Ecojusticia, equidad y ética: retos para la orientación educativa y profesional

In social and environmental terms we live in precarious and uncertain times, where not only the sustainability of the planet rests in the balance, but also that of human existence. Many nation-states around the world talk of the importance of social cohesion, and are aware of the threat of environmental degradation, climate change, and ecological well-being. However, the dominating global policy discourse, particularly championed in the West, is located within a delimiting neo/liberal political framework. With a few noticeable exceptions, the influence of neo/liberal thinking continues to flourish in the contemporary career literature where there has been little deep critical engagement with the discourse of capitalist economics and how these impact human and environmental well-being. Often caught up in market-led discourses, and captured by the notion that ‘work sets you free’, educational and career guidance has been located within an uncritical economic frame. Its energies tend to be directed towards the preparation of individuals to make ‘good’ educational and occupational choices, underpinned by the need for ‘clients’ to acquire the skills and competencies demanded by employers (and the economy) (Bengtsson, 2011; Irving, 2018). The disjuncture between educational and career guidance and social and environmental justice (i.e. ecojustice) has rarely been breached. In this article, we seek to disrupt dominant discourses of the market that currently permeates thinking in education by identifying how an ecojustice perspective provides a forward looking and equitable foundation for educational and career guidance.En términos sociales y ambientales, vivimos en tiempos precarios e inciertos, donde no solo la sostenibilidad del planeta está en juego, sino también la de la existencia humana. Muchos estados-nación de todo el mundo hablan de la importancia de la cohesión social y son conscientes de la degradación ambiental, el cambio climático y la amenaza al bienestar ecológico y social. Sin embargo, el discurso dominante de la política global, particularmente defendido en Occidente, se sitúa dentro de un marco político neoliberal. Con algunas notables excepciones, la influencia del pensamiento neoliberal continúa siendo hegemónico en el campo de la educación y de la orientación profesional, donde en términos generales ha habido poco compromiso crítico profundo con el discurso de la economía capitalista y cómo este impacta sobre el bienestar humano y ambiental. A menudo atrapada en discursos dirigidos por el mercado y por la noción de que "el trabajo nos hace libres", la orientación educativa y profesional se ha ubicado dentro de un marco económico acrítico. Se tiende a preparar a los individuos para tomar "buenas" decisiones educativas y ocupacionales, respaldadas por la necesidad de que adquieran las habilidades y competencias exigidas por los empleadores (y la economía) (Bengtsson, 2011; Irving, 2018). La disyuntiva entre la orientación educativa y profesional y la justicia social y ambiental (la ecojusticia) rara vez se ha abordado. En este artículo cuestionamos los discursos dominantes del mercado que actualmente impregnan el pensamiento en educación, y proponemos la adopción de una perspectiva de ecojusticia que proporciona una guía para el futuro y contribuye a promover la equidad desde la orientación educativa y profesional

Elección, azar o compulsión: la selección de orientadores para la carrera en institutos de educación secundaria de Nueva Zelanda

Career advisers play an important educational role by enabling students to understand howcareers are constructed and managed in an increasingly uncertain world. Yet how are careeradvisers recruited and what knowledge is required? This article draws from data collectedfrom semi-structured interviews with career advisers in a range of New Zealand secondaryschools as part my PhD research. The findings indicate many of those who became careeradvisers were chosen by someone in authority, or fell into the career adviser role by chance.No knowledge about this curriculum area was necessary, nor formal career-related orteaching qualifications required.Los orientadores juegan un papel importante en el ámbito educativo, al ayudar a losestudiantes a comprender cómo se construyen y gestionan las trayectorias profesionales enun mundo cada vez más incierto. Por ello es fundamental plantearse cómo se selecciona alos profesionales de la orientación y qué competencias se le exigen. Este artículo se basa enlos resultados parciales de un estudio llevado a cabo por el autor del mismo, como parte desu tesis doctoral. La información cualitativa se ha obtenido a través de la realización deentrevistas semi-estructuradas a orientadores de diversos centros de secundaria de NuevaZelanda. Los resultados indican que muchos de los orientadores fueron seleccionados poralguien en una posición de poder, o llegaron a esta profesión por pura casualidad. No se lesexigía conocimientos específicos sobre las funciones a desempeñar, ni se requería unatitulación en orientación, ni siquiera en el ámbito de la enseñanza. A pesar de estarcontextualizado en dos ciudades de Nueva Zelanda y de que el acceso a la profesión deorientación difiere de un contexto a otro, las cuestiones sucitadas a lo largo del artículo y lasconclusiones tienen mucha relevancia para el campo de la orientación e invitan a realizaruna mayor reflexión y estudios sobre estas cuestiones

A functional link between bone morphogenetic proteins and insulin-like peptide 3 signaling in modulating ovarian androgen production

