Towards an intercultural participatory approach to learning for the Harakmbut

The paper examines participatory intercultural adult education in the context of an integrated development project in the Peruvian Amazon. It considers `participation' and `interculturalism' and the way in which these are expressed through the educational dimension of the project. It then examines the uses and political implications of participatory approaches in adult education programmes more generally and investigates the theoretical and conceptual developments of `interculturalism' in educational programmes for and by indigenous peoples in Latin America, where the discussion has hitherto been mostly confined to formal primary education.     

拉美高等教育一体化建设:目标、路径及困境——联合国教科文组织参与区域治理的视角

联合国教科文组织在推动发展中国家高等教育发展中所起的作用越来越重要,参与跨国层面、区域层面的治理工作日渐频繁.拉丁美洲一直是教科文组织重点关注的区域,1997年,教科文组织特别成立了拉丁美洲及加勒比地区国际高等教育研究所,致力于完善该区域高等教育体系,提高高等教育质量,鼓励高等教育系统专业人员流动等,缩短拉美国家与发达国家的差距,推动该地区高等教育一体化的发展.联合国教科文组织在推动拉丁美洲高等教育一体化建设取得一定成效的同时,存在资金不足、政策实施不力、对不同地区支持不均衡等问题.此外,在拉丁美洲高等教育一体化建设过程中,拉美国家还应该进一步改善自我认同缺失、凝聚力不足、国别异质性显著等自身问题.     

New patterns in higher education cross-cultural learning: The case of a postgraduate english instruction program in China

This paper explores new patterns of learning across cultures in higher education through a case study of a cohort of international graduate students at a university in Chinese mainland. North University (NU) has hosted international students in its Chinese language and culture programs for decades. However, between 2008 and 2010, a new Master’s degree program for international students was established. This attracted 75 graduate students from different disciplinary backgrounds, from 21 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania. English is the common language to both students and faculty, but a foreign language to all. This program marks a significant shift for China’s higher education as it reaches out to the world. The paper describes this cohort’s lived experiences in China, including academic, linguistic and sociocultural learning. It analyzes the challenges such programs pose for the Chinese higher education system, explores how these challenges have become opportunities for growth and how barriers have been overcome. It also discusses the implications of this case for the upgrading of higher education quality in China.     

继承、否定抑或折衷——拉丁美洲环境教育与可持续发展教育关系浅析

拉美地区的环境教育注重社会文化内涵,并在很多国家已经初步形成了推进环境教育的机制,而可持续发展教育目前仍在起步阶段。目前,拉美国家综合两者,提出为了可持续发展的环境教育。在拉丁美洲,环境教育与可持续发展教育本质上是一致的,可持续发展教育在全球范围内的推广促进了拉美环境教育政策的制定和执行。     

Intercultural-bilingual Education for an Interethnic-plurilingual Society? The Case of Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast

This paper aims to contribute to an emerging literature which treats multilingualism as more than, and distinct from, 'bilingualism plus'. It considers some paradoxes and tensions which arise when current Latin American models of 'intercultural-bilingual' education are applied to plurilingual and interethnic regions, such as Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast region. Here, three indigenous and two Afro-Caribbean minorities interact in common or overlapping territories, in ways which often entail the development of multilingual repertoires and dynamic, multifaceted identities. The paper focuses on intercultural-bilingual education programmes initiated in 1985, in two indigenous languages and in English/English-Creole, each with Spanish. It explores some complexities of Coast people's linguistic and cultural practices through autobiographical accounts, by workers in the programmes, of the development of their multilingual repertoires and allegiances. Finally, it suggests that the programmes' efficacy for the maintenance and revitalisation of cultures and languages and for the development of 'interculturality' is limited by their binary conception and design (vernacular+dominant language), and offers some pointers for further research towards their modification.     

