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Educating in and for diversity poses one of the greatest challenges in contemporary education that aims to be respectful of cultural diversity. This paper presents results of qualitative research that set out to design methodological guidelines for a phenomenology of intercultural initial education in the Venezuelan Amazon region. We approached the study of the social reality from the intersubjective link and the constructions of the subjects by using interviews and considering the social phenomenology proposed by Schütz. A methodological design allowed us to understand the socio-educational phenomenon being studied from a representation that is close to the reality lived by its protagonists and that was reflected in the categories of analysis that emerged, as well as their corresponding interpretations. This study is part of a broader research project that seeks to develop a theoretical approach to early childhood education in diverse socio-cultural contexts.

This study explored a way of assessing the impact of business education on students' ethical orientations, by comparing MBA students' entry-exit responses to two different instruments. Results showed significant reductions in the propensity for unethical decision scores, but not in the propensity for moral disengagement score. This study had also a practical purpose: to illustrate a way business schools could evaluate their efforts at ethical education and present their achievements in compliance with accreditation requirements (particularly, assurance of learning procedures). By highlighting the study's limitations (particularly, measurement and research design), the authors propose a research program for business schools.

This study gives an account of the transformation of Catholic Schools in Latin America in the years after the Vatican Council (1970-2015). Mainly, it looks into changes in their enrolment, and more importantly, in how the Catholic primary and secondary educational subsystem has varied in its shared participation within the national education systems of which they are part. By using quantitative methods, this study presents evidence that is significant for understanding the trends followed by Catholic Schools in several Latin American countries, and Latin America as a region. When facing major criticism because of the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, this evidence may serve the purpose of valuing what this apostolate means and how it needs to change in the future.

Many studies have reported on the influence of teachers' conceptions of variability on different aspects of their professional knowledge for teaching statistics and their classroom practices. However, research on these kind of conceptions is still scarce, particularly in Latin American countries like Venezuela. In an effort to help fill this gap, a qualitative study was conducted that aimed to characterize the different ways in which Venezuelan in-service secondary school mathematics teachers conceptualize variability. For that purpose, a survey instrument was developed and administered to 27 teachers working at the metropolitan area of Caracas. This paper focuses on the participants' answers to two items in which interpretation of histograms was necessary. It was found that about a third of the participants exhibited a sophisticated recognition of variability (e.g., gave answers connecting both middles and extremes), whereas about half of them exhibited misconceptions of variability, such as acknowledging variability from the viewpoint of idiosyncratic ideas, or the degree of symmetry (or lack thereof) of a histogram. Moreover, it was also found that about two-thirds of the participants were unable to correctly match real-life contexts to their corresponding histograms, while about two-fifths were unable to correctly determine the accuracy or inaccuracy of descriptions of the variability in a histogram. The author discusses possible reasons for the obtained results, in order to identify relevant implications for teacher education in the area of statistics.

When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools in 2020, the effect on rural areas was significant. Access to the internet in rural areas is limited and cost prohibitive. This article discusses why we must find ways to ensure education delivery in urban and rural areas. Unfortunately, many school systems in developing countries lack the expertise and resources to ensure quality education. That is where programs like Amblema come in and bridge the gap. Amblema promotes the values and virtues of self-reliance. With simplicity at its core, a clear set of measurable objectives, and an easy-to-execute selection of activities, Amblema is an innovative practice for education delivery in both urban and rural areas.

Complexities of social problems in our globalised world pose new educational challenges, including how to empower citizens for active engagement with socioscientific issues. This study describes the analysis and discussion of an activist video as the first phase in an activist education programme. Participants were 104 preservice primary teachers from the University of Malaga (Spain). Their task was to watch a video about illegal mining in the Venezuelan Amazon and, using the "CoAnnotation" tool, to annotate the video so as to indicate: the problem they saw as most important, the best solution and ways in which the video could be improved. Students were subsequently shown all the annotations that had been made by the group as a whole so as to facilitate discussion. The content of their annotations was analysed and described using a category system developed by consensus among the research team. The problem most commonly referred to by students was environmental damage. In terms of solutions, the main focus was on raising awareness, although mention was also made of government intervention and both citizen-led and school-based initiatives. As for how the video might be improved as a tool for raising awareness, students made several suggestions regarding its content.

