Formal Spaces Research Articles

The Role of Intersectoral Action in Response to COVID-19: A Qualitative Study of the Roles of Academia and the Private Sector in Colombia.

The integration of health services with other sectors is hypothesised to support adaptation of health systems in response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study identified barriers and enablers associated with intersectoral coordination at an early stage of the pandemic. The study focused on the roles played by the academic and private sector in different areas of public health planning and delivery concerning COVID-19 in Colombia. A qualitative approach was used to understand stakeholders' experiences and perceptions of intersectoral working in response to COVID-19 in three Colombian cities (Bogotá, Cali and Cartagena). Between March and November 2020, data was collected via semi-structured interviews conducted online with 42 key actors, including representatives of governmental bodies, universities, and professional associations. The dataset was analysed thematically using a combination of inductive and deductive methods. Organizations adjacent to the health system, including universities and the private sector, supported responses to COVID-19 by providing evidence to inform decision-making, additional service capacity, and supporting coordination (eg, convening intersectoral "roundtables"). The academic and private sector involvement in intersectoral coordination was stimulated by solidarity (being the "right thing to do") and motivation for supporting local companies (reopening the economy). Intersectoral working was influenced by pre-existing (substantive) and emerging (situational) enablers and barriers. This study showed that intersectoral coordination has played an important role in responding to COVID-19 in Colombia. Coordination was influenced by substantive and situational enablers and barriers. Based on our findings, policy-makers should focus on addressing substantive barriers to coordination, including the pre-existing tensions and mistrust among national and local healthcare actors, strict regulations and limited financial and human resources, while providing support for situational enablers, including alignment of public and private actors' interests, intersectoral government support and establishing frequent communication channels and formal spaces of interaction among sector, in processes of decision-making.

Zooming In and Out of Virtual Jewish Prayer Services During the COVID‐19 Pandemic

AbstractThis netnographic study examines Reform Jewish rituals transmitted by virtual platforms, Facebook and Zoom, during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Reform Judaism, which supports modern liberal theology, has adopted the usage of technology for Shabbat services. The transition from the physical space to the virtual one challenges the performance of the ritual: Rabbis change the ritual's structure, and during online services, the congregants have different feelings toward the congregation and their own spiritual worship, made manifest in changes in their usual religious gestures. A positive result of the move to the virtual space is that though the Reform Jewish congregations, as non‐Orthodox communities, have been excluded by the state, virtual prayers further expose Reform services to Israeli society. However, this might hinder societal support if it is shown that the community can conduct its services without an actual formal space. This study illuminates the intersection of virtual space, religious praxis, and political conflicts.

Challenges and opportunities for informal physics learning in the COVID era

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly impacted every aspect of academic activity, including the informal education and public engagement efforts of physics departments and institutions. As part of a large-scale national survey of the landscape of informal physics education programs, we have conducted a series of short interviews with directors and facilitators for a variety of programs in order to create a snapshot of whether and how programs have been able to adapt to the challenges and risks of the pandemic. Broadly, we find that programs are struggling to maintain any activity at all, and that those programs still in operation have relied largely on the efforts of individual director or facilitators to make substantial adaptations. Additionally, we find that those programs that have been most successful in maintaining activity benefit from strong, ongoing institutional support;we present the findings of this study both to complement existing research on formal spaces and to advocate for the continued support of informal physics education, which continues to play a crucial role in connecting departments to the public.

Talking with feeling: using Bion to theorise ‘work discussion’ as a model of professional reflection with nursery practitioners

ABSTRACT Making sensitive pedagogic relationships in the nursery is a deeply human activity evoking joy and satisfaction, but stress and uncertainty too. From an international perspective, strong local reflective spaces are required if early childhood provision is to be culturally and context responsive, counter-balancing globalising pressure to standardise provision. Further, nursery practitioners are entitled to a formal space where their subjective experience of the work, its demands and dilemma, can be expressed and understood. This paper is about ‘Work Discussion’ (WD) as such a reflective space. Professional reflection is now included in early years policy frameworks internationally for the reasons above. WD, distinctive in including explicit attention to emotion in pedagogy, is one model of a reflective space. This paper arises from a longitudinal evaluation of WD in nursery funded by the Froebel Trust. The methodology of the evaluation and the positive findings of impact for children have already been published. The aim of this paper is to theorise WD, drawing on the work of Wilfried Bion, a psychoanalyst and theorist of thinking in groups. Empirical data if offered to illustrate the explanatory power of Bion’s theory including what may be discussed openly and what is avoided in pedagogic reflection.