Science Education Research Trends in Latin America

The purpose of this study was to survey and report on the empirical literature at the intersection of science education research in Latin American and previous studies addressing international research trends in this field. Reports on international trends in science education research indicate that authors from English-speaking countries are major contributors of publications. Despite the internationalization of the science education community, as represented by the publication of the work generated in non-English-speaking countries, research trends in science education in Latin America are uncommon in the literature. Therefore, it was deemed important to explore the scholarly productivity of science education researchers from Latin America to learn about the research orientations pursued by scholars from this region. Collective review findings are presented with respect to author’s nationality, publication volume generated in each country, research type and topic, collaborative research, and areas for future research. Of the ten countries represented in this study, Brazilian authors were the most research active scholars followed by their colleagues from Venezuela, Mexico, and Argentina. The History, Philosophy and the Nature of Science (HPNOS) was the topic that most attracted the interest of Latin American science education researchers, and the Empirical Qualitative studies was the most frequent research type combination in the analyzed publications. Findings in this study suggest a relationship between investment power in Research and Development (R&D) and the scholarly productivity not only in science education but also in the scientific field in the countries of the region.     

Intercultural bilingual education in Nicaragua: Contextualisation for improving the quality of education

For the past 35 years, various models of intercultural bilingual education (IBE) have been implemented in Latin American schools and adult education. While Spanish is the official language in Nicaragua, many indigenous languages, such as Miskito and Sumo-Mayangna, are also spoken ?C especially in the Atlantic coastal region. The Nicaraguan Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport recognises the need for a flexible curriculum that reflects individual local and regional linguistic and socio-cultural characteristics, through the use of mother tongue and second language learning. The contextualisation model applied in the Atlantic coastal region of Nicaragua is therefore based on the use of a languages strategy in preparing textbooks and basic technical materials with an IBE approach, as part of the process of improving the quality of education. Thus intercultural communication is enhanced, and the need to strengthen the systematic teaching of languages, differentiating between mother tongue, second language and foreign language, is recognised. As well as explaining the contextualisation process in detail, this article discusses the conceptual differences between intercultural bilingual education (IBE) and bilingual intercultural education (BIE). The paper concludes with several recommendations for the further development of BIE in Latin America.     

高等教育国际化背景下拉丁美洲留学生教育现状评析

留学生教育是高等教育国际化的重要组成部分,影响着高等教育国际化发展水平。随着高等教育国际化进程速度加快,拉丁美洲国家也越来越重视留学生教育。然而,在留学生教育国际市场竞争中,拉丁美洲却面临着招生渠道少、生源流失严重、语言沟通障碍等方面的困境。究其原因,主要在于政策激励机制不健全、教育资源相对有限以及社会环境动荡不安。为此,拉丁美洲需要采取加大教育资金投入、健全政策激励机制、增强国际交流与合作、推动教育一体化、开发远程教育平台、实现优质资源共享等有效举措,进一步推动留学生教育发展,提升高等教育国际影响力。     

Caribbean and Central American women’s feminist inquiry through theater-based action research

Feminist action research interrogates gendered dynamics in the development of a collective consciousness. A group of immigrant Latina women (Latinas) from the Caribbean and Central America employed community-based theater as an instrument to mobilize diverse audiences against discriminatory practices and policies. Based on their theater work, I present two interrelated arguments. First, Latinas’ knowledge construction in multiple arenas counteracts gendered and racialized immigration discourses while leading to fundamental sociocultural transformations. Second, deeper epistemological rigor is needed in feminist action research to uphold Latin American women’s agency while countering pervasive discrimination.     

