The “re-socialization” of Gypsy women in the literacy courses aimed to the recipients of the Social Integration Revenue Policy of the Region of Madrid

This article studies the gender values that are promoted both in the literacy courses for gypsy women beneficiaries of the Social Integration Revenue Policy of the Region of Madrid and in the events that are organized for this group by public institutions and NGOs. The process of “socialization” that occurs in the educative groups for Gypsy women is focused on constructing an image of what it is to be a “Gypsy modern woman”. Through multiple mechanisms and discursive techniques a specific conception of gender equality is transmitted in these educative spaces. In addition to this, Gypsy women are continually urged to assume certain values and social practices (of gender identity, of "citizenship", of parenting, etc..), while an archetype of "Gypsy Woman" which condenses powerful stereotypes and prejudices about the "Gypsy culture" and the gender relations characteristics of this group is constructed.

Conditional cash transfer programs and the representations of poverty in Bolivia and Peru

Bolivia and Peru adopted the same instruments of social policy —conditional cash transfer programs— to solve the same public problems under different political regimes. By means of the qualitative methodology of discourse analysis, this paper studies the representations of poverty and State made by key actors of those social programs. Underlying more differences than similarities, one demonstrates that the same social policy is linked to opposite social representations of poverty and the State role in every country. The main explanation for this is, far from being imposed by international organizations, those programs are adopted and adapted by each political regime.

Reception and schooling of children in schools in Catalonia: Beyond Educational Welcome Facilities

The ways of incorporating newcoming students into schools and colleges have been at the center of debate in most OECD countries in recent years. In Spain, the set of measures developed for the reception of immigrant pupils in different Autonomous Communities has also been the subject of specific research, pointing out the similarities and contradictions between pedagogic discourses and school practices. This article takes into account these considerations and presents the reflections from the results of research on the Educational Welcome Facilities (and specifically the EBE) conducted during the school years 2008-2010. This device was created in Catalonia to attend newcomers before enrolling them in the school. It was a pilot project which took place in Vic and Reus for two consecutive years. The research of the EBE has enabled us to explain the relationship between educational assessment that schools made about this facility and reception processes that schools were implementing. The conclusions that emerge from this analysis allowed us to establish relationships between educational host practices of the seven centers analyzed with three different conceptual and educational frameworks of reception.

Calibration of assessment instruments – classification in mathematics at the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano

Item Response Theory, IRT, is a valuable methodology for analyzing the quality of the instruments utilized in assessment of academic achievement. This article presents an implementation of the mentioned theory, particularly of the Rasch model, in order to calibrate items and the instrument used in the classification test for the Basic Mathematics subject at Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano. 509 responses chains of students, obtained in the june 2011 application, were analyzed with a set of 45 items, through eight case studies that are showing progressive steps of calibration. Criteria of validity of items and of whole instrument were defined and utilized, to select groups of responses chains and items that were finally used in the determination of parameters which then allowed the classification of assessed students by the test.

Blogs as virtual environments for teaching and learning in Higher Education

The transformation of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into knowledge and learning technologies is increasingly becoming a matter of concern. Teaching settings associated with the use of blogs in Higher Education are presented in this paper, proceeding from an innovative learning experience of projects carried out by a group of professors between 2009 and 2013. Both, teachers and students who took part in the subjects that implemented the blog, considered it as helpful resource to create a virtual and learning-teaching environment due to the multiple potentialities it offers. Among some of these potentialities, some stand out: it makes easier the access to knowledge, promotes a more active and reflective learning, expands the social experience of learning, provides evidence about the students’ progress which helps to reorient the teaching-learning process, and encourages the critical judgment. Nevertheless, several problems related with the students’ participation and the teacher’s blog management have been identified.