Scaling smartness, (de)provincialising the city? The ASEAN Smart Cities Network and the translational politics of technocratic regionalism

This paper explores the case study of the ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN) to uncover the motivations and potential challenges associated with technocratic regionalism, by which we mean technology-driven forms of regional integration and consolidation. In the case of the ASCN, technocratic regionalism is used to spur urban development through the rollout of smart city plans, policies and projects across Southeast Asia. As such, it is a regional strategy designed to scale smartness, and thus deprovincialise the city by embedding it within transnational flows of capital, ideas and expertise. At the same time, however, already existing urban issues have the potential to re-provincialise the city. The vagaries of local contexts, structures of governance and urban cultures complicate processes of scalar ascendency and thus foreground the paradox of (de)provincialisation. We identify three challenges – divergent infrastructural developments, vertical and horizontal (non-)integration, and the need to reconcile (in)formal spaces of the “smart” city – that underpin the translational politics of technocratic regionalism, and which are likely to compromise the efficacy and success of the ASCN.

Peru: From Exclusionary Constitutionalism to a Transformative One, Progress and Remaining Challenges

This article covers the evolution of key gender relations issues in Peruvian constitutions for almost a century, from 1931 to 2021. It analyses the path travelled from the exclusion of women as citizens to the achievement of parity in political participation; the transformation of the equality clause into one that has the possibility to incorporate discrimination based on sexual orientation as a prohibited category; as well as changes in the conception of maternity protection by the State, until one arrives at a provision that recognizes the right of people to decide individually about their reproductive choices. The article also reports on the participation of women in the struggle for these gains, their initiatives both in formal and informal spaces, as well as the demands of first and second wave feminist movements. All these points are organised through categories coined by Ruth Rubio Marín, to understand constitutionalism from a gender perspective: exclusionary, inclusive, participatory, and transformative constitutionalism.

Examining STEM Teaching at the Intersection of Informal and Formal Spaces: Exploring Science Pre-service Elementary Teacher Preparation

ABSTRACT There is a growing emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education focused learning spaces vis-à-vis science education in the US public schools. These STEM learning spaces mostly take place in informal learning spaces such as STEM makerspace, coding academies, and STEM camps. With this emphasis, teachers teaching science in elementary grades may find themselves being asked to teach in STEM focused learning spaces that lay outside of their areas of expertise in science teaching to teach STEM concepts and skills (e.g., computational thinking, 3-D Modeling, TinkerCAD). This problem is further compounded by the fact that many informal spaces (e.g., STEM makerspaces) are now being integrated into formal school structures and schedules. This paper shares findings by examining the preparation of elementary pre-service teachers for teaching in one informal space—a STEM makerspace. We used an exploratory qualitative design method and share results that indicate including preparation in informal STEM teaching may be beneficial in one elementary teacher preparation program.

Makerspaces: indicadores cienciométricos e implicaciones para la innovación, la educación y el emprendimiento

Objetivo: identificar temporalidad, áreas temáticas, instituciones, países, publicaciones y conceptos más relevantes en la construcción de los makerspaces como objeto de estudio asociado a la educación, la innovación, el emprendimiento y el aprendizaje.Diseño metodológico: es una investigación exploratoria, a partir de la recopilación de publicaciones en Scopus relacionadas con makerspaces y su conjunción con los conceptos arriba señalados, se derivan indicadores cienciométricos para establecer su importancia como tema de estudio y se crean mapas de conceptos a través del programa VOSviewer para identificar los temas que le son correlativos.Resultados: es un concepto de creciente interés. Involucra 23 áreas temáticas, con predominio de las ciencias sociales; los títulos de publicaciones y temas correlativos refieren a educación STEM y, en menor medida, emprendimiento y negocios.Limitaciones de la investigación: es una investigación exploratoria. Aporta referentes sobre temas y conceptos a partir de los cuales se problematizan los makerspaces; no profundiza en explicaciones, sino que muestra un panorama de temáticas que los estudian, lo que es relevante para encuadrar el tema que ha sido poco estudiado en México.Hallazgos: los makerspaces, surgidos de la premisa “do it yourself”, ofrecen un modelo de aprendizaje informal fuera de los espacios tradicionales formales. Se han vuelto tema de interés creciente para la educación y el emprendimiento. Por lo tanto, pueden entenderse como espacios generadores de nuevas dinámicas de aprendizaje basado en la colaboración, trasladables a los espacios formales de la educación tecnológica, emprendimiento y de complejización de los procesos de innovación.

