From Obama to Samara: What changes do the Spanish education system and the Roma movement have to make so that one day it will be possible for a Roma woman to be president?

The American civil rights movement was started by an African American woman who was a participant in a popular education centre. This centre played a key role in the social transformations that led us to elect an African American president in the primary great world power. The Spanish education system needs progressive transformations which will contribute to overcoming the segregation and school failure of female Roma children. Roma women, as the driving force behind transformation in their population, are active agents when deciding on the type of schooling they want for the future of their children. Through associations, and hand in hand with the educational theories and practices provided by the international scientific community, in this article we present the transformations which many schools in Spain are carrying out in order to overcome the social exclusion of the Roma population. In this article we provide the foundations to build a movement of female Roma university graduates who, by including the voices of all of the women in their community, continue to be the driving force behind social transformation. In this way one day education and society in this country will have improved to such an extent that it will be possible for a Roma woman to be president.El movimiento por los derechos civiles fue iniciado por una mujer afroamericana participante de un centro de educación popular cuyo papel ha sido clave en las transformaciones sociales que nos han llevado hasta contar con un presidente afroamericano de la primera potencia mundial. El sistema educativo español requiere de transformaciones progresistas que contribuyan a superar la segregación y el fracaso escolar de las niñas gitanas. Las mujeres gitanas como motor de la transformación de su pueblo son agentes activos para decidir qué sistema educativo quieren para el futuro de sus hijos e hijas. Desde el movimiento asociativo y de la mano de las teorías y prácticas educativas que propone la comunidad científica internacional, presentamos en este artículo las transformaciones que muchos centros educativos en España están realizando para superar la exclusión social del pueblo gitano. En este artículo planteamos las bases para constituir un movimiento de mujeres gitanas universitarias que incluyendo las voces de todas las mujeres de su pueblo, sigan siendo motor de transformación social para que algún día la educación y la sociedad de este país haya mejorado tanto como para que sea posible una presidenta gitana.The INCLUD-ED Strategies for inclusion and social cohesion in Europe from education (2006-2011) project is an integrated project from the European Commission’s VI Framework Programme

Strengthening Ties to L2: Improving Secondary Students’ Attitudes through Dialogic Literary Gatherings.

Over the last decades, many efforts have been made to establish the Basque minority language as a normalized language in the Basque Country. Research has shown that language use, language proficiency and attitudes towards language are closely associated. Likewise, the benefit of interactive learning environments for improving language proficiency is well known. However, the effect of such environments on attitudes towards second languages (L2) has been less studied. This article presents a qualitative study that explores the extent to which the implementation of a particular dialogue-based classroom strategy, named Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLGs), may transform secondary students’ attitudes towards Basque (L2). The DLGs were carried out with 46 secondary education students in the Basque Country. After implementing DLGs, teachers’ interviews and students’ focus groups were conducted and analysed inductively. Results show that participants reported changes in students’ attitudes towards Basque and they related these changes to the dialogical space they experienced during the DLGs, since this created affordances for them to engage in meaningful discussions when speaking in Basque. Implications of the study are discussed

Socio-cultural Transformation and the Promotion of Learning

The main premise of Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory is that to promote learning, and thus development, educators must intervene in, and change, the students’ socio-cultural context. Vygotsky’s theory, however, has been misinterpreted and the opposite approach has been accepted: the teaching is adapted, according to the context. The result is widespread failure in schools. This article reclaims the true transformative meaning of Vygotskian theory and shows how successful schools in several countries implement various actions to transform their social and cultural environment. Data is presented from six case studies of successful schools conducted in five European countries. The analysis shows that these actions improve instrumental learning and, consequently, cognitive development. All these efforts focus on teaching methods that aim to increase the amount that students learnLa premisa central de la teoría vygotskiana es que para promover el aprendizaje y, consecuentemente, el desarrollo, es necesario intervenir en el contexto socio-cultural y transformarlo. Una interpretación errónea de la teoría histórico-cultural de Vygotsky ha llevado a decir lo contrario y ha abogado por la adaptación de la enseñanza al contexto, aumentando el fracaso escolar. Este artículo ofrece evidencias del verdadero sentido transformador de la teoría de Vygotsky y muestra cómo los centros educativos de más éxito a nivel internacional comparten la implementación de actuaciones que transforman el entorno social y cultural. Los datos presentados provienen de seis estudios de casos de centros educativos de éxito realizados en cinco países europeos. Los resultados indican que esas actuaciones fomentan el aprendizaje instrumental y, consecuentemente, un desarrollo cognitivo. En todas esas actuaciones es central una didáctica que se dirige a llevar a todas las y los estudiantes a niveles de conocimiento superio

Transforming rural education in Colombia through family participation: The case of school as a learning community

Purpose: This article studies the impact of the implementation of learning communities in a rural context of Colombia, specifically concerning the improvements related to learning and social cohesion. Design/methodology/approach: This longitudinal case study analyses the process and the impacts of the transformation of a school in 2015 and the subsequent years of 2016 and 2017. The data analysed include standardized external tests, a documentary analysis of the school and interviews with students, family members and the schoolteacher. Findings: The results obtained indicate academic improvement within the school with results that exceed the national average of Colombia. The results also report how violence has been reduced by 80%. All of these outcomes were motivated by the participation of the community in the school. Practical implications: The conclusions drawn are relevant as they show a success case that overcame the difficulties related to the lack of accessibility and quality of rural education in Colombia

Transforming students' attitudes towards learning through the use of successful educational actions.

