Developing Digital Competences. Work learn trajectories in Italian School System

The work based learning is the core European dispositions on educational and training issue and a pillar of the Europe 2020 strategy (EUCOM 2009/C119/02). Therefore, the educational system has to increase the quality of standards and learning results in order to response adequately to competence needs and to permit the successful entrance of the youth in the world of work. The SWA is a coherent reaction. Indeed, the current literature lead to reflect on the SWA as a new prospective of school and world of work relationship (Arlotti and Barberis 2015), and as a resolution for the skills mismatch (Caputo and Capecchi 2016; Froy, Giguere, Hofer, 2009; A. Green, Hasluck, Hogarth, Reynolds, 2003). In a context which needs a different school that provides different types of skills, it is desirable that a policy instrument such as the SWA – became mandatory by the reform “La Buona Scuola” (Law 107/2015) – is included in the scientific debate, especially for its potential to contribute to renewal of the school system. Many authors encourage the scientific debate regarding the question to clarify the peculiar characteristics of the SWA model in Italy and to begin effective reflection on its revolutionary impact for the school system. According to Tino and Fideli (2015), the SWA is a process, not only as an experience, a fundamental methodology to promote the knowledge of the world of work and the development of competences (professional and citizenship) thanks to the interconnection between formal-informal learning and creative combination process between theory and practice

IBM: Building a Smarter Planet (Interview with Sandy Dochan and Jeff Tieszen)

A candid discussion is presented with two IBM corporate managers regarding IBM‘s history and current involvement in sustainable global development. This frank interview travels from the roots of the organization through the changing leadership of today, explores dilemmas experienced and lessons learned, and identifies the challenges and successes of one of the largest multi-national corporate entities in the world marketplace

Religions and education in England: social plurality, civil religion and religious education pedagogy

In England, religious groups have been involved since the nineteenth century in partnership with the state in the provision of schools and the curriculum subject of religious education. Institutionally, the Church of England holds a privileged place as the established church. Changes in society have led to more equality within education between religious traditions, initially for the Roman Catholic and Jewish communities and more recently for other traditions. These changes included increasing secularisation in the 1960s and 1970s; and the pluralisation of society, mainly through migration. Britain has had long experience of migration and settlement of peoples, especially from former colonies in South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. In the light of the 2001 census data, considered together with figures on regular church attendance, Britain might be described as a society combining various kinds of Christian, secular and multifaith elements

Are Scottish primary schools becoming more enterprising?

Enterprise in education features in the political as well as the educational agenda and enterprise activities are now a compulsory part of Scottish Education for all pupils from P1 to S6. The profile of enterprise in education increased with the publication of Determined to Succeed and the responses to it (Scottish Executive 2002b, 2003, 2004a, 2006, 2007). This article examines definitions of enterprise and seeks to identify what it means to be enterprising. Existing practice is compared and contrasted and the widening perspective of the meaning of creating enterprising individuals is discussed. The publication of A Curriculum for Excellence, (Scottish Executive 2004b) highlights the need for all children to develop their capabilities as 'successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors to society.' Enterprise in education is seen as one way to contribute to this. The research raises questions about how Curriculum for Excellence will enable the curriculum to become more enterprising

Mapping wisdom as a complex adaptive system

This is the second of two papers concerning wisdom as an ecosystem appearing in sequential editions of Management & Marketing journal. The notion of wisdom as an ecosystem, or "the wisdom ecology", builds on work by Hays (2007) who first identified wisdom as an organisational construct and proposed a dynamic model of it. The centrepiece of this and its former companion paper is a relationship map of the Wisdom Ecosystem (the Causal Loop Diagram at Figure 1). The first paper, "The Ecology of Wisdom", introduced readers to the topics of wisdom and complex adaptive systems, and presented a dynamic model of the Wisdom Ecosystem. This second paper discusses systems dynamics modelling (mapping systems) and covers the Wisdom Ecosystem model in detail. It describes the four domains, or subsystems, of the Wisdom Ecosystem, Dialogue, Communal Mind, Collective Intelligence, and Wisdom, and walks readers through the model, exploring each of its 25 elements in turn. It examines the relationships amongst system elements and illuminates important aspects of systems function, providing a rare tutorial on developing and using Causal Loop Diagrams.Causal Loop Diagramming, Complexity, Dialogue, Organisational Learning, Systems Dynamics, Wisdom.

Challenging homophobic bullying in schools: the politics of progress

In recent years homophobic bullying has received increased attention from NGOs, academics and government sources and concern about the issue crosses traditional moral and political divisions. This article examines this ‘progressive’ development and identifies the ‘conditions of possibility’ that have enabled the issue to become a harm that can be spoken of. In doing so it questions whether the readiness to speak about the issue represents the opposite to prohibitions on speech (such as the notorious Section 28) or whether it is based on more subtle forms of governance. It argues that homophobic bullying is heard through three key discourses (‘child abuse’, ‘the child victim’ and ‘the tragic gay’) and that, while enabling an acknowledgement of certain harms, they simultaneously silence other needs and experiences. It then moves to explore the aspirational and ‘liberatory’ political investments that underlie these seemingly ‘common-sense’ descriptive discourses and concludes with a critique of the quasi-criminal responses that the dominant political agenda of homophobic bullying gives rise to. The article draws on, and endeavours to develop a conversation between, critical engagements with the contemporary politics of both childhood and sexuality

Ponte Las Pilas: Hidden Narratives and Latinidad at Macalester College

Latinxs in higher education, while numerous, still lag behind all major racial groups in terms of graduation. Why is that? It is society’s hope that education will provide equal opportunity and a path out of poverty, but are schools really providing equal opportunities for attainment or are they simply reproducing inequalities in society? To what extent does this idea, if at all, exist even at liberal and multiculturally focused institutions like Macalester? I ask first generation Latinx alumni to recount their college experiences at Mac in order understand how their narratives compared to those promoted in college advertisements on the official website and Youtube account. What emerges from interviews with alumni are intense feelings of isolation based on not only racial but also class differences. It seems that colleges and universities do a lot to bring racial and economic minorities onto their campuses but often lack a community to support them. Now the question is, what needs to change in order for higher education to become truly accessible

A geographical issue: the contribution of Citizenship Education to the building of a European citizenship. The case of the VOICEs Comenius network

Citizenship Education is currently a consolidated issue within several European curricula. It has been integrated in national educational laws in different ways: as cross-curricular education (UK, Italy), as a subject (France, Spain) or as a skill (Ireland). Despite these differences, there is a common agreement on the ethical value of Citizenship Education and on its main aim: to foster students’ sense of local, national and European citizenship. In some ways this goal has been inspired by Morin’s path to a “plural” education and a planetary citizenship (Morin, 2000). Social sciences, and in particular Geography and History, keep the function of giving tools able to show how a dialogue among the different scales is possible. Nevertheless European citizenship is undergoing a constant redefinition due to the European enlargement process, the role of Europe inside national jurisdictions and to the changes in national curricula. This evolution directly affects the guiding function conferred to school in terms of skills, aims and themes; therefore competences and methods adopted by teachers may have to be reconsidered. This essay presents the first results of the updating of the state of the art of this issue that has been carried out by the Citizenship Education Research Group of the VOICEs Comenius network (The Voice of European Teachers). The main aim of this international research group is to face the challenge of building a European citizenship by developing a comparative analysis of teachers’ practices and strategies in different local, regional and national contexts, aiming to contribute, with renewed ideas, to the debate on this promising field of research

The appeal of the international Baccalaureate in Australia's educational market: a curriculum of choice of mobile futures

In Australia there is growing interest in a national curriculum to replace the variety of matriculation credentials managed by State Education departments, ostensibly to address increasing population mobility. Meanwhile, the International Baccalaureate (IB) is attracting increasing interest and enrolments in State and private schools in Australia, and has been considered as one possible model for a proposed Australian Certificate of Education. This paper will review the construction of this curriculum in Australian public discourse as an alternative frame for producing citizens, and ask why this design appeals now, to whom, and how the phenomenon of its growing appeal might inform national curricular debates. The IB’s emergence is understood with reference to the larger context of neo-liberal marketization policies, neo-conservative claims on the curriculum and middle class strategy. The paper draws on public domain documents from the IB Organisation and newspaper reportage to demonstrate how the IB is constructed for public consumption in Australia