Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Social skills are a set of behaviors that allow the individuals feelings, desires and opinions according to the situation. This article presents a social skills program that takes place in a primary school to see the success of this implementation in a group of children at the age of 9 to 10 years-old. The variables that can influence the education aimed at social skills were analyzed with measures that help to evaluate behavior, violence and self-esteem. The instruments used were the Children Assertive Behavior Scale (CABS), the Questionnaire for the Evaluation of Self-Esteem in Childhood (EDINA) and the Questionnaire on Violence and Harassment (life in school). The results indicate that a change was achieved in the “violence” variable, since a decrease in the aggressive behaviors of the children was observed, after implementing the social skills program, using the influence of the values, mainly respect, to make participants not performed violence to their partners, as well as applying teamwork and no discrimination. It is important to note that the implementation of social skills programs, in children, helps to reduce aggressive behaviors and develop positive attitudes, throughout their growth in the educational, family and social environment.

There is interest within academic circles in discussing the role of universities in preparing students for employment and the development of employability competencies. This interest developed from the high unemployment rates of recent college graduates in some countries. The purpose of the article was to support this discussion and frame it in terms of the achievements of scholars involved in this type of research. Under a qualitative content analysis approach, 46 articles on employability were examined. The analysis emerged six major themes about the work that universities engage in to promote employability. These categories are: cross-discipline competencies, equity, employability promotion, internationalization, educational programs, and labor market. These categories represent teaching, service, and research opportunities for teachers and academics. Implications are discussed in terms of the contributions attributed to Boyer and others who argued in favor of articulating the functions of the professoriate.

The following article is an argumentative exercise in the framework of the research “The social function of teachers in high school in the public school in Bogotá”. Reflects on the problem of instruction in the school, the pedagogical practices of teachers and its potential in the perspective of agency. For this purpose, some theoretical references are taken from sociology and critical pedagogy. Some elements are postulated for the discussion about the configuration of the scholar institution at present and the role of the teacher in the construction of this institution, through knowledge practices of knowing that you are the subject of experience.

La investigación científica debe estar orientada hacia la resolución de problemas sociales. Diversos autores coinciden en señalar que esta actividad tiene como propósito esencial la generación de conocimientos que proporcionen bases para el desarrollo del país y a la vez contribuyan a la generación de políticas públicas adecuadas (López, Sañudo y Maggi, 2013). La Ley de Ciencia y Tecnología establece que la política del Estado en la materia tiene como propósito: “Incrementar la capacidad científica, tecnológica, de innovación y la formación de investigadores y tecnólogos para resolver problemas nacionales fundamentales, que contribuyan al desarrollo del país y a elevar el bienestar de la población en todos sus aspectos” (Gobierno de la República, 2002, p. 65).  

In an effort to restore democracy, the Colombian State has since 1991 aimed to achieve it through education, placing democracy as a fundamental pillar in teaching in order to educate citizens in the spaces opened by educational centers. In time, this initial purpose to train participatory and deliberative young leaders with exceptional skills to represent their community was lost due to multiple factors. Schools have been yet another victim of the violence and the difficult socio-economic situation experienced by young people. These factors, along with the outlining and homogenization of the school, are linked to the teachers’ spirit, preparation and pedagogy, leading to the failure of the democratic scenario known as school government. The notion of democratic schools has become a myth, because it is believed that it consists merely of planning and implementing the election of student government. What the school actually

Although Colombian law includes several regulations about ethnic education, in reality teachers do not receive any support or concrete guidelines, neither in the curricular charts nor in the institutional educational projects. Thus, it becomes urgent to propose an educational policy that leads to creating the conditions and possibilities for ethnic education, one that recognizes the history of Afro-Colombian identity. An Afro-Colombian ethnic education implies developing a twofold public and educational policy: on the one hand, developing educational services in communities of African descent with quality, relevance, and leadership; and on the other hand, teaching about Afro-Colombian identity through Afro-Colombian studies in the school system, to achieve true educational development in Afro-Colombian communities and people, so that education becomes an engine for transformation and change, for the elimination of carimba, and for the upward mobility of Afro-Colombian communities and people.

Education in traffic security has been thoroughly studied in Latin America but little understood in Mexico; it involves demographic characteristics, educational level (and average literacy), as well as personal or collective identity. Adult education in traffic security requires that pedestrians, cyclists, motor bikers and car/ bus drivers assume their roles of responsibility and show their willingness to undertake joint actions aimed at improving such security. Traffic education can be understood as a process of learning and socialization of both intrinsic rules of conduct and clear, fair standards which pedestrians and drivers must know. This paper presents editorial opinions of columnists on government actions, or omissions, to implement traffic security programs in the State of Jalisco, Mexico, and especially for the Metropolitan Area of Guadalajara, to sensitize adult residents on an issue that should be an ongoing, lifelong learning.

Faculty members from a higher education institution in northwestern Mexico created the FORTES program, designed to develop leadership competencies among undergraduate students and thus contribute to their future success in life. To address the need to assess the FORTES program, educators asked the students enrolled in the program to respond to the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (IPL-E). The results of the survey suggest that the leadership competencies of the students in the program are consistent with a transformational leadership model. This type of effort holds some promise to help narrow the gender gap in leadership education. The main contribution of this study is to provide educators involved in student leadership development