The m ain objective of this paper is to explore the potential of the qualitative research paradigm in addressing complex topics related to identity formation and development. There has been a shift in conceptualizations of education’s purpose, with scholars arguing that the paradigm of identity formation (rather than the paradigm of preparation) should be promoted in educational contexts. This implies that education should aim to enhance personhood and facilitate the formation of personal identities in young individuals. Traditional quantitative studies, relying on statistical analyses of numerical data, are becoming less effective in providing insights into the increasingly diverse pathways of human development and the dynamic environments in which they take place. Quantification of human experience and development is encountering a growing pushback in the postmodernity. Conversely, the qualitative research paradigm offers a fresh and authentic perspective by delving into real-life biographies and encompassing the entirety of human experience. However, it is important to note that the qualitative paradigm has specific epistemological characteristics that define the scope of inquiry it generates.

The m ain objective of this paper is to explore the potential of the qualitative research paradigm in addressing complex topics related to identity formation and development. There has been a shift in conceptualizations of education’s purpose, with scholars arguing that the paradigm of identity formation (rather than the paradigm of preparation ) should be promoted in educational contexts. This implies that education should aim to enhance personhood and facilitate the formation of personal identities in young individuals. Traditional quantitative studies, relying on statistical analyses of numerical data, are becoming less effective in providing insights into the increasingly diverse pathways of human development and the dynamic environments in which they take place. Quantification of human experience and development is encountering a growing pushback in the postmodernity. Conversely, the qualitative research paradigm offers a fresh and authentic perspective by delving into real-life biographies and encompassing the entirety of human experience. However, it is important to note that the qualitative paradigm has specific epistemological characteristics that define the scope of inquiry it generates.

The use of digital teaching resources became widespread and very helpful during the COVID‐19 pandemic as an alternative to a traditional course with cadavers. Technologies such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), 3D models, video lectures and other online resources enable three‐dimensional visualization of the anatomical structures and allow students to learn more interactively. The aim of this study was to compare students' performance in the traditional anatomical courses in teaching neuroanatomy and technology‐based learning methods such as video lectures, 3D models and 3D printed specimens. Four groups of first‐year students of Veterinary Faculty established for the practical classes during the academic year 2021/2022 took part in this research. The total number of students participating in this research was 72. Each group attended separately the theoretical lecture with a demonstration based on a different technique; the control group used formalized specimens, while the three experimental groups used video lectures, 3D models and 3D printed specimens, respectively. Subsequently, all groups completed the same questionnaire testing their short‐term memory of the neuroanatomical structures. After four weeks students were tested for their long‐term memory of the neuroanatomy lecture with the follow‐up test containing an identical list of questions. The test scores using video lectures and 3D printed models were significantly higher compared with the group that learned in the traditional way. This study suggests that alternative approaches such as technology‐based digital methods can facilitate memorization of anatomical terms and structures in a more interactive and sensory engaging way of learning.

The paper deals with theoretical and methodological aspects of examining the position of religion within the university context. The first section offers an overview of assumptions within three recent pieces of research on this topic. In its second section, the paper examines the possibility of applying the curriculum theory to investigating the position of religion within the higher education context of public universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results show that, in the analysed programmes, there is still no separate subject that would, as an introductory course, familiarise students with doctrinal and ritual fundamentals of religions, as well as with the main events of their historical existence. At the same time, there are a certain number of courses that include religion into a wider discourse of a given study, treating it as a philosophical, sociological, historical or cultural phenomenon. The paper also identifies courses that, within a wider theoretical discussion, include the issue of religion, whether as a substantive or an accidental element.

Growing insecurity in contemporary society has helped make lifelong learning a prominent feature of postmodern discourses on education and society. As an independent discourse, lifelong learning has generated diversified learning contexts and a proliferation of education provision, issuing a serious challenge to traditional formal and institutional models of education. As a result, higher education, long enclosed in an ivory tower of elitist scholarship and accessible to only a few privileged individuals, has started to change course and open up to non-traditional disciplines, learners, and students. The trend to massification has pushed it to embrace students of various backgrounds and levels of academic preparedness. Policies have been created that facilitate implementation of higher education’s “lifelong dimension”, just as models have been designed that fit programs ranging from vocational to liberaleducation. This paper applies this framework to examine models for incorporating lifelong learning provision into Islamic education at tertiary level. Concluding remarks stress the significance of lifelong learning opportunities in Islamic education, especially given current demand for higher education as a way to meet the diverse needs of society and the public promptly.

The main intention of this paper is to explore the possibility of positioning the discourse on adult identity formation within the context of higher education. To this end, first formational potential of higher education is revisited. Further on, Eriksonian psychosocial theoretical approach and Arnett's concept of emerging adulthood are proposed as the referential framework for conceptualizing adult identity formation processes. It is concluded that by offering instituzionalized moratorium and the possibility for the extended transition from adolescence to adulthood, higher education context provides intensive identity work opportunities. However, in dominant discourses, higher education's humanistic ends have been suppressed by economistic and utilitarian objectives. Therefore, this paper also urges revitalizing higher education's humanistic values by exploring personal growth posibilities.

The paper presents an analysis of the key processes in the field of adult education in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) referring to its socialist past and current tendencies dominantly motivated by the country’s aspiration towards accession to the European Union (EU). Any effort to offer a systematic overview of the history of adult education in BiH faces ambiguity and a lack of systematic data. Unlike other parts of the education system where historical accounts are to a certain extent preserved and subject to scholarly studies and investigations, adult education in BiH seems to be a field without a documented past. Based on critical discourse analysis, the paper intends to unravel the intricate socio-political texture that has shaped the key themes in adult education both in the country’s socialist past and its democratic present. The results of the analysis indicate several quite clear patterns: (a) the ambiguous treatment of the socialist past, from romanticising to annihilating its achievements and arrangements; (b) the rise of private institutions in adult education in the post-socialist period and the diversification of the education on offer; and (c) tensions between aspirations towards global and European trends on the one hand and insistence on localisation in terms of shaping adult education policy on the other.  

Growing insecurity in contemporary society has helped make lifelong learning a prominent feature of postmodern discourses on education and society. As an inde-pendent discourse, lifelong learning has generated diversified learning contexts and a proliferation of education provision, issuing a serious challenge to traditional formal and institutional models of education. As a result, higher education, long enclosed in an ivory tower of elitist scholarship and accessible to only a few privileged individuals, has started to change course and open up to non-traditional disciplines, learners, and students. The trend to massification has pushed it to embrace students of various backgrounds and levels of academic preparedness. Policies have been cre-ated that facilitate implementation of higher education’s “lifelong dimension”, just as models have been designed that fit programs ranging from vocational to liberal education. This paper applies this framework to examine models for incorporating lifelong learning provision into Islamic education at tertiary level. Concluding remarks stress the significance of lifelong learning opportunities in Islamic education, especially given current demand for higher education as a way to meet the diverse needs of society and the public promptly.