Previous research shows that there is a correlation between attitudes and academic achievement. In this article, we analyze for the first time the impact of interactive groups (IG) and dialogic literary gatherings (DLG) on the attitudes that students show towards learning. A quantitative approach has been performed using attitude tests validated by previous research. The data suggest that in both cases, the participants show positive attitudes. The social context has an important influence on students' attitudes. The items with higher correlations include group work, mutual support, and distributed cognition. In the case of IGs, group work is much more appreciated, while in the case of DLGs, self-image and self-confidence are the two most clearly valued attitudes. The positive impact of IGs and DLGs on students' attitudes may have potential for teachers in transforming their practices and decision-making within the classroom

El Diálogo y la Interacción en Educación Infantil: Una Revisión Sistemática

There is solid evidence that high quality Early Childhood Education (ECE hereafter) have substantial impact on later life outcomes. A growing literature suggests that interventions that develop social competency as well as cognitive, language and academic skills in the earliest years play a role in later educational, social and economic success. Less is known about the most conducive interactions -verbal and non-verbal- underpinning such pedagogical practices in early childhood education. This article aims at reviewing the last decade’s early childhood education with a twofold objective: (a) to describe how dialogue and interaction take place in high-quality early childhood education settings; (b) to identify the effects, if any, on children’s learning and development as a result of implementing dialogue-based interventions in ECE. The studies were identified through systematic search of electronic databases and analyzed accordingly. Several types of interactions given in high quality ECE programs and its short and long-term effects are discerned in this review.Existen evidencias sólidas de que la educación infantil de alta calidad tiene un impacto sustancial en los resultados a lo largo de la vida. Una amplia literatura sugiere que las intervenciones que se desarrollan la competencia social y cognitiva, el lenguaje y las habilidades académicas en los primeros años de vida desempeñan un papel en el éxito educativo, social y económico posterior. Se ha explorado en menor medida cuáles son las interacciones más propicias -verbales y no verbales- que sustentan esas prácticas pedagógicas en la educación infantil. Este artículo tiene como objetivo revisar la literatura sobre educación infantil de la última década, con un doble objetivo: (a) describir cómo se desarrolla el diálogo y la interacción en contextos de educación infantil de alta calidad; (b) identificar los efectos, si los hubiera, en el aprendizaje y desarrollo de los niños como resultado de la implementación de las intervenciones basadas en el diálogo en la educación infantil. Los estudios se identificaron mediante una búsqueda sistemática en las bases de datos electrónicas y se analizaron de acuerdo a los objetivos planteados. Se distinguen varios tipos de interacciones como resultado de esta revisión, así como intervenciones de aula que se desarrollan los programas de educación infantil de calidad y su efecto a corto y largo plazo en el aprendizaje y desarrollo de los más pequeños

Transforming students' attitudes towards learning through the use of successful educational actions

Previous research shows that there is a correlation between attitudes and academic achievement. In this article, we analyze for the first time the impact of interactive groups (IG) and dialogic literary gatherings (DLG) on the attitudes that students show towards learning. A quantitative approach has been performed using attitude tests validated by previous research. The data suggest that in both cases, the participants show positive attitudes. The social context has an important influence on students' attitudes. The items with higher correlations include group work, mutual support, and distributed cognition. In the case of IGs, group work is much more appreciated, while in the case of DLGs, self-image and self-confidence are the two most clearly valued attitudes. The positive impact of IGs and DLGs on students' attitudes may have potential for teachers in transforming their practices and decision-making within the classroom

Transforming the educational experiences of marginalized students in Ghana through dialogic literary gatherings

Discrimination and educational inequalities continually affect lifelong learning opportunities among marginalized groups in the 21st century. In Ghana and many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, children from rural and urban poor communities, ethnic and linguistic minorities and those in displaced situations have experienced discrimination and marginalization in education for decades. However, few studies propose ways marginalized students in Ghana can transform their experiences in school. This paper explores how participating in a dialoguebased intervention named Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLGs) transformed the educational experiences of marginalized students. An ethnographic-case study was conducted with 8thgrade students in a compulsory school in Southeastern Ghana. Focusing on the personal accounts of seven students, our findings show that the DLGs created affordances for marginalized students to engage in egalitarian dialogue, share their grievances while transforming relationships and attitudes with their peers and boost participants’ self-confidence, eventually transforming their educational experiences. This is relevant for practitioners and stakeholders seeking innovative strategies that potentially transform discriminated and marginalized students’ experiences and potentially keep them in school