Does the treatment integrity of a literacy instruction program foster student reading comprehension? A field experiment

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study focuses on conditions that improve reading comprehension at grade 7th. We analyze the impact of the Lirécrire program, and...     

Globalization, Educational Targeting, and Stable Inequalities: A Comparative Analysis of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile

The present study analyzes educational targeting in Argentina, Brazil and Chile from a sociological point of view. It shows that a ‘logic of induction’ has become the vehicle for anti-poverty education strategies meant to help targeted groups improve on their own. The analysis explores the influence of the global educational agenda, the empirical connection between the logic of induction and the mechanism of emulation, and the territorial aspects of educational inequalities. Emulation plays a main role inasmuch as the logic of induction leads targeted groups to compare their adverse situation with more privileged groups, which actually legitimizes inequalities. A brief statistical summary completes the study, showing that educational inequality has remained unchanged as far as urban–rural ratios (in Brazil and Chile) and regional disparities (in all three countries) are concerned.     

Aligning professional skills and active learning methods: an application for information and communications technology engineering

Engineering education is facing new challenges to effectively provide the appropriate skills to future engineering professionals according to market demands. This study proposes a model based on active learning methods, which is expected to facilitate the acquisition of the professional skills most highly valued in the information and communications technology (ICT) market. The theoretical foundations of the study are based on the specific literature on active learning methodologies. The Delphi method is used to establish the fit between learning methods and generic skills required by the ICT sector. An innovative proposition is therefore presented that groups the required skills in relation to the teaching method that best develops them. The qualitative research suggests that a combination of project-based learning and the learning contract is sufficient to ensure a satisfactory skills level for this profile of engineers.     

The Problematic Nature of the Practicum: A Key Determinant of Pre-service Teachers’ Emerging Inquiry-Based Science Practices

This article disseminates findings from a multi-year study regarding secondary preservice science teachers’ perceptions toward inquiry-based science teaching, and the extent these perceptions are augmented by their practicum. While findings indicated that preservice teachers did improve their understanding and capability of using scientific inquiry due to their methods course, the role of practicum in supporting their newly developed perceptions was problematic. Issues ranging from associate teacher subjugation, availability of resources, time constraints, and the need to address curriculum standards were the most commonly cited reasons for preservice teachers’ difficulty in creating an inquiry-based environment during their practicum. Implications are presented highlighting the importance of practicum experiences as a key determinant of pre-service science teachers’ emerging inquiry-based science views and practices.     

The Birth of the Sports Press in Spain Within the Regenerationist Context of the Late Nineteenth Century

This study tackles the birth and development of the sports press in Spain from 1865 to 1899, linked to the need of a bourgeois society to emulate the English lifestyle, characterised by the sports craze. The sports press in Spain fitted extremely well in the late nineteenth century, encouraged by the Regenerationist movement. This is clear by the growth in number of sports publications, by the promotion of physical culture by Regenerationism and by the use of such publications to spread Regenerationism's approach to sport. Both primary and secondary sources were used in the research process. With regard to primary sources, archives containing specific documentation on the origins and early years of the sports press in Spain were examined. A total of 85 sports publications were counted in 18 different towns, but mostly concentrated in Madrid (28) and Barcelona (24). The most widely represented sports in these were cycling (25) and hunting (18). Among those publications that were not specific to one sport, 13 titles included the English-language term ‘sport’, and only two incorporated the newly coined Spanish word, ‘deporte’. Los Deportes (1897–1910) is the most important publication of this period and the foundation stone of modern sports journalism in Spain.     

Educational quasi-markets,school effectiveness and social inequalities

Over the past few decades, the figure of the market has clearly made its way into the field of education. For some authors, it represents an alternative to regulation by the public authorities, a different form of co-ordination which is better able to meet the objectives of the education systems. Through a secondary analysis of the PISA 2006 database, we test this hypothesis, as well as an alternative one which suggests that the quasi-market, rather than being linked positively to effectiveness of the education systems, would be associated with the students’ achievement dependence on their socio-economic and cultural background and on the social composition of the school they are enrolled in. Our findings suggest that the quasi-market regulation (school autonomy and competition for student recruitment) (1) is not linked to effectiveness and (2) tends to be associated with a stronger link between schools’ social composition and student achievement.     

La eliminación de conductas autolesivas en niños retrasados profundos

RESUMEN

Se han empleado muchos procedimientos para la supresión de conductas autolesivas, pero en pocos casos se ha tenido en cuenta dotar al sujeto de un comportamiento más adaptativo. La hipótesis que se propone es que el castigo de las conductas autolesivas no provocará un aumento de los comportamientos adaptados si éstos no forman ya parte del repertorio conductual del niño. Para corroborar esta hipótesis se realiza un estudio en dos fases con niños deficientes profundos con conductas autolesivas utilizando castigo social. Los resultados muestran que la operación de castigo contingente es efectiva en la eliminación de conductas autolesivas, que este tipo de conductas son mantenidas por el medio ambiente y la necesidad de enseñar y reforzar positivamente conductas más adaptadas.     

The politics of school choice in two countries with large private‐dependent sectors (Spain and Chile): family strategies,collective action and lobbying

In many countries choice of school is an increasing concern for families and governments. In Spain and Chile, it is also associated with a long‐standing political cleavage on the regulation of large sectors of private‐dependent schools. This article analyses both the micro‐ and the macro‐politics of choice in these two countries, where low‐status 15‐year‐old students record a significant segregation. At the micro level, some evidence is provided that not only middle‐class skilful choosers but also the political representatives of private‐dependent schools manage to pursue their interests drawing on economic, social and cultural capital. At the macro level, evidence also shows that the lobbies defending private‐dependent schools can use and maintain these power resources. However, in some episodes collective action is an effective power resource for those who campaign in favour of a stricter regulation of these schools, but its influence is much difficult to maintain for longer periods.