Methodologies for the inclusive education of students with severe visual impairment or blindness / Metodologías que garantizan la inclusión educativa de estudiantes con discapacidad visual grave o ceguera

The aim of this paper is to present the educational experiences that have been implemented in the community of Madrid (Spain) with students with severe visual impairment or blindness. We highlight why and how the new educational policies being implemented have achieved the genuine inclusion of these students in line with European educational objectives. The study was carried out during the academic years 2010–11 to 2015–16. We conclude that the educational inclusion of students with visual impairment becomes a reality upon the effective participation of two specialized teams, namely, the educational psychologists for young children (divided in stages from zero to three years and from four to 12 years of age) and the educational specialists in visually impaired children. This constitutes a prime example that can be extended to other contexts and other disabilities. It becomes evident that, to be effective, inclusive education requires a joint and coordinated response from all professionals involved in the education process.     

Parental substance abuse as a predictor of child maltreatment re-reports

This longitudinal study of child abuse and neglect cases closed after investigation examined the impact of parental substance abuse on family functioning and on subsequent referrals to child protective services. The findings support the hypothesis that parental substance abuse would have a negative impact on family functioning, which, in turn, would result in a higher rate of re-reports. As expected, substance abuse also had a direct impact on re-reports. It is critical that the child welfare system recognize and respond to parental substance abuse problems in these families through expanded and improved voluntary, and perhaps, mandatory services.     

The Bologna process and the search for excellence: between rhetoric and reality,the emotional reactions of teachers

ABSTRACT

There has been an overall change in higher education towards the achievement of outstanding patterns of quality and excellence that assure competitiveness at a global scale. Teachers feel the pressure of official regulations for achieving quality and excellence, based on questionable concepts of quality that do not take into account the experience and beliefs of teachers and lead to emotional states that may promote or hinder adjustment to changes.

The present study used a categorical content analysis to capture the emotions that twelve university teachers associate with the changes experienced and with the pursuit of quality emphasized in Portugal by the Bologna Process. The results show that participants revealed mixed emotions regarding change. Students elicit mostly positive emotions, whereas bureaucracy, marketization and career changes generate negative emotions that impede the quest for quality, although in a minority of participants they prompt resilience that stimulates engagement in quality.     

The Comtesse de Genlis’ <Emphasis Type="Italic">Théâtre à l’usage des jeunes personnes</Emphasis> (1779–1780): Educating for Order and Prejudice in Pre-revolutionary France

This essay explores the educational contribution of the Comtesse de Genlis’ Théâtre à l'usage des jeunes personnes [Theatre of Education] (1792/1779–1780), a four-volume collection of closet drama, in light of the social, political and cultural shifts occurring in France in the period prior to the French Revolution. In particular, in two plays from Theatre of Education, La Marchande de Modes [The Milliner] and Le Libraire [The Bookseller], Genlis depicts the bourgeoisie’s proper behaviour toward the aristocracy and its natural place in the world. Thus both plays exemplify the educational and the political role of Genlis, who attempts to tame the bourgeoisie through the twofold argument of proper education and effective parenthood, so as to keep alive the social order of the ancien régime.     

Using online tools in participatory research with adolescents to promote civic engagement and environmental mobilization: the WaterCircle (WC) project

Abstract

The WaterCircle (WC) project was implemented in a school, with young adolescents, to address environmental problems. Framed in a participatory research (PR) approach, this school-and-community based intervention includes the use of online tools through which environmental problems in the community are discussed within and by a group of students. Using a quasi-experimental design, with intervention and control groups, the present study involved 361 young adolescents, in grades 7 to 9, from a public school in the northern region of Portugal. Mixed methods were used for data collection and analysis, namely based on questionnaires administered in the pre- and post-test moments, as well as on students’ discourses produced in the classroom during planned activities. Statistically significant changes on self-efficacy were found for the experimental group, suggesting that the intervention program has the potential to raise young people’s empowerment regarding environmental issues. The WC program seems to foster students’ awareness of the socio-political dimensions of environmental problems, since they were able to identify different actors in the community who should be involved in the proposed solutions. Longer-term intervention is required to foster the impact of the PR on the students’ experience.     

Preventing and reducing school violence: development of a Student and Family Office—a pilot study

This study introduces a pilot project—the creation of a Student and Family Office to reduce school violence—and suggests the benefits of the combined use of different strategies to decrease peer aggression and victimisation. The programme was implemented over a two-and-a-half-year period and included 132 Portuguese adolescents attending the third cycle of basic education. A considerable number of problematic situations, previously reported by students, changed after SFO intervention.. The results suggest that the local (universal and multimodal) intervention programme contributed to a decrease in harassment, coercion and aggressiveness, victimisation and reactive overt aggression rates, and also promoted the social and personal skills essential for successful interpersonal dynamics and peer conflict interventions. The implications for practice are discussed.     

Developing Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Online Technical Communication Programs: Emerging Frameworks at University of Texas at El Paso

ABSTRACT

This article addresses emerging calls for online education and cross-cultural technical communication training, specifically by outlining and reporting on the development and sustainability of two online programs: the graduate online technical and professional writing certificate and the emerging undergraduate bilingual professional writing certificate at the University of Texas at El Paso. Data presented suggest cultural and linguistic diversity should be embedded and streamlined across all aspects of online technical communication programs.     

Performance indicators for research and cultural creation activities in polytechnic higher education institutions: a consensus building approach

Tertiary Education and Management - This article presents a set of performance indicators based on the Portuguese case for managing the performance of research and cultural creation activities and...     

Supporting Blended-Learning: tool requirements and solutions with OWLish

Currently, most of the educational approaches applied to higher education combine face-to-face (F2F) and computer-mediated instruction in a Blended-Learning (B-Learning) approach. One of the main challenges of these approaches is fully integrating the traditional brick-and-mortar classes with online learning environments in an efficient and flexible way. In this paper, we present a set of requirements to be met by a computer system in order to adequately support both students and teachers in a B-Learning context. Then, it defines a suitable conceptual architecture to meet the requirements, and the multi-agent implementation of the architecture. Next, it presents the evaluation of the functionality implemented. Finally some conclusions are drawn.