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The risk for many young children from minority backgrounds of being excluded from a quality education might be reduced through the creation of a positive classroom climate. A systematic review was conducted to gain a better understanding of the pedagogical and structural aspects that foster a positive classroom climate in multicultural early childhood education settings. Following a systematic review procedure, 14 articles were selected and included in the analysis. The findings indicate that eight aspects contribute to a positive climate in these settings: on the one hand, pedagogical practices, including increased instructional time, teacher-student supportive interactions, peer interactions and friendship, child engagement, teacher training on emotionally supportive environments and teacher-family trust-based relationships, and on the other hand, structural aspects, including small peer groups and materials shared among children. This evidence may be used to foster a classroom climate that enhances learning processes and social development in multicultural preschool groups. However, more research is needed to better understand the particular role that cultural diversity plays in the classroom climate.

Prosocial behavior consists of a set of behaviors that are beneficial to others in the form of sharing and helping. It includes aspects such as solidarity and friendship, and it fosters development and positive psychological functioning; it also improves classroom and school climate. Interactive learning environments may play a crucial role in creating affordances for students to develop prosocial behavior. This study analyzes the impact of two educational interventions based on egalitarian dialogue (Dialogic Literary Gathering and Interactive Groups) on prosocial behavior among fourth grade elementary students. A quasi-experimental design has been carried out, in which measurements have been taken before and after the intervention. Results show that students involved in the Dialogic Literary Gatherings increased significantly their level of prosocial behavior more than those in the control groups. However, no significant differences have been found between students in the experimental and control condition, when considering Interactive Groups. These results have important educational implications for creating conducive learning environments for the development of prosocial behavior.

Discrimination and educational inequalities continually affect lifelong learning opportunities among marginalized groups in the 21st century. In Ghana and many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, children from rural and urban poor communities, ethnic and linguistic minorities and those in displaced situations have experienced discrimination and marginalization in education for decades. However, few studies propose ways marginalized students in Ghana can transform their experiences in school. This paper explores how participating in a dialogue-based intervention named Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLGs) transformed the educational experiences of marginalized students. An ethnographic-case study was conducted with 8th-grade students in a compulsory school in Southeastern Ghana. Focusing on the personal accounts of seven students, our findings show that the DLGs created affordances for marginalized students to engage in egalitarian dialogue, share their grievances while transforming relationships and attitudes with their peers and boost participants’ self-confidence, eventually transforming their educational experiences. This is relevant for practitioners and stakeholders seeking innovative strategies that potentially transform discriminated and marginalized students’ experiences and potentially keep them in school.

The acquisition of oral communication skills is essential for lifelong learning and development. Despite their importance, specific approaches oriented to its acquisition and mastery in second languages (L2) are not widely established. Indeed, the prevalence of a monologic classroom discourse still hinders the opportunities to enhance language production. This article analyses the development of L2 oracy skills among secondary school students who have participated in Dialogic Literary Gatherings, a dialogue-based educational action, in Basque. The interactions of five students were observed and analyzed using the Cambridge Oracy Assessment Toolkit. The study also included an interview with the teacher, and a focus group with the participant students. The results show that L2 oracy skills of the students evolve when they participate in these dialogic encounters, especially in the cognitive and socio-emotional areas. Implications for the teaching of L2 spoken language are discussed.

PurposeThe debriefing is a procedure based on intra-team feedback, which has frequently been applied in university formation in health but has been less used in business. The aim of this research is to analyse best practices in the actual implementation of debriefing in organisations, based on criteria the guidelines for carrying out each stage established in the procedure.Design/methodology/approachTo achieve these goals, working teams from different organisations carried out 19 group-debriefing sessions on an authentic work problem. These sessions were observed and analysed following a qualitative approach.FindingsAfter observing a debriefing session in 19 organisations, four categories related to its implementation have been identified: Self-analysis, information, planning and orientation of the development of the team.Research limitations/implicationsIt is important to mention some limitations to this work. The major limitation was the lack of published literature related to the debriefing in the area of organisational management. The qualitative and exploratory nature of the study limits the generalisation of the results.Practical implicationsThe research has practical implications as the characterisation and description of each phase favours the transfer to implement the debriefing technique adequately in different types of organisations.Social implicationsIt has been observed that all forms of debriefing have a common purpose in learning and, team and employee development, due to the powerful transferability and usefulness of debriefing in different contexts. Therefore, knowing the correct use of debriefing is a breakthrough in this area. In addition, including this type of practice will not just facilitate a better performance, it will also help teams to learn to work in a team from their own experiences.Originality/valueIt has been characterised by the process of debriefing from the correct implementation of each phase through the analysis of the narratives that arise in the debriefing sessions carried out.

