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The family members rated Importance high for all of the quality of family life domains, but it appears from the lower Opportunities scores that their opportunities are limited; this may result in fewer possibilities for attaining a better quality of life. The results of our research are useful to Slovene researchers who work in the areas of special pedagogy and rehabilitation, politicians, non-governmental organisations and social services. The quality of life of families with children with disabilities, their empowerment and their inclusion into community life should be significantly enhanced when consideration is given to all the family members' support and service needs.

Understanding chemistry includes the ability to think on three levels: the macroscopic level, the symbolic level, and the level of particles -sub-microscopic level. Pupils have the most difficulty when trying to understand the sub-microscopic level because it is outside their range of experience. A virtual laboratory enables a simultaneous demonstration of all three levels of a chemical concept along with dynamic visualisation at the submicroscopic level. This study presents the effective usage of a virtual laboratory that can overcome the gap between the previously-mentioned conceptual levels. We carried out a didactic experiment to test the effectiveness of a virtual laboratory that enables dynamic visualisation. The experiment involved seventh-grade pupils (N = 109) from five different primary schools in Slovenia. We asked ourselves the question as to whether the learning outcomes of pupils are better when they use a virtual laboratory rather than in science classes without a virtual laboratory where dynamic visualisation at the submicroscopic and sub-micro levels are only explained by means of static demonstrations. A virtual laboratory has many significant advantages. The results of the didactic experiment showed that, in terms of knowledge acquisition, using a virtual laboratory is better than science classes without visualisation elements.representations are essential for understanding several chemistry concepts and phenomena. Studies indicate that students experience difficulty in understanding the sub-microscopic system of representations because these representations are abstract and cannot be experienced. These problems can be overcome with the use of a virtual laboratory that integrates all three levels of representations. This article deals with a study about a didactic experiment from the pupils' points of view after using a virtual laboratory.

The central part of the article focuses on an international project involving empirical research into assessment of young learners' foreign language competence in Slovenia, Croatia and the Czech Republic. With the help of an adapted questionnaire, we collected data from a nonrandom sample of primary and foreign language teachers who teach foreign languages at the primary level in these countries.The research shows that English as a foreign language is taught mostly by young teachers either primary specialists or foreign language teachers. These teachers most frequently use oral assessment/interviews or self-developed tests. Other more authentic types of assessment, such as language portfolios, are rarely used. The teachers most frequently assess speaking and listening skills, and they use assessment involving vocabulary the most frequently of all.However, there are significant differences in practice among the three countries.

Modelling is a crucial tool in research and development, but models simplify one's perception of systems as mental pictures of reality, maybe too much. Therefore one must be aware of the addressed relations, typology of models, and apply 'USOMID -6 Thinking Hats' method of creative cooperation to attain requisite holism of approach and requisite wholeness of outcomes.

This study investigates the classroom climate in two settings of the 6th-grade class (a setting of children with special needs and a setting without children with special needs), focusing on aspects of satisfaction and cohesiveness on one side and friction, competitiveness and difficulties on the other. The study results indicate the existence of both positive and negative consequences of the integration of hearing-impaired pupils. Heterogeneity achieved by the presence of children with special needs included positive benefits for all pupils in the mainstream classroom and helped to prevent friction and a competitive atmosphere, and provided opportunities for accepting exceptionalities, and developing social skills, ethical values and empathic abilities among school peers. On the other hand was concern related to difficulties of cognition, the only dimension on which comparative settings statistically and significantly differed concerning the classroom climate with integrated pupils.

Modern art curricula derive from the assumption that visual arts education can be of a high quality only if productive and receptive artistic activities are implemented. In art education practice, we are able to follow incentives for artistic expression but pay less attention to developing art appreciation that is based on developing as subtle perceptions of artwork as possible. Students have few opportunities to observe, enjoy and understand artwork. This discussion presents the results of a study that monitored the development of art appreciation abilities of 11–14 year‐old students in Slovenian compulsory education. The level of art appreciation abilities is rather average and more developed with older students and girls. There were no statistically significant differences with regard to school stratum.

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