Analysis of the admissions tests for teacher training in Spain and Finland: knowledge or competences

One of the most decisive factors in the quality of education and academic performance of students is quality, preparation and dedication of the teachers. The exquisite system of selecting candidates for teacher training programs is one of the fundamentals of success of the Finnish Education System. The responsibility of choosing the best students to convert them into teachers is a challenge that involves a significant reform of university admission. Achieving this goal involves the choice of strategies and educational tools in accordance to the complexity of the demands presented by the teaching profession in the digital age. This study describes, analyzes and compares the admission tests in the University of Spain (PAU) and Finland (VAKAVA), for those who wish to become professional educators, in order to understand the possible influence of these tests to select the most suitable candidates to develop into future teaching professionals. The results showed that in Spain, the entrance test to universities is developed in a general way for all the students that aspire to any field of knowledge, while in Finland, the test is specific and particular for students aspiring to the field of education. The results of this study can guide and encourage the necessary changes that have to be done in the admission tests to Spanish university in general and to teacher education faculties in particular.

Génesis de la formación permanente del profesorado de Educación Física

El presente artículo trata de realizar una revisión histórica sobre los inicios de la formación permanente del profesorado de educación física en España y más concretamente en el ámbito de la Comunidad Autónoma Andaluza, como uno de los elementos fundamentales de la mejora de la calidad docente en los actuales sistemas educativos. Para ello, se realiza una profunda revisión legislativa desde los primeros intentos de actualización y formación del profesor del siglo XVIII hasta los cambios educativos surgidos hasta después de la Guerra Civil Española. Las conclusiones han demostrado que aunque los docentes de Gimnasia (Educación Física actual) siempre tuvieron un tratamiento y consideración especial que les diferenciaba del resto de docentes de otras materias, en contra de lo que se podía pensar, siempre han estado presentes desde el inicio de las actividades de Formación Permanente, en las diferentes propuestas de actividades para poder mejorar su docencia e incrementar la consideración social de esta materia, como una parte importante de los diferentes planes de estudio.

Analysis of the reading and comprehension control in scientific texts in high school students

Students' learning process can be negatively affected when their reading and comprehension control is not appropriated. This research focuses on the analysis of how a group of students from high school evaluate their reading comprehension in manipulated scientific texts. An analysis tool was designed to determine the students' degree of comprehension control when reading a scientific short text with an added contradiction. The results have revealed that the students from 1st and 3rd ESO do not properly self-evaluated their reading comprehension. A different behavior has been observed in 1st Bachillerato, where appropriate evaluation and regulation seem to be more frequent. Moreover, no significant differences have been found regarding the type of text, year or gender. Finally, as identified by previous research, the correlations between the students' comprehension control and their school marks have shown to have a weak relationship and inversely proportional to the students' age.

Pupil participation in school life: an approach from the educational community

The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989) is currently the most ratified international treaty. Several authors have highlighted its potential for both a moral education and citizenship. However, paradoxically, different studies report its limited or occasional incorporation into school practices. This article explores experiences of participation in schools,the third P of the CRC, from the plurality of voices and actors of the educational community,by means of 14 discussion groups in 11 autonomous communities in Spain. Discourse analysis evidence low levels of student participation in school life. But, at the same time, a favorable educational environment for the development of projects that contribute to child participation is found, as well as for the incorporation of the CRC as a mover and a referential integrator of the different schools projects. However, it is also an educational background conductive to projects for its development, such as the incorporation of the CRC as a referential integrator of the schools projects.

Alien gosd in the new epics: Noah remythologised through the ancient astronaut hypothesis in Abel's Montagut's "La gesta d'Utnoa"

Modern scientific world-view has undermined traditional myths, the functional survival of which seems to depend today in the West on a positivist justification. This would place them in the field of real History, through their study and revitalization by pseudoscientific disciplines such as the Atlantis and the ancient astronaut hypotheses. These have inspired new epic poems in (regular) verse that combine classic and/or biblical myths with a (pseudo)scientific modern world-view. For example, the critical rewriting of Noah’s myth by using the ancient astronaut hypothesis as a fictional device to produce a contemporary kind of plausibility allowed Abel Montagut to renew epic poetry, updating it also by adopting science fiction chronotopes in order to structure his fictional construction and to generate a high ethical sense for our time. Thus, his Poemo de Utnoa (1993) / La gesta d’Utnoa (1996), which has become a major classic of the literature in Esperanto thanks to its original version in this language, is a landmark of both science fiction and neo-biblical epics. This poem is written from a secular and purely literary perspective.