Mathematical language and mathematical abilities in preschool: A systematic literature review

It is well established that early general language during preschool is critical for children's mathematical abilities. In an attempt to further characterize this association between language and mathematics, an increasing number of studies show that one specific type of language, namely mathematical language or the key linguistic concepts that are required for performing mathematical activities, is even more critical to children's mathematical abilities. The purpose of this systematic review is to summarize the evidence on mathematical language and mathematical abilities. We focus on preschool children as nearly all of the existing work has been done at this age. We first explain how mathematical language has been defined across studies, and report how it has been evaluated in studies in preschool. Next, we present the results of our systematic review. Following the PRISMA guidelines and after a critical appraisal, we ended with a set of 18 papers that were all of sufficient methodological quality. In these studies, mathematical language was defined as terms that are about numbers and operations on numbers (e.g., nine), but also included linguistic terms that do not directly refer to numbers, yet are important to understand mathematical concepts (i.e., quantitative and spatial terms such as fewest and middle, respectively). Some of these studies evaluated children's performance on mathematical language tasks, while others evaluated the mathematical language input provided to the child by their (educational) environment (teachers/parents/interventionists). Mathematical language correlated positively with children's mathematical abilities, concurrently and longitudinally. It also directly affected children's mathematical abilities, as was shown by intervention studies. We discuss potential directions for future research and highlight implications for education, arguing for more support for teachers and parents to improve the use of mathematical language in the classroom and in home settings.     

Wild botanic gardens as valuable resources for innovative environmental education programmes in Latin America

Wild botanic gardens consist of natural or semi-natural land remnants immersed in large urban areas or botanic gardens, which are managed for purposes of biodiversity preservation and public recreation. In Latin America, they tend to be affected by budget limitations; however, they serve as valuable resources that permit the development of innovative environmental education programmes. Specifically, we are considering the appropriateness of implementing critical environmental education and socio-constructivist programmes. As for practical considerations, it is important to include diverse epistemologies, and therefore, strategies or procedures characteristic of science teaching, such as problem-based learning, together with other characteristics of social activism and popular education initiatives, such as assemblies or meetings, and others characteristic of more traditional and indigenous worldviews, such as celebrations of the earth. In this way, Latin American wild botanic gardens may play a role in constructing environmentally responsible societies and the nurturing of a culture of reflective inquiry.     

North American adult literacy programs and Latin American immigrants: how critical pedagogy can help nonprofit literacy programming in the United States

As nonprofit adult literacy programs are often the only options for low-income Latin American immigrants in North America, problems accompanying these programs affect the ability of immigrants to benefit from them. North American nonprofit adult literacy programs often struggle due to the difficulties inherent in using volunteer instructors (often from different cultural backgrounds than participants) who use curricula that often do not reflect students’ communities of origin. Hence, the outcomes of these programs can be problematic. One potential way to ameliorate these difficulties is found in the critical framework of Paulo Freire, wherein curricula are student-generated. The primary argument in this review essay is that trained community instructors (or Freirean-trained outsiders) – using Freire's model of instruction and curriculum development, working under a demand for true accountability for results from organizational administrators – could improve existent benign North American adult literacy programs into more empowering social resources for Latin American immigrant communities in the United States. The possibilities for such improvement are explored through analysis of positive and negative case studies within the larger literature on adult literacy.     

Educational Neuromyths Among Teachers in Latin America

Neuroscientific knowledge has undeniably gained interest among educators worldwide. However, not all “brain facts” believed by teachers are supported by science. This study sought to evaluate the belief in these so‐called neuromyths among 3,451 Latin American teachers. We found that, consistent with prior research among teachers in other geographic areas, teachers in Latin America hold major misconceptions about neuroscience, especially as it relates to factual information about its structure and functioning. Differences across South American nations were observed with moderate and slight effect sizes for general knowledge of the brain and neuromyths, respectively. Teachers working in higher education had slightly superior performance. Teachers at all levels who reported knowing more about the brain, however, were more likely to believe invalid assertions known as neuromyths. These results shed light on trends in the field of education, hoping to encourage the development of strategies aimed at correcting the use of science as it relates to education. The implications regarding teaching practice, policy, and teacher training are discussed.     