Over the last decades, many efforts have been made to establish the Basque minority language as a normalized language in the Basque Country. Research has shown that language use, language proficiency and attitudes towards language are closely associated. Likewise, the benefit of interactive learning environments for improving language proficiency is well known. However, the effect of such environments on attitudes towards second languages (L2) has been less studied. This article presents a qualitative study that explores the extent to which the implementation of a particular dialogue-based classroom strategy, named Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLGs), may transform secondary students’ attitudes towards Basque (L2). The DLGs were carried out with 46 secondary education students in the Basque Country. After implementing DLGs, teachers’ interviews and students’ focus groups were conducted and analysed inductively. Results show that participants reported changes in students’ attitudes towards Basque and they related these changes to the dialogical space they experienced during the DLGs, since this created affordances for them to engage in meaningful discussions when speaking in Basque. Implications of the study are discussed.

The goal of this study is to determine the extent to which faculty training in cooperative learning (CL) transfers to university teaching, according to students’ opinions. The design was quasi-experimental, with a control group and an intervention group. During two years, 346 first-year university Business School students and 12 university teachers of four disciplines (Business and Economy, Communication, Mathematics and Knowledge Integration) took part in the study. The results show that, after specific training in CL methodology, teachers showed significant improvement in the application of several CL dimensions: social skills, evaluation, reflection, interdependence, interaction and tutoring. In addition, a multivariate analysis of variance was calculated to examine the possible interaction effect of teacher training and disciplines on CL application. The results indicate that training based on participants’ needs and context fosters transference to university teaching. Teachers from different disciplines respond differently when applying CL to the classroom after training, especially in evaluation, heterogeneity, and tutoring. The results highlight the importance of a quality faculty professional development program.

(1) Background: The aim of Second Chance Schools (E2Cs) is to provide employment-focused training for young people who left compulsory education without any formal qualifications by encouraging them to pursue initial vocational training. Transversal Competences (TCs) are important for enabling the social inclusion of young people in vulnerable situations by promoting their entry into the labour market. However, TCs are not always systematically developed. The objective of this study is to analyse good practices in inculcating these skills in this group of young people. (2) Methods: In-depth case studies were conducted in six best-practice schools. The following methods were used in the studies: questionnaires to school; a checklist to analyse the teaching materials used: an interview with the people responsible for the programme; an interview with students; and a questionnaire to representatives from the business sector. (3) Results: The six E2Cs attached great importance to TCs, which were taught specifically through a student-centred, active, varied and collaborative methodology that was periodically reviewed and adapted to students’ needs. TCs were evaluated before, during, and after the process was completed. (4) Conclusions: The results identified specific key elements for promoting the development of TCs that could be transferred to other schools and, consequently, could have implications for education policies in this field.

Peer interactions in early childhood education play a key role in establishing the first structures of social relationships and foundations for future development. Engaging in social exchanges with different people enriches children’s concurrent and future learning opportunities. Building on the importance of diversifying interactions, interactive groups (IGs) are a specific dialogue-based classroom organization format that creates an inclusive learning environment by allocating students to small heterogeneous groups with an adult volunteer per group. This classroom organization format has produced reported evidence of enhancing social cohesion and academic achievement, mainly in elementary education. However, its potential to foster positive peer interactions in Early Childhood Education among disadvantaged children remains unexplored. Therefore, this case study explores in depth the type and frequency of positive peer interactions in interactive groups in a preschool classroom serving mainly Roma and immigrant children with a very low SES. The results show that in this context, children acknowledge each other’s work and provide help, guidance, and solidarity interactions when solving academic tasks. Our analysis reveals that children internalize the rules and functioning of the IG since those aspects emerge in their conversations during the activity. Implications for practitioners and policymakers are also discussed.

The basic competences (such as Information Acquisition and Management; Understanding and Expression of Information and Emotions; Competence to Do and Undertake; Competence to Live Together; and Competence to Be) are necessary to achieve adequate personal, social and professional development. This study develops and validates, through Confirmatory Factor Analysis, an instrument for assessing them. Data were collected from 751 secondary students, with ages ranging from 11 to 18. The results confirm the structure of the instrument, comprising five independent scales. The instrument is valid for its application, either as a whole or separately. Las competencias básicas (tales como Búsqueda y gestión de la información; Comprensión y expresión de información y emociones; Competencia para hacer y emprender; Competencia para vivir juntos y Competencia para ser) son necesarias para un adecuado desarrollo personal, social y profesional. Este estudio diseña y valida, con Análisis Factorial Confirmatorio, un instrumento para evaluarlas. Se recopilaron datos de 751 estudiantes de Secundaria, con edades comprendidas entre 11 y 18 años. Los resultados confirman la estructura del instrumento, compuesto por cinco escalas independientes. El instrumento es válido para su aplicación de manera conjunta o separada.