The Clientelistic Nature of Television Policies in Democratic Spain

This article uses a case study to contribute to the debate on media-political clientelism and its relation to the theory of media systems. It proposes a cross-disciplinary approach between the fields of communication and political sciences and thus analyzes four dimensions to observe the evolution of these practices in the area of television policies during Spanish democracy: license granting, television ownership regulation, politicization of the public service, and partisan news coverage. The period analyzed includes conservative and social democrat governments, trying to find differences in clientelistic practices among the different political parties. The analysis demonstrates how partisan relationships have evolved and what mechanisms have been put in place to maintain clientelistic ties.     

“A moving target”: a critical race analysis of Latina/o faculty experiences,perspectives, and reflections on the tenure and promotion process

This article examines how Latina/o professors perceive, experience, and reflect on the tenure and promotion process. Findings for this longitudinal study are drawn from a purposive sample of nine female and seven male, Latina/o tenure-track faculty participants. Using a Critical Race Theory, Latino Critical (LatCrit) Race Theory, and Chicana Feminist framework, this article documents fundamental inequities in the tenure and promotion policies and practices that affected the Latina/o faculty in this study. Using narrative data, educational biographies, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and unstructured ethnographic interviews, this study found four common themes: (1) tenure and promotion processes functioned as a “tool of fear,” (2) the tenure and promotion process was like a “moving target,” (3) tenure provided limited forms of respect but not full membership, and (4) Latina/o supervivencia enabled the professors to thrive despite unsupportive and sometimes hostile campus and departmental climates.     

El enfoque sistemático en Educación Especial

RESUMEN

Se presenta un modelo de educación especial basado en un enfoque sistemático de la enseñanza. La aplicación de este enfoque a la educación normal y a la especial presenta algunas diferencias. Se hace un desarrollo teórico de los principales componente del modelo (identificación de necesidades, definición de objetivos, análisis de tareas, evaluación, secuenciación), así como una descripción del procedimiento y las diversas técnicas relativas a cada uno de ellos (sistemas de incentivos, materiales, sistemas de registro, requisitos de los sujetos, etc.).     

Enseñanza de la lengua escrita. ¿A qué edad?

Resumen

En este estudio se pasa revista a la polémica suscitada, ya desde antiguo, en torno a la edad de comienzo de la enseñanza formal de la lengua escrita.

A la luz de las opiniones vertidas por distintos autores, y contando con la muy valiosa aportación de profesores con larga experiencia en educación preescolar, se analizan tanto la posibilidad de un aprendizaje precoz como la oportunidad de tan temprano comienzo.

El autor del artículo señala, como conclusión, lo improcedente de una iniciación precoz en la enseñanza de la lecto-escritura, si con ello se dificulta el tratamiento de aspectos de mayor transcendencia en la formación del niño en los primeros estadios de su vida.     

Modificación de los hábitos de estudio a través de técnicas de autorregulación: estudio de un caso

Resumen

El propósito de este estudio fue diseñar un modelo válido para la adquisición de unos adecuados hábitos de estudio, basado en una combinación de estrategias de autorregulación y técnicas de estudio. Se procedió mediante un diseño exploratorio de línea de base múltiple, con un único sujeto que incluía: a) fase de pretest, b) primera fase de intervención, en la que se introdujeron las estrategias de autorregulación, c) segunda fase de intervención o de introducción de las técnicas de estudio, y d) fase de postest. El resultado fue un cambio experimental y terapéuticamente significativo en los hábitos de estudio y en las conductas exponentes de: tiempo de estudio, desatención, y velocidad y comprensión lectoras, las calificaciones experimentaron un ascenso progresivo. Estos cambios se mantuvieron y consolidaron en el seguimiento, las estrategias de autorregulación se han mostrado útiles para aumentar la probabilidad de ocurrencia de la conducta deseada y disminuir la de la no deseada.     

