Negative Stereotypes Towards Older People. A Study with Teachers in Initial Training

Objective. To describe whether there are stereotypes towards older adults by the group of teachers in initial training. Method. The approach was quantitative and not probabilistic through a statistical study with university students preparing to become primary school teachers in the Spanish education system. This training profile includes adult and senior education as an additional professional opportunity. The sample (n=110) has been selected among students of the Primary Education Degree. We have applied the Negative Stereotype Questionnaire for the Elderly (CENVE) and the Educational Stereotype Questionnaire for the Elderly (CEEAM). Results. We suggest that the respondents present some degree of stereotypes towards older adults; the stereotype is greater when we question the deterioration of memory and cognitive impairment in general. However, the data are positive, except that in the case of the health factor we found two items in which respondents reported a higher level of stereotyping. Conclusions. Based on these results, we conclude that it is necessary to work on stereotypical perceptions, especially with students pursuing careers related to education, since their professional performance can lead them to develop their teaching careers in adult and senior education. The education professions must be involved in improving quality of life, active aging, and lifelong learning through professional practice and the elimination of personal and societal stereotypes.

Networking in Spanish schools: Lights and shadows

Networking is an effective school improvement method that can raise collective efficacy, student outcomes, and provide more collaborative scenarios. The forms collaboration and networking take in the Spanish education system are reviewed in this article, as well as how policy and practice are providing a framework for the development of networks. Spain is presented as an example of country that is exploring the possibilities offered by networks in education. There is an updated corpus of studies that support collaborative networking in Spanish education system. The article summaries evidence of networking in seven autonomous communities (Galicia, País Vasco, Cataluña, Madrid, Valencia, Murcia and Andalucía) where there are alliances formed to implement collaboration actions among the participants, as part of research supported by projects, regulations, programs and initiatives of diverse natures. These proposals are changing the paradigm from isolation to collaboration, an alternative way of seeing education that is growing not just in policy, but also in theory and practice, so enabling illustrative examples and advances in this field of knowledge, and allowing the reader to get closer to the polyhedral dimension that networking is adopting in this particular country. There is no doubt that the arrival of collaboration networks in Spain has sparked intense debates about its “lights and shadows”. Among the lights are the increase of school-community link; the growth of the extended education approach; the effective use of resources as well as the exchange of knowledge and experiences; and greater inclusion. On the other hand, some shadows are related to the different networks’ structures; isolation, not only by teachers as individuals, but also between schools and institutions or agents, and the pressure to increase standards in a collaborative versus competitive environment.

EDUCATION, SOCIAL JUSTICE AND POST-PANDEMIC IN SPAIN

The health crisis caused by the COVID pandemic-19 has had a profound impact on all areas of human life, and especially in education, with consequences that in many cases can be irreversible, specific in terms of social justice and equity, since the current situation seems to have exacerbated educational inequalities. These inequalities are reflected in the lack of equal opportunities for access, teaching and results, in many cases, as a result of the digital divide that became evident when moving from face-to-face education to a virtual modality. That is why this theoretical and descriptive work conducts a review of literature about social justice in education in Spain with projection towards an immediate post-pandemic future. The analysis of the revised work shows that there are still many outstanding challenges that the Spanish education system faces, but perhaps the most important is to correct or alleviate at least the inequality of educational opportunities, bearing in mind that the digital divide is only another side - the most visible - of inequality. Resumen La crisis sanitaria ocasionada por la pandemia de COVID-19 ha impactado profundamente en todos los ámbitos de la vida humana, y muy especialmente en el educativo, con consecuencias que en muchos casos pueden ser irreversibles, especialmente en términos de justicia social y equidad, ya que la situación actual parece haber exacerbado las desigualdades educativas. Esas desigualdades quedan reflejadas en la falta de igualdad de oportunidades de acceso, enseñanza y resultados, en muchos casos, como producto de la brecha digital que se hizo evidente al pasar de una educación presencial a una modalidad virtual. Es por ello que en este trabajo de tipo teórico y descriptivo se realiza una revisión de la literatura sobre el tema de la justicia social en la educación en España con proyección hacia un futuro inmediato de post pandemia. El análisis de los trabajos revisados pone evidencia que quedan aun muchos retos y desafíos pendientes que el sistema educativo español debe afrontar, pero tal vez el más importante es corregir o paliar al menos, la desigualdad de oportunidades educativas, teniendo en cuenta que la brecha digital no es más que otra cara -la más visible- de la desigualdad.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMPETENCE FOR SOCIETY AND SCHOOLS IN TIME OF CRISIS. A SYSTEMATIC BIBLIOGRAPHIC REVIEW

Entrepreneurship education plays an essential role in the development of countries. The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review of the literature to encourage Spanish education to organize more entrepreneurship proposals in schools that can reinforce the country after the coronavirus crisis. This competence's value lies in its perception as a strategy that engages actions to achieve social advantages. The databases used were Google Scholar, WOS, SCOPUS, Dialnet and Redalyc. After applying eligibility criteria and eliminating duplicates, 30 articles were selected, which are the main basis for the treatment of business competence and the proposal of an intervention for secondary school students, which aim to generate entrepreneurship competences among them, that improve their employability and their coping in crisis situations derived from health pandemics such as those we have recently experienced due to the coronavirus. The results are discussed by the positive impact of the work of this competence in the society and in the education of the students. In addition, the research offers a reflection on the feasibility of the proposal in the future.

Spain: The Evidence Provided by International Large-Scale Assessments About the Spanish Education System: Why Nobody Listens Despite All the Noise

ILSAs show that student performance in Spain is lower than the OECD average and has shown no progress from 2000 until 2011/2012. One of the main features is the low proportion of top performers. During this long period of stagnation, the education system was characterized by having no national (or standardized regional) evaluations and no flexibility to adapt to the different needs of the student population. The fact that the system was blind and rigid, plus the lack of common standards at the national level, gave rise to three major deficiencies: a high rate of grade repetition, which led to high rates of early school leaving, and large differences between regions. These features of the Spanish education system represent major inequities. However, PISA findings were used to reinforce the misguided view that the Spanish education system prioritized equity over excellence. After the implementation of an education reform, some improvements in student performance took place in 2015 and 2016. Unfortunately, the results for PISA 2018 in reading were withdrawn for Spain, apparently due to changes in methodology which led to unreliable results. To this date, no explanation has been provided raising concerns about the reliability and accountability of PISA.