Teacher training in "multicultural" Sweden

This paper builds on the experience of the on-going, mainly ethnographic, research project called Teacher training in’ multicultural’ Sweden. Class, gender and ethnicity. In this multi-disciplinary project a number of scholars conduct research through participant observation in, and through the study and analysis of documents from, a number of teacher training colleges in Sweden. In this paper I will use empirical material gathered from two teacher training colleges to discuss this basic issue. One college is situated in a suburb outside Stockholm and it consciously portrays itself as a college for ‘multicultural’ students who will later teach in ‘multicultural’ suburbs. The other college is situated in a small town and although ‘multiculturalism’ is seen as important in the educational system students with mainly ‘Swedish’ background are recruited. In the first college ‘differences’ are lauded and students are encouraged to ponder upon and develop their ethnic profile. In the second ‘similarities’ are more taken for granted. I will argue, however, that within these colleges ‘differences’ and ’similarities’ are not only discussed but actually created against a backdrop of macro-constraints which are not much scrutinized within these colleges.

The migration towards Digital Terrestrial Television: challenges for public policy and public broadcasters

This paper initially identifies the main transformations of the television system that are caused by digitalization. Its development in several broadcasting platforms is analyzed as well as the particular obstacles and requirements that are detected for each of them. Due to its technical characteristics and its historical link to the public services, the terrestrial network requires migration strategies different from those strictly commercial, and public intervention might be needed. The paper focuses on such migration strategies towards DTT and identifies the main issues for public intervention in the areas of the digital scenario: technology, business and market transformation and the reception field. Moreover, it describes and classifies the challenges that public broadcasters should confront due to digitalization. This paper finally concludes that the leadership of the public broadcasters during the migration towards DTT is an interesting tool for public policy. The need for foster the digitalization of the terrestrial platform and to achieve certain social and public goal besides the market interest brings an opportunity for public institutions and public broadcasters to work together. That leading role could also be positive for the public service to face its necessary redefinition and reallocation within the digital context.

Pharmaceutical generics, vertical product differentiation and public policy

This paper studies oligopolistic competition in off-patent pharmaceuticalmarkets using a vertical product differentiation model. This model canexplain the observation that countries with stronger regulations havesmaller generic market shares. It can also explain the differences inobserved regulatory regimes. Stronger regulation may be due to a higherproportion of production that is done by foreign firms. Finally, a closelyrelated model can account for the observed increase in prices by patentowners after entry of generic producers.

University teacher competences in a virtual teaching/learning environment : analysis of a teacher training experience

This paper attempts to shed light on the competencies a teacher must have inorder to teach in online university environments. We will relate a teacher trainingexperience, which was designed taking into account the methodological criteriaestablished in line with previous theoretical principles. The main objective of ouranalysis is to identify the achievements and difficulties of a specific formativeexperience, with the ultimate goal of assessing the suitability of this conceptualmethodologicalframework for the design of formative proposals aiming to contribute tothe development of teacher competencies for virtual environments.

Barriers to innovation and public policy in Catalonia

The present paper analyses the link between firms’ decisions to innovate and the barriers that prevent them from being innovative. The aim is twofold. First, it analyses three groups of barriers to innovation: the cost of innovation projects, lack of knowledge and market conditions. Second, it presents the main steps taken by Catalan Government to promote the creation of new firms and to reduce barriers to innovation. The data set used is based on the 2004 official innovation survey of Catalonia which was taken from the Spanish CIS-4 sample. This sample includes individual information on 2,954 Catalan firms in manufacturing industries and knowledge-intensive services (KIS). The empirical analysis reveals pronounced differences regarding a firm’s propensity to innovate and its perception of barriers. Moreover, the results show that cost and knowledge barriers seem to be the most important and that there are substantial sectoral differences in the way that firms react to barriers. The results of this paper have important implications for the design of future public policy to promote entrepreneurship and innovation together.

Public policy for entrepreneurship and innovation: impact in managed and entrepreneurial economies

Many of the most advanced economies of the world have undergone significant transformation in the last few decades. Globalization and technological changes, especially developments in information technologies, have helped to stimulate this transformation. These have contributed to changing institutional frameworks in many respects within the economies including adjustments to economic policies. The results of these transformations take many different forms and are manifested in different areas of an economy. At the heart of these changes however, has been the increasingly important role of entrepreneurship in the economy. The transformed ("new") economy stimulates and supports activities in innovation and entrepreneurship and is labelled the entrepreneurial economy. The "old" economy on the other hand restricts such activities and is referred to as the managed economy (Audretsch & Thurik, 2001).

Pharmaceutical Generics, Vertical Product Differentiation, and Public Policy

This paper studies oligopolistic competition in off-patent pharmaceutical markets using a vertical product differentiation model. This model can explain the observation that countries with stronger regulations have smaller generic market shares. It can also explain the differences in observed regulatory regimes. Stronger regulation may be due to a higher proportion of production that is done by foreign firms. Finally, a closely related model can account for the observed increase in prices by patent owners after entry of generic producers.