Practical Work in Earth Sciences Education: An experience with students in the context of a National Science Programme in Portugal

The programme Ciencia Viva of the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology aims to create a greater understanding of science and science education amongst scientists, teachers, school children and the general public, each of whom is encouraged to cooperate and interact through regular contacts. The purpose is to improve practical, experimental and other forms of investigative work. To accomplish such work in schools, an overview of the state of science education worldwide is presented in terms of old and new traditions of the teaching of the physical and historical sciences the latter including the teaching of fieldwork. Traditional practices are compared with those established recently in various parts of the world in which more carefully considered understanding of the nature of science and science education has been established. In illustration of good practice, an outline is offered of the nature and rationale of two sets of curricular materials. These were designed by a team comprising staff members of the University of Aveiro and secondary school teachers and were trialled in schools. These activities are concerned with the internal rock cycle and the internal energy of the Earth in relation to plate tectonic theory. They are also related to the processes of weathering, erosion, transportation and deposition of sedimentary rocks and structures (like wave and current ripple marks) which were formed as part of the external rock cycle driven by the Sun's energy. The account concludes with an outline of the sub programme 'Geology in Summer', a fieldwork programme which introduces a holistic understanding of the workings of the outer part of the Earth to the general public. Students' perspectives and teachers' views about these experiences are generally very positive and are presented at the end. The whole programme was evaluated by an international team of scientists and science educators.     

Formal and parental sex education differences among Hispanic young women by nativity status

This study sought to investigate the association between nativity status and Hispanic young women’s formal sex education and parental sex education in the USA. We used data from a cross-sectional sample of 310 Hispanic young women aged 18–24 years old from the 2013–2015 US National Survey of Family Growth. We assessed 11 outcomes: four formal sex education topics; receiving any formal sex education; a formal sex education scale; four parental sex education topics; and receiving any parental sex education. The majority of our sample was US-born Hispanic versus foreign born (72.6% and 27.4% respectively). Foreign-born Hispanics were less likely to have received any type of formal sex education than US-born Hispanics (adjusted odds ratio = 0.81; 95% confidence interval: 0.24, 0.68, p < 0.01). Foreign-born Hispanics were less likely to have received parental HIV sex education than U.S.-born Hispanics (aOR = 0.36; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.97, p < 0.05). Nativity status did not have a significant effect on each unit increase on the scale (aB = –0.07, SE = 0.16; aβ = –0.42, p > 0.05). Our results indicate that having appropriate sex education knowledge is better than not being cognisant. Future studies should however examine the quality and content of sex education programmes so policymakers can better understand these young women’s sexual behaviours and decisions.     

Children’s first manifestations of cognitive control in the early years school: the importance of the educational situation and materiality

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Executive functions (EFs) embrace a range of cognitive control processes that allow us to control and direct our own behavior, thoughts, and emotions...     

Validating a model of effective teaching behaviour and student engagement: perspectives from Spanish students

Research consistently shows that teaching behaviour is a highly-important indicator of learning environments. Based on a teacher effectiveness model with six observable teaching behaviour domains (safe learning climate, efficient classroom management, clarity of instruction, activating teaching, teaching–learning strategies, and differentiation), the present paper examines the psychometric quality of the My Teacher questionnaire for capturing student perceptions of teaching behaviour in the Spanish secondary-education context. Additionally, this study validated the model of teaching behaviour and student engagement and its relevance in Spain. 7114 students of 410 teachers attending 56 public and private Spanish schools constituted the sample. The six teaching behavioural dimensions model were confirmed in the Spanish context. Regarding student academic engagement, the presence of two domains (behavioural and emotional engagement) were confirmed. Furthermore, results of a multiple-group structural equation modeling path analysis, examining the relationship between teaching behaviour and student engagement across different teaching experiences, revealed differential effects of teaching behaviour influences on students’ engagement. The percentage of explained variance was larger for emotional engagement than for behavioural engagement. Furthermore, teachers’ teaching experience explained differences in the relationship between perceived teaching behaviour and engagement. Two domains (learning climate and activating teaching) appeared to be the two most-important teaching domains for students’ behavioural engagement while, for emotional engagement, the most important domains for student engagement were learning climate and teaching learning strategies.