Search

This paper investigates the short and long-term pernicious impact of armed conflicts on education and educational agents (students, teachers and students' parents), using a multivocal review by means of the integration and qualitative analysis of 60 research reports (voices) found in two databases: Web of Science and PROQUEST in the period between 1995 -date of the first founding paper- until 2014. Through the analysis of source data (voices) and taking the "multivocal review" as a method, the voices have been combined in nine categories, namely: a) Refusal and impediments to a return to education; b) Educational infrastructure damaged or destroyed; c) Cuts in or withdrawal of spending on education; d) Loss of the educational and protective functions of the family; e) Loss of the academic community; f) Non-qualified teaching staff; g) Drastic loss of skills; h) Abandoning school (population movements, destruction of networks and social environment); i) Behavioural problems: traumas, pedagogical roles and self-victimization. These categories have highlighted the serious consequences arising from conflicts, infringing as they do the most basic human rights and in particular the right to a sound education during childhood.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the efficiency of the Colombian higher education system, differentiating between public and private universities. Design/methodology/approach: A data envelopment analysis (DEA) model is applied to separately and jointly evaluate the teaching and research efficiencies of universities. The empirical application considers a sample of 78 Colombian universities across the period 2015-2017. A two-stage DEA is performed in which DEA scores are first evaluated and then regressed on potential covariates via truncated regression. Findings: Public universities outperform their private counterparts in terms of teaching and research efficiency, whereas private universities have higher global efficiency. Furthermore, the proportion of PhD faculty positively impacts all dimensions of efficiency and in fact is the only variable improving research efficiency. Research limitations/implications: First, the data do not permit a direct analysis of the impact of improvements in resources or capabilities on knowledge transfer. Second, policies and their efficiency may be influenced by differences in cultural contexts, regulatory frameworks and knowledge transfer activities. Finally, the country specificity of this research study calls for obvious caution when generalizing and interpreting its findings. Practical implications: The analysis of this data set will help decision and policy makers identify resources that are used efficiently by universities and interventions for improving resource management by inefficient universities. Originality/value: Few studies have addressed the efficiency of higher education in developing economies. This paper contributes to the literature by applying a two-stage methodological approach to estimate the efficiency of Colombian universities and provide a better understanding of the factors driving university efficiency.

Purpose: This paper aims to know how university's strategic managers, from both academic and administrative systems, perceive the relationship between sustainability and accreditation as sustainability incorporation and the quality of their processes are amongst the actual challenges of universities. Design/methodology/approach: This paper opted for an inductive, exploratory study using the case study approach, including 19 in-depth interviews to administrative and academic managers in a private, high-quality certified university in Colombia. The data were assessed using the content analysis methodology. The Colombian accreditation guidelines were the base to analyse the data as accreditation is part of the quality assurance system. Findings: This paper provides empirical insights into how the implementation of sustainability in universities relates to the Colombian accreditation factors. The main links found were in the areas of the university's social impact and organisational responsibility, which are highly relevant to graduates, external stakeholders and sustainability skills. Sustainable campus operation was associated with environmental management and improvement of the quality of the physical plant, with social and economic benefits in the long-term. Additionally, this research found a need for administrative and academic managers to understand and increase their commitment to sustainability. Research limitations/implications: Because it was a case study, results are not generalisable. Consequently, further research on similar lines is required to universalise the mentioned observation and results. Practical implications: The accreditation factors related to sustainability, inductively defined and exposed in this paper, provide an idea of how sustainability implementation could contribute to higher education quality assurance. Originality/value: This paper contributes to filling the knowledge gap about embedding sustainability in Latin-American universities. This paper postulates a starting point considering accreditation standards and the link of the strategic manager's perceptions of sustainability.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

