Non-anthropocentric Reasoning in Children: Its incidence when they are confronted with ecological dilemmas

This study used an individual structured interview to (1) verify the incidence of non-anthropocentric reasoning in 123 children attending the 3rd and 4th years in three primary schools in the Lisbon area (Portugal), when they are confronted with ecological dilemmas and (2) establish those places they frequented which permit animal contact. The results show a greater incidence of non-anthropocentric reasoning than that obtained in other international studies. This may be related to the focus of the questions asked, which invited children to imagine themselves as another animal or to present situations where human interaction is unfair. This incidence was found independently of gender, school origin and whether or not pets were owned, even with the more biologically complex animals. School year was the only variable proven to make a difference in conceptually more demanding questions. We also verified that the children's general past experience of nature is essentially aligned to ‘controlled environments depending on ongoing human management’, confirming a decline in direct contact with ‘natural and semi-natural environments’. However, this type of experience does not seem to exert a negative influence on their non-anthropocentric reasoning.     

‘Are we being de‐gifted,Miss?’ Primary school gifted and talented co‐ordinators’ responses to the Gifted and Talented Education Policy in England

Over a decade ago the UK government launched its gifted and talented education policy in England, yet there has been very little published research which considers how schools and teachers are interpreting and implementing the policy. By seeking the views of the gifted and talented co‐ordinators (For ease of reference, the term gifted and talented (G&T) co‐ordinator is used throughout the paper as a generic shorthand for the research participants who were either designated school gifted and talented co‐ordinators or teachers or head teachers with responsibility for policy implementation) with responsibility for addressing the requirements of the policy, the study reported in this paper explored how primary schools in England responded to the policy. Drawing on data gathered using questionnaires with a national sample of primary schools as well as follow‐up in‐depth interviews with a sample of G&T co‐ordinators, the authors report their findings. The study found that there was considerable unease about the concept of identifying and ‘labelling’ a group of pupils as ‘gifted and talented’. G&T co‐ordinators found it difficult to interpret the policy requirements and were responding pragmatically to what they considered to be required by the government. Curriculum provision for the selected group of gifted and talented pupils was patchy. The paper concludes by identifying a need for further professional development for teachers and by challenging the policy's over‐emphasis on identifying and labelling gifted and talented pupils. We posit whether the gifted and talented education policy would have been better introduced and enjoyed greater success by leaving the identification of pupils to one side and by placing greater emphasis on developing effective learning and teaching strategies instead.     

Determinants of School Performance Among Quechua Children in the Peruvian Andes

In the rural Andes of Peru, primary school inefficiency ranks higher than in the rest of the country, with a nearly 50 per cent rate of first grade repetition. In 1993 the investigators administered a battery of four psycho-educational tests to 360 schoolchildren in the fourth and fifth grades at ten primary schools in the Andean region of Huaraz. They also recorded the children's individual characteristics, i.e. family background, nutritional status, and educational attainment, and rated the schools according to educational features such as classroom size, time devoted to learning, and student-teacher ratio. A year later, in 1994, children were re-examined in the schools using the same test battery. All subjects were small for their age, had poor diets, spoke mostly Quechua at home (Spanish in school), lived in a rural environment, and walked considerable distances to school. Regression analyses of the 1993 data indicated that the performance of Quechua children on verbal tests was heavily influenced by family background, while their mathematical competence was related to school experience. On the other hand, improvement in test scores from one year to the next appeared to be strongly related to test performance in 1993 and less clearly to the other recorded variables. Finally, the schools' promotion rates were clearly associated with test scores from the previous year but less clearly with grade repetition rates.     

Changing Patterns in the Middle Management of Higher Education Institutions: The Case of Portugal

Abstact Much of the writing on higher education in recent years has tended to assume that the new management push in higher education is both universal and irreversible. This paper, however, presents evidence from Portugal to challenge that assumption. While elements of the new managerialism are clearly evident in the perceptions and attitudes of academics in charge of the basic academic units (departments/schools and faculties) in the country’s universities and polytechnics, academic management remains faced with a complex, contradictory and conflicting set of demands and expectations which is likely to take a considerable time to resolve.     

