Democratic leadership for principals´ training, basic elements from a didactic and research model

En pro de posicionar al liderazgo educativo como la teoría eje de la dirección, algunos programas formativos - sobre todo aquellos que siguen la tradición de formar a los directores escolares según el vaivén de las reformas educativas vigentes- corren el riesgo de tecnificar y simplificar la comprensión e instrumentación de estas teorías. En sociedades cuyas estructuras educativas aún no se desatan de prácticas piramidales o centralistas, es importante considerar al liderazgo democrático como una alternativa didáctica en la formación de directores. Se presenta un modelo didáctico-investigativo en construcción, para la formación de directores, desde una perspectiva democrática del liderazgoSeeking to establish Educational Leadership theories as the axis for Principalship practices there is a risk of over-simplifying its understanding and implementation, especially in some training programs that are implemented merely to follow educational reforms. In societies, whose educational structures are not yet free of pyramidal or centralist practices of power as a decision-making mechanism, it is important to consider democratic leadership as a didactic alternative in the training of Principals. Basis for a didactic-research model are presented for the training of School Principals from a democratic leadership perspectiv

An approach to the reality of rural public schools in Andalusia

Se aborda la situación actual de las escuelas rurales analizando la legislación específica en Andalucía; valorando la realidad organizativo-didáctica que demandan y la situación del profesorado que accede a las mismas: permanencia efímera, así como formación inicial y continua no adecuadas. Las conclusiones evidencian que los centros rurales se resisten a sustituir el sentido de acogida de la comunidad educativa, por la prevalencia del rendimiento de cuentas, que deja a un lado la “integridad” del ser humano, determinante de la “integralidad” de los elementos constitutivos de la persona, así como la ausencia de arraigo de los maestros a esas realidades culturalesThe current situation of rural schools is analyzed by analyzing the specific legislation in Andalusia; valuing the organizational-didactic reality that they demand and the situation of the teaching staff that accesses them: ephemeral permanence, as well as inadequate initial and continuous training. The conclusions show that rural centers are reluctant to replace the sense of welcome of the educational community, because of the prevalence of accountability, which leaves aside the "integrity" of the human being, determinant of the “integrality” of the elements constitutive of the person, as well as the lack of roots of teachers to these cultural realitie

Validación en castellano del Parental Acceptance Questionnaire (6-PAQ)

Background/Objective Psychological flexibility is an ability with positive effects in health, also in the field parenting. The aim of this study is to validate the Parental Acceptance Questionnaire (6-PAQ) in Spanish sample. Method A total of 426 parents (96.3% female), with an average age of 38.25 years (SD = 5.76) and with at least one child between 3 and 16 years old participated. Participants completed the 6PAQ and other instruments assessing experiential avoidance, thought suppression, satisfaction with life and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Results In comparison with the original model, the three-factor structural solution with 16 items obtained a better adjustment (CFI = .996; GFI = .998; TLI = .995; RMSE = .016) that refer to response styles related to psychological flexibility (open, aware and active). The 6-PAQ adaptation has shown good internal consistency, with a Cronbach alpha of .81 and a McDonald's omega of .86 for the scale, and evidence of convergent validity with significant correlations with measure of avoidance, thought suppression, satisfaction with life and anxiety. Conclusions The Spanish version of the 6-PAQ with the three-factor structure presents psychometric property to be considered a reliable measure and a valid instrument for the evaluation of parental psychological flexibility.Antecedentes/Objetivo La flexibilidad psicológica es una habilidad que tiene efectos positivos en la salud, y también en el ámbito de la parentalidad. El objetivo del estudio es validar el Parental Acceptance Questionnaire (6-PAQ) en población española. Método Participaron 426 padres (96,30% mujeres), con una media de edad de 38,25 años (DT = 5,76) y con al menos un hijo entre 3 y 16 años. Los participantes completaron el 6-PAQ y otros cuestionarios de evitación experiencial, supresión de pensamientos, satisfacción vital, y sintomatología de ansiedad y depresión. Resultados En comparación con el modelo original se obtiene un mejor ajuste para la estructura factorial de tres factores con 16 ítems (CFI = 0,996; GFI = 0,998; TLI = 0,995; RMSE = 0,016) que hacen referencia a estilos de respuesta relacionados con la flexibilidad psicológica (abierto, centrado y comprometido). Los resultados mostraron una buena consistencia interna, con una alfa de Cronbach de 0,81 y un omega de McDonald de 0,86, así como evidencias de validez convergente con correlaciones significativas con medidas de evitación, supresión de pensamientos, satisfacción vital y ansiedad. Conclusiones La versión española del 6-PAQ, con estructura de tres factores, presenta propiedades psicométricas para considerarse una medida fiable y un instrumento válido para la evaluación de la flexibilidad psicológica parental