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) are firmly implicated as intra-ovarian regulators of follicle development and steroidogenesis. Here we report a microarray analysis showing that treatment of cultured bovine theca cells (TC) with BMP6 significantly (>2-fold; P<0.01) up- or down-regulated expression of 445 genes. Insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) was the most heavily down-regulated gene (-43-fold) with CYP17A1 and other key transcripts involved in TC steroidogenesis including LHCGR, INHA, STAR, CYP11A1 and HSD3B1 also down-regulated. BMP6 also reduced expression of NR5A1 encoding steroidogenic factor-1 known to target the promoter regions of the aforementioned genes. Real-time PCR confirmed these findings and also revealed a marked reduction in expression of INSL3 receptor (RXFP2). Secretion of INSL3 protein and androstenedione were also suppressed suggesting a functional link between BMP and INSL3 pathways in controlling androgen synthesis. RNAi-mediated knockdown of INSL3 reduced INSL3 mRNA and secreted protein level (75 and 94%, respectively) and elicited a 77% reduction in CYP17A1 mRNA level and 83% reduction in androstenedione secretion. Knockdown of RXFP2 also reduced CYP17A1 mRNA level (81%) and androstenedione secretion (88%). Conversely, treatment with exogenous (human) INSL3 increased androstenedione secretion ~2-fold. The CYP17 inhibitor abiraterone abolished androgen secretion and reduced expression of both INSL3 and RXFP2. Collectively, these findings indicate a positive autoregulatory role for INSL3 signaling in maintaining thecal androgen production, and visa versa. Moreover, BMP6-induced suppression of thecal androgen synthesis may be mediated, at least in part, by reduced INSL3-RXFP2 signaling

The selection landscape and genetic legacy of ancient Eurasians

The Holocene (beginning around 12,000 years ago) encompassed some of the most significant changes in human evolution, with far-reaching consequences for the dietary, physical and mental health of present-day populations. Using a dataset of more than 1,600 imputed ancient genomes, we modelled the selection landscape during the transition from hunting and gathering, to farming and pastoralism across West Eurasia. We identify key selection signals related to metabolism, including that selection at the FADS cluster began earlier than previously reported and that selection near the LCT locus predates the emergence of the lactase persistence allele by thousands of years. We also find strong selection in the HLA region, possibly due to increased exposure to pathogens during the Bronze Age. Using ancient individuals to infer local ancestry tracts in over 400,000 samples from the UK Biobank, we identify widespread differences in the distribution of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age ancestries across Eurasia. By calculating ancestry-specific polygenic risk scores, we show that height differences between Northern and Southern Europe are associated with differential Steppe ancestry, rather than selection, and that risk alleles for mood-related phenotypes are enriched for Neolithic farmer ancestry, whereas risk alleles for diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease are enriched for Western hunter-gatherer ancestry. Our results indicate that ancient selection and migration were large contributors to the distribution of phenotypic diversity in present-day Europeans

100 ancient genomes show repeated population turnovers in Neolithic Denmark.

Major migration events in Holocene Eurasia have been characterized genetically at broad regional scales &lt;sup&gt;1-4&lt;/sup&gt; . However, insights into the population dynamics in the contact zones are hampered by a lack of ancient genomic data sampled at high spatiotemporal resolution &lt;sup&gt;5-7&lt;/sup&gt; . Here, to address this, we analysed shotgun-sequenced genomes from 100 skeletons spanning 7,300 years of the Mesolithic period, Neolithic period and Early Bronze Age in Denmark and integrated these with proxies for diet ( &lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt; C and &lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt; N content), mobility ( &lt;sup&gt;87&lt;/sup&gt; Sr/ &lt;sup&gt;86&lt;/sup&gt; Sr ratio) and vegetation cover (pollen). We observe that Danish Mesolithic individuals of the Maglemose, Kongemose and Ertebølle cultures form a distinct genetic cluster related to other Western European hunter-gatherers. Despite shifts in material culture they displayed genetic homogeneity from around 10,500 to 5,900 calibrated years before present, when Neolithic farmers with Anatolian-derived ancestry arrived. Although the Neolithic transition was delayed by more than a millennium relative to Central Europe, it was very abrupt and resulted in a population turnover with limited genetic contribution from local hunter-gatherers. The succeeding Neolithic population, associated with the Funnel Beaker culture, persisted for only about 1,000 years before immigrants with eastern Steppe-derived ancestry arrived. This second and equally rapid population replacement gave rise to the Single Grave culture with an ancestry profile more similar to present-day Danes. In our multiproxy dataset, these major demographic events are manifested as parallel shifts in genotype, phenotype, diet and land use

Population genomics of post-glacial western Eurasia.

