Secondary Schools In Catalonia Research Articles

Online assessment practices during the pandemic in secondary schools in Catalonia

ABSTRACT During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers had to face different teaching and assessment challenges. This study aims to analyse the relationship between the assessment practices of teachers (related to their assessment conceptions) with their self-perceived level of teachers’ digital competence (TDC) and their received TDC and assessment training courses. For this, the authors applied an online questionnaire that analysed the case of secondary school teachers in Catalonia (Spain) (n = 278). Results show that participating teachers who have the highest self-perception of TDC are the ones who perceive themselves as integrating mainly formative assessment. Significant correlations were also found between recent teacher training and the kind of assessment practices carried out by participants. Official certification of TDC also has a statistically significant association with different assessment characteristics and purposes. Finally, the implications of these findings for pre-service and in-service teacher training are discussed, both regarding the TDC and the assessment competence.

Audio Description Practice in the Catalan L1 Classroom

Audio description (AD) has been successfully used in educational settings, especially in foreign language learning—often in combination with other audiovisual translation modes. Most studies have focused on advanced foreign language learners, in the context of higher education. The use of AD in school settings, and in connection with L1, is a promising but arguably under researched area, which our study explores. The AD workshop conducted in a Catalan secondary school in the realm of the research presented in this article is now part of a forthcoming catalogue of activities to encourage the use of Catalan among students, which is published by the Generalitat de Catalunya and addressed to Catalan schools. The article outlines the pedagogical design of the intervention, its main results, limitations, and ways forward. We report a positive effect of practising AD on students’ lexical and syntactic abilities in Catalan and an important impact on their awareness on blindness and functional diversity, as well as the development of critical thinking and empathy. One of the challenges of the activity was to evaluate students’ productions and another was to deal with multilingualism and translanguaging in the classroom, two key aspects that are also discussed in the article. Lay summary Film audio description is an aural description of what happens on screen inserted between dialogues and important sounds. It is a mode of audiovisual accessibility for persons with blindness or low vision, but we can also use it in education. In this context, students create an audio description as a way of practising their language skills: this is called didactic audio description and it has been used with success in foreign language learning in universities. Our study explores the use of didactic audio description in secondary school and in the local language of instruction (L1). Our project took place in a secondary school in Catalonia. The project involved two researchers (the authors of this article), a professional audio describer, a teacher of Catalan, and 80 students aged 12-13. These students participated in a workshop. The workshop included a presentation of what audio description is, a first practice, and a guided final practice. This final practice consisted in the audio description of a short film where the main character is blind: The Fish and I, by Babak Habibifar (2020). In this article we inform on didactic audio description, we explain the methodology of our study, the realisation of the workshop, and our most important results. These results concern the main benefits of didactic AD in L1 in secondary school. The most important results are: The benefits of didactic AD for developing language skills in L1. The benefits of didactic AD for developing other competences, such as working in team or analysing a film. The benefits of didactic AD for making students aware of blindness and diversity. The benefits of didactic AD for the revitalization of Catalan, a minority language. The article also presents the difficulties that the research team encountered. Some of these difficulties were evaluating the students’ work and dealing with multilingualism in the classroom.

Beyond ethnocentric perspectives in Spanish schools: Rethinking inclusion, the curriculum, and subjectivity

AbstractIn this paper, we examine how schools in Catalonia (Spain) are responding to the needs of migrant students by challenging the limitations of the curriculum. The paper presents some of the findings of an ongoing project titled Migrant Children and Communities in a Transforming Europe (MiCREATE). It is based on 31 semi‐structured interviews and 6 focus groups conducted with 78 participants (teachers, school representatives, and community members such as child psychologists, social workers, and other collaborators) from six state primary and secondary schools in Catalonia (Spain). Analysis of the interviews showed that Spain still has a monolithic conception of the curriculum, with Eurocentrism and ethnocentrism at its core. Nonetheless, school staff are producing pedagogical practices that challenge this position in order to respond to the needs of migrant students. We argue that it is necessary to consider other frames of reference such as critical interculturality, decolonial perspectives, and critical cosmopolitanisms in order to create collective and multiple experiences of belonging that go beyond the dominant cultural identity.