Procedures and Legal Instruments for Drought Declaration in the Segura River Basin (Spain)

The phenomenon of drought and its socioeconomic and environmental consequences have been addressed in many studies, which show that anticipating its diagnosis and activating specific management measures are fundamental for providing an efficient response. In the Segura River Basin, located in south-east Spain, many episodes have occurred throughout history, with devastating effects on production and supply systems. However, they have enabled us to learn and evolve towards developing a resilient system to address these situations, through the application of external resources, transfers from other basins and non-conventional resources derived from the reuse of treated water and desalinated seawater. This evolution has been possible thanks to the advances made in hydrological planning and, specifically, the Special Drought Plans, through the development of indicator systems associated with scenarios which enable the automatic activation of specific actions to reduce the impacts. Climate change is already a reality and has led to an increase in the frequency and intensity of droughts, testing the capacity to respond based on the current policies. Therefore, the objective of this research is to analyse the last drought occurring in the Segura River Basin in the period 2015–2019 by comparing the status indicators developed for detecting drought in the SDP 2007 with its subsequent review carried out in the year 2018, in which these indicators were updated and expanded so as to cover both drought and scarcity. Subsequently, an in-depth analysis has been made of the approved legislation and the measures adopted which consisted in the mobilisation of more than 600 hm³ of extraordinary resources, which have been able to maintain the supply to the population and minimise the economic losses of the productive systems, particularly in irrigated agriculture.This research was funded by the Water Chair of the University of Alicante-Alicante Provincial Council (2022) and by the Campus Hábitat5U network of excellence

Educational Leadership Training, the Construction of Learning Communities. A Systematic Review

Instructional leadership notions and practices allow educators to engage in relevant roles within schools. Instead of implementing these concepts in professional programs, Mexican and Spanish education systems still preserve a “technically oriented” training model that separates educational and professional aims. Diverse studies have identified the benefits of implementing instructional leadership orientations within “Educational cooperation”, “Cooperative education”, “Team teaching” and “Teacher leadership” at schools. This systematic review conducted usingWeb of Science—contributes by organizing the produced knowledge and identifies the main findings reported by the academic literature on this topic. It seeks to answer the following questions: (1) What are the contributions of this research to the education systems examined? (2) What kind of knowledge about educational leadership and professional learning communities can be inferred from them? Results from the majority of studies found that instructional leadership offers a useful tool to promote shared responsibility between teachers and head teachers and supports professional learning communities. A main conclusions of the present study is that it highlights the importance of bypassing existing bureaucratic practices within schools in order to replace the traditional “technical orientation” of training programs. Instructional leadership may facilitate some of the required transformations in the context of global educational reform

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Educational Achievement and Academic Stress of Pre-Service Teachers

Emotional intelligence (EI) and stress are constructs that often characterize the teaching profession and are inversely related. There is evidence in the literature that suggests the importance of teachers working on EI in order to learn coping strategies and improve their teaching practices. This descriptive and correlational study had the purpose of examining the social–emotional profile of future teachers based on their EI and academic stress levels in order to provide guidance for future stressful situations that will affect their future professional development. For this purpose, we used a random sampling for convenience in a university population enrolled in degrees of education at Andalusian universities (Spain), getting a sample of 1020 pre-service teachers. The results pointed to a superiority in EI, academic stress, and academic achievement in favor of females compared to males. The relationship among EI, academic stress, and student teachers’ achievement was demonstrated. Furthermore, some components of EI were positioned as important factors to improve student achievement and reduce academic stress. Once the high incidence of these constructs on academic achievement was confirmed, the importance of developing EI and coping and stress skills training programs, aimed at improving academic success and their subsequent professional development, was demonstrated.Junta de Andalucía. Grant HUM-81

Software engineering 2.0: a social global repository based on semantic annotation and social web for knowledge management

Proceedings of: First World Summit on the Knowledge Society, (WSKS 2008), September 24-26, 2008, Athens (Greece)The effective management of the software development process has become an essential for business survival in an ever more competitive industry. In order to gain business strengths from the development process, organizations need to carry out software development in the most efficient manner possible, avoiding redundancy and time losses. This paper presents an architecture which combines the strengths of two technologies, Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web, as a solution to reuse and extrapolate knowledge and software products across projects and organizations.Publicad