Western Eurasia witnessed several large-scale human migrations during the Holocene &lt;sup&gt;1-5&lt;/sup&gt; . Here, to investigate the cross-continental effects of these migrations, we shotgun-sequenced 317 genomes-mainly from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods-from across northern and western Eurasia. These were imputed alongside published data to obtain diploid genotypes from more than 1,600 ancient humans. Our analyses revealed a 'great divide' genomic boundary extending from the Black Sea to the Baltic. Mesolithic hunter-gatherers were highly genetically differentiated east and west of this zone, and the effect of the neolithization was equally disparate. Large-scale ancestry shifts occurred in the west as farming was introduced, including near-total replacement of hunter-gatherers in many areas, whereas no substantial ancestry shifts happened east of the zone during the same period. Similarly, relatedness decreased in the west from the Neolithic transition onwards, whereas, east of the Urals, relatedness remained high until around 4,000 BP, consistent with the persistence of localized groups of hunter-gatherers. The boundary dissolved when Yamnaya-related ancestry spread across western Eurasia around 5,000 BP, resulting in a second major turnover that reached most parts of Europe within a 1,000-year span. The genetic origin and fate of the Yamnaya have remained elusive, but we show that hunter-gatherers from the Middle Don region contributed ancestry to them. Yamnaya groups later admixed with individuals associated with the Globular Amphora culture before expanding into Europe. Similar turnovers occurred in western Siberia, where we report new genomic data from a 'Neolithic steppe' cline spanning the Siberian forest steppe to Lake Baikal. These prehistoric migrations had profound and lasting effects on the genetic diversity of Eurasian populations

Choice, chance or compulsion: the recruitment of career advisers into New Zealand secondary schools

Career advisers play an important educational role by enabling students to understand how careers are constructed and managed in an increasingly uncertain world. Yet how are career advisers recruited and what knowledge is required? This article draws from data collected from semi-structured interviews with career advisers in a range of New Zealand secondary schools as part my PhD research. The findings indicate many of those who became career advisers were chosen by someone in authority, or fell into the career adviser role by chance. No knowledge about this curriculum area was necessary, nor formal career-related or teaching qualifications required

Revista española de orientación y psicopedagogía

Resumen basado en el de la publicaciónSe afirma la importancia del papel de los orientadores en el ámbito educativo, al ayudar a los estudiantes a comprender cómo se construyen y gestionan las trayectorias profesionales en un mundo cada vez más incierto. Por ello, se plantea el modo de selección de los profesionales de la orientación y qué competencias se les exigen. La información cualitativa se obtiene a través de la realización de entrevistas semi-estructuradas a orientadores de diversos centros de secundaria de Nueva Zelanda. Los resultados indican que muchos de los orientadores fueron seleccionados por alguien en una posición de poder, o llegaron a esta profesión por pura casualidad. No se les exigía conocimientos específicos sobre las funciones a desempeñar, ni se requería una titulación en orientación, ni siquiera en el ámbito de la enseñanza.MadridBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín, 5 - 3 planta; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]

Revista española de orientación y psicopedagogía

Resúmenes basados en los de la publicaciónPalabras clave en español y en inglésSe reflexiona sobre la atención a la diversidad cultural en los servicios de orientación para la carrera en Inglaterra, y cómo, a pesar del discurso vigente sobre igualdad de oportunidades, se está excluyendo de forma sistemática a ciertos grupos. Se ejemplifica dicha situación con el caso de las jóvenes musulmanas, un grupo muy numeroso en Inglaterra. En primer lugar se exponen las limitaciones del actual discurso liberal referido a la “igualdad de oportunidades” en la sociedad inglesa. En segundo lugar, se menciona brevemente la transformación sufrida por los servicios de orientación en Inglaterra a partir de 1993, y las distintas prioridades con respecto a los destinatarios según los gobiernos sucesivos. Por último, se proporciona un marco de referencia para reflexionar sobre la atención a las necesidades vocacionales de los diversos grupos culturales, y concretamente de las jóvenes musulmanas.For many years, a liberal discourse of “equal opportunities” has continued to dominate challenges to racist, sexist and inequitable practices. The desire to treat “everyone the same” is a common strand in which the universal needs of the “many” are set against the differentiated needs of the “few”. The authors suggest that this discourse is too individualistic and inward looking, failing to acknowledge and adequately accommodate the social dimensions which exist within a culturally diverse society. It is argued that a broader social justice philosophy should be adopted which is critically located, politically informed and sensitive to cultural diversity and differentiated needs. It considers how the “equal opportunities” discourse has influenced much careers guidance practice amongst English Careers Services in relation to the career guidance needs of Muslim girls. Finally it draws upon recent research, to highlight the possibilities presented by the adoption of a critical social justice approach.ES