Primary and secondary teachers’ conceptions about heritage and heritage education: A comparative analysis

This study describes and analyses the conceptions of primary teachers and secondary teachers of Physics–Chemistry, Biology–Geology and Geography–History with respect to the concept of heritage and its teaching and learning, taking the model of teacher-researcher as the theoretical referent. The data collection instrument used was a questionnaire, designed on the basis of categories that in turn were used for the analysis of the resulting data. The results show a high degree of homogeneity in pedagogic content knowledge, in contrast to the heterogeneity of the conceptions with respect to purely content knowledge.     

Actitudes,valores y normas: aprendizaje y desarrollo moral

En este artículo se constata el creciente reconocimiento del campo del desarrollo moral en el marco de la investigación cognitiva, tanto desde la perspectiva psicológica como social. Se relacionan competencias psicosociales, procesos de maduración y procesos de aprendizaje, sugiriéndose pautas para la actuación del profesorado en torno a las actitudes, valores y normas.     

The Conceptions of In-service and Prospective Primary School Teachers About the Teaching and Learning of Science

A study was performed to describe and analyze the conceptions about teaching and learning science held by different samples of teachers in Spain. The responses of 265 teachers (107 prospective teachers and 158 active teachers) to items from the Inventory of Scientific and Pedagogical Beliefs (Porlán, 1989) were subjected to multifactorial analysis. The results showed various tendencies in how the teaching/learning process is viewed, ranging from a predominant view based on the transmission-reception of knowledge to a minority constructivist view. There was a greater diversity of viewpoints among the in-service teachers than among the prospective teachers. In both samples, the most representative tendency was learning as appropriation of meanings, followed by a technical view of teaching among the prospective teachers and a more traditional view among the in-service teachers. Finally, some implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Approaches and Methodologies for a Course on History and Epistemology of Physics: Analyzing the Experience of a Brazilian University

This paper is an analysis of inserting history and philosophy of science (HPS) in a physics undergraduate program at a Brazilian university. It is an examination of the approaches and methodologies adopted by professors of a History and Epistemology course. The course aims to have an explicit approach to HPS. The results suggest a concern of the Physics Institute regarding inserting these questions into physics teacher training programs. The study also uncovered that the professors who taught the subject had different visions of HPS.     

Preparing to transition to secondary education: perceptions of Dutch pupils with migrant backgrounds

Background: The transition from primary school to secondary school is a crucial period of time for children and this may be especially the case for pupils with migrant backgrounds. While there has been considerable research on the transition from primary to secondary school, more needs to be known specifically about the experiences of this group of pupils during their final year of primary school, as they prepare for their transition to secondary school.

Purpose: The study investigated how Dutch children with migrant backgrounds in their final year of primary school perceive the preparatory process for the transition to secondary school. In particular, we were interested in who the children felt were the important ‘actors’ (e.g. pupils, parents, teachers and others) in the preparatory process.

Sample: We collected data from 76 primary school pupils from three schools in an urban city in the Netherlands. The sample included pupils who, according to the Dutch system, were preparing to follow an academic pathway (i.e. the tracks known in this system as ‘HAVO’ or ‘VWO’) and those who were preparing to follow a vocational pathway (i.e. the track known as ‘VMBO’) in secondary education.

Design and methods: We used photo elicitation (N = 76) and also conducted semi-structured interviews with a subsample of the pupils (N = 25) to examine the roles of the important actors in the preparatory process. Data were analysed qualitatively; responses were coded and underwent pattern analysis in order to identify and describe repeating structures in the data. Data were grouped according to whether the pupils received school recommendations for an academic track or a vocational track.

Results: Findings suggested that the pupils perceived the most important actors to be the pupil, the classroom teacher and the parents. Both teachers and parents were considered valuable resources for pupils in the preparatory process. Patterns representing the participants’ perceptions of the roles of three actors – namely, (1) the child, (2) the classroom teacher and (3) the parents, were identified. Six patterns were identified with respect to the child, four with respect to the classroom teacher and two with respect to the parents. For some patterns, it was apparent that the responses of children in the vocational group and the academic group had different emphases.

