ABSTRACT Background and Context Integrating computational thinking (CT) into K-12 education is hindered by insufficient teacher training, gender biases in STEM, and challenges in evaluating professional development (PD) programs due to limited assessment tools. Most research overlooks affective and contextual variables, focusing only on CT skills. Objective The study aims to understand the factors that enable an effective integration of CT teaching practices and gender affirmative actions, after teachers participate in a PD program. Method We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods design to examine a nationwide PD program for middle and high school teachers in a middle-income country. Pretest-posttest surveys (n = 3790) and classroom observations (n = 383) assessed teachers’ CT knowledge, technological self-efficacy, practices, and gender bias, while three focus groups involving 17 teachers explored the mechanisms influencing these outcomes. Findings The PD program significantly improved teachers’ content knowledge in CT, technological self-efficacy, and reduced gender bias in STEM. However, classroom observations revealed incomplete implementation of CT practices and gender equity strategies. Qualitative findings suggest key mechanisms shaping teacher implementation practices: teachers’ cognitive shifts toward recognizing CT’s relevance across disciplinary domains and school subjects; perceived capacity in managing technological tools and technological complexity; the importance of institutional support; and, reflective processes triggered by observing increased engagement among female students. Implications Teachers’ cognitive shifts, self-efficacy, and institutional support are pivotal for effective CT integration into school practices. Our findings underscore the necessity of PD programs to address these aspects, fostering the intentional application of CT practices and gender equity strategies.

ABSTRACT This article investigates the complex relationship between racial belonging, academic experiences, and student persistence in Brazilian higher education, a topic of growing relevance given the expansion of access through affirmative action policies. Based on a mixed-methods study conducted with undergraduate students from different institutions, we analyze how identification with one's racial group and academic integration experiences correlate with the decision to remain in university. Quantitative results reveal that, although there are no statistically significant differences in general levels of integration and persistence between white, brown, and black students, correlations between variables demonstrate distinct dynamics. Notably, racial belonging showed greater influence on integration and persistence for white students, suggesting that whiteness operates as an unquestioned norm that facilitates feelings of belonging. Qualitative analyses deepen understanding of the symbolic and material barriers faced by black students, including experiences of institutional and interpersonal racism. We argue that persistence is not merely a matter of material access but is intrinsically linked to social identity processes and how ‘racial otherness’ is negotiated within the university environment. We conclude that consolidating racial democracy in higher education requires policies that go beyond quotas, focusing on promoting a truly inclusive environment that recognizes and values racial diversity while actively combating discriminatory practices that subjectify students and undermine their sense of belonging.

ABSTRACT This study examines the effects of affirmative action bans on underrepresented minority (URM) students in U.S. higher education. Using state-level variation and a difference-in-differences approach, it estimates the impacts on enrollment, degree completion, and STEM participation. The results show that these bans reduced Black enrollment and bachelor’s degree attainment at four-year institutions, with the largest declines occurring at highly selective institutions. Black representation in STEM fields decreased at highly selective institutions but increased at moderately selective ones. These findings are consistent with the mismatch hypothesis and suggest that institutional selectivity plays an important role in shaping access, persistence, and academic trajectories.

First-generation scholars are individuals who are the first in their family to attend a four-year college or university. In response to affirmative action bans, admissions committees have begun to use first-generation status as a way to promote a diverse student body, leading to an increase in the number of first generation students. Within the sociology of education, first-generation scholars are typically discussed from a deficit-based perspective that emphasizes their lack of preparation, lower degree completion rates, and enmeshment in reductive discourses such as impostor syndrome. Although we see value in naming and challenging the systemic barriers that encumber first-generation scholars, we propose that the field of linguistics and its allied disciplines are especially well suited to pursue an asset-based perspective of the first-generation experience. First-generation students are disproportionately bilingual, heritage speakers, and/or immigrants, and even monolingual first-generation students without a recent immigration background often have exposure to stigmatized dialects and sociolects. First-generation experiences of transitioning and translating between different language ecologies in home, school, work, and/or activist spaces foster resilience, resourcefulness, and metalinguistic awareness that can be leveraged in the linguistics classroom. We provide a collection of best practices in teaching and course design geared towards undergraduate-level linguistics courses rooted in a philosophy of universal design that demystifies the hidden curriculum and gives greater pride of place to the study of language in sociocultural context. Not only do these interventions increase first-generation belonging and success, but they improve the quality of learning for all students, including continuing-generation students.

