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School site leadership has commanded the attention of researchers and policymakers in Anglo-American jurisdictions for at least two decades, but little is known about how many other parts of the globe have addressed this topic. This paper reviews published research and policy documents related to school leadership in Latin America between 2000-2016. Applying rapid mapping techniques used for scoping studies, we review 359 research and policy documents and give "coherent, meaningful shape" to what we know and what we don't know about school leadership in the region. Attention in research and policy to school leadership in Latin America was relatively slow to arrive: whilst it grew steadily in the first decade of this century it remains low compared to other regions of the world. We provide an overview of the school leadership policy environment in several countries, describing recruitment, selection, evaluation, and job responsibilities of principals; relevant leadership frameworks; and requirements for training or professional development. We speculate on what might explain the diverse ways that school leadership has been taken up in the region: degree of school system centralization; policy borrowing; stage of development; technocratic problem solving; and neoliberal accountability.

Purpose: This study aims to identify the strategic leadership and change management used to obtain the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditations as well as the research development on AACSB in the past decade. Design/methodology/approach: This study used a systematic literature review following Petticrew and Roberts' study. The articles were limited to empirical studies published from 2013 to 2022, taken from the Dimensions AI database. Findings: The findings suggested that two leadership styles were used to obtain AACSB accreditation: dominance-oriented transformational and financial leadership, alongside three traits of academic leaders: commitment, engagement and encouragement. Additionally, three change management models/processes were found in the articles: teaching evaluation framework, temporary isomorphism and authenticity. Finally, they discovered that the object of the studies on AACSB accreditation had been narrowed down from the organizational level to smaller objects consisting of schools' identity, teaching, learning and business schools' key players. Research limitations/implications: As this study only used Dimensions AI, potential articles related to the topic outside the database could not be obtained. Thus, it limits the scope of the findings of this paper. Practical implications: This study informs academic leaders in business schools about the role of strategic leadership and change management in obtaining AACSB accreditation. Originality/value: Through a systematic scoping review, this study presented a decade of research development on AACSB in addition to the strategic leadership and change management needed to obtain it.

This paper aims to evaluate and discuss the digital competence of academics at universities, to identify challenges and define recommendations for policy. This study was conducted through collaboration between the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and Metared of the Universia Foundation, surveying 30,407 participants who present the perceptions of their own digital competence levels. These self-reflections took place in universities in seven countries, namely Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Portugal, and used the Check-In tool, which consists of 22 questions based on the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators--or 'DigCompEdu' framework. A descriptive statistical analysis was performed, followed by a qualitative evaluation. Almost 70% of the academics have an average intermediate level of competence when the data is aggregated, with results varying in each DigCompEdu area according to the specific question asked. There is no significant difference between young and senior academics, as well as between men and women. The results present a discussion of whether the age and gender of educators and their work environment have an impact on their digital competence level, and at the same time highlights the areas in which educators perceive themselves to be most and least competent. It shows how the amount of institutional support that is offered affects the academics' perceptions of their level of digital competence. On the basis of the results, recommendations are presented for higher-education institutions, with the aim of supporting the professional development of their academics.

Latin American countries have evolved over the years. Still, after years of military reign, socioeconomicinstability, and civil wars, the region has been known for its anti-hegemonic economic growth (educationalpolicies) strategies. Central and South America's educational system has long been under investigation by researchers both theoretically and empirically. The transition of its education system through the introduction of centralized, liberalized, and populist ideology has sparked many researchers' interest. This paper aims to understand and compare 14 Latin American countries' education orientation. The study uses a matrix table to visualize the qualitative finding.

The purpose of this paper is to comprehend the importance that grammar has in the teaching of writing in the Hispanic American countries and Spain. To achieve this, the discussion that has taken place in these countries about the importance of sentence grammar in the teaching of writing is analysed. Three proposals for the contextualised teaching of grammar are systematised from the literature review: those that are focused in the writing process, those focused on metalinguistic reflection and those with a greater emphasis in the grammar of text. Besides, the school curricula of 14 Spanish-speaking countries that were involved in the international assessment of TERCE are examined. This analysis shows an evident attachment to the communicative approach of grammar. This means that in almost all countries grammar is taught linked to the linguistic skills of reading, writing or orality, with an especial emphasis in writing. Also, two tendencies can be observed in the curricula of this countries, that guide the way in which curricula use sentence grammar to have an impact on written communication: (i) from sentence grammar to text grammar and (ii) from text grammar to sentence grammar.