Experiencias de coeducación en Cataluña: Explorando facilitadores y resistencias

The current renewed rise of feminisms is placing the issue of gender inequalities in the different spheres of society, including education, at the centre of the debate. With a national and regional regulatory framework that contemplates coeducation, and a global discursive framework that increasingly positions it as a priority, many educational centres carry out coeducation practices. Based on 15 discussion groups with representatives of the students, the teachers, the school leaders, and the families and the environment of 12 public secondary schools in Catalonia, this article aims to explore the agency of these centres in terms of the development of coeducational practices and, more specifically, to identify what factors emerge as drivers or limitations for its implementation. The results are articulated around the four main agents (students, teachers, school leaders, and families and environment), and show that most of the identified factors can be both driving or limiting forces depending on their absence or presence.

Smart schools on the way: How school principals from Catalonia approach the future of education within the fourth industrial revolution

The advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is introducing developments in Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and other technologies in different sectors of our society, including education. This reality leads to a paradigm shift in which web-based cyber-physical environments will shape future learning environments. Thus, learning becomes ubiquitous, and schools assume new roles with systemic changes in communication, administration and management, becoming learning organisations. The use of technologies aligned with pedagogical strategies and new methodologies must lead to more-personalised systems. In this article, a comprehensive definition of smart schools is proposed. Smart schools must be endowed with integral management systems, inclusive, sustainable, and adopt new learning methodologies and advances from Industry 4.0 in an efficient way. Despite this conception and because research, government policies and business projects are not always in line with research, there is a need for deeper knowledge of how schools are approaching their upcoming transformation. To illuminate this purpose, in this study 37 principals from primary and secondary schools in Catalonia were interviewed. Thematic analysis focusing on technological and pedagogical innovations, management systems, inclusion, and sustainability identified some analogies with related research, pointing out that schools are far from implementing advanced technologies. Inclusion is the most-respected element thanks to the existing government regulation. Sustainability is hardly considered because of a lack of economic resources, but several schools consider themselves green schools and exhibit environmental practices. Conclusions are drawn to show that, although schools are not yet prepared to cope with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, its impact relies on the technology’s level of maturity and ease of use, as well as stakeholders as policymakers.

Health promotion in secondary schools: participatory process for constructing a self-assessment tool.

This article presents the process of constructing an effective self-assessment tool for monitoring health promotion in secondary schools (SS). The ultimate aim is to improve adolescents' well-being and quality of life in their reference environment. The design and validation of the instrument were based on participatory action research (involving students, professors, parents, health professionals, youth workers, youth directors, youth managers). A mixed quantitative and qualitative approach was adopted. The construction process included the following five consecutive stages: (i) steering-group creation and definition of objectives; (ii) diagnosing students' health and well-being in SS (case study); (iii) initial design and construction of health promotion indicators; (iv) validation based on expert judgement and (v) validation by means of a pilot test. The final construction of the self-assessment tool included 5 areas (healthy habits, affectivity and socialization, emotional well-being, safety and risks, and specific health situations), 9 objectives and 18 indicators deployed through a rubric. Each indicator is discussed in depth, specifying the most appropriate resources and health promotion activities for its application. The final self-assessment tool is designed to be sensitive to and effective for self-assessment of health promotion in SS. It contributes to improving adolescent health on an individual basis and also has an impact on the school environment. Finally, it also promotes analysis of the health content on the curriculum and the teaching-learning method(s) employed at the school. The self-assessment tool has been published open access and its implementation will continue to increase health promotion in SS in Catalonia.

Analysis of the implementation of teaching and learning processes at Catalan schools during the Covid-19 lockdown

ABSTRACT Most countries around the world have temporarily closed educational institutions with the aim of containing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. How have schools overcome these challenges and delivered education during the confinement period? The purpose of this research was to analyse how primary and secondary schools in Catalonia (Spain) implemented the teaching and learning process during the lockdown, based on 48 semi-structured interviews with school principals from different types of schools, located in urban and rural environments, and from diverse socioeconomic statuses. This article shows that there is a digital divide in students and teachers, emotional accompaniment as a need for online learning, older students are more autonomous and self-regulate better their own learning process, each school used their own strategy because there was no programme prepared for emergency situations, teachers had difficulties in self-regulating their work and communication with families became essential.