Given the lack of studies regarding migrant parents' views towards the education system of their host countries in an era of global movement, this article focuses on the strategies deployed by Latin American migrant parents towards their children's schooling in the Chilean educational field. To understand these strategies in the context of south-south migration, the article is informed by Pierre Bourdieu's theory and a decolonial critical interculturality framework (DeCI). The article concludes that three processes can be distinguished from the point of view of migrant parents regarding their schooling experience, which link to issues around accessing, adjusting and transforming. Additionally, the notion of parents as a source of knowledge emerged strongly among migrant parents as a way of transmitting their cultural capital in the context of migration.

This paper draws on two research activities to discuss the role of research at the Centre for Language Learning (CLL) at The University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad and Tobago. Established in 1997, the CLL introduced languages for all into this Caribbean higher education (HE) context. The CLL also introduced an expanded language curriculum beyond the historical focus on Romance languages and literatures. As the language centre evolved with more languages being taught and more language services offered, research, nonetheless, remained a marginal activity. Yet without a research agenda, the CLL risked being seen as a "service unit" - an outlier in a university seeking to confirm its place in the highly competitive global HE landscape. As the CLL sought to embrace more fully the research mandate of The UWI and of language centres internationally, CercleS publications and documents, for example, "Quality Assessment Criteria for Language Centres" were of great utility. The latter document's focus on research as a quality indicator was consistent with The UWI's focus on quality assurance and research. Taking research from periphery to core is thus intrinsic to moving the CLL into closer alignment with both institutional and international norms.

Lack of access to services and support is an important issue for people with autism, but in low- and middle-income countries there is a lack of data on this problem. The aims of this study were to describe the challenges and priorities, identify barriers to care, and map stigma among families of individuals with autism in Latin America. This survey was undertaken by the "Red Espectro Autista Latinoamerica" network, a coalition of researchers/clinicians from six Latin American countries; it comprised 2942 caregivers of children with autism from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, and the Dominican-Republic, who completed the Spanish/Portuguese version of the Caregiver Needs Survey. The survey showed that the main priorities were greater community awareness and improvements in education. The main barriers to care were waiting lists (50.2%), treatment costs (35.2%), and lack of specialized services (26.1%). Stigma experienced by families was frequent: one-third reported feeling discriminated against and helpless for having a child with autism, 48.8% reported some type of financial problem, 47.4% had to reduce work hours, and 35.5% had to stop working because of their child's autism. This survey describes the main needs/challenges faced by individuals with autism in Latin America, helping to build data-driven strategies at a national/regional level.

The current study sought to critically address the practice of rituals of distinction in nation-wide educational milieus to see if such practices can produce generations of underdeveloped and deprived learners. Data were collected over a course of two years from North Korea, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Somalia. A total of 419 teachers, educators and students from these countries responded to email communication, were observed through participant observation, or were interviewed through Skype; they provided descriptions and examples of educational settings and practices in their respective countries. The data were then analyzed qualitatively and in the light of (a) Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives, (b) Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and (c) Feuerstein's notion of "culturally deprived" learners. It was concluded that, education systems in countries ruled by ideological or ideocratic regimes, intentionally and actively deprive learner generations of quality education with the aim of hammering whole societies into the shape which will guarantee their own grip on political power. Drawing on the concepts of "small-c culture" and "capital-c culture" from relevant literature, the paper argues that despotic regimes, by virtue of their education systems, mainly betray their most obedient citizens who are committed to them and whereby deprive them of true professionalism.

This article explores the role of enabling school structures, collegial trust, and collective efficacy in 15 pre-Kindergarten to 12th grade international, private schools in South and Central America and Mexico. While most of these schools shared an "American" curriculum the local culture and school norms affected the climate of the school and the likelihood of the development of a professional learning community (PLC) in each school and country accordingly. As enabling school structures, trust in the principal, collegial trust, and collective efficacy were more established, the PLC was more likely to be developed based upon teacher perceptions in this quantitative study.

