Semi-private Schools Research Articles

Musical Instrumental Self-Concept, Social Support, and Grounded Optimism in Secondary School Students: Psycho-Pedagogical Implications for Music Education

Research in music education has shown that musical and academic self-concept, the social component, task achievement, and academic performance are highly interrelated constructs in musical learning in general and instrumental learning in particular in secondary school students. However, no studies in Spain have analyzed the relationship between musical self-concept and the variables of social support and optimism in compulsory secondary education. Therefore, our study aimed to explore the relationships between instrumental musical self-concept, social support, and grounded optimism. We hypothesize that there is a significant relationship between the variables of musical self-concept, social support, and grounded optimism The variables were measured using the Instrumental Musical Self-Concept Scale (IMSCS), an adaptation of the Perceived Social Support Scale in Spanish Conservatory Music Students to the Secondary School Level, and the Grounded Optimism Scale (BEEGC-RA/BEECESA-RA24). The study sample consisted of 980 students enrolled in compulsory secondary education in public and semi-private schools in the autonomous communities of Aragon and Navarra. An analysis of correlations and regressions allowed us to explore and quantify the relationship among the variables under study, confirming the existence of a significant relationship among the variables “instrumental musical self-concept”, “social support” and “grounded optimism”. The present study thus provides more in-depth knowledge of the variables involved in the teaching–learning process of music as a school subject and instrumental music in particular, as well as a greater knowledge of the individual’s performance and motivation in the subject, with various future implications to be taken into account.

Teaching listening in middle schools: perceptions of practice

Abstract This qualitative case study first examined middle school teacher perceptions of practice regarding L2 listening instruction and, from these, proposes guidelines to favour L2 listening development. Novice middle-school teachers from Chile (n = 14) were guided within semi-structured interviews to reflect on their own L2 listening teaching practices in public and semi-private school classrooms. Verbal reports were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis techniques and underwent systematic interrogation of qualitative data. The results show an overemphasis on teacher preference for task completion to the detriment of developing listening strategies. We present results and provide guidelines for teachers to integrate features of a metacognitive instruction approach to listening.

In-Service Primary Teachers’ Practices and Beliefs About Multilingualism: Linguistically Sensitive Teaching in the Basque Autonomous Community

Summary European schools have seen a considerable increase in the number of multilingual students (Bergroth et al., 2021). Teaching languages separately restricts the use of students’ entire linguistic repertoire; however, new lines of research have pointed out the usefulness of multilingualism and the potential benefits of pedagogical translanguaging (Leonet et al., 2017). In this context, Linguistically Sensitive Teaching (LST) allows teachers to make multilingualism visible in their classrooms (Llompart & Birello, 2020). This qualitative research study was conducted in the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC), where Basque and Spanish are official languages. In most cases, English is taught as a Foreign Language. Even though the minority language is not the student’s first language in many cases, most students’ families choose Basque as the language of instruction (Basque Government, 2020). This study analyses in-service primary teachers’ perspectives on multilingual education in a government aided semiprivate school. Data were collected through linguistic landscape analysis, observations, and a focus group discussion. Two researchers observed one hundred six primary multilingual students and eight in-service language and content teachers for three weeks. Teachers who participated in the study were at least bilingual and fluent in Basque and Spanish and some (4) were also fluent in English (B2–C1 according to the Common European Framework of Reference for languages). The findings reveal that in-service primary teachers are aware of the utility of putting LST into practice, and they are willing to teach and flexibly use languages. In addition, they believe in transferences across languages and highlight the value of using language to learn content. Although in many cases, multilingual strategies are appropriate for adapting to the current situation, those strategies are not systematized, creating a climate of insecurity. The results suggest the need for more linguistically sensitive education and training.