Purpose: This paper aims to present an approach to achieve accessible and inclusive Virtual Education for all, but especially intended for students with disabilities. This work proposes main steps to take into consideration for stakeholders involved in the educational process related to an inclusive e-Learning. Design/methodology/approach: The paper pays particular regard to accessibility in Virtual Education. This work is based on the activities prepared from years 2012 to 2015 within the initiative called ESVI-AL. This initiative was carried out in conjunction with Latin American and European Universities; for this paper, experiences and best practices from the initiative were used to prepare the proposed approach. Findings: The aim of ESVI-AL initiative was to offer products that can help in the development of an accessible and inclusive e-Learning education. Among the main results were reports, case studies, practical guidelines, training courses and software to install virtual campuses with accessibility features. Social implications: Nowadays, few countries have laws promoting and enforcing accessibility for e-Education and e-Society. This work aims to sensitize educators from different countries and raise awareness on the importance of working together toward an inclusive society based on accessible e-Learning. Originality/value: Based on a literature review and ESVI-AL initiative results, a descriptive overview was prepared as a starting point for the four identified main actors of an educational project, namely, educators, technical staff, quality auditors and students, with special emphasis on students with disabilities.

In this paper, we estimate the causal effect of an extra year of schooling on mathematics performance for seven Latin American countries based on PISA 2012. To that end we exploit exogenous variation in students' birthdates around the school entry cut-off date using both sharp and fuzzy Regression Discontinuity designs. We find strong effects of an extra year of schooling in most countries, which amount to a 30% increase in PISA test scores in Brazil, 18% in Uruguay, 7% in Argentina and 6% in Costa Rica. These effects differ from the typical estimates obtained from simple regressions or multilevel models and are large enough to allow 15-year-old students to reach higher proficiency levels, suggesting significant potential gains of reducing dropout rates in the region. Finally, we stress the importance of taking into account the effects of school entry cut-off dates on PISA samples to avoid making unfair international comparisons.

The academic programs at the graduate level are increasingly interested about the enrollment management challenges in terms of international student mobility. Understanding fundamental enrollment concepts to attract international students provides the essential key to consider the competitive environment concerning university resources, academic program potential, complex cultural dynamics, and workplaces among others. Based on a six-year quantitative and descriptive statistical study, this paper addresses the trends of first-time graduate enrollment and patterns of international student mobility by faculty at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Results revealed the sustained trend of graduate enrollment of international students mainly from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean among others. Moreover, the presence of international graduate students adds a dimension of diversity to UPRM between teaching and research undertakings that enhance the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, and Business Administration. The international student mobility has a consistent tendency mainly in the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and Agricultural Sciences. This consistency resembles the quality and reputation recognized by educational institutions and organizational world rankings. In-depth, understanding the trends related to international graduate enrollment and mobility should be considered by institutional leaders and administrators at UPRM to make knowledgeable decisions and to effectively set priorities to recruit highly qualified international students.

In 2007, six countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay) commenced work on a project to harmonise public policy on school sexuality education (SE) and the prevention of HIV. Inter-sectoral management committees for SE involving ministries of education, ministries of health and civil society were established, national policies and work plans were formulated and implemented, and SE/HIV prevention activities were carried out. The strengths and weaknesses of implementation were assessed. After this, the beginnings of a community of practice were created, with national focal points. This paper analyses the above process using qualitative data generated through semi-structured questionnaires and interviews, with a focus on the perceived contribution of regional collaboration to the development of national policies, national curricula and implementation. Overall, the initiative reached 83,000 teachers and 1,500,000 pupils. Training materials and national curricula and policies were developed, introduced and implemented. Regional collaboration improved political institutionalisation, information exchange, inter-sectoral collaboration, civil society participation, programme legitimacy and the perception of SE as a young person's right. The initiative offers a model for other countries, with regional collaboration helping to establish the case for SE both normatively and institutionally at the political level, mitigate obstacles in the context of such a politically sensitive topic as SE and provide a forum for discussion and the exchange of information which in turn helped legitimise and operationalise national SE policies.

The Cartoneras projects aim to promote the celebration of language, culture, and creativity through a collaboration between top literary minds and cardboard collectors in Buenos Aires and Lima. They produce and publish beautiful books with hand-painted cardboard covers that speak of the wonderful literature inside. Inspired by those projects, the Paper Picker Press (PPP) program in Boston aims to engage higher-order thinking through an arts-based approach to rediscovering literature through play. PPP starts with the premise that a student who is thinking creatively is also thinking critically. Creative play is critical thinking. (Contains 20 notes.)

