This study analyses levels of school segregation of students of immigrant origin in a city of the south of Europe, namely, Barcelona, which is characterised by a rapidly increasing growth of ...international immigration in recent decades and moderate or even low levels of residential segregation of immigrants. Besides its analysis of nationality and origin, its main contribution is that it explores a generational typology classifying students according to their place of birth, year of arrival and origin of progenitors, thus revealing different degrees of school segregation in keeping with each student's migratory history. Moreover, in the context of a dual school system (public and private), segregation is analysed by breaking it down in accordance with state or private ownership of the school. The results indicate a marked degree of segregation among students of the first generation and also among descendants of immigrants, showing how the dual school system is responsible for a significant part of the segregation, and that comparison of residential and school segregation always shows that the latter is greater.
The inadequacy of urban scale in analyzing school system restructuring has generated criticism. Thus, this study interprets school system restructuring as a locally embodied process that produces ...variegated externalities for local people. This interpretation shifts the position of school system restructuring within the debate on new urban politics (NUP). Following the post-democratic understanding of NUP, we propose three research questions. Firstly, how does school system restructuring produce a new benefit structure that potentially causes dissent from the local society? Secondly, how do different social forces shape the restructuring? Thirdly, how can consensus on the restructuring be reached? We answer by using China as a case study. China has undergone a shift from a public school system to a mixed provision-regulation regime since the 1990s. The comparative analysis of two Chinese cities illustrates the differences in the school system restructuring embedded in local entrepreneurial strategy and the crucial role of the local state in facilitating the restructuring. In Chengdu, school system restructuring has resulted in dissent from middle class households that have the power to reshape the restructuring. In Mianyang, the school system restructuring disadvantaged the working class who was persuaded by the municipality's discursive strategy to accept the restructuring.
Disputing Discipline explores how global and local children’s rights activists’ efforts within the school systems of Zanzibar to eradicate corporal punishment are changing the archipelago’s moral and ...political landscape. Through an equal consideration of child and adult perspectives, Fay explores what child protection means for Zanzibari children who have to negotiate their lives at the intersections of universalized and local child protection aspirations while growing up to be pious and responsible adults. Through a visual and participatory ethnographic approach that foregrounds young people’s voices through their poetry, photographs, and drawings, paired with in-depth Swahili language analysis, Fay shows how children’s views and experiences can transform our understanding of child protection. This book demonstrates that to improve interventions, policy makers and practitioners need to understand child protection beyond a policy sense of the term and respond to the reality of children’s lives to avoid unintentionally compromising, rather than improving, young people’s well-being.
The important role of self‐efficacy (SE) in students' motivation, engagement, persistence, and academic achievements has been reconfirmed by ample research, both in general and for STEM disciplines. ...As most studies focused on traditional school systems, additional research is needed on how science SE develops in different educational environments, which was the goal of this study. Data were collected from 1979 students in Grades 5–9 from 19 traditional, Waldorf, and democratic schools in Israel. Students completed a questionnaire that assessed their science self‐efficacy (SSE), general and academic self‐efficacy (GASE), and the sources of their SSE: teachers', parents', and peers' social persuasions, vicarious experiences and mastery experiences. Results revealed that SSE and GASE differed in their levels and in the way they changed with grade. These differences, and variations in the roles of the various sources of SSE, appeared to be influenced by the schools' cultures and curricula. Quantitative results are accompanied by verbal illustrative examples from interviews with students and teachers.
