Promover la inclusión de las familias a través del desarrollo de Proyectos de Trabajo. Un estudio de caso

Se presenta una investigación cualitativa centrada en un estudio de caso realizado en un aula de niños y niñas de 5 años. Se analiza la potencialidad de la metodología de Proyectos de Trabajo (en adelante, PT) para facilitar la inclusión de las familias en el proceso de enseñanzaaprendizaje de sus hijos e hijas. A través de tres entrevistas en profundidad a las familias y de la documentación pedagógica obtenemos información que, tras ser analizada, revela los siguientes hallazgos: (1) La metodología de PT utiliza como parte esencial del proceso de enseñanzaaprendizaje los conocimientos y la experiencia profesional de las familias; (2) Las familias asumen un papel de tutorización y acompañamiento en los procesos educativos de sus hijos e hijas que, de forma simultánea, se producen en la escuela y en sus casas. Ajustan sus intervenciones a las demandas y realizan una labor de mediación entre las capacidades infantiles y el nuevo material de aprendizaje; (3) La colaboración de las familias, presente desde el inicio hasta que concluye el PT, requiere un compromiso muy elevado, resultando ser un elemento imprescindible para el desarrollo de esta metodología; y (4) Las familias identifican como fortaleza de los PT la escucha al alumnado. Como limitaciones, el tiempo desmesurado que requiere, las diferencias que puede generar en el alumnado los diferentes niveles de implicación de sus respectivas familias y la discontinuidad de este método con otras formas más tradicionales de afrontar la enseñanza en etapas posteriores.

Good practices in the Enred@te Pilot Project: a digital social network for older adults and Spanish Red Cross volunteers

The Enred@te initiative, created by Red Cross, the Vodafone Foundation and the TECSOS Foundation, emerged as an evolution of a previous project that developed and piloted a video-communication solution with older adults, using a system installed in their own televisions. Following the success of this first initiative, it was decided to advance toward a more flexible, robust, easy-to-use and high-quality solution, producing a social network accessible through tablets. Older adults can use the network to video-communicate with other older adults and stay informed on various topics of interest. Additionally, a new innovation incorporates the participation of virtual volunteers, a part of the network that promotes its use in an inclusive and participative manner. This solution was also piloted in 2014 with positive results and work to turn it into a service that can reach older adults through the Red Cross is currently on-going.

Late-career international migration and reproductive work. A comparison between Peruvian and Ukrainian women in the Southern Europe

Research on the relationship between reproductive work and women´s life trajectories including the experience of labour migration has mainly focused on the case of relatively young mothers who leave behind, or later re-join, their children. While it is true that most women migrate at a younger age, there are a significant number of cases of men and women who move abroad for labour purposes at a more advanced stage, undertaking a late-career migration. This is still an under-estimated and under-researched sub-field that uncovers a varied range of issues, including the global organization of reproductive work and the employment of migrant women as domestic workers late in their lives. By pooling the findings of two qualitative studies, this article focuses on Peruvian and Ukrainian women who seek employment in Spain and Italy when they are well into their forties, or older. A commonality the two groups of women share is that, independently of their level of education and professional experience, more often than not they end up as domestic and care workers. The article initially discusses the reasons for late-career female migration, taking into consideration the structural and personal determinants that have affected Peruvian and Ukrainian women’s careers in their countries of origin and settlement. After this, the focus is set on the characteristics of domestic employment at later life, on the impact on their current lives, including the transnational family organization, and on future labour and retirement prospects. Apart from an evaluation of objective working and living conditions, we discuss women’s personal impressions of being domestic workers in the context of their occupational experiences and family commitments. In this regard, women report varying levels of personal and professional satisfaction, as well as different patterns of continuity-discontinuity in their work and family lives, and of optimism towards the future. Divergences could be, to some extent, explained by the effect of migrants´ transnational social practices and policies of states.