EQUITY AND INCLUSION: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ACROSS OECD EDUCATION SYSTEMS

Global trends such as demographic changes, migration crises, and growing inequality lead governments to reflect on how to promote equity and inclusion. The OECD Strength through Diversity Project (OECD, 2023) shares definitions of equity and inclusion from 34 different education systems and identifies six dimensions of diversity: migration; ethnic groups, national minorities, and Indigenous peoples; gender; LGBTQI+; special education needs (SEN); giftedness.  The project asks participating countries if there is a specific term in their educational jurisdiction to indicate the diversity; the terms differ between countries, which poses a challenge for the comparative analysis. However, the textual analysis of the definitions provided by the countries reveals recurring keywords in many education systems, highlighting examples of "best practices" such as in Portugal, which since 2018 has shifted the focus from identifying student characteristics to identifying student support measures.

Methodological-didactic teacher education in Italian secondary school and competence assessment1

The paper aims to reflect on the training of teachers in Italian lower and upper secondary schools by presenting the training activities carried out by the Pegaso Telematic University in the provision of the training course foreseen by Ministerial Decree 180/2022. The first training activities focused on the training of the course tutors, while the second focused on the feedback given to the teachers who followed the course, following the development of the competence assessment. The aim of this paper is to reflect on the replicability of the training actions presented and the lines of research that open up

Information and communication technology related needs of college and university students with disabilities

Purpose: To explore variables related to how well the information and communication technologies (ICTs) related needs of students with different disabilities are being met on campus at institutions of higher education, at home and in e-learning contexts. We also explore the disciplines and programmes pursued by students with different disabilities and the specialised ICTs they use. Method: A total of 1,354 Canadian university and junior/community college students with various disabilities completed the POSITIVES Scale. Results: Post-secondary students often have several disabilities which may affect how easily they can use ICTs. Students’ disabilities also influence the specialised ICTs they use and how well their ICT-related needs are being met. While the findings indicate that, overall, students’ ICT-related needs are generally well met, the results also show that these are better met on campus than at home, and at colleges than at universities. This is not related to institution size or to students’ disciplines. Conclusions: Our results show more favourable than unfavourable findings. Nevertheless, there are concerns around the availability of computers with adaptive software/hardware in specialised laboratories as well as with institutional ICT loan programmes; funding for ICTs for personal use; training, both on and off campus; and technical support off campus

Effects of volume loading on strain rate and tissue Doppler velocity imaging in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: Strain rate is a promising echocardiographic technique which adds further information to that obtained with two-dimensional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of acute isotonic volume expansion on left ventricular function in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) utilizing TDI and strain rate measurements. METHODS: Ten patients with DCM and a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) â\u89¤ 40% underwent two-dimensional echocardiography during volume expansion (0.9% NaCl; 0.25 ml/kg/min for 120 min). Peak systolic tissue velocity and peak systolic strain rate were measured at baseline and at the end of volume loading. RESULTS: Mean LVEF was 32 ± 9% at baseline and remained unchanged after volume loading. Similarly, peak systolic velocity was 2.21 cm/s at baseline and remained unchanged after volume expansion. By contrast, peak systolic strain rate significantly reduced from -1.08 ± 0.37/s to -0.76 ± 0.12/s (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with DCM, peak systolic strain rate significantly reduces with volume loading in the absence of change in LVEF or peak systolic velocities at TDI. Because strain rate is a relative load-independent index of systolic function, the reduction observed is probably related to the decrease in left ventricular systolic performance that follows volume loading in heart failure patients. Thus, peak systolic strain rate appears to be more useful than TDI velocities to evaluate left ventricular dynamics during volume loading in patients with depressed left ventricular function. © 2006 Italian Federation of Cardiology

La scuola digitale oggi: limiti e prospettive per una reale Amministrazione digitale

Dal 2008 ad oggi il passaggio dall’“analogico” (carta) al “digitale” (bit) ha interessato l’intera Amministrazione italiana, ivi compreso il comparto Scuola. I profili pubblicistici dell'Informatica giuridica si affermano, quindi, anche in ambito pubblico, con forza cogente. Il passaggio, però, é stato, ed é ancora, ricco di insidie, connesse alla “debolezza” strutturale ed economica di molte Amministrazioni, tra le quali quelle scolastiche, associata alla non piena conoscenza delle norme precettive del Codice dell’Amministrazione Digitale – CAD e delle restanti normative di settore. Il contributo é finalizzato a ricostruire i passaggi evolutivi della Scuola lungo la via che la sta conducendo ad una reale digitalizzazione, evidenziando limiti applicativi e prospettive di ulteriore sviluppo

L'Europe en mouvement

Depuis la signature du traité de Rome, en 1957, qui instaure la liberté de circulation en Europe, les migrations intra-européennes ont changé dans leurs profils et leurs modalités, même si elles ne comptabilisent que 3% des flux touchant l’Union. Ce dossier établit une cartographie de ces mobilités internes et analyse leurs conséquences à l’échelle européenne, notamment depuis de la crise économique, en termes d’évolutions du marché du travail, de brassages sociaux, d’échanges culturels, de relations internationales etc