On global absences: Reflections on the failings in the education and poverty relationship in Latin America

This paper explores some of the aspects of the relationship between education and poverty as it has been constructed by international organisations and national governments in Latin America. The analysis is carried out from two separate angles. On the one hand, the paper highlights the main failings that underlie the positive and hoped-for relationship between investment in education and the reduction of poverty. On the other, it demonstrates how a good number of these failings can be attributed to an underestimation of the inverse relationship, i.e. the effects that poverty has on education. Though this analysis can be understood from a general perspective, evidence from Latin America is used to illustrate the consequences of these global absences.     

Proposal for national targets in the framework of the European reduction goal for early school leaving

According to the European Commission’s “Europe 2020” strategy, the early school leaving (ESL) rate in European Union (EU) Member States must be reduced to a maximum of 10 per cent by 2020. This paper proposes a nonlinear distribution method based on dynamic targets for reducing the percentage of early school leavers. The aim of this method is to provide policymakers with alternatives in terms of transferring the EU-wide headline target to individual national targets. Weighting was based on four indicators: ESL rate, unemployment rate, expenditure on education as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), and expenditure on schools per student. As a result, nine possible scenarios for ESL reduction have been constructed for each of the EU Member States in three groups: the whole EU up to June 2013 (EU27), EU Member States which joined before 30 April 2004 (EU15) and EU Member States which joined after 30 April 2004 (EU12). This method allows the European policy to be translated into specific national targets that would converge in the aggregate goal.     

Sexual Assault Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg: Relationship and Sexual Violence Prevalence in College Students

With the advent of the “Dear Colleague” letter in 2011, higher education institutions have become focused on sexual assault and related policies, procedures regarding offenses, and prevention education. Institutions should consider using this spotlight on interpersonal dynamics to increase awareness about other types of relationship violence that may be more common. This secondary data analysis of 72,067 U.S. college students indicates stalking, emotional abuse, and physical abuse are very common. Along with relationship difficulties in general, these forms of relational violence occur more frequently than sexual assault. Implications for counseling and mental health services are provided.     

Fatigue does not conjointly alter postural and cognitive performance when standing in a shooting position under dual-task conditions

This study investigated the effects of fatigue on balance control and cognitive performance in a standing shooting position. Nineteen soldiers were asked to stand while holding a rifle (single task – ST). They also had to perform this postural task while simultaneously completing a cognitive task (dual task – DT). Both the ST and DT were performed in pre- and post-fatigue conditions. In pre-fatigue, participants achieved better balance control in the DT than in the ST, thus suggesting that the increased cognitive activity associated with the DT improves balance control by shifting the attentional focus away from a highly automatised activity. In post-fatigue, balance control was degraded in both the ST and DT, while reaction time was enhanced in the first minutes following the fatiguing exercise without affecting the accuracy of response in the cognitive task, which highlights the relative independent effects of fatigue on balance control and cognitive performance.     

Bridging professional teacher knowledge for science and literary integration via design-based research

We offer insights for using design-based research (DBR) as a model for constructing professional development that supports curriculum and instructional knowledge regarding science and literacy integration. We spotlight experiences in the DBR process from data collected from a sample of four elementary teachers. Findings from interviews, focus groups and researcher field notes elucidated: the value in establishing a collaborative foundation for professional discourse, the teacher participants developing nascent knowledge of curricular integration in science and literacy, and their apprehensions about using digital technology to support their professional development. Implications are presented for professional development facilitators and researchers using DBR as an innovative approach for teacher development.     

服务创新与网络:全球学习与本土学习的模式

从第三、第四欧共体创新调查(CIS-3、CIS-4)的实证结果,可得出以下结论:在创新过程中,服务企业一般比制造企业有更高的合作倾向,尤其是商业和金融中介服务行业.数据还揭示了这样一个重要趋势:商业服务企业比其他服务企业更倾向于合作.国际创新合作的趋势也表明不同的行业和不同国家中的情况也不一样.本文探索了不同区域的服务创新的相互影响,确定创新过程中全球及本土合作联系的部门性模式.全球互动在一些服务行业的创新过程中发挥着日益重要的作用,这些服务行业在知识的跨国传播中也发挥了作用.这个全球性的学习过程与这些服务活动市场的国际化有关.同时,实证结果表明地区/国家间的合作对多数服务活动实际上是非常重要的.     

Being poor at school: exploring conditions of educability in the favela

This article explores how different ways of experiencing poverty affect the possibilities of poor children to make the most of their education. The study uses the concept of conditions of educability to reflect how the different dimensions of the experience of poverty facilitate or hinder the success of educational practices and the learning of poor students. In the first part of the article, the concept of conditions of educability is discussed in relation to the notions of capabilities and functionings, and a framework to investigate conditions of educability is presented. The second part of the article is based on the results of a study conducted in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Through an analysis of interviews conducted with students, families and teachers, the different dimensions of the social experience of the children who inhabit the favelas are described. Two cases are presented and discussed as analytical examples of the conditions of educability of poor children. The last section of the article assesses some of the consequences of conditions of educability for the policy debate.     

Curriculum Change as a Form of Educational Policy Legitimation: the case of Spain

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how the main changes in the last Spanish Educational Reform become new forms of state educational control. The article introduces a specific sociological perspective to analyse these changes in semiperipheral social formations. Macro‐contradictions embedded in the process of mass schooling in Spain draw a framework to understand the context and the logics of curriculum change. The extremely acute state legitimation crisis in semiperipheral societies has effects on the structure and the content of curriculum change. These effects are analysed, on the one hand, at the level of educational policy, and, on the other, at the level of school practices, showing the importance of cultural obstacles for curriculum change through teachers’ beliefs and practices.