Zusammenfassung In diesem Beitrag geht es um Wertekonfigurationen in Lehrplantexten unterschiedlicher Schularten. Mit der empirischen Studie werden die fachübergreifenden Richtlinien von vier ...Lehrplänen in Bayern inhaltsanalytisch untersucht und die darin vorfindlichen Wertespektren nach Schulart verglichen. Die Studie knüpft an einen in den letzten Jahrzehnten kaum empirisch bearbeiteten Diskurs zu Werten in Lehrplänen an und ist in diesem Sinne explorativ. Das Kategoriensystem wurde auf Basis der Schwartzschen Theorie der „Basic individual values“ entwickelt. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass über alle Schularten hinweg, die Werte der Selbstbestimmung, des Universalismus, der Benevolenz, der Leistung und der Konformität bedeutsam sind. Unterschiede lassen sich zwischen den Schularten im Stellenwert dieser Werte aufzeigen. In den fachübergreifenden Lehrplantexten bayerischer Gymnasien werden häufiger als in Realschulen und Mittel‑/Hauptschulen Werte der Selbstbestimmung thematisiert; hier steht im Vergleich die Entfaltung der eigenen Persönlichkeit häufiger im Mittelpunkt als die Orientierung am Gemeinsinn. Umgekehrt spielen für fachübergreifende Lehrplantexte an bayerischen Mittelschulen/Hauptschulen Benevolenzwerte eine größere Rolle. In den Texten werden für alle Schularten antagonistische Werte thematisiert; hier unterscheidet sich der Lehrplan für das Gymnasium leicht von den anderen dreien hinsichtlich einer häufigeren Nennung der Gleichzeitigkeit von Offenheit für Veränderungen und Erhaltung des Gegebenen sowie von persönlichem und sozialem Fokus. Die Befunde werden diskutiert und die methodischen Implikationen sowie der weitere Forschungsbedarf dieser explorativen Studie identifiziert.
Abstract This paper examines which values are expressed in the curricula of different school types. In the empirical study, the cross-curricular curriculum texts of four curricula (Grundschule = primary school; Mittel‑/Hauptschule = secondary school for basic education, grades 5–10; Realschule = secondary school, grades 5–10; Gymnasium = secondary school, grades 5–13, preparing for university) in Bavaria are analysed. The resulting value spectra are compared by school type. The discourse on values in curricula, which has hardly been examined empirically in recent decades, is the subject of this study. The category system of the content analysis was developed on the basis of Schwartz’s theory of “basic individual values”. The results show that the values of self-determination, universalism, benevolence, achievement and conformity are significant across all types of school. There are small differences between the texts for the different types of school. In the cross-curricular chapters of the Bavarian Gymnasium school curricula, the values of self-determination are discussed more frequently than in secondary modern schools and lower secondary schools. In comparison, the development of one’s own personality is more important than orientation towards the common good. Conversely, the values of benevolence play a greater role in the cross-curricular curriculum texts at the Bavarian Hauptschule. The values of antagonism are dealt with in all types of school. However, the Gymnasium curriculum differs slightly in that the simultaneity of openness to change and preservation of the given, as well as personal and social orientation, are mentioned more frequently. The results are discussed, and the implications and limitations of this exploratory study are identified.
La escuela rural es una realidad en los cinco continentes, con rasgos característicos propios, aunque muy influenciables por las políticas educativas que se implementan en los diferentes países. En ...este estudio nos preguntamos cuál es el estado de la investigación sobre la política escolar rural a nivel internacional, para lo que realizamos un análisis bibliométrico de los artículos científicos publicados en los últimos veinte años. Los resultados revelan la existencia de 20 estudios, en los que examinamos las propensiones investigadoras y las políticas analizadas. Identificamos una clara tendencia de investigación: predominio de estudios cualitativos dirigidos a examinar políticas que se están implementando con participación del profesorado. Asimismo, las políticas educativas examinadas se inician en el ámbito de la salud y el curriculum, y se han ido diversificando hacia la gestión escolar, las políticas nacionales y supranacionales y la equidad. Cabe concluir que estamos ante un campo incipiente como objeto de estudio en el que están apareciendo diferentes estudios disgregados que no revelan cuáles son las principales políticas a asumir en las escuelas rurales para que puedan desarrollar una identidad y autonomía propia.
Averiguar los motivos por los cuales los conocimientos científicos sobre el cambio climático no llegan a las aulas escolares es el principal objetivo de este trabajo. Para ello, en este trabajo se ...evalúa la producción científica del saber académico. Y, a continuación, se contrasta dicho saber con el que entiende y propone el profesorado en activo y en formación de Geografía e Historia de Educación Secundaria. Se presenta un estudio de caso de la Universitat de València (UV, España) dentro del modelo ex post facto, que permite conocer las tendencias que se manifiestan en el comportamiento de las personas que se van a dedicar a la docencia en dicho ámbito. Se ha utilizado una muestra representativa con el profesorado en formación (Máster de Educación Secundaria) y del profesorado en ejercicio (grupo Gea-Clío), a partir del empleo de cuestionarios, entrevistas y grupos focales. Los resultados apuntan a la pervivencia de los estereotipos del conocimiento vulgar que condicionan la representación social de la función docente en las expectativas del futuro profesorado; dos terceras partes de los/as participantes indican la contaminación como el origen del calentamiento global y, respecto a las consecuencias, destacan cuatro principales: extinción de especies, aumento de la temperatura global, desastres naturales y el deshielo. En el caso del profesorado en activo, lo que se observa es un predominio de los mismos factores antropogénicos, pero se dan matices y, sobre todo, una referencia a la forma de informarse. Como conclusión, las concepciones derivadas de los hábitos y sentido práctico de la enseñanza condicionan el aprendizaje de las informaciones de hechos conceptuales. Una situación que se repite de forma rutinaria si no se corrigen estas tendencias.