A unique challenge for organizations is in leading diverse, dispersed teams whose members are motivated to work independently, but are willing to collaborate. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how nuanced variations in motivational patterns influences the relationship between work satisfaction and virtual team effectiveness. A sequential, mixed methods design was used to analyze and explain the moderating effects of motivational orientation on this relationship. In the first, quantitative phase, participating virtual team members completed an online survey with items comprising the five motivation source scales from the Motivation Sources Inventory, work satisfaction, and eleven variables measuring utilization of virtual team effectiveness attributes from the Virtual Teams Survey. Seven hypotheses were tested, with support found for three of the hypotheses. Work satisfaction and utilization of the virtual team effectiveness attributes were found to be positively correlated. Support was also found for hypotheses that the relationship between work satisfaction and utilization of the virtual team effectiveness attributes will be stronger for virtual team members (VTMs) with low self-concept external and / or moderate or high goal internalization patterns. In the second, qualitative phase, follow-up interviews were conducted to support and provide rationale for the quantitative results. Qualitative analysis of interviews revealed three major themes focused on concerns regarding team leadership, organizational support, and technology. Viewed in context with the quantitative results, the themes suggest that work satisfaction may be improved for most VTMs, regardless of motivation pattern, by strengthening leadership, aligning rewards with goals, and enhancing the technology used for team communication.

As inclusion becomes a growing standard for universities in the United States, data extracted from OCLC suggest that university libraries in the United States build their Spanish-language collections with books purchased primarily in Spain and Mexico. This overlooks presses from 19 other Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas. This research is concerned with the representation of books published in these Hispano-American countries and examines the holdings of 88 university libraries. The article discusses the drawbacks in neglecting purchase of literature published in Hispano-American countries and the benefits of changing collection practices into a more inclusive design, including recommendations for best practices.

Land ethics are the ways that humanity justifies their usage of the land. Today this topic is more important than ever as we balance our needs, such as food, water, and energy, with the systems of the natural world. The activity described in this article introduces students to the concept of land ethics using historical case studies of five common categories of ethics. The activity ends with a symposium examining a real-life example: Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (GSENM) in southern Utah, and the potential future use of this land. Engaging students in argumentation about this example allows them to see multiple sides of this complex issue.

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.

Over the last years, "El Sistema" has been enthusiastically received around the world and has inspired several proposals aiming to transplant it to different contexts in different countries. It would seem, then, that "El Sistema" constitutes a renewed approach that allows a place for inclusive music education within the framework of the traditional orchestral format. The authors, both Spanish speakers, contribute a reflection on the meaning of the name "El Sistema," being a short version of the historical and traditional denomination of this project in the context that gave rise to it in Venezuela. From this initial semantic distinction, they propose a clarification of the possible confusion between system, method, and sequence of procedures. For this, they use Frega's Parametric Model, applied since 1994 for method comparison in various contexts and in equivalent tasks of sequencing analysis and/or difficulty grading. Additionally, they review historical events that gave context to Abreu's proposal and its subsequent development. In this way, they attempt to elucidate a conceptualization that does not respond to the initial context and the characteristics of its practical implementation in diverse situations. This certainly does not imply a negative conclusion regarding a practice that might be valuable.

This article details a study conducted to determine the effectiveness of a professional development model for inservice Spanish teachers. Subjects were participants in intensive summer immersion programs abroad that included a rigorous methodology course advocating sound pedagogical models for lessons and stressed 90%+ target language use in the foreign language classroom. Subjects responded to an online survey requesting demographic data and provided Likert scale ratings on the perceived utility and effectiveness of program goals from their personal perspective. Results confirmed an overwhelmingly positive professional experience for participants and yielded concrete data supporting the goals of the program.

