Last month of June (21st to 23rd), Dr. Buxarrais intervened in the CIPE18 in Logroño presenting the paper “Families approach towards their children homework: an exploratory study“, authored jointly with Francisco Esteban (UB), Teodor Mellen (ESADE) & Guillem Pérez (UB).

Abstract:

“Una de las tareas familiares que mayor atención reclama, y que mayor protagonismo adquiere en las diferentes dinámicas familiares, es la que se refiere a la ayuda de padres a los hijos en sus tareas escolares: los deberes. Dicha ayuda puede adoptar diferentes formas y/o estructuras, adquirir diversos sentidos y, por lo tanto, presentar distintas incidencias en la educación familiar. El artículo que se presenta trata de dichas formas, sentidos y su incidencia educativa en el ámbito familiar, concretamente, sobre la repartición, el compartir y la conciliación de dicha tarea. Con el objetivo de desvelar qué formas predominan en la actuación por parte de las familias en torno a las tareas escolares de sus hijos e hijas, se han entrevistado a 471 personas. Asimismo, sacamos a la luz algunos de los resultados obtenidos de este estudio nacional sobre la conciliación familiar y concluimos con las ideas extraídas de lo expuesto, dejando en evidencia la necesidad de proponer intervenciones motoras de un cambio”.

On November, 10, Dr. Buxarrais was invited to the University Trás-os-Montes e Alto d’Ouro, in Vila-real (Portugal). There, she gave a lecture in the morning entitled: “How to behave ethically: values education”

Abstract:

The lecture starts with a clarification of the concept of “ethical values” and its classification, showing examples for each of its typologies. Then, we shall explain the ways of learning values: 1) practice: experiences lived where we can put our values into practice; 2) Observation and imitation of our models of values and ethical behaviour; 3) autonomous and rational reflection, personal moments to reflect on our values and how we show them in our everyday routines. Being familiar with how we learn ethical values, we will be able to think about how to teach them. Therefore, we will also talk about educational strategies to help develop certain moral dimensions of the person. Finally, we will conclude with the proposal of a design of contexts and ways of being successful in this task.

In the afternoon, Dr. Buxarrais was part of a PhD thesis jury in the School of Human and Social Sciences, presided  over by Dr. Manuel Luis Tibério (in the picture below).

Dr. Buxarrais took part in several activities in the AME conference this year, which took place in St Louis, Missouri (USA) (2 – 4 November).

On Thursday 2nd, she participated in the symposium “Teaching Common Values in Europe: Democracy and Tolerance in Education Policy and Practice in the EU Member States”, organized and chaired by Dr. Wiel Veugelers. Her paper was entitled “Case Study Spain: Revitalising Education for Citizenship”. Abstract of the symposium: “The European Union has always stressed the relevance of the values of democracy and tolerance for Europe as a community as well as for its Member States. This research focuses on the policy of teaching the common values of democracy and tolerance in secondary schools, and how this policy is implemented in practice. Further, it covers how teachers, local communities and NGOs influence the teaching of common values. Data on the formal education policies of all 28 European Union Member States has been collected by national academic experts, and in-depth curriculum studies have been performed in 12 Member States”.

On Saturday, the last day of the conference, Dr. Buxarrais took part in an invited special session coordinated by Dr. Ann Higgins d’Alessandro and Dr. Kaye Cook entitled “AME Collaborations: Ideas for Impacting International Moral Education”. The objective of this international panel was to highlight AME’s many areas of expertise and enhance its global reputation, perhaps by aligning with government or educational priorities in various countries.  After brief presentations, the session left substantial time to ideas from the audience.

Finally, Dr. Buxarrais presented officially in Saint Louis what will be the 44th AME Conference in 2018, in Barcelona, organized by herself and Dr. Elena Noguera.