Rethinking the Carrot and the Stick: A Case Study of Non-Grade-Bearing Learning Activities to Enhance Students’ Engagement and Achievement

Enhancing student engagement and achievement in large undergraduate university courses is a vibrant area of research. Many existing studies have demonstrated the capacity of technologically enhanced formal and informal learning spaces to promote learning. However, this literature is dominated by studies that use assessment to incentivise student participation, usually in the form of awarding or deducting coursework marks. Our study presents an alternative to this “carrot and stick” approach. We describe the design and implementation of two optional, non-grade-bearing learning support initiatives in a large enrolment, first-year human biology course: first, an online mock test that allows for timely feedback; and second, peer-teaching and—learning using the Piazza discussion platform. We analysed the uptake of these initiatives across three consecutive course offerings (2013–2015), and conveyed to students their potential impact as a series of graphs in the course materials. Regression analysis identified a positive correlation between participation in the mock test and summative achievement in the course for Grade Point Average (GPA)-matched student pairs, with the benefit being most pronounced for students with low-to-middle GPAs. Modelling revealed four different levels of student participation in Piazza, with increasing participation correlated with greater achievement, particularly for students with low-to-middle GPAs. The benefits of the two initiatives were complementary. Interestingly, for certain students, ‘passive’ participation in Piazza yielded similar learning benefits to ‘active’ participation, suggesting that active participation is not an antecedent for learning gains. This finding has important implications for instructors who currently require students to ‘visibly’ engage to earn participation marks.

Utilizing informal modes of engagement: civil society, substantive representation of women, and the Philippine women’s rights law

ABSTRACT This article asks how CSOs engage with policymakers in advancing policy change on women’s rights in the Philippine context where political dynasties are prevalent. It draws primarily upon interviews with leaders of women’s organizations, former leaders, directors, and current staff of the policy agency involved in the advocacy work for the Magna Carta of Women, which is regarded as the Philippine version of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Findings reveal that while CSOs used formal spaces such as official meetings and dialogues, CSOs also used informal modes of engagement: personal relationships, intermediaries, and reciprocity. Informal modes provide CSOs with the opportunity for sustained and long-term engagement as they develop personal bonds with policymakers which may extend beyond the term of office or appointment period.

Interpreting academic integrity transgressions among learning communities

Educational institutions rely on academic citizenship behaviors to construct knowledge in a responsible manner. However, they often struggle to contain the unlawful reuse of knowledge (or academic citizenship transgressions) by some learning communities. This study draws upon secondary data from two televised episodes describing contract cheating (or ghostwriting) practices prevalent among international student communities. Against this background, we have investigated emergent teaching and learning structures that have been extended to formal and informal spaces with the use of mediating technologies. Learners’ interactions in formal spaces are influenced by ongoing informal social experiences within a shared cultural context to influence learners’ agency. Building upon existing theories, we have developed an analytical lens to understand the rationale behind cheating behaviors. Citizenship behaviors are based on individual and collective perceptions of what constitutes as acceptable or unacceptable behavior. That is, learners who are low in motivation and are less engaged with learning may collude; more so, if cheating is not condemned by members belonging to their informal social spaces. Our analytical lens describes institutional, cultural, technological, social and behavioral contexts that influence learner agency.

Parallel distributed identification for block structure nonlinear system

The problem of identifying one block structure nonlinear system, consisting of four linear blocks and one static nonlinear block, is considered here. Under the assumptions that static nonlinear is a polynomial form, the block structure nonlinear system can be transformed into one state space form. Then this nonlinear system identification is formulated into identifying the state space form for these four linear blocks. After transforming the formal state space form, we obtain a polynomial nonlinear state space equation. Then the parallel distributed algorithm is used to identify each system matrix, while using the relationship between the formal state space equation and its transformed state space equation. Finally the simulation example is used to prove the efficiency of our algorithm.