Associations Between Food Insecurity And Psychological Wellbeing, Body Image, Disordered Eating And Dietary Habits: Evidence From Spanish Adolescents

Food insecurity is defined as the lack of accessibility and affordability of safe and healthy foods at regular intervals. The first objective of this study was to examine whether food insecurity in Spanish adolescents is associated with poor psychological wellbeing. Secondly, to investigate whether it is associated with body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and poor dietary habits. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a secondary school in Catalonia, Spain with adolescent boys and girls (n = 426), aged 12–16 years. The ‘Spanish Child Food Security Survey Module’, (CFSSM-S), socioeconomic status (SES) indicators and other validated questionnaires in Spanish were employed to assess psychological wellbeing, body image, disordered eating and dietary habits. 18.3% of participants were food insecure and 81.7% were food secure. Multiple Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) was employed to investigate the association between food insecurity and these variables. Socioeconomic status, family affluence, weight status, age, gender and parental origin were added as adjustment variables. The overall results indicated poor psychological wellbeing, greater body dissatisfaction and higher drive for thinness in food insecure participants. This is one of the first studies in Spain to examine the negative outcomes of food insecurity on adolescent health. Tackling these issues in adolescence could prevent major psychological and physiological problems in adulthood.

Health promotion and students’ well-being in secondary schools in Catalonia

Objective: The aim of this study was to analyse the views of different members of the school community regarding the health and well-being of young people and health promotion in schools. Design: Case study design was used, in which the Personal Wellbeing Index–School Children’s Questionnaire was administered to young people, and focus groups were held with other members of the school community (students, teachers, families, tutors and stakeholders). Setting: Five secondary schools in Catalonia (Spain). Method: Sequential triangulation between methods. Quantitative methods evaluated the students’ perception of health and well-being, while qualitative methods described school community perceptions of health promotion in school. Results: The results revealed a generally good perception of health among young people. Reported perceptions of health were lower among students in the later years of secondary education. Findings suggest that health promotion actions do not always translate into healthy behaviours among young people. Lack of resources and school overcrowding are key contextual factors influencing the promotion of health. Conclusion: Findings advance knowledge related to health education during the secondary years of schooling. In addition, they provide professionals with relevant data for developing and implementing health and well-being actions to include as part of a holistic curriculum.

10 taules periòdiques per a un any ple de química. Una revisió de l’Any Internacional de la Taula Periòdica als centres de secundària de Catalunya

En motiu de l’Any Internacional de la Taula Periòdica (AITP), molts centres educatius s’han sumat a la celebració i s’han dut a terme una gran varietat d’activitats i iniciatives, especialment a secundària. na de les activitats estrella ha consistit en involucrar l’alumnat en la elaboració de tota mena de taules periòdiques, i moltes aules, passadissos i façanes de centres educatius s’han vist plenes de noms d’elements químics, de nombres atòmics, de grups i de períodes. Però com són aquestes taules? En aquest article, i seguint el mateix afany que Mendeléiev de classificar i ordenar, hem volgut realitzar una síntesi dels diversos productes que s’han generat en el context escolar. L’objectiu d’aquest recull és reconèixer el treball de tots els docents implicats, i alhora aprofitar l’oportunitat per reflexionar sobre l’ensenyament i aprenentatge de la química a partir de les contribucions de les diverses propostes realitzades.

¿Por qué faltan los jóvenes a la escuela?

El artículo explora el fenómeno del absentismo escolar desde una perspectiva biográfica en un grupo de jóvenes de centros educativos de secundaria en Cataluña. A partir de un enfoque metodológico cualitativo se analiza la visión de los jóvenes sobre su experiencia escolar, el significado que atribuyen a la escuela y las razones de su absentismo escolar. Lejos de los discursos dominantes sobre la deprivación cultural y social, los resultados muestran que se trata de un proceso relacionado con las rupturas y dificultades escolares. Los factores escolares fueron los más reconocidos, seguidos por los factores personales y familiares. Priman las causas escolares relacionadas con el binomio adolescencia-escuela, y con las relaciones interpersonales en el aula y el clima escolar, si bien no siempre se traduce en un desapego de estos jóvenes respecto del sistema escolar.