Photo: Dr. Balakrishnam (University of Malaya), Dr. Berkowitz (University of Missouri-St. Louis), Dr. Buxarrais (Universitat de Barcelona) and Dr. Gross (The Hebrew University)

Editorial Graó has recently published the book “Aprender a ser. Por una pedagogía de la interioridad” (ISBN: 978-84-9980-750-8 , 184 pag.), edited by Dr. Maria Rosa Buxarrais and Dr. Marta Burguet. This book offers a wide range of views on the importance of the basic lesson of learning to be that should take place in the school. It is a call for reflection and action that provides scientific and academic contributions from the disciplines of Ethics, Philosophy and Neuroscience. It emphasizes the necessary attention to the development of the emotional, psychological and spiritual aspects or the very being and, at the same time, the book presents practices in diverse educational contexts that promote the care to the inner self, from the attitudinal, emotional and spiritual points of view. Teaching this is part of the challeges teachers have nowadays in this accelerated and isolated society.

Table of contents
– El ser existencial, dimensión filosófica, by Margarita Mauri Álvarez.
– La cuna del yo: un viaje autoconsciente al cerebro, by David Bueno Torrens.
– El cuidado ético como camino hacia el ser, by Maria Rosa Buxarrais Estrada.
– Aprender a ser: educar la dimensión emocional en la escuela, by Luis Núñez Cubero and Clara Romero Pérez.
– ¿Qué aporta el trabajo del eneagrama en la conexión con la esencia del ser?, by José Luis Iriberri Díaz.
– La escuela que aprende a ser: de la intención a la acción, by Eulália París Pujol.
– Relaciones educativas desde el cultivo del espacio interior, by Marta Burguet Arfelis.
– El aula: gestión y ser, by Bartolomé Calero Rubio.
– El ser corporal, by Paula Gelpi Fleta.
– La interioridad, un horizonte de conocimiento profundo, by Berta Meneses Rodríguez.
– Habilidades para ser, en contexto, by Víctor Martínez Ruiz.
– “Escúchate, confía y ve más allá”, by Xavier Serret Juan and Josep Maria Llull Novell.
– Educar en y desde el ser en el ámbito de la gestión transformadora del conflicto, by Marta Ponce Mas.
– Educación de la interioridad: despliegue de la dimensión espiritual, by Fátima Ramos Brieva.
– El mayor descubrimiento, by Silvia Martínez Grau.
– Experiencias de una comunidad que busca crecer desde dentro, by María Ximena Coria and Verónica del Valle Gálvez.

Last December, from the 8th to the 11th, Dr. Buxarrais participated in the 42 Association for Moral Education Conference, which took place at Harvard Graduate School of Education, which is where this association was founded in 1976.

Dr Buxarrais presented a poster, coauthored by Dr Francisco Esteban (UB), entitled “Becoming a teacher: Ideas for university education and civic engagement”. This is the abstract:

In recent years university education has changed considerably. In brief, it could be said that it has adapted to the prevailing circumstances and that it is even proving to be an essential resource in the optimization of professional, social, cultural and economic domains. The changes it has gone through have led to the achievement of quite significant results. However, at the same time we have also witnessed the emergence of concerns and misgivings about the nature of this education, above all in relation to the personal, ethical, and civic development of today’s student populace. What makes a good teacher and what motivates a person to want to teach are timeless questions that concern us all.
This study focuses on those who are currently training to become teachers, more specifically undergraduates studying a degree in Primary Education in the universities of Catalonia. We employ a quantitative methodology based on a self-administered questionnaire conducted with a representative sample. Participants’ open-ended responses are recorded and codified. We construct three main categories: personal, authentic teacher; the teacher as story teller; and, the teacher as motivator of learning. Our results highlight important differences between these categories, extolling above all the authentic, personal teacher, who leaves a mark thanks to their character and way of being. This, together with other findings, allows us to offer some considerations for the university training of future teachers.

Also, as a senior researcher, Dr Buxarrais was invited by the conference organisers to participate as a mentor in the “Junior Scholar’s Reception” on the 9th. This AME conference popular event consists in a lunch that brings together a researcher with vast experience and a group of new researchers (students or reseearchers with less than ten years since their PhD) to talk about a topic, in this case “school curriculum” and answer their questions on the topic.