Conceptualization of the concept social practices of informal employment of the population

The article deals with examination of the process of formation and development of the concept informal employment, that originated in the 1970s in poor regions of the Third World countries, which has acquired the status of the universal subject matter of the research. We have noted the compensatory component of informal employment (reduction of social tension as a result of joblessness), the initial socialization (the first workplace), the differential character of employment; the function of internal competition and search for the ways of survival under the conditions of a transition society. It is displayed that none of the schools takes immaterial profit and social aspects of informal employment functioning into account. The purpose of the article is to present a social conditions, informal employment practices are likely to arise and spread to satisfy the needs of a family or a community, without expecting to gain direct material income. It is revealed that employment should not be considered as a workplace solely, but mostly as a place for reciprocity and exchange, which is based on social capital, that has the character of verbal contracts. The activity that brings material or immaterial income and profit but not the official status of the employment is determinant in this case. It is mentioned that informal social employment practices are based on heritage, they are more inertial and stable. It is them that are located at the crossroads of sociocultural and institutional outlines, reflecting certain values and norms of a society. It is indicated that a simple dichotomic classification by the principle “formal — informal” employment simplifies the situation excessively. We are of the opinion that the employment market can be described due to the continuum of workplaces, workers are able to move inside the formal as well as the informal sector depending on conditions. It is singled out that the behaviour of the majority of population, that forms real practices is defined by traditions on the one hand, and on the other hand, by dissemination of new ways of social activity, located beyond the generated formal legal space. The issue is the mass-scale spread of informal employment practices.

Exploring the professional development of doctoral supervisors through workplace learning: a literature review

ABSTRACT The professional development of doctoral supervisors is a relatively new area of academic development that is still non-existent in many higher education institutions worldwide. This is particularly relevant to explore as several other studies indicate that the quality of doctoral supervision has a direct impact on the doctoral student progression and attrition rates and on the quality of the student experience. The purpose of this literature review is to explore what has been written about the professional development of doctoral supervisors, with a focus on understanding how learning takes place in the workplace. Through a systematic literature review approach, 20 manuscripts in the social sciences were identified as providing an in-depth exploration of the topic under study. The analysis of these manuscripts was situated within the theories of adult and workplace learning. Professional development occurred in different shapes and forms and is shaped by institutional and national academic cultures. There was a common understanding that learning occurred more often through self-reflection and dialogue, in both formal and informal learning spaces, and that there is a need for focusing more on the pedagogy of the doctorate. The article ends by suggesting a set of institutional recommendations for promoting the professional development of supervisors.

Crianças de 6 anos em espaços formais de educação, manifestações e produções culturais

Este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar as manifestações e produções culturais das crianças de cinco e seis anos em espaços formais de educação. Para realização desta pesquisa utilizamos como metodologia a abordagem qualitativa a partir da observação participante, entrevistas e conversas informais com as crianças em uma turma de 1° ano do ensino fundamental com 25 crianças com idade entre cinco e sete anos. A pesquisadora construiu um diário de campo que se delineou como importante instrumento para registros das descobertas e interações. Foram analisados os tempos e espaços das práticas infantis com e sem a mediação do professor e as manifestações e produções culturais das crianças no período em que permaneciam na instituição escolar. Concluiu-se que as manifestações e produções culturais das crianças são aprimoradas na relação com o outro e agregam sentidos e valores tanto para as relações entre o jogo, brinquedos e brincadeiras, quando para a vida em sociedade.

Beyond Institutions: Patronage and Informal Participation in Bangladesh’s Hybrid Regime

ABSTRACT Why do ordinary citizens embrace informal participation in hybrid regimes? Existing literature suggests that informal politics emerges in the absence of formal participatory avenues. But in many hybrid regimes, citizens participate in informal avenues alongside formal participatory spaces. This paper examines informal participation among urban middle-class citizens in Bangladesh – a hybrid regime – between 2009 and 2011. It draws on 60 semi-structured, open-ended, and expert interviews involving middle-class residents in Ward 27 of Dhaka city. It argues that in Bangladesh, informal participation is tied to the particular institutional configuration of the country’s hybrid regime. As ruling parties exercise patronage across government institutions, ordinary citizens adopt informal activities to meet their survival needs. Findings suggest that informal participation can transform the social order through the emergence of new grassroots-level institutions that embody ordinary peoples’ interests.

