The teaching and research relationship within an institutional evaluation

The authors present an analysis of the relationshipbetween research and teaching in universities. The aimis to determine to what extent this relationship isstrong enough to support the idea that teaching andresearch should be analyzed together from aninstitutional evaluation point of view. Two mainquestions are presented: (a) should research beevaluated from an institutional point of view? And, ifso, (b) which specific aspects of research activitiescan be evaluated within each institution?Empirical data have been obtained within the SpanishNational Program for the Evaluation of Quality ofUniversities and there are supplemented by interviews. Evidence is found of strong connections between research and teaching and in particular areasanalysis of the two dimensions together willhelp in designing better improvement strategies foruniversities.     

Spanish validation of the Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale: A measure to predict teachers’ well-being in the workplace

The present study aimed to validate a Spanish-version of the Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale (BPNWS-Sp) and to examine the associations between needs satisfaction and engagement and burnout in secondary education teachers. Using a sample of 584 secondary education teachers, the results supported the three-factor model, composite reliability, measurement invariance, and nomological validity of the BPNWS-Sp. This study contributes to validating the first instrument in Spanish to measure the satisfaction of the three BPNs separately in secondary education teachers. The measurement of teachers’ BPNs could effectively provide guidance for school policies to improve teaching and learning.     

Relational capital wealth in an organizational context

This paper introduces a new relational capital framework providing a relationships typology between significant agents in an organizational context and offers an integrated approach to understand relationships as a key element of organizations. Some theoretical contributions in literature on strategy and organization are considered. Following this trend, our paper proposes a general relationships classification considering the four essential relationship properties and shows that these are fundamental for the development and existence of K-events during organizational activities. Based on the elements of K-events during a relationship between significant agents, we propose that the quality of any relationship, at any level of analysis, relies on the development and measurement of certain combinations of variables that are embedded in four different categories. This study explicitly shows some possible theoretical segmentation criteria or theoretical dichotomies for analyzing the concept of relationship between agents. For theorists, it provides a conceptual base for the relationships typology, and for practitioners it identifies key elements for optimal value exchanges.     

Degradability of building stone: Influence of the porous network on the rate of dissolution of carbonate and evaporitic rocks

The susceptibility to weathering of eleven carbonate and evaporitic Spanish building rocks was studied by means of dissolution experiments. Mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry and porosity of the rocks were also characterized in order to determine the potential relationships between these properties of the rocks and their dissolution rates. Rock slabs were submerged in a 0.1 M HCl acid solution for 72 h and the amounts of Ca, Mg and S released were measured, as well as the weight loss of the samples during the acid attack. Alabasters, which presented very low porosity, were dissolved to a lesser extent than limestones and dolostones in the time of the experiment. A significant positive correlation was found for connected with the weight loss of the rocks during dissolution and with the kinetic rate of Ca dissolution. Overall, the results highlight the influence of the porous network in the degradability of building stones by controlling their rate of dissolution. There is a positive correlation for all the rocks between weight loss along acidic attack and connected porosity, but no relationship between mineralogical and petrographical composition and susceptibility to dissolution.     

Biomechanical analysis of the penalty-corner drag-flick of elite male and female hockey players

The aim of this study was to analyse the kinematic sequencing in the penalty-corner drag-flicks of elite male and female field hockey players of international calibre. Thirteen participants (one skilled male drag-flicker and six male and six female elite players) participated in the study. An optoelectronic motion analysis system was used to capture the drag-flicks with six cameras, sampling at 250 Hz. Select ground reaction force parameters were obtained from a force platform which registered the last support of the front foot. Twenty trials were captured from each subject. Both player groups showed significantly (p < 0.05) smaller ball velocity at release, peak angular velocity of the pelvis, and negative and positive peak angular velocities of the stick than the skilled subject. Normalised ground reaction forces of the gender groups were also smaller than that of the skilled drag-flicker. By comparing these players we established that the cues of the skill level are a wide stance, a whipping action (rapid back lift) of the stick followed by an explosive sequential movement of the pelvis, upper trunk and stick.     

The Ibero American Network for Research on School Effectiveness and School Improvement: A Way to Increase Educational Quality and Equity

Education systems in Latin America are demanding an improvement in their present levels of quality and equity. In order to achieve higher levels in these fields, decision-taking is necessary in all educational areas, and the theoretical–practical movements of school effectiveness and school improvement (SE and SI) can help in this task. Nevertheless, current research is neither sufficient nor satisfactory, as it is deeply ethnocentric. At the beginning of the year 2000, the Ibero American Network for Research on School Effectiveness and School Improvement (RIEME) was created with the aim of promoting research and communication on these research fields. Among its activities, the following can be mentioned: to promote international research on SE and SI; to develop and maintain a closed e-list and a web page; to organise meetings, training and advise activities, and so forth. RIEME works as a Network of networks, and is widespread in Spain, Portugal and most countries in Latin America.     

Assessment of prosocial–altruistic behavior of members and non-members of the scout movement

The aim of this study is to evaluate the differences in prosocial altruistic behavior between children and young students who belong to the scout movement and those who do not belong to this or any other similar movement. The prosocial altruistic behavior has been assessed with questionnaires for the school: self-evaluation, teacher, classmate, and parents. By means of a prospective design of case–control, every scout has been compared with another non-scout matched in variables like age; number of siblings; whether he/she is the oldest, the youngest, etc.; sex; the order between the siblings; if the mother works inside or outside the home; and if he/she lives with his/her two parents. The results show that significant differences exist between one group and another in the questionnaires of self-evaluation, for the teacher and for the classmate. It seems that children and young people who are scout members are better assessed than the non-scouts in prosocial altruistic behavior.     

Analysing the literature on university social responsibility: A review of selected higher education journals

In the last 30 years, different economic, political and social changes have taken place in the university sector and this has led to an extensive reform to meet the new societal challenges that these institutions are facing today. This emphasises the social dimension of universities and their important role in society as educators of future leaders and policy makers. This reveals the need to integrate social responsibility principles into the mainstream functions of universities. In view of these comments, this paper offers a review of the literature about university social responsibility during the period from 2000 to 2015. The objectives of the review are to: explore patterns in publication outlets; collect, scrutinise and critically analyse the current literature on this field; to identify gaps in the literature and make recommendations for further research in this field. To accomplish this task, data were collected from 15 specialist academic journals that focus on higher education.