In-betweenness in moving images: six experimental tactics of video-ethnography to narrate South Asian immigrant girls’ subjectivities

ABSTRACTAfter exploring the interactions between moving image-based art practices and anthropology in recent decades, and the permeable membranes in ethnographic research, we will describe six tactics of video-ethnography used to create experimental narratives with a group of South Asian immigrant girls. Positioned in feminist critical poststructuralism, postcolonial theory and film theory, the research gives visibility to how the participants construct their identities when attending secondary school in Catalonia. Learning from artists like Ursula Biemann and Trinh T. Minh-ha, we have experimented with visual modes of producing cultural knowledge, with the aim of narrating migrant subjectivities and difference through moving images. Specifically, we focus on the production of stories through video-ethnographic research, based on the contributions of Michel de Certeau, who describes tactics as mobile, situated and fluid. In the end, this video-ethnographic research has experimented with reflexivity, ‘facing’, re-framing, in-betweenness, the interval, and spectatorship as tactics of narrating ‘otherness’

Head teachers’ attitudes towards religious diversity and interreligious dialogue and their implications for secondary schools in Catalonia

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the attitudes of secondary-school head teachers towards religious diversity, intercultural and interreligious dialogue and the role of education in fostering intercultural and interreligious dialogue. A sample comprising 275 head teachers in Catalan secondary schools answered an online questionnaire. The results revealed attitudes which were moderately favourable towards cultural and religious diversity, more strongly favourable towards interreligious dialogue, and less favourable towards education playing a major role in managing religious and cultural diversity and in fostering interreligious dialogue. We found significant differences in head teachers’ attitudes in line with the specific features of the schools where they worked. Amongst these differences, it was noticeable that heads of religious and private–public schools had more positive attitudes towards managing religious and cultural diversity and towards education playing a leading role in promoting dialogue. Also, we identified three groups of head teachers who showed differing degrees of positivity according to the perceived religious diversity of their schools. The more diverse the school, the less favourable the attitude, and vice-versa; the most moderate favourability was also associated with the most moderate diversity.

Factors Shaping the Uptake of ICT in Science Classrooms. A Study of a Large-Scale Introduction of Interactive Whiteboards and Computers

This paper characterizes how science teachers use technology in secondary school lessons, with a special focus on Interactive Whiteboards (IWBs), laptops and Digital Textbooks (DTs). This study also analyses how previous professional development or training may influence the way in which teachers use technology in their subsequent practice, as well as some possible relations with their perceptions. A total of 94 teachers from 69 secondary schools in Catalonia (Spain) were surveyed. Responses were collected and analysed combining quantitative and qualitative methods. Participants’ answers reveal the predominance of the use of IWBs and teachers’ computers, with scarce variety of uses, mostly aimed at supporting teacher-centred practices. Students’ participation in the use of these devices was low, calling into question the possible educational changes in science education. Although most teachers’ training in the use of technology seems to have caused little impact on their subsequent practices, some less frequent training approaches, such as training based on real examples, seems more effective in terms of changing teachers’ utilization of technology.

Mediation Techniques in Secondary Education should take into Account Gender Differences for Enhanced Effectiveness: Evidence from Secondary Schools in Catalonia

Mediation Techniques in Secondary Education should take into Account Gender Differences for Enhanced Effectiveness: Evidence from Secondary Schools in Catalonia

Teachers’ Perceptions of the Use of Moodle Activities and Their Learning Impact in Secondary Education

Moodle has become popular worldwide in all levels of education. Although several studies have focused on analyzing the use of the Moodle platform as a whole, few contributions have examined the use of each activity included in Moodle, and its potential impact in learning. The survey collected data from 132 teachers in 43 secondary schools in Catalonia (Spain), considering teachers’ individual information, teachers’ frequency of use of Moodle activities, and teachers’ perception of how the use of Moodle impacts learning. Findings from all teachers suggest that assignment, quiz, forum, lesson, and external tool are the activities used most by teachers, and providing new educational scenarios is the main perceived learning impact. Moreover, only teachers as users of a narrow range of activities perceived the teaching and learning impact of Moodle as significantly higher: database (creation and sharing information tool), forum (communication tool), glossary (collaboration tool), and quiz and survey (assessment tools).

