идентитета у друштву (бр. 179034) и Унапређивање квалитета и доступности образовања у процесима модернизације Србије (бр. 47008) чију реализацију финансира Министарство просвете, науке и технолошког развоја Републике Србије (2011-2014).

S a ž e t a k U radu smo nastojali da razumemo i prikažemo gledište nastavnika o tome koje su metode rada u nastavi najefektivnijie i zbog čega, kojim se smernicama treba rukovoditi prilikom odabira metoda rada, koja znanja i veštine nastavnik treba da poseduje kako bi što adekvatnije odabrao metode rada, kao i na koji način se ta znanja i veštine stiču. Istraživanjem je obuhvaćeno 119 nastavnika predmetne nastave iz osnovnih, srednjih stručnih škola i gimnazija na teritoriji grada Beograda. Upitnik korišćen u istraživanju se uglavom sastojao od pitanja otvorenog tipa, što nam je omogućilo da dobijemo bogat korpus podataka koje su nastavnici smatrali važnim kada je reč o metodama kojima se koriste u radu. Osnovi nalazi su da u našoj školskoj sredini dominiraju predavačke metode i da ne postoji u dovoljnoj meri usmerenost na individualizaciju nastave. Ohrabrujuće je da postoji saradnja sa kolegama pri izboru metoda, kao i svest o značaju pedagoško-psihološko-metodičkih znanja za adekvatan odabir metoda rada u nastavi i, sledstveno tome, svest o nedovoljnosti inicijalnog obrazovanja nastavnika da nastavnike u zadovoljavajućoj meri osposobi za njihov rad u školi.

Starting from the insight that during their education students do not manage to learn how to learn, we created the programme called Blooming with the intention of enabling the students to reconsider their own approaches to learning by developing collaborative activities and relations in the classroom. The programme was realised in a secondary school class, and research goals were to explore the contribution of the programme to the change in students? approach to learning - regarding the learning motivation and strategies - and to obtain an insight into students? perspective of the benefits of the programme. The changes in learning strategies and students? motivation were investigated using the MSLQ before and after programme attendance. The data on the programme benefits were obtained via focus groups with students and analysed by the thematic content analysis. It has been established that the students achieved a significant improvement when it comes to the mastering of the learning strategies that refer to self-regulation, critical thinking, peer learning and help seeking. In addition, the students pointed out as benefits a different method of work and pleasant atmosphere, the feeling of autonomy in classes, as well as the development of a different understanding of the nature of knowledge, the learning process and instruction. The results indicate that the use of Bloom?s taxonomy as the tool for co-regulated learning and self-evaluation of students can contribute to the change in students? learning approaches. This finding is relevant for further considering of the possibility for this method to grow from a special programme into everyday teaching practice.