I professionisti non-teaching dell'educazione e della formazione

The complexity of the job market for “non-teaching” educators and trainers remains poorly understood, both with regard to the different professions within this professional area and to the variety of organisational positions to be covered. This variety relates to the highly skilled work activity that aims to meet learning demand through the design, production, delivery, management, and evaluation of educational goods and services, that are of social utility. These are occupations that are being developed in a market area connected to educational services, continuing education, on-the-job and embedded learning within public, private and third sector organisations. In this framework, this professional area appears in all its complexity and vastness. It can be seen as a set of professions, semi-professions and pre-professions that represent the skills developers and builders. This paper aims to provide pointers of orientation within this complexity with an in-depth analysis of some professions that do not belong to the school system.La complessità del mercato del lavoro di educatori e formatori con funzioni “non-teaching” resta poco nota, sia in riferimento alle diverse professioni dell’area professionale che alla varietà di posizioni organizzative che possono essere ricoperte. Tale varietà riguarda un’attività lavorativa altamente qualificata, volta a rispondere ad una domanda di formazione attraverso la ideazione, produzione, erogazione, gestione e valutazione di beni e servizi educativi, di utilità sociale. Sono professioni che si sviluppano in una area del mercato legata a servizi educativi, formazione continua e formazione sul e nel lavoro nelle organizzazioni pubbliche, private e del privato-sociale. In questo quadro l’area delle professioni educative e formative viene a configurarsi nella sua complessità e vastità e si prefigura come un insieme di professioni, semiprofessioni e preprofessioni che rappresentano gli “skills developers” e gli “skills builders”. Il contributo intende fornire elementi di orientamento all’interno di tale complessità con un approfondimento su alcune professioni che non appartengono al sistema scolastico ordinario

Learning for an unpredictable future : what competences for educators

In 2011 the UNECE produced a document, "Learning for the future"aiming to identify a framework of core competences for ESD educators. In 2015, the Erasmus plus project "A Rounder Sense of Purpose" started a reflection on the UNECE document aiming to transform that document in an effective tool to be used for building, assessing, awarding the competences educators need, in formal and informal education, in order to face a rapidly changing world. While the UNECE document, and the RSP project, are addressed to ESD educators, the authors of this communication propose to apply the RSP competences model to all educators, across different levels and disciplines. Preliminary results from experimenting the model across different cultural and educational contexts will be presented during the Conference

Educational conditions and inclusion processes

Condizioni educative e processi di inclusion

A circular RNA map for human induced pluripotent stem cells of foetal origin

Background Adult skin fibroblasts represent the most common starting cell type used to generate human induced pluripotent stem cells (F-hiPSC) for clinical studies. Yet, a foetal source would offer unique advantages, primarily the absence of accumulated somatic mutations. Herein, we generated hiPSC from cord blood multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC-hiPSC) and compared them with F-hiPSC. Assessment of the full activation of the pluripotency gene regulatory network (PGRN) focused on circular RNA (circRNA), recently proposed to participate in the control of pluripotency. Methods Reprogramming was achieved by a footprint-free strategy. Self-renewal and pluripotency of cord blood MSC-hiPSC were investigated in vitro and in vivo, compared to parental MSC, to embryonic stem cells and to F-hiPSC. High-throughput array-based approaches and bioinformatics analyses were applied to address the PGRN. • View related content for this article Findings Cord blood MSC-hiPSC successfully acquired a complete pluripotent identity. Functional comparison with F-hiPSC showed no differences in terms of i) generation of mesenchymal-like derivatives, ii) their subsequent adipogenic, osteogenic and chondrogenic commitment, and iii) their hematopoietic support ability. At the transcriptional level, specific subsets of mRNA, miRNA and circRNA (n = 4,429) were evidenced, casting a further layer of complexity on the PGRN regulatory crosstalk. Interpretation A circRNA map of transcripts associated to naïve and primed pluripotency is provided for hiPSC of clinical-grade foetal origin, offering insights on still unreported regulatory circuits of the PGRN to consider for the optimization and development of efficient differentiation protocols for clinical translation

Devising a Competence-Based Training Program for Educators of Sustainable Development: Lessons Learned

Over recent decades, education policy has been preoccupied with economic growth while paying insufficient heed to global sustainability challenges. International initiatives to promote education for sustainable development (ESD) have been hampered by a lack of clarity on how to implement this form of education. To address this concern, a Rounder Sense of Purpose (RSP) began as a three-year EU-funded project that set out to develop a practical accreditation model for educators working on ESD. Expert and user opinion was sought through several rounds of structured consultation with over 500 people, chiefly using a Delphi approach, to develop and validate the model. The resulting framework comprises 12 competences, each with three learning outcomes and several underpinning components. This is supported by a range of activities largely reflecting a constructivist pedagogy. A range of assessment techniques have also been piloted within the project although this remains an area for further enquiry. Ultimately, it was decided not to design a single qualification template because defining the award to such a level of detail would make it more difficult to apply across multiple jurisdictions. Partners also felt that such an approach would atomize learning in a way that runs counter to the holistic principles of sustainability. RSP provided a rich learning experience for those involved and has already demonstrated its potential to extend its impact well beyond the original participants

Invasive pleural malignant mesothelioma with rib destruction and concurrent osteosarcoma in a dog

A 7-year-old Dachshund was clinically examined because of a 10-day history of lameness in the left hind limb. On the basis of radiological and cytological findings, an osteosarcoma of the left acetabular region was suspected. The dog underwent a hemipelvectomy and osteosarcoma was diagnosed by subsequent histopathological examination. An immovable subcutaneous mass was noted on the left chest wall during the physical examination and non-septic neutrophilic inflammation was diagnosed by cytology. Forty days later, the dog showed signs of respiratory distress with an in-diameter increase of the subcutaneous mass up to 4 cm. Thoracic radiography and ultrasonography revealed pleural effusion and a lytic process in the fourth left rib. Furthermore, ultrasound examination revealed a mixed echogenic mobile structure with a diameter of around 2 cm floating within the pleural fluid of the left hemithorax close to the pericardium. The dog underwent surgery for an en bloc resection of the subcutaneous mass together with the fourth rib and the parietal pleura. Moreover, the left altered lung lobe, corresponding to the mobile structure detected by ultrasound, was removed. Based on cytological, histopathological, and immunohistochemical examinations, an invasive epithelioid pleural malignant mesothelioma was diagnosed