Public Secondary Education Research Articles

Assessing Islamic Religious Education Curriculum in Flemish Public Secondary Schools

Islamic tradition promotes a holistic approach of personality development in which, we argue, three educational concepts take the centre stage: tarbiyah, ta’leem and ta’deeb. Looking through the lens of these concepts, we analyse two Islamic religious education (IRE) curricula: the 2001 and 2012 curricula for Flemish public secondary education provided by the Representative Body for IRE. We conduct a systematic thematic document analysis of the 2001 and 2012 curricula to map curricula elements that potentially contribute to Islamic personality development through IRE classes. Crucially, this article seeks to investigate whether the 2001 and 2012 curricula for Flemish public secondary education are in line with these central IRE concepts. We observe that the 2012 curriculum does contain relevant anchor points to work on tarbiyah, ta’leem and ta’deeb and to strengthen an Islamic personality in Muslim pupils. Hence, we argue that there is an urgent need for a new, adequate and sufficiently comprehensive IRE curriculum for Flemish public secondary education, developed by an expert committee—which should include Belgian-educated educational experts—in order to meet the expectations of all the stakeholders. Since in our view, this is the first step for a qualitative update of Flemish IRE. Further reflections on both curricula and recommendations for a new IRE curriculum are outlined in the discussion and conclusion sections.

Food Consumed by High School Students during the School Day.

The development of healthy eating habits in adolescence is perceived as an effective strategy to avoid health problems in adulthood. The involvement of educational centres’ governing boards, as well as the Educational State and Regional Administrations’, may be necessary to create healthy food environments during the school day. The objective of this study is to identify the relationship between students’ eating habits during the school day and sociodemographic, family and physical activity variables, as well as the existence of a school cafeteria. For this, a cross-sectional study in a stratified random sample of 8068 students of Public Secondary Education High Schools of Andalusia (Spain) has been carried out. The results show that students who are 14 years old or older are more likely to skip breakfast at home (odds ratio (OR): 1.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.55–2.12) than those under this age. Students whose mothers do not have a university education are more likely to consume incomplete breakfasts (OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.26–2.65). Snacks with sweets (OR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.67–2.23), candy in general (OR: 2.75, 95% CI: 2.38–3.19), and bagged crisps (OR: 3.06, 95% CI: 2.65–3.54) were more likely to be consumed in schools with a cafeteria. The factors that significantly influence the eating habits of secondary students in Andalusia include age, sex, parental level of education, physical activity and the existence of a cafeteria.

Teachers’ Views on the Priorities of Effective School Management

The aim of the present study was to investigate teachers’ views on the priorities of effective school management. The possible variability of teachers’ views in relation to age and work experience was also investigated. For this purpose, research was carried out in Secondary Public and Private Education schools of Ioannina, the capital city and the largest in the Epirus Prefecture, North-West part of Greece. Over 300 questionnaires were distributed to 32 Secondary Education Schools and 165 completed questionnaires were collected (return rate 54.99%). Teachers were asked to indicate their views on the priorities which should be set for effective School Management. Teachers pointed as most important priorities team work and collaboration with the Principal and their pupils (56%) whereas as least selected priority (24.4%) they pointed their participation in helping pupils to get a job. Compared to Public Schools, teachers working in Private Schools gave increased priority in: pupils' performance, raising teachers’ aspirations for their pupils, teachers’ job satisfaction, team work, collaboration with the Principal, parental involvement-collaboration between teachers and parents and school environment. The results indicate a significant variability on teachers’ age and work experience regarding their priorities for effective school management. This variability highlights the importance of focusing on teachers’ attitudes for a successful implementation of effective human resources and school management.