Standards for school principals in Mexico and Spain: A comparative study

Tanto el sistema educativo español como el mexicano han sido influenciados por las mediciones estandarizadas a nivel global y ambos reconocen ahora al liderazgo educativo como uno de los factores centrales de la mejora escolar. No obstante, en cada sistema se han impulsado políticas disímiles relativas al reconocimiento de estándares para la dirección de escuelas. Contrario a la tendencia global de adopción de estándares para los cargos de dirección, en el contexto español no existe una política homogénea de la figura profesional, determinando cada Comunidad Autónoma tales mecanismos. En contraposición, el Sistema Educativo Mexicano ha desarrollado políticas de estandarización fuertemente predeterminadas para la función directiva a partir de la reforma de 2013. El presente estudio establece una comparativa sobre los estándares para la dirección entre los sistemas educativos español y mexicano, relacionándolos desde la revisión de: (a) los mecanismos de acceso y permanencia en el cargo (Gairín, 2010), (b) la burocracia institucional (Guiddens & Sutton, 2014) y (c) la formación para el cargo. El análisis comparativo permite conocer el estado actual de los estándares para la dirección escolar en ambos sistemas educativos, acercándose a reconocer los antecedentes y actuales marcos de referencia de cada contexto.Both Spanish and Mexican education systems have been influenced by international standardized assessment programs, to the extent that both identify educational leadership as one of the main factors for school improvement; however, each national context has implemented dissimilar policies for developing standards for school principalship. Contrary to the global trend, in the Spanish context there is no homogeneous policy, each autonomous community determines the processes for access to and permanence in the school principals´ position. In contrast, the Mexican education system has developed robust standardization policies since the 2013 education reform. This study compares the standards for Principalship in the Spanish and Mexican public education systems, to consider (a) the processes for access to and permanence in the position (Gairín, 2010), (b) the institutional bureaucracy (Guiddens & Sutton, 2014), and (c) the training for the principalship. This comparative analysis permits an exploration of the standards for school principalship in both education systems, recognizing the prior and current frames of reference in each contex

The learning to learn competence: An assessment of a theoretical model

Learning to learn (LTL) is a key competence (European Commission [EC], 2006, 2018). Building it into the educational system requires a solid theoretical model that researchers share, but there is currently a lack of agreement among academics. This work aims to check the theoretical model proposed by the research team against the opinions of key informants. This model has five dimensions — cognitive, metacognitive, affective-motivational, social-relational, and ethical — as well as twenty subdimensions. The first three dimensions come from the literature about strategic and self-regulated learning and have been present since research into this topic began. The fourth comes from the social-cognitive approach and has more recently been added into explanatory models. The fifth one is an original contribution by this group. Our research focusses on the university setting and the aim of the present work is to verify our model with some of the key informants involved in the process (students, teachers, professionals, and employers). A qualitative methodology was used, featuring twelve discussion groups, one for each group in the three participating universities (N = 67). The participants were asked a general question about LTL and then their contributions were recorded. These contributions were then transcribed and processed using Atlas ti.8. to compare them with the theoretical model. The presence and importance of established dimensions and subdimensions was analysed, considering the frequency of comments and their connections and interrelationships. The results corroborated the model proposed by the research team: all the dimensions and almost all of the subdimensions appeared in the participants’ comments. The next stage in the research process is to develop a standardised assessment instrument, based on the model, so it can be statistically validated with university students.La competencia aprender a aprender (AaA) es una competencia clave (Comisión Europea [CE], 2006, 2018). Su incorporación en el sistema educativo precisa de un modelo teórico sólido y compartido por los investigadores, pero no hay acuerdo suficiente entre los académicos. Este trabajo pretende contrastar el modelo teórico elaborado por el equipo investigador con la opinión de informantes clave. Este modelo integra cinco dimensiones —cognitiva, metacognitiva, afectivo-motivacional, social-relacional y ética— y veinte subdimensiones. Las tres primeras provienen de la literatura sobre aprendizaje estratégico y autorregulado y están presentes desde los inicios de la investigación sobre el tema. La cuarta proviene del enfoque socio-cognitivo y se incorporó más tarde a los modelos explicativos. La quinta es una aportación original de este grupo. Nuestro contexto de investigación es la universidad y el objetivo contrastar nuestro modelo con informantes clave involucrados en el proceso (estudiantes, profesores, profesionales y empleadores). Para ello, se utilizó metodología cualitativa, realizándose doce grupos de discusión, uno por cada colectivo, en las tres universidades participantes en el proyecto (N=67). A partir de una pregunta general sobre lo que suponía la competencia AaA para los participantes, sus aportaciones fueron grabadas, transcritas y procesadas con Atlas ti.8. para cotejarlas con el modelo teórico. Se analizaron la presencia y relevancia de las dimensiones y subdimensiones establecidas, prestando atención a la frecuencia de los comentarios y a sus conexiones e interrelaciones. Los resultados corroboraron el modelo propuesto por el equipo investigador: todas las dimensiones y casi todas las subdimensiones aparecieron en las intervenciones de los participantes. La siguiente fase del proceso de investigación es la construcción de un instrumento de evaluación estandarizado, a partir del modelo, para su validación estadística en estudiantes universitarios