For educators, the anti-globalization movement has created a literature of opposition which offers enhanced opportunities for teaching critical analysis of neo-liberal political economy. The movement also aids those who wish to teach how First World wealth and privilege is functionally related to Third World poverty and underdevelopment. The pedagogy of travel/service learning offers promising advantages in both areas. This paper outlines an innovative history course which has been successful in attaining these outcomes. The author's purpose is to present the course as a model to enhance conventional pedagogies. The course possesses a unique "rotating venue" design which in alternate years travels to Argentina, Peru, or Brazil, where students work in short-term community development projects. The author's underlying assumption is that with some caveats, what students learn in any of these countries can be applied to understanding the greater surrounding region. The author begins by describing the course, its methodologies, and the development of "adoption relationships" with Latin social agencies. He discusses some of the active learning techniques employed to link experiential with conceptual learning. Finally, the author offers a variation on Paulo Freire's theory of concientizacao (consciousness-raising) to explain how First World students can benefit from a travel/service learning experience. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure, and 23 notes.)

Based on data from 700 companies in 20 countries, this paper records the research that investigates the contribution of organisational and technological practices to speed up New Product Development (NPD). The organisational practice is found positively correlated with the speed of NPD. However, no significant direct relationship was found between technology practice and the speed of NPD. The organisational and technological practices are found to be in balance, which may be a new input to explain how technology helps NPD. The implication is that organisational practices such as team, continuous improvement and Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy are needed in order to implement technologies successfully. This result supports the simultaneous theory on innovation, which is especially important in developing countries. (Contains 1 figure and 4 tables.)

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand how Argentina has successfully developed a non-traditional export business such as blueberry, explain the causes of the most recent competitive crisis and analyze the emerging public–private strategies as a response. Design/methodology/approach: The unit of analysis of this study is the blueberry agro-system which is a complex network of backward, forward and lateral linkages with specialized buyers, suppliers, institutions and other economic agents. Considering the qualitative and relational nature of the dimensions studied, a case study methodology was adopted. The data were collected from primary and secondary sources through in-depth interview techniques and documentary analysis. These techniques were complemented by the processing of quantitative information to enrich the analysis and put the case into a broader context. Findings: The main finding of this study is that Argentina's export-oriented business model based on off-season high prices and scarcity of supply in the Northern Hemisphere markets must be revised and reformulated. This revision, already underway, was triggered by the Peruvian competition and is driven by the firm compromise of companies and chambers and in many cases has the backing of public bodies; this revision is an open-ended process in which the success of efforts to recreate profitability and competitiveness of the sector is not guaranteed. Research limitations/implications: The case study methodology implemented in the study implies that the main findings cannot be directly extrapolated to other fruits or crops. In fact, lessons and policy implications for other sectors should be conceived with caution. Another limitation is that the research relies on the perspectives of domestic stakeholders who have to respond and adapt to specific rules established by traders and supermarkets. The views and perspectives of these big companies, which manage a buyer-driven global value chain, could not be incorporated and is an area for further research. Originality/value: The study uses the concept of temporal window to analyze the business opportunity for off-season fresh fruits exports. This concept is a key to understand both the development of a modern value chain in a South American country to market blueberries in the Northern Hemisphere and the crisis created by the emergence of new more competitive suppliers such as Peru. The main explanatory factors are historical, technological, institutional, firm-related and market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the articulation of race, class, gender, and politics in erotic magazines during the Argentine and Peruvian destapes in the transition from dictatorial to democratic rule at the turn to the 1980s. We argue that porn, as a genre, was not limited to a niche of readers seeking to use the magazines only for erotic purposes. In Peru, porn was one of the main agents in the opposition to military rule, and it only became a separate, autonomous genre devoid of politics with the coming of democracy. The emergence of magazines focused mostly on eroticism developed as editors attempted to lure readers among recent migrants from the Sierra who lived in the pueblos jóvenes (squatter settlements) in Lima. In this context, the audience demanded pictures of local women to replace foreign white female nudes. In Argentina porn became a crucial aspect of democratic politics, understood as a tool to overcome inhibitions, develop a self-exploration, and undermine traditional mores while fostering democracy. Driven by an impulse to emulate the alleged open-mindedness of Europe and the US, Argentine porn cemented white middle-class identity at a time of economic decline. In this context, Argentine erotic magazines praised sexual experimentation as courageous and gave voice to women, gays, and lesbians. Our approach combines social, political, and cultural history focusing on how the readership shaped magazines and at times achieved significant editorial changes. Through the study of porn we offer new insights regarding the transition to democracy in late Cold War Latin America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oral history activities in Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia are not yet near the point where they can rival the impressive oral history projects carried out in Mexico, Cuba, and Brazil. (RM)

