Miren Fernández-de-Álava

Communities of Practice, Informal Learning and Impact in the Workplace: Catalan Public Administration Networks

In recent years, after confirming that knowledge and training are valuable assets of organizations, different models and strategies that permit professionals to exchange and create knowledge with the aim of improving their abilities and work, are being promoted and established. This article describes two implementation experiences of communities of practice (CoPs) in the Catalan public Administration, pursuing a double aim. On the one hand, identifying in which way CoPs contribute to knowledge acquisition in the professionals involved; and, on the other hand, going into detail about the impact of the knowledge generated on the workplace. Results stem from the application of a 53-item selfadministered questionnaire to 175 participants, 40 in-depth interviews, 2 discussion groups and documentary analysis. Results show that CoPs participants establish a professional proximity by conversing and solving, in a consensus, shared work-related difficulties. CoPs make it easier to work on topics linked to the course of their work practice and learn in an informal way. Also, matters are clarified so that there may be greater exploitation and impact of the knowledge acquired on the workplace.

¿Cómo aprende el profesorado universitario español? Comprendiendo el uso de estrategias de aprendizaje

Este articulo analiza como el profesorado universitario espanol aprende en el puesto de trabajo y si el pais de residencia influye en el uso de estrategias de aprendizaje. Metodologia: Para ello se sirve de los datos cuantitativos recogidos con la encuesta PIAAC 2012 (Programa para la Evaluacion Internacional de las Competencias de Adultos); en la que se obtuvieron 276 respuestas de docentes europeos. Se llevan a cabo analisis descriptivos e inferenciales, reportando el tamano del efecto, a fin de comparar las respuestas de la muestra espanola con las respuestas del resto de paises europeos participantes (Chipre, Dinamarca, Eslovaquia, Flandes, Francia, Inglaterra, Italia, Irlanda del Norte, Paises Bajos, Polonia y Republica Checa). Resultados: Los resultados muestran que el profesorado universitario suele utilizar un mayor numero y variedad de estrategias de aprendizaje, lo que remarca su habilidad de adaptacion a los retos laborales del dia a dia. Una mirada mas detallada de los docentes universitarios espanoles sugiere que estos no relacionan los nuevos aprendizajes con los anteriormente adquiridos, en comparacion con otros docentes europeos. Asimismo, los profesores universitarios muestran un nivel medio de aprendizaje en el puesto de trabajo, siendo Espana el pais con mayor nivel de aprendizaje adquirido via el aprendizaje con otros companeros o supervisores, el aprendizaje mediante la realizacion de tareas y el reciclaje sobre nuevos productos o servicios. Discusion: El articulo concluye con una discusion de los resultados asociada al impacto de las estrategias de aprendizaje en el desempeno profesional del profesorado universitario y con la propuesta de futuras lineas de investigacion.

Gender and Leadership in Brazilian, Singaporean and Spanish Secondary Schools: An In-depth Analysis Based on the 2013 TALIS

This chapter provides an overview of leadership through an international lens that focuses on gender, leadership style, school climate and job satisfaction. We considered a secondary data source collected through the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), administered in 2013, obtaining 1,531 responses. Descriptive, inferential and correlational analyses were performed according to items analysed and the research goals. Results show that (1) distributed leadership is used more in Brazil and instructional leadership is used in Singapore; (2) distributed leadership is significantly higher in women than men; and (3) both distributed and instructional leadership styles have a positive effect on school climate and on principals’ job satisfaction. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Use of ICTs at work: an intergenerational analysis in Spain / Uso de las TIC en el puesto de trabajo: un análisis intergeneracional en España

Abstract From a comparative intergenerational analysis, this article examines the use of ICTs in the workplace by working-age Spaniards. To do so, it uses the 2012 PIAAC survey administered to 6,055 Spaniards on the variables related to the use of ICTs in the workplace. Descriptive and inferential analyses were carried out, taking the categories of digital immigrant and digital native as the reference, and adding another variable: pre-digital immigrant. Broadly speaking, the results show that ‘pre-digital immigrants’ (who started to use ICTs late) use ICTs less at work compared to ‘digital immigrants’ (who started to use ICTs via an adaptation process that began in their early or mid-adulthood), although they use them more than ‘digital natives’ (who started to use ICTs at a very young age). Finally, we discuss the implications of the results considering today’s society, and we offer potential avenues of future research.