AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
where rationality as limited, i.e. imperfect. Such rationality is
often linked and explained with the help of the principle of
satisfaction, cognitive imperfection and the above-mentioned
altruism6 that make an individual include the benefit of other
people into his or her motives of decision-making. Although the
results seem imperfect from the educational viewpoint, such
humanism should be taken into account when the issues of future
and education are addressed as these people will be in a grave
need for assistance with adaptation. It is clear that this particular
stratum of the population can be in serious difficulties to adapt to
future changes and they may form a weak point in the labour
market and a source of unemployment.
The research proves that such people do not analyse their
circumstances at all. If they do, they belong to the category of
higher incomers with a net salary of at least EUR 1,000 (see
Table 2). Moreover, the research reveals that the ones whose
annual expenditures on education exceed EUR 600 learn mostly
on a daily basis. They belong to the higher income band earning
between EUR 1,000 and 1,500. Would it not be beneficial to
motivate people to consider improving their own future and
planning their decisions in a long-term perspective? Could the
state create a mixture of instruments in order to financially
enhance life-long education?
Table 2: Questions on education and an approach to it
(questionnaire; questions 6, 7, 10)
Question (6)
Education
frequency
Answers
Question
(7)
Financial
resources
for
education
Answers
Question (10)
How is education
financed?
Answers
Daily
32.1%
0-100 EUR 36.2%
They themselves pay
for it
42.4%
Weekly
35.7%
100-300
EUR
36.2%
The employer pays for
it
25.4%
Once every
four months
21.4%
300-600
EUR
13.8%
Combined
28.8%
Once a year
7.2%
600-900
EUR
6.9%
"Free"
3.4%
Once every 5
years
1.8%
900-1200
EUR
3.4%
Never
1.8%
1,200 EUR
or more
3.4%
Source: Own processing.
4.2 Definition of education key determiners related to future
development
The most significant determiner of expenditures is the level of
individual net income. Further determiners, which could be
added in this context, include wealth and a debt level of
individuals, or rather households, as it is directly related to the
income. In terms of demographic factors, the age, family
situation, phase of family life-cycle, and above all, the phase of
maternity leave are provably significant. As for women, it is the
maternity leave which bears a significantly negative influence on
their education.
In Table 3, there are answers to questions 11 and 12 targeting the
revelation of motivation for learning. They show what fields of
education they focus on as well. The need for practical life,
higher quality of life, effort to reveal the hidden capacity or
technological progress, are crucial in terms of the long-term
significance of motivational factors. The answers to this
structure amount to almost 78 %, which forms favourable
preconditions for the development of the productive factor
represented by education. Up to 81 % of respondents focus on
a cognitive field, i.e. thinking, discovering and understanding, in
terms of the line of study. The respondents are able to choose
more additional answers and select more specific options on how
to act in terms of education to specify their motives. The purpose
is to find out the time framework of their decision-making and
whether they consider the positive factors which improve
education and use the productive elements of consumption from
a long-term perspective. This is a question of to what extent they
consider the future in terms of decision-making. The most
frequent answer is that selecting a particular type of education is
based on the possibility to use it in the future, i.e. “I think ahead,
I have a concept.” Not less than 69 % of the respondents
consider it the most important variant. The second most frequent
variant amounts to 37 %. However, it claims: “It depends on the
content I need to learn at this moment, I am not interested in
anything else and do not take it into account.”
Table 3: Questions on education and access to it (questionnaire,
questions No. 11, 12)
Question 11 Motivation to
education
Answers
Question 12 The field of
learning that they deal with
Answers
the need for practical life, the
growth of the quality of life
30.51 %
the field of affects (experience,
interests, attitudes, values)
12.10%
the prevention of the possible
loss of job
1.69 %
the cognitive field (thinking,
discovery, understanding)
81%
the effort to discover one’s
hidden abilities
10.17%
psycho-motoric field (motoric
dexterity)
6.90%
technological progress
15.25%
education itself
22.03%
the rise of the demand for
qualification
16.95%
no wish to answer
3.39%
Source: Own processing.
The above-mentioned factors are included in the so-called
psychological factors. Particularly positive aspects of the
answers to question 13 in relation to the productive aspect are
listed on the previous page. However, one is able to reveal many
negatives, such as habitual behaviour in decision-making. There
are answers claiming that the respondents are used to their given
place of residence and therefore they remain there. Moreover,
there is superficiality or reluctance to openly express one’s
views. They are materialized in people’s selecting what comes
up and in a disinterest in looking for information about training.
There is also complacency which is very frequent, i.e. within the
range of 5-15. The selection of the respondents is 3 out of 12
answers in the case of this question. Subsequently, the
satisfaction with training is found out with the help of the range
of 1-10. The answers show that the average mark of satisfaction
is 7.33, which reveals the satisfaction with the mean value.
Therefore, it is obvious that training make positive contribution
to people who realize that they are a sort of reward for them. It is
appropriate to question the development of severity of training
and the criteria of evaluating satisfaction with them, which may
be the impulse for further research. If one is to consider a
behavioral approach (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979), human
behaviour is motivated by two main systems, i.e. the search for
reward or the resentment of loss. It is necessary to examine what
reward is brought by the productive elements of consumption
that are materialized in education and whether there is a danger
of loss. The altered state of knowledge, either the current one or
the expected one in the future in the form of a better job, higher
income, more contacts, career rise, etc. (Table 3), can be
regarded as a reward. Moreover, the reward includes the answers
to the question concerning the changes resulting from education,
the possibility of the key to success, which applies to this
productive factor and others as education is the key to
knowledge of relations and opens the door to further possibilities
and greater creativity. The numerous significantly creative and
various answers focused on the open question about the
contribution of education confirm this conclusion. The further
developing question is whether education brings about a change.
Only 65.5 % of respondents give a positive answer, whilst
34.5 % do not know or think about it. Despite describing both
the positive and the negative tendencies in terms of
psychological factors in a detailed manner, there is
a reoccurrence of people who do not wish to go into depth. It is
a category of people not characterized by any income group, yet
they are the same people who refuse to clarify their motivations
for education. Their attitude is rather apathetic or resentful,
which may be caused by the dissatisfaction with the educational
system in the SR. It can be inferred from another question. Two
thirds of them are not in favour of the quality and relevance of
the current school system or other educational institutions. The
frequent complaints are about the lack of interconnection
between the theory and practice, deeper concept, new
instruments, etc. It is obvious that such people substantially
think, but they do not think about a specific contribution of
education in the form of change and they are not willing to
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