This paper explores two episodes of contention in the ongoing conflict between the Venezuelan government and the country's autonomous universities. In August 2009, Venezuela's National Assembly approved and implemented the controversial Organic Education Law. Sixteen months later, the Assembly approved the similarly polarizing Law of University Education. Days after this bill was passed by the legislature, however, Hugo Chávez refused to sign it. This paper explains that the government was able to implement the Organic Law but not the University Education Law because of changes in the universities' organizational strength and the wider political opportunity structure. The connections brokered between oppositional groups were diffuse but weak in 2009 but more homogenous and robust in 2010. The stronger opposition, combined with a reduction in the government's political power after 2009, made the higher education law politically unviable and all but forced Chávez to rescind it.

A qualitative study was carried out to identify the roles of actors associated with the publication of scientific journals in Chilean, Colombian, and Venezuelan universities. Twenty-four semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with journal editors, university authorities, and other experts. The categories of analysis included university leaders (journal directors/coordinators), institutional actors (university presses and libraries), and journal editors. Changes emphasizing open access journals and salary incentives to increase productivity among university professors are creating new roles for those involved in the publication of journals. University journal directors and coordinators are being challenged to provide support and to seek inclusion in national and international indexes. Although university presses have not played an important role in this process, libraries have gained new responsibilities associated with data processing and the creation of repositories. Challenges exist for individual editors to obtain supporting personnel, as journal publication work grows and demands more.

This study was conducted at colleges in three countries (United States, Venezuela, and Spain) and across three academic disciplines (engineering, education, and business), to examine how experienced faculty define competencies for their discipline, and design instructional interaction for online courses. A qualitative research design employing in-depth interviews was selected. Results show that disciplinary knowledge takes precedence when faculty members select competencies to be developed in online courses for their respective professions. In all three disciplines, the design of interaction to correspond with disciplinary competencies was often influenced by contextual factors that modify faculty intention. Therefore, instructional design will vary across countries in the same discipline to address the local context, such as the needs and expectations of the learners, faculty perspectives, beliefs and values, and the needs of the institution, the community, and country. The three disciplines from the three countries agreed on the importance of the following competencies: knowledge of the field, higher order cognitive processes such as critical thinking, analysis, problem solving, transfer of knowledge, oral and written communication skills, team work, decision making, leadership and management skills, indicating far more similarities in competencies than differences between the three different applied disciplines. We found a lack of correspondence between faculty's intent to develop collaborative learning skills and the actual development of them. Contextual factors such as faculty prior experience in design, student reluctance to engage in collaborative learning, and institutional assessment systems that focus on individual performance were some of these reasons.

This work sets out historical information about the development of Latin American psychology over the base of education. It reviews the contribution from education to Latin American psychology, and especially, the creation of experimental psychology laboratories in schools and educational and psychopedagogical institutions, where experimental pedagogy laboratories operate, which were a relevant antecedent for psychology's institutionalization through the creation of Programs and Professional Schools.

Language education curricula and programs worldwide have begun emphasizing foreign language instruction for learners as young as 5-6 years, particularly in English. Yet, while studies have argued for the benefits of early language instruction, the results of this trend in terms of actual achievement are not clear. For this reason, the researchers designed this study to illustrate the connection between age of onset of English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction and learner achievement, examining international language curricula from countries where English is taught as a foreign language beginning at the pre-primary and primary level alongside the corresponding scores on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The findings indicate that, although early onset of EFL instruction may be beneficial in many respects, it is not, in itself, a guarantee of success, and other elements, such as class size, number of hours dedicated to English instruction, and teacher qualifications, must also be considered.

In this article, I visualize the relationship between tonewood exploitation and the import of musical instruments for Venezuela's El Sistema, with the participation of the Venezuelan State, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and manufacturing companies from China and the Global North. My basis is a documentary study about the acquisitions and tenders to meet the demand of El Sistema, supporting this information with semi-structured interviews given to key informants. Subsequently, I contrast tonewood exploitation observed in these documents with environmentalist complaints that clarify the troubled deforestation scenario in the Global South since colonial times. All of this allowed me to uncover how, beneath the social welfare discourse of El Sistema, there are scenarios of environmental injustice. Finally, I deem the decolonization of these policies through the implementation of an ecological epistemology to be necessary and urgent. [This article was translated by Juan Carlos Trejos and Katherine Arce Méndez.]

