At the Crossroads: the development of thinking about the role,appointment and training of headteachers in Spain

For many years now, most countries of the world have increasingly valued the headteacher as a powerful force in facilitating school and staff development. Such recognition has resulted in widespread training programmes—even in the poorest countries. In Spain, however, there has been, until very recently, considerable ambiguity over the role of the headteacher. This uncertainty is manifested in the appointment system of headteachers and the lack of commitment to training. This paper seeks to show the reasons for this situation, through an evaluation of recent legislation, the impact of Franco's legacy on education and the current preoccupation with democratic government at all levels. The paper highlights important changes of attitude towards the role of the head now taking place, mainly at local levels, and encourages the government to ensure that examples of effective training, emanating from these ideological shifts, are recognised and contained within national programmes.     

“Lo que yo en realidad quería hacer”: Rationales of Latina/o DACA Recipients for Pursuing Careers as Teachers

The Urban Review - The decision to rescind Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) will have major repercussions amongst beneficiaries, especially in terms of employment. One of the sectors...     

Vicarious learning from dialogue and discourse

This study examined learning in the domain of sentence parsing and syntax treediagram construction. The aim of the study was to assess whether subjects could learn vicariously from recordings of interactions between a previous student and a tutor.Four intervention conditions and a control condition were compared. Subjects in a dialogue group (DL) read printed tutorial notes and subsequently vicariously viewed dynamic (animated) recordings of tree diagrams being constructed by a previous student in the presence of a tutor.The discourse (DI) condition was similar except that subjects viewed recordings of tree diagrams being constructed by a tutor who concurrently verbalised instructional discourse.In a third condition (DO), subjects viewed tree-diagram construction animation clips which were not annotated with either dialogue or discourse. In a linear text (LT) condition, subjects were given only printed tutorial notes. A control (CO) condition involved pre and post testing without any intervention.Results indicated that the dialogue condition was as effective as the discourse condition. This provides support for contention that re-usable dialogue is a useful resource for the vicarious learner. Another finding was that un-annotated animated diagrams were surprisingly effective. Several reasons for their effectiveness are suggested from the literature on instructional animations.     

Curriculum stasis: the disconnect between music and technology in the Australian curriculum

Technology is a dominant mediating factor impacting on current human behaviour and social change, which both acts on and is acted upon by other phenomena. This changing social landscape, along with new expectations and requirements, drives our educational priorities and curriculum agenda. There is no denying the prevalence of technology found in the statements and guidelines of the national Australian Curriculum. Further, the National Review of School Music Education identified the importance of technology in school music education in 2005. The curriculum guidelines illustrate an understanding of technology in Music and the Arts that is both vague and limiting. In 2015 we are at a point of curriculum stasis, an equilibrium that highlights a disconnect between music, technology and Australian music education. This article investigates current secondary school Years 7–10 (ages 11–15 years) Music and Arts curriculum statements concerning the use of technology and compares this to the general capability information and computer technology (ICT) curricula. There is wide recognition that digital technology is essential in teaching and learning, but this is not reflected in contemporary Australian Arts and Music curricula.     

Predictors of Delinquent Behaviors Among Latino Youth

This study used an ecological framework to examine predictors of delinquent behaviors among 91 sixth-grade Latino youth. Both proximal and distal contextual factors were assessed to determine their impact on various forms of delinquency, such as violent behaviors, violent thoughts, substance abuse, and general delinquency (e.g., skipping school). Attitudes toward school, mobility (number of moves to new schools and neighborhoods), and exposure to community violence were distal variables, whereas attachment to parents and attachment to peers were considered more proximal variables. Environmental experiences or exposure to distressing community violence was the strongest predictor of delinquent outcomes. The results were discussed in terms of school officials' developing linkages with the community to promote safe environments for youth.     

Identifying key issues for university practitioners of garden-based learning in Spain

ABSTRACT

The presence of learning gardens in Spain is growing, and the current scenario is highly diverse in relation to issues such as participatory models or purposes, among others. In the context of the 1^st National Meeting on organic learning gardens, we convened eight expert practitioners in a focus group. Their discourse was analyzed through content analysis, after which four categories were selected for co-occurrence analyses. The most important questions for university garden-based practitioners in the country are presented, related to actors involved, functions that gardens fulfill, strengths of these educational resources, and requirements for their consolidation.     

Validation of a self-perceived media competence instrument for pre-service teachers / Validación de un instrumento de autopercepción de competencia mediática para docentes en formación

Abstract

Key to guaranteeing the fundamental human rights of freedom of expression and information is the development of media competence, particularly in schools. Training teachers in the area of media competence is particularly important for developing these skills in the broader citizenry. In order to provide educators and educational policymakers with a useful diagnostic tool, we have designed a self-perception questionnaire. The questionnaire was applied to a sample of Peruvian education students (N = 501). On the one hand, the results confirm the construct’s coherence, validity and instrumental reliability. On the other hand, they allow us to propose a theoretically based update to the way in which this construct is interpreted and applied, confirming the multidimensionality of media competence. Finally, we use this empirical evidence to discuss the integral, transversal and ecological status of media competence.     

Comparison of retention and extinction of a visual discrimination as an index of forgetting in mice

The retention and extinction of a visual discrimination was examined in BALB/c mice. The mice were trained to perform a go/no-go discrimination task in parallel runways. Initial training resulted in an intermediate level of performance. Testing consisted of an additional session using either retention (Experiment 1) or extinction (Experiment 2) at one of five time intervals between 1 and 30 days. It was found in Experiment 1 that forgetting progressively increased over intervals of between 14 and 30 days. In Experiment 2, extinction testing induced more impairment of performance, so that forgetting occurred earlier relative to retention testing in Experiment 1. However, in both experiments, the measure of performance by a discrimination ratio revealed the same amount of forgetting when the training-test interval was 30 days. These results define the forgetting curve for such a discrimination by mice. They are discussed in terms of possible factors involved in forgetting.