Ignoring taboos: Maria Lenk, Latin American inspirationalist

Maria Lenk is widely recognized as an exceptional athlete who participated in women's sport from around 1930 until 1950. In 1932, at the age of seventeen, she was the first woman to be included in a Latin American delegation to the Olympic Games. As a swimmer, she still sets world records at the age of eighty-six. This super-champion's sporting achievements and her persistent dedication to the advancement of sport still impress and surprise todays professional swimmers and researchers. Contextualised in the male-dominated society of Brazil during the first half of the twentieth century, this chapter traces the achievement, and rise to international fame, of Maria Lenk. It examines the factors that enabled her to emerge not only as an important figure in sport but also as an icon of female emancipation in Brazilian and Latin American society. The focus is on Lenk's influence on the issues which affected the development of women's sport in Latin America. It also highlights the significance of Lenk's contribution to the changing place of women in Brazilian and South American society.     

PROBLEMS OF EQUIVALENCE OF STUDIES AND DIPLOMAS IN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS

This article Surveys the problems and the traps of equivalences in higher education and proposes solutions to the former and ways of avoiding the latter. To begin with, one must be clear as to basic concepts and be able to distinguish between recognition and equivalence, the second being synonymous with the first, if formal equivalence is what is meant. But the principal task is one of defining and granting so‐called real equivalence, that is, equivalence based on the comparison of educational programmes, contents, length of study, the methods and the results of evaluations, and appropriate assessments of the academic value of practical work. It is also necessary to be clear at the outset as to the purposes of a given equivalence: to permit further study in another country or to aid in securing employment in a given occupation in another country. A major problem relates to varying conceptions of what is specifically university education in relation to higher education as a whole; the weight to be granted to post‐secondary, non‐university training; the whole question of length of studies; and ambiguities relative to terminology. Although it will never be possible to formulate ideal solutions to all problems, the key to obtaining the best possible solution is to be found in the improvement of the availability of standardized information by the exploitation of such sources as Unesco statistics, student books, analyses of bilateral conventions for applicable analogies, and, eventually, the sort of diploma supplement which Carin Berg and Ulrich Teichler are recommending.     

A comparison between elemental and compound training of cues in retrospective revaluation

Associative learning theories assume that cue interaction and, specifically, retrospective revaluation occur only when the target cue is previously trained in compound with the to-be-revalued cue. However, there are recent demonstrations of retrospective revaluation in the absence of compound training (e.g., Matute &; Pineño, 1998a, 1998b). Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to assume that cue interaction should be stronger when the cues are trained together than when they are trained apart. In two experiments with humans, we directly compared compound and elemental training of cues. The results showed that retrospective revaluation in the elemental condition can be as strong as and, sometimes, stronger than that in the compound condition. This suggests that within-compound associations are not necessary for retrospective revaluation to occur and that these effects can possibly be best understood in the framework of general interference theory.     

Participation and rights of children with Specific Needs of Educational Support in Castilla y León (Spain): bridging the gap between policies and practices

ABSTRACT

The administration of the Spanish State is based on a decentralised model consisting of 17 autonomous regions. Castilla y León represents the largest region in Spain and the third largest in the European Union. Our analysis of both national and regional (Castilla y León) legislation on the rights of children and youth with Specific Needs of Educational Support (SNES) to participate in education suggests that the relevant legislation incorporates the minimum standards proposed by various international organisations (UNCRC, UNCRPD). Nevertheless, socio-educational organisations and researchers report limitations and setbacks to the participation of children and young people in Castilla y León, which especially impact on children with SNES: no representation on Primary and Special Education School Boards, socio-economic segregation at some schools, and scarce social participation with disadvantages for girls and other vulnerable groups. In view of these challenges, we set out to ascertain the impact of legislation on the rights of children, by listening to the voices of children with SNES. Our research, a replication of a British project, is adapted to our region. We expect to perform comparative analyses, to learn from other examples of good practice, and to offer innovative proposals for international implementation and dissemination.     

The Role of Generational Status,Self‐Esteem,Academic Self‐Efficacy,and Perceived Social Support in College Students' Psychological Well‐Being

This study examined the influences of generational status, self‐esteem, academic self‐efficacy, and perceived social support on 367 undergraduate college students' well‐being. Findings showed that 1st‐generation students reported significantly more somatic symptoms and lower levels of academic self‐efficacy than did non‐1st‐generation students. In addition, students' generational status was found to moderate predictive effects of perceived family support on stress. Implications for professional practices, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Future Business Innovation in Minority Language Media

This article investigates innovation in the media business models that some European minority-language news organizations are implementing in these times of economic crisis. It entails a shift in the underlying business and service philosophy which interpellates the community and pleads for a change in their mutual relationship. The research is based on the case studies of two private media companies from the Catalan and Basque language media systems that were experiencing economic and financial difficulties. Conducting inspirational advertising campaigns, the news organizations issued a call for readers and non-readers to make a funding commitment to the project, a pledge to provide new revenues and liaisons, while retaining and enhancing the standard income streams. In brief, it is about going back to the basics of active community projects and involvement.