Despite the growing number of international professional development programs, there is very little published research regarding the structures and effectiveness of these programs. This paper shares the design and development of the technology component of an international professional development (PD) program designed for secondary English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers. Using a one-group, pre- and post-program design, the study examined how the technology component influenced participating teachers' technology knowledge and skills, and their attitudes and beliefs toward technology integration. The analysis of survey quantitative data indicated that participants' knowledge of, and skills using, various technologies were significantly increased by completing the program, whereas their attitudes and beliefs toward technology remained unchanged. Qualitative interview results revealed the types of barriers to technology integration. Implications and significance of the study were discussed.

The relationship between theory and qualitative research has been extensively examined in the literature and has emerged as a problematic matter. This debate has been driven forward mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries and has done scant justice to an understanding of these issues in regions of the South. This paper addresses this matter by drawing on a geopolitical perspective. The study here provides an analysis of 24 papers by Latin-American researchers in higher education, as included in the Web of Science between 2006 and 2015. Theories in Latin America are mainly produced in the North and exhibit two patterns: (i) critical perspectives are used to address local problems -- 'epistemic problematization'; and (ii) a nuancing of Northern theories so as to contextualize them -- 'epistemic nuancing'. Suggestions are also made for a new configuration of knowledge production in higher education studies -- a model of knowledge from and for the South.

An expansive movement comprised of UN Millennium Development Goals, international banks, and hundreds of programs worldwide promotes access to the arts as a creative means of social change. Often grounded in cognitive science and inspired by the model of youth orchestras in Venezuela known as El Sistema, this movement contends that arts training--which can foster empathy, collaboration, academic achievement, and self-esteem--helps alleviate poverty and combat inequality. In contrast to the majority of the literature on public arts programs--impact studies that often assume arts engagement creates social change through universal mechanisms--this study examines the influence of political economy on the implementation of public arts programs. Through a comparative study of youth orchestras with social inclusion goals in Venezuela (1974-2015) and Chile (1964-2015), the scope and intensity of government control, social welfare policy, and competition for public funds are found to shape public arts programs' social goals, daily operations, definitions of success, and impact study procedures. Therefore, scholars, practitioners, and policy makers must reexamine their understanding of arts programs as a development model. Future global efforts to combat inequality should avoid over-standardization. This article offers a new Arts for Social Change Context Framework that places input variables at the center of analysis, with policy implications.

The article describes a case study of lifelong e-training for postgraduates delivered jointly by the Carlos III University of Madrid and Spain's National Library from 2011 to 2017. It addresses course and participant characteristics as well as the results of an assessment aimed to determine both student satisfaction and effective skill transfer to the work environment. This unique professional training initiative may serve as a model in an area where librarians and professors are seldom seen to collaborate in online training on an equal footing.

Within the growing field of publications on El Sistema and Sistema-inspired programmes around the world, a marked divide can be observed between the findings of critical academic studies and commissioned evaluations. Using evaluations of El Sistema in Venezuela and Aotearoa New Zealand as our principal case studies, we argue that this gulf can be explained at least partly by methodological problems in the way that some evaluations are carried out. We conclude that many Sistema evaluations display an alignment with advocacy rather than explorative research, and that the foundation for El Sistema's claims of social transformation is thus weak.

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 the worldwide community it is not well known that counseling and guidance professional practices have a long tradition in Venezuela. Therefore, this contribution's main purpose is to inform the international audience about past and contemporary counseling in Venezuela. Geographic, demographic, and cultural facts about Venezuela are provided. How counseling began, its early development, and pioneer counselors are discussed. The evolution of counseling from an education-based activity to counseling as a technique-driven intervention is given in an historical account. How a vision of counselors as technicians moved to the notion of counseling as a profession is explained by describing turning points, events, and governmental decisions. Current trends on Venezuelan state policy regarding counselor training, services, and professional status are specified by briefly describing the National Counseling System Project and the National Flag Counseling Training Project. Finally, acknowledgement of Venezuela's counseling pioneers and one of the oldest counseling training programs in Venezuela is described.