La educación no escolarizada como nueva opción para el bachillerato

La educación no escolarizada es una opción educativa que hoy en día está tomando mayor fuerza en la zona urbana de la ciudad de Cuenca-Ecuador, por lo general va dirigida para aquellos padres que elijan educar a sus hijos fuera de una institución de educación media pública o privada, conocida como educación familiar, y para personas que no han tenido la oportunidad de culminar sus estudios. El problema de la investigación es el desconocimiento por parte de la sociedad de esta modalidad de estudio, y que se encuentra estipulada en la Ley Orgánica de Educación Intercultural (LOEI) del Ecuador. El objetivo de este estudio, es diseñar un plan de información y comunicación dirigido a los habitantes de la Parroquia Octavio Cordero Palacios, perteneciente a la ciudad de Cuenca-Ecuador, sobre esta nueva modalidad de estudio y con ello incentivar a las autoridades de educación media para su continuidad en otros sectores. En lo metodológico, la investigación de tipo descriptivo con un enfoque cuantitativo, soportando su información a través de la técnica de la encuesta. Los resultados explican que la mayoría de la población en la que se aplicó las encuestas no conocen sobre la educación no escolarizada y si están dispuestos a poner en práctica el hecho de educar a sus hijos en casa, además conocen que este tipo de educación está bajo un marco jarico legal.

Practising internal marketing in secondary public education: development of an integrated model

Practising internal marketing in secondary public education: development of an integrated model

Practising internal marketing in secondary public education: development of an integrated model

The aim of this study is to investigate the existence of internal marketing (IM) strategies in secondary public schools, providing suggestions to principals and policy-makers for their application. Based on the literature review, a conceptual model of IM strategies has been developed to test on secondary public schools in Cyprus. The structural equation modelling (AMOS) software used for data analysis showed that a range of IM strategies are absent from secondary public schools and there is a positive relationship between relationship development, human resource management (HRM) and education process and internal customer segmentation (EPICS) strategies respectively to IM in the public secondary schools.

Liderazgo pedagógico: de la supervisión al acompañamiento docente

Currently, Chilean educational policy presents the need for school leaders to carry out processes to accompany teachers from a pedagogical leadership perspective, to strengthen teaching practices and student learning. For this reason, this research aims to characterize the teaching accompaniment carried out by directors of public secondary education schools in Valparaíso. To achieve this objective, a qualitative study was developed, with the application of semi-structured interviews to six directors and six teachers from three schools. The information collected was processed through a deductive content analysis. The main findings allowed to observe that there is a fluctuating presence and discrepancy between teachers and directors on the models of teacher accompaniment. While directors declare to apply both collaborative and interventionist models, teachers indicate that the latter is the most frequently applied, wherein the directors provide guidelines and unidirectional resolutive aspects. This fluctuating presence of teaching support categories of the three models: interventionist, collaborative and facilitator, demonstrates the process of transition experienced by the schools, from supervision to teacher support.

Una aproximación a las relaciones de la inteligencia emocional con el burnout y engagement académico en estudiantes de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria

Introducción. En el proceso educativo de niños y adolescentes en los centros escolares se producen numerosas situaciones personales y contextuales que afectan de manera significativa a los estudiantes en su proceso de formación. Variables como la inteligencia emocional, el burnout y engagement académico juegan un papel fundamental en la vida escolar de los estudiantes adolescentes. El objetivo del presente trabajo fue analizar la relación entre la inteligencia emocional, el burnout y el engagement académico en una muestra de 1756 alumnos pertenecientes a 12 centros públicos de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO). Método. El estudio estuvo compuesto por 1756 estudiantes pertenecientes a 12 centros públicos de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO). El presente trabajo consistió en un estudio ex post-facto de carácter prospectivo con un diseño descriptivo simple, respondiendo a un muestreo aleatorio simple. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron las versiones españolas del Traid Meta-Mood Scale-24 (TMMS-24), el Maslach Burnout Inventory–Student Survey (MBI-SS) y la Utrecht Work Engagement Scale–Student (UWES-S). Resultados. Los resultados mostraron relaciones positivas entre las dimensiones de la inteligencia emocional y el engagement académico de la misma manera que negativas del burnout con ambas. A su vez, el agotamiento físico y emocional y el cinismo predijeron negativamente la inteligencia emocional al mismo tiempo que el vigor, la dedicación y absorción, lo hicieron de manera positiva. Discusión y conclusiones. Se desprende la importancia de la promoción de comportamientos adaptativos y habilidades emocionales que mejoren el desempeño escolar y la vida académica de los estudiantes en sus centros educativos.