Emotional Competencies in Primary Education as an Essential Factor for Learning and Well-Being

Numerous contributions corroborate the need to include emotional education and the development of emotional competencies at school to improve students’ school learning and well-being. The present study aims to learn more about the development of emotional competencies in primary school students, taking into account gender differences across different cycles and analyzing the potential link with students’ overall academic performance. Participants were 2389 primary school students (51.2% boys and 48.8% girls), aged from 6 to 12, from 21 public and semi-private schools in Spain. The study is a non-experimental quantitative study, using an ex-post-facto descriptive method. The Emotional Development Questionnaire (CDE 9-13), the Emotional Competencies Observation Scale, and the overall grade point average were applied to the sample. The results show significant differences in favor of girls in the development of most emotional competencies in all three educational cycles. Differences were also observed in academic performance by gender in the primary school cycle, with girls achieving higher grades. At the same time, positive correlations were found between academic performance and emotional competencies. The results confirm the importance of including emotional education in primary education.

THE IMPACT OF EMOTIONAL ATTITUDE OF A TEACHER ON THE PRESCHOOLER’S EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Environment, a multi-denotation term, covers the emotional, physical, and the behavioral realms of social setup. The preschool is an inevitably unavoidable step in the academic journey, which is responsible for foundational solidarity, effective learning, career and personality development. Both productive physical environment and behavioral sustainability are required for quality learning. Teacher and pupil relation counts a lot in the emotional development of preschoolers. This research is a qualitative study which focuses on the role teachers’ play in the emotional development of preschoolers. For this purpose, 16 checklist items from Godwin (2000) are adapted and distributed among 50 teachers from five various private and semi private schools in Quetta city. Interviews were also conducted from 10 teachers’ in order to understand the perceptions of teachers regarding understanding of expression and emotional regulation. The results of questionnaires and interviews were descriptively analyzed. It is found that the emotional attitude of preschool teachers impacts the emotional development of preschoolers. Teachers with expressive care along with effective teaching leads to improved students’ emotional development as well as quality learning

Women’s leadership in education: A perspective from Chilean school leaders

This paper focuses on the experiences of six Chilean female headteachers. It addresses their career progress, and the facilitators and barriers, as well as the challenges they encountered in accessing and enacting school leadership. The six participants were drawn from all three of Chile’s school types – public, semi-private and private – in what is a differentiated system. The findings demonstrate both differences and similarities in participants’ experiences, across all three school sectors. A major difference relates to the additional barriers faced by public sector school leaders, compared with participants in the private and semi-private schools.

Sustainable school self-evaluation: enactments and perceptions of balancing accountability and improvement goals

This paper examines staff’s enactment and perceptions of a continuous independent school self-evaluation (SSE) process implemented at a semi-private school network for the past decade. In light of research arguing SSE was perceived and used primarily as a self-inspection or self-regulation tool emphasizing accountability goals; this case suggests the promise of engaging in SSE that the staff perceives as positive and aimed towards their school’s improvement. Findings reported in this work are based on analyzing Concept Structuring Analysis Task (ConSAT) interviews in which participants created their own concept maps, and participant observation of a two-year-long SSE process. This paper identifies three organizational mechanisms that facilitated a sustainable improvement-oriented SSE: the role of the evaluator, pooling resources through network structure, and the way the network uses evaluation data. These findings yield implications for (a) research on the enactment of sustainable SSE and (b) implementation of SSE that balances accountability and improvement goals.

Adaptations of music education in primary and secondary school due to COVID-19: the experience in Spain

ABSTRACT COVID-19 caused an essential confinament in order to limit its expansion. Globally, this led to a reconsideration of education processes. The study’s purpose is to analyse how compulsory education music teachers in Spain adapted. To gather the data, 335 teachers were surveyed. The participants preferred to continue teaching in most cases. However, this situation forced them into an adaptation in which preference was given to contemplative activities. These adaptations were marked by a lack of methodological and material resources. A common complaint was the lack of specific instructions from government bodies. In addition, a difference was observed between public, private and semi-private schools. Interestingly, the teachers considered that the situation had enabled them to have more contact with students, even though the learning was asynchronous.

Comparative evaluation of qualitative performance of technical human resource in school eye health program.