Environmental education (EE) in elementary schools (6 − 15 years old) in Slovakia is not systematically defined, it is often dependent on the voluntary efforts and enthusiasm of teachers. ...Schoolchildren acquire environmental knowledge in a limited form during the teaching of individual subjects, especially Biology, Geography and to some extent, also Chemistry, Physics etc. In elementary schools, the school subject of EE is absent. Therefore, the aim of the presented study is to find out the current situation in formal and informal EE at elementary schools in Slovakia. We gathered data on formal EE in the form of a google questionnaire survey, in which only 18% of all elementary schools in Slovakia were willing to participate. Through some questions in the google questionnaire, these elementary schools also provided informations about the inclusion of formal, informal and non-formal education at elementary schools. Our SWOT analysis indicate a need for systematic EE in elementary schools, as well as improvements of teaching materials and teacher training in this area. At the same time, we present the EE model at the Rakovec nad Ondavou Elementary School with Kindergarten, which is included in the Green School Network and actively involved in Erasmus projects providing the opportunity to implement part of the study and internships abroad.
Whereas the extraordinary pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic on student mental health have received considerable attention, less attention has been placed on educator well-being. School system ...employees play a vital role in society, and teacher levels of well-being are associated with the educational outcomes of young people. We extend extant research on the prevalence and correlates of educator distress during the pandemic by reporting on a pragmatic randomized wait-list controlled trial (N = 662; 64% teachers) of an innovative mental health promotion strategy implemented during the pandemic; a free 4-week smartphone-based meditation app designed to train key constituents of well-being (Healthy Minds Program HMP). Following our preregistered analysis plan and consistent with hypotheses, assignment to the HMP predicted significantly larger reductions in psychological distress, our primary outcome, at post intervention (Cohen's d = −.53, 95% CI −.69, −.38, p < .001) and at the 3-month follow-up (d = −.33 −.48, −.18, p < .001). Also consistent with hypotheses, we observed similar indications of immediate and sustained benefit following the HMP on all six preregistered secondary outcomes selected to tap skills targeted in the app (e.g., perseverative thinking, social connection, well-being; absolute ds = .19-.42, all ps < .031 corrected except mindful action at follow-up). We found no evidence for elevated adverse events, and the HMP was equally effective among participants with elevated baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms. These data suggest that the HMP may be an effective and scalable approach to supporting the mental health and well-being of teachers and other school system employees, with implications for employee retention and performance and student outcomes.
Educational Impact and Implications Statement
Although teachers and other school system employees play a vital role in society and have reported high levels of distress during the COVID-19 pandemic, relatively little attention has been placed on promoting their mental health and well-being. In a randomized trial of 662 Wisconsin school system employees (64.4% teachers) conducted during the pandemic, we report that a 4-week smartphone-based meditation app significantly reduced psychological distress and improved well-being, while also strengthening key skills underlying well-being (e.g., cognitive defusion, social connection) immediately following the intervention and three months after it. Mobile meditation-based interventions may be an effective and scalable approach to supporting the mental health and well-being of teachers and other school system employees, with implications for several critical challenges facing educational systems, including employee retention and performance and the relationship of these to student outcomes.
Instructional leadership is a school leadership approach that prioritizes enhancing the quality of teaching and learning. This study explores how the principal's instructional leadership influences ...the school's middle leadership. The study participants were 24 principals from elementary schools in Israel, and data collection involved conducting semi-structured interviews. The collected data underwent three stages of analysis: sorting, coding, and categorizing. The findings revealed three key areas in which the principal's instructional leadership influences the school's middle leadership: the expectations of middle leaders, the selection and appointment of middle leaders, and the hierarchical structure of middle leaders within the school. These findings highlight the comprehensive impact of instructional leadership on various organizational aspects of middle leadership in schools.