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

In the last few years, the rights of millions of people have been violated, highlighting the need for human rights and democracy education. This article therefore pursues two objectives: to analyse the curricular development of human rights and democracy education in Spain, Finland and Ireland; and to establish relationships between the two concepts in the curricula of these three countries. The methodological approach adopted draws on Documentary Analysis and Comparative Education of the regulations governing curriculum development in compulsory schooling. The results revealed a comprehensive approach to human rights education in all three countries. Ireland also includes in its curriculum the need to act locally and think globally. Moreover, human dignity is present in the Spanish and Finnish curricula. With regard to democratic education, this concept is closely linked to human rights in all three countries, and its development is mainly cross-cutting. That said, the preferred subjects for the development of both contents are "History", "Social Sciences" and "Ethics" or "Religion". This demonstrates the need for a competency-based approach to education that permeates educational practice as a whole.

Second chance schools (E2C) aspire to become a response to the challenges that educational return and job placement of young people at risk of exclusion raise. The aim of this paper is to analyse the curricular proposal made by the E2C in Spain. In 2021, we conducted semi-structured interviews with the principals of 24 E2C, with ten professionals from companies that have hired graduated students from these E2C, as well as with nine mentors from training centres to which students have been referred at the end of their time at E2C. We also surveyed 351 graduated youths. Results show that the main strengths of E2C are their curricular flexibility in the design of the formative itinerary and the leading role of young people in their election stand out. Other highlights of the results are the relevance of transversal and basic competences, which are valued in the same way as the technical-professionals competences by the schools; and the sense of continuous and non-sanctioning assessment that is aimed at transformation and improvement. It is concluded that an adapted, flexible and comprehensive curriculum benefits the personal, social, educational and labour inclusion in the E2C.

Design Thinking (DT) remains a fuzzy concept when applied to education. This prompted the present scoping review (2008-2022), following Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. From 2853 Web of Science articles, only 172 met inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results show: (a) There is no agreed definition of DT. (b) There is a variety of tools, techniques and models used to support DT. (c) Most-assessed outcomes of DT are about creativity, teamwork, and problem solving. There were 100 out of 172 studies that included an evaluation of DT interventions. Research instruments were mainly based on student self-reports. Most empirical studies reported a positive impact. (d) Only 12 empirical studies involved control groups, while 37 adopted a pre-test and post-test design. Intervention duration ranged from 90 minutes to one year. The median of the number of participants was around 47. DT presents an interesting research agenda but also there is a need for robust evidence-based intervention studies.

Mobile technology can help personalize instruction and enhance generic and specific learning skills for students with special educational needs. This study examines the effects of a technology intervention strategy on the attention/concentration and spelling skills. Participants were students with permanent and temporary educational needs attending secondary schools in Chile. A pretest-posttest experimental design with a control group was adopted. 73 students participated, under three conditions: a) control group, with a printed guide-based strategy and without the use of technology, b) an experimental group with a computer-based strategy, and c) an experimental group with an iPad-based strategy. Analysis of Variance was used to compare the means of the three groups. The results show that the iPad-based strategy obtained significant differences compared to the other conditions. It is concluded that iPad mobile technology can improve both the generic attention/concentration skills and the specific spelling skills in students with special educational needs.

This work reflects on the actions carried out by six director-teachers of children and youth orchestras in the virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, which are considered factors of social change. A qualitative approach was conducted through the autobiographical method in the paradigm of learning ecologies to identify the challenges and motivations of two different orchestral programs during the confinement. The teaching needs derived from the transformations that occurred in learning environments and the challenges that have led to new teaching strategies were identified and interpreted as elements of the new learning ecologies.

Numerous research studies have addressed the usefulness of authentic children’s literature in foreign language teaching, but few have explored teachers’ opinions on the viability of applying a particular type of illustrated literature—the picturebook—to the teaching of English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The aim of this qualitative study was to analyse the beliefs of four teachers about selecting literary works for the EFL classroom and the suitability of the picturebook in this context. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and examined through inductive categorical analysis. The results showed that the possibility of working on specific language content was one of the main criteria applied to the selection and use of children’s literature in the EFL classroom. Furthermore, the participants assessed the cognitive difficulty associated with certain literary features of the contemporary picturebook as an obstacle to its use in the EFL classroom. The exploration of the teachers’ beliefs revealed that they favoured the use of children’s literature to promote functional literacy in English but not to improve literary literacy or the students’ cognitive skills in the EFL classroom.

In order to achieve an improvement in the training of students in compulsory education, it is necessary to have good teachers, who are involved, committed and motivated by their work. In this paper we present an analysis of the main reasons why university students choose a teaching career for their professional future, paying attention to the factors that could be influencing these reasons. We analyzed a sample of 409 students from different courses, from nine Spanish public universities. To collect the information, we used an adapted and reduced version of the FIT-Choice scale (Factors Influencing Teaching Choice). The results show that the best valued factors were the altruistic ones, linked to the social function of teaching. In the opposite direction, there were factors linked to extrinsic motivation, among which the material advantages of the profession stand out. Finally, it has been identified a progressive loss in the importance of factors linked to job and family stability as students progressed through the teacher degrees.

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The Salamanca Statement (1994) stated that the holistic learning and development of all learners takes place in mainstream classrooms without exception and, therefore, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Acknowledging the existing tensions, for example, in relation to the schooling of students with SEN, it highlights the capacity and resources of mainstream schools to guarantee the right to education for all students. The main objective of this article is to characterise pupils attending special schools and to analyse its evolution from the Salamanca Declaration (1994) to 2020. For this purpose, a longitudinal descriptive methodology has been used through the statistics of the Spanish Ministry of Education by means of graphic and analytical techniques. The results show an increase in the diagnosis of SEN mainly assumed by ordinary and public schools, highlighting notable differences between Autonomous Communities. The number of children enrolled in special schools, however, remains stable. Conclusions point to the risk of turning Inclusive Education into a rhetorical issue, requiring an intersectional perspective that allows progress to be made in educational policies that guarantee access, participation and educational success for all students.

Within the bilingual education context, the role of professional identity, widely studied across several areas of educational research, is scarcely explored in Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). According to the literature, few studies address the analysis of the pre-service teachers’ professional identity in CLIL. Understanding the role of professional identity is vital for teachers’ professional development and even to adapt training programmes for CLIL teacher education. Thus, this study presents the design of a questionnaire aiming at analysing the professional identity of pre-service teachers in CLIL. The questionnaire was validated through a panel of experts and applied to 73 pre-service language teachers of primary education. Results demonstrated a valid and reliable instrument. Differences in tests administered to participants were statistically significant. Hence, the designed instrument serves as a starting point to evaluate the pre-service teachers’ professional identity.