Organizational Justice and Organizational Commitment of Public Secondary School Teachers in Cameroon

This article aims to analyze the impact of organizational justice on the work commitment of public secondary school teachers in Cameroon. To achieve this, we mobilized the theory of social exchange (Blau, 1964, Gouldner, 1960) and opted for a quantitative approach. This was conducted using a random sample of 426 teachers. Thus, the descriptive analysis shows that the level of equity in managerial practices concerning public secondary schools in Cameroon is low. Similarly, the linear regression reveals that distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice have a significant influence on teachers' commitment to work. These conclusions were discussed in the perspective of Magner and Johnson (1995) and Chenevert, Charest and Simard (2007) whose results corroborate ours. In contrast, Muller and Djuatio (2011) found no significant link between distributive justice and employee commitment. The results suggest that taking into account equity in HRM practices would improve the level of work commitment of public secondary school teachers in Cameroon. Key-words: HRM practices, organizational justice, work commitment, social exchange, public secondary education DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-36-18 Publication date: December 31 st 2019

Instruments, objects, and collections as sources for the history of science education

A large number of Portuguese secondary schools have scientific collections, which are central elements for the memory and identity of the institutions that maintain them, and contribute to understanding the characteristics that over time have defined public secondary education in Portugal. However, this heritage is still largely unknown. This article draws attention to the historiographic debate surrounding the use of material sources in the history of science education, describing the relevance of natural history collections in Portuguese secondary schools as well as their vulnerability, considering the lack of a general policy or guidelines related to conservation.

Fundaciones privadas en la educación media pública de Uruguay

Las fundaciones son uno de los actores que actualmente participan junto al Estado en la educación pública de diferentes países. En este artículo se estudia la participación de tres fundaciones en la educación media pública de Uruguay, un país con alta presencia estatal en la educación formal. Se propone un marco conceptual que articula aproximaciones a las privatizaciones educativas (Ball & Junemann, 2012; Ball & Youdell, 2007; Bellei & Orellana, 2014; Verger & Bonal, 2012) y a los regímenes de bienestar (Adelantado, 1999; Esping Andersen, 1998; Razavi, 2007) del que se desprenden tres dimensiones analíticas: estratégica, espacial y relacional. A partir de entrevistas a sus directores, de la lectura de diversos documentos y de algunas observaciones participantes se examinan las principales características de estas fundaciones y de su trabajo en la educación secundaria del país, las relaciones que establecen con las empresas, con las organizaciones sociales y con el Estado y el tipo de vínculo que promueven con los estudiantes y los docentes, así como las consecuencias de todo lo anterior para el sentido de lo público en la educación. Los resultados muestran diversidad en la dependencia empresarial así como en su integración a la educación pública de Uruguay. Advierten también sobre algunas tensiones que el Estado debe resolver para que la participación de las fundaciones amplíe y no obstaculice la construcción de los valores asociados a lo común y lo colectivo en la integración de todos los estudiantes a la educación media.

AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE DRIVERS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL FUNDING DISPARITIES AND THEIR EFFECTS ON SCHOOL PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM SELECTED PUBLIC SECONDARY GENERAL EDUCATION SCHOOLS IN THE NORTH WEST REGION OF CAMEROON

Purpose: School funding has been and remains a source of worry to governments of many countries in the world. The government of Cameroon in an attempt to attend to this worry spends huge financial resources each year as funding to the school system. This study attempted to investigate into the appropriateness of government funding to public secondary general education schools in Cameroon, using the North West Region as a case study. Specifically, the study aimed at: (a) investigating the causes of funding disparities between schools, (b) scrutinizing the effects of funding on school performance, and (c) elucidating the grass root perspectives on appropriate measures to enhance funding to schools.Methodology: The study made use of the stratified random sampling technique to select a total of 115 schools, and data was collected using questionnaires. To ascertain the reliability of the instrument used, a pilot test was carried out. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The probit and ordered logistic regression models were employed to test the hypotheses of the study.Findings: The findings from the study reveal among others that: (a) school enrolment, school needs, influence by some stakeholders and age of school all have significant effects on funding, (b) that funding in the form of infrastructure, running credits and staffing all affect school performance, and (c) that schools should be funded based on their actual needs.Contribution to policy, practice and policy: These results policy-wise suggest that funding to schools should take into consideration the enrolment, needs, and age of the school. Also, that adequate infrastructure, running credits and staff should be provided to schools since these affect academic performance.