With global conflict currently riding at its highest levels in the past 30 years, the international community has recognised the importance of engaging young women and men in shaping lasting peace. In 2015 the United Nations Security Council passed a ground-breaking resolution, Youth, Peace and Security: Resolution 2250 (United Nations Security Resolution 2250, 2015). This urged member states to increase inclusive representation of young people in institutions to establish mechanisms for the prevention and resolution of conflict, and to counter violent extremism. Youth were finally recognised as 'the missing peace' in the role of global peace processes. The United Nations acknowledged the potential for good of these 1.8 billion young people who, on a daily basis, seek creative ways to prevent violence and consolidate peace across the globe in devastated and conflict-affected societies. Technology-based peacebuilding practices, collectively known as Peacetech, were enshrined as a route forward in this complex task. Peacetech, combining the strategic use of technology in peacebuilding practice, has been pioneered as one pillar of Resolution 2250. Post-conflict education programs often deliver Peacetech's technology-based peacebuilding programs to post-conflict youth groups. This paper on Peacetech is divided into three parts. First, it outlines the definition and goals of Peacetech. Secondly, it outlines the definition and goals of Peacebuilding and outlines the significant role post-conflict education can have in peacebuilding. Thirdly, it highlights three Peacetech case studies evaluated in the field by the author. Overall, it is hoped that the paper will enthuse researchers in both the education and development fields to engage in further extensive research on post-conflict education.

This paper evaluates the association between new public policy requirements for B.Ed. programs in Colombia: (1) demand high-quality accreditation; (2) restrict distance modality; (3) restrict multidisciplinary programs; and (4) increase academic credits in education courses and pedagogical practices-- and the outcomes of 1387 B.Ed. in Philosophy students in the National Saber Pro test 2016-2018, in 'Education' component. The methodology was multilevel linear regression; the residential region is the level variable, and were included other control variables (gender, age, ethnic minority, socioeconomic index, etc.). The results show that outcomes are associated with pedagogical practices and with non-multidisciplinary programs, supporting new regulations. Students attending on campus programs had better outcomes, but students in distance programs came from regions where there are no programs, so this must be taken carefully. Contrary to the hypothesis, high-quality accreditation was not significant. This should lead to a review of accreditation criteria and its mandatory nature.

In this paper, a teacher-educator and two students of a B.A. program in foreign language teaching (English and French) of a public university in Colombia discuss our pedagogical experiences in a research seedbed. First, we present the conceptualizations underlying our analysis: research seedbeds, undergraduate research education, and curriculum as a process. Second, we describe our contextual background. Third, we analyze our experiences using three themes: creating and recreating curriculum, negotiating the official and non-official curriculum, and taking positions as teacher-researchers. We conclude that research seedbeds can broaden the pedagogical repertoire of undergraduate research education in foreign language programs and that it becomes necessary to conduct studies in this area in Colombia.

This paper presents a narrative inquiry study on agency development in student-teachers of an English language teacher program at a public university in the south of Colombia. Our goal was to understand how student-teachers develop agency when narratively inquiring their community by planning and conducting community-based pedagogy projects on issues they found pertinent to investigate. The data were gathered through semi-structured focus group interviews, individual journal entries, and video-recorded talks about their inquiries. As a conclusion, we acknowledge that certain social and narrative practices such as interacting within their inquiry groups, interacting with their communities, voicing their communities' necessities, and acting upon the inquired necessities facilitated developing agency and contributed to rethinking their roles as transformative members of their communities.

This paper reports on an exploratory collective case study on three in-service English language teachers in Medellin, Colombia. The study aimed at creating a route for teachers to collaboratively construct their understanding of intercultural communicative competence through their involvement in a study group. Data were collected through recordings, interviews, and reflective logs, which followed a bottom-up analysis. Results evidenced changes in the participants' views of culture, cross-cultural knowledge, intercultural stance, and understanding of intercultural communicative competence. As a conclusion, study groups materialized as an applicable tool for teachers' professional development, which allowed participants to redraw their own initial beliefs and assumptions, fostering them to change professionally and in their praxis.

This main objective of this study is the measurement of financial literacy in college students from Mexico and Colombia, using an instrument that was designed based on the available literature review and which was applied to a sample of 224 students. It was possible to find slight differences between the two countries, but the results as a whole were concerning as they showed a low level of financial literacy in the analyzed population, specifically in the topics of retirement planning, inflation, credit (credit card usage), savings and investment and risk diversification. This paper also proposes a questionnaire considering seven financial topics which measures the level of financial literacy and can be replicated in other study populations. It is important to point out that college students are an important opportunity to focus the efforts on financial literacy, since they are in a crucial stage of their lives when they are beginning to get into the work force or will do so soon, which is why this information can be used in a near future and by having it they can use financial instruments in a proper manner and for their benefit, helping them to achieve their financial goals and avoid financial problems during their life, contributing to their future wellbeing and society in general.