As rural Appalachian schools in Ohio in the United States struggle to overcome institutional bias and lack of understanding to accommodate the needs of the growing population of immigrant students from diverse countries, immigrant parents struggle to fit into a new cultural environment and to secure the best education for their children. This qualitative study of 29 southern Ohio counties examines the barriers and opportunities that each faces.

Reading materials written in English is the prime goal of many reading programs around the world. Extensive reading (ER) has for years aided new students at my institution to gradually acquire large vocabularies and other sub-skills that are needed to read fluently. To continue to do that effectively, a new scheme involving the use of internet--called w-ERP--was set in place in collaboration with the students. The main focus of this article is to describe the 3-phase, gradual process that led to the current design of the web-based ER scheme. The paper begins with a brief discussion of ER, reading on line (RO) and self-directed learning as part of the rationale for the new scheme. Participants' preliminary data on the benefits and potentials for learning to read and reading for learning other things are discussed. (Contains 2 notes.)

Because teachers have regular access to youth, they have the potential of playing a significant role in health promotion and drug abuse prevention strategies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of training and encouraging project-based learning methods on Venezuelan teachers' attitudes toward school-based drug abuse prevention programs. Specifically, an experimental group of grades 4-9 teachers received direct training in project-based learning strategies and drug prevention content. Their attitudes were compared to those of a wait-list control group. A key finding showed that the experimental group reported a more favorable attitude toward the effectiveness of school-community drug prevention strategies. Additionally, teachers in the experimental group reported that the program increased (1) the school's relationship with the community, (2) parental involvement, and (3) their own awareness of the significant role teachers can play in students' drug abuse prevention. As a very preliminary exploration of this topic, the paper also discusses study limitations, future research directions, and how this work relates to the broader concept of internationalization.

Why is it important to discuss writing instruction at the global level? When a refugee student enters the English classroom, it may be helpful to know the philosophy and practice of writing instruction in other parts of the world to help better understand this new student. To better understand the views of writing instructional practices across the globe, literacy leaders were invited to participate in a survey as leaders have the opportunity to inspire, to motivate, and to make a positive difference in the lives of teachers and adolescents. This article focuses on these international literacy leaders and their views of the teaching of writing.

The purpose of this study was to survey and report on the empirical literature at the intersection of science education research in Latin American and previous studies addressing international research trends in this field. Reports on international trends in science education research indicate that authors from English-speaking countries are major contributors of publications. Despite the internationalization of the science education community, as represented by the publication of the work generated in non-English-speaking countries, research trends in science education in Latin America are uncommon in the literature. Therefore, it was deemed important to explore the scholarly productivity of science education researchers from Latin America to learn about the research orientations pursued by scholars from this region. Collective review findings are presented with respect to author's nationality, publication volume generated in each country, research type and topic, collaborative research, and areas for future research. Of the ten countries represented in this study, Brazilian authors were the most research active scholars followed by their colleagues from Venezuela, Mexico, and Argentina. The History, Philosophy and the Nature of Science (HPNOS) was the topic that most attracted the interest of Latin American science education researchers, and the Empirical Qualitative studies was the most frequent research type combination in the analyzed publications. Findings in this study suggest a relationship between investment power in Research and Development (R&D) and the scholarly productivity not only in science education but also in the scientific field in the countries of the region.

A powerful and eulogistic narrative has evolved around the Venezuelan National System of Youth and Children's Orchestras, better known as El Sistema. Recently, however, critical perspectives have begun to emerge from the academic sphere. Nevertheless, researchers have faced an acute shortage of documentary resources relating to the programme's history. The reappearance of a collection of documents from 1996 to 97 thus represents an important development. The sources, which include four external evaluations, relate to El Sistema's efforts to secure funding from the Inter-American Development Bank. In this article, these documents are examined in chronological order and then analysed in comparative perspective. They shed light on both the history of El Sistema and polarised present-day debates about this famous organisation, corroborating recent academic studies and further questioning the dominant institutional and advocacy narrative about a socially transformative programme aimed primarily at the poor.