This qualitative research, the first Australian study of its kind, constitutes an in-depth analysis of kidney disease care policies and strategic plans (n=11) to identify how they recognise and affirm the healthcare rights of the Northern Territory’s (NT) Indigenous People. The Australian Charter of Healthcare Rights was used as a guiding document for the research. The study employed a thematic analysis method, specifically the framework analysis, due to its suitability for identifying and analysing patterns in qualitative data. The findings revealed that the Indigenous People’s healthcare rights are not explicitly addressed in the policies and plans, even though they constitute 89% of the kidney disease patient population in the NT. A salient aspect of every policy and strategic plan was the lack of specific affirmative actions and targets to evaluate renal care processes and progress for Indigenous People.

From awareness to action: Gender narratives to drive employment equity in Fiji's forestry and timber sector

Recruitment and selection constitute the foundational pillars of Human Resource Management, serving as the primary gateway through which organizations attract, evaluate, and onboard the talent necessary to achieve their strategic objectives. In the context of a large-scale, diversified manufacturing conglomerate such as Tata Motors Limited — one of India's most iconic automotive companies and a global player in commercial and passenger vehicles — the design and execution of an effective recruitment and selection process is of paramount strategic importance. This study examines the recruitment and selection process adopted by Tata Motors, analyzing its structures, methods, channels, and outcomes. The research is grounded in secondary data collected from academic journals, HR management literature, published organizational reports, Tata Motors' corporate disclosures, and industry studies on talent acquisition in the Indian automotive sector. The findings reveal that Tata Motors employs a comprehensive, multi-channel recruitment strategy that combines campus recruitment, lateral hiring, internal promotions, digital recruitment platforms, and employee referral programs to attract talent across diverse functional domains and organizational levels. The selection process at Tata Motors is rigorous and structured, encompassing multiple stages including written aptitude assessments, group discussions, technical evaluations, competency-based interviews, and psychometric testing, ensuring a thorough and objective evaluation of candidates. The study identifies key strengths of Tata Motors' recruitment and selection framework, including its strong employer brand, robust campus engagement program, and commitment to diversity and inclusion. Challenges such as talent scarcity in specialized technical domains, high competition from global automotive OEMs, and the evolving demands of the digital automotive era are also highlighted. The study concludes with recommendations for enhancing recruitment efficiency through greater digital integration, predictive analytics, and strengthened diversity hiring initiatives, providing actionable insights for HR practitioners in the automotive manufacturing sector.

The US Supreme Court overturned affirmative action in 20231; however, higher-education institutions continue to make admissions decisions that affect the racial diversity of their student cohorts2-4. Therefore, it is important to know whether racial diversity in an educational cohort is associated with higher or lower student cohort salaries at graduation. Learning theory argues that racial diversity promotes student learning, which should increase salaries5-9. However, well-documented racial wage discrimination indicates that higher racial diversity should decrease salaries10-14. As highlighted in the recent Supreme Court decision, there is no empirical evidence on racial diversity's association with student cohort salaries. Here, to address this gap, we compile two unique and comprehensive datasets: 2,964 Master of Business Administration cohorts across 141 business schools over 29 years and 3,386 Juris Doctor cohorts across 200 law schools over 21 years. In both datasets, we find that higher cohort racial diversity is associated with higher cohort median salaries at graduation across numerous model specifications and after controlling for student quality, universities and years. The key implication is that policies to increase or leverage racial diversity (for example, affirmative action and diversity, equity and inclusion programmes) enhance human capital and benefit society.