The purpose of this paper is to examine and compare the concepts of linguistic colonialism and cultural alienation in University textbooks for teaching English as opposed to the theories about culture in the decolonial turn. Dichotomous categories were established based on the analysis of the cultural component of the textbooks for the teaching of English. The corpus consisted of six textbooks produced by multinational publishers and used in Colombia during the years 2006-2018. Documentary analysis procedures were used to discuss emergent themed contents in relation to cultural components from a critical perspective that unveiled imperialism practices. Results showed that the textbook contents dealt with high levels of alienation burden, superficial cultural components and instrumentation to the submissive person who favors the dominant culture of English and does not offer possibilities to embrace interculturality in ELF teaching contexts.

This paper develops a two-voiced self-dialogue with some compelling ideals of critical pedagogy advocated by Paulo Freire: reflection, dialogue, "conscientização," (conscientization) praxis, critical engagement, and transformation. This dialogue, as a critical pedagogy encounter, has allowed me to go through a process of self-criticism or hopefully a self-recognition of understandings, experiences, constructions, co-constructions, and reconstructions of my practices as a language educator. I will address the following evolving choices: On dialogue and critical pedagogy, from language as power to language as possibility, from instrumental to alternative critical pedagogy practices towards more critical understandings and doings of education.

This paper reports an action-research study aimed at exploring the benefits of the critical analysis of YouTubers' content through the empowerment spiral model to foster students' talk as performance. Twenty 11th-grade students shared alternative messages related to social issues based on content analysis and reflections. Data were collected via preservice teachers' journals, students' written and multimedia artifacts, and voice recordings, whose analysis was done through processes of codification and categorization. The results showed that the implementation of critical media literacy helped students become aware of the content they were consuming and improve their English oral performance by means of specific oral activities. Therefore, this study has a balance between English as a foreign language learning and the use of critical approaches.

This paper reports a personal reflection that describes how the Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Languages at the Universidad de Pamplona provides preservice teachers with a research-based instruction. In an attempt to contribute to today's scholar discussions on foreign language preservice teachers' education, this reflective piece illustrates a unique way of teaching research to FL undergraduates. The author first provides an overview on the area of teaching research to undergraduates in Colombia; second, a description of how pre-service teachers learn the theoretical foundations, paradigms, designs and approaches mostly used in educational inquiry; and the two-year process student researchers go through. Finally, the "author discusses the lessons learned and what the future of this process might be like."

This article addresses the invisibilization of the existence of indigenous teachers in the Colombian ELT (English language teaching) field. Their existence, which is admittedly a phenomenon that lacks quantitative saliency, offers opportunities to reflect on the epistemological asymmetries that traditionally have linked the Colombian ELT field to an instrumental mainstream bilingualism, often ignoring the conditions of linguistic and cultural diversity in the country. Besides, there is an exploration of how the study of indigenous teachers' identities might contribute to the re-signification of pedagogy; this paper elaborates on the idea that scholars in the Colombian ELT have already built some horizons of understanding between the ELT and the diversities and epistemic privileges of Colombian indigeneity. The article is part of an ongoing research on the identities of indigenous teachers in the Colombian ELT being carried out within the Interinstitutional Ph.D. in Education at Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Bogotá.

In the Colombian context there has been an increase in the interest for publishing in high impact academic journals. This is due to various factors such as institutional requirements, hiring requirements, categorization of teachers and academic visibility. The purpose of this research-based paper, as a decolonial report, is to portray the central events and the causal connections of three female Colombian authors in their process as writers for academic purposes. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews that emphasized on Van Manen's (1997) four lifeworld existential dimensions that include lived time, lived space, lived body, and lived relation. These dimensions helped us uncover the essences of lived experience. Results indicated that central events and causal connections affect the authors' experiences in their process as writers. The key ingredients female authors judge as important events were social interactions with mentors and the context.

This paper deals with research on inclusion concentrating on the pedagogical implications derived from a qualitative case study that looked into three hard-of-hearing (HHs) students' perspectives and retrospectives on their schooled EFL learning. Data came from narratives gathered in autobiographical writings and interviews. Although there is a good body of literature on pedagogy in terms of strategies for dealing with HHs, few works have counted on the student's perspectives. The authors' insights, one of them being hard-of-hearing, call for truly inclusive policies and practices that address the categories developed in this case study, namely: (1) deafness separates HHs from people; (2) hearing aids are not like glasses; and (3) an exemption is not inclusion. The authors feel that the recommendations made are valid for learners with or without disabilities.