Paulo Freire’s ideas as an alternative to higher education neo-liberal reforms in Latin America

This article examines the principal arguments found in the work of Paulo Freire concerning policy and ethics in the field of higher education in Latin America. It critically analyzes the university reform in Latin America dominated by the thought and practice promoted by various international financial institutions (such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank [IDB]) beginning in the 1980s and then looks at the feasibility of an alternative Freirian view. The work of Paulo Freire celebrated the liberating role that public university education should play in the training of citizens and professionals, that is with a critical and ethical conscience, committed to the needs of the locality, region and the world. All this is in clear opposition to what has happened to Latin American universities, influenced by neo-liberal reforms over the last decades.     

Adult education and indigenous peoples in Latin America

This article describes the educational situation of indigenous peoples in Latin America, and in particular their scant participation in adult education activities. It analyses the historical, structural and institutional barriers to their greater involvement in adult education. The article proposes to look at indigenous demands on education as a potential way out of educational stagnation of indigenous adults, which is one of the challenges clearly formulated by UNESCO member states during CONFINTEA VI as a priority to be faced. The article concludes arguing the case for intercultural education, not only among indigenous peoples, but for the whole of the population, to be a guiding philosophy for education in general and adult education in particular in Latin American countries. It emphasises the fact that this cannot be achieved without the active participation of indigenous peoples themselves.     

Wye External Programme: Current practices and prospects for development

Distance education can be more cost‐effective than conventional education. In view of scarce resources available to developing countries, it is, therefore, a valuable means of tackling educational problems. The paradox is that this mode of education has not yet firmly established itself where it is badly needed (except in a few Asian and Latin American countries). This paper does not attempt to discuss the paradox but examines the potential of creating programmes that can cross national boundaries, taking as an exemplar, the context of Wye External Programme. It is believed that such programmes can assist these countries in resolving current educational problems and pave the way for further developments.     

Latin American Education: Perceptions of linearities and the construction of discursive space

Through an account of eight contemporary books that refer to Latin American education, this article offers an interpretation of the processes of construction of 'Latin American discursive space'. The similarities in the principles that dominated the latest educational reforms in the region and the main perspectives that 'explain' these similarities in the literature are taken as the starting point. The article then suggests another interpretation, based on the analysis of discourse, to understand limitations for thought and action in Latin American education.     

English language learning and education policy in Chile: can English really open doors for all?

To date, knowledge of English in Latin America has reflected existing political and economic power structures. It has remained the preserve of the elite with access to private schooling, and as such it demarcates and divides social groups by reinforcing an unequal distribution of wealth, resources, and knowledge. However, the number of people learning English as a foreign language is growing across the region. This article analyses the “English Opens Doors Programme” in Chile, which aims to improve national economic competitiveness and promote equitable access to English language learning in all publicly funded schools. The article examines this initiative within the context of Chilean education policy since 1990, thereby acknowledging the influence of different stakeholders in this process, and the tensions between education for economic growth and education for social justice in a highly segmented and marketised system.     

美国高等教育领导研究：范式流变与理论解读

美国高等教育领导研究的特征和行为理论、权力和影响理论、复杂和混乱理论以及认知理论等,从不同的侧面阐释了有效的高等教育领导者的价值倾向、个性特征、行为模式和影响因素。随着研究的不断深入和人类知识的日益丰富,美国高等教育领导研究的研究内容、研究路径和研究对象发生变革,后现代建构主义理论成为构建新研究范式的主导思想。     

美国双语教育的历史演变与政策反思

美国双语教育近年来引起了我国学者的关注,但是少有学者对此掌握第一手的资料,因而缺乏系统的观点.本文根据笔者对美国双语教育项目的亲身参与,①系统阐述了美国双语教育的历史与现状,并对双语政策的演变进行了反思.笔者认为虽然移民潮、国际环境变化、国内政局交替等因素直接推动了双语教育政策的演变,但是这些外在条件只是起到了催化剂的作用,双语教育争辩的真正根源在于不同的语言取向和语言意识形态.