Purpose:To measure sensitivity and specificity of vision screeners in identifying children with visual impairment and positive signs and symptoms and assess association of effectiveness with individual characteristics of screeners and type of schools screened.Methods:A total of 1096 children from age 5 to 15 years of age were screened. A total of 396 children were screened from a municipal school, 200 children from a government-aided school, and 500 children from a private school were screened. Four persons with basic 12th standard science qualification willing to be a part of school eye health program were selected who carried out screening in school children after receiving appropriate training.Results:The two vision screeners who had a background of conducting community eye health programs and worked in eye hospital had 100% sensitivity and specificity for presenting visual acuity, squint detection, and blurring. The screening by these screeners was done in private and semi-private schools, respectively. The other two screeners with no such background conducting screening in government schools had 60% and 75% sensitivity in detecting presenting visual acuity, respectively.Conclusion:People with a background of organizing community eye health programs and those working in eye hospitals are the best candidates for being trained as new cadre of vision screeners with best results being obtained in private and government-aided schools.

Public school students at a clear disadvantage in English language vocabulary production

The aim of the present study is to offer a comparative perspective on the level of attainment of productive vocabulary in three different high school settings in the Costa Rican educational system. The study compares the results obtained in two tasks that demand controlled production and free productive vocabulary from students who attend these schools. The vocabulary was measured through the Productive Vocabulary Levels Test (PVLT) and a free composition, respectively. The first school is a school where content based instruction is implemented. The second school, a semi-private school, offers more hours of instruction of English as a Foreign Language than the minimum required by the Ministry of Education, although English is not used to teach non-language subjects. In the third school, a public school, the minimum number of hours officially required is offered to the students (532 hours). The results in the controlled productive vocabulary task and in the free composition favor, by far, the performance of the students who are taught using English as a medium of instruction. These results point to a much-needed change in the teaching methodology of EFL in Costa Rica, especially when it comes to the teaching practices implemented in most public schools.

SCHOOL SEGREGATION IN PUBLIC AND SEMIPRIVATE PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN ANDALUSIA

ABSTRACT School segregation by socio-economic background is a feature of most education systems and impacts negatively on educational outcomes for poor children. Evidence on this issue is lacking for the Spanish primary education system and in particular the extent to which a) poor and rich students sort into different types of school and b) the extent of segregation within different school types. We measure the level of segregation of students from different socioeconomic backgrounds into public and semiprivate schools and within these two types of school using the Hutchens Index. The analysis is based on data for students attending 5th grade in the largest region in Spain (Andalusia). Our results indicate significant differences in the level of segregation across and within both school types. Students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds are more likely to attend semiprivate schools. This provides evidence of the inequity of providing public funding for semiprivate schools that are then disproportionately attended by wealthier students.

Native speakerism and the construction of CLIL competence in teaching partnerships: reshaping participation frameworks in the bilingual classroom

English language education in the region of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) has undergone significant change in the last decade with the rapid implementation of different types of CLIL-based Spanish-English bilingual programs. This situation places English linguistic competence at the center of controversy given the need for certified bilingual teachers participating in CLIL-type bilingual programs, who must comply with the minimum B2 level of English and are expected to engage in the successful teaching of content subjects. Within this context, this paper draws from a larger multi-sited linguistic ethnography and analyzes the organization of bilingual classroom interactions in a semi-private school that claims to implement a distinct language program built around teaching partnerships between ‘native’ language assistants (NLAs) and content teachers (CTs). We draw from critical research on communicative competence and changing definitions of workers in late capitalism to examine how linguistic and professional hierarchies are reconstructed within this bilingual classroom interactional order.

Promoting interculture through content and competences within bilingual education: teachers in action

ABSTRACT Content and Language Integrated Learning incorporates among its main aims the development of intercultural awareness and understanding. Nowadays, it is imperative to prepare students to become active citizens in globalised societies. The principal objectives of this study are to examine how curricular competences impact content planning and which factors influence the way teachers plan content and competences in order to enhance ‘interculture’ through this approach in Primary Education. An open-question questionnaire was used to analyse the opinions of 59 Primary Education CLIL teachers who were working in private and semi-private schools in Cordoba (Spain) during the 2015/2016 academic year. The results show that several curricular competences influenced the selection of content. Moreover, there were significant differences in competences relating to gender, qualification degree, subject and textbook. Content was also influenced by the same variables except for qualification degree. Outcomes highlight the influence of competences on content planning when teachers aim to promote intercultural knowledge and sensitivity among students. This study also suggests that bilingual teacher training needs reinforcement.