This paper proposes a model that comprises a learning exercise based on challenges, which tends to promote non-technical skills such as oral expression, communication, resource management, leadership and problem solving among engineering students. Since engineers have been recognized throughout the world for their ability to creatively solve problems, using the technical knowledge developed in their professional career, it has been considered that these skills make it easier for them to reach results that involve the solution of mathematical problems, or those related to science, through the use of technical skills, research or analysis and synthesis. In this sense, the academia seems to have placed the emphasis on hard and technical skills, while, non-technical ones, have been left in a secondary stage in the case of engineers, ignoring their role on their professional development. This project proposes a model that will bring together more than 180 engineering students and 4 university professors, by involving them in a real challenge that they might solve by means of their technical and non-technical skills. The model is being applied at a university and their first results show the need to modify the engineering training processes, to include the development of appropriate competences in engineers, in response to the demands of a globalized world.

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.

In this paper, different proposals made by national and international organizations and institutions on Teacher Digital Literacy are taken into account. The 7 most commonly used competence frameworks in international contexts are presented for evaluation through expert judgment. Next, the most suitable for the subsequent realization of a t-MOOC on Teacher Digital Literacy was selected. The selection of these experts was based on seven criteria that helped to establish the expert knowledge coefficient (EKC). This strategy served to obtain the viability of the selected sample. A total of 412 people, 155 experts and 257 non-experts participated in this study. After conducting the expert judgment, in a single round, it was concluded that the European Framework of Digital Competence for Teachers DigCompEdu is the most valued and adequate to be used as reference for the formative t-MOOC, followed by INTEF. This result is logical, since the latter is inspired by the former. These findings do not question the validity of the other competency frameworks, but the preferences granted by the judges.

This study discusses the implementation of English medium instruction (EMI) at a Colombian university. First, the paper reviews the rise of EMI in the internationalization of higher education. Second, it illustrates how one university incorporated EMI as part of an internationalization process. Third, it identifies the perceptions that a group of administrators, faculty, and students have regarding the EMI initiative. Questionnaires, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis were conducted. Findings suggest that EMI is tied to the structuring of an internationalization office, curricular reforms, and English language learning support. Participants' perceptions are associated with their imaginaries, identities, experiences, and obligations in relation to the English language. The study concludes that the implementation of EMI within the internationalization of universities is inevitable, yet a sustainable EMI strategy requires contextual awareness and articulation amongst its participants.

The purpose of this research is to learn how the implementation of instructional subtitled videos contributed to improving students' range of vocabulary in real life contexts. This mixed method research paper was developed by using action research approach and the applied data collection technique was stratified into five steps: a pre-test, three classroom observations, a teacher/investigation diary, a semi-structured interview, and a post-test. The analysis of the data demonstrated that the employment of instructional subtitled videos helped students learn vocabulary. The students performed better in post-test compared to the pre-test, due to the three cycles of intervention. The target words were contextualized and presented through the simultaneous combination of sounds, images, and text. The data also showed that the participants considered the videos to be useful so as to remember new words and to be able to use them in communicative contexts. After discussing the findings of the study in light of the theory, the implications and limitations are presented, as well as some considerations for further research are suggested.

This reflection paper disseminates the design and implementation of an English placement test for first semester students from different majors. This design was carried out within the framework of a research project in a Colombian public university. The article has a twofold purpose: to scrutinize the stages leading to a test, and to highlight the complexity that underlies the process of conceiving evaluation, so that language teachers who embark for the first time on the task of designing placement exams have a model and can anticipate vicissitudes of academic and administrative nature that may arise. The conclusions derived from the process of construction and implementation of the test highlight the lack of training and literacy in the area of language testing, as well as the existing tensions between academic expectations and the administration within a university institution.

This paper reports an action research study on cooperative learning projects for engineering students at a public university. The research study is aimed at improving reading skills through the use of four cooperative learning projects implemented during the English classes. Data gathered from a survey, four group interviews, and the teacher's journal were collected and analyzed to determine the categories after coding the data. Findings suggest that working cooperatively has a higher effect on students' reading skills. Conclusions also highlight that cooperative learning strengthens English reading skills and fosters leadership, decision making, communication and problem-solving abilities. Additionally, it increases participation, motivation and goal achievement in students' language learning process.

