CULTURAL DIVERSITY AND SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS. Repertory of best practices in compulsory education centers.

Coordinator: Teresa Aguado

Ministry of Science and Technology. Aid to Scientific Research and Technological Development Projects

Ref: SEJ2006-10176

Duration: 2006-2009

OBJECTIVES AND TASKS

The initial assumption on which the issue under study is based is the consideration that education should, as a priority in the compulsory phase, attend to students’ cultural differences. There are two reasons for this: first, axiological reasons derived from the principles held by societies that defend the rights to equality, equity, and social participation and second, because this is the guarantee that makes it possible to achieve essential educational objectives, such as the construction of one’s own cultural identity and equal opportunity to gain access to all the socioeducational goods and resources available.

The purpose of the project is to contribute to improving the school by preparing and disseminating a repertory of best practices developed in Spanish compulsory education centers, practices which have proven effective in achieving good school results for culturally diverse students. An effective school is a school that obtains good results from all the students, independently of what might be expected according to their initial achievement and their social, economic, and cultural characteristics.

To this end, we intend to review the concept of «best practices» in the school and the notion of students’ educational achievement. Based on this initial review, the school practices that have proven effective in achieving good educational results in students, independently of their cultural framework of reference, are identified and examples of these practices are given. Finally, these practices are described and disseminated in a repertory that can be used by teachers and people responsible for education.

PARTICIPANTS

Coordinator:

Teresa Aguado

Research team:

UNED: Belén Ballesteros, Inés Gil Jaurena, Beatriz Malik, Patricia Mata, Carmen Osuna, Magdalena Suárez, Ana Alcazar

Universidad del Pais Vasco: Beronika Azpillaga

Universidad de Granada: Teresa Pozo, María García-Cano, Mª Angeles Carrillo

Universidad de Huelva: Pilar Garcia, Mª Jose Carrasco, Asunción Moya, Manuel J. Gil

Colegio Rosa Chacel, Madrid: Claudia Alonso

Centro de Formación y Recursos de Vigo: Eloísa Teijeira

RESULTS

+ info in Publications-Books

Publications related to the project

  • Ballesteros Velázquez, Belén y Gil Jaurena, Inés (coords.). (2012). Diversidad cultural y eficacia de la escuela. Un repertorio de buenas prácticas en centros de educación obligatoria. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación. Colección Entre Manos nº 3. ISBN: 978-84-369-5116-5. Descargar libro en pdf
  • Alonso Suárez, Claudia. (2011). Diversidad cultural y mejora de la eficacia escolar: descripción y análisis de buenas prácticas escolares desde el enfoque intercultural. Tesis doctoral inédita. Madrid: UNED. Consultar tesis en el repositorio institucional de la UNED
  • Suárez-Ortega, Magdalena; Ballesteros-Velázquez, Belén; Malik-Liévano, Beatriz. (2012). Educational achievement and effective schools: examples of best practice, en Intercultural Education, vol. 23, nº 1. Pp. 1-13. ISSN: 1469-8439 (edición electrónica), ISSN: 1467-5986 (edición en papel). http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2012.664749
  • Ballesteros, Belén y Mata, Patricia. (2009). Approaching the Concepts of ‘Educational Achievement’ and ‘Best Practice’: Delphi methodology as a tool for building consensus, en Research in Comparative and International Education, vol. 4, nº 4. Pp. 356-365. ISSN 1745-4999. http://dx.doi.org/10.2304/rcie.2009.4.4.356
  • Ballesteros, Belén; Gil Jaurena, Inés y Mata, Patricia. (2009). "Diversidad cultural y eficacia de la escuela: planteamiento de la investigación y avance de resultados", XIV Congreso nacional de modelos de investigación educativa: educación, investigación y desarrollo social, Huelva (España), junio 2009. Comunicación. Publicación: CD-Rom, ISBN: 978-84-95944245. Pp. 1015-1021.