Despite the global expansion of higher education, studies show that merit-based admission systems do not necessarily eliminate social inequalities. Instead, they may reproduce barriers to entry or widen horizontal gaps linked to prestige and quality hierarchies among institutions and degrees. In 2012, Ecuador introduced a higher education reform that established a single admission system based on standardized test scores and secondary school grades as the main entry criterion, while incorporating measures to promote inclusion through affirmative action. This study examines vertical and horizontal inequalities shaped under Ecuador’s higher education admission system. Analyzing data from 2020 applicants, it assesses how social inequalities are reproduced through application scores and study choices. The results indicate that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, those with non-traditional educational trajectories, and those with prior educational disadvantages not only tend to achieve lower admission but also exhibit a reduced likelihood of choosing highly selective institutions or degrees, regardless of their scores. These findings challenge the assumption that access to the most selective programs is based solely on academic merit and problematize the rhetoric of ‘free choice’ in students’ transitions to higher education, contributing to the comparative analysis of access policies that combine merit-based criteria with affirmative action.

It's no surprise that Professor and author Julie J. Park disagreed with the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in the twin cases that eventually ended college race‐based affirmative action. After all, Park was a consulting expert for Harvard in its case against Students for Fair Admissions and she had already written two books on the subject discussing race on campus and affirmative action.

The relationship between gender and political engagement is complex and considerably varies across institutional, social, and cultural settings. Women have historically been underrepresented in political spheres because of structural and societal constraints that prevent them from participating. To address this, Zimbabwe, like the rest of the world, has implemented a vast array of policy instruments to promote women’s political participation at both national and subnational government levels. However, significant disparities persist as women’s representation and participation at the subnational government level remain constrained. In this light, the study employs a feminist analytical lens to examine why these gender policy instruments have not translated into substantive political participation in local governance in Zimbabwe. The findings reveal that the proportion of women in politics remains lower than that of men despite policy and legislative instruments such as gender quotas and affirmative action laws. Several entrenched structural and cultural barriers constrain the effectiveness of policies promoting gender-inclusive political participation in local governance in Zimbabwe. These barriers include political violence, perpetuation of patriarchal norms, financial exclusion, and weaknesses within the electoral architecture. The study concludes that while Zimbabwe has implemented several gender-inclusive policy instruments to promote women’s political participation, there is a need to go beyond formal policy adoption to structural reform through public education, cultural shifts, and the establishment of an inclusive and safe political climate.

It's no surprise that Professor and author Julie J. Park disagreed with the Supreme Court's 2023 decision in the twin cases that eventually ended college race‐based affirmative action. After all, Park was a consulting expert for Harvard in its case against Students for Fair Admissions and she had already written two books on the subject discussing race on campus and affirmative action.

This study examines the legal construction of women’s political rights within Indonesia’s electoral system through a normative-doctrinal approach grounded in statutory interpretation, legal principles, and doctrinal analysis. The research focuses on the coherence between constitutional guarantees, particularly under the 1945 Constitution, and the regulatory framework governing elections, including Law Number 7 of 2017 and Law Number 7 of 1984 as a ratification instrument of CEDAW. By employing grammatical, systematic, and teleological interpretation, the study identifies normative tensions between formal equality and substantive representation in the implementation of affirmative action policies. The findings reveal that despite the existence of a 30 percent quota requirement in candidate nomination, structural and regulatory inconsistencies continue to limit the effective realization of women’s political participation. Comparative insights drawn from international data further demonstrate that Indonesia’s position reflects partial compliance with global standards of gender representation. This study contributes to legal scholarship by proposing a reconstruction of electoral norms that strengthens enforceability, harmonizes regulatory provisions, and advances substantive gender equality within democratic governance.

Starting from the consideration of the changing profile of university entrants, stemming from the Affirmative Action Law for Higher Education, this article seeks to discuss how the growing presence (and persistence) of minority populations in university spaces has fostered the development of ethical-methodological teaching and research tools that challenge the hegemonic discourses to which the university has historically been tied. Considering the importance of creating spaces for dialogue and research committed to the specificity of the Brazilian racial experience, we believe that the classroom is a site of discursive contention and propose a reflection on racialized modalities of academic reading and writing. Drawing from experiences as black students and educators in an inland branch of a federal university, we advocate for the construction of fictionalized narratives and the contagion that literary gestures facilitate in translating lived experiences. It is, therefore, about claiming the right to the word to collectively build a more inclusive world and university.