This article examines the long-run effect of higher education, measured in average years of tertiary schooling, on the level and growth rate of national per capita income. It uses an improved dataset on educational attainments which not only reduces measurement error but also overcomes data comparability issues and allows us to estimate the long-run effect of human capital through higher education on economic development. Using unique long panel data for 36 advanced and emerging economies spanning over the period 1870-2010, we find that higher education has a positive and significant effect on the level and the growth rate of national per capita income. Specifically, our empirical results indicate that a 1% increase in educational attainment at higher education level would raise the growth rate of per capita income by about 0.01% to 0.02% over a five-year period. That is, at the sample mean, an increase in average tertiary education by one year would raise output growth by about 6% to 11% in five years. We find that the returns to female education are lower than the returns to male education at tertiary schooling levels. Our results are robust to alternative specifications.

This paper describes an extensive online project, Writingmatrix [http://writingmatrix.wikispaces.com], involving several key elements essential to collaboration in Web 2.0, such as aggregation, tagging, and social networking. Participant teachers in several different countries--Argentina, Venezuela, and Slovenia--had their adult students at various levels of English competency interact using blogs and other Web tools, including RSS feed readers and Technorati [http://technorati.com]. The teachers describe their respective settings, how they got their students started in communicating through blogging and social networking, and how in future they intend to expand the Writingmatrix experience. (Contains 3 figures.)

This study investigates international students' perceptions of the issues they face using English as a second language while attending American higher education institutions. In order to fully understand those challenges involved in learning English as a Second Language, it is necessary to know the extent to which international students have mastered the English language before they start their study in America. Most international students experience an overload of English language input upon arrival in the United States. Cultural differences influence international students' learning of English in other ways, including international students' isolation within their communities and America's lack of teaching listening skills to its own students. Other factors also affect international students' learning of English, such as the many forms of informal English spoken in the USA, as well as a variety of dialects. Moreover, since most international students have learned English in an environment that precluded much contact with spoken English, they often speak English with an accent that reveals their own language. This study offers informed insight into the complicated process of simultaneously learning the language and culture of another country. Because of the nature of purpose of the study, a qualitative research paradigm was used to gather data for the study. Eight international students who were currently studying at the university participated in the study. Readers will find three main voices in addition to the international students who "speak" (in quotation marks) throughout this article. Hong Li, a Chinese doctoral student in English Education at the University of Missouri-Columbia, authored the "regular" text. Second, Roy F. Fox's voice appears in italics. Fox is Professor of English Education and Chair of the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Third, Dario J. Almarza's voice Almarza, a native of Venezuela, is an Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education at the same institution.

The author describes a Technologically Enhanced Language Learning program in Venezuela and how it helped improve high school EFL instruction. The author presents six challenges of teaching EFL and describes the context for the program. The author then provides a rationale for using multimedia in language teaching, based on theoretical frameworks. Following that, the author describes the English Learning Center, its materials, activities, and evaluation. The students' perceptions of the center are also addressed.

Venezuela is a country slightly larger than twice the size of California, the third largest U.S.A. state in land area. Caracas, the capitol city, is home to a population of 6 million people nested into a space that is actually smaller in size than the area of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A., a city/suburb of only 2.8 million people. In this article, the authors contrast the school cultures between U.S.A. and Venezuela. Schools in the U.S.A. have been structured around an individualistic model that encourages individualism, fosters competition, and supports capitalism. On the other hand, schools in Venezuela have been structured around collectivist model that focuses on interdependent relations, cooperation, and group well being, stressing the importance of family, organizations, religious, and social relationships. Differences can be identified in many areas, with the following dimensions particularly of interest to educators: (1) learning environments; (2) decision-making styles; and (3) interactional styles--students, family members, and teachers. It is important to remember that in a collectivist culture or society there will be individuals whose preferred style is individualistic and in an individualistic culture there will be individuals whose preferred style is collectivist. (Contains 9 notes.)