Background: The goal of this research is to identify correlations of motivation and physical self-concept with physical activity among students of younger school age, as well as the level of prediction of motivation and physical self-concept with physical activity of students in physical education classes. Methods: The sample of respondents consisted of 411 students of the third and fourth grades from the territory of the Zlatibor district. A modified Self-Regulation Questionnaire was used to assess students’ motivational orientations, while appropriate subscales of the Self-perception Profile for Children measuring instrument were used to assess physical self-concept. Physical activity is shown as volume and intensive physical activity (vigorous physical activity (VPA)), measured with a Suunto memory belt pedometer and heart-rate monitor. Results: Boys’ motivational predictor variables accounted for 14% (volume) and 28% (VPA) of their physical activity in class, with intrinsic motivation, introjective regulation (just for the level of physical activity), and identified regulation as the most important determinants of physical activity. For girls, the identified regulation variable (from the system of motivational predictor variables) was shown to be the primary predictor variable on both criterion variables (R2 = 0.34 and 0.36). Conclusion: The teaching of physical education for students of younger school age should be conceived by creating a motivational climate, in order to encourage physical activity.

Religion is a complex construct that defines not only the historical and social identity of a nation, but also the personal identity of an individual. The attitude towards religion can be conditioned by tradition, political ideology, true faith, education, etc. In our research, we have tried to establish the level of religiousness of the female students of teacher education faculties in Serbia, belonging to the Orthodox Christianity as the dominant confession in Serbia. We examined their attitudes towards some of the moral challenges encountered by believers, including abortion, prostitution, same-sex marriages, the use of cannabis, and euthanasia. Using a snowball non-discriminative online sample of 336 female Orthodox students, we found that the students assessed themselves as above-average religious and that out of three dimensions of religiousness measured in the questionnaire, the lowest scores were recorded for the dimension of the effect of faith on their behavior. The study showed that the level of religiousness is a good predictor of attitudes towards abortion, prostitution, and same-sex marriages, but not towards the use of cannabis. Moreover, religiousness and attitudes towards prostitution are positively correlated, which is directly opposite to religious teachings. This is why a question arises as to whether we can speak about a return to faith or merely a return to the traditional model of manifesting the religious as an antipode to the secular organization in force until 1989. The results of our research point to the latter conclusion.

The state of emergency was declared in Serbia in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic of the new disease, COVID-19. As a result, distance learning was introduced for the first time at Serbian universities - online learning in utterly specific crisis circumstances caused by the outbreak of the pandemic of a completely unknown infectious disease. This model of learning was adjusted to that fact in the form of emergency remote teaching. The paper presents the results of examining the attitudes of female students of teacher education faculties in Serbia regarding the efficiency and sustainability of the distance learning model in which they gained experience. The sample included 399 female students, who completed an online survey designed for the purposes of this research. The results of the survey showed the strengths and weaknesses of distance learning as a formerly untapped potential in higher education in Serbia, which specifically refers to the teaching model applied during the state of emergency introduced due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the differences in the knowledge of digital technologies by the professors came to the fore in terms of the methods that the professors used in their work. The results suggest that distance learning can be a useful tool in the process of knowledge transfer in higher education, but that final year students are most affected by the inability to acquire knowledge in practice that cannot be virtually compensated, which is a very important step in their work training, as well as the pronounced general problem of lack of social interaction and meeting social needs, arising as a result of the pandemic. In contrast, increased leisure time and health reasons stand out as the main advantages of the new teaching model, which is significantly characterized by the crisis environment.

Under the influence of the new informative-communicative technologies, the concept of a traditional school is slowly drifting away. So the question arises, what needs to be done in order for education to be more efficient in the new digital era? In search for an answer to this difficult question, It is imperative that we make use of the, before mentioned, informative-communicative technologies. The goal of our research was to determine the opinion of teachers towards the concept of an efficient school. The research was conducted on a representative sample group of 1367 teachers, educators, counselors(psychologist) and directors in the cities across Serbia. In the survey, field survey techniques were applied. The data were processed using descriptive statistical methods. The result of the research shows that the teachers are highly in favor with the therms of an efficient school. More specifically, an efficient school must be an institution of trust and cooperation in which everyone learns. It requires new time and space organization. These findings provide a solid base, to the creators of the educational politics, for establishing an efficient school and a working class system which would encourage students and lead them to success according to their individual abilities.

In the course of more than two decades since the introduction of Religious Education into the Serbian school system, there has been a scientific and social need to check the attitudes of current students regarding its status, the applied model and the impact of attending Religious Education on the formation of attitudes on certain social issues, about which churches and religious communities have their own doctrinal positions. The research, carried out by the online survey technique, on a snowball sample, was carried out during May and June 2022, among students of all faculties of education in Serbia. The choice of faculty of education students as a statistical group is related to the fact that teachers are the ones who first meet students as part of school socialization and significantly influence the formation of their social attitudes in the early period of institutional socialization. Therefore, it was important to check their views on this matter. The most important findings show that the absolute majority of students believe that Religious Education should become a compulsory subject through primary schooling, but that the applied model should be modified in terms of content. The students are of the opinion that at the age when the key socialization of the personality is carried out (the first four grades of primary school, pupils aged 7-11), religious teaching should be organized according to the confessional model, in the students' faith, as is the case now, while in the other four grades (from the fifth to the eighth, pupils aged 11-15) primary school, it should be organized on non-confessional principles, which would enable the knowledge of scientific views on religion, as well as knowledge of the views of the world of other religions, as well as consideration of religion in the key of an important social phenomenon (historical, philosophical, moral, sociological, etc.). An important finding is confirmation of the position that the choice between these two subjects (Religious Education and Civic Education) influences the formation of students' social attitudes regarding certain social issues, on which churches and religious communities have their own clear viewpoints, which can also explain their unity, independent of religion and confession, regarding the existence of religious teaching in the educational system of Serbia. It should be noted that, through the introduction of Religious Education into the school system, especially through the confessional model, the functions of the church (that is, religious communities) and the school as "state ideological apparatuses" (Althusser) actually came into symbiosis. The school "assists" the church in the performance of one of the functions that should be exclusively church - religious instruction according to a certain catechism, and this need can be understood through the ritual dimension of religiosity widespread among the most numerous Orthodox believers in Serbia, while the other dimensions of religiosity are more or less neglected or certainly less present. The research confirmed the impact of attending religious classes on the formation of certain social attitudes among respondents, so from that aspect, the perseverance of churches and religious communities to maintain it in the school system should be observed, according to the confessional model.

Contemporary changes in school, especially student-centered teaching, require teachers to play new roles in digitalization the teaching process. To respond to new challenges in teaching, a teacher needs to have a number of different digital competences. For this purpose, research was conducted with the aim of determining the attitudes of teachers on the importance of digital competences for successful realization of teaching. The survey was conducted on a sample of 566 primary school teachers in Serbia. The Likert Attitude Scale was applied in the study. Data were processed using descriptive statistical procedures. The results of the research show that new roles to be acquired are based on the acquisition of skills in: integration of eLearning in the school teaching and learning system, ability to use electronic resources in the teaching process, ability to apply electronic devices and media in teaching, ability to apply European informatics standards. The results obtained may represent a sound basis, for policy makers, in modeling a quality school and effective teaching that would lead each student to success according to his or her individual capabilities.