The unequal distribution of Madrasah Aliyah (Islamic Senior High School) between urban and underdeveloped areas in Indonesia is a major obstacle to achieving equitable access to secondary education. This policy paper aims to analyze the urgency of equalizing educational units through the integration of geospatial information systems and affirmative action policies. Currently, madrasah development is still dominated by an urban bias paradigm that prioritizes densely populated areas for fiscal efficiency, thus creating a blank spot phenomenon or blind access areas in remote areas. As a result, there is a stagnation in the Gross Enrollment Rate (APK) and an increase in the dropout rate among Madrasah Tsanawiyah graduates in remote areas due to geographic barriers and extreme travel distances. The policy methodology used in this study is a descriptive-qualitative approach with problem priority analysis using the Urgency, Seriousness, and Growth (USG) method. Primary and secondary data are processed through School Mapping techniques and spatial analysis to identify the level of accessibility of educational services. Next, an analysis of alternative policies is conducted to weigh the effectiveness of community-based development models, urban moratorium policies, and the development of Geographic Information System (GIS)-based roadmaps. Risk mitigation was also developed to map technical, fiscal, and operational barriers to policy implementation on the ground. The analysis recommends the government immediately adopt a GIS-based Madrasah Equity Roadmap as a basis for objective decision-making. This strategy must be accompanied by a moratorium on madrasah development in saturated urban areas to redistribute the budget affirmatively to underdeveloped areas.

Sustainable talent management has become a strategic imperative for higher education institutions operating in increasingly complex and competitive environments. Within the context of a South African university, talent management is shaped by unique structural, socio-economic, and legislative dynamics, including transformation imperatives, resource constraints, and global competition for academic and professional expertise. This study examines the determinants of sustainable talent management within a South African university setting, with particular attention to leadership practices, organizational culture, institutional strategy alignment, employment equity compliance, performance management systems, and staff development initiatives. The study employed a quantitative research design. A purposive sample of n=400 was used to execute the data. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and the principal component analysis (PCA) was also used. Findings suggest that strategy, talent review process, staffing, talent acquisition, talent development, talent deployment, performance management and talent retention are the key determinants of talent management within the university context. The study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on talent management in higher education within emerging economies and provides practical recommendations for strengthening institutional capacity and long-term sustainability in South African universities.

Unfair discrimination is deeply woven into the fabric of South African society. In the post-apartheid constitutional era, the Constitution guarantees the right to equality in the pursuit of "the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms". This reflects the adoption of substantive equality, which goes beyond mere formal equality. The constitutional right to equality is grounded in two constitutionally mandated mechanisms: affirmative action, and the prohibition of unfair discrimination. Within the broader transformative vision of the Constitution, the prohibition of unfair discrimination plays a dual role: it serves as a baseline for the defence of formal equality; and it acts as a tool of transformation, particularly through the protection against indirect unfair discrimination. Protection against indirect unfair discrimination is also provided in section 6(1) of the Employment Equity Act. In a transformative context, protection against indirect discrimination is particularly significant because it recognises that equal treatment can sometimes perpetuate inequality. By uncovering and dismantling hidden barriers and power structures in the workplace, protection against indirect unfair discrimination plays a crucial role in fostering substantive equality and driving long-term, systemic change. Yet, despite its transformative potential, the application of protection against indirect unfair discrimination in South African labour jurisprudence has been limited. Against the aforesaid background, the article provides an overview of the approach adopted by South African labour courts to the protection against indirect unfair discrimination under South African labour law, while ultimately critiquing it.