La Cátedra para la Paz y el Pos-Acuerdo en la ciudad de Bogotá

La Ley 1732 del 2014 y el Decreto 1038 de 2015 reglamentan la Cátedra para la Paz en todos los establecimientos de educación primaria y secundaria de Colombia. Considerando la importancia de este tema para la sociedad colombiana en la actualidad, en este artículo se analiza el discurso estudiantil sobre la Educación para la Paz desde una perspectiva hermenéutica, con el fin de presentar un diagnóstico sobre la implementación de dicha Cátedra. Para ello, se realizaron encuestas y entrevistas semiestructuradas en profundidad en cinco instituciones públicas de educación secundaria ubicadas en la ciudad de Bogotá.

Resolving School Staffing Problems in Greece: A Strategic Management Approach

Schooling constitutes one of the most fundamental means to social wellbeing, cultural advancement and economic growth in a nation. In order for school units to be effective in this role, it is imperative for their teaching staff to be well-trained, skilled and eager to perform their duties. In Greece, staffing in primary and secondary public education is performed at a central level by the Ministry of Education, whose utmost priority is to safeguard transparency in the selection process rather than select those candidates who would be most capable of improving the operation of the country’s public schools (in terms of its pedagogical, teaching and administrative functions). Since early January 2019, the Greek Ministry of Education has reviewed existing school staffing practices, sparking reactions among the education community and professional teachers’ unions as well as fueling discussions in society. The aim of this study is to critically deliberate upon school staffing practices in Greece by perusing pertinent literature and legislation. In particular, in the light of strategic management, it shall investigate whether school staffing in Greek schools is consistent with current and future education requirements concerning teaching staff with adequate knowledge and skills, as well as proper attitudes and behaviours. The present study also aims at identifying the degree to which this system provides newly appointed teaching staff with professional support so as to ensure a smooth and productive incorporation into the school unit.

School motivation, goal orientation and academic performance in secondary education students.

BackgroundIn the students' school stage can appear many psychological variables that can positively or negatively affect the academic life of the students as well as their learning process. Therefore, the present study aims to explore the relation between school motivation, goal orientation and academic performance in adolescent students.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was performed on adolescent students (N=3512) from 18 public Secondary Education (ESO) centers. The Scale of School Motivation (EME-S), the Perception of Success Questionnaire (POSQ) and academic performance, quantified by each student’s mean mark, were instruments used.ResultsThe results revealed significant relations among, on the one hand, intrinsic school motivations, task-oriented goal orientations and academic performance in a more adaptive pattern behavior and, on the other hand, relations between extrinsic motivations and ego-oriented goal orientations. The influence of intrinsic motivations, task-oriented goal orientations and low amotivation indices on predicting academic performance was deduced.ConclusionThe importance of promoting adaptive behaviors that improve adolescent students’ academic lives focus on adequate levels of school motivation and task-oriented goal orientations at their education centers was revealed.

Proceso de socialización en jóvenes de escuelas secundarias en el acceso y uso de Internet a partir de un modelo estructural

The process of socialization has been one of the main objects of study in the social sciences. Since the 21st century, studies on Internet access and use have proliferated in intermediate childhood, as well as in adolescence. Most of these contributions describe and analyze in a useful way the habits of consumption and preferences of use from different conceptual and methodological approaches. The purpose of this article is to analyze and evaluate the validity and reliability of a structural model for the study of Internet access and use among young people in Mexico. The study is derived from a larger research project conducted in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico in Public Secondary Education Institutions. The sample consists of 198 students. The analysis of multiple regressions suggested the conformation of two or more variables that influence the access and use of the Internet in the socialization processes by secondary school students. The results of the reliability tests of the instrument were more than acceptable when showing alphas of Cronbach with a value> .60, allowing to verify the reliability of the variables under study and to measure their internal consistency. The results indicate that the socialization factor has a significant influence on the access and use factor, making it clear that young people, when they access and use the Internet, do so primarily for interaction and socialization purposes