Models de desenvolupament professional del professor

L'article recull les últimes revisions sobre els models de desenvolupament professional des d'una perspectiva actual i globalitzadora del tema. Exposa cinc models de desenvolupament professional: a) guiat individualment, b) basat en l'observació/evaluació, c)basat en la preparació (formació), d) basat en la implicació en processos de desenvolupament/millora, i e) basat en la indagació. Acaba recollint la proposta del MEC sobre la formació del professorat, dins del nostre context.

Los vaivenes de la formación inicial del profesorado. Una reforma siempre inacabada

Se analiza la actual formación inicial del profesorado de infantil y primaria a partir del nuevo plan de estudios de Grado surgido del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior. Después de una reflexión sobre la temática se expone una investigación sobre el análisis del actu al Grado donde se comprueba, a partir del estudio de la epistemología, la normativa y el currículum, que se continúa formando un perfil de profesorado centrado en su aula, poco implicado en el funcionamiento del centro y menos aún en las relaciones con el entorno escolar. Es decir, la formación inicial del profesorado no ha variado sustancialmente respecto a la de otros planes de estudio anteriores.

Evaluating the effects of decentralization on educational outcomes in Spain

[cat] Diversos arguments derivats de la teoria del federalisme fiscal suggereixen que la descentralització pot portar a majors nivells d’eficiència en la provisió de béns i serveis publics. L’objectiu d’aquest estudi és contrastar aquesta hipòtesi mitjançant l’avaluació dels efectes de la descentralització sobre els resultats educatius a Espanya. Els resultats educatius es mesuren d’acord amb la taxa de supervivència, que es defineix com el nombre d’estudiants que es matricula en educació secundària no obligatòria en relació als alumnes matriculats a l’últim curs d’educació obligatòria durant l’any acadèmic anterior.

Evaluating the effects of decentralization on educational outcomes in Spain

[cat] Diversos arguments derivats de la teoria del federalisme fiscal suggereixen que la descentralització pot portar a majors nivells d’eficiència en la provisió de béns i serveis publics. L’objectiu d’aquest estudi és contrastar aquesta hipòtesi mitjançant l’avaluació dels efectes de la descentralització sobre els resultats educatius a Espanya. Els resultats educatius es mesuren d’acord amb la taxa de supervivència, que es defineix com el nombre d’estudiants que es matricula en educació secundària no obligatòria en relació als alumnes matriculats a l’últim curs d’educació obligatòria durant l’any acadèmic anterior.

Evaluación del proyecto de "mejora de la calidad educativa mediante la incorporación del enfoque de género" en escuelas de República Dominicana: resultados de su impacto

El presente artículo se centra en los resultados obtenidos con el proyecto "Mejora de la calidad educativa mediante la incorporación del Enfoque de Género" realizado en las provincias de "Independencia" y "Elías Piña" de República Dominicana. El proyecto ha consistido en la puesta en práctica de una propuesta pedagógica que recoge actividades formativas y organizativas -talleres, elaboración de materiales, convivencias recreativas, etc.- dirigidas a profesorado, alumnado y familias de las escuelas seleccionadas para cada una de las dos zonas. El artículo se estructura en torno a tres partes. En la primera se describe brevemente el contenido del proyecto realizado a lo largo de sus dos años de ejecución, en la segunda se expone el diseño y el proceso de evaluación del proyecto y, en la tercera, se presentan los resultados del impacto del proyecto en los tres colectivos seis meses después de su finalización.

Evaluación del proyecto de "mejora de la calidad educativa mediante la incorporación del enfoque de género" en escuelas de República Dominicana: resultados de su impacto

El presente artículo se centra en los resultados obtenidos con el proyecto "Mejora de la calidad educativa mediante la incorporación del Enfoque de Género" realizado en las provincias de "Independencia" y "Elías Piña" de República Dominicana. El proyecto ha consistido en la puesta en práctica de una propuesta pedagógica que recoge actividades formativas y organizativas -talleres, elaboración de materiales, convivencias recreativas, etc.- dirigidas a profesorado, alumnado y familias de las escuelas seleccionadas para cada una de las dos zonas. El artículo se estructura en torno a tres partes. En la primera se describe brevemente el contenido del proyecto realizado a lo largo de sus dos años de ejecución, en la segunda se expone el diseño y el proceso de evaluación del proyecto y, en la tercera, se presentan los resultados del impacto del proyecto en los tres colectivos seis meses después de su finalización.

La identificación de buenas prácticas en la mejora de la convivencia : un acercamiento a los centros públicos de Educación Secundaria de Cataluña

The article describes and summarizes some results of the research Identification of the difficulties, collection of good practices and analysis of the improvement processes in Secondary Education Institutes of Catalonia (2011). An approach to the situation of conviviality in the Catalan public Secondary schools gathering the perception of the management teams, through an ethnographic approach and of analysis of the stories. It has its origin in a work commissioned from the General Subdirectorate of Permanent Teacher Training of the Generalitat of Catalonia, developed in the context of the module “Conviviality and Organization of Centres”, within the program of permanent training of management teams. It falls in line with action-oriented research to improve practice. The paper gathers and synthesizes the results obtained in the collection and systematization of the proposed improvements. It is structured in three parts: a) a theoretical analysis which conceptualizes violence / conviviality and sense of good practices; b) the explanation of the design, methodology and development of research and c) the categorization of the improvement proposals and the conclusions of the work