Despite existing empirical work that explores the multiple ways in which students develop a sense of belonging in higher education, there is a dearth of comparative research about the extent to which the concepts of community and belonging are central to what it means to be a student and how students in different national contexts (beyond…

In the 1980s, there were major international meetings to promote environmental education, just as there had been in the 1970s. Spain wanted to participate in actions adopted at these meetings by signing inter-ministerial agreements, organizing congresses, and promoting the work carried out by the Spanish National Institute for the Conservation of…

Although teaching would seem to be exclusively coupled to each country's economic and technological development, it can also be associated with social transformation, provided that it promotes social innovation: in other words, new ways of conceiving society. This leads us to ask how music teachers are being trained in terms of innovation, a…

Soft skills enable the individual to successfully face the problems and challenges of a complex society in flux and under constant uncertainty. Music, in its different forms of expression, is here introduced as an ideal tool for the development of intrapersonal and action skills such as adaptability, optimism and proactivity. In this paper we…

The purpose of this article is to examine academia and the abuse of power based on auto-ethnographic research. I draw on my experiences across 12 universities in different locations in Spain, the UK and the USA that expose the way power is embedded in institutions of higher education and how it is maintained. This article analyses the exploration…

This paper explores the impact of test-taking conditions on the quality of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) assessment. Interviewers record information about the room of assessment and interruptions that occurred during each interview. These observations, along with information on interviewer assignment…

PISA 2015 data show that, on average across OECD countries, as many as three out of four students from the lowest quarter of socio-economic status reach, at best, only the baseline level of proficiency (Level 2) in reading, mathematics or science. While in Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong (China), Ireland, Japan, Korea, the…

Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) has been subject to controversy historically and several studies have analysed the challenges and barriers to delivering it in schools. Recently, however, a new global phenomenon has sharpening debate with the emergence of anti-gender movements and their discourse on 'gender ideology'. The focus now is less on…

Interest on the part of European Institutions to explore the potential of MOOCs for providing the kind of inclusive and multicultural education that was needed for 21st century learners was confirmed by funding of projects such as EMMA (http://www.europeanmoocs.eu). The definition of "European" for the EMMA consortium was based on…

Problems associated with the environment loom large over the future well-being of young generations. A previous issue of PISA in Focus (PISA in Focus 87) shows that in 2015 many 15-year-old students believed that the future -- their future -- was going to be worse, environmentally, than the present. In particular, only a minority of students…

This paper presents how virtual containers enhance the implementation of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) subjects as Open Educational Resources (OER). The publication initially summarizes the limitations of delivering open rich learning contents and corresponding assignments to students in college level STEAM areas. The…

This paper presents the conclusions of a study, carried out in collaboration with schools in six European countries, which focused on tomorrow's physical learning environments. The study, which stemmed from a project entitled Forum for the Future and which was funded by the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE), was designed to contribute to…

In 2005, Spanish television audiences saw the debut of the nation's first spinoff, the sitcom "Aída." The show featured the tribulations of its title character and her working-class family in their struggle to "llegar a fin de mes." It seemed to promise a sensibility enacted in the US series "Roseanne," where another…

This paper interrogates the case for improved and broadened public sustainability reporting by universities, and explores whether and how global performance measures capture the institutional attitudes and activities pertinent to universities' contributions to sustainability. The analysis explores all stand-alone, English language reports produced…

The aim of this paper is measure social welfare in Spanish provinces. To achieve this, we use the distance method P[subscript 2] to compose a synthetic indicator of welfare for 2007, the last year for which data are available. The index comprises information on different social indicators from various life domains and enables a classification of…