What Are the Factors That Influence the Use of ICT in the Classroom by Teachers? Evidence From a Census Survey in Madrid

With the world becoming increasingly digitalized, ICT has a key role to play in the educational process. The aim of this research is to determine the personal characteristics of teachers, as well as those of the school and class environment, that make them more likely to use ICT in their classes. This research is especially interesting given that there is little pre-existing literature in this regard. For this purpose, we estimate a logistic model with data from the census survey for the Community of Madrid (2016-2017 academic year) of the individualized evaluation of students in the final evaluation of their fourth year of Compulsory Secondary Education for four different competences: Mathematics, social and civic competence, English and Spanish. Our results suggest that higher teacher motivation, greater use of ICT by students in school and at home and better-prepared teachers who require less ICT training is associated with more frequent use of ICT in the classroom in all four subjects. However, some of the determinants of the use of ICT differ according to the competence evaluated. Teachers working full time use ICT more frequently in the classroom, but only in Spanish and Mathematics. On the other hand, teachers with greater disruption of order in their class use ICT less frequently in social and civic competence and English. We also find that a lack of digital devices in the school is associated with lower uses of ICT in English, Spanish and Mathematics but is associated with a higher use in social and civic competence. Finally, we also find that private and semiprivate schools use more ICT than public schools in Mathematics, English and Spanish.

Race and the Geographies of Education: Markets, White Tone, and Racial Neoliberalism

Geographical concepts have been widely and effectively employed to understand the imposition of market principles on schooling systems. This article brings this literature into tension with critical race theory and specifically David Goldberg’s analysis of “racial neoliberalism” that foregrounds the constitutive role of race in marketization. It begins by surveying and mapping 350 publications in the field of the “geographies of education.” Although rich and varied, and offering new insights into race, existing literature tends to develop theory from case studies located in the Global North rather than the Global South. The article then turns to South Africa, one of many postcolonies where a European minority established racially segregated schools and where private and semiprivate schools have a long history. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu and Gramsci, and considering the period from the 1950s to the present, it shows the shift from a modernist project of racial segregation to marketization and racial-cultural hierarchies it calls white tone. By outlining how schools’ competition for prestige leads to the valuing of “white” phenotypic traits and cultural practices, the article demonstrates the centrality of race to market formation and thereby helps to provincialize the concept of neoliberalism. Key Words: geographies of education, postcolonial, racial neoliberalism, South Africa.

¿La jornada intensiva en los centros educativos produce situaciones de desigualdad socioeducativa entre los alumnos?

This study presents a reflection, description, and analysis of the implementation of continuous work days at educational centers in Catalonia. In the last years, this measure has been introduced in nearly all public secondary schools. Currently, there is also a plan to evaluate the introduction of such measure at primary schools. On the contrary, private and semi-private schools have maintained the same schedule and they have not made any changes in this regard. The article intends to reflect whether or not there might be negative effects on the students. Many of them do not participate in any extracurricular activities after class; as those are expensive and many families cannot afford them. This situation leads to certain groups not doing any activities outside of school hours. Instead, they spend their time mainly at home or with peers in similar circumstances.