The detailed examination of such a subject will be carried out on the basis of a fundamental problem, which will thus serve as a guideline in the presentation of the ideas which should underlie the approach. In this case, we are talking about the question of trade serving the inclusion and entrepreneurship of women in order to better promote their emancipation. In other words, how do trade standards or rules, through an inclusive and non-exclusivist policy, work to better take into account the role and integration of women in the Multilateral Trading System? Thus the problem of method is at the heart of any scientific work as it is true that the method sheds light on the hypotheses and determines the conclusions, our approach will be ordered with a few exceptions around the use of the analytical and exegetical but also comparative method. It is understood as the analysis, interpretation and explanation of the rules of law, particularly those contained in the various legal texts of the GATT and the WTO. As for the expected results, firstly, like the GSP, special preferences annihilate the MFN clause. If this questioning is justified in the “bananas” jurisprudence by the dismantling of both the Community development cooperation policy and special preferences, it is not justified by the enabling clause. Indeed, know the Lomé convention weighed a sword of Damocles which made the status quo fragile. Long immune to any challenge, Lomé's trade regime was shaken in the early 1990s. Its gradual questioning opened the way to a plethora of litigation which continues to this day. The contentious inflation caused by the “banana” regime revealed the ineffectiveness of a defunct dispute settlement system which pushed the Contracting Parties to strengthen the power of sanction through the creation of an integrated judicial body. As a result, WTO jurisprudence had to deal with a symbolic case which legally established the dismantling of specific preferences. It's the Banana affair. But the preferences were able to be maintained for a transitional period until December 2007, thanks to a waiver granted at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha. Indeed, the significance of the Banana affair is considerable for the ACP countries. After a long period of tolerance of special preferences incompatible with the principle of non-discrimination within the framework of the GATT, the WTO recognized their illegality and thus opened a period of renewal of the MFN clause. Then, at the level of special preferences, this dissonance was especially marked in the Lomé Conventions, by an asymmetric system of positive discrimination of the ACP in trade preferences and by a transition regime derogating from the principles of multilateralism and the original trade instruments. The latter takes into account the legal debate for a normalization of EU-WTO relations, namely the conflicts arbitrated by the WTO and the commercial policy according to the Cotonou Agreement, that is to say the exception to normalization. The era of the new WTO will be that of calling into question discriminatory special preferences. Some developing countries rightly do not condone other countries in the same category benefiting from preferential trade arrangements that contradict multilateral trade rules. This is the beginning of the dismantling of special preferences. The European preferential offer has known two eras and two different regimes. If the Yaoundé conventions were symmetrical and based on reciprocity, the Lomé conventions were asymmetrical and implied non-reciprocal trade preferences, discriminatory and contrary to GATT, although tolerated. The observation of the illegality of trade preferences arising from the Lomé conventions placed the European communities before an alternative: maintain the preferences and therefore non-reciprocity

This article analyzes how public policies implemented by the State of Santa Catarina have incorporated the perspective of racial equality and identifies the main challenges and advances pointed out by the Santa Catarina State Court of Accounts (TCE/SC) in addressing institutional racism within public institutions. The theoretical framework is based on studies on structural and institutional racism, public policies for racial equality, and diversity management in the public sector. Methodologically, this is a qualitative documentary study grounded on the analysis of the Operational Audit Report DAE No. 46/2023, complemented by secondary data from IBGE, IPEA, and DIEESE, as well as a specialized literature review. The results indicate the persistent underrepresentation of the Black population in the state public administration, weaknesses in the production and use of race-disaggregated data, the absence or incipient development of structured racial equality policies in several public agencies, and the existence of institutional barriers that hinder substantive equality of opportunities. On the other hand, relevant advances were identified, especially within the TCE/SC itself, such as the implementation of affirmative action in public service examinations, racial literacy programs, and the creation of permanent bodies dedicated to promoting racial equity. It is concluded that, although promising initiatives exist, the incorporation of the racial perspective into state public policies remains fragmented and requires greater institutionalization, strategic planning, and strengthening of external control as a driver of anti-racist practices in public administration.

In the current paper, the relationship between caste, gender, and political representation in India is critically examined through a combination of the visual and the political science approach. It transcends a purely data-driven approach in its attempt to comprehend how the existing social orders, institutional structures and cultural practices dictate who gains access to political power. Within the framework of intersectionality, the research points to the fact that persons being at the cross-section of marginalized caste identities and gender face both additional and structurally entrenched obstacles to participation and leadership. Although affirmative action policies, such as reservations, have enhanced descriptive representation in different political institutions, it has not always been accompanied by substantive empowerment or policy impact. The paper also highlights the drawbacks of depending only on quantitative visualization in the sense that it should engage more analytically with the issue of power relations, agency, and democratic inclusion. The study highlights the importance of more inclusive, intersectional, and institutionally responsive methodologies by locating the empirical patterns in the larger socio-political contexts. Finally, it demands a reconsideration of the nature of representation in the context of equity, voice, and meaningful representation to enhance democratic legitimacy in India.