The purpose of this paper is to address the most significant contributions of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) involved in teaching physics. Most studies have observed the characterizations of PCK via specific content in the lower secondary and upper secondary curricula. Here, we present a number of studies that show evidence for the development of some PCK components, including those that present PCK as an articulating axis for physics teacher training models. The present work is a descriptive study that analyzes, by means of a case study, the changes in PCK through a physics teacher training intervention program. This program is based on reflections about teaching, concerning the electric field in physics education. The results show that categories, such as knowledge about the curriculum and teaching strategies, evolved after the intervention program, in contrast with knowledge about evaluation and pupils. This suggests that an approach involving a teacher's reflection on what he/she designs allows for progression towards a teaching and learning process that is more focused on innovative tendencies.

The present research paper reports the results of a subjective needs analysis applied in a foreign languages institute at a private university in Colombia. For these students, it is mandatory to take English classes and to pass all the required English courses. In that sense, and after some years of teaching English, the foreign languages institute (FLI) needed to be assessed. Thus the objectives of this research were to: Apply a subjective needs analysis in a foreign languages institute of a private university in Colombia in relation to their English classes; assess teachers' current roles and performances; and determine the students' needs and wants in relation to their classes. The methodology was based on qualitative research approach and on grounded theory. To collect data three instruments were utilized: A survey, a journal and an interview. The data analysis revealed that the subjective needs analysis was centered on class methodology, materials, and students' needs and wants. In general, the findings revealed that students felt comfortable in their English classes and with the way they were taught. Also they did not think that using textbooks was useful because the virtual work implied more work. They felt the need to enhance their speaking and listening and that improvement could be done by means of more communicative activities.

One method for evaluating higher education performance is to conceptualize it as a production function represented as an input/output process. This paper proposes a performance evaluation of higher education institutions from the perspective of recent graduates taking as inputs students' cognitive abilities and tuition, and as outputs three we contend are relevant for recent graduates: starting salary, sectoral distinctiveness, and sectoral variety. Using a sample of recent Colombian higher-education graduates, we apply the DEA technique to analyze efficiency at the institutional level in the formal labor market. Our results highlight the importance of focusing on the student as the protagonist of the educational process and contribute to the debate about the selection of relevant inputs and outputs when measuring institution's efficiency.

This paper introduces video-game based language instruction as a teaching approach catering to the different socio-economic and learning needs of English as a Foreign Language students. First, this paper reviews statistical data revealing the low participation of Colombian students in English as a second language programs abroad (U.S. context especially). This paper also provides solid reasons why the use of video games in education and foreign language education is justified. Additionally, this paper reviews second language acquisition theoretical foundations that provide the rationale for adapting video-game based language instruction in light of important second language acquisition constructs such as culture and identity, among others. Finally, this document provides options for further research to construct and test the efficacy of video-game based language instruction while simultaneously leaving it open for collaborative contributions.

EARLI SIG 24, Researcher Education and Careers (SIG-REaC), was founded because increasing interest has emerged within the EARLI community into understanding different aspects of doctoral and post-PhD researcher educational and career development. This special issue brings together the outcome of our first scholarly discussion at the SIG-REaC inaugural meeting in September 2014 in Barcelona. The goal of each of the five co-authored papers is to make visible what has been overlooked, and to attend to methodological considerations in order to draw out future lines of research. As a collection, the papers address multiple levels and issues of researcher education: establishing the multifaceted phenomenon that is researcher education and careers and providing key concepts that others might take up, e.g., informal/invisible curriculum; the personal as a sphere of activity that may collide with the sphere of work; drivers of education that can provide cross-national points of comparison. Further, by identifying gaps in the literature, these papers together lay out an ambitious research agenda in a number of areas related to researcher education. In the process, they provide an extensive list of references well worth exploring since they represent the knowledge networks of over thirty researchers. In this editorial paper the Sig-REac is presented, and the characteristics of the papers, their limitations and some future challenges of researcher education are discussed.

Linguistic and anthropological research has demonstrated that language ideologies play a complex role in contexts of language endangerment, as well as in revitalization initiatives. In this paper, we articulate some central ways in which these beliefs and interests can translate into significant barriers to successful language revitalization. Based on collaborative ethnographic fieldwork with Indigenous languages in North and South America, we propose a model for planning language ideologies as a practice that can be deliberately incorporated into revitalization efforts. Given the urgency of the situation facing many languages, we argue that treating language ideologies as requiring planning is necessary and offer preliminary suggestions about what this planning could look like by analyzing examples around the language ideology assemblages of language teaching and learning.

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.