The political economy of higher education in the era of neoliberal globalization: Latin America in comparative perspective

During the last two decades, Latin American universities have experienced intense pressure to abandon the main principles established in the 1918 Córdoba Reform (i.e., autonomy and autarchy). While funding for public higher education has declined, they are pressured to relinquish a large portion of institutional autonomy in order to accommodate to market demands and to a new set of control strategies emanating from the state.We argue that current changes in Latin American higher education cannot be examined in isolation from larger political and economic changes in the region, which in turn are related to the dynamics of globalization. After the decline of socialist and welfare-state models, neoliberal regimes have become hegemonic in many parts of the world. In most countries, changes in financial arrangements, coupled with accountability mechanisms, have forced universities to reconsider their social missions, academic priorities and organizational structures. Concerns about equity, accessibility, autonomy or the contribution of higher education to social transformation, which were prevalent during previous decades, have been overshadowed by concerns about excellence, efficiency, expenditures and rates of return. The notion that higher education is primarily a citizens right and a social investment – which has been taken for granted for many decades – is being seriously challenged by a neoliberal agenda that places extreme faith in the market.Though we focus on the international dimension of university change, it is important to note that global trends are promoted, resisted and negotiated differently in each national context and in each individual institution. In the emerging knowledge-based society, the polarization between North and South is expected to increase even further if the scientific and technological gaps are not narrowed. Latin American universities have a crucial role to play in this regard. The paper is organized in two parts. The first describes the context of university change, focusing on issues of globalization and neoliberalism. The second examines the main features of university restructuring in comparative perspective, with a particular focus on Latin America.     

What kind of nonformal education? Comments on the Coombs report

The first article of our autumn issue of 1973 (Vol. III, No. 3) entitled Should One Develop Nonformal Education was a large extract of a report¹ by Philip H. Coombs and his colleagues at the International Council for Educational Development (ICED) to Unicef. The Mexican group, Fomento Cultural y Educativo, A. C., which offers us here its thoughts on the report, is concerned with planning and introducing new educational models.The members of the discussion group were Eduardo Lastra, Vicente Arredondo, Ernesto Camou and Enrique González Torres.     

Working memory updating as a predictor of academic attainment

There is growing evidence supporting the importance of executive functions, and specifically working memory updating (WMU), for children’s academic achievement. This study aimed to assess the specific contribution of updating to the prediction of academic performance. Two updating tasks, which included different updating components, were administered to 97 fourth-grade children. The keeping track task involves retrieval and substitution of information, while the numerical updating task also includes a transformation component. Academic attainment was assessed through standardised tests of verbal comprehension, arithmetic operations, mathematical problems and an assessment made by the teacher. The relative contribution to academic attainment, of the updating measures and measures related to intelligence, was compared. Results showed that both updating tasks are predictive measures of academic attainment, although the numerical updating task appeared to be a more consistent predictor of children’s performance. The relationship between updating and academic attainment is discussed, and possible educational implications are considered. The role of the transformation component of WMU is highlighted. This component could make a distinct and independent contribution to performance and, by extension, could be particularly relevant to the prediction of academic achievement.     

Literacy and Access to the Written Culture by Youth and Adults Excluded from the School System

LITERACY AND ACCESS TO THE WRITTEN CULTURE BY YOUTH AND ADULTS EXCLUDED FROM THE SCHOOL SYSTEM – The title of this article refers to a field study carried out in 2006–2007 in nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. The article summarizes the basic concepts, aims, methodology and findings of the study. In conclusion, the author points out a number of important policy changes that are called for in this domain. While the study itself was carried out in a particular region, the findings have implications for a wider international audience.     

The Birth of Particle Physics In Spain

Experimental high-energy and nuclear physics was created in Spain thanks to Joaquín Catalá de Alemany, who founded the Institute of Corpuscular Physics (IFIC) at the University of Valencia in 1950. The physics of photographic emulsions, cheap and easy to manipulate, were well adapted to the depressed situation in Spain following the Civil War. This essay describes how, using these techniques, Catalá de Alemany created a group, established links with international laboratories, and fostered a tradition that continues today.