La formación en valores para la construcción de la interculturalidad educativa

This paper shows a theoretical-reflective analysis on the importance of vocational training and value education to transition into models that are inclusive in cultural diversity, typical of the globalized and hyperconnected environment of modern societies. Interculturality is contextualized as a key element in linking teaching-learning processes with the uniqueness and problems associated with cultural ethnocentrism and alterity. In this sense, the work is part of a thematic review that contributes to the understanding, inclusion and recognition of cultural, racial and ethnic diversity in the different formal spaces of learning. As summary, value education and transversality are the basis for building educational interculturality in future generations.

PENSARFAZER DANÇA DESDE UMA PERSPECTIVA CONTEMPORÂNEA E DECOLONIAL

Este artigo tem como objetivo propor pensarfazer processos de ensinoaprendizagem em dança desde uma perspectiva contemporânea decolonial. Foi possível identificar pontos de convergência entre estas perspectivas, já que ambas as correntes de pensamento compartilham pressupostos da concepção libertadora de educação, tais como dialogicidade, defesa da democracia, indissociabilidade entre teoria e prática; corpo mente; razão emoção; incentivo à autonomia dos educandos no seu processo de ensinoaprendizagem e respeito a pluralidade de ideias. A perspectiva decolonial de educação complementa a perspectiva contemporânea de ensino da dança ao fazer refletir sobre o eurocentrismo presente nos currículos dos cursos de dança, sobre a distribuição desigual de valor dada às produções de dança oriundas da Europa e EUA e às produções latino-americanas, especialmente as danças de matrizes afro-brasileiras e indígenas e ao defender uma educação intercultural. Nesse sentido, o pensarfazer processos de ensinoaprendizagem em dança desde uma perspectiva contemporânea e decolonial perpassa pela criação de um currículo de dança intercultural nos espaços formais de ensino, pelo incentivo à pesquisa de pedagogias decoloniais de dança e ao intercâmbio cultural entre as redes de dança latino-americanas.
 Palavras-chave: dança; decolonial; ensinoaprendizagem; interculturalidade; pensarfazer

¿Aprendemos botánica en contextos informales? Revisión teórica y narraciones de aprendizajes

This essay has addressed the concept of informal learning, with an emphasis on botanical learnings that we acquire outside of formal spaces such as at home, traveling, with friends, work, etc. When we think of botany, we believe that it is knowledge for few people, and we associate it with the study plans of undergraduate courses with a biological orientation; however, learning about this science in our daily lives is more natural than it seems. A short bibliographic and conceptual inquiry was made on terminology, and a compilation of stories about some types of learning related to botany that people learn through different means and contexts. As a result, it is proposed to reflect on the interdependence between the areas of learning, to move away from that vision of watertight compartments, eliminating labels and thinking about the idea of ​​integrated learning.

¿Aprendemos botánica en contextos informales? Revisión teórica y narraciones de aprendizajes

Este ensayo ha abordado el concepto de aprendizaje informal, con énfasis en los aprendizajes botánicos que adquirimos fuera de los espacios formales, en el hogar, viajes, con amigos, el trabajo, etc. Cuando pensamos en botánica, creemos que es un conocimiento para unos pocos, y lo asociamos a los planes de estudio de las carreras de grado con orientación biológica; sin embargo, el aprendizaje sobre esta ciencia en nuestra vida cotidiana es más natural de lo que parece. Se realizó una pequeña indagación bibliográfica y conceptual sobre la terminología, y una recopilación de relatos sobre algunos tipos de aprendizajes vinculados a la botánica que las personas aprenden por diferentes medios y contextos. Como resultado se propone reflexionar la interdependencia entre los ámbitos de aprendizajes, para alejarnos de esa visión de compartimentos estancos, eliminando las etiquetas y pensando en la idea de aprendizajes integrados.