Rap music in minority languages in secondary education: A case study of Catalan rap

AbstractThis article explores hip hop music as a powerful tool for educational institutions to promote minority languages among teenagers living in multilingual contexts. It reports on an educational experience in secondary education that consisted of a series of rhyme workshops given by a guest hip hop artist in a secondary school in Catalonia, where two main languages (Spanish and Catalan) coexist in an unbalanced situation that favours Spanish for peer-communication. Drawing on two articulated pieces of fieldwork (the first one in the classroom and the second outside school with three students who were emergent rappers), the study shows a rift between language practices in the classroom and hip hop language practices in the teenagers’ lives. It also shows the powerful effect of bringing a professional musician into the classroom and how the school can have an impact on the language practices of the students outside school.

La digitalización del aula de ciencias: creencias y prácticas

We describe and analyze educational beliefs encouraged by the implementation of the One Laptop Per Child program (OLPC) in Science classes across 9 secondary schools in Catalonia. Under the OLPC, classrooms are equipped with Wi-Fi, interactive whiteboards, a computer and an overhead projector; teachers and students work with a laptop computer, and textbooks are digital. Our data stem from in-depth semi-structured interviews with 22 teachers of Science and Technology subjects, who inform and critically assess their experience over the years in this technological context. Teachers’ beliefs about their subject of expertise and its teaching in relation to reading, writing and learning (through literacy practices), can be grouped into five categories: 1) Equipment, 2) Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), 3) Digital Textbooks, 4) Resources, and 5) Reading and Writing. Among others, we describe and interpret the following items: 1) why teachers are reluctant towards using mobile phones in the classroom, 2) why they prefer Moodle over other VLE, 3) how they criticize digital textbooks, and 4) how they find it difficult to teach scientific writing using keyboards –markedly scientific notation.

Are Boys and Girls still Digitally Differentiated? The Case of Catalonian Teenagers

Aim/Purpose: This article presents a study of ICT use and attitudes related to the computer use of girls and boys from Catalonia in order to detect which gender differences may explain the low presence of women in the ICT field and to design a proposal of actions in schools to help reduce these differences. Background: Since the number of women in the field of ICT remains very low, this study looks into the factors that influence girls’ lack of interest in ICT field. Methodology: The study collected data from 29 randomly selected public secondary schools in Catalonia with a total of 1,920 students (972 boys and 815 girls aged between 11 and 13 years old); it analyzes socio-demographic data, frequency and type of computers use and attitudes and self-efficacy on ICT use. Contribution: The study concludes there is a prevalence of stereotypes about the differences of skills and professional vocation among the teenagers and a gender difference when we focus on attitudes toward computers or self-efficacy. Findings: Boys and girls face computer use in different ways and both have a stereotyped image of their mothers’ and fathers’ digital skills and ICT jobs. Girls present higher levels of anxiety than boys when using a computer and lower self-confidence. Boys have higher self-efficacy than girls when asked for their perception about doing tasks with computers. Impact on Society: Policy makers must design strategies to minimize these gender differences in order to engage more girls in technological studies and minimize this imbalance. Future Research: Future research is needed, in the Catalan context, about whether the intensive use of computers in schools can influence the reduction of the gender-gap and identify which interventions must be made to maximize its effect.

Relationship between particular areas of victimization and mental health in the context of multiple victimizations in Spanish adolescents.

The main objective of this paper is to study the relationship between different areas of victimization (e.g., sexual victimization) and psychological symptoms taking into account the full range of victimizations adolescents suffer. The final aim is to contribute further evidence regarding the bias that those studies which focus on just one area of victimization may be introducing into our psychological knowledge. A total of 923 adolescents (62.4% girls) between 14 and 18 years old were recruited from seven secondary schools in Catalonia, Spain. The Youth Self-report and the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire were employed to assess psychological problems (internalizing and externalizing symptoms) and victimization, respectively. The large majority of adolescents reported having experienced more than one area of victimization. However, Conventional Crime area was the one that was more reported in isolation. Overall, the explicative power of a particular area of victimization was greatly reduced or even lost its significance when the other areas were taken into account. However, some areas remained significant and were different by gender. Clinicians and researchers should take into account the whole range of victimizations adolescents suffer when intending to understand the psychological aftermaths of victimization. Some areas of victimization appear to be more important at explaining particular psychological symptoms, those being Peer and Sibling Victimization in the case of boys, and both Conventional Crime and Internet Victimization in the case of girls.