Current approaches to the regulation of schools in most jurisdictions tend to combine elements of external inspection with systems of internal self-evaluation. An increasingly important aspect of the theory and practice of both, but particularly the latter, revolves around the role of other actors, primarily parents and students, in the process. Using literature review and documentary analysis as the research method, this article explores the research literature from many countries around the concerns of schools and teachers about giving a more powerful voice to parents and pupils. Then, focusing on Ireland, this article tries to clarify three things, official policy concerning stakeholder voice in school self-evaluation and decision making, the efforts by schools to implement this policy and the response to date of school leaders and teachers to this rather changed environment. Using Hart’s ladder of genuine, as opposed to token, participation, it is argued that policy mandating parental and student involvement has evolved significantly, that schools have responded positively and that there is little evidence, as yet, of teacher concern or resistance. This response is explained by the low stakes and improvement-focused education environment; the controlled, structured and simplified nature of the self-evaluation process; and the limited extent of parental and student participation in decision making.
The purpose of this paper, which is part of a three-year EU Erasmus+-funded study titled ‘Distributed Evaluation and Planning in Schools’ (DEAPS), is to provide an analysis of policies, structures, processes, supports and barriers that exist to enable or inhibit the involvement of students and parents in school evaluation in four European countries (Belgium, Ireland, Portugal and Turkey). Document analysis was used for this study and some 348 peer-reviewed articles, and 28 national and transnational policy documents were included in the analysis. Based on this review it would be reasonable to suggest that the student/parent voice agenda around evaluation in schools remains, by and large, aspirational. It is extolled in policy but in practice is mainly tokenistic with very little evidence of impact on the work of schools. In light of this, it is argued that government and school-level policies and strategies need to be reconsidered to enhance students’ and parents’ engagement in school evaluation. As a first step, significant further empirical research on the limitations on and conditions necessary for stakeholder voice in education is required.
ALGOLITTLE is an EU-funded project, with partners from Portugal, Italy, Turkey, and Slovenia, supporting the integration of algorithmic thinking skills into preschool education for preparing future code literates from an early age. The paper presents the project and frames it in Portuguese Early Childhood Education. First, in terms of curricular areas and pedagogical approach, through a content analysis of the Portuguese Curricular Guidelines for Preschool Education. Second, by analyzing initiatives and projects that are connected to algorithmic thinking in Early Childhood Education in Portugal. Third, by presenting challenges that emerged from a set of discussions with several participants, highlighting the complexity and timeliness of the project.
VIAS | Viseu InterAge Stories aims to promote communication, understanding and collaboration between different generations, deepening the sense of belonging to the city and developing a share vision of their identity. Having the city of Viseu as the study case setting, the project aims to develop and evaluate a collaborative app that promotes interaction between generations and the practice of outdoors healthy lifestyle. Inhabitants will be invited to create collaboratively, while touring and interacting with and about the various places of reference, stories about their city, from the memories and reminiscences of the elderly to the meanings of the present and the expectations of children and youth concerning those same sites. We present the referential framework that supports the development of VIAS, discussing both its theoretical foundations and the methodological approach.
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