Nowadays, there is considerable debate in the world of education regarding the concept of what is meant by 'public'. Although this debate is usually only focused on the economic management of centres, there is also a deeper philosophical and theoretical dimension to be considered. The book entitled Education: a common good, an individual right or a public service? addresses fundamental theories which open up new horizons and make us rethink and see the school as a growing institution which extends and ensures the rights and opportunities of the pupil. In other words, school is a common and public good.
Throughout the first chapter, Miriam Prieto and Alberto Sánchez deal in depth in concepts with questions regarding the concepts of common and good. They also studied importance of expressing the recognition of minorities, without falling into relativism, nor privatizing this idea of achieving the common good.
In the second chapter, Fernando Gil Cantero differ a pedagogical perspective of politics rather than a political perspective of the pedagogical. In the former, good is the most important. However, in the latter, negotiations and therefore, interests prevail. He explores differrent aspects of education and demystifies the duality generated by the ideological polarization of Pedagogy.
David Reyero is the writer of the third chapter where, through light ethic and anthropology, he searches the telos for the virtues, the good and the truth. He also studies democratic and ontological issues in the New Age. This egocentric subjectivism (the exaltation of individuality) has generated conceptions of what is different. The ethical-political framework can be treated from Taylor's contributions as they bring us closer to what is desirable. In the fourth chapter, Tania Alonso discussed these contributions and the relationships with the promotion of the school in what is good and ethically superior, as a shared project and a common destiny.
The neo-liberal system has introduced a pop culture focused on happiness and diversity. Throughout the fifth chapter, Bianca Thoilliez explores the repercussions of this self-absorption of educational trends because they privatize school assets. The author revendicates the importance of welcoming the common culture and differentiates the teaching profession from the therapist (the former being a continuous exercise of redistribution).
The different projects that arise from the new education to satisfy a collective of families who look for happiness and reject directiveness under the premise of laissez-faire are, as Ani Pérez expresses in chapter six, a threat to the construction of a school leading towards the common good. Throughout this chapter, the meaning of freedom of centre within a market context is approached from a different perspective. This context of commercialization and privatization is addressed in the following two chapters.
In the seventh Mariano Narodowski and Delfina Campetella discuss the State reason scenario and the barriers that lead it towards a market rationale. Finally, Jesús Manso and Marta Moreno identify the principles of the New Public Management (introduced as a soft policy) especially analyzed in the Spanish educational regulations of recent years.
The work culminates with an epilogue entitled School, a Public and Common good, where Esther Díaz Romanillos compiles the concepts worked on such as (i) the public and the private, the common and the good; (ii) identity politics; (iii) the free choice of centers and power relations.
This book contributes and elevates the debate without losing sight of what really matters: the school “as a unique democratic educational space, where democracy takes shape in a singular and liberating activity and movement” (p. 147).
If we want to an achieve a more just society, we must defend the school and this is done without blaming it for all the ills of society, since other institutions must also take responsibility so that citizens achieve what is desirable for a good life.
Carmen Fontaneda Amo
“Audio-visuals, sociocultural inequalities and education” is an essay based on an interpretative paradigm research that shows how audio-visual technologies and the digital divide influence the increase in sociocultural inequalities in the educational system. Antonio Bautista García-Vera, Professor of Didactics and School Organization, expresses between the lines his sensitivity and concern for the improvement of school education through the possibilities of audio-visual technologies. The book follows a discourse and structure typical of a research paper, distributing the content into eight chapters, annexes and a bibliography.
The author takes us into the research with the first-person narration of the initial contact with the educational centres. In the first chapter, the reader is immersed in the daily life of the two primary education centres of the Community of Madrid, protagonists of what was to become a new scenario for the generation of shared knowledge. There is collaboration between the educational community -teachers, mothers, fathers and students- and the research team.
The second and third chapters of the book are intended to guide the reader in understanding the specific purposes of the research. The background points out, firstly, the importance of differentiating those more technical and functional uses that a digital tool presents, from the role or function it acquires in society and in education or its meaning. The interrelated conceptual frameworks guide to understand how the meaning we give to technologies is linked to sociocultural and educational inequalities. Recognized authors and emerging research are cited in reference to the digital divide, technological literacy, art in aesthetic awareness and digital competence.
From this state of the art, the origin of the study arises under three curiosities to solve about technological and audio-visual tools in formal education: understanding the meaning they acquire in educational centres; to know how the personal, social and academic development of students is favoured; and identify the implications for professional development and teaching staff. To respond to them, the fourth chapter is intended to describe the principles of data collection, discourse analysis and the phases of the study. The research methods are specified in a meticulous and detailed way, considering ethical aspects, coherence and validity. Data collection through interviews took place during and after the implementation of digital literacy processes for teachers and students. The study denotes rigor and methodological relevance in the way in which the sensations, perceptions, analysis and reflections of students and teachers are interpreted and described.