La percepción de la cultura percibida y deseada en el aula en los profesores

Se presentan los resultados obtenidos tras la aplicación de los instrumentos expuestos en lacomunicación primera de este simposio.La muestra del profesorado está integrada por 176 (32.4% hombres y 66.5%) participantes de 16 centros educativos, tanto públicos como concertados. La media de edad fue 47.92, con una desviación típica de 7.74. Se agrupó a los docentes en ramas educativas en base a las asignaturas que impartían, contando con 32.4% de de Ciencias; 66.5% de Letras y 3% de Arte.Se obtuvieron datos referentes a la cultura emprendedora percibida y deseada por el profesorado.En relación a la cultura emprendedora percibida en el profesorado de Educación Secundaria, se encontraron puntuaciones medio-altas, tanto a nivel general como por factores. Las puntuaciones más bajas se dan en el factor Escenario.Y en relación a la cultura emprendedora deseada en el profesorado de Educación Secundaria, se encontraron puntuaciones altas, tanto a nivel general como por factores. Las puntuaciones más altas se dan en el factor Finalidad educativa; y las más bajas en el factor Escenario.Se observa que existen diferencias significativas en todos los factores, siendo la puntuación de la cultura emprendedora deseada estadísticamente superior a la cultura emprendedora percibida.

Caries prevalence in teenagers from the Integral Dental Attention Program for fourth-year secondary school students of the Trehuaco and Lota communes, 2018.

Introduction: Caries and periodontal diseases are the most common infectious diseases that affect the human being. Currently in Chile, caries has a high prevalence and constitutes an important public health issue. Therefore, in 2015 the Integral Dental Attention Program was introduced for fourth-year secondary school students. Objective: to determine the prevalence of caries in the Trehuaco and Lota communes in fourth-year secondary school students. Materials and methods: the selected population consisted of teenagers from the Integral Dental Attention Program for fourth-year secondary school students at public and semi-private schools, with a total universe of 114 teenagers, 70 of which belong to the Lota commune. Clinical records were analyzed to obtain the variables, which were DMFT index, FONASA (public health insurance) coverage level, medical records and sex. Results: DMFT value was 6.2 for teenagers from Trehuaco and 5.41 for teenagers from Lota; 4.9 for men and 6.7 for women; 5 for the D coverage level of FONASA and over 6.86 for the other levels. Conclusion: Caries prevalence was higher in teenagers from the Trehuaco commune. Regarding sex, female teenagers were more affected. Likewise, regarding FONASA coverage level, the more affected were those from the A, B and C levels.

Assessment and interpretation of teachers’ attitudes towards students with disabilities / Evaluación e interpretación de la actitud del profesorado hacia alumnos con discapacidad

The process of including students with disabilities is necessarily influenced by teachers’ attitudes towards them and towards their inclusion in education. After detecting the need to study the attitudes present in preschool and primary and secondary school teachers, this study was proposed as it was decided that an analysis of such attitudes could help to develop a better understanding of the current needs of the education system. This study analysed data on attitudes from a total of 175 teachers (29.10% male) working in state schools (50.30%) and semi-private schools in different autonomous communities of the Spanish state. An adapted version of the teacher questionnaire on attitudes towards students with special educational needs arising from disability was used. After analysing the psychometric properties of the questionnaire, further purification of these properties resulted in an assessment instrument comprising 22 items. It is worth highlighting the appraisal that teachers carry out of their training, the existence of resources, as well as their own level of involvement.

Attitude of physical education teachers toward cooperative learning depending on the ownership and teaching experience

Abstract Cooperative tasks enhance learning, interaction and communication amongst students. Thus, this research aims to analyze the attitude of Physical Education teachers towards cooperative learning and possible improvements in different qualities in relation to ownership of the teaching center and teaching experience. The sample was made up of 455 Physical Education teachers (70.8% men and 29.2% women, aged from 30 to 50), and an inferential statistical analysis was carried out using different tests (ANOVA and Welch). The results of this investigation show that the attitude of the teachers who work in state schools is more positive than those working in semi-private schools as regards improvement of responsibility (p=.002) and group discussion (p=.000). Additionally, teachers who teach in state schools consider that cooperative learning improves group communications (p=.000) and group cohesion (p=.001) to a greater extent than teachers who work in semi-private and private schools. Moreover, the teachers with less teaching experience have a more positive attitude towards cooperative learning than the teachers who have more teaching experience, because the former consider that this method improves different skills in the students, such as socialization and social interaction, the acquisition of habits of coexistence, responsibility and co-responsibility, interpersonal relationships, group discussion, etc.