Conclusions: The study highlights the importance for teachers and parents of children in their final year of primary school to be aware of the pupils’ perceptions of and feelings about their preparation for secondary school, so as to be in the best position to support them collaboratively.     

Do farm advisory services improve adoption of rural development policies? An empirical analysis in GI areas

Purpose: The aim of the paper is to evaluate how advisory services stimulate the adoption of rural development policies (RDP) aiming at value creation.

Design/methodology/approach: By linking the use of agricultural extension services (AES) to policies for value creation, we will put forward an empirical analysis in Italy, with the aim of evaluating the capability of AES in bringing about higher access to rural policies for value creation in geographical indications (GI) contexts.

Findings: Results of our analyses evidence, on the one side, higher capability of funds attraction in GI areas. On the other side, path dependency schemes in accessing RDP are evident. Higher rates of access with the support of advisory services emerge, but only in traditional measure to fund farms’ investments. On the contrary, the use of AES does not facilitate access to other measures for value creation.

Practical implications: Our hypothesis is that AES include the support towards farm strategies of development through the adoption of RDP aiming at value creation in GI areas. Our analysis presents practical implications, in terms of a clear need for upgrading and broadening AES’ competencies in the field of projecting farm development and knowledge transfer in the field of funds to be obtained by RDP.

Theoretical implications: From a theoretical point of view, the paper may provide a contribution to theoretical debate by offering new insights into the role of advisory services in stimulating innovations and access to support policies.

Originality/value: This paper tries to fill a gap in the agricultural extension literature. We posit that the role of AES should comprehend a deeper knowledge (and knowledge transfer) concerning the opportunities provided by RDP.     

The challenges of setting up the evaluation of extension systems by using a systems approach: the case of Greece,Italy and Slovenia

Purpose: Considering current debates on ecosystem services’ effectiveness and the AIS/AKIS functioning, in this study we suggest a new, systemic way to evaluate extension systems (ESs). Using this model, we compared the effectiveness of ESs in three countries with essential differences but also characteristic similarities in their agricultural sectors: Greece, Italy and Slovenia.

Design/methodology/approach: Initially, we defined ‘extension system’ as a wide range of actors integrating resources with the aim of co-producing value (not for but with) farmers. To capture the value flow within this constellation of actors we distinguished between the notion of ‘value in production’ – i.e. the value embodied in service offerings – and the value emanating when service content is used in real settings or ‘value in use.’

Findings: Our approach revealed that, despite their structural and organizational differences, the ES in the three countries share common problems arising from a limited focus on the issue of value in use.

Practical implications: The application of a systemic approach – seeing farmers as co-creators and not as end-users of extension services – in the evaluation of ESs contributes to better understand the complexity of value flow within the system and can strengthen extension systems’ effectiveness.

Theoretical implications: The present study, by reconsidering traditional evaluation approaches and by focusing on value co-production, offers an alternative value-centric framework for the conceptualization of extension services and points out to the need for refining the evaluation criteria of ESs.

Originality/value: Our work, by emphasizing the reciprocal creation of value within ESs, and by adding the concept of value in use, offers a new systems approach worth considering when evaluating ESs within different organizational and sociocultural contexts.     

Looking at lived experiences of self‐advocacy through gendered eyes: becoming femme fatale with/out ‘learning difficulties’

In this article, we attempt to intersect the interdisciplinary characters of disability studies and gender studies, in order to make sense of the activism and lived knowledge of/with two women with the label of ‘learning difficulties’. Inspired by Deleuze and Guattari’s anti‐essentialist notion of devenirs‐particules, we find our multiple selves involved in cross‐cutting relational storytelling, as such destabilising essentialist, biological determinism towards women with/out the label of ‘learning difficulties’. Thus in becoming femme(s) fatale(s), we make the most of a science capable of grasping the continual interplay between agency, structure and context, creating a ‘becoming space’ where we, as activists with our academic allies, can think and act with one another.