Agricultura urbana, condición para el desarrollo sostenible y la mejora del paisaje

Este artículo resulta de investigaciones en torno al “enverdecimiento” de las ciudades y las oportunidades de la agricultura urbana para la alimentación de una población en constante aumento que no trabaja la tierra. También es fruto de actividades de mejora de ambientes urbanos realizadas con la Escuela de Ingenieros Agrónomos de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. A través de casos de agricultura urbana, entendiendo por ella el conjunto de prácticas para la producción de alimentos y plantas ornamentales dentro de las ciudades y en sus entornos, se analizan alternativas para la recuperación de espacios construidos e incremento de la calidad de vida de la población. Todo ello se traduce, además, en creación de riqueza y mejora del paisaje urbano, siempre desde criterios de sostenibilidad que favorecen el desarrollo local desde la Cumbre de la Tierra de Río de 1992 y la Conferencia sobre Desarrollo Sostenible Río+20 de 2013.

Rastros del exilio e inspiración autobiográfica en las historias de "Las confidentes" (1997) de Angelina Muñiz

La vida y obra de Angelina Muñiz-Huberman (1939) han sido fuertemente influenciadas por el exilio sufrido por sus padres. Por azares del destino, la escritora nació en Hyères, Francia y enseguida la familia se instaló en París en espera del término de la guerra de España. Después de la trágica muerte del hermano mayor y una vez Franco en el poder, se embarcan rumbo a Cuba, donde pasan tres años paradisíacos alejados de España, de la guerra y del resto del mundo. Finalmente en 1942, se trasladan a México donde se establecen de forma definitiva. El libro Las confidentes (1997) contiene quince historias que van desarrollando algunos de estos puntos decisivos en la personalidad de la “hispanomexicana”. En ocasiones los elementos autobiográficos sobrepasan la personalidad de los protagonistas y en otras el exilio es el motor de la narración.

Emergencias de la mediación intelectual. "La Revista de América" (París, 1912-1914) y la red de escritores latinoamericanos en Europa a comienzos del siglo XX

Este trabajo estudia el proyecto editorial de la Revista de América (1912-1914), fundada en París y dirigida por Francisco García Calderón. Mi propósito es analizar el modo en que muchos de los vínculos entre los escritores latinoamericanos radicados en París entre fines del siglo XIX y la Primera Guerra Mundial se materializaron en la edición de revistas. Propongo examinar las estrategias de difusión de las producciones latinoamericanas en el Viejo Continente, como así también algunos aspectos ideológicos y de intervención intelectual que la revista llegó a articular. En un primer momento, me detengo en los rasgos materiales tanto del proyecto editorial de la revista como de los vínculos entre los latinoamericanos desterrados. Luego indago las distintas formas de mediación crítica, por un lado, y cultural, por otro, que la revista escenificó y, en algunos casos, desarrolló activamente. En efecto, la revista de García Calderón vuelve visible una dimensión mediadora en varios sentidos: mediación crítica entre productores y lectores, pues se propuso como instancia de difusión, al convocar a “a los mejores escritores latinoamericanos”. Al mismo tiempo, propuso otras dos mediaciones: entre pares, al funcionar como consagradora, seleccionando y agrupando simbólicamente a los escritores de cada país latinoamericano. Finalmente, una mediación intercontinental entre culturas en la contemporaneidad, que intentó acercar dos gestos en la acción de la revista: una legitimación del pensamiento y el arte “de ultramar” y una valoración de los desarrollos artísticos europeos del presente.