“My tutor doesn’t say that”: The legitimized voices in dialogic reflection on teaching practices

In the construction of teachers’ professional knowledge, reflective practices are a fundamental tool that responds to the need to connect theoretical principles with practical resources and to the improvement of teaching by means of critical analysis. The Practicum, as a dialogic structure for the explanation and interpretation of teaching practices, provides teachers in training an opportunity to build their own understanding based on dialogue and reflection. Invocation is one of the resources used to legitimize scientific or disciplinary knowledge in joint reflection. Qualified voices are called and made present in classroom discourse to validate descriptions or explanations. We are interested in defining the profile of the invocations introduced in dialogic reflection, as sources of legitimation of knowledge, and identify the patterns in the sequence of the invocations' appearance. This work consists of an exploratory study of multiple cases, in which each case is a classroom unit composed of a tutor and her student teachers. Two cases from the Practicum in a Primary Education Teacher Degree were selected. A category system was developed for the analysis of invocations and organized into four dimensions: academic or professional knowledge, experiential knowledge, invocation of truth, and invocation of ideology or values. Results allow us to highlight some relevant conclusions. Invocations are a widespread resource in a process of dialogic reflection to legitimize the interpretation of educational practices. The participation of student teachers in dialogic reflection is possible and abundant thanks to the experience of the Practicum, which provides a validity criterion for their arguments, supported by the invocation to the authority of teaching experiences. In this study, tutors’ efforts to connect pedagogical principles with personal experiences in the Practicum have not clearly translated into student reflections in the same direction. The paper finishes paying attention to the competencies and training that Practicum tutors need

“Cómo podríamos explicar lo que está pasando aquí”Las ayudas ofrecidas por tutores y tutoras del Prácticum en la formación inicial del profesorado

Reflection is a vital component in professional teaching practices. The idea from which reflection itself stems is that of teachers’ agency in their own professional development. Our study is rooted in recent research into the need to support processes of reflection among student teachers. From a historical-cultural perspective, our aim is to analyze the discursive interactions which take place during collaborative seminars in an innovation experience within a reflective Practicum, and to describe how the university tutors support and foster reflection on practice. We use a multiple case design in which each case is a classroom unit made up of a tutor and her students. We identified 24 types of discursive educational supports or Aids to Joint Reflection. Results indicate a profile characterized by the presence of aids related to three dimensions: dialogical, interpretative and theory-practice relationships. Contributions are made for the training of student teachers and for practicum tutors.La reflexión es un componente vital en las prácticas docentes profesionales. La idea de la que parte la reflexión misma es la importancia de la agencia de los futuros docentes en su propio desarrollo profesional. Nuestro estudio tiene sus raíces en investigaciones recientes sobre la necesidad de apoyar procesos de reflexión entre los estudiantes de magisterio. Desde una perspectiva histórico-cultural, nuestro objetivo es analizar las interacciones discursivas que tienen lugar durante los seminarios colaborativos en una experiencia de innovación dentro de un Prácticum reflexivo, y describir cómo los tutores universitarios apoyan y fomentan la reflexión sobre la práctica. Utilizamos un diseño de casos múltiples en el que cada caso es una unidad de aula formada por una tutora y sus alumnos. Identificamos 24 tipos de apoyos educativos discursivos o Ayudas a la Reflexión Conjunta. Los resultados indican un perfil caracterizado por la presencia de ayudas relacionadas con tres dimensiones: relaciones dialógicas, interpretativas y teoría-práctica. Se realizan aportes para la formación de futuros maestros y tutores de prácticas

Bases teóricas para una concepción heterogénea del pensamiento verbal

En este trabajo se presentan las bases conceptuales de la hipótesis de la Heterogeneidad de Pensamiento Verbal como alternativa conceptual para interpretar la relación entre cultura y cognición. Básicamente prodríamos citar tres: a) las ideas de Lévy-Bruhl, gracias a las cuales podemos defender la existencia de cambios cualitativos, en una cultura y en un individuo, en la manera de pensar; b) la concepción de Vygotski sobre el desarrollo de los conceptos con la que podemos explicar el cambio en las unidades del pensamiento. Esta nos permitirá establecer conclusiones sobre qué es lo que cambia en el pensamiento humano; c) la Teoría de la Actividad desarrollada por Leontiev, así como las extensiones que de esta hace Wertsch, al presentar el concepto de escenario de actividad como motor de los cambios en el pensamiento. Esta concepción nos dará la clave de por qué cambia el pensamiento verbal.This paper describes three conceptual bases for the hypothesis of the heterogeneity of verbal thinking as a conceptual alternative for the understanding of the relationship between culture and cognition: 1) The ideas of Lévy-Bruhl, which allow us to defend the existence of qualitative change in ways of thinking both in a culture and in an individual. 2) The Vygotskian analysis of the development of concepts which permits an explanation of the change in the units of thinking. This will allow us to establish conclusions about what it is that changes in hurman thought. 3) The Theory of Activity developed by Leontiev, as well as Wertsch's development of this theory introducing the concept of the activity setting as a motor of change in thinking. This conception will provide us with the key as to why verbal thinking changes