The three curiosities are resolved in chapters 5, 6 and 7, respectively. The results show how the functions assigned to the media had expanded during the study: from meanings about the transmission of information and entertainment activities, towards meanings related to expression, creativity and problem solving. This is a great finding of the project, since it shows how to promote the achievement of Digital Competences in multicultural educational contexts for social inclusion. Another significant finding is the impact that audio-visual literacy has generated on academic performance, personal and social development, and the professional projection of students. Audio-visual productions have caused an improvement in the sensitivity for beauty and art in connection with daily experiences and own interests. The results also reflect the role of the media in the personal development and professional development of teachers. These acquire prominence when teachers try to connect with the interests and motivations of the students. For readers of Bautista's book, it is of special interest to stop and review in detail the quotes from the interviews of the participants.
The essence of the results are presented in the eighth and last chapter in the form of conclusions. Bautista reflects in depth on the contributions of the study to reduce the digital divide and improve social ties through technological development in educational communities. The transparency in the description of the research, the sensitivity for the audio-visual world and the concern for the improvement of education guide the reasons for delving into this book.
Laura Fernández-Rodrigo
Dreaming of an inclusive university that recognised, dignified and safeguarded the rights of people with disabilities is not a utopia, but a matter of humanity, responsibility and social justice. This book, coordinated by Odet Moliner, is based on coherence and a strong commitment to inclusion from polyphonic voices, presenting not only critical analyses of this community challenge, but also proposals for action from universities.
This book narrates the results of a project of collective construction of knowledge by students with intellectual disabilities (ID), representatives of the associative network and the Administration, faculty members, academics and researchers. It is a project within the framework of the UniDiversitat Programme financed by the ONCE Foundation and the European Social Funds, which is offered as a post-secondary education degree at the Universitat Jaume I to promote the independent life, as well as the social and labour inclusion of young people with ID enrolled in the Youth Guarantee System.
This book is structured in ten chapters and has two differentiated parts. The first part entitled ‘Journeys’ contains six chapters and the second part titled ‘Transits’ has four chapters. The first chapter lays the foundations for how the university can be inclusive democratising three roles: formative (critical pedagogy, transformative and open to care), research (inclusive research, participatory and linked to the territory) and extension (university-society relationship). The second chapter is developed by internationally recognised researchers in the Irish context and presents different possibilities to advocate for opportunities for young people with ID in Higher Education, such as the Inclusive Arts, Science and Applied Practice (ASIAP) programme and the National Forum for Inclusive Higher Education (INHED). The third chapter reports on a participatory social diagnosis process that identified, based on social mapping and cooperative learning techniques, the training needs of young people with ID in the Universitat Jaume I's UniDiversitat programme, promoting the critical participation of the environment through participatory action research, analysing the possibilities of training or employment and seeking joint solutions to adjust the training programme to the social and employment realities of these young people. The fourth, fifth and sixth chapters are written by the faculty members who taught inclusive classes with undergraduate students and students with ID from the UniDiversitat programme. In these three chapters, we can appreciate how the professionals designed, developed and assessed accessible proposals with students teachers and young people with ID on story-telling, art and creativity with music workshops, sport and healthy diet.
The seventh chapter brings value and congruence to the book following the principles of inclusive research because it is written in accessible reading, with visual aids and three authors are young people with DI from the programme who reflect their own testimonies regarding employability. The eighth chapter provides a theoretical and practical approach to supported employment, followed by a community workshop in the framework of the UniDiversitat programme on barriers, aids and improvements about their internships. The ninth chapter presents the GAS-VI Guide and is carried out by two authors from the University of Girona with a recognised trajectory in independent living from the model of rights of people with ID. The tenth chapter raises challenges for the future, narrating the development, empowerment, assessment and issues learned from a training course in inclusive research ‘Investiguem’ with young people with ID from the UniDiversitat programme on issues that really decide and involve people with ID in all their phases.
Definitively, this book should be read carefully by all citizens and, in particular, by people with disabilities, university leaders, the technical staff of university disability services and offices, companies, associations that work with people with disabilities and the families of people with ID. Undoubtedly, it is a book that I highly recommend because it provides (us) with a halo of hope, inspiration and advocacy, encouraging the university community to keep rethinking its roles in order to advance in the promotion of inclusion and to mobilise situational actions that guarantee equal opportunities for all people.
Acknowledgements to the Juan de la Cierva-Training Grant JDC2022-049600-I funded by MCIU/AEI/10.130397501100011033 and by the European Union ‘Next GenerationEU’ /PRTR.
Inmaculada Orozco Almario