This paper describes the integration of Latin American marine fisheries into the global production system in the post-1945 period and the role of foreign and domestic fleets in this process. Through reference to the state-denial theories found in the globalisation literature, it charts the impact that the globalisation process has had upon the exploitation and sustainability of fish stocks in Latin American waters. It argues that while globalisation may indeed boost environmental awareness and lead to a more sustainable level of production through the decreased influence of local political interests, this has yet to happen in the principal Latin American fishing nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper aims to assess the influence of strategic capabilities on the business strategy-performance relationship among retail businesses in Argentina, Peru, and the USA. Design/methodology/approach - Zahra and Covin's self-reported scale was amended and utilized to categorize businesses along Porter's typology. Strategic capability scales were adopted from DeSarbo and associates. Self-reporting scales to assess relative competitive and objective performance in the present study were adopted from Ramanujam and Venkatraman. A survey containing these scales was administered to 277 attendees at a retail trade show in the USA. The survey - translated into Spanish - was distributed by mail and completed by 136 retailers in Peru and 163 retailers in Argentina. Findings - Links were assessed among strategic capabilities, generic business strategies, and performance in retail businesses in Argentina, Peru and the USA. Support was found for links between the focus strategy and both marketing and linking capabilities, between the differentiation strategy and technology capabilities, and between the cost leadership strategy and management capabilities. The low cost-differentiation combination strategy was associated with high performance in strategic groups whose businesses possess strong management and technology capabilities. These findings highlight the importance of developing strategy-specific capabilities as a foundation for superior performance. Research limitations/implications - This study relied on self-reported assessments of competitive strategy, organizational capabilities, and performance. It utilized cluster analysis, assessed only retailers, and considered only three nations. Originality/value - Extant strategic group research highlights the link between group membership and firm performance. The present study reinforces previous research. In addition, the presence of organization-specific strategic capabilities helps to explain why some businesses outperform others in the same strategic group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A revision of the genus Tecoma in Bolivia based on the author's herbarium research and extensive field observations is presented. Species delimitation is re-evaluated, resulting in the recognition of only four species, one of which, T. beckii J. R. I. Wood, is described as new. Tecoma sambucifolia is treated as var. sambucifolia (Kunth) J. R. I. Wood of the widespread and variable T. stans (L.) Juss., as it can only be distinguished on the basis of minor morphological characters and is not as geographically restricted as has been supposed. Tecoma fulva (Cav.) D. Don is treated as a variable species extending from central Peru to Chile and northern Argentina with six subspecies: ssp. fulva, ssp. guarume (A. DC.) J. R. I. Wood, ssp. tanaeciiflora (Kränzlin) J. R. I. Wood, ssp. arequipensis (Sprague) J. R. I. Wood, ssp. garrocha (Hieron.) J. R. I. Wood, and ssp. altoandina J. R. I. Wood, the latter described as new. The differences between T. tenuiflora (A. DC.) Fabris and the Peruvian T. rosifolia Kunth are discussed. Hybrids are formally recognized in the genus for the first time, and the implications for the accepted corolla morphology and pollination syndromes are discussed. Maps illustrate the geographical distributions of the species. All taxa discussed in the paper are illustrated. © 2008 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008, 156, 143–172. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As obesity rates increase, several countries in Latin America have implemented strategies to curb the consumption of sugars, resulting in reformulations of products with low and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS). The increased availability of LNCS-containing products raises concerns about the potential risk of exceeding the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI). Information on the intake of LNCS among Latin American countries are limited by the lack of publicly available national consumption data. Using the Budget Method, screening level intake estimates of six LNCS (acesulfame potassium, aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin, steviol glycosides, and sucralose) were derived for Argentina, Chile, and Peru based on national sales data and product labels. Four tiered assessments were conducted where assumption of LNCS use ranged from the most conservative Tier 1 to the more refined yet conservative LNCS use and concentrations in subsequent tiers. The estimated intakes, applicable to the total population as well as children, were below their ADIs for all tiers. For Tier 2 where average LNCS concentrations were assumed present in all LNCS-containing products, intakes were <60% of the ADI. Estimates for the more refined tiers were comparable to published estimates based on select subpopulations in these countries, validating the approach used in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]