Rafael Carballo Santaolalla

Faculty attitudes and training needs to respond the new European Higher Education challenges

The main objective of the Bologna Process is to create a “European space” for higher education that allows for comparability, compatibility, and coherence between the existing systems of higher education across Europe. This objective is commonly known as the European higher education area (EHEA). The creation of the EHEA is a new and specific challenge for higher education in Europe, one that depends upon improved faculty development and training across Europe. The integration of Spain and other European countries into European higher education more generally entails these challenges. In order for necessary changes in faculty development and training to take place, university managers and policy makers must account for designing training plans, as well the knowledge, attitudes and needs of faculty members. This investigation was undertaken with these themes in mind. Conducted in Madrid, Spain, it included 257 professors from ten different schools of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The aim of the investigation was to understand faculty knowledge and attitudes about changes in higher education in Europe. Moreover, with an eye to helping faculty members cope with the change that is accompanying the creation of EHEA, the investigators sought to understand the importance that faculty members place upon professional development and how current approaches to professional development at the university level could be improved. The results indicate a degree of ignorance regarding changes in European higher education as well as a feeling of resistance on the part of many faculty members. While many faculty members consider knowledge of change processes and adaptability to be important qualities, faculty responses also indicate a clear need for guidance if they are going to integrate new learning models and adequate coping strategies into their work in higher education.

Evaluación de Programas de intervención Turorial.

El presente articulo pretende ofrecer unas pautas que sirvan de ayuda a los responsables de la tutoria en un Centro escolar a la hora de planificar la evaluacion de la calidad de su actividad, de modo que puedan determinar su nivel de funcionalidad, eficacia y eficiencia, controlando todas y cada una de las variables que intervienen en el proceso, lo que les permitira ir modificando y reajustando, de acuerdo con los resultados, sus actuaciones como tutores o coordinadores

Impact of Quality Management Systems on Teaching-Learning Processes.

Purpose Quality management systems are being used more frequently in educational institutions, although their application has generated a certain amount of disagreement among education experts, who have at times questioned their suitability and usefulness for improving schools. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to this discussion by providing additional knowledge on the effects in educational institutions of implementing quality management systems. Specifically, this study investigates teachers’ and managers’ perception of the impact that quality management systems have on one essential dimension of schools, the teaching–learning processes, with impact being understood as sustained medium- and long-term organisational change. Design/methodology/approach The responses were analysed and classified into a set of sub-dimensions linked to quality management processes in a total of 29 Spanish primary and secondary education schools that have used such systems for at least three years. Findings The results showed that, according to the respondents, the following sub-dimensions were improving as a result of implementing quality management plans: teaching and learning processes, the analysis of student results, tutoring, consideration of attitudes and values and assessment processes. Conversely, quality management systems did not seem to have a clear impact on the teaching methodologies used by teachers or on family involvement in student learning. In fact, the perceived impact in these sub-dimensions varied among teachers of public and private schools as well as when comparing different regional autonomous communities. Originality/value As the main objective of a school is to guarantee student learning, one of the essential purposes of school quality assurance systems is to perform all the activities aimed at ensuring high levels of student performance.

Introducción a la evaluación de programas de acción social: decisiones para su realización

El objetivo de este trabajo es precisar cuales son las diferentes decisiones que debe adoptar un evaluador cuando se enfrenta a la tarea de realizar una evaluacion de un programa: -la decision de evaluar -el objetivo de la evaluacion -El objeto de la evaluacion y la formulacion de las cuestiones a evaluar -la eleccion de los metodos para evaluar -el personal encargado de realizar la evaluacion -presentacion de los resultados -la meta-evaluacion

Design and validation of a scale to evaluate the impact of implementing a quality management system in schools

La implantacion de sistemas de gestion de la calidad en las organizaciones educativas es una realidad en muchos paises. Los centros adoptan sistemas para establecer una politica de mejoras, basadas en la evaluacion de todo lo que se realiza en ellos. Sin embargo, se precisa obtener evidencias de las mejoras y cambios que se producen. En este trabajo se presenta el diseno de un cuestionario solidamente fundamentado y el analisis de las caracteristicas tecnicas del mismo. Los resultados muestran que la fiabilidad del cuestionario analizado globalmente es muy bueno, con un α de Cronbach de 0,988 y con valores superiores a 0,92 en cada una de las seis dimensiones. El analisis de items muestra la homogeneidad de los mismos, con valores superiores a 0,25. La validez del cuestionario es buena, hay consistencia entre las dimensiones y sub-dimensiones, e incluso se prueba la unidimensionalidad del constructo.

Determinación del impacto de la formación continua en el sector sanitario: diseño de un modelo de relaciones entre dimensiones

The objective of this article is to approach a thematic as complex as the evaluation of the impact is. To determine the impact which the training courses produce, it is of vital importance for the ones in charge of planning and of distributing the courses of continuous training, since the evaluation of the impact, like so, is the key for the decision making. The measurement of the impact of the training, usually, it is made on the basis of three criteria: first the satisfaction; secondly, the use of the training that the user does; and, thirdly, the economic repercussion of the training.