Successful Educational Actions: Changing Education Across the World

• In Event: Successful Educational Research That Overcomes Inequalities

Abstract

1) Objectives and purposes
This paper presents the Successful Educational Actions (SEAs), one of the main findings of the EU-funded large-scale research project, INCLUD-ED. Strategies for inclusion and social cohesion in Europe from education (Flecha, 2006-2011) coordinated by CREA. We particularly focus on how these actions become an evidence-based contribution to educational change across countries and contexts.

2) Theoretical framework
Research leading to the identification of SEAs was based on the premise that education can change society (Apple, 2012) and contribute to overcome inequalities. This approach to research took into account the theoretical contributions that focus on the transformation of learning contexts and learning interactions to enhance learning (Vygotsky, 1980), the role of dialogue and thinking together (Flecha, 2000; Mercer, 2000; Wells, 1999), the potential of heterogeneous grouping (Stevens & Slavin, 1995) and the importance of including families and communities in children education, especially in the case of the most vulnerable groups (Dearing, Kreider, Simkins & Weiss, 2006; Epstein, 1983; Wenger, 1988).

3) Methods
During the period covering 2006-2011 six longitudinal case studies in schools in Finland, Lithuania, Malta, Spain, and the United Kingdom were carried out in successful schools serving disadvantaged student populations. Afterwards, a longitudinal study of some of the case studies has been continued through the research project “Socioeducational Successful Actions to Overcome Poverty”, within the Spanish context (Valls, 2013). The entire research was carried out following the communicative methodology (Gómez, Puigvert & Flecha, 2010).

4) Data sources and evidences
The data collection techniques used were both qualitative and quantitative. A total of 4,482 questionnaires to family members and pupils were analyzed, as well as standardized open-ended interviews, communicative observations, communicative focus groups and communicative daily life stories for each case study.

5) Results
One of the major contributions of the project is the identification of the educational interventions (the SEAs) which lead to excellent results in terms of educational achievement and coexistence in multiple contexts. The SEAs that have proven to provide the best results are: 1) Interactive Groups; 2) Dialogic Literary Gatherings; 3) Extending learning time; 4) Family education; 5) Participation in school evaluations and decision-making (Flecha, 2015).

6) Significance of the study work
SEAs are responding to pressing challenges in education, such as absenteeism, early school leaving, school failure, and coexistence problems (European Commission, 2010). Furthermore SEAs are not isolated best practices that promote good results in particular cases or contexts. Rather, they are actions which seem to contain “universal components, transferable across contexts” (Flecha & Soler, 2013, p. 452) and have resulted in school success in different countries and environments. The scientific significance of these findings goes hand in hand with their social impact. In recent years the number of schools implementing SEAs has increased and SEAs have been expanded throughout the world. Today there are more than 500 schools implementing SEAs in Spain, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and England.

Authors

• Sandra Girbes, Universitat de Barcelona

• Maria del Socorro Ocampo Castillo, Vía Educación