Prejudices and Obstacles Immigrant Students Face in the Los Angeles Unified School District

Author(s): Yousef, Natalie | Abstract: California law states that “all children in the United States are entitled to equal access to a public elementary and secondary education without regard to their or their parents’ actual or perceived national origin, citizenship, or immigration status,” (U.S. Department of Education). If the previously stated law is true, why are immigrant students isolated in English Learner Development (ELD) classrooms? Why is it difficult to reclassify English learner students as English proficient? Why are teachers not properly trained to teach immigrant students? Why do foreign-born students perform poorly and drop out of school? My goal is to answer these questions as well as elucidate the prejudices, injustices, and corrupt enforcements that are inflicted upon immigrant students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The presence of these unjust principles is exemplified by my internship experience during the fall of 2017 at a LAUSD high school located in the San Fernando Valley; the school has asked to remain anonymous for legal reasons. Despite this anonymity, the obstacles and situations these immigrant students face should be known and addressed by the public.

Políticas lingüísticas y enseñanza de lenguas Aproximaciones al programa "Centro de lenguas extranjeras"

The Uruguayan State has always considered the teaching of modern languages in secondary education beneficial. French, English and Italian were the languages that traditionally integrated the different cur-ricula. Portuguese, for political-linguistic reasons, was never included. In 1995, English was established as the only foreign language of compulsory education in public and private secondary education. In 1996, the Centre for Foreign Languages (CLE) Programme was set up to offer optional and extra-cur-ricular courses in French, Italian and Portuguese to students from the public education. Later, German, and Uruguayan Sign Language were added. The objective of the paper is to present an investigation carried out on the CLE Programmme. To begin, some of the measures taken by the State in relation to the teaching of foreign languages in the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries are briefly de-veloped. Then, the basis of the creation of the Programme, its characteristics and its evolution in statis-tical terms are analyzed. The research shows that the total number of students in the Programme has never reached 10% of the public it is aimed at, and that, between 2002 and 2015, that number has steadily declined. It is also noticed that, although Portuguese is the language with the highest number of pupils, followed by Italian, French and German, the limited information available makes it necessary to relativ-ise the conclusions. Finally, the research raises new questions: on the one hand, regarding the coherence between the state discourse and the reality of the CLE Programme and, on the other, about the causes of the limited information available about it.

Quality-Quantity Tradeoffs in Pricing Public Secondary Education

Most governments provide some public education and must choose how to finance it from fiscal transfers and user fees. I study the effects of a shift from mixed funding to pure fiscal transfers in South African secondary schools. Fee elimination increased enrollment in early grades but decreased enrollment in later grades and both pass counts and pass rates on graduation exams. The latter patterns can be explained by crowding that generated reductions in proxies for instructional quality and hence learning outcomes. This demonstrates that price ceilings without supply-side investments may have limited or even negative effects on education outcomes.

La lectura, la creación textual y la alteridad en el marco de una didáctica digital

El ecosistema digital permea en la actualidad la cotidianidad docente sin importar el nivel escolar al cual se refiera, tanto así que la didáctica enfrenta diversos paradigmas de comprensión del encuentro entre lo digital y lo físico en el aula. Por ello, este escrito se plantea como objetivo discernir los elementos constitutivos que den fundamento epistemológico a una apuesta de didáctica digital, para que, superando las perspectivas instrumentalizadoras y dicotómicas, se consolide una perspectiva holística desde el presupuesto de la acción comunicativa como condición de posibilidad de la cultura digital. Para cumplir con este cometido, se dan a conocer los hallazgos de un proceso investigativo cualitativo con un diseño etnográfico de tipo virtual que permitió concluir la relación existente entre la lectura crítica, la creación textual y la alteridad virtual como elementos fundantes del ejercicio didáctico en estudiantes pertenecientes a la educación media del sector público en Bogotá.