Growing through copying: The negative consequences of innovation on franchise network growth

We explore how more exactly copying a blueprint for establishing a franchise network in a new country influences franchising network growth. We test opposing hypotheses using panel data involving the transfer of franchising knowledge to 23 different countries, measuring the degree to which master licensees ‘copy exactly’ knowledge concerning how to grow a network in their country and the effect that their approach has on subsequent network growth. We conclude that a strategy of copying more exactly seems to enhance growth and that the benefits of more exactly replicating knowledge in the 1st year of a local network’s existence persist for several years. Thus, innovation, in this specific context, seems to hinder firm growth.     

La integración de la representación audiovisual en la Reforma Educativa

La palabra y la imagen son los grandes medios para la comunicación pedagógica. En este artículo se analizan la perspectiva y posibilidades que la LOGSE (cuyos presupuestos, se afirma, apuestan casi al cien por cien por el medio verbal) ofrece para contar con la comunicación audiovisual en la educación.     

From Dakar to Brasilia: monitoring UNESCO’s education goals

Active participation of Brazilian civil society, coupled with the 2007 education development plan launched by the Brazilian government, provides an interesting example of the influences of the Dakar Goals. The two domestic initiatives share the same name, spirit and direction proposed in Dakar 2000. Here we analyze changes in the Brazilian policies and indicators related to the Dakar Education Goals. Since they were promulgated, we note: (1) an increase in enrolment over the relevant period; (2) access to primary education was nearly universal by 2000; (3) numbers of over-aged youth and adult students declined considerably during the period, but access did not expand; (4) illiteracy has been falling at a rate which, if sustained, will enable us to meet the goal; (5) gender discrimination was not apparent in Brazil; (6) most pupil proficiency indicators have deteriorated progressively from what was already a low standard. In summary, quantitative indicators did improve over the period while most qualitative indicators worsened.     

The digital competence framework for primary and secondary schools in Europe

There has been a lot of interest to competence‐based education in research and scholarship. How competence‐based education has been developed and implemented varies across education systems in Europe. The European Commission defines digital competence as one of the eight key competence standards for lifelong learning. The European digital competence framework DigComp provides a comprehensive and exhaustive framework for citizens; it has the potential to be adapted to the needs of specific target groups. Nevertheless, no current research has focused on the need for developing a common framework for primary and secondary education. To address this gap we present a digital competence framework for European primary and secondary students. DigComp and a set of European frameworks are analysed in this paper. Combining categorical analysis with the collaboration of teachers and experts in the field, we define performance criteria and components that contribute to competence by five categories, providing a framework to promote the acquisition and evaluation of digital competence. This framework can be implemented in any EU country, it incorporates the most recent theoretical advances in research on information and communication technologies.     

Meta-Theoretical Contributions to the Constitution of a Model-Based Didactics of Science

There is nowadays consensus in the community of didactics of science (i.e. science education understood as an academic discipline) regarding the need to include the philosophy of science in didactical research, science teacher education, curriculum design, and the practice of science education in all educational levels. Some authors have identified an ever-increasing use of the concept of ‘theoretical model’, stemming from the so-called semantic view of scientific theories. However, it can be recognised that, in didactics of science, there are over-simplified transpositions of the idea of model (and of other meta-theoretical ideas). In this sense, contemporary philosophy of science is often blurred or distorted in the science education literature. In this paper, we address the discussion around some meta-theoretical concepts that are introduced into didactics of science due to their perceived educational value. We argue for the existence of a ‘semantic family’, and we characterise four different versions of semantic views existing within the family. In particular, we seek to contribute to establishing a model-based didactics of science mainly supported in this semantic family.     

“Spanish as a foreign language” teachers’ profiles: inclusive beliefs, teachers’ perceptions of student outcomes in the TCLA program, burnout, and experience

The present study focuses on the Temporary Classroom of Linguistic Adaptation program (TCLA program) in which specialist teachers (Spanish as a foreign language teachers—SFL teachers) teach Spanish to immigrants who are not proficient in the language. We suggest that support for immigrant students in Spanish schools should adopt a new inclusive educational approach. The present investigation is a preliminary attempt at characterizing the profiles of SFL teachers by assessing, simultaneously, five relevant variables (through cluster analysis): inclusive beliefs, teachers’ perceptions of student outcomes in TCLA program, general burnout, diversity-related teacher burnout, and years of teaching experience. Eighty-one SFL teachers from 132 schools in Spain (EU) were asked to complete a self-report questionnaire. Cluster analysis found two clearly differentiated groups: the larger one, Innovative SFL Teachers and the smaller, Traditional SFL Teachers. The Traditional SFL Teachers are characterized by more years of experience, lower inclusive beliefs scores, lower teachers’ perception of student outcomes in the TCLA program scores, and higher burnout scores as compared with the Innovative SFL Teachers. Moreover, Traditional SFL Teachers conceptualize their teaching role as a "teacher of Spanish" whereas Innovative SFL Teachers see themselves much more as playing a supportive role.     

Introducing structure management in automatic reference resolution: An XML-based approach

References to parts of structured documents use their structure to locate the piece of document which is the reference target. On the other hand, XML has become an increasingly important language for structured documents. One of its most important related languages is XPath, the language that permits fragments of XML documents to be selected. In this article we present a methodology, and an application case, to automatically extract and solve references to fragments of structured documents. This approach combines structure manipulation and information extraction, to enhance reference extraction tools by improving the precision of the references extracted. We take advantage of XML markup to locate the position within the structure in which the references are found. The use of XPath, one of the most important XML related languages, for reference resolution is original: the resolution tool automatically builds XPath expressions. This proposal is inspired (and implemented) from our work with legislative documents.