Modes of discourse: Ways for thinking actual debates in socio-cultural studies

The aim of the present paper is to analyze the various types of discourse and the different modes of thinking linked to them. The paper defends the heterogeneous nature of thinking more to the different activity setting in which the subjects carry out their actions than to the culture in itself. To demostrate this, the paper presents a series of episodes which contain different ways of justifying the way in which a task had been carried out. The information was obtained through the observation of Adult Education Students carrying out everyday and formal tasks. The analysis is based on the discoursive forms used by the subjects and the ways of thinking that these reflect

From current to possible selves: Self-descriptions of resilient post-compulsory secondary education Spanish students at risk of social exclusion

Being in a situation of social exclusion limits the potential of individuals and hinders their possibility to have a dignified life. In order to avoid social exclusion and marginalization, adequate access to formal education is vital. However, continuing education in marginalized neighborhoods poses a great challenge both to individuals and to their sense of self. In the present work, we took an approach to educational resilience based on the analysis of learner identity of students that present a trajectory of resilience in severely impoverished neighborhoods. The sample consisted of 132 students from such at-risk neighborhoods, who, despite this risk, completed mandatory secondary education successfully and continue their education beyond that level. They were administered a modified version of the Twenty Statements Test (TST) to measure current and possible selves related to their learner identity. The organization of the self, the emotional valence, the plane of action, the thematic reference, and thematic self-continuity were analyzed, as well as possible selves’ relationship with grade level, gender, and parental formal education. Results showed that, despite risk, their possible selves had high standards and were positive, reflexive, and connected to their current selves, which regulate and guide the students’ actions towards their goals. Academic experience and high parental formal education were related to the development of more personal and reflexive possible selves, reflecting the appropriation of school-related discourses about the self and the future. Interestingly, none of the variables was related to the emotional valence of self-descriptions. Students with a trajectory of resilience developed a highly positive sense of future self regardless of academic experience, gender, or parental formal education. Implications for resilience theory, identity research, and social intervention in at-risk contexts are discussed.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación PSI2016–80112–PAgencia Estatal de Investigación PSI2016–80112–PComisión Europea PSI2016–80112–

Para aprender es necesario hablar: Dejemos que nuestros alumnos participen del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje en la Universidad

Presentamos aquí parte de los resultados obtenidos en un trabajo más amplio. El propósito del mismo es profundizar en el análisis y la comprensión de los procesos de enseñanza y aprendizaje, en especial, aquellos que se producen en las aulas universitarias, entendidas éstas como escenarios socioculturales con características que les son propias. De forma más específica, recogemos aquí los resultados que muestran la relevancia del papel del alumno como sujeto activo responsable de su propio aprendizaje y del aprendizaje de sus compañeros. La implantación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior, ha desencadenado la puesta en marcha de numerosas propuestas de innovación de la docencia universitaria Compartimos con Mauri, Coll y Onrubia, 2007 la idea de que el EEES ha puesto el acento en ciertos aspectos –la relevancia del papel del estudiante en su propio aprendizaje y el de sus compañeros, el papel del profesor como guía o ayuda en ese proceso o la importancia del aprendizaje colaborativo por ejemplo-, que pueden ser novedosos para fundamentar la nueva cultura docente universitaria, pero que no lo son tanto en relación a las concepciones más actuales sobre aprendizaje y su relación con la enseñanza. En este sentido, con nuestro trabajo, nos gustaría favorecer la idea de que no es tan necesario hacer grandes innovaciones o cambios como partir de una propuesta constructivista para llevar a cabo el proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje en las aulas universitarias. Para ello, hemos seguido el desarrollo de sendas unidades temáticas en dos aulas universitarias cuyas prácticas pueden calificarse de “buenas prácticas educativas”. Hemos analizado la interacción discursiva que se da a lo largo del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje desarrollado en las mismas atendiendo tanto a las formas en que se organiza la actividad conjunta entre profesores y alumnos como a los mecanismos discursivos utilizados en el habla de unos y otros en dicho proceso

Reflecting on how to study teaching-learning process in the natural context of the university classroom. A proposal to analyze discursive interaction

En este trabajo se presenta una propuesta para el análisis del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje que se desarrolla en las aulas universitarias. Partiendo de una concepción constructivista de dicho proceso (Coll, 1990, 2001, 2010; Cubero, 2005; Prados, 2009a), se defiende la necesidad del estudio de las interacciones discursivas entre el profesorado y el alumnado de cara a la comprensión y posible mejora de la calidad de dicho proceso. Para ello, se atiende a determinados aspectos teóricos y metodológicos propuestos por la psicología histórico-cultural, la etnografía del aula, el análisis del discurso y el análisis conversacional, debido a las importantes consecuencias que estos tienen de cara al análisis que se propone.In this paper we present a proposal for the analysis of teaching-learning process that takes place in university classrooms. Based on a constructivist conception of this process (Coll, 1990, 2001, 2010, Cubero, 2005; Meadows, 2009a), we propose the study of discursive interactions between teachers and students in order to understand and to improve the quality of this process. To do this, we consider certain theoretical and methodological aspects proposed by historic-cultural psychology, ethnography of classroom, discourse analysis and conversation analysis, because these have important and significant impact to the analysis proposed

Teachers negotiating discourses of gender (in)equality : the case of equal opportunities reform in Andalusia

This article is focused on the analysis of the narratives produced by a group of teachers, experts in coeducation, while they were discussing their everyday activities. They are responsible for the implementation of a Plan for Gender Equality in public secondary schools in Andalusia (Spain). This study is based on contributions about doing gender view, according to which gender is not an attribute of individuals, but a way of making sense of interactions and practising a complex system as functioning on three levels: sociocultural, interactional, and individual. We use these levels to understand gender culture in schools through teachers’ discourse. Our interest lies particularly in the meanings, contradictions, difficulties, and conflicts experienced by expert teachers in co-education. Our study was based on group discussions with teachers in charge of the plan for equal opportunities between women and men in school settings. Results show teachers’ conflicts about meanings and how they are supposed to apply the Equality Plan. We observed interactional levels during these conflicts and analysed how teachers construct and validate their discourse

Definiendo a las personas de frontera entre España y Marruecos. Cuestiones empíricas y metodológicas

Introduction: This work is based on a larger project that studies the identity of border people on the Ceuta/Tétouan border. The objectives include the definition of this group and the creation of an instrument to examine its process of identity construction in this scenario. Method: In the collection of data to define this population, various sources of information were used and a network of key informants was created. Regarding the second goal, three volunteers participated in a pilot test of the instrument, and four researchers in its creation and assessment. Results: For the first aim, our proposal involved grouping the distinct collectives into three categories: people who frequently cross the border; those who occasionally cross it; and people who do not cross. An autobiographical semi-structured interview and a field notebook of the interviews were created as a result of the second goal. Conclusions: This type of work requires a sensitive approach to the context under study that considers the socio-political conditions and also requires support from knowledgeable informants for the introduction of the researchers.Introducción: Este trabajo es parte de un proyecto que estudia la construcción identitaria de las personas de ambos lados de la frontera entre Ceuta y Tetuán. Los objetivos fueron definir dicho colectivo y crear un instrumento para abordar la construcción identitaria fronteriza. Método: Se utilizaron diversas fuentes de información y se creó una red de informantes clave para la recolección de datos. Para el segundo objetivo, participaron tres colaboradores en una prueba piloto y cuatro investigadores en su evaluación. Resultados: Se agrupó a los diversos colectivos en tres categorías: personas que cruzan habitualmente la frontera, aquellos que lo hacen ocasionalmente, y personas que no cruzan. Igualmente, se creó una entrevista semi-estructurada autobiográfica y un cuaderno de campo para las entrevistas. Conclusión: Este tipo de trabajo requiere una aproximación sensible al contexto que se estudia, considerando los condicionantes socio-políticos y apoyado por informantes conocedores del mismo que introduzcan a los investigadores.Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte de España Programa de Formación del Profesorado Universitario–FP