Private Issues in Public Spaces: Regimes of Engagement at a Citizen Conference

Minerva - The ‘participatory turn’ in science and technology governance has resulted in the growth of initiatives designed to engage lay people in consultation and decision-making on...     

Social and educational modernisation in Spain: the work of Segell Pro Infància in Catalonia (1933–1938)

During the Second Republic of Spain (1931–1939) and within the framework of ambitious social reform, the government of the Generalitat of Catalonia launched a social and educational assistance system. This new system would be independent, modern, and capable of surpassing the traditional welfare system based on religious charity that was predominant in Spain at the time. One of the initiatives performed to obtain funding consisted of the sale of Christmas seals, whose earnings would be allocated to the fight against childhood tuberculosis. The Segell Pro Infància organisation was created for this purpose. This article analyses the origins of this institution within the socio-political context of Catalonia during the Second Republic and the Spanish Civil War, in addition to its work and activities during its brief existence. The series of actions financed by Segell were primarily directed at improving institutions that provided a social welfare system, such as crèches and nursery schools. In this analysis, the commitment of early twentieth-century Catalan nationalism to social and educational modernisation, in addition to its development of social justice policies, is revealed. This reform fits into the framework of a broader pro-sovereignty project in which Catalonia would build state structures independent of Spain.     

Perceived distributed effort in team ball sports

Abstract

In this study, we explored the multifaceted concept of perceived mental and physical effort in team sport contexts where athletes must invest individual and shared efforts to reach a common goal. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 15 Catalan professional coaches (3 women and 12 men, 3 each from the following sports: volleyball, basketball, handball, soccer, and water polo) to gain their views of three perceived effort-related dimensions: physical, psychological, and tactical. From a theoretical thematic analysis, it was found that the perception of effort is closely related to how effort is distributed within the team. Moreover, coaches viewed physical effort in relation to the frequency and intensity of the players’ involvement in the game. They identified psychological effort in situations where players pay attention to proper cues, and manage emotions under difficult circumstances. Tactical effort addressed the decision-making process of players and how they fulfilled their roles while taking into account the actions of their teammates and opponents. Based on these findings, a model of perceived distributed effort was developed, which delineates the elements that compose each of the aforementioned dimensions. Implications of perceived distributed effort in team coordination and shared mental models are discussed.     

‘The best school for my child?’ Positions,dispositions and inequalities in school choice in the city of Barcelona

This article deals with the discourses and practices employed by families involved in school choice processes in the city of Barcelona (Spain). It draws upon a study conducted by the authors in 2008/09, and it is based on surveys completed by a representative sample made up of 3245 families, as well as 60 in-depth interviews with families with children at the age of commencing universal pre-primary education (three years old). Firstly, the article focuses on the types of concerns and pressures that families experience when choosing a school for their child. Secondly, we analyse the level and type of knowledge that parents have at their disposal about the field of school choice, as well as how they use and benefit from available information channels. Finally, we identify three unequal positions in which families find themselves when negotiating the field of school choice: ‘maximising’, ‘guaranteeing’ and ‘displaced’. These positions are, in turn, directly related to families’ locations in the social structure, which are also unequal.     

Defending Constructivism in Science Education

After an impressive development throughout the last two decades, supported by a greatamount of research and innovation, science education seemed to be becoming a newscientific domain. This transformation of Science Education into a specific field of researchand knowledge is usually associated with the establishment of what has been called anemergent consensus about constructivist positions. However, some voices have begunto question these constructivist positions and therefore the idea of an advancementtowards a coherent body of knowledge in the field of science education. The goalof this work is to analyse some of the current criticisms of the so-called constructivistorientations and to